A few years ago I published what I called the “top 10 NJ mediation blogs” = https://vanarellilaw.com/?p=622. The list of blogs was published in October 2008, about 6 months after I started my blogging adventure (an adventure which hasn’t yet ended.) I compiled a list of “awarding winning” blogs by listing the mediation blogs I.. read more →

The N.J. Supreme Court held that a self-described journalist who posted comments on an Internet message board is not entitled to the protection of New Jersey’s Shield Law, a state statute that allows news reporters to protect the confidentiality of sources and news or information gathered during the course of their work. Too Much Media,.. read more →

    Here are my selections for the top ten (10) New Jersey cases involving Special Needs Trusts / Disability Planning decided in 2009 and 2010. For those cases I previously blogged about,  a link to the blog post as well as the case is included below. (1)     Special Needs Trust Can Be Established Only.. read more →

Listed below are the blog posts, articles and other content from Vanarelli & Li, LLC website with the highest readership in 2010. For blog posts, the original post date is included after each hyperlinked title. Gift Tax Annual Exclusion Amount Unchanged In 2010 – October 31, 2009 “Blue Water” Navy Vietnam Veterans Now Eligible For.. read more →

W.J.A. v. D.A., Docket No. A-0762-09T3; (Appellate Division, September 27, 2010) is a defamation case based upon statements posted on a website. After plaintiff’s complaint was dismissed and plaintiff appealed, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, determined that Internet postings that accuse one of engaging in sexual misconduct are the type of defamatory.. read more →

A new ethics opinion by the American Bar Association, Formal Opinion 10-457 (Lawyer Websites), identifies some of the ethical obligations that lawyers should address in considering the content and features of their websites. The major recommendations which I culled from the ethics opinion follow: (1) Information about Lawyers, their Law Firm, or their Clients. No.. read more →

Last week, in Too Much Media v. Hale, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, held that New Jersey’s newsperson’s privilege, which protects journalists from being compelled by subpoena to disclose their sources, applies to online news reporters but not to bloggers who merely claim to be reporters. The decision was the first N.J… read more →

Have you noticed the enormous growth in the user base of the internet and social media? Hard to miss it, I know. The numbers of friends and neighbors, even strangers apparently, who regularly use the internet and social media such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter is staggering, and the growth rate in the past.. read more →

Although I’ve been blogging since April 2008, December 2009 marked the end of my first calendar year of blogging. It’s now time for a status review of “my blogging year, 2009.” My website and blog have had 188,329 visitors since January 1, 2009 according to Webalizer, for an average of about 516 visits per day… read more →

Top 12 Blog Posts Of 2009 Listed below are the 12 articles in my blog with the highest readership in 2009. They are an eclectic group of posts, covering a variety of subjects such as power of attorney law, Social Security benefits and Medicare, Veterans Compensation and Pension benefits, estate and gift tax law, guardianship.. read more →

In an effort to help the press and public identify and understand important federal appeals court rulings and cases, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Federal Judicial Improvements has launched a new website that will summarize the most interesting or newsworthy recent decisions and pending cases before federal appeals courts. Reporters and others can.. read more →

Here’s a hot news flash (NOT): law firms in 2009 should market themselves on the Internet. This recent message to lawyers and law firms from the American Bar Association seems just a bit dated. But not uninteresting. At the ABA’s Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference held last week in Philadelphia, the participants in a panel.. read more →

Recently, The Wall Street Journal and Carolyn Elefant at MyShingle.com reported on a landmark study by the Gallup Poll of 100,826 working adults which examined how occupation affects happiness. In the study, business owners outranked 10 other occupational groups on a composite measure of six criteria of contentment, including emotional and physical health, job satisfaction,.. read more →

In a recent press release, the New Jersey judiciary announced that it is adopting an array of internet social media tools to keep lawyers, litigants and the public better informed of court developments. The court system now has a Twitter feed and uses cell phone text messages to send out breaking news alerts. These cover.. read more →

Judges, like everyone else, have been affected by the treasure trove of information available on the internet, and have slowly begun basing judicial decisions on internet sources. However, until recently citing internet sources in judicial opinions has been a haphazard affair, with little guidance provided anywhere on how to identify reliable sources, how to present.. read more →

According to a recent study published in the June 2009 edition of the New Media & Society journal entitled doing-the-right-thing-online-a-survey-of-bloggers-beliefs-and-practices, bloggers share a group of ethical principals. This first large-scale survey of blogging ethics identified four underlying ethical principles important to bloggers: truth telling, accountability, minimizing harm and attribution. Truth-telling involves honesty, fairness and completeness.. read more →

I achieved a milestone a few posts ago. On April 1, 2009, I wrote my 200th blog post, found here – https://vanarellilaw.com/2009/04/01/intentionally-omitting-children-from-your-will/. HOO-RAY. I wrote my first blog post less than one year ago, on April 21, 2008, and got to my 100th blog post about 7 months later, on November 28, 2008, when I.. read more →

Highly regarded Certified Elder Law Attorney among just five percent of lawyers in state to be recognized with prestigious professional designation. Donald D. Vanarelli, Esq., with offices at 242 St. Paul Street, Westfield, NJ, has been selected as a “New Jersey Super Lawyer” in the areas of Elder Law and Estate Planning in 2009.  Mr… read more →

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, a nonpolitical, nonpartisan research institute, recently published its Sixth Annual Report on the State of the News Media in the United States. The Project editor called it “the bleakest report ever issued.” I found the report fascinating. I grew up reading newspapers, and still subscribe to.. read more →

Congratulations to my colleague, Deirdre Wheatley-Liss, on being chosen as one of New Jersey’s 50 Best Women in Business by NJBIZ magazine. Here is a press release about the achievement. I know of at least three of Deirdre’s achievements: she has earned an LLM in taxation from NYU (wow), she has been board-certified as an.. read more →

We at the Elder Mediation Center are thinking of trying out a new banner, to accompany the new look at our Elder Mediation Center of New Jersey website. What do you think? Here’s our new creation: read more →

17 Jan 2009
January 17, 2009

Legal Podcasting

Blogs and Blogging 0 Comment

A podcast is a series of audio or video digital media files which is distributed over the Internet to portable media players and personal computers. According to Wikipedia, the word “podcast” stands for “Personal On Demand broadCASTING.” Soon after I began blogging in 2008 I began noticing that more and more lawyers who blog were.. read more →

In a sense, it seems arrogant to present a list of “best of” posts when my blog is so new, and I am a novice blogging lawyer . My blog went “live” only about eight months ago, as I posted my first article on April 21, 2008. My blog is part of my website (New.. read more →

31 Dec 2008
December 31, 2008

Happy New Year 2009

Blogs and Blogging 0 Comment

God Bless You and Your Family. God Bless Our Troops. God Bless America. May You Have a Joyous New Year. read more →

Recently, some of the blogs I read regularly have begun listing blogging goals for 2009. For example, see this post on Daily Blog Tips. For some blogs, the listing of blogging goals seems to have become an annual event. In fact, several bloggers, after listing their goals for the upcoming year, have looked back to.. read more →