Hi all,

I've just set up a new fan page for my herd of businesses. Search for Zeopard on Facebook & become a fan!

I am pondering on recession and if NZ is coming out or is it just parts of the economy only. Tim Colebatch writing in the SMH this morning says "Australia is at risk of becoming a hot and cold economy in 2010 - with some areas overheating, while others remain frozen in recession." This seems like a more accurate description of what is happening here, as clients all report on the challenge of getting cash in and keeping the doors open.

I have proof now that lawyers are terrible hoarders of info... I have 43, 371 emails in my system that I am moving over to Google apps. Clearly time I got organised...

"Social media has overtaken porn as the number one activity on the web and 96% of gen y's have joined a social networking site" reported Anders Sorman-Nilsson at the Thought Leaders conference in Sydney last week. If the legal profession needs any reason to get to grips with social networking this is it. Eventually all the old boys from the old boys network will retire and the market will belong to those who communicated and built communities in the new way!

I have arrived in Sydney to speak at a conference on the subject of Intellectual Property for Thought Leaders particularly speakers, authors, trainers, mentors, coaches and facilitators. I love having easy access to the print version of the Sydney Morning Herald. Have been reflecting on the differences between business sentiment here and at home as reflected in the papers versus anecdotally in conversation with SME owners. Maybe reality is not as different as portrayed! Whatever the answer we need some better ideas in NZ for kick starting the economy. I think we need to start with better cash flow management and respect across the board.

Soft bait or smelly bait? I have taken up kayak fishing and have not caught a fish yet, it is getting embarrassing. So which way should I be voting soft bait or smelly bait?

How about someone sets up a fund for donations to pay for a bunch of rugby world cup tickets and then we have a raffle only for seniors who cannot afford to buy a ticket and who want to go? I am in if an existing charity can get organised. The last thing NZ needs is another charity or not for profit.

My bio for my bid for the ASDLSi Presidency has gone out. Here it is for those who do not see lawnews. Would love votes or followers/fans to help me show this is part of the way forward even for the legal profession.
Jennie Vickers, Vice President , Auckland District Law Society Inc.
2009 Presidential Election
I am standing because I believe there are 3 key priorities for the 2010 President:
• Being a clear, strong and loud voice in the media speaking up for and representing all the good members of our society;
• Establishing a support and advocacy service for members dealing with the NZLS professional standards system; and
• Providing leadership to the ADLSi team so they can do their job providing the services members want and I in liaising with NZLS to achieve a sensible and cost effective division of responsibility.
1. I am ready, willing and trained to speak up and speak out for all the good practitioners across the country. The media focus on a tiny minority (for whom our oaths of high professional standards mean nothing) must end and we must support the work of NZLS drumming the bad apples out. I will work to shift public dialogue back to recognising the important contribution our members make to society.
2. We have as a profession at our own expense, established a robust complaints process to protect consumers. Now it is our turn for protection. We need a member advocacy and support system to help those good hard-working members deal with these processes which are daunting and stressful, the more so for those who have not sinned. ADLSi is the natural provider of this national advocacy and support scheme. This scheme is well overdue and the ADLSi council will not be serving members, until this is in place.
3. I believe there are 3 roles for a leader:
• to turn fear into confidence;
• to create clarity from confusion; and
• to mobilise people in pursuit of a better future.
The ADLSi team is ready to serve all NZ practitioners and it is the President’s role to lead them. We also need some sensible and robust dialogue with NZLS to ensure that the hard earned money of all NZ practitioners is not wasted paying for unnecessary duplicated services. I can do this!
I am now a sole practitioner and a part time in-house counsel. I bring to the role of President, broad experience with a unique understanding and perspective on how to deliver on the needs of a broad cross section of the profession. My experience includes 12 years in-house and 10 years in large firms-Chapman Tripp, Simpson Grierson and Slaughter and May.
I have the ability to engage with that wide cross-section to gather momentum and develop profile for ADLSi through listening to members and then leading the team to deliver excellence and cost efficiency.
I have been an active, contributing member of the ADLS Council since 2003 and have always been and remain, passionate and committed to ensuring ADLSi success.
Finally, I believe it is time we did a better job of communicating with the younger members of the profession, using their preferred methods of networking, so if you are curious about what this means come and join me:
http://ping.fm/lEWXO
www.facebook.com search for JennieVickers
http://ping.fm/2KUwU
www.zeopardlaw.com.
http://ping.fm/zhiyt

I am pondering today on the challenge of delivering on clients' expectations, in a wired world where we have fewer face to face meetings and more email instructions and corresponding relationship building. I have to admit to never having learnt to touch type and being a 4 finger typist. As a result I know that I frequently say less in emails while building rapport than maybe needed in retrospect, because the speed of my typing! So maybe my resolution for 2010 is to learn to touch type. Anyone with me?

Knowing your message and how to deliver it in a consistent manner, is absolutely essential in a wired world. Reading the press this week, it is evident that the legal profession needs to get better at message management. Timing is everything and a 24/7 world does not allow for the careful consideration and deliberation we are used to having. I am a Mentor of the Australasian Thought Leaders Community. One of our processes we call pink sheeting. This is all about identifying the essence of a message and then communicating it in a way that is elegant and concise and that hits all the buttons around painting a picture, delivering data and stuff and making a clear point. Maybe it is time we included such a skill in our degree programmes, we would all benefit.

Was fascinated by the 60 minutes story last night on the facereader making determinations about the guilt or otherwise of New Zealanders. Amazing how receptive we have become to alternative ideas...

Just been reading the article in NZLawyer 27 November 2009 entitled "Tuning down the Tweets" about twittering in court and pondering on a few things: could twitter help lawyers become less wordy and more concise?, how the privacy act review might deal with all this new technology and the challenges to brain function with so many distractions and technology toys around. More thoughts to follow....