Life as a lawyer in Albany

As for the whole life as a lawyer in Albany thing (wasn't that the original purpose of this blog?), we expect to have our first associate starting in early August. This should free up some time for me to see my family more, get web work done (I've badly neglected the Daniel Cady website), and maybe get back to having a hobby. Regular people have hobbies, right?Most likely I'll start doing Tai Chi

Update on town court website

I should also mention that our traffic court website is doing well. We've got well over 100 courts in the directory now, including all of the New York City traffic courts. We're also very close to 1000 visitors a week. If things go well, we'll have most of the courts in NY done by the end of the year. But I'm always an optimist.And we've got another law-related site in the works. Hope to have

Drug war blog post

I keep trying to avoid mentioning the campaign blog, but since this post is relevant to Criminal Defense, I'll mention it. I posted about how we're wasting money in the War on Drugs. Read it if you're interested.I've got a criminal topic I want to post on, but there's something still going on in this case and I'll have to wait at least a week to get to it -- stay tuned. :-)

Dish Networks: Consumer griping

We're planning to upgrade our TV setup at home. We have Dish Networks satellite, mainly because I wanted Japanese programming and no one else seems to have it.So I tried calling the number to do this. It gave me four or five choices, and none of these choices was for upgrading equipment.So I pressed 0 for an operator.If you're a company that sells things to consumers, your phone system should

Attorney advertising rules and web content #2

I'm still upset about the proposed rules on attorney web content. I'm sending a second letter to the Office of Court Administration about it, and I'm pasting the text of my letter below. I would appreciate any comments.-----------------Michael Colodner, Esq.CounselOffice of Court Administration25 Beaver StreetNew York, New York 10004Re: Proposed rules for attorney advertisingDear Mr. Colodner:I

Problems with Yahoo continue

My problems with Yahoo advertising continue. See my previous post for more info on the past. After my dissatisfaction with their response about my "search" ads appearing on "content" pages, I contacted customer service to cancel my "LocalMatch" account.I got an e-mail that said: "We received your request to cancel your account. For security purposes, we request that you call us to cancel your

Speeding ticket post on my stop wasting money blog

I wrote an article on speeding tickets as a public policy issue on my campaign blog. I don't expect to mention my campaign blog often on this blog, but since the speeding ticket topic is one off the core elements of this blog, I figured I'd mention it.

Why Google is better than Yahoo

I advertise my law firm on Google and Yahoo. By that I mean, if you search for the right words on their search engines, my "ad" pops up in "Sponsored links".I focus a lot more on my Google ads than my Yahoo ads. Google's ad program (called AdWords) is easier to use and more effective than Yahoo's (called Yahoo Sponsored Search).A couple times now I have been burned by Yahoo doing something

Congress - the Stop Wasting Money blog

Quick update on the congressional campaign -- the Stop Wasting Money blog is now up. Just getting started, but it will start to roll soon.

BUSTED: Video on how to handle police

An organization I'm quite fond of, Flex Your Rights, has put their video on youtube. The video is named Busted, and I highly recommend it.Basically, the video offers suggestions about what to do when you're confronted by police, including traffic stops, when you're stopped on the street, or when they come to your front door.I don't agree with everything in the video. In particular, I don't like

A great comment on one of my previous posts

In April I did a post titled Criminal Injustice. I just got an anonymous comment on it and I'd bet my regular readers will be interested in it. I really want to encourage people to comment on my posts. It makes the blog more interesting.An acquaintance actually said something to my wife about not agreeing with one of my posts on my restaurant review blog. I had criticized a local restaurant and

Traffic lawyers are really just tax lawyers

Some of my traffic ticket callers seem upset at the injustice involved. They have a variety of complaints: weren't really speeding, others were going faster, police drive fast or use cell phones when they're driving, etc.My personal opinion about this is simple. This system has nothing to do with justice or traffic safety. It's just another tax - a particularly unfair one, but still a tax.If

Speeding Ticket Excuses: 12 weak ones and a couple that might work

I get a lot of calls about speeding tickets, and some callers have excuses. Most clients accept responsibility -- they know they were speeding and they just got caught.Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. I like to reassure my clients that this is not about justice. It's an unfair tax, and I'm really just a tax lawyer, working to reduce their taxes (in the form of fines,

The paper trail

One issue I frequently see is clients not making a paper trail. The client will call me about a problem with their town, or someone they're dealing with on a contract.The client will describe to me how they've talked to so-and-so on the phone, and the person says "x" and then doesn't do "x", or does "y" instead. For example, a town official tells them it's okay to build something, and then after