Contents

Welcome

Announcement E-mail Lists: Get Your Message Out

Using E-mail Lists for Section Business

Technology Council: Who They Are, What They Do.

SCOTIS Members

LTRC Staff

We hope you find this newsletter informative and useful.We appreciate any feedback; contact the Legal Technology Resource Center at ltrc@abanet.org or (312)988-5465.

Welcome
Welcome to the inaugural issue of a new bimonthly newsletter from SCOTIS. Our goals are to highlight cutting-edge technology projects from ABA entities, promote technology-related member benefits, and identify ways in which technology can be used to improve the efficiency and quality of legal services.
Armando Lasa-Ferrer
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Announcement E-mail Lists: Get Your Message Out
Do you have valuable information your members want immediately? Consider using an announcement-only e-mail list to distribute a newsletter or other timely information to subscribers with responses neither expected nor desired.

Such a distribution allows you to limit sending to those who desire the information you provide rather than inundating all your members. Sheri Jacobs, Director of Marketing and Member Services in the Law Practice Management Section (LPMS), chose this method to distribute a monthly newsletter with practice management tips-eTurbo. She felt sending the newsletter as a plain text e-mail via an announcement list would allow subscribers access to it however and whenever is most convenient (read immediately on screen, print out for later, delete) as well as to easily pass it on to friends (by forwarding).

Where it started
The idea for eTurbo originated with Susan Lambreth, LPMS's membership chair, who saw similar newsletters from other groups. The newsletter functions mostly as a retention tool by providing timely, quality content without overt promotion. It may also begin to work as a recruitment tool.

Promotion
Sheri began by promoting the newsletter via a faxed sign-up form sent to 8,000 of LPMS's members. After four weeks, she had over 2100 subscribers! She has since added a sign-up form on the eTurbo webpage (http://www.abanet.org/lpm/e-turbo/home.html) and will list it in LPMS's member benefits materials. The Section magazine, Law Practice Management, will include an article on eTurbo in an upcoming issue as well. Each issue takes Sheri approximately eight hours to put together. She looks for the "5 hot websites in 5 seconds" throughout the month. Each issue also includes a quick marketing tip, an excerpt from a recent Law Practice Management article, a new product from LPM's "Product Watch," and a calendar of section events. Each section usually includes a link to the source or further content.

Response
After only two issues, both the response level and the amount of positive feedback amaze Sheri. The subscribers have let her know that the newsletter is "exciting" and "informative." One subscriber, LPMS secretary Bill Gibson of Clackamas, Ore., says "The 'turbo' in the name is true. The simple layout and succinct articles make it easy for me to find the information I need quickly."

Announcement e-mail lists provide a great way to quickly distribute worthwhile information to your members. They allow members to regularly connect your entity with useful, quality content without high postage and printing costs. If you are interested in starting an announcement-only e-mail list for your entity contact your Internet Coordinator or Implementation Specialist for more information and assistance.
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Using E-mail Lists for Section Business
The Public Contract Law Section uses its officer e-mail lists to distribute information that requires immediate attention. Marilyn Neforas, PCL's Section Director, sends notices of important deadlines to the section officers and section council via closed e-mail lists. She recently has sent messages about deadlines for the 1999 Annual Meeting and advance registration deadlines for the 2000 Annual Meeting in New York/London. Without the e-mail lists, the section would have to maintain its own e-mail distribution groups and run a higher risk of sending notices to incorrect e-mail addresses.
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Technology Council: Who They Are, What They Do.
The Technology Council provides a forum for entities of the ABA to discuss the applications of technology in the legal profession; issues are presented through the techcouncil e-mail list, web page (http://www.abanet.org/tech/council/mo/) and yearly meetings. It also serves as a resource for joint activities and/or for groups developing new technology projects.

ABA Journal: Armando Lasa-Ferrer alasa@worldnet.att.net
Administrative Law: Henry H. Perritt, Jr. hperritt@kentlaw.edu
Antitrust Law: James W. Lowe jlowe@wilmer.com
Business Law: Lisa A. Runquist lisa@runquist.com
Communications Law: Jerry S. Birenz sbandg_ip@condenast.com
Construction Industry: Deborag S. Ballati ballatid@fbm.com
Criminal Justice: Samuel A. Guiberson guibersn@lawoffice.win.ne
Dispute Resolution: Judge Ben Overton s-0135@mail.flacourts.org
Family Law: Stephen Harhai steve@harhai.com
Entertainment & Sports: Richard J. Greenstone richard@rjg.com
Environment, Energy & Resources: Claudia Rast crast@dickinson-wright.com
Franchising: Charles Cannon ccannon@jenkins.com
General Practice, Solo, Small Firm: jennifer j. rose jrose@giga.com
Government & Public Sector: Rodney Willett rod@vipnet.org
Health Law: Gregory Pemberton pemberto@imdr.com
Individual Rights & Responsibilities: Ronald Plesser plesserrl@attmail.com
Intellectual Property Law: Thomas Smith smithe@attmail.com
International Law & Practice: Charles Routh crouth@gsblaw.com
Judicial: Michael R. Arkfeld 602/514-7739
Labor & Employment Law: Howard Shapiro howard@mtphs.com
Law Practice Management: Peter Bonavich peterbon@aol.com
Law Students: Jeffrey C. Wu jeffwu@stanford.edu
Legal Assistants: Jay D. Johnson vnezia@kdsi.ent
Lawyer Assistance Programs: Michael J. Cohen fla-lap@abanet.org
Litigation: Don Bivens dwbivens@mbh-law.com
Professional Responsibility: Dean William I. Weston wweston@fcsl.edu
Public Contract Law: Jerry A. Walz jwalz@sage.ogc.doc.gov
Publishing Oversight: Diana L. Moro dlmoro@axs2000.net
Real Property, Probate & Trust: Albert S. Barr, III albarr@ix.netcom.com
Science & Technology: Thomas Smedinghoff smedinghoff@mbc.com
Solo & Small Firm Practitioners: Bruce L. Dorner bldorner@ibm.net
State & Local Government Law: Dean Janice C. Griffith jgriffith@gsu.edu
Substance Abuse: Wm. T. Robinson III WTR@gdm.com
Taxation: John DeBruyn jdebryun@usa.net
Tort & Insurance Practice: Hervey P. Levin hervey@airmail.net
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