Networking Face to Face

Networking: the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically--the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

Bar associations often sponsor networking events. Our local bar, the Ingham County Bar Association began 2014 with a networking event, Meet the Judges Reception. Almost 200 lawyers, judges and law students came together to exchange information, business cards, and to socialize. It was an enjoyable evening; we renewed old friendships and made new ones. 

The marketing gurus tell us that word of mouth is the best referral system around. A person who needs a lawyer asks a trusted friend for a referral and a name is given. If the legal problem is in the lawyer’s field, the lawyer has a new client, but, if not, the lawyer refers the potential client to an attorney met at the most recent Bar Association networking event.
This form of networking, face-to-face contact with a discreet group is but one of the forms that direct contact networking can take. Other forms include:

• Seminars and conferences: combine learning with socializing.
• Boards of Directors: both profit and non-profit—sitting on boards brings you in contact with groups outside the legal world.
• Community involvement: volunteer for an organization that is of interest to you and meet new people along the way.
• Bar association training meetings: meet fellow lawyers, learn new information in your area of practice, and when you can, offer your expertise and teach a session.
• Public speaking for both legal and non-legal groups develops an awareness of your practice.
• Teach at a local college: look around, colleges need adjunct professors to teach various legal subjects.

What to do if you’re shy, don’t feel comfortable in a group of strangers and can often find yourself in a corner, nursing a drink of some sort and talking to the wall? Remember that most of us are shy. It is hard to walk up to a group of complete strangers and enter the conversation. There is hope, however.

The best-selling book by Susan RoAne, How to Work a Room, Revised Edition offers a number of suggestions and is available on Amazon. RoAne starts with attitude—if you think you will have a lousy time, you will—go with the attitude of enjoying yourself.

I know you’ve been told this before, but in addition to knowing your name, which should be easy, have your elevator speech ready; a brief statement about your practice. It also helps to have in mind some conversation starters, such as “Is this the first Meet the Judges you have attended?” And, bring plenty of business cards, handily tucked in a pocket. Ask for the other lawyer’s card—make a note on the back to remember the lawyer’s area of practice. If follow up is
needed, do it soon.

Conversely, if you are in the group and a stranger appears, take a moment to help that person enter the conversation—turn, smile, introduce yourself and the others—and then say, for example, “We were discussing the…” The stranger will appreciate and remember your efforts and this brief encounter can lead to a new friendship, a referral or someone you can refer to others that need their particular expertise.

Six easy steps to keeping your reader reading

When you write a blog post, newsletter bit, or compose an e-blast on a new statute or procedure for your clients, you want them to 1) read it, 2) gain something from it and 3) remember that you wrote it. How do you do that?

Here are six ways to attract and keep them reading:

1. Know your readers—consider their occupation, age range, level of education or experience in the area of law you are writing about. An article for tax specialists can be more complex than, say, a post about what to do if your big rig tips over and spills bees and honey all over I75 in rush hour. (Call 911)

2.Tell a story—facts tell, stories sell. Using the facts of the matter, create a short story setting up the topic. Give your readers as much as they need to understand the situation. 

3. Don’t overwhelm the reader with facts or law or legalese. Explain simply how the law looks at the problem—think of talking to a client rather than giving a speech on the topic to your peers. 

4. Offer the reader ‘lessons to learn’ from the story. For example, the driver of the truck with a load of spilled bees, hives and honey called 911. The local fire and police and local beekeepers came to his assistance. The bees were rounded up, lured back into their hives and the honey was cleaned off the highway. The story of the spilled bees is a unique set of facts that will stay with the readers. The post continued with information on who to call when the spill is a hazardous material such as fertilizer or petroleum.

5. Be Yourself--- Talk to the reader. Replace legal terms with plain English; if you use contractions, use them consistently—don’t use “we’ll” in one place and “we will” in another. 

6. Vary the format--- Examples are Q and A, bullet points, a fast facts box or, as here, a numbered list. 

Finally, don’t forget to provide your contact information. 

For more thoughts or help with your writing, please contact: Roberta M. Gubbins at roberta@robertamgubbins.com or 734-255-9119,
   

   

I Can't Help It. I have to write about Drones.

The whole idea began with military drones attacking specific targets, spying on people, raising concerns among those who think we might have some privacy left. However, they were military drones flying in foreign lands and not in our backyard. We couldn’t see them flitting about like giant fireflies invading our personal space purported to be about 500 feet over our homes.

The drone problem became more immediate when Amazon announced it would use drones to deliver packages. They are called delivery drones and while more a publicity stunt than reality, I’m sure the day will come when delivery drones are buzzing around delivering pizzas.

Of course, the lawyers among us see them as a fascinating legal problem—see the recent ABA article—  Delivery Drone Plan presents Legal Minefield 

The article lists the following possible issues:

Police RaptorCaptor

• Liability—drone crashes, who pays for damage
• Privacy—can a drone be a peeping tom or is the pilot the responsible party and who is charged with the crime
• Insurance issues—the insurance industry has no answer but is puzzling it out

I live in Michigan, the land of hunters and fishers. I can easily foresee our hunters grabbing their rifle or shotgun, dashing out the door, taking aim and shooting down the drone for invading their personal airspace. The citizens of Deer Tail, Colorado (located about 55 miles east of Denver and also full of outdoorsy folks) came up with a clever moneymaking idea. 

For a fee of $25.00 the citizens can buy a drone-hunting license. Hunters who shoot down a drone and bring it to the city fathers will receive a $100.00 bounty. Bounties are not new. They have been used effectively in the past to rid a city of rats, crows, sparrows and other pests. It might work here. 

Lastly, there is a drone called Skyjack, created by serial hacker and security analyst, Samy Kambar. It can seek out a drone going about its business, take over the controls and effectively turn it into a zombie drone that will bend to the will of the new operator. What will the law say about that? Assume the drone is in your airspace, you zap it with fancy technology using your Wi-Fi and bring it into your garage, take its cargo and keep it for your own use. Is that a crime? Who will enforce it? Who will report it? Can the true owner track it down?

Lot’s of fun questions. This might be a new niche area of law that will keep some enterprising lawyers busy for a long time. 

Click here to see a drone in flight:

Social media not your style? Open a Kiosk practice.

Social media is the “in” marketing tool for everyone, including lawyers. It is touted as the best thing since, well, sliced bread. Books are written about it, blogs tell you that real lawyers blog, twitter tells you to say it in 140 characters, and then there is Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook and LinkedIn and new sites as yet not thought of. All of which are calling for your presence. 

But what if you want to simply talk to live people, listen to them, see them, use your well-known listening and speaking skills to help them find and solve their problems? 

One solution might be to open a kiosk. Kiosks have been around since the 13th century when they were small open pavilions placed in gardens. Now vendors use them wherever people congregate to sell small consumables or to dispense information and advice. Where can a lawyer put a kiosk?

How about the airport?

Those who remember when air travel was a pleasant, even joyous experience will also remember that it was a bit more dangerous. To satisfy the need to provide for our loved ones if the plane should go down in a cornfield, there were kiosks at the airport where you could buy short term travel insurance, designed to leave your adoring relatives a sizable inheritance should they have to carry on without your presence. 

Now air travel is a bit safer but ever so unpleasant. 

A lawyer at the airport could handle a variety of matters such as the documents needed if disaster did strike—the usual powers of attorney, simple wills, or statements describing the funeral if it becomes necessary. Passengers would board the plane secure in knowing they had provided for their families. 

Then there are the lawsuits that could be filed. 

Trouble with TSA?--perhaps a passenger’s civil rights were violated as the agents searched all their personal items including their person; or, their iPad, Laptop, and wonderful new camera are missing—they can immediately go to the Kiosk Lawyer, get the forms and file the complaint. 

Passengers stuck on the tarmac for hours without water, food, fresh air, heat or air conditioning? Call the Kiosk lawyer from the plane and start a complaint. Missing luggage? Airport delays? Talk to the Kiosk Lawyer to discover your rights.  

You can see the possibilities. 

Perhaps at the mall? 

Shoppers could stop by, discuss their problem in “real time,” and a solution might be reached or a later appointment set for more discussion. The new client would go off to continue shopping relieved that a solution to the problem might be at hand. You would be satisfied knowing that you had contact with a human being and another satisfied client.   

Or, take your kiosk on the road

Kiosks can be portable making the practice of law an adventure. Travel up and down your state, set up your Kiosk in the center of town, at fairs, wherever people congregate and practice your trade in real time with real contact with real people with real problems. 

No Social Media required. Just some old fashioned posters announcing your presence. All the marketing you need. Foot traffic will take care of the rest. 

Guest Blog: Social Media for authors, writing programs and many others.

 

My guest Blogger is Melissa Ford Lucken, Professor of writing and published author. Her suggestions on the use of Social Media work well for all, writers, business people and, yes, lawyers who want to make their Social Media efforts shine.

Social Media, what it should do for authors, writing programs and some #random #thoughts

I don't have any training in social media. I've formed my opinion from what I've heard at conferences, from other authors, and what I've pieced together from articles and stuff. Before I reworked my commercial fiction blog,  I averaged 150 hits a month. Now I average over two thousand and it continues to go up.

For me, I think social media ought accomplish to three key things:

• reinforce brand.
• organize the brand.
• build and maintain buzz. 

Reinforce Brand

By reinforce the brand, I mean provide information on events and topics, whatever things are of interest to the audience. I know "reinforce the brand" sounds kind of markety or contrived, but all I mean is to think about who you are as an author, and provide whatever your audience needs or is interested in. In the case of an author, that will be anything connected to the author's books and related topics. In the case of a writing program, audience would be prospective and current students, alum, faculty, and friends of the program. Friends of the program would be other writing programs that are in some way connected with the literary community, for example, journals students and faculty submit to and publish in. I've heard that social media should be 80% information, fun notes about successes, relevant chatter, and 20% promotion. If there is too much obvious promotion, the audience will not perceive themselves to be a beneficiary but a target. So they disconnect. I use this philosophy in my own use of social media.


Organize Brand

Another thing I think is helpful is to use social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, tumblr, etc) to drive the audience to the one common source. For me, my one common source is isabelledrake.com. Once they get there, readers will find not only what they are looking for, but other great stuff. The one source place serves as an archive of information and whatever else is relevant and is searchable. It's also designed to provide what the audience seeks. An author can use social media to drive the reader to the one source place (blog or website) by posting the content on the site and putting links to the site out in the media. For example, program press releases could be posted on the program blog or site and the link to the blog could be put on the program Facebook page. That way, the news gets out right away and it is also available later. Also, with student and faculty publications, the same thing. The info could be posted on the site with the link posted on Facebook and twitter. Instant news, but also available later. Another example, covers could be put on Pinterest and the cover would link back to the program site. See? The social media drives the audience to the site so they will see all the awesome stuff right there.

Build and Maintain Buzz
The need to generate buzz for authors is often discussed as though it is impossible and mysterious. There is certainly a luck component to "buzz" but authors can use social media to their advantage by thinking about how different social media accounts function and how the accounts can interconnect and strengthen each other. Name recognition is important for authors and writing programs but for different reasons. Authors need to focus on themselves and their work. Programs must consider the needs of the program as well as the needs of the students. The program needs buzz to attract new students; the current and alumni students need buzz to achieve their individual goals. This can be achieved through the use of social media. For example, featuring student work and news on a writing program site accomplishes both needs because the links to the program site can be easily shared by students, alum and faculty to people outside the program. If a someone in the writing program does a post or has something featured on the site, they can post the link on their own social media outlets and that too will drive people to the program site. This cross promotion generates buzz and enables the program to reach many people. Also, the post could be used later by students. For example, in a query letter or job application, the student could include the link to show off their work. The post on the program site would show off their work but again drive someone new to the site. In that way, it benefits both the student and the program.


Some really random thoughts:

I avoid posting anything on my site that will either need updating or that itself becomes out of date. Anything with a deadline, for example. To me those items become stale. I post those items on Facebook and others (twitter, tumblr) only.

I use Blogger because I find it easy to use. I know it is more simple and limited than Wordpress, but I get tangled up in WP. Wordpress locks up on me and has eaten more than one post...like after I have written them.

I have a tumblr blog where I'm trying to reach a slightly different audience. It doesn't have the ability to have "pages" like Blogger. That's a disadvantage because it would be difficult to organize stuff.
My Pinterest is new. I don't love it as much as other people, but it can be a fun task avoidance. I suppose it may turn into something.


Why the Pin-Ups here?
To reinforce brand, of course!

To read more of Melissa's thoughts visit http://mfaland.blogspot.com/

Make yourself known, write for your local bar newsletter

There are a couple of ways to become a thought leader in your field. One way is to write and the other way is to speak before a group. Since speaking in front of a group is one of the more common fears, right up there with fear of flying or creepy crawly things, writing is probably an easier choice. It can be done at any hour of the day or night, at your computer or by hand, in casual or formal wear and reviewed many times until it is close to perfect.

Writing for your local bar association newsletter is a great way to start getting your name recognized

in your legal community. Usually the guidelines are few: articles can be on any topic, if in doubt, send a query describing your topic to the Editor. Article lengths vary depending on whether your newsletter is published solely on line or a combination of paper and on-line. If it is coming to you soley on-line, the rules of writing for the web must be considered.

As I have mentioned in the past, on-line readers don’t read, they scan; and, they scan in an F pattern. To accommodate their reading habit, remember to:

·      Make your sentences and paragraphs short;

·      Use as few adjectives and adverbs as possible,

·      Add graphics and bolded headlines for interest,

·      Use bullet lists to break up space, and

·      Insert links where relevant to the material.

Your goal in writing for the screen is to make it as easy to get the information as possible. Our readers, all busy lawyers, want the material presented in a clear, easy to read style that they can absorb quickly.

Get more traction out of your article

Let’s say, you write your article, read it over, think it is brilliant, and want to get more exposure out of it. Your clients and fellow lawyers out in cyberspace should know about this. Since Google punishes sites that copy and paste the same exact content repeatedly on multiple pages, it is better to hyperlink your article on the your other social media platforms. Start by adding a comment about the article and a link on your web page.

Then move on to LinkedIn. Add your content as a status update; make an introductory comment and link the post directly to your Brief’s article. Twitter is one of the easiest ways to quickly share your knowledge with a wide audience. Attract your reader with a few key words, add hash tags to indicate search terms, and send it off to your followers.

Facebook is also a possibility. Many of you use it, so post the link to your article with a few descriptive words and drive more traffic to your posting. By sharing your article over multiple platforms, you have broadened the scope of your visibility. Don’t have all these social media tools yet? start with one and as it gets easier, add more. Soon you will build visibility for all you create.

The future--under the Dome or in the law firm

I am reading two books. One is Under the Dome by Stephen King, a great tale told by a talented author. The other is Tomorrow’s Lawyers by Richard Susskind, an interesting tale that looks at the impact of technology, the high costs of lawyering and other matters that will lead to new and exciting method of delivering legal services. 

I will probably finish the “Dome” before I finish Susskind’s book, which requires more thought, however from what I have read of it so far, I am intrigued with his predictions. 

Susskind writes that the biggest challenge facing lawyers and law firms is that the high cost of lawyering is driving more potential clients away. The family in need of a will, the small business owner seeking advice on how to write a contract or work with a labor union is let to his own devices because he can't afford to hire a lawyer to advise him. Susskind, who is British, calls the current form of servicing clients as bespoke, comparing it to the difference between a hand-tailored suit and the Men's Warehouse variety.  

Available on Amazon.com

Susskind believes one way to cut costs while giving good service is to serve communities of legal users rather individuals or organizations on their own. He calls this commoditization and defines it as work once handcrafted can be routinized and disposed of quickly with little need for lawyers intervention.

This is the more for less challenge facing lawyers. How to deliver more services for less cost. He claims dropping prices or pricing differently is not the answer. 

The better answer is to work differently--to work more efficiently. And the way to do that is to identify the work that requires more process than judgement, procedure instead of strategy or creativity and to have that work routinized and undertaken by less qualified humans or by computer. An example could be the software used to search discovery materials for key words determined by the lawyer to be necessary.

His second suggestion is have clients come together and share the costs of certain types of legal services. He calls this the collaboration strategy. Susskind admits that this strategy will require a change of thinking, a much more difficult process. The example he gives is of banks that have to comply with regulations--one lawyer or law firm could work with collaborating banks.

That's it for now. I am going back to the struggles of the folks stuck under a dome. It is not so mind boggling. I'll keep you posted on my progress through the future of lawyers.