Emily millEr and KirstEn Hodgson

LinkedIn for Lawyers: Developing a Profile to Grow Your Practice

EMILY MILLER AND KIRSTEN HODGSON

LinkedIn for Lawyers:Developing a Profile to Grow Your Practice

Head of publishing and researchFiona Tucker

PublisherHelen Donegan

EditorLaura Slater

Published by ARK Group:

UK, Europe and Asia offi ce6–14 Underwood StreetLondon, N1 7JQUnited KingdomTel: +44(0) 207 566 5792publishing@ark-group.com

North America offi ce4408 N. Rockwood Drive, Suite 150Peoria IL 61614United StatesTel: +1 (309) 495 2853publishingna@ark-group.com

www.ark-group.com

Layout by Susie Bell, www.f-12.co.uk

Printed by Canon (UK) Ltd, Cockshot Hill, Reigate, RH2 8BF, United Kingdom

ISBN: 978-1-78358-217-4

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

© 2015 ARK Group

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licencing Agency in respect of photocopying and/or reprographic reproduction. Application for permission for other use of copyright material, including permission to reproduce extracts in other published works, should be made in writing to the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher, and source must be given.

DISCLAIMERThis publication is intended as a general guide only. The information and opinions it contains are not intended to provide legal advice. The publishers bear no responsibility for any errors or omissions contained herein.

ARK Group is a division of Wilmington plc. The company is registered in England & Wales with company number 2931372 GB. Registered offi ce: 6-14 Underwood Street, London N1 7JQ. VAT Number: GB 899 3725 51.

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About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Why this book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1Is LinkedIn worth my time? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2Why should you start with LinkedIn and not another social media channel? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3How potential clients now search for legal services . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Chapter 2: An introduction to LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7What is LinkedIn? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7The basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Why your network is important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Chapter 3: How to set up a LinkedIn account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Setting up your account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Choosing your interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Importing contacts and confi rming your interests . . . . . . . . . . . 13Pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Working on your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 4: Creating content for your LinkedIn profi le . . . . . . . . . . 21Publishing updates while editing your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Editing your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Achieving an ‘All-Star’ profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Industry and postcode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Your LinkedIn photo – Which one to use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Current role and description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Two additional positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Contents

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Contents

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Inviting your business contacts to connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 5: How to optimise your profi le to get found by your ideal client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

If it’s important to your clients, it should stand out . . . . . . . . . . . 37Use keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42LinkedIn Profi le Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Your profi le – Step-by-step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Integrating your LinkedIn profi le with other social media . . . . . 60Using LinkedIn’s publishing platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Chapter 6: Enrich your profi le by adding supporting material . . 69Slideshare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69How to add video, PDFs, and other media to your LinkedIn profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Chapter 7: Putting your best foot forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77What visitors view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Getting your client’s attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79How to reorder sections of your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 8: Adding branding to your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83How to communicate your fi rm’s brand via your profi le . . . . . . . 83Moving the order of the profi le sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89How to add a LinkedIn profi le background image . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Chapter 9: Raising your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Why are recommendations important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91How to request recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Removing recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Endorsements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Editing endorsements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Chapter 10: Raising your profi le globally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101How to create a profi le in different languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101What others see . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Deleting your secondary language profi les . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

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LinkedIn for Lawyers: Developing a Profi le to Grow Your Practice

What is WeChat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Is it right for you? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Chapter 11: Get comfortable with your account settings . . . . . . 109The basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Groups, companies, and applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 12: Common LinkedIn account issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Deleting/merging LinkedIn accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131How to avoid publishing updates to your connections when you make changes to your profi le . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Sending/accepting invitations to connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135How to leave a LinkedIn group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140How to remove a connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141How to remove a recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142How to export your contacts from LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142How to fi x things if you’re unable to connect to with others via LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Chapter 13: Premium accounts – Are they worth it? . . . . . . . . . . 147The Job Seeker plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149The Business Plus plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149The Sales Navigator plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Chapter 14: Case studies – Examples of great LinkedIn profi les for lawyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Examples of lawyer LinkedIn profi les that stand out . . . . . . . . 154Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Chapter 15: Next steps – Growing your business network . . . . . 175What next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175LinkedIn best practice tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

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Emily Miller is the founder of Marshall Walker, an independent LinkedIn training organisation based in London focused on the professional services sector. She is an experienced B2B marketer and has worked in the professional services sector for over 15 years. Emily has an MBA from the London Business School. She helps professional service organisations and professionals learn how to build their brand and develop new client relationships by using LinkedIn effectively.

She has spoken at numerous events and runs a series of LinkedIn training workshops in London and other parts of the UK. She also provides strategic advice to fi rms wanting to include LinkedIn in their overall marketing and business devel-opment activities. Marshall Walker’s clients include Eversheds, Herbert Smith Freehills, Simmons & Simmons, Goddard Perry, Foster Denovo, Sable Group, ReedSmith, and Bristows.

Kirsten Hodgson has 15 years of marketing and business development experience in the legal sector, working in-house and as a consultant. She began in the BD and marketing team for the Finance & Capital Markets Practice at Clifford Chance before moving to New Zealand to take up the position of marketing manager for practice group development at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. In 2004, she set up her own consultancy, Kaleidoscope Marketing, to help professional services fi rms to retain and grow their existing client base and attract more of their ideal clients.

Over the past fi ve years Kirsten has seen signifi cant results in her own business from engaging via social networks and blogging. She’s run several social media workshops throughout

About the authors

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About the authors

New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, covering the ways in which professionals can use social media from a business development and marketing perspective, how to get the basics right, and how to leverage these platforms successfully. She’s also working with a number of lawyers, fi rms, and other profes-sionals to help them do just that.

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With over 380 million members in 200 countries around the globe, LinkedIn is the largest online professional networking site in the world. LinkedIn is a powerful tool for raising your profi le and attracting more of your ideal prospects. For legal practitioners and law fi rms, it provides the potential for growing your network of contacts and increasing the number of referrals and sales leads you receive.

Global public relations fi rm Weber Shandwick recently conducted research on social media usage among the top 50 companies on Fortune’s 2014 ‘Global 500’ rankings list.1 LinkedIn was found to be the most popular network: 22 per cent of CEOs had LinkedIn profi les, up from 6 per cent in 2012. According to the study, you’re also more likely to fi nd Fortune’s ‘Most Powerful Women’ on LinkedIn than on any other social network: 26 per cent have profi les.

So, your clients and prospects are on LinkedIn. Are you? If you already have a LinkedIn profi le, does it represent you well enough to attract your ideal clients? LinkedIn for Lawyers: Developing a Profi le to Grow Your Practice is written for lawyers who want to harness the power of LinkedIn to position themselves to attract more of their ideal clients by creating a stand-out, magnetic LinkedIn profi le. We provide you with a step-by-step guide to doing so that will establish you as the ‘go to’ expert in your fi eld.

Chapter 1 covers why your LinkedIn profi le is so important and how social media is currently impacting the legal services buying process.

Chapter 2 moves on to consider how you can use LinkedIn to supercharge your networking. It also explains what your

Executive summary

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Executive summary

LinkedIn network is and how you can use it to raise your profi le with your ideal prospects.

Chapter 3 then provides a step-by-step guide on how to set up a LinkedIn account and avoid the common pitfalls of this process.

Chapter 4 shows you how to edit your LinkedIn profi le and achieve the important ‘All-Star’ ranking. Having an ‘All-Star’ profi le will help you rank higher in searches for legal services. We cover what kind of photo to use, how to add content to your profi le, how to invite your contacts to connect, and how to avoid inadvertently sending updates to your connections when editing.

Chapter 5 covers how to optimise your profi le so you get found by your ideal clients and referrers. You’ll learn the key things clients look for when buying legal services and how to highlight these things in your profi le. We look at ways to opti-mise your profi le so you are found for your key skill offering, and how to communicate what you do well. We will also walk you through the process of adding additional sections to your profi le so you can highlight your expertise.

LinkedIn allows you to create a unique website address for your profi le which will raise its ranking on any searches carried out by prospects on Google or other search engines – this is covered in Chapter 5. In addition, we discuss LinkedIn’s publishing platform and why this is an important channel for building your profi le as a thought leader.

Chapter 6 covers how to enrich your profi le by adding supporting material so you can position yourself with clients and prospects alike – no more getting pigeon-holed! We also discuss the benefi ts of adding supporting material to Slideshare,2 LinkedIn’s business presentation sharing site. Slideshare is one of the top 100 most visited websites in the world.

Chapter 7 reveals what viewers of your profi le look at fi rst and how you can grab their attention quickly and hook poten-tial clients with a winning profi le. We walk you through how to reorder the sections of your profi le so the most important information stands out.

xi

LinkedIn for Lawyers: Developing a Profi le to Grow Your Practice

Chapter 8 then covers how law fi rms can help their legal practitioners communicate the fi rm’s brand in a consistent manner while allowing for the individuality of each person. We provide a template for fi rms to share with their legal practi-tioners so that their profi les are ‘on message’ and get found by more of their ideal clients. We also cover how to create visual brand impact to raise the profi le of the fi rm by adding custom profi le backgrounds.

Chapter 9 addresses LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements. What are they? How do they work? We show you how to request recommendations and how to manage your endorsements so that you get endorsed for your key skills (and not for skills you don’t have!)

Chapter 10 is for lawyers who want to raise their profi le internationally by creating LinkedIn profi les in different languages. We also cover WeChat, a valuable messaging app for lawyers working with global clients. We show you how to set up a WeChat account and how to link it to your LinkedIn profi le.

Chapter 11 tackles your LinkedIn account settings. We show you how to look at other people’s profi les anonymously, discuss the pros and cons of sharing your connections with others, explain what an ‘open’ account is, and show you how to increase your account security. We also look at profi le rank-ings – is it worth worrying about? If you need to block certain people from seeing your profi le, we show you how to achieve this, too.

Chapter 12 takes you through common LinkedIn account problems. We provide you with a ‘how to’ guide to sorting out common issues with your LinkedIn account and profi le. This chapter also provides tips on how to get the best out of your free LinkedIn account so upgrading to a premium account may not be necessary.

Chapter 13 discusses LinkedIn premium accounts – the pros and cons. We cover which premium accounts are most appropriate for lawyers and what the benefi ts are.

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Executive summary

Chapter 14 provides some examples of great lawyer LinkedIn profi les so you can see fi rst-hand how others have used LinkedIn to position themselves as legal experts in their fi elds.

Chapter 15 summarises what you have learned and discusses next steps for staying top of mind with your clients and contacts so they will call you when they have a need.

References1. Weber Shandwick, ‘Socializing Your CEO III: From Marginal to

Mainstream’, May 2015, available at: www.webershandwick.com/uploads/news/fi les/socializing-your-ceo-iii-exec-summary.pdf

2. See Slideshare.net.