How Can Lawyers Use Twitter

In my mind the jury is still OUT on twitter. Sure there are many who have taken big chugs of the twitter kool-aid and proclaimed there lives to the technology. I am not one of them, yet. I do reserve the right to change my mind, but right here, right now, I am not there and neither is twitter. Jim Calloway is the the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program. He also publishes the Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog. Jim recently wrote an in depth article on twitter. His answer to the question "Can a Lawyer Really Use Twitter to Market a Law Practice?" is a definite maybe. Here is what Jim has to say:

Some of you may think you have no interest whatsoever in Twitter. But if you read through this entire article, you will learn of several ways to use Twitter, even without registering for the service and you will also have my answer to the question in the title.

Can a lawyer use Twitter to market a law practice? This simple-sounding question has generated a bit of controversy which seems to have heated up recently as notable lawyer marketing consultants Larry Bodine (www.lawmarketing.com) and Kevin O’Keefe (www.lexblog.com) took opposing positions in various online forums, with Bodine being anti and O’Keefe being pro.

Twitter is a quite interesting phenomenon. By now, most everyone has heard of it. Over 7 million people have registered Twitter accounts. And the phrase “follow me on Twitter” is now more likely to be heard from TV personalities and celebrities than early technology adopters. A Twitter posting is called a tweet. Twitter is an interesting writing exercise for lawyers as the tweets are limited to 140 characters.

Late night comedians have lampooned Twitter. Recently I was in a room where a respected lawyer unleashed a tirade about Twitter and the egotistical nature of its users messaging about where they ate and other trivia. He didn’t know, of course, that several of the lawyers in the room did use Twitter.

So what’s the truth about Twitter? Is it a great technology advance or an utter waste of time? And, more importantly, can a lawyer use Twitter to market the lawyer’s practice?

To really examine this concept you have to look very briefly at the nature of online information today. Just because Twitter appears to be one of the hottest things right now does not mean it is the best for everyone.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) recently broadcast an episode of the Kalb Report on the state of American journalism. Panelists included the chiefs of the Associated Press and CNN, among others. One of the topics covered was the challenge presented to newspapers and other traditional media by the Internet.

As many of you know, the rise of blogs, personal Web sites and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have been referred to as citizen journalism. Today’s Internet tools allow anyone with the time and inclination to create the online equivalent of a newspaper, radio station, wire service or video broadcast service. This is referred to the democratization of the Internet. Gaining an audience is, of course, another matter.

President of CNN Jonathan Klein may have made a larger point than he intended on the Kalb Report when he said:

“The world is changing. There are many other ways evolving for humans to commit journalism. You know, journalism, it's not really a profession, it's an obsession, you know? It's not really an occupation; it’s a preoccupation for people who want [to do it.]” kalb.gwu.edu/2009/0323/transcript.pdf.

So the question is not whether one can build awareness of practice areas or market one’s law practice through Twitter or other social media. The answer to that question is an obvious “yes,” in my opinion. The real question is whether the individual lawyer or law firm has the inclination, time, talent, writing ability and understanding to open an outpost on the frontier of citizen journalism and to support it once it has been opened.

Let’s assume for the purposes of this discussion that a media source, even a modest small citizen’s journalist outpost needs more than “once a month” posting of content.

So what’s your public information output currently? By that I mean information someone outside of the law firm might read. Many small law firms would truthfully have to answer that question with an answer of one (or less) press release, article or speech per month. My opinion is that if you do not already have new content that you are generating at least a few times per month, it is difficult to see how a law firm would gain any value from opening up a new social media outlet even though it is certainly true that having the outlet would encourage one to produce more content.

This does not mean the once (or twice) a month content producer is precluded from online marketing activities—quite the contrary. A new feature added each month to a “traditional” small law firm Web site or a blog can build great value over time and would put the small firm lawyer among the elites in online marketing compared with the online presence of many other small law firms. Many law firms are likely better served by a traditional law firm Web site or blog for online marketing at the present time than leaping into Twitter or Facebook.

Do not take this statement the wrong way. Using social media can be great fun and even somewhat addictive. If you enjoy it, by all means use it. It could be great if your hobby generated a little business for you.

It should also be noted that the issues are very different when applied to large law firms as opposed to solo or small firm lawyers. Even a 30-lawyer firm will likely have some lawyer or staff person with the ability and inclination to become a social media conduit and even if each of the 30 lawyers only produces “publishable” content three or four times per year, that aggregates to a lot of content. And, of course, if a law firm is large enough to have a marketing/communications/PR department; those staffers will be looking at communicating through all forms of social media.

Twitter is certainly hot. We hear about it all the time. There are several ways to “consume” information from Twitter. Most with an interest have a Twitter account. They follow those other Twitter users with content that interests them. (Subscribing to receive the content of another is called “following.”) One could follow only those you know personally. One could follow celebrities. One could follow news outlets or particular journalists. One could follow only those who tweet about your favorite sports team. One could register with Twitter and never post a single tweet, but just use it to read what others have posted. You can learn more background information about Twitter by reading a pair of articles we published on our Oklahoma Bar Association Web site earlier this year at www.okbar.org/news/onlineexclusives/twitter.htm.

If you do post tweets, then people will follow you so that they can read all of your tweets. I tweet primarily about law office management and technology issues.

You can follow me if you like. I am @jimcalloway

But you can also use Twitter without ever registering with the service because, by default, Twitter content is published to the Internet.

So in your web browser, @jimcalloway can be found at twitter.com/jimcalloway.
The Oklahoma Bar Twitter feed, @OklahomaBar, is found at twitter.com/oklahomabar.
OBA Continuing Legal Education’s Twitter feed, @obacle, is twitter.com/obacle.

But that’s not the only way one can use Twitter. Earlier this year, the Twitter home page, twitter.com, was changed to make it look a lot more like Google and other search engines. It has a search box and displays the most popular topics of the last week, day and minute. You can click on a popular topic to read the most recent tweets or you can search through what the millions of Twitter users are posting about right now. Tom Mighell, @TomMighell, gave a good example of how that would be useful when he spoke at the OBA Technology Fair. His Gmail account wasn’t working and he wondered if it was system-wide or just something with his account. He did a search on Twitter for Gmail, found many recent complaints and new ones being posted every second and knew it wasn’t just him. As opposed to Google or Bing, Twitter search is more about what is popular right now than links to comprehensive or authoritative information.

Certainly a lot of what is tweeted to Twitter is nonsense or of interest only to one’s close friends.

Lawyers who wished to promote their law practices via Twitter would be best advised to tweet about something related to their law practices and profession, in my view. Others would disagree. Certainly a lawyer who loved archery and tweeted about it frequently, mentioning he or she was a lawyer only infrequently, could pick up some legal business or referrals from other archery enthusiasts who use Twitter. But that’s not really using Twitter as a law marketing tool. That’s enjoying Twitter and picking up some business as a result just like one might do from coaching little league or participating in a civic organization.

My view is that you are not likely going to convince anyone to hire your law firm tweeting every mundane detail of your life. And those who follow you may soon un-follow you.

I know there are many ways to market, but here’s one concept of how a small firm lawyer could use Twitter to market his or her practice.

1. Set up a Twitter account using either your name or your law firm name, possibly with the word law included. Post your picture and a link to your law firm Web site on your profile. Twitter accounts are personal and you need a picture.

2. After you have posted several tweets, send an e-mail out to your tech-savvy friends announcing that you are on Twitter and giving them the web address, e.g., twitter.com/myfirm. Those already using Twitter will understand they can follow you at @myfirm. Those who don’t use Twitter can click on the link.

3. Do some searches in Twitter to see those who you might want to follow. When you find them and follow them, also look to see who they are following and who might be following them for more prospects for you to follow.

4. Try to tweet at least weekly, but no more than 4 or 5 times a day. (The Twitter evangelists have given me grief over this expressed opinion before and others are free to use a different business method. To me, there’s a great danger for a practicing lawyer to give the appearance on Twitter that they are not all that busy and have lots of free time to tweet.)

5. Follow almost everyone that follows you. (Many people view this as a hard and fast rule of Twitter etiquette. I do not and I do not do that personally right now. But for this business model, I believe it makes sense.)

6. Check your followers every now and then and block the few with inappropriate profile pictures or other salacious content.

7. Be very, very, very careful not to violate attorney-client privilege or your client’s privacy with tweets. Don’t post negative things about opposing counsel or judges. You will regret it later.

What do you tweet about? News relating to your community, your practice areas and the legal professional in general. The people I follow on Twitter are those who provide me links to great articles online that I might otherwise have missed. To me, the best thing about Twitter is the fact that it provides me with a large group of friends, professional acquaintances, some total strangers and some technology superstars who all voluntarily serve as a clipping service for me with links to news articles, blog posts, product launches and more. They also toss in their own unique and personal content.

But the main thing to remember is that Twitter is a tool. There is more than one way to use a tool. If you have fun following everyone’s comments about your favorite sports teams and never post a tweet, that is great, and if you build a national practice representing archery enthusiasts, that’s great, too.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal Oct. 10, 2009 - Vol. 80; No. 26. Please click here for the original article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Check Out Evernote

Evernote is a neat little application that I run on my Blackberry and my desktop PC. On the Blackberry it allows me to type notes, and then synch them with the application on my PC. Handy for jotting down new hearing dates when I get them in court, brainstorms, etc., etc. Erik Mazzone likes Evernote too. Here is an article he wrote about it in Law Practice Today.

I am not, by nature, an organized person. I am in a constant battle against entropy over all of the bits of information (particularly digital information) that comprise my work life. Over the past year or so I have recruited a new ally in my war against chaos and disorganization: Evernote.

Evernote is a note-taking software program. For those of you who came of age in the '70s and '80s as I did, think of it as a Trapper Keeper binder for your digital world. You can stick all kinds of information in Evernote: emails, pdfs, word processing documents and spreadsheets, digital photos, even Twitter messages. The ability to store lots of different file types in one application means that users can organize by subject without having to remember that Word documents are stored in MyDocuments, bookmarks are stored in a web browser, photos are stored in MyPictures, etc.

Evernote has three different incarnations: it can be downloaded as a desktop application to either Mac or PC; it can be downloaded as a mobile application on a Palm Pre, Blackberry or Windows Mobile Device -- and yes, of course there is an iPhone app for it; and it lives on the web as a software-as-a-service application.

Evernote is a "freemium" service; it is available as free, but many of its best features are only available with the paid version. As of May 2009, of the more than one million registered Evernote users, around fourteen thousand pay for the premium service.

The basic organizational unit of Evernote is a Notebook. Users can create as many Notebooks as they need to organize their information. When you add data to a Notebook, the data gets stored as a Note. Each note can be further organized using Labels. There is no folder structure in Evernote, so it is a bit of an adjustment (at least it was for me) to start thinking in terms of Labels instead of folders. There is also an excellent search function in Evernote to quickly locate Notes.

Getting data into Evernote is a snap. In its simplest form, a Note can be text document that you type directly into Evernote; the interface is bare bones and similar Notepad on PCs. The terminology evokes the apt metaphor of writing notes on loose leaf paper in a notebook.

Beyond typing directly into Evernote, users can also add data in several handy ways:

1) Email: each user receives an email address and can email information directly into Evernote.

2) Clip from the Web: Evernote also features a web clipper "bookmarklet" (available for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome) that allows users to save a webpage directly into Evernote with a couple of clicks. Firefox has an Evernote browser extension that allows greater customization of the content to be clipped from a web page.

3) Drag and Drop: PDFs, Word and Excel documents can be dragged and dropped into the desktop as easily as they can be moved from folder to folder in Windows or OSX.

4) Scan: some scanners, such as the highly praised Fujitsu ScanSnap, can be set up to scan directly into Evernote. Setting the scanner to OCR incoming documents combined with Evernote's internal text recognition makes Notes easy to find.

5) Twitter: by following @myEN on Twitter and connecting it to your personal Evernote account, users can easily move content from Twitter into Evernote for reference, either through public tweets or private direct messages.

One of my favorite features of Evernote is its ability to sync across multiple machines and platforms. I use a PC at work and a MacBook at home. Evernote works equally well on both operating systems, keeps my information flawlessly synced between machines and backs up my data to the web.

Both the free and premium versions of Evernote synchronize across platforms and provide text recognition within the notes. Users of the premium version ($45 per year) also get a larger monthly upload allowance (500MB vs 40MB -- this applies to new data added to Evernote each month) to the Evernote web platform, the ability to text search within PDFs, SSL encryption, and no promotions or advertising. For lawyers who bristle at the idea of storing any data on servers not in their own office, Evernote does permit Notebooks to be designated as local rather than synchronized, though that diminishes some of the functionality.

So, what are some of the uses for Evernote? Personally, I use Evernote in a few different ways:

1) Projects: I create a Notebook for each of my projects and store all of the relevant support material in it, including emails, documents, PDFs and web clippings.

2) Article Archive: any time I come across an article or blog post I want to remember, I clip it into Evernote and Label it accordingly.

3) Medical Records: I scan and store all of my medical and dental paperwork into one Notebook.

4) Business Cards: I scan and store all of the business cards I receive into a Notebook; since the PDFs are text searchable I can search for a given name or firm, and also see the notes I write on the back of the card.

5) Travel Ideas: I clip articles, photos and ideas for future trips and into a travel Notebook; when I actually prepare to take a trip I create another Notebook to store my plane and hotel confirmation as well as any other data I will need while traveling.

I assume you already have a practice management software program in your office to manage all of the client and matter specific information - if you don't, do that first. Evernote is not a replacement for practice management software. It does, however, offer a solution for all of the information that is not related to particular clients and matters. Legal research, a document repository, articles that you've read online and want to keep - Evernote offers a place to store them all in one system.

Evernote does have some limitations: certain web pages (particularly if a user clips an entire page as opposed to an article) don't format nicely in Evernote. While it is convenient to store all of one's information in Evernote, Word and Excel documents are not as accessible as if they were stored in a MyDocuments folder (it requires several more clicks to launch a document).

All things considered, though, Evernote offers a great solution to help lawyers manage information and stay organized.

Please click here to read the original article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

The art of a respectful social media connection request

When you send someone an invitation to connect on LinkedIn or Facebook and they think, "Who is this person?" you may be shooting yourself in the foot and missing out on connecting with a great resource. Some people have very loose connection standards, but many people are more careful about who they connect to. If you want people to be more receptive to connecting with you, be sure to give them a reason.

Let's start with LinkedIn. No matter how well you know someone, it's impersonal to just use the stock invitation, "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn." Adding a bit of personalization is always a classy touch. Even something as simple as, "It was fun running into you this morning. Let's connect here," shows that you're thinking of them as a person rather than just as a connection.

Personalization is especially important if the person doesn't know you. It's a good idea to let that person know why you want to connect with them. "Hi, Joe. We both belong to the Social Media Mavens group, and I liked your response to... I've been reading your blog, and I like... I'd like to connect with you here now. You never know when our connection might become useful."

Few people would receive the preceding request and not accept. You have stated how that person came onto your radar, expressed interest in their work, and gave them a reason to connect with you.

On the other hand, if you receive a LinkedIn connection request from a stranger, you don't have to just archive it or accept it blindly. You might want to message the person something simple like, "I received your connection request, but please forgive my faded memory. I can't remember how we know each other." This provides the person with an opportunity to clarify the connection request. You can then accept or archive the request with better judgment.

It's also a good idea to handle Facebook friend requests similarly. Since Facebook is a "finding ground" for old friends and acquaintances, it's especially important to remind your new/old friend of your connection. Even something as simple as this works, "Hi, Lisa. Remember me from _____ High School? We were in Algebra 2 together. I'd love to reconnect and know what you're up to these days."

Facebook makes it more difficult to clarify a connection request from a supposed stranger however, because by messaging someone, you allow them access to some of your personal profile information for 30-days. That may make you uncomfortable enough to just ignore the friend request. On the bright side though, once you ignore a friend request, that person has the opportunity to send a new friend request, and perhaps this time, they'll send you a message to let you know who they are and why they want to connect.

Not everybody remembers everyone they ever encountered, so if you want the best possible chance of having your social media connection request accepted, make sure you refresh one's memory or give them a reason to get to know you now.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
My LinkedIn Profile
On Twitter
On Facebook

Please click here for the original article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

There is No Shame in Being a Wealthy Lawyer

David Lorenzo had lots of good stuff on his Rainmaker Lawyer blog. Recently he posted his intriguing thoughts on thinking and growing rich. I like what he has to say.

Some lawyers don’t want to be wealthy. You read that correctly. They want to make enough money to be comfortable and they have no desire to grow their practice beyond that point.

That’s fine if the attorney really feels that way.

There is a disturbing trend in the United States today and I am seeing it more and more among lawyers. This trend is the disdain being expressed for wealthy people.

I’m not talking about an endorsement of redistribution of wealth and I’m not talking about forcing the rich to pay more in taxes. This is something much more sinister and debilitating. This is a mindset that will keep YOU from achieving financial success.

Why is this mindset dangerous?

Our subconscious minds control a good portion of our activity. If you actually HATE wealthy people you can rest assured you will never be like them. Your subconscious mind will reject everything about them – including money.

Every time you make a little more than your subconscious thinks is appropriate, your behavior will change to help you meet your lowered expectations. You will procrastinate. You’ll refuse to delegate. You’ll abandon your strategic plan in favor of the latest fad.

Sometimes your subconscious goes overboard. You shut down all productive business development activity when you hit the point your psyche has set for financial success. If you’ve ever had a month where you didn’t sign up a new client you understand what I mean.

What causes this?

There are three things that cause attorneys to behave this way:

Misplaced Ideology

In legal circles there are folks who do not view a law firm as a business. They view it as a semi-public service in which an attorney is allowed to make a comfortable living but he is looked down upon if he takes aggressive action to grow his practice and become a BIG LAW firm. In these circles, big is synonymous with bad. Like the Big Bad Wolf.

Once a sole practitioner decides to hire other lawyers and focus on business strategy he is viewed as a scourge by these ideologues. Those who sit in judgment forget that big firms often do good work. Big firms often charge fair fees. Big firms often zealously represent the client.

Being a good lawyer and getting rich are not mutually exclusive. You can grow a business – like a law firm – and be ethical.

Personal Insecurity

It happens in all professions. People who are not comfortable in their own skin often criticize those who possess the qualities they lack. Lawyers who work long hours yet do not know how to translate that effort into significant income often hate those who can.

If you find yourself gritting your teeth the next time a lawyer with more money walks into the room, do a self examination. What does that person have that you do not? What have they done differently than you? How can you bridge the gap between where you are and where you’d like to be?

Success starts by looking in the mirror and liking what you see. If you don’t like yourself you will never be successful.

Laziness

The disdain for wealth is often an excuse for lack of quality work or lack of effort. People who show disdain for the success of others are not performing the right activities or enough of the right activities to realize success for themselves.

If you don’t want to get off the couch and learn how to build a thriving law practice, that’s fine. But do not hate those who are putting in the effort and earning the rewards.

The bottom line: People who despise folks with money usually have none. There is no shame in being successful and making a great living.

Please click here to read the original article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Using Kindle To Show Evidence

Sharon Nelson, Esq. writes the Electronic Evidence Blog. Recently she wrote about taking the Kindle to court.

I love my Kindle DX. But, silly me, I was thinking about all the books, newspapers and magazines I could now carry around on my Kindle, especially on planes, trains and cruise ships.

This morning, I met with one of my favorite litigators, David Oblon of Albo & Oblon LLP. I was fascinated to hear David tell me that he regularly brings his Kindle DX into the courtroom to show the judge demonstrative evidence (native PDF files), simply handing the Kindle over to the judge. So far, all the judges have been happy to review demonstrative evidence on the Kindle.

Who knew? Which is why I like hanging around an attorney as smart and tech-savvy as David!

So the next time you head to court, save yourself the trouble of lugging around a box of papers you don't need - bring your Kindle.

Click here for the original article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

ABA Military Pro Bono Project Needs Volunteer Lawyers

The American Bar Association's Military Pro Bono Project connects active-duty military personnel to free legal assistance for civil legal issues beyond the scope of services provided by a military legal assistance office. The Project's web portal has been created to allow case-handling military attorneys to refer financially eligible servicemember clients to the Project, which will then make every available effort to place the case with a volunteer pro bono attorney qualified to assist the client with the legal issue.

Registered pro bono attorneys may also use this site to track their cases, find resources supporting their work, and connect with other pro bono attorneys representing military personnel. Military and civilian attorneys may click here for further information on how to get involved.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Specializing

I practice family law exclusively. It wasn't always that way. Commercial litigation, insurance defense, personal injury, jury trials, some transactional work all showed up in my lawyer life. Roughly ten years ago I made the decision to focus on family law, and only family law! It was the best professional decision I have ever made. By focusing on one area, I became a better lawyer, and I gained the marketing advantage of being able to say I specialize. Lee Rosen has similar thoughts, and writes about them on his Divorce Discourse blog.

I’m a huge believer in focusing on a single area of practice. I’m convinced that being focused, early, was the principal factor in my initial success.

We all need to be known, liked and trusted. Narrowing the focus of your practice will rocket you forward on the “known” front. It sure did for me.

Last week I was a guest on the premiere episode of The Un-Billable Hour with Rodney Dowell. We started talking about the reluctance of new lawyers to focus on a niche. They get nervous about turning away business, any kind of business, and they take cases that fall outside of their chosen area of focus.

Why do they do it? The money, of course.

I understand being scared about income. It’s tough out there and it’s incredibly tempting to take work outside of your niche when you’re having a slow month.

But, it’s important to let it go. It’s important to stay focused and build your practice by doing the work in the niche you’ve selected.

Why?

A bunch of things happen when you stay focused -

First, you have free time to dig deeper into your area of focus. You can spend more time on the matters you have and keep learning. When you learn more you (1) can charge more, (2) you become more efficient, (3) you can delve more deeply into sophisticated issues and cases within your niche by earning the opportunity to take on higher value projects.

Second, you keep building your reputation in the niche. The client’s you’re working with are spreading the word. You’ve got time to meet with referral sources. Everyone comes to know you as the “go to” person for your area of practice.

Third, you get the opportunity, with every case, to meet people that might refer to your practice. Even if you’re taking the cases at a lower fee than you’d like, you’ll be meeting judges, lawyers, clerks, experts and others that will refer business to you. They’ll know what kind of law you practice and they’ll likely remember you.

Finally, every time you turn away business you create a grateful person in your marketplace. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say someone calls you and asks you to handle a traffic ticket case. You respond by telling the caller that you aren’t really expert in that area of law, that you appreciate the call, but that your practice is limited to family law. You, of course, refer them to someone that can help.

The caller now gets that you’re the family law expert. They appreciate that you weren’t willing to take their money to do something you aren’t qualified to do. They appreciate your help in finding the right lawyer. They tell their friends about you because you did something remarkable – you put their interests above your own. You also generate goodwill with the attorney you referred the traffic ticket to. Win-win-win.

Bottom line – turn down the money. That’s how you make more money over the long haul.

Please click here for the original article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.