What do you think about the new divorce process for Ontario?

Ontario’s Attorney General Chris Bentley announced this week some much-anticipated changes to the province’s divorce process.  The changes are to make the divorce process quicker, cheaper and more peaceful.  The details are still to come.  We look forward to hearing more details.

Here are some points about the new process:  

• will allow greater access to legal advice earlier in the divorce process
• will come into effect March 1, 2010
• to be implemented in two pilot jurisdictions: Brampton and Milton, and then eventually throughout the province
• no new public funding – all funds will come from a pool of $150 million previously earmarked for Ontario’s Legal Aid program

We want to hear from divorce professionals, especially those in Ontario as to what they think about these changes. Please post your comments here.

Click here to find out more: http://www.divorcemag.com/articles/Divorce_News/snapshot-ontario-changes-divorce-process.shtml

This is posted by Martha Chan, V.P. Marketing, Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine.

Next Free Teleseminar: Use Social Media to Grow Your Practice, Wed. Dec 16

Wed., December 16th Teleseminar, 2:00 p.m. EST
Social Marketing and your Family Law Practice

• How can you take advantage of the social marketing movement?
• How can you use Linked In, Facebook and Twitter to build your practice?
• What to avoid in the social marketing arena?
• How can social marketing establish you as a “thought leader?

No Cost. No Sales Pitch. No Pre-Registration.

Our teleseminars are FREE and you can participate from any phone. There’s no sign up, no “sales pitch” of any kind, and nothing to fill out before the seminar.

Learn more here: http://divorcemarketinggroup.com/seminar/family_lawyers.htm

For more information about the upcoming teleseminars, contact Sophie at 1-888-217-9538 x 21 or email sophie@divorcemag.com.

This is posted by Dan Couvrette, CEO and founder of Divorce Marketing Group.

Next Free Teleseminar for Family Lawyers & Divorce Professionals: Tuesday, Nov 24, 12 noon EST

Attend our free monthly marketing teleseminars and get practical tips on how to grow your practice.  There is no cost, no sales pitch and no pre-registration needed. Just call in at the specified time.  

The next free teleseminar is Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12 noon EST.  The topic is “The New Power of The Word” where we will explore whether blogging is for you, how to use press releases and articles you write to build our practice. 

If you have been wondering how to promote your practice, if you have been wondering what new things you should try, attend this free teleseminar and find out. This 30 minute seminar will be full of practical tips that will benefit your business.

For a schedule of our free teleseminars, click here.

Visit our “Marketing Resource Center” for divorce professionals and read articles on how to market your practice on our website.

This is posted by Dan Couvrette, CEO, Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine

14% of Family Lawyers Had More Cases. Are you one of them?

57% of those surveyed noted a decrease in cases

A recent study by the AAML (Academy of American Matrimonial Lawyers) says “ The economy appears to be downsizing the frequency of divorce cases, along with jobs and salaries. More than half of the respondents to the latest survey of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) are citing a drop in filings during the current recession. In all, 57% of the attorneys have noted fewer divorce filings since the last quarter of 2008.”

14% noted an increase

What is interesting is that the study also says “Overall, 57% of AAML members reported a decrease in the number of divorce filings since the last quarter of 2008, while only 14% noted an increase in filings during these difficult times.”

If you are a family lawyer who is getting less cases, reading this piece of news, could be interesting to you but it does not change how your practice is doing. Until you act positively with this information, your practice will not benefit from reading such information. (See my earlier blog posting on how to grow your practice during the recession.)

Get that? 14% noted an increase. Obviously they are not influenced by all these talks about The Great Recession. 

Yes, 57% of lawyers may be handling less cases, but 14% are handling more cases. You cannot control any of that. But don’t you want to be one part of the 14%? Don’t you want to know how you can grow your practice?

In fact, I’ve seen articles that claim cases are up becuase this is a good time for a divorce for some people because their support payment will be low and/or their assets are valued lower, so they want to divorce or finalize the divorce during this recession. There are also articles that say do it yourself divorce cases are up.

So, what have you done to put yourself in the “14% increase” category?

Attend our free monthly marketing teleseminars and get practical tips on how to grow your practice.  There is no cost, no sales pitch and no pre-registration needed. Just call in at the specified time.  The next free teleseminar is Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 at 12 noon EST.  The topic is “The New Power of The Word” where we will explore whether blogging is for you, how to use press releases and articles you write to build our practice.

This is posted by Dan Couvrette, CEO, Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine

Next Free Marketing Teleseminar: Social Marketing and Your Practice

Attend our free monthly marketing teleseminars and get practical tips on how to grow your practice.  There is no cost, no sales pitch and no pre-registration needed. Just call in at the specified time.  

The next free teleseminar is Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 at 12 noon EST.  The topic is “Social Marketing and Your Practice”. 

If you have been wondering how to promote your practice, if you have been wondering what new things you should try, attend this free teleseminar and find out. This 30 minute seminar will be full of practical tips that will benefit your business.

For a schedule of our free teleseminars, click here.

Visit our “Marketing Resource Center” for divorce professionals and read articles on how to market your practice on our website.

This is posted by Dan Couvrette, CEO, Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine

Next Free Marketing Teleseminar: How to build your Collaborative Practice

Attend our free monthly marketing teleseminars and get practical tips on how to grow your practice.  There is no cost, no sales pitch and no pre-registration needed. Just call in at the specified time.  

The next free teleseminar is Thrsday Oct. 29, 2009 at 12 noon EST.  The topic is “How to build your Collaborative Practice”. 

If you have been wondering how to promote your practice, if you have been wondering what new things you should try, attend this free teleseminar and find out. This 30 minute seminar will be full of practical tips that will benefit your business.

For a schedule of our free teleseminars, click here.

Visit our “Marketing Resource Center” for divorce professionals and read articles on how to market your practice on our website.

Dan Couvrette, CEO, Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine

How to Grow Your Practice During This “Great Recession”

News of the global economic crisis has reached mind-numbing proportions. It’s on every newscast, in every newspaper, and seemingly on every website, where pundits of all stripes tell us what’s gone wrong and why it’ll get worse tomorrow. Under normal circumstances (whatever those are), absorbing this onslaught of economic crisis news is enough to rile even the most tolerant of people. 

If you are a family lawyer who is getting less cases, reading these news, should at best be only interesting to you.  Because, such information does not change how your practice is doing. You could “explain” away why your business has dropped, but it does not change how your practice is doing.  In fact, if you buy in to the story of how the economy is bad, and there is nothing you can do about your practice, then you will likely do nothing to turn it around.

Our advice to you is simply this: the news about the global economic recession and its aftermath are not going away. And you must humbly accept that you aren’t in total control of what’s going on about the economy. 

What you ARE in control of, is your practice and how you market your practice, and THAT’S what you should be focusing on. So instead of reading repeated news about the recession, why not read articles on how to market your practice.  You can find these articles on the “Marketing Resource Center” of our site.

Or, attend our free monthly marketing teleseminars and get practical tips on how to grow your practice.  There is no cost, no sales pitch and no pre-registration needed. Just call in at the specified time.  For a schedule of our free teleseminars, click here.

The bottom line: don’t get sucked into the endless vortex of economic bad news; instead, focus on learning how to market your practice and do something different to promote yourself. Those who are ready and willing to do something differnt, can expect different results. Or, are you going to do the same old, same old?

This is posted by Dan Couvrette, CEO, Divorce Marketing Group and Divorce Magazine