< PreviousAALM: How was DVAP founded and what does it do? Alden: The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program was formed in 1997 when the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas merged their separate pro bono programs in order to better serve low-income people in Dallas County with their civil legal needs. DVAP assists with family law matters (including divorce, custody, name changes, and adoptions), estate planning, probate, consumer, landlord-tenant, Chapter 7 bankruptcies, veterans benefits, small business issues, expunctions, and nondisclosures. AALM: How would you encourage a young lawyer to become involved in their legal community? Alden: DVAP provides lots of great ways for young lawyers to become involved in the Dallas legal community, network, and learn new areas of law. By taking a pro bono case with DVAP, a young lawyer receives mentoring from DVAP’s mentor attorneys and can gain expertise in a new area of law, learning transferable skills which can also be used with paying clients later on. By volunteering at DVAP legal intake clinics and attending DVAP CLEs, young lawyers can meet and network with other community-minded lawyers while either assisting applicants at a clinic with their legal issues or receiving valuable legal training. AALM: How frequently does DVAP offer CLE events? How much do they cost? Alden: DVAP offers CLEs nearly every week. At least once each month, DVAP hosts a lunchtime CLE at the Belo Mansion on topics relevant to representing DVAP clients, such as adoptions or how to draft a will. DVAP also holds in-house CLEs at law firms and corporations upon request on whatever topic the firm or corporation is interested in. Often, we provide a clinic overview before the group sponsors a legal clinic to make sure that everyone knows what to expect and which questions will be important to ask of the applicants. DVAP also hosts larger CLEs periodically, such as Family Law Nuts and Bolts and the Probate Symposium. DVAP CLEs are normally free as long as the attorney agrees to take a pro bono case or volunteer at a few legal clinics. AALM: Does the program offer any mentorship opportunities? Alden: Yes, DVAP has two full-time mentor attorneys on staff who are available to answer questions, review pleadings, and even accompany pro bono attorneys to court. DVAP also needs experienced attorneys who are willing to mentor pro bono attorneys in specialized areas, such as more complicated family law matters, probate matters, and consumer matters. Attorneys who are interested in mentoring DVAP volunteers should contact me. AALM: How is the program involved in the local community? Alden: DVAP exists to provide legal representation for people who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys. In 2018, DVAP provided full representation to 1,181 people and advice or brief services assistance to 1,806 people. DVAP also provides referrals to those who do not qualify for our services or require social services or assistance provided by other nonprofits. DVAP staff also routinely attend PRO BONO AWARDS ATTENDEES DVAP DIRECTOR MICHELLE ALDEN Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program Attorney at Law Magazine sat down with Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP) Director Michelle Alden to discuss the program as well as its goals. NONPROFIT PROFILE ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · DALLAS· VOL. 6 NO. 4 10community education events, in order to get the word out about the services offered by the program. AALM: As more students graduate, how is the program helping to integrate them into the local community? Alden: The same networking and community service opportunities which await all new DVAP volunteers help new graduates to settle into the Dallas legal community. DVAP also works with law students and law graduates throughout the year, participating in the State Bar of Texas’ Pro Bono Spring Break Program with students from various Texas schools, as well as the University of Virginia Law School Winter Break Pro Bono Program. These students are learning valuable legal skills while making contacts in the legal community which will assist them after graduation. AALM: What is the traditional demographic of your volunteers? Young? Solo practitioners? Alden: There is no typical DVAP volunteer. DVAP volunteers run from young lawyers starting their own practices to partners and associates at large firms with formal pro bono programs to retired lawyers who are looking to give back, not to mention all the non- attorneys who volunteer with DVAP – including law students, clerks, college students, paralegals, and high school students. AALM: Besides networking and CLE events, what benefits do you provide your volunteers? Alden: DVAP has malpractice coverage which covers all pro bono cases and clinics a volunteer takes on. We have two full-time mentor attorneys who provide forms, answer questions, and provide practice tips for DVAP pro bono cases. We have offsite mentor attorneys who also assist with certain specialized types of cases when extra assistance is needed. DVAP provides everything that volunteers will need in order to have a successful pro bono experience. AALM: As leader of the program, what changes are you working on putting into effect? Alden: DVAP has increased its focus on expunction and nondisclosure matters, both on getting the word out into the community that we can help with these types of cases, as well as placing more of these cases with our volunteers. DVAP is also working on utilizing technology to make pro bono more accessible to volunteers and applicants alike. Another current focus of DVAP is its endowment, the Justice Forever Fund, which will provide stability in funding as we look toward the future. AALM: What is the main mission of the program? Alden: DVAP’s mission statement is, “The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program is an organization dedicated to increasing and enhancing pro bono legal services to the poor in Dallas through the recruitment, training, and support of volunteer attorneys.” The bigger picture of DVAP’s work is that we are working towards access to justice for all by leveraging the assistance of volunteer attorneys to help us progress towards that ideal. If the courthouse is only open to the wealthiest and most powerful, the founding ideals of American democracy are not being upheld. This is why we need programs such as DVAP to help level the playing field. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It is up to each lawyer to respond to the call of equal access to justice by volunteering time, donating money, or both. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DVAP, PLEASE CONTACT MICHELLE ALDEN AT ALDENM@LANWT.ORG OR (214) 243-2234. CHARLES KATZ AT SOUTH DALLAS CLINIC HUNTON ANDREWS KURTH AND DVAP AT THE SMALL BUSINESS CLINIC. JOHN VANBUSKIRK AT SOUTH DALLAS CLINIC AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 11Social media tools can make your law firm marketing more effective, efficient and systemized. Check out these 15 social media tools that you can start using immediately. Otter Voice Notes: This tool enables you to take voice notes and generate transcripts. It can be used on a desktop computer or iOS or an Android device. It allows you to repurpose audio and video transcripts. Otter Voice Notes offers inexpensive plans for both individuals and teams. Slack: This is a tool that brings all your interoffice communication together in one place. It is like hav- ing your own social media channel for your law firm. Slack provides a single place for messaging, tools and files. The result is more productivity and increased collaboration. Evernote: This note-taking app helps you capture and prioritize ideas, projects and to-do lists. Canva: Don’t have the skills to use Photoshop? This design tool makes it easy to create graphics, social me- dia covers, brochures and more. Planable: This allows you to create social media post mockups so you can preview the post and see how it looks prior to its going live. This is also a great tool to use for the social media approval process with- in your law firm. Clipping Magic: If you don’t have access to Photo- shop or a graphic designer, this is a good alternative to use. This tool functions similarly to Photoshop but is much easier and quicker to use. It allows you to re- move a background from an image, which can come in handy when editing attorney headshot photos so there is consistency on your “attorney bios” page. IA Writer: This tool helps you focus when creating text documents whether they are blogs, client letters or any type of notes and content you need to create by dimming everything but the current sentence or paragraph that you are typing. Lumin5: This tool allows you to repurpose online articles or blog posts as videos. You will need a URL to type into the app and then it will convert the article into a slideshow. It also includes a toolkit with copy- right-free music, effects and media. It does require a paid version in order to produce high-quality videos. OneUp: If you want to save time on constantly sharing your social media posts, then you will love this tool. It promotes your blogs, videos and podcasts by automatically sharing and re-sharing them. It also works to reuse your evergreen content. Social Media Tools to Incorporate into Your Law Firm Marketing Today BY DIMPLE DANG 15 ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · DALLAS· VOL. 6 NO. 4 12Listen Notes: If you enjoy listen- ing to Podcasts, this tool is for you. With this is search engine specifically for podcasts, you can create playlists of a selection of specific episodes. It also helps you find related podcasts if you are researching a particular per- son or topic. Once you have created a playlist in Listen Notes, you will get a URL that you can insert into your favorite podcast app so you can listen to that particular playlist. It is important to know that Listen Notes is a great tool for finding con- tent based on specific people, places or topics but is not the best tool for searching for Podcasts by name. Try utilizing a couple of these tools for your law firm mar- keting and see the benefits of using apps/platforms to stream- line processes and social media marketing. DIMPLE DANG IS A MARKETING DIRECTOR AT ACTIVIST LEGAL, WHICH PROVIDES A NATIONWIDE NETWORK OF EXPERIENCED ATTORNEYS WHO HANDLE FORECLOSURE FILES. SHE IS A LAW FIRM MARKETING SPECIALIST AND ENTREPRENEUR AND SPEAKS AT MANY PROFESSION- AL GROUPS AND ORGANIZATIONS ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES. IFTTT: This app gets its name from the statement “if this, then that.” This software connects apps, devices and services from various developers in order to trigger automations. Trello: This is a great project man- agement and task management tool. It allows you to create a board that is sharable and each card can house a lot of details. It helps keep you and your team on task for important tasks, projects and deadlines. Zapier: One of my favorite tools, it allows you to connect apps that you use every day and automate tasks. There are over 1,500 apps that you can pick from to create automations. Facebook Premieres: This is a new Facebook tool that is designed to make it easier for businesses and brands to promote video content. It enables you to record videos and then schedule them as live video pre- mieres. The advantage of doing this is that premiere videos allows users to sign up to watch the video when it goes live, thus sending them a re- minder when it is about to go live. Mention: This marketing insights platform provides real-time monitor- ing of social media and Web content. This tool provides brand mentions from all over the internet. It also provides keyword and competitor insights. AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 13Dawn M. Smith Managing Partner Personal Injury, Toxic Exposures and Medical Negligence. "Putting our clients First." Toll Free: 855.898.7800 Phone: 214.953.1900 • Fax: 214.953.1901 325 N. Saint Paul St., 29th Floor, Dallas, TX 75201 dawn@smithclinesmith.com www.smithclinesmith.comLAW FIRM OF THE YEAR S ince Shakespeare’s Henry V, the term “band of brothers” has been a popular expres- sion to describe an assem- bly of unique individuals united in their pursuit of a common and worthy goal. That term accurately describes the relationship among founding partners of Crawford, Wish- new & Lang PLLC – Trey Crawford, Dave Wishnew and Michael Lang. In February, 2018, after practicing together at a major Dallas law firm for years, Crawford, Wishnew and Lang struck out on their own with the in- tention of building a law firm com- prised of likeminded men and women committed to using their individual strengths for the good of the team and, always, for the best interest of their clients. That firm was Crawford, Wishnew & Lang PLLC—commonly referred to as CWL. The founding partners largely at- tribute the rapid growth of their boutique litigation firm, which rep- resents plaintiffs and defendants in complex legal disputes in Texas and nationwide, to the intentional culture of camaraderie they implemented at CWL from the first day they opened its doors a little less than two years ago. “We call ourselves ‘Brothers In Law’ because that’s what we are. We’re a tightknit group. We view our firm as a family, and we rise and fall together,” Wishnew says. CWL’s principals know they are somewhat of an anomaly in the legal profession, where individual recog- nition is often prioritized. Lang says, “Our tight relationship surprises some people, when they see that there’s not really competition between Dave, Trey and me.” Instead, the three often compare themselves to the tripartite branches of government—separate but equal and each integral to the suc- cess of the whole. When they disagree, they do so like brothers, with the shared under- standing that each has the intention of making the family better. “Fortu- nately, I can’t tell you of a case or an issue that we’ve disagreed on after vetting it. I think that comes from the friendship and respect we have for Brothers in Law BY DAN BALDWIN Crawford, Wishnew Lang PLLC ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · DALLAS· VOL. 6 NO. 4 16each other, as well as the experience we have working together over the last decade,” Crawford says. READY! AIM! AIM AGAIN! AND THEN FIRE! All three attorneys knew early in their careers that they would someday have their own firm—they just did not know what other names might be on the door. However, when Craw- ford, Wishnew and Lang met at their prior firm almost a decade ago, they all quickly recognized they were a good fit as lawyers, as businessmen, and as friends. The move to forming CWL was a natural evolution. As Crawford says, “It just happened to be the right time in our careers to pull the trigger and go out on our own. The timing speaks to you – you know it when you see it.” Wishnew, who had always known he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and start his own firm someday, says, “There are only two people in the world I would want to do this with and that’s Trey and Mi- chael. My dad had his own law firm, and I knew, when I was ready and I had paid my dues and become an ex- pert in my craft just as my partners became experts in their craft, that the right time would be evident.” While each attorney has his own unique brand of practicing law, part of what made this decision so clear for all three partners was their shared beliefs about how the legal profession should function at a foundational level. After witnessing too many cases over the course of their careers un- necessarily go to trial as a result of an- other attorney’s misevaluation of the merits, Crawford, Wishnew and Lang all understand the importance of vet- ting each case the firm takes on and honestly advising each client on the strengths and weaknesses of that case. This way, the attorneys at CWL can resolve every case as efficiently and effectively as possible, whether that is ultimately through a judgment at trial or whether that is through a settle- ment pre-suit or at mediation. s in Law BALDWIN new Lang PLLC AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 17Wishnew describes the early and thorough evaluation that is required. “Our approach is to determine the ele- ments of the claim; what we need to prove to get there; what the strengths and weaknesses are; what it is going to cost our client; how long the litigation is going to last; and what is the likely outcome if the case goes up on appeal.” “Too many legal firms take the ‘Ready! Fire! Aim!’ ap- proach to forming a law firm and, unfortunately, in han- dling cases. Our approach is to get ready, take aim, make sure the aim is on target, and only then fire. It’s an ap- proach that is a winner for our firm and for our clients,” Lang says. WALKING MAC, LINCOLN AND BRUCE. ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · DALLAS· VOL. 6 NO. 4 18ASSERTIVE ADVOCATES. TRUSTED ADVISORS. The firm’s motto ‘Assertive Advocates. Trust- ed Advisors.’ fits squarely within this approach, and all of CWL’s attorneys are committed to finding the right balance between the two roles in every case. “When all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail,” Crawford says, noting that it is CWL’s practice to, whenever possible, work to achieve an early and efficient reso- lution that effectively monetizes or resolves their clients’ claims or defenses. As part of this effort, all of CWL’s attorneys work diligently to cut out unnecessary litiga- tion costs for their clients. “Certain costs are always going to be outside of your control – judges, juries, opposing lawyers – but effec- tive advocacy is assessing the value of a claim early, properly advising your client, assessing strengths and weaknesses, and, if early resolu- tion is not obtainable, that’s when you go fight down at the courthouse,” Lang says. Wishnew says that, whether on the plain- tiff side or the defense side, the case usually comes down to a single issue and the goal is to get there as efficiently as possible. “You can spend a lot of money going down rabbit holes and trying to dig up a lot of stuff that ultimately is going to be irrelevant. Or you can focus on the one issue,” Lang adds, noting that this approach helps CWL limit the emotional impact on its clients and drive the case to its most efficient conclusion. CWL’s lawyers also take their role as advi- sors and counselors seri- ously, acknowledging that the emotional, psychologi- cal, and business effects of litigation on clients should be competently addressed by attorneys for the benefit of both the litigation and the client personally. Lang says, “Addressing those concerns is an important part of our commitment to do every- thing possible to help our clients achieve their goals.” This unique counseling role often results in friend- ships with clients. “We’re careful with who we accept as clients, and we become very close to them. Some of my closest friends are clients we’ve represented in litiga- tion,” Crawford says. AFTER WORK AT MAC’S SOUTHSIDE - NAMED AFTER WISHNEW’S ENGLISH BULLDOG, MAC (PORTRAIT ON THE WALL). AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 19Next >