"Think before you tweet" - George Monbiot
"If I am a lawyer looking to use social media effectively, I am listening to key words and key phrases relevant to my area of law and the industry I represent. That’s in addition to the obvious ones – my name and the url of my blog.
I want company names, case names, regulations, and the names of other thought leaders. When such names are mentioned in influential sources – trade publications, blogs, Twitter, newspapers, and other mainstream media, I want it fed to me. I also want to have RSS feeds set up from relevant blogs and other influential sources. Twitter lists with the influencers and thought leaders are also critical.
With that sort of listening environment, I pick up a 360 degree assessment of the relevant discussion in my field. I can now strategically share what I am reading and engage in the conversation through my blog and other social networks.
Without such an environment, I am operating in a vacuum and totally in-equipped to take part in social media. Heck blogging and using Twitter without monitoring like that could be considered just making noise, rather than partaking in a conversation that builds trust, relationships, and a reputation."More here.
"But the “system” to which Hamilton refers does not any longer reflect reality. The nexus between public opinion, the media and the administration of justice is no longer where it was 13 years ago when it was held that the former taoiseach could not be tried, putting him in effect beyond the law.
Experienced prosecutors are of course right to raise these issues. When and if charges are finally brought to full hearing, claims of prejudice and bias will be among the earliest hares to be coursed by defence lawyers. It will be pleaded that such has been the intensity of public anger, so vile have been the media in their coverage, and such has been the popular rush to judgment that it will be impossible to empanel jurors with open minds.
Hyper-connected world
But in the hyper-connected world of today it is unrealistic to expect that a panel of intelligent adults, possessed of reasonable deductive capacities, can be found who will not to some degree have “internalised” (Brian Cowen’s term) the shocking performance of the Irish financial system and of Anglo in particular. Nobody living in this State has been unaffected. So can prosecutions proceed only where jury members can be shown to have been living in some sort of cocoon? Taken to its logical conclusion it would suggest the criminal courts as a whole should be shut down."
We are living in an American world with 150 of the top 200 firms having their head offices in the USA. Next up comes the UK with 27 global firms, followed by Continental Europe with 15 firms (Germany, Spain & the Netherlands each on 3) and then Australia with 5 firms. However China (2), Canada (1) and South Korea (1) also make the list.
"Courtrooms in England and Wales will be fully digital by 2016, the government says, ending what it described as "an outdated reliance on paper"."
He continued:
"It is part of a wide-ranging £160m plan to improve the speed and efficiency of the criminal justice system."
And this is interesting:
"Measures will include secure wi-fi in courts so lawyers and judges can access all necessary documents."
As are the comments from Justice Minister Damian Green:
"Justice Minister Damian Green said the plan would turn the courts system into a "modern public service"."
"It will take a least an hour a day of their time and it will take six months to a year before you build any kind of momentum. If you're prepared to accept that, then it's a nice communication tool to have, but it's certainly not yet essential or any kind of magic bullet." Here.
“ Since opening our London office in Silicon Roundabout, I have become a convert to the use of social media and blogging for business purposes (although, as I now appreciate, the idea of having separate “business” and “personal” identities/aims is increasingly in question.).”
If MoJ read just one response, this absolutely needs to be it “@richardmoorhead: Response to Legal Aid Consultation wp.me/pxDm8-nO”Elsewhere, Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) has been at his best, tweeting like an animal charged on Red Bull. Former pupil-barrister Harry Mount has been up stirring things up, writing a piece for the Spectator on June 8 on how 'Chris Grayling is right to reform legal aid'.
— Jeremy Hopkins (@Jezhop) June 3, 2013
Justice Select Committee meeting today at 9:30am on Legal Aid - parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.as…
— Zoe Saunders (@ZASaunders) June 11, 2013
Evidence taken on @mojgovuk's proposals on transforming #legalaid at 9.30am @commonsjustice goo.gl/gtJ0t
— UK Parliament (@UKParliament) June 11, 2013
Legal Aid Justice Cttee @rogerjgsmith on BBC Parliament now.With extra stripes and a little dash of controversy
— Richard Moorhead (@RichardMoorhead) June 11, 2013
Thanks @thelawsociety for calling on Justice Select Committee to hear evidence on changes to #legalaid in civil cases too! #saveukjustice
— @savejusticeuk (@savejusticeuk) June 11, 2013
So far no question from committee is based upon credibility of the legal aid system.
— Northpod Law (@northpodlaw) June 11, 2013
Get off the fence Roger... RT @njbarmstrong Roger Smith at Justice Committee: "ineptitude of government never ceases to amaze me" #legalaid
— John Hyde (@JohnHyde1982) June 11, 2013
Why you should sign this:epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48628 Grayling’s turd burger of a plan on legal aid explained: youtu.be/fHhfpCP1kPU .
— Stephen Mangan (@StephenMangan) June 11, 2013
MMQC challenges Mount's angry & unfocused polemic: 'a fundamental ignorance of the British legal system' @spectator http://t.co/0vEVoZpSk5
— The Bar Council (@thebarcouncil) June 13, 2013
"[Social media has] put a broadcasting tool in the hands of many. Whereas before their only outlet would have been to write a "yours disgustedly" letters to the Daily Mail and the Telegraph - which an editor would have spotted, intercepted and binned - now they can get through all of that.
"Earlier this year (2013), the Finnish government enabled something called a “citizens’ initiative”, through which registered voters can come up with new laws – if they can get 50,000 of their fellow citizens to back them up within six months, then the Eduskunta (the Finnish parliament) is forced to vote on the proposal."Though, it's rightly noted that we have something similar in GB. Albeit a lot more mechanical and citizen-unfriendly.
"Assuming they get their 50,000 signatures, each will have to be voted on by the Eduskunta. Compare that with, for example, the UK system – there, an e-petition that garners 100,000 backers wins the grand prize of being considered by a government back-office and maybe being discussed in Parliament."
"Blog as you talk. It’s a conversation after all. If you cite cases and use footnotes when out to eat with clients, then have it when blogging. If you don’t, leave them at home when blogging."And if you're still unsure then we need to ask: how do you get better? My answer is: watch the best writers and observers in the blogging game. Kevin O'Keefe said the same thing:
"Develop your own blogging style from following successful bloggers. You may learn the most from non-law bloggers such as Dave Winer, the folks at Copy Blogger, Jeff Bullas, and Mashable writers."
"Claim the law firm. Encourage your employees to proudly fly your firm name and link on their Facebook wall or Twitter bio."Two:
"Promote re-sharing. Once an employee has opted in to your firm’s social media networks, they’ll be exposed to regular updates. Empower them to share and retweet updates from your brand that they are excited about and moved by. Doing so you’ll connect with those on their networks."
- Blogging adoption. 156, or nearly four in five AmLaw 200 firms are now blogging.
- Growth in number of blogs. The number of blogs, 660, has grown exponentially, up 71% since our last study.
- Employment blogs being the most popular with 91 blogs, alone.
- Correlation between blogs and firm revenue.
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| Barrister Jerry Hayes doing his thing outside Westminster fighting against legal aid reform. |
"However discredited an opinion may be, to ban it would still be a huge mistake; because otherwise there would be no way of finding out if you yourself had made a correct point. If you had no opponent; if you silenced them there would be no opponent. There would be no measure of your own articulacy or your own willingness to argue." (At 56 minutes 40 seconds of video above)Hitchens adds his take:
"Thus, it must always be the case that any opinion, no matter how unpopular must be at the front and centre of the argument."Christopher Hitchens then said that Rosa Luxemburg put it even better:
"Freedom of speech is meaningless unless it's for the person who thinks differently."Member of the audience then asked: "do you believe in the laws of libel and slander?"
"No. I left England partly because of the laws of libel. It makes journalism almost impossible. Because again, it's a matter of her feelings (lady beside him). The person bringing a law suit in Britain (many of them tried it on me when I was here) has only to prove that their reputation has been damaged or that their feelings have been hurt. They don't have to prove what I say is not true."He then added a real shock and awe statement which if you think about it, does kind of ring true. Hitch said:
"There you have it again: it's a secular form of a blasphemy law." (At 57 minutes 25 seconds of the video above)Powerful stuff. YouTube video in full here.
"Before the widespread rise of the Internet and easy publishing tools, influence was largely in the hands of those who could reach the widest audience, the people with printing presses or access to a wide audience on television or radio, all one-way mediums that concentrated power in the hands of the few."The same applies to lawyers. Lawyer can use the new form to give expression to their ability and expertise. By doing so they can build an audience, a following and a reputation as the go to authority on a given matter. Nowadays it's not enough for a lawyer or law firms just to carry on with their affairs in the offline world, they need to get online and carve out a space in the online world. And a blog is at the heart of this.
'A lawyer's home base on the web is their blog.'
"Despite promising, early successes, until the worth of an emerging technology is proven beyond reasonable doubt it will not generally be embraced by the legal world."Anyway, how are the young generation of law students, tomorrow's lawyers doing? As a part-time university lecturer Brian inkster has a genuine insight. Back in January 2011 Brian Inkster ran a straw poll: during a lecture to over 150 law students he asked them a number of questions regarding their web presence. Here's what he found:
"Of the 165 students it transpired that nearly all of them were on Facebook but only 4 on Twitter, 7 on LinkedIn, 1 on Quora and 2 had their own blog/website."
"A blog may not look sexy and, like all things worthwhile, takes a little time. But if you’re looking at vehicle to serve as a hub of your online networking, there’s nothing better than a blog."
"As an academic, I'm just an amateur capitalist. Still, over the past 15 years I've started small ventures in both the U.S. and the U.K. In the process I've learned something surprising: It's much easier to do in the U.K. There seemed to be much more regulation in the U.S., not least the headache of sorting out health insurance for my few employees. And there were certainly more billable hours from lawyers."
The Ministry of Justice have just confirmed that they have in excess of 13,000 responses to the Consultation on Transforming Legal Aid
— Chris Milligan (@milligan_cp) June 4, 2013
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| The 12 panellists who featured in the Guardian panel discussion, chaired by Joshua Rozenberg. |
"It is an exciting time to be an English lawyer – especially one prepared to look beyond England. The more economically globalised the world becomes, the more it needs globalised legal services, which means more career opportunities for law graduates willing to work in other countries and across jurisdictions, especially if they have an English legal background. With English common law the de facto law of business, and English the de facto language, the UK government has seized the chance to promote the UK as a commercial legal capital of the world, hoping this could be a key driver of economic growth.
Already 200 foreign law firms are operating in London and lawyers are bringing in about £3.5bn in foreign earnings.
The Rolls Building, a high-profile court complex opened in London two years ago, which is designed to attract complex business disputes from around the world, epitomises the government's vision of the future possibilities the legal profession offers.
How best to prepare fledgling lawyers for this potentially lucrative but challenging environment was the subject of a roundtable discussion last month attended by senior lawyers and legal academics and hosted by the Guardian. It was held in association with The University of Law.
"The right to a fair trial is considered one of the fundamental rights of a defendant in a criminal case.
However, traditional measures such as suppression orders, designed to protect that right, are proving ineffective in the face of prejudicial material uploaded in real time on social media.
The culprit is not the traditional media, but jurors, witnesses and members of the public who become instant mass-media publishers with every post and tweet.
In addition, well-meaning jurors using the internet to conduct their own research about issues in trials threaten the court's ability to ensure that cases are decided only on the admissible evidence presented to the court."
TWITTER, READ THIS JUDGMENT! 2 men who shared Jamie Bulger killer pics get 9 month sentences suspended for 15 months bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/…
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) June 4, 2013
… Court says in future serious social media injunction breaches, unlikely jail sentences will be suspended. TAKE NOTE bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/…
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) June 4, 2013
High Court judgment in HM Attorney General v Harkins & Liddle (breach of Venables/Thompson injunction) now available bit.ly/13CrlZj
— Judicial Office (@JudiciaryUK) June 4, 2013
