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High profile cases in almost any jurisdiction have always faced issues in terms of jury selection- the primary concern being the media coverage and how that may influence a potential juror's views and opinions. Media coverage is also playing a big role in the legal services marketing arena. In the past, legal marketing revolved around the predictable avenues including newspapers, radio and television, but that's not true anymore.

Today there is a huge instantaneous mass media system called social media and it's impact on juries, judges and potential clients is only just coming to the forefront. Should lawyers be concerned? You bet. But one thing's for sure you must first be aware of this phenomenon and get up-to-speed on this new way of communicating. Lawyers must ask themselves if blogging and consumer generated media has the potential to affect their jury; even the potential to affect their reputations.

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Media Masters has broken down the elements of social media important to the legal professional in easy to understand terms of: What is it? Why do I need to know about it? How does it work for me? The answers are critical for lawyers to understand as they communicate with a 21st century world about their cases and their profession.

BLOGGING
CONTENT
ONLINE NEWSROOMS
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
PUBLISHING TO SOCIAL BOOKMARKING SITES
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
TWITTER
WIKIS

BLOGGING

What is it?
Blogging: The word blog is a short form for the term web log. A blog has traditionally been a journal or diary with dated entries. Law "blawgs" are rampant online.

Why do I need to know about it?
Think of blogging as educational-marketing. It drives people seeking information about a particular area of law to you as the expert n the subject. That, in turn, leads potential clients to your website.

How does it work for me?
By sharing your expertise online, not only are you providing Internet users valuable legal information, you are driving traffic to your website and improving your search engine optimization.
1. Visit blogger.com to set up your own blog. Make it look as much like your owe website as possible.
2. Try and create a blog short version of what is on your website homepage in the blog header.
3. Be sure and add a social bookmarking widget to the page, visit addthis.com
4. You will need a strong appeal to get people off your blog and onto your website- so make the link easy to find.
5. Offer fresh content as often as possible, twice a week at least.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT
Make sure anything you post is in easily digestible bites of info- like top ten lists- not a long-drawn out synopsis. The key is to update postings early and often. Make sure the information posted answers the "What's in it for me?" questions for the reader.

ONLINE NEWSROOMS

What are they?
A page online where you can post all the news about your firm, case, or yourself.

Why do I need to know about them?
Journalists rank online press rooms as their first stop when looking for information about a firm, or a company and keeping the content fresh improves your search engine optimization ranking.

How does it work for me?
Online newsrooms don't have to be fancy endeavors. Simply designate a page on your site as a "newsroom". Make sure your newsroom includes contact information, firm background, announcements and accolades, a multimedia gallery and a search capability to allow journalists, consumers, investors and other visitors to easily find information they need.
Post news releases on the page on the firm website. Be sure and make the newsroom RSS compatible. Offer users news alerts via email updates or RSS feeds.

If your IT department can't do this for you: vocus.com is a good resource.

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

What is it?
Social bookmarking websites are becoming more and more popular. They allow the user to save bookmarks online and Tag/Categorize them with keywords instead of saving them as bookmarks in the favorites list of the user's browser. These sites enable users to share their favorite website content with other users in their network. Here are some brief descriptions of the most popular bookmarking sites:

Del.icio.us
del.icio.us allows users to save their bookmarks online. del.icio.us also gives users the ability to "tag" their bookmarks with descriptive category names. As members of a "social bookmarking" community, del.icio.us users can also see how many other people have bookmarked the same pages, and they can look at those users' bookmark collections to find other interesting online content.

Digg:
Users share interesting online content by submitting links to the site. At that point, the Digg audience can vote on whether or not they think it is interesting. Articles with lots of votes, or "diggs," rise up higher on the site's main page and topical subsection pages.

Why should I know about it?
Social bookmarking is a great way to bypass the traditional media gatekeepers when it comes to getting your information to the people who want to know about it on a very large scale. Because people vote on their favorite posts, traditional media is starting to use their sites as barometers of what people are interested in. Sometimes the popularity of certain posts on these bookmarking sites can influence traditional media to pick up the story.

How does it work for me?
Visit some of the sites provided here. Create an account. Then bookmark interesting and useful things in the areas of your interest or expertise. By doing so you create a useful Feed. Once you've done that you intermittently, (or aggressively), add useful and interesting items, you can also submit your own content that could use additional exposure.

Make an honest effort to contribute USEFUL information and links. This is all about sharing and exposure. Done properly, you can be as aggressive as you want to be about sharing information. You can share your blog(s), links to your informational/resource sites etc. Think about the fact that when you share links to other's resources, you're also effectively promoting their content as well.
1. Sign up for a free account
2. Some social bookmarking sites offer tag buttons so all you have to do is tag your favorite sites to add them to your online social bookmarking page. (The site will instruct you on how to do this)
3. When you tag a page a window will pop up asking what tag words you want to use to describe the content. This is important as later when you go back eventually you will find you have bookmarked 100 webpages or more. To sort through all of the content all you will have to refer to is your list of tags which will have numbers next to the words indicating how many pages you have bookmarked with that particular word in it.
4. Here is the social aspect- these bookmarks are public that means your friends can see your bookmarks and your tags just like you.
5. Bookmark your own post on your website
Search Engine spiders will go into these sites and recognize posted items as highly valuable so it increases your post's ranking in search engines.

Tags:
A tag is simply a word you use to describe a bookmark. Unlike folders, you make up tags when you need them and you can use as many as you like. The result is a
better way to organize your bookmarks and a great way to discover interesting things on the Web.

PUBLISHING TO SOCIAL BOOKMARKING SITES

What is it?
Opening accounts at a number of social bookmarking sites and posting your own content to reach a wider audience of people.

Why do I need to know about it?
Publishing your own content to a number of social bookmarking sites disseminates the information to a large number of people and greatly improves the search engine optimization of your content.

If you have written a good article or your client has a press release everyone should know about, consider publishing it in this way.

How does it work for me?
First set up free accounts at each of these social bookmarking sites:

Stumbleupon.com
Reddit.com
netvouz.com

1. After you upload content Go to : http://www.socialmarker.com/
2. All you need to do is simply drag a button see homepage under "how to use it" to your bookmarks toolbar, in order to create a submission bookmarklet. When you are on a website that you want to socially mark, simply select the text and click the SocialMarker button to pre-populate the submission form with the selected information.
3. Go to the section on the homepage that says "select the Social Bookmarking sites you want to submit to"
4. Click the word "Best" under that title.
5. It wll take you to Bookmark Details box at the top- type in the Title of the Article- the link of the blog posting, a brief description of the article and the tags- these are very important- they tell the RSS feeds and search engines what to look for.
6. Social marker will take you to each of the sites checked where you will enter your username and password you've set up- click "remember me on this computer" and you'll only have to type the whole thing in once.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

What is it?
SEO ranks your site higher in search engine listings when someone searches for your practice area, your firm or you.

Why do I need to know about it?
Because the higher your site is listed on search engines the more people will visit it.

How does it work for me?
Meta tag every page of the website up to 250 words per page. A content management system is good for this or the IT department can do this for you. Also- by adding RSS feeds and encouraging others to link to your site via social bookmarking your site will rank higher in search engines.

TWITTER

What is it?
Primarily designed for mobile devices, Twitter or "tweet" is a micro-blog for people who want to write about the little things that happen in their life. Twitter's greatest asset is its mobility as it is optimized for Blackberrys and other PDAs.

Why should I know about it?
Twitter pages look like blogs with very short posts. Twitter is a useful tool for groups that need to easily stay up to date with daily events when they are on the go. This is a very useful tool for ongoing trials and settlement agreements that can change from minute to minute. Twitter is full of influential bloggers, as well as people who pass along meesages

How does it work for me?
For lawyers- Twitter can be very beneficial during trials to keep the legal team updated as to minute to minute proceedings during trials and settlement discussions. Click follow on the friends you want to keep up with and all day- your page will be updated with the minute details of your friends on your page. Posts are under 140 words

WIKIS

What is it?
A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.

Why do I need to know about it?
Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best known wikis.

How does it work for me?
Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for Knowledge Management. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".
Sign up for free WIKIS at pbwiki.com

Social Media Bible - Everything Legal Professionals Need to Know About the New Media RevolutionDanny MacAskill - "Way Back Home" Tube. Duration : 7.72 Mins.
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AbAbout The Author: Miranda Sevcik is a former television journalist and current principal of Media Masters, a Houston-based litigation communications and legal PR firm that caters exclusively to lawyers and legal professionals. Contact her at: miranda@mediamastersonline.net

This content can also be found on our website at: http://www.mediamastersonline.net/index.php?pgid=4&subid=17

You have permission to publish this article electronically in your eZine and website free of charge, as long as the author byline and "About the Author" are included. Please note this is a non-exclusive submission, and this article may appear elsewhere.

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You have just spent years of your life in the classroom and required to walk the corridors of the teaching hospitals of the development of skills and knowledge to a member of the Texas medical establishment are. In many cases you can still find the federal government or a local agency lending to remind you that every month is one of your hard earned salary nor to them in the form of a loan school (I know that feeling!). And you have taken and the board exams and now you arefull license doctor or dentist in the U.S. state of Texas. Now you are confronted with an accusation by an employer, patients or colleagues that may damage your reputation and even at the end of your new medical career threatening. For those who never had the appeal process, which is practiced by the Texas licensing boards and agencies have found the road seems pretty daunting. Nevertheless, expect to learn as much as possible about what moves as a complaint processForward and an experienced lawyer on your side through every step of the process, the defense of your professional standing to make a more manageable ordeal.

This article will target Texas doctors and the licensing appeals process from the moment that is an indictment of any complaints, findings and subsequent sentence to explain. Although there are similarities, the procedures for the Texas Medical Board, the Board of TexasNursing and the Texas State Board of Dental examiners, any details that are specific for one or more of these governing bodies will also be described.

Step I: Someone is very unhappy

Somewhere out there, a patient, staff, employers, pharmacists or anyone else has had professional contact with one believes that in a way that the act or practice of conduct expected someone in your position injured. Any complaint submitted to a Texas licenseBoard is taken very seriously and must be reviewed by the investigators. What licensed doctors, the most common complaints inappropriate prescription of a drug or treatment plan, unprofessional conduct or mental or physical impairment that makes it impossible to practice medicine.

The complaints filed against dentists are automatically issued a level of priority, represented by Priority One serious injury such as death of the patient, patient injury, without a license to practice,and unsanitary conditions and priorities, including two less serious threats, such as accounting records and advertising injury.

The Texas Nursing Practice Act, the leadership can not act for the appropriate practice of nurses and violations of the law are unnecessarily exposing a patient to injury, unprofessional conduct, insufficient supply and provide affected by addiction or mental illness.

The investigators, the licensee may determine the case be assigned to eitherno violation was found or reported during the conduct was inappropriate or not representative for the best possible customer service, the action that occurred not fall under the jurisdiction of the licensing boards. The plates are not investigating a hospital bed that less than warm and friendly. They are much too busy for that. Neither the Board of Nursing will examine administrative violation of a specific hospital policy, how such problems should be dealt with within the institutionthemselves. And if one of your patients are sitting in the waiting room for two hours before he was taken back to your office, had a right he can be on frustrated and angry, but he generally no need for a formal complaint or referral of the Texas Medical Board.

Step II: Someone is very unhappy, and you need to know

Once investigators determine that any actual and / or legal merit to the complaint, notify you in writing and thenthe role of "defendant". It is in your best interest to respond to a complaint against you quickly and thoroughly. Please note the exact dates that you in the letter of complaint, which normally respond within two weeks (or maybe 30 days) after receipt. You can not hide the fact hope stacking letter of complaint among the papers on the desk and the problem will disappear, as many do, and licensed. You can not disbelieve that someone such unfoundedCharge and you do not choose to acknowledge the letter with a response. You need as much information as possible about the complaint. Be prepared to patient records, eyewitnesses, medical research-any evidence that the justification for the decisions you make will lead. The investigator assigned the case to be completing their own research, subpoenaing records from hospitals and pharmacies. Know that under HIPAA, the Texas Medical Board and the otherLicensing boards have the right to see medical records without patient consent.

According to information collected by all parties, then the approval authority for Texas then make a decision to move forward with litigation to require more documentation, or to reject the appeal outright. In the case of the Texas Medical Board, this decision will be certified by two members of a group of experts to the board in the same field as the respondent. For dentists, the nextStep is determined by the Board Secretary. Nurses can expect that the Board of Nursing (or committee) will review the evidence on their complaints as a whole.

Step III: Welcome to Litigation

If the complaint is found to require legal or factual knowledge against you, your presence can then be free from an informal settlement conference. And if you're not already a resident of Austin or the surrounding areas, your luggage ready for a trip to our beloved country packCapital.

During this conference you will have the opportunity to bring your case before a panel of medical licensing members present. Lawyers are both welcomed and recommended to participate in the process, but recognize that the Board wants to hear directly from you. This is not a formal courtroom, is expected to be observed in the specific legal process or are, but an opportunity for the arguments are presented and questions.

In an overwhelming number ofTexas license cases is the appeal process is available to its conclusion. The Board will decide whether a violation has occurred, and proposes a settlement, as agreed, or Board policy, fines or other restitution to be made by the respondents are known. If both parties agree on the proposals and sign the document that will set the order before the full Board for approval and ratification. Recommendations in the order may, restriction or suspension of licenseadditional training or medical education, drug testing, a fine, a public apology, or a combination of these penalties.

Step IV: Here Comes the Administrative Law Judge

There are cases in which a solution can not be achieved through the informal settlement conference. In these situations, your case will be forwarded to the State Office of Administrative Sciences Hearings (SOAH). A formal and public declaration abandoned and the administrative law judge (ALJ) will be assigned to your case.Witnesses are called to testify, records set in evidence and legal arguments are made by representing both sides. Think of this process as an attempt to present but without a jury. After both sides have presented their case to the ALJ judge, he or she is a proposal for decision (PFD) to the appropriate board problem. The authority to determine appropriate sanctions, is now back with the board members to examine now the update on the orders of a judge of the Court and perhaps. Ratify The calculated penalties after a judicial PFD are similar to those you might expect from the informal settlement process.

Step V (option one) to do what they say

Assuming you have come into an agreement with the complainant, either through the informal settlement conference, or before an administrative law judge, now is the time to comply with the order that you provide your signature. As already mentioned, this could be the payment of fines, completion of someTraining, transfer your license for a period of time, participation in a drug or alcohol program or a host of other complaints. In most cases you will have a specific time frame in which are all associated penalties should be completed. Whatever may be the consequences, keep in mind that these contracts are part of your permanent public record and can be on the board on the website or the next quarterly newsletter announced.

Step V (option two): Do not do what theySay the appeal process

Maybe you've both gone through the informal settlement efforts and had negotiated a case before a judge ALJ and with still no decision that has been reached on the complaint against you agree. As with any legal matter, you have the right to appeal the order determined. An appeal from the findings of fact and conclusions of law or the proposal of the decision issued by Administrative Law Judge, may be filed with the Travis County DistrictCourt in Austin. Medical professionals can also lodged a complaint against the Board if they believe the sanctions determined by the Board inconsistent with the findings of the administrative law judge issued. Appeals can go all the way to the Texas Supreme Court is the case, depending on the specifics of the complaint, in rare cases, to find its way into the system of federal courts as well. Still, if you use this option, you expect your bags for another trip to packour state capital.

Conclusion

The reality is that if you are a doctor, nurse, dentist or other medical professional in the state of Texas, there's a good chance that you will be prompted to your reputation (and your license) at any point in your to defend career. There are about 6,000 complaints filed each year with the Texas Medical Board, and almost half of them opened for investigation. You do yourself a great service by knowing the complaint process fromBeginning to end, before a problem arises at all. This way you are trained and prepared to be at the center, which can be a very emotional experience to act. In addition to knowing what to expect once a complaint is filed against you, you should also make it a priority to experienced legal counsel with you every step of the way. You need a lawyer, what it means to appear before your professional licensing boards and in administrative law hearings participate means white. With the advantageown knowledge and expertise of the lawyer's share of yourself in the best position to create, maintain the professional reputation you have worked tirelessly.

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