LIANSWERS Issue 19 | April 2013 This Newsletter Includes Information to Help Lawyers Reduce the Likelihood of Being Sued for Malpractice
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2014-06-18, 5:14 PM LIANSWERS Issue 19 | April 2013 This newsletter includes information to help lawyers reduce the likelihood of being sued for malpractice. The material presented is not intended to establish, report, or create the standard of care for lawyers. The articles do not represent a complete analysis of the topics presented, and readers should conduct their own appropriate legal research. Welcome to the special ABA TECHSHOW 2013 edition of LIANSwers. This year's event was held in Chicago from April 4-6th, and continues to attract attendees worldwide, including a fantastic Nova Scotia crew who have shared their knowledge, skills and tips with you here. We hope you can join us for next year's event from March 27-29, 2014. Thank you and happy reading! Trinda Ernst, current CBA President, explains why she is a five-time attendee of ABA TECHSHOW: “I have no background in computers and believe we are under-utilizing technology because we do not know what we can do with what we do have and what other options there are to help deliver legal services more efficiently.” LEVERAGING LINKEDIN AND FINAGLING FACEBOOK: BUILDING RELEVANCE ON LEADING SOCIAL MEDIA The growing popularity of these two social platforms may cause you to rethink your marketing strategy and consider using both as a way to get your name out there. In this session, presenters Dennis Kennedy and Allison Shields reviewed the identity, role and purpose and both of these social media platforms in order for you to maximize the benefits offered by each. It was reported that in January, LinkedIn had 200 million users, 700,000 of whom were lawyers and executives from every Fortune 500 company. Facebook reported having 950 million users with a 50/50 split between men and women. What is the point? When marketing, you want to be where the people are! The differences between social media platforms may dictate how often you update and you connect: Facebook – need to be connected. You must confirm a “friend request” in order for another person to access your personal information. Otherwise your security settings can dictate how much of your information is open to the public. Twitter – anyone can follow you on Twitter and you don’t necessarily have to follow them back. It’s a far more “sandbox” approach to social media. LinkedIn has always been considered the social networking tool for professionals, but still requires connections in order for others to gain access to your personal information. Blogs (short for web logs) – similar to Twitter, where people can follow you but you don't have to follow back. Facebook may be the most popular social media platform but the reality is that nobody looks for a lawyer on Facebook. However, your Facebook friends could lead to referrals. LinkedIn is designed to put you in touch with potential referrals directly rather than to open the lines of communication. Beware of the following: 1. Do not provide false or misleading information that could result in a claim or complaint against you; 2. Be clear on when you have been retained, when you are providing legal advice and when you are providing legal information; 3. Social media platforms cross many jurisdictions, be careful not to provide legal advice outside of Canada; 4. Beware breaches of confidentiality; and 5. Use disclaimers. Building a profile on LinkedIn or Facebook LinkedIn allows for an extended professional resume that you put online, which would then be out there working for you. It allows you to provide biographical details that become your profile that has a professional focus. Make sure to use the summary http://www.lians.ca/lianswers/aba_techshow_2013_special_edition Page 1 of 14 2014-06-18, 5:14 PM section it is an opportunity to showcase credentials and target who you would like to have as a client. Facebook offers a timeline feature that is chronological rather than biographical. It is a limited profile but allows for a lot more visual and tells what you've done and when. While there is less room to explain more about yourself, it is more social because it allows others to post and interact on your timeline. Overall tips: 1. Use a professional photo on LinkedIn; with Facebook you might want to crop a fun photo. 2. With LinkedIn, use a resume type of approach; with Facebook use less professional language. With LinkedIn think about having an external focus and what people would like to read about. This is your 30-second elevator speech! 3. Add media to both sites – photos, links to presentations, audio such as podcasts 4. Make a page for your business as another way to increase your firm’s visibility. On LinkedIn they are referred to as “company pages” and on Facebook, "business pages". Facebook’s feature is not as fulsome as LinkedIn but it allows more interaction with your clients. 5. Make sure to set up milestones on Facebook e.g. when someone became a partner. 6. Schedule posts in advance and have different administrators. Connections LinkedIn requires “connections” and the more information you include will help find connections; LinkedIn will make suggestions using your profile info or you can load your entire contact database. Use personalized invitations to connect then take relationships offline! Get potential client contact information and meet with them. Facebook is more personal and a “friend” is more intimate than a connection is on LinkedIn; think family, close friends – a smaller environment and not so lawyer-focused. When accepting or inviting friends on Facebook, keep in mind that what your friends do will appear on your newsfeed; consider creating “friend lists" so you can manage what they see and the lists can be either automated or customized. Tips: 1. Have a philosophy on who you connect with e.g., quality versus quantity. 2. When searching on LinkedIn, connect with someone you wouldn't know directly and get an introduction. It helps if you know something about that person, too! 3. Remember to use personalized invitations so they know who you are. 4. Send a thank-you note when they accept your invite, or when they reach out! 5. Figure out what the next step is once you have made that connection – social media platforms are a tool to build relationships. 6. Segregate your contacts – you can tag your contacts on LinkedIn and send messages to groups of contacts; or you can build “Friends Lists” on Facebook. Participation LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to provide updates, which is a good way to remind people that you're out there and provide valuable information via links but it’s not the only way to participate. Groups offer the biggest participation element. Connect with a group with similar interests and participate in online discussions that take place within those groups; it’s like networking online and very similar to what you do in real life! "Liking" updates on both Facebook and LinkedIn is a great way to connect with someone without having to do much and it also may encourage some interaction. Facebook participation is more personal and a little trickier to use for your professional life and most is done through your newsfeed either by commenting or "liking" and acknowledging that you've read it. It is a great way to hear from old friends and connect once again but control your friend lists so you can control who sees what. Tips on both platforms: 1. Post your own status updates – but not what you're doing. Write something interesting about yourself. Sometimes the most interesting posts are when someone points to a great article or presentation. Providing information and valuable content reminds people that you are out there. 2. Join groups on LinkedIn, and make sure you get email updates with a digest of topics of discussions so you don’t miss anything 3. The option to send a private message can be helpful if you can't locate someone’s contact information, and a nice way to http://www.lians.ca/lianswers/aba_techshow_2013_special_edition Page 2 of 14 2014-06-18, 5:14 PM occasionally reach out to someone personally rather than “liking” their updates. 4. Make recommendations of vendors or professionals. 5. Endorsements on LinkedIn are similar to "liking" on Facebook. It’s easy and a good way for your connections to have their skills recognized. Sometimes the quantity of endorsements could make a difference with respect to getting hired. The only drawback is that it is not personal. 6. “Liking” on Facebook is an easy way to acknowledge an update without spending a lot of time interacting. 7. Consider “sharing” your friends’ posts – it’s a great way to help someone else get their message out! 8. Remember to check the privacy and account settings so you don’t share information other than as you intended. With these tips in mind, social media is a great way to connect with friends and clients and a fabulous way to grow your practice. Read Less... THE FRUGAL FIRM Hosted by Marc W. Matheny and Patrick Crowley, the “Frugal Firm” session explored alternative solutions to save solo and small firms time and money through low-cost alternatives to necessary products and services. They also looked at free web-based services and how to protect operating systems from attack, as well as when and how to upgrade your technologies. Here are some of the things they say are essentials for a law office: A decent computer system: They recommend a fast processor, adequate memory and space to store programs, documents and files. The system should have at least 2GB or more of memory (preferably 4+ GB, especially if you use voice recognition software), a 320GB or larger hard drive, at least one 23-inch monitor, a 512MB+ video card and a Pentium core duo or quad core processor running at a minimum speed of 2.0-3.0 GHz.