Social Media and the Legal Professional

By: Stephanie Kimbro, Esq.Owner, Kimbro Legal Services, LLCAuthor, Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Services Online, ABA/LPM 2010

Email: slk@kimbrolaw.comTwitter: @StephKimbroBlog: www.virtuallawpractice.org

Overview

What is it and how are attorneys using it?

Ethics ConcernsControlling and Monitoring your

Online Presence Best PracticesOther Resources

What is Social Media?

Social media involves the use of web-based applications to communicate, share content and network online with others.

It is used in both personal and professional contexts and often both the public and private spheres of an individual’s life are combined in the use of a single web-based application.

User-generated content fuels social media. The individual who chooses to create and use a profile within a social media application has the responsibility for controlling the privacy and dissemination of the information they post online within the constraints of the application’s settings.

Different Forms of Social Media

  Internal Social Networking: Limited to legal

professionals

External Social Networking: Applications that are accessible by the general public as well as legal professionals

Free SM applications versus paid

Why the distinction? There are varying degrees of security, privacy and malpractice risks that different applications carry with them based on the users.

Specifically For Lawyers

JDSupra Legal OnRamp MHConnected NCBA listservs

Sharing with Everyone

A few popular methods: LinkedIn Facebook

Law firm “fan pages” Twitter Blogging

For other attorneys versus for prospective clients Slideshare YouTube Vimeo Foursquare Customer rating & ranking sites: Avvo, Yelp Social bookmarking: Delicious

Some managing tools: Friendfeed TweetDeck

How Do Attorneys Use it? To network with other legal professionals

Referrals To acquire knowledge related to different practice

areas Find online mentors To conduct research & mine for information related to

a legal matter

• As a client development & marketing tool ▪ to build a stronger online presence for their law practice ▪ establish their reputation and expertise in a certain area of law▪ drive traffic to their virtual law practice or law firm website

Ethics Concerns

Security Confidentiality Expectation of a Attorney/Client Relationship

There is no clear establishment of an attorney/client relationship that can be formed through using social networking apps.

This may be misleading to members of the general public who may use social networking sites as a way to obtain legal advice.

UPL Copyright/Trademark Comply with the State Bar’s Rules & Regulations

regarding online attorney advertising and marketing. Posting testimonials, recommendations from

colleagues on a blog or in a forum

Privacy

Head straight to the privacy setting immediately after registering on a social networking application.

Be aware of the terms of the user agreement with the service provider. Know what information the site is able to share

from your profile and how the flow of data is controlled, recorded, regurgitated, etc.

Know if others are able to post messages, ads, photos or other items on your profile or site that could reflect negatively.

Insurance Coverage

Does your organization’s business or malpractice insurance cover lawsuits resulting from blogging or comments made online by your firm employees?

As with any form of online communications, it is the attorney’s individual responsibility to exercise restraint and to think twice before posting.

Control & Monitor Your Online Presence

Don’t allow others to create your online identity for you. Don’t create anonymous profiles or online

personalities; be transparent in your identity.

Prospective clients will Google your name and your firm’s name. They will go to consumer review and rating sites before hiring you. Do you know what they are finding?

Avoiding Social Media may not be the safest option.

Creating an Online Presence

Develop on an online image for your practice.

Keep that image consistent throughout the methods of social networking that you use. Complete your profiles and use the same bio and other information

consistently Ex. Firm photo in profiles, use Gravatar to post the same photo

across the web.

Consider assigning a single attorney in the firm with the responsibility of monitoring and being active on behalf of the firm within different SM applications. The danger of allowing individuals to speak for or build a reputation

for your organization is that it can be difficult when using these social networking tools to keep the communications strictly business-oriented. While it may in some cases enable the dialogue, in others it could be damaging for the firm’s reputation.

Monitor your online presence on a regular basis. Run searches on Google Alerts and TweetDeck. Copyright and Trademark issues

Educate Your Clients

If you use any form of social networking, expect to run into your clients online.

Let them know your policy towards social media from the beginning of your relationship. Ex: that you will not “friend” or “follow” clients

Explain the risks and importance of protecting the confidentiality of their information.

Teach restraint in posting information online related to their legal matters.

Firm Employees and Social Media

Educate rather than restrict.

Create a social media policy for your firm so that your employees understand your intentions and expectations.

Disclaimers Recommend that your employees use disclaimers if they are providing general

legal advice on any social networking sites or posting on their own blogs.

•  Remind employees not to post names of clients or even hypothetical client situations. ▪ It could be possible that the client or someone who knows the client is reading.

You may want to establish in the firm’s SM policy that any employee should clearly identify him or herself as an attorney with the firm on their blog or other networking site if he or she is going to post work-related comments.

Require that employees include a disclaimer on their personal blog and other profiles stating that their views are personal and not those of the firm. Remember their right to free speech.

Where is it going?

Other Resources

Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black, ABA/LPM Publishing, 2010.

ABA Journal podcast: Management on Social Media: Good Employee Communication Tool or Liability?, April 2010, http://alturl.com/t72n8

Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier, Michael Fertik and David Thompson, http://www.wildwest2.com/

Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives, John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, http://borndigitalbook.com/

ABA eLawyering Task Force, www.elawyering.com