Good friend Justin Foster (branding guru/social media expert, has a great post on his blog talking about the business lessons he learned in the first five years of running his own business.  What is amazing is how many of those lessons translate directly to lawyers.  Read it.  Excellent advice.

One thing Justin (aka @brandmilitia) taught me this last year:  whether or not you realize it, you have a personal brand.  You should monitor that brand.  You should control that brand.  You should improve that brand.  You should avoid anything (including business relationships) that tarnish that brand (remember that if your personal brand is weak, you inherit the brand of those you associate with).

So…what are YOU going to do about your personal brand this year?  Some possibilities:

• hire a personal/business coa
• start blogging, even if it is microblogging via Twitter (there are 50+ IP attorneys doing just that already)
• learn to effectively use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• teach a CLE
• write an article
• volunteer more
• hire someone like Justin’s firm (Tricycle Consulting) to give you (or your firm) a brand “make over”
• read more business books
• etc.

I challenge you to make 2009 the year you fixed your brand.

Are you worried about the impact of the economic downturn on  your practice?  I found some advice for you:

This economic downturn provides a tremendous opportunity for lawyers to look at their practices in a new (and different) way.  Here are ten “rules” for lawyers facing an uncertain economic future.  I hope you find them helpful.

Matt Homman on “Ten Rules for the New Economy.”

The slides from yesterday’s webinar on “Online Tools” by Justin Foster (http://thetricycle.com) can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/brandmilitia/relevance-20-presentation/. Thanks to all who attended.

He told me that the webinar is also available as an internal workshop (3 hours) that goes into greater detail and teaches some of the specific tools. Contact Justin if you are interested (http://thetricycle.com).

Some trademark sites I bookmarked via Delicious.com that my readers may find of note:

INTA TTAB Basics E-Course

“Trademark tips for your web app” article I wrote for Think Vitamin

Domain Name Portal - Main–Gowlings web page devoted to domain name and trademark tools.

USPTO :: Trademark Office Law Office Contact info

SSJR.com’s Trademark Maintenance Deadline Generator

EFF: Bloggers’ FAQ: Intellectual Property–excellent summary of basic IP issues as they relate to the Internet/blogging/etc.

[PDF] Trademark Licensing Consideration Checklist by attorney Timothy J. Kelly

For those of you whom need MCLE credit before February, one option is downloading .mp3’s from the Practicing Law Institute. A link to filtered results of just the Intellectual Property seminars is here: http://www.pli.edu/product/mp3s.asp.  [Which you can sort to filter the intellectual property ones to the top]

You’d have to ask your tax guru, but it might just make that iPod you’ve always wanted a business expense…