US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on using an iPad and Kindle

"In some of these cases there will be 40, 50 briefs - so there's a lot of reading. That's a big part of the job. And if a Kindle or an iPad can make it easier, that's terrific."

Advertising in the Sunday Times

Previous posts on traditional media for law firms here, here and here.

Opening Shop in Silicon Valley

Change will not come from within a law firm. It'a up to law firms to look to the train head of innovation. To look, learn, reach out and even establish a bridgehead at the point where innovation is most concentrated. As the Harvard Business Review said:

"How can you build your organization’s ability to sense and respond to rapid improvements in technology? Many large, successful companies are creating offices in California’s Silicon Valley to spot big new trends and learn how they can transform their organization in ways they couldn’t otherwise imagine. It’s no longer good enough to wait for change to come to your industry; you need to be out there where it’s happening. And a lot is happening in Silicon Valley."

Read the original article in full here.

Looking back on the Summer's Legal Commentary

Below is a round-up of some of the latest and best observations made on the state of the legal industry in the UK and US.

Legal Innovators and Entrepreneurship:

"Law firms composed of visionaries have the ability to rise to become leaders of a new industry."

Lawyers and law firms are stuck in a steam bath of trouble. For lawyers and law firms to get out of this pickle and succeed in a world of excess capacity, they need to change. This has been the prescription I’ve heard time after time.

Including from the Wall Street Journal here, from the Hildebrandt Institute here, from the ABA Journal here, from the Global Legal Post here, from the Managing Partners Forum here, on the Lawyer Magazine here and on the American Lawyer here.

And of course I always refer to the following reports by: Deloitte (UK), PWC (UK),the Law Society of England and Wales (UK), Citi-Hildebrandt (US), Wells Fargo (US), Georgetown-Reuters (US) and the FT. 

Richard Susskind discusses Twitter and Facebook, Ctd

Richard Susskind, legal technology specialist, continues with his discussion of social media:

"If my clients are sending out regular messages of about what they're doing, where they're going and what they're doing, I would want to be part of that; even if the mechanism of communication is a daft name."

Richard Susskind discusses Twitter and Facebook

At 23 minutes of the video above and here, legal technology specialist Richard Susskind discusses the usefulness and merit of social media as it relates to law practice. Susskind then said at the end of the discussion that in 5 years time, social media will become mainstream and ubiquitous.

"In 5 years time we'll have embraced [social media]... I'll just take you back to 1995 when people were sceptical about email..."

He also made an interesting point about how junior lawyers use social media:

"To be fair most junior lawyers don't use [social media] for business purposes..."

  

Timeline of social media articles, essays and blogs

-          2008: Northwestern University Law Review

The Impact of Computers on the Legal Profession: Evolution or Revolution?

-          2010: Conscious Marketing - Top 100 law firms websites (2010)

Top 100 UK law firms websites

-          December  14 2011: Lexis-Nexis - Global Social Media Audit of Law Firms

 Global Social Media Use in the Legal Industry and overview.

-          December 14 2011: Martindale-Hubbel Blog on social media Audit

Think social media is a waste of time? Your competitors don’t…

-          December 20 2011: Law Society of England & Wales, Social Media Guidelines

Social Media Guidelines for Law Practice

-          December 2011:  Visibility and LexisNexis

“Use of Social Media in Legal Marketing,” (summary graphic) and Lexis Nexis blog.

- Jan 5 2012: Law Society of England and Wales practice note

- Jan 6 2012: Law Society of England and Wales says be careful when adding clients on social media.

-          February 2012: the International Bar Association (IBA) report –

‘The impact of online social networking on the legal profession and practice’

The report addressed the impact of social networking on six groups of legal actors, namely lawyers, judges, jurors, journalists, law students and professors, and legal employers. Read the IBA survey on the impact of online social networking onthe legal profession and practice, here. The IBA is the global voice of the international legal profession.

-          February 23 2012: ALM Legal Intelligence Report

“Fans, Followers and Connections:Social Media ROI for Law Firms”

-          March 11 2012: Washington Post

“Law Firms get into the social media game”

-          March 29 2012: Top 200 UK Law Firms on Twitter (Calista Marketing)

Top 200 UK Law Firms on Twitter

-          June 20 2012: Law Society of Scotland, Social Media Guidelines

Social Media Guidelines for Law Practice

-          September 18 2012: Social Media Today Article

“Social Media: UK Law Firms Lag Behind US”

-          November 2012: Southern Africa Legal Information Institute

A communication shift: Be prepared rather than left behind

- March 2013: survey by Core Legal research finds that many solicitors are still avoiding social media:

http://www.corelegal.net/solicitors-scared-of-social-media-new-survey-results/

- March 13 2013: Law Society of England and Wales publishes practice note on protecting your online reputation.

- June 2013: Law Society of England and Wales publishes 10 social media tips for lawyers.

Further Reading:

Legal Week confronts what is required of a lawyer or law firm interested in building a social media presence.

"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.

Legal Week refers to "social media puff".

Thomson Reuters Social Media Guidelines. 

Individual lawyer marketing on Bright Fire.

Lexis Nexis approaches law firm strategic planning.

Social media for law students.

Thomson Reuters says "fish where the fish are". 

Lexis Nexis social media service here, here, here, here and here. 

Traditional media for law firms

People are always talking about social and new media for law firms. Today we want to talk about traditional media for lawyers and law firms. Here we go.

Being a late chronotype, mornings are never easy. Nonetheless, as I rose early on the morning of June 3 2013 I did the usual and switched onto Radio 4. And at 14 minutes past the ungodly hour of 6am the dulcet and lawyerly tones of Gary Miller came wafting across the airwaves; mixing it up of course with the fumes from my intermittent quaffing of coffee.

But back to Gary Miller - who is he? Mr Miller is an international litigator and insolvency specialist with Mishcon de Reya. A law firm we have come to grow found of at Elephant creative – see here and here.

'Tweeting in Convoy', Ctd

I've discussed the idea of 'tweeting in convoy' on this blog before here. And as is my habit, the idea has been growing and seeking out new avenues.

The latest musings have come from a great a post entitled: "Empowering your law firm employees to be social media ambassadors". There were two highlights.

One:

"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."