The American Bar Association (ABA) is soliciting nominations for its 2011 list of Top 100 Law Blawgs. It would be an honor if UndeniableRuth.com was on this list.
During the last 20 months, I have written about a variety of legal topics:
The ABA has a rule that you cannot nominate yourself, a blog you have written for, or your company’s blog, so I can’t sit on my computer all day nominating myself. I need your help to make this happen. Also, the ABA doesn’t want to receive nominations from spouses, which I think they’ll probably extend to anyone the ABA thinks is a family member who is not otherwise employed in the legal profession (sorry Mom).  The nomination page can be found here.
Nominations will be accepted through September 9, 2011.
Disclaimer:I am not a lawyer. This blog should not be viewed as legal advice. It is simply my experiences, opinions, and information I looked up on the internet.
It appears the term “flash mob†is being used inappropriately and its meaning is being overly broadened to include any group activity that is coordinated using social media. This year, there have been several robberies and assaults perpetrated by a group of people that appear (at least on the surface) to have been orchestrated via social media sites. The media has called them “flash mob crimes.â€Â They make it sound like someone created a Facebook event that said, “Meet at Broadway and Main at 10pm. At exactly 10:03, we’re all going to run into the minimart, grab whatever we want, and run out.â€Â That’s not a flash mob. That’s solicitation and possibly conspiracy. If the event actually occurs, it’s larceny and perhaps inciting a riot.
Improv AZ – Where's Waldo Flash Mob Photo by Jeff Moriarty
A flash mob is defined as “a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire.â€Â Flash mobs have been occurring at least since the 1970’s. In recent years, they have been orchestrated via email and social media websites; however, that does not mean that every public group activity that is coordinated via social media is a flash mob.
Flash mobs are generally light-hearted innocuous fun. People who participate in flash mobs ride public transportation without their pants; they welcome back strangers at the airport; they have fake battles between heroes and villains; and they stand frozen in place for short periods of time. Some protests and promotional events are referred to as “flash mobs,†but technically they’re not. And any event that has a criminal intent is definitely not a flash mob.
I give the media some leeway when it comes to coining terms; however, I was deeply disturbed when I saw a legal website refer to flash mobs as including criminal behavior. It suggests the writer did not do their research on this topic.
I love flash mobs. I have been participating in them and organizing them since 2009. When Improv AZ organizes a flash mob, we do thorough research on the potential legal implications of our event. I have attended an event with pages of statutes in my back pocket to ensure that we’re acting within the confines of the law. We are diligent to inform our participants in advance of their do’s and don’ts. We may push the envelope, but we never intend to cross the line. Most of our encounters with police involve them smiling or laughing at us. At the 2010 No Pants Ride after party, a Tempe police car stopped near us and an officer yelled out, “We had a briefing about you!â€Â And then he went about his merry way, knowing we were harmless.  A bit odd and rather goofy, but harmless.
Flash mobs are harmless, playful, and unexpected events. They are not criminal acts by design. Flash mobs and crimes are two completely different phenomena. They do not exist on the same continuum.
In other news, the flash mob community needs to send a big “thank you” to Mayor Jackson and the city of Cleveland.  Mayor Jackson recently vetoed a proposed law that would have made it illegal to use social media to coordinate a flash mob. Thank you for protecting our First Amendment rights!
Well, that’s all she wrote – Sponsor A Law Kid (SALK) is in the books! I was petrified when I initially announced this program. I didn’t know if it would be a success or if I would fall flat on my face. I never could have imagined how incredible this experience was. I wanted to share some final thoughts about SALK.
Photo by AJ Grucky
What Have I Learned From This Experience?
This experience taught me that sometimes your opposition becomes an asset. I don’t think I would have had so much support for this program if I didn’t get such negative backlash initially from the legal community. My supporters would have probably thought, “Cool idea,†and moved on, but because I was confronted with venomous negativity, they stood beside me and supported my idea and efforts. SALK taught me that innovation will always be met with opposition and the best thing to do is to let the haters hate and focus on the task at hand.
If I Could Go Back and Do It Again, What Would I Do Differently?
SALK went from a passing idea in my head to the initial announcement in about 72 hours. I didn’t fully commit to the idea until about 12 hours before the blog went up and I wrote that post was written in about 20 minutes. I wish I had had more time to completely flush out my ideas and proofread that initial post. It was written very much in my stream of consciousness. People who knew me completely understood what I was saying, but others who didn’t, took offense because they didn’t get it. If I could go back, I’d take a little more time before making the initial announcement to make sure that I conveying the message in a way that would be better received by my readers.
If I could do it again, I would have announced SALK about 2 months earlier too. It was hard work getting SALK going and soliciting sponsors in such a short period of time!
How Did I Find Sponsors?
I started out by posting the initial SALK blog and posted links to it on Twitter and Facebook. I also made a post about it on the Phoenix Professionals Group on LinkedIn. Then I made a list of all the products I use and the stores I patronize on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I use a lot of national brands and chain stores, so they usually ignored my requests for sponsorship.
I looked for ways to reach out to some of these businesses in person. For example, I had to get my oil changed in December. While I was waiting for Toyota to be done with my car, I spoke with a marketing person at the dealership and walked out with a check and 2 more sponsored days.
I also reached out to every business that advertises in local magazines that I occasionally read and I sent emails to every major news station in the Phoenix area to see if any of them would be interested in running a story about SALK. I was pleasantly surprised when ABC Channel 15 called back 10 minutes later asking if they could send a reporter to my house that afternoon.
What Was The Biggest Challenge?
The biggest challenge was creating quality content every day. After writing blogs for 23 consecutive days, I was grateful for a day off. Some days I wouldn’t get done with my school work until 9pm and I’d still have a blog to research and write before I went to bed. If I did not know the person or company well, it took longer because I wanted to be sure that I wrote a thoughtful and accurate blog.
How Much Money Did I Earn With SALK?
I earned over $3,200 by doing SALK. This includes the days that were sponsored and people who purposely overpaid the days they sponsored. The total also includes Bashas’ Grocery Stores. I asked them to sponsor a day, and they responded by offering a $1,000 scholarship.
Would I Do It Again?
Yes!
Should Other Law Students Do This?
Absolutely! This was a great way to make a national name for myself in the legal community and to network with other professionals while offsetting the cost of my education. Besides the fact that I was more tired than I otherwise would have been, there was no downside to this program.
With SALK, I offered every day for sale between January 1 and July 27. That’s a lot more days than a typical academic semester, and thus, I had the potential to make a lot more money. If I only sold the semester, I could only sell about 115 days, including weekends. That would not have covered the entire cost of a semester of school. If anyone wants to have their own SALK program, I suggest doing the math to see how much you might make if every day sold.
Thank you to all my sponsors who made SALK a success: Darvin and Jane DeShazer, Amanda Ellis, ThinkGeek, Donna McGill, Vincent Cannizzaro, Debbie Walker, Camelback Toyota, Tyler Hurst, Henry’s Hope, Sara Shea, Tyler Allen, Michael Vincent, The Foster Group, Nancy Smith, Jana Knapp, K Royal, Jane Ross, Katrina Holland, Brand X Custom T-shirts, the Ferreira Family, Fred Von Graf, Bev Wolf, Sheila Dee, Bristol6, Two Men and A Truck, Pam Gibson, Michelle Diaz Cannon, Stephanie Green, Micah and Danielle Larripa, Aaron M. Kelly, Linda Day, Kerry Mitchell, Matt Hollowell, and David E. Mills. I couldn’t have done this without you!
The legalities of flash mobs and pranks
