Connecting with clients - what tools work?

Emily Allbon City University

London

Famous connections No.1

Famous connections No.2

Secret

weapon!

Famous connections No. 3

Bit about me professionally

• 14 years at City• Open door policy• Role widened over

time• Interests

broadened into learning & teaching and technology

• Now lecturer…

Bit about me personally

Not all tranquil!

Big commute! 4 hrs per day….

Walk – Train – Tube - Walk

City University London

• 6 Schools• City Law School • History – Inns of Court

School of Law founded in 1852. Northampton Institute founded in 1894.

• 17,000 students (35% PG)• Full spectrum of law

Academic/Professional

Studying law in the UK

• £££££• Fierce competition

for ‘apprentice’ stage

• Legal Education & Training Review (LETR)

• Law firms and regulators looking for new ways of procuring trainees

Lawbore

• Started in 2002• Gateway to

resources• Community

elements• Multimedia• Focus on legal

skills, employability, support network

Woo hoo!

• V proud for Lawbore to have been recognised externally to my institution: – HEA Award for Best Legal

Education & Technology Paper 2012

– Law Librarian of the Year 2012

– ALT/Routledge Teaching Law with Technology Prize 2013

– HEA National Teaching Fellowship 2013

Different technologies used in Lawbore

• Blogs• Talking slideshows• Video • Twitter• Prezi

COMING SOON!• Talking Essays• Videoscribe• Problem q story tool

• Multimedia• Variety of resources • Focus on the visual • Collegiate

Why is it popular?

Law profs….yawn…• “Law professors’ personal stories about ‘how I

learned it’ – somewhat meaningless and antiquated. ..Novice peers, are perfect mirrors to help each other reflect and regulate law student learning” (Herndon, 2010)

=

And then in 1974…

“Advice given by students is closer to your heart than that given by your professors”

“Felt inspired by reading about what others in our position have achieved”

But…needed to know more!

"...when the students knew I was representing City University they couldn't stop talking about Lawbore. Words can't describe how happy I was to see students outside our university talk about it and use it."• Couldn’t be complacent• What do they want in terms of online

support?• What tools do they use to keep up to date

and organise themselves?• How do they really work?

Social media and professions

Landscape in professions mixed - tension exists:

• Being 'connected' & engaging - making their profession more accessible. Raising profile.

• Being ethical whilst following organisational ethical guidance/codes of practice. Maintaining professional standards and public/client trust

Reputation or ridicule?

What do students think about social media?

• Underwhelmed

• Hrastinski and Aghaee (2012) "they perceive that their use [social media] is not related with their studies"

• Consumers not creators "I don't tweet but I like to use it to search for information"

• Appreciative of institutions trying to engage in new ways

• Like to have blessing of authority - lecturer recommendations but intrusion too far frowned upon (joining course Facebook group)

Community v competition

• Are law students sharing & caring or out to knock out potential competition? Selwyn (2009) "it was noticeable that students were generally unwilling to offer extensive assistance to each other".

• Lawbore aims to offer community feel - bring students together.

• Differs between cohorts: more vocational course seen as means to an end - happy to share to get result. Pure academic = more protective.

Information seeking • Wide range of sources required & for different

purposes. For study (cases, journal articles, legislation), but also for potential employment: research about employers, work experience opportunities, events etc.

• Keeping up to date "I get the Guardian Law newspaper bundle into my email. I'm generally quite lazy so it's good if something comes to me".

• Authority - awareness of limitation of search engines "you have to be careful...like if it's reputable or not"

• Word of mouth important "I spoke with students from the year above in terms of what courses I might want to do in year 3"

Implications for teaching & learning

• Authority still important - more academics need to engage in social media and online communities to guide students

• Do we need to stop striving for interaction? Just accept that law is a solitary subject?

• More linking of technology and law to the 'real world' and future of the profession. Collaborations with student lawyers from other countries (Law Without Walls)

Top 5 Tools: Twitter

• Networks – lawyers, academics, students, alumni

• Getting a message out internationally• Some light relief!• Allow you toconnect in a less stuffy way, use a more informal voice.

Be personal

RT interesting things

Promotion & marketing

Be silly

#judgesongs

Hashtag challenge

Top 5 Tools: Blogs

• Easy to set up• Concern around the time factor • Great for establishing a presence• Different tones of writing possible

Top 5 Tools: Talking slideshows

• Adobe Presenter• Articulate Storyline• Prezi• The free one: Jing

Great for demo-ing databases, bringing humour into online lectures, giving alternatives to reading everything…Can combine audio, video and written associated docs

Top 5 Tools: Videoscribe

• Great to engage visually• Attract attention• Needs preparation in terms of storyboarding• Bit of artistic flair needed

See Margaret Hagan for other visual ideas re Law

Top 5 Tools: LinkedIn

• The value of LinkedIn IS connections• Connect with existing networks & reach out to

new ones – both in librarianship & outside it!• Highlight collaborations and projects• Promotion• New opportunities and conversations• Social networking with clients/• potential clients• Current awareness

Useful resources from UK law libraries

• Current Awareness from the Inner Temple Library http://www.innertemplelibrary.com

• The Law Bod Blog http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/lawbod/

• BIALL blog http://biall.blogspot.co.uk/ • IALS guides

http://libguides.ials.sas.ac.uk/guides

Where next for?

• Do more to encourage use of tech tools by students and staff.

• Results reassuring – indicating thirst for new resources. More development work with Lawbore on the agenda.

• Talking Essays

• Researching for a Moot video

• New Research and Mooting sub-sites.

• More training for students in tools to help them organise and manage themselves.

Final thoughts…

Thanks for listening!

References • E. Allbon “Web, Social Media and Online Communities for those

Studying for Professions: Embraced or Tolerated? Managing Information Online at The City Law School” http://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=article&articleid=elml_2014_2_30_50095

• Legal Education and Training Review. Setting the Standards: the future of legal services education and training regulation in England and Wales, June 2013. http://letr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/LETR-Report.pdf [retrieved February 2014].

• M. Hagan “Law and Design” http://www.margarethagan.com/drawings/illustrated-law-flow-charts/

• S. Hrastinski and N.M.Aghaee "How are campus students using social media to support their studies? An explorative interview study" Education and Information Technologies, 17:4, 2012, pp.451-464.

• N. Selwyn, "Faceworking: exploring students' education-related use of Facebook”. Learning, Media and Technology, 34:2, 2009, pp.157-174.

Image credits• Slide 1 – 7/8” rear assembling receptacle by Connectors distribution box

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shieldconnectors/8015817623/ • Slide 2 - HRH Prince George of Cambridge

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alex-s/14116472462/ • Slide 3 - Kylie Minogue by Adam Romero

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bart234465/467919068/i • Slide 4 - hugh_jackman_023 by pimkiehttps

://www.flickr.com/photos/pimkie_fotos/3444786387/ • Slide 4 - Hugh Jackman by Gage Skidmore

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/9358553996/• Slide 6 – purchased from istockfoto• Slide 8 - Poppies on Liddington Hill by TempusVolat

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrmorodo/7457819968 • Slide 8 - Lacock abbey by Bernard Blanc https://www.flickr.com/photos/50879678@N03/

7166689481 • Slide 8 - Stonehenge by Jeffrey https://www.flickr.com/photos/jb912/7190313554/ • Slide 8 - Westbury White Horse by Walt Jabsco

https://www.flickr.com/photos/waltjabsco/3560554280/ • Slide 9 - IMGPO394 by Matt Buck https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbuck007/4144685821/ • Slide 11 - Champagne by Faberzeus https://www.flickr.com/photos/faberzeus/4655745123/

Image credits• Slide 12 – Purchased from istockfoto• Slide 13 - Purchased from istockfoto• Slide 14 - ‘Professor Finger Puppet’ by abbey*christine

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbeychristine/2111324084/ and ‘The famous yawn - cc licence’ by Hilary Quinn http://www.flickr.com/photos/hilaryaq/3435257717/

• Slide 17 - Social media by Sean MacEntee http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5209796269/

• Slide 18 – Keith Perry, Telegraph, 29 August 2014http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11063177/Judge-reprimands-lawyer-for-dressing-like-something-out-of-Harry-Potter.html & Legal Cheek http://www.legalcheek.com/

• Slide 20 – purchased from istockfoto• Slide 23 – purchased from istockfoto• Slide 29 – 11 tweets from the #hipsterlaw hashtag that are probably too

hilariously ironic for most lawyers to understand http://www.legalcheek.com/2014/07/11-tweets-from-the-hipsterlaw-hashtag-that-are-probably-too-cool-for-most-lawyers-to-have-come-across/

• Slide 32 – Margaret Hagan – illustrated flowcharts http://www.margarethagan.com/drawings/illustrated-law-flow-charts/

• Slide 36 – purchased from istockfoto• Slide 37 – purchased from istockfoto