What Happens When Law Professionals Embrace LinkedIn?

If you are employed in a law firm, it won't have escaped your notice that times they are a changing. Gone are the days, unless you're in the minority, where you were guaranteed that clients would come knocking down your door. The SRA recognises this, your marketing department recognises it too but as a partner, do you?

Even the Solicitor's Regulatory Authority has said that solicitors and law firms, regulated by the SRA, are in a period of significant change. Economic pressures, including the financial crisis, the introduction of new technologies, such as LinkedIn and other social media and changes to the legal landscape, including the Legal Services Bill, despite its many amendments and following its original publication by former minister for justice Alan Shatter 4 years ago, are all placing increasing pressures on law firms.

Customers too, are demanding more from the legal firms they deal with. Following the recession, clients have become more cautious, which has had an effect on spending, with many becoming more aware of the need to shop around for improved efficiency and value, from a firm they know, like and trust. Many firms have tackled this issue by embracing alternative business structures, where both lawyers and non lawyers work in collaboration, as far as providing legal services is concerned and enabling more opportunities for the business to attract investment and grow.

In this article, I will examine just one aspect of the aforementioned challenges - the one I'm an expert in and know I can discuss with some level of parity,when it comes to engaging with anyone employed within the law sector - that subject, of course, is LinkedIn and how to use it to position your expertise.

How can you, as a law professional, maximise your use of LinkedIn and social media to stand out from the crowd? 

If a client was to ask you"what are the unique benefits of dealing with your firm?", what would your answer be? "We have fixed fees, we are local, we've been around 100 years, we offer a personal service"? Just check your firm's own website, what does it say are your key client benefits? Now check a competitor website - do you notice much, if anything in the way of difference - possibly not?   

On a legal 'playing field' where every law firm out there is vying for the same slice of client real estate, how are you going to stand out from the crowd, what will your point of difference be? Because when it comes down to it, in a world where Tesco can sell me a will over the counter or an accountancy firm can handle my accounts or disputes, if you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got and in a competitive market place, this is simply no longer going to cut it. 

How Can LinkedIn Provide Your Firm With a Competitive Edge?

Firstly, I have to point out that being 'on' LinkedIn will make little or no difference to your brand reach and whether the phone rings or not. Sure you can bring someone in to help refresh your partner's profiles and you'll look good. However, this is not a beauty parade and until lawyers, barristers and anyone responsible for business development in your firm recognises that LinkedIn is a tool to enable you to network more effectively and not just about keeping your brand top of mind, then you'll simply use up more of your precious business development time each week and see little of no difference.

What Happens When a Law Professional Embraces LinkedIn?

Have you seen the recent discussion in the LinkedIn group, the Law Society Gazzette 'What use is LinkedIn for lawyers?' posted by Gabor Kovacs of the UK, Hampshire law firm Graeme Quar & Co? So far, this post has attracted more than 40 comments, more than most other discussion posts in this group, which would suggest this topic is of some interest to those who work in the law sector.

The question Gabor posted was a genuine call for help, as having been on LinkedIn for 10 years, he hadn't received any obvious benefit from his membership - some of the responses he received, included:

" When I worked in house at a law firm we definitely found that the fee earners who had a strategic and dedicated approach to their linkedin grew their referral base and received enquiries from potential clients."

"Using LI strategically has contributed to our business - no doubt at all. Not just directly, but I have learned a lot, got to know and listen to a lot of people whom i would not have come across otherwise and two of the conversations about like ideas I have become involved in have led to substantial new things."

"We expanded our business from New Zealand to global and I attribute a sizeable portion of that to judicious, disciplined, and continuous use of LI."

I could add more similar comments but you hopefully get the gist? Will every lawyer who decides to sign up to LinkedIn produce similar results? No, of course not, just like not every lawyer who goes networking will find it produces consistent levels of new business for his or her firm.

In short, as a famous British sitcom star once said, 'He who dares Rodney'. To get the most from LinkedIn and any personal use of social media, including Twitter; you have to dare; dare to stand out from the crowd, dare to engage and not simply connect, dare to put across your point of view, in discussion forums or via a weekly/monthly blog on LinkedIn Publisher. As the world renowned blogger Seth Godin says - "stand out, challenge the status quo, sure, marketing is trying to engage but what about you?".

It's About The Personal Relationships You Nurture

We are living in a relationship age, more so now than ever, people are doing business with people because they don't feel the same level of confidence they perhaps once did with organisations, companies and firms. If you are responsible for business development at your firm, you are part of the relationship building process and there are those who are doing this particularly well, such as a partner and Head of Charity Law at a legal firm, I have been working with during 2015/16, who told me and a very sceptical fellow partner, who was attending my workshop, how she uses LinkedIn to engage with new business contacts, including those she meets at networking events and then calls and arranges to meet these contacts - "LinkedIn just helps add value to my networking skills and increases the results I get"

3 LinkedIn Actions To Take Away From This Post

1. Create a professional looking profile - list your skills and expertise and create a Background and Summary section that speaks to your clients -tell them why you do what you do and why you're different from the rest.
2. Set your stall out - what are your objectives; connecting with more relevant professionals, positioning yourself as an expert in groups or by publishing thought leadership pieces on LinkedIn Publisher? Decide what your priorities are; do you need more clients or is it simply about expanding your network to future proof your career?
3. Allocate a sensible amount of time each week - look, LinkedIn isn't going to do the job for you, you will have to work at it, consistently. If you're not prepared to put the time in, then don't expect to achieve much from this platform. Can you find an hour a day, 3 days a week? No? Well can you find 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week (yes that includes the weekend)? What are your business development priorities, because this is what it boils down to? If business development is important, you'll always find the time.

I'll leave you with these final thoughts from the website journal Keep Calm And Talk Law ... 'Writing for Law Practice Today, Frederick J Esposito commented on the impact and ability of technology in the legal profession:

[Technology can] offer law firms and their clients more efficiency and if properly structured, reduced spend and value. It enables firms to automate certain processes to reduce costs to produce legal services. For example, some practice areas are very paper-intensive or form-driven, and by automating processes or outsourcing to reduce costs, that value is passed onto clients. We’re beginning to see more firms outsource these types of processes to focus their efforts on the more strategic legal work. This provides a win-win situation for the law firms and their clients.

Technology is also influential for the brand management of a law firm. It is becoming increasingly common for firms to have their own Facebook or Twitter accounts, often detailing pro-bono work or their latest successes.

In some firms, it has even become common practice for trainees to assemble and summarise a selection of important, industry-specific issues for their client’s convenience. Technology, therefore, may shape the workload of future trainees and provide the basis for improved client relationships.' - End of article.

Many thanks for reading this.  If you liked it please click on Like and share it.  Constructive comments are always welcome and if you have questions on the subject matter you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send me a message, or else you’ll find my contact details on my LinkedIn profile uk.linkedin.com/in/stevephillip. 

If you need help to get active doing business on social media, or to do more by improving your skills then please get in touch and check out our website  www.linked2success.co.uk. 

You can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Linked2Steve or https://twitter.com/stevejphillip