Recently, I came across a law firm blog post with a sixteen word title. Depending upon where this headline is viewed, it can look like a block of unreadable text. So tip one is keep your blog titles short.
Here is a link to some more great tips to remember when blogging. The best one is not to give up!
I read today about the new LinkedIn app which is exciting news because the old one was basically for the iPhone and was extremely clunky.
Upsides:
Downsides:
Overall, this is a vast improvement but here’s to hoping its only the beginning of LinkedIn’s tablet improvements!
This Washington Post article is a good discussion of Pinterest copyright issues by an IP attorney. Yesterday I suggested that attorneys use Pinterest to promote social good by using self-created images and posting them for sharing on the lawyer or firm’s website.
Use of 3rd Party Images
Pinterest was initially set up to allow people to “pin” other folks images and claim them for their own boards or for posting to their own Facebook profile. This was clearly a copyright infringement issue and so Pinterest changed it terms of use policies to warn its user that Pinterest is in no way responsible for its user who engage in this activity. That is fine for Pinterest but not the users who probably never look at terms of use policies.
As Attorneys
Whether someone would actually sue for “pinning” a photo hasn’t been litigated yet – with least on Pinterest. But attorneys are expected to understand basic legal principles even when behaving just like everyone else. Its easy for all of us when a legitimate and popular website makes it so convenient to engage in activity to overlook the fact that this activity maybe illegal. Attorneys have already been caught doing that in terms of privacy and confidentiality issues re: social media. This is just another area where that is possible.
Bright Line
Just make sure you set your own clearly legal policies about using images. You could always get permission when using third party images or do what I do and only use images that you in fact created.
This post is about creating highly shareable Pinterest images for your business and it raised a couple thoughts. First, that lawyers should steer away from Pinterest in terms of business development and promotion. The realm of images is a dangerous one for lawyers with professional rules that are carefully worded and concern issues that require precision in adherence.
Charitable or Pro Bono Interests
However, if you are a lawyer who has an interest or hobby that promotes lawyers in the library or an event you or your law firm is promoting regarding social justice, fighting disease or hunger, its a different story. Think about having someone create an image for your website that encapsulates your message visually and providing permission to share it from your website.
The other issue concerns sharing images without permission and I will discuss that in tomorrow’s post.
It doesn’t have to be LinkedIn but the point is to update your social networking efforts once a week. (I just did my own LinkedIn updating which is what triggered this post!) What does this look like:
The key is to limited yourself to 20 minutes and to do it every week.
This topic generates the most heat when I engage with attorneys about how to ethically use social media. And most of the questions surround connecting with clients on LinkedIn. Some attorneys don’t want to accept anyone as a Linkedin connection. Some don’t want to expose any of their connections to other connections and others don’t want to let any clients connect with them. Still others are fine with letting anyone connect with them – clients or not. Some of this range of opinion also breakdown by age group and comfort with social media.
Have a Policy
It is most important that you establish a rule for yourself and follow it. Ethically, the most significant issue is confidentiality and if you feel like there is no danger connecting to a client as exposing a sensitive relationship, then its not a problem.
Remember that your status update is fairly visible so you might not want let your connections know you are traveling to a location about a finalizing a partnership agreement if that could tip off either the client who you are traveling to, or other people who might figure out where you are going and why.
Canned Response to Clients You Don’t Want As Connections
If you aren’t comfortable with clients connecting with you on LinkedIn and they send you a connection request you can ignore it or you could come up with a response that explains to your client that you don’t connect with your clients in order to protect their confidentiality. The client may think you are being overly careful but they will also appreciate how seriously you follow your ethical responsibilities.
Here is a good discussion of whether attorneys should charge clients for an initial consultation. One factor that I didn’t see included is the nature of the client. If you are in a competitive field like estate planning and you mostly deal with couples and individuals, it probably makes sense to offer free consultations. Clients are looking for and will pay for the estate planning documents and you won’t draft those in an initial consultation. For a personal injury attorney who need to get a sense of the client before knowing whether is a bone fide claim, then a free consultation is not a problem.
Sophisticated Clients
However, if the client is a sophisticated business person or you are working with an in-house counsel on a matter, they would expect to pay for your time and they should. Finally, you don’t want to look desperate no matter how new or experienced you are. The lookie loos can smell that and take advantage of your situation.
According to a recent study, a significant minority of solo practitioners have resisted getting a website. Here are five reasons why:
Too promotional: Many senior attorneys became professionals when self promotion was seen as unseemly. Advertising was considered unethical if not downright illegal. A website smacks of promotion and requires some engagement by the attorney. This is something they want to avoid like the plague.
Foreign world: Lawyers don’t like to be at the mercy of other professionals. Many of them are very suspicious of technology, particularly any new technology. The Internet doesn’t make sense to them because they don’t use it.
Uncomfortable with what to say: Attorney love to craft their language, use their skills of verbal precision to argue or explain a position. This is a painstaking process. To think about boiling down their practice, their livelihood into a few hundred words, seems impossible.
Worried about being visible: Many attorneys don’t want to attract unwanted attention. They don’t want to deal with legal issues for which they don’t have expertise. They are afraid that a website will lead to an onslaught of irrelevant emails they will forced to answer.
Doing fine, why rock the boat? Many solos had flourishing practices long before the Internet become the World Wide Web. They have made it this far, why bother?
But the fact is, increasingly even attorneys who get their business through referrals, need a website. It is seen as a sign that they are a legitimate business. Here is a link to my article about how to get up a website as painlessly and effectively as possible.
Until recently, LinkedIn had a field for professional skills called “specialties.” This was problematic for attorneys as most state bars have legal certification programs for lawyers called,”specialties” and they had professional rules of conduct that prohibited attorneys who weren’t certified as such to claim specialization.
Skills and Expertise
Now LinkedIn has done away with specialties but lawyers can choose to list there practice focus in the skills and expertise section. These are a pre-defined set that the user chooses rather than creates on the fly. I’m not absolutely convinced that claiming one of these fields avoids the appearance of claiming special skills akin to specialization, but its a much safer option.
No, no, no, I’m NOT proposing that you let people take photos of you bare-chested or showing you holding a margarita and posting it to Facebook. You are lawyers and so am I so my idea of risk is pretty tame.
Pinterest – for Example
I’ve decided to get online and have fun. Let people see another side of me and realize I’m more than someone who posts about social media and legal marketing. So for example, I’ve created a Pinterest Board which focuses on my hometown – Oakland and its history. I go around snapping photos of sites that intrigue me and then I see if I can find a nugget on Wikipedia or the like and then I post the photo with a comment. Already, I’ve gotten people who’ve told me how much they enjoy it. Will this get me business? No but it will give people who do business with me or want to do business with me, a sense of who I am.
So give it a try, do something fun online and share it with friends, family and the world. If it doesn’t lead to business maybe it will lead to finding a new friend. BTW, that’s me in the funny hat on my Pinterest board. Feel free to say hello. I dare you!
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