The Legal Intelligencer Blog

Think Like a Client to Grow a Healthy Practice

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

You won’t always be the low man on the totem pole. One day, you will have clients of your own, IF you really want to.

With so much emphasis placed on research, document review and shadowing occurring in the first years of a lawyer’s career, it is imperative for the lawyer to take the initiative to increase her exposure and interaction with clients. Often, young lawyers hear their supervisors say they should focus primarily on doing “good work.” In other words, the last thing they would want you to do is to spend time building relationships with clients and potential clients. That thinking works until the economy tanks and those firms lay off associates and income partners who "just do good work."

Clearly, there is a disconnect between what is taught in law school and what is expected in law practice. With little or no emphasis on building relationships with clients (new and prospective), it is no wonder that lawyers are unsure how to actually attract new clients. The “best” way is to begin to think like a client. Here are a few tips:

•  Put yourself in clients’ shoes. They have budgets to meet and business problems to solve, so create a plan of how you can make their lives easier in your current situation. Take the initiative and propose to a responsible partner an “off-the-clock” meeting with a client to better understand their struggles.
• Bone up on your interpersonal and relationship building skills. Survey top partners in your firm to learn how clients select their lawyers and what is most important to them.
• Observe and learn how more senior attorneys in your firm interact with clients. Take note of the thought-provoking, open-ended questions they ask to signal to clients that they are genuinely interested in the client’s issues and business.
• Take special care to learn to actively listen to others. This skill is so key to fostering solid relationships and developing better relationship-building skills. It is essential in developing trust and rapport.

Lobby for your firm to train associates in client development skills to kickstart an institutional approach to building a book of business. Studies show that when associates have the opportunity to learn client development skills, they are more energized about their billable work. They also appreciate that their firm has invested in them. Many associates I have coached have become partners in their firms and they are passing down what they have learned to the young associates in their offices.

The worst action you can take is no action. Get out from behind your desk, get out among business professionals and take charge of your career.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at kimberly@klamarketing.net.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Thursday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is the First Judicial District leaders deciding not to change the FJD’s foreclosure program. As reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes, the leadership had planned to put time limits on mandatory conciliation in cases of a Philadelphia homeowner facing mortgage foreclosure. Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judges John W. Herron and Allan L. Tereshko said in a notice to the bar Tuesday that they were not going to change the widely praised residential mortgage foreclosure diversion program.

Below the fold on Page 1, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that a second witness testified that he reported alleged abuse to Monsignor William J. Lynn. The witness, M.B., was the second to say he was abused by defrocked priest Stanley Gana and reported it to Lynn when Lynn was the secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004 and was in charge of priests’ assignments.

U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy responded to The Legal’s questionnaire for the attorney general candidates. His responses are available here.

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Gina Passarella writes that an ex-Pittsburgh Steeler has won workers’ compensation benefits but not attorney fees, because he went on to play for other pro teams and was therefore not disabled.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Legal Marketing column on Page 5, Adrian Dayton of Legal affiliate The National Law Journal writes about building better lawyer bios to give potential clients the information they want.

In a Young Lawyer column on Page 7, Ellie Austin writes the last part in her series, “Making the Leap,” about leaving her first legal job and entering back into the uncertain world of job hunting.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

What Lawyers Can Learn From Legal Marketers

By Gina F. Rubel
Special to the Legal

I had the opportunity to attend the 2012 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference (which was widely reported on Twitter using the Hashtag #LMA12). More than 1,000 people converged on Grapevine, Texas, to discuss best marketing practices, communication strategies, law firm technology and the business of law. Here are just some takeaways.

Attorney fees/pricing: Yes, legal marketing should play a role in the pricing of legal services. Pricing is one of the key components of marketing. Other things overheard include:

• While the first alternative fee was a discount, one does not equal the other. 
• Just because you have always done it a certain way, doesn’t mean you still should.
• Pricing and cost predictability is among the top three concerns of Am Law 100 law firm clients.

To learn more, read “Alternative Fees, Blended Rates, Fixed Fees, Oh My” by Heather Morse, the author of The Legal Watercooler. You can also check out the March 2012 ABA Journal. Rachel Zahorsky debunked alternative fee arrangements – explaining how the flat fee really works in an article here.

Attorney website bios draw, on average, 56 to 75 percent of a law firm’s website traffic. As a result, much thought and strategic energy should be put into the crafting of one’s story. Here’s what the experts had to say:

• Attorney bios should be written by marketers or professional writers, not lawyers.
• Every attorney has a story and they need to tell it better.
• While their “resume-like” bios share credentials, who are they really? Inquiring minds want to know.
• Attorney bios need to be more engaging and talk about the benefits of what the attorney brings to the table.
• Law firms should integrate social media and create one-click website paths and sub-URLs for all attorney bios.

Branding is marketing and logos are not brands: One chief marketing officer (CMO) attendee said that the managing partner of their 100+ attorney firm believes, “Branding is not the responsibility of marketing or the CMO.” Really? I would bet that this managing partner also has an undergraduate degree in pre-law, English or poly-sci and has never taken a business management or marketing course, let alone learned the definition of branding. It should also be noted that logos are not brands. They are nothing more than a graphic illustration of the business.

• Branding is marketing.
• Law firm brands need to include a benefits statement.
• Law firm brands need to articulate their culture, mission and vision so they can be recognizable in the sea of competitors.
• Branding and logo development is not about what you like, it’s about what your target audience will respond to.
• Calling a firm by its initials or by more than three last names is not memorable.
• The name of the website URL is not necessarily the “brand” but it should reflect the name or niche whenever possible.
• Too often, the lawyer marketing committee gets caught up in the shade of royal blue or maroon.
• The brand needs to be integrated into all firm communication materials, which include sophisticated business cards, websites, website printable pages, invoices, mailing labels, RFP covers, email signatures, outgoing voicemail messages, on-hold music/messages and the list goes on.

Interactive Communications and Social media:

• Lawyers who understand business development network online to build relationships and their individual reputations.
• LinkedIn is a must for all professionals, including lawyers.
• Pinterest for lawyers is a waste of time.
• It is important that lawyers educate marketers on the ethics and practice issues related to social media while still engaging carefully online.

Gina F. Rubel is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications, a strategic marketing and public relations agency with a niche in legal marketing. A former trial attorney, she is the author of Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. Rubel and her agency have won many awards for legal communications, PR, media relations, website and graphic design, strategic planning, corporate philanthropy and leadership. She maintains a blog, is a contributor to National Law Review, The Legal Intelligencer Blog, AVVO Lawyernomics and The Huffington Post. You can find her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter. For more information, go to www.FuriaRubel.com.

Position Yourself for Marketing Greatness

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

Were you born to be a marketing rock star? When you were in law school, were you thinking, “I can’t wait to market myself as a lawyer?”

Chances are you answered no to both of those questions. I guess we could say that marketing is still one of the dirty little secrets to some lawyers when they realize that the best passage to career fulfillment, independence and financial security is to develop their own clients.

Whether or not someone requires a certain number of “marketing” hours from you a month or if you are expressly advised not to worry about getting your own clients, remember you read it here first: if you are in private practice, you are in business for yourself. You are your business, simply speaking.

Remember, rainmakers are not born, but rather trained. Not everyone has the charisma - nor is as comfortable as Ed Rendell - to work a room, but devoting necessary time and energy to determining what activities will be effective for you is an important part of investing in your career.

Learning to promote your practice early on will help you make a lasting impression, develop long-lasting relationships and build a solid book of business. Craft your marketing style to ensure you get noticed and stay top of mind for clients, prospects and fellow attorneys.

Begin with a solid strategic marketing plan, take massive amounts of action over a prolonged period of time and always remember:

• To be successful, consistently provide high-quality legal work and superior service to clients and partners of the firm. Ask your clients and colleagues how you’re doing from time to time.
• Clients always come first. Develop a helpful spirit toward them and remember it’s not about you.
• Take concrete steps to build long-lasting relationships. Give careful thought to how you can do that.

Develop a plan and follow through. The first step to promoting your practice is to write down your goals and objectives on paper. Create a business development plan that is tailored to fit your individual style – not your neighbor’s. Write down realistic steps you can take to support your overall goals.

For example, if your goal is to build a reputation as a maritime lawyer, you need to find ways to get in front of those individuals who are in a position to retain you for those services. Several useful marketing tactics may be: (1) Research local maritime professional associations and attend a meeting (before you join) to gain a sense of who attends and the substance of their programming; (2) research media vehicles in which to author articles, blog posts, etc., to demonstrate your expertise in this special niche practice; and (3) get connected via social media with others associated with everything marine. See how this works?

• Identify a goal.
• Develop specific action steps to support your achieving the goals.

In case no one has tipped you off, there is NO magic bullet for building a prosperous practice. Here’s the simple secret: Once you have identified your overall goal(s) and developed specific action steps to support achieving your goals, then you must (here it comes) devote consistent, persistent massive amount of action over a prolonged period of time to realize marketing success (i.e., clients). That's the secret!

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at kimberly@klamarketing.net.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Tuesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, which also includes this week’s edition of Pennsylvania Law Weekly. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Also inside today’s paper is the Pro Bono supplement, so be sure to give that a read.

The top story in today’s Legal is the opening of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia sex-abuse trial. As reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes, prosecutors Monday said that one of the two remaining defendants, Monsignor William J. Lynn, had three responsibilities: protecting the church, children and privacy of priests, but chose to protect the church. “Unfortunately, all three of those roles are mutually exclusive,” said prosecutor Jacqueline Coelho in her opening argument.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that a lawsuit against LexisNexis over background checks has been allowed to proceed by a federal judge. The suit is a class action stemming from claims that LexisNexis deemed the plaintiffs “noncompetitive” during background checks and the prospective workers didn’t have a chance to respond.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporters Zack Needles and Ben Present write that Lackawanna County Common Pleas Court Judge Trish Corbett explained that she refused to remove Lackawanna County guardian ad litem Danielle M. Ross from a custody case after an attorney raised concerns about media reports of a federal investigation into the county’s guardian ad litem program because she felt to do so would have been “premature.”

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Gina Passarella writes that pharmacy records are governed by the Medical Records Act and pharmacists are considered health care providers for purposes of the act, according to a Superior Court ruling that overturned and Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge who compared pharmacists to yoga instructors rather than medical providers.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sibling publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Commentary on Page 5, Walter M. Phillips Jr. and Doug Moak write that one way to deal with Philadelphia’s high fugitive rate (more than 30 percent of criminal defendants fail to appear in court) is to use trial in absentia.

In a Legal Marketing column on Page 7, Kimberly Alford Rice writes about the importance of following up when networking and trying to build business.

Today’s lead story in PLW is a look at the Marcellus Shale play, where small firms say that expertise is more important than size. As Zack Needles writes, some believe that the only way to handle the amount of work coming from major drillers is to have a huge staff, but the depth of knowledge of the area that some smaller firms offer can give them the advantage.

Below the fold on Page 1, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that prosecutors are opposing a bill to expand innocence claims. The state Senate bill would expand chance for people who say they have been wrongfully convicted of crimes to raise their innocence claims, and backers say current law doesn’t always provide adequate means to do so. But the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and Gov. Tom Corbett oppose it.

On Page 3, Ben Present writes that financial discovery was denied in the case of a collapsing sidewalk, but the judge left open the possibility of punitive damages if the injured man amends his complaint.

There’s much more inside this week’s PLW, including Samuel C. Stretton’s Ethics Forum, in which he discusses asking a witness if another witness is lying; Jeff Jubelirer’s column on Public Relations, in which he discusses how to utilize social media; a panel deciding that a builder’s deceptive statement makes him personally liable; Sean Connolly’s column on State Government and the double standard existing against conservatives; and Daniel E. Cummins’ Civil Practice column on UM/UIM rejection form language.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Thursday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

The top story this morning is Philadelphia personal injury firm Weinstein Schleifer & Kupersmith filing suit against its former partner Norman J. Weinstein in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. As reporter Zack Needles writes, the firm is alleging, among other things, that he used the firm’s money to fund his own side business and poached the firm’s clients and referral resources when he left for Galfand Berger.

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Gina Passarella writes that Drinker Biddle & Reath is owed $877,000 in attorney fees by the city of Philadelphia for its work on a dispute with the Boy Scouts of America, according to an issue order Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The city had been in a lease dispute, trying to prevent the group from occupying a city-owned building rent free and continuing to openly ban gay men from membership.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina has ruled that an attorney for former priest Edward Avery, who is accused of sexually abusing a youth, can cross-examine the priest’s accuser on whether he was motivated to make up the allegations because he was expelled from his archdiocesan high school in ninth grade.

In more Regional News on Page 3, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that a woman is entitled to her late ex-husband’s retirement plan, but his estate is equally entitled to enforce the waiver she signed giving up her right to collect the benefits once they have been distributed, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

Also on Page 3, an Eastern District judge has allowed the majority of indirect purchaser claims in the multidistrict class action litigation over alleged price-fixing for eggs and egg products to proceed.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sister publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

A Legal Marketing column on Page 5 covers how firms can be more attractive to company clients.

As it is Thursday, this week’s Young Lawyer column is on Page 7, as the YL Editorial Board writes that law firms should invest in and gain from younger lawyers.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Fresh Ink: Inside Today's Legal

Welcome to your Tuesday morning round-up of stories in today’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, which also includes this week’s edition of Pennsylvania Law Weekly. All of the links below will take you directly to today’s stories, or you can head straight over to The Legal’s homepage. (Some stories may require registration or a paid subscription.)

Also inside today’s paper is the Litigation: Medical Malpractice supplement, so be sure to give that a read.

The top story in today’s packed Legal is the Lackawanna County guardian ad litem being sued in federal court, along with the Lackawanna County Common Pleas Court. As reporters Ben Present and Zack Needles write, a Lackawanna County man is alleging the family court’s guardian program deprived litigants of constitutional rights and that the court’s sole guardian, Danielle M. Ross, “thoroughly misunderstood and misapplied her role.”

Also above the fold on Page 1, reporter Saranac Hale Spencer writes that a bill of more than $360,000 that was to be recovered by defendants for e-discovery costs has been slashed by more than 90 percent by 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Vanaskie. The judge said that organizing electronic files cannot be considered part of the copying expense.

Below the fold on Page 1, reporters Gina Passarella and Shannon Green write that the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has placed its general counsel, Timothy Coyne, on administrative leave in what appears to be a continued effort to bring in new outside and in-house legal counsel. A source indicated that Coyne is not expected to return to the role, which is set to be filled in the interim by a Conrad O’Brien attorney.

Also below the fold on Page 1, reporter Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that lawyers for the former Catholic archdiocese secretary of clergy, Monsignor William J. Lynn, have said that his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel would be violated if the archdiocese is able to assert an independent attorney-client privilege.

In more Regional News on Page 3, Weil Gotshal & Manges has opened a four-lawyer office in Princeton, N.J., led by veteran litigator Diane Sullivan.

Also on Page 3, Gina Passarella writes that Lackawanna County businessman Louis DeNaples and members of his family will receive a break on some of the taxes from a $40.9 million settlement to take their land for the construction of a county highway.

As always, our People in the News section is on Page 2, and the top stories from our sibling publications across the country make up the Page 4 National News section.

In a Legal Marketing column on Page 5, Holly Lentz Kleeman writes about the search for meaning in marketing and business development.

In a column about the U.S. Supreme Court on Page 7, Stephen A. Miller and Diana Lin write that the justices are set to revisit affirmative action for universities.

Today’s lead story in PLW is a look at the Lackawanna County guardian ad litem, Danielle M. Ross, and the conflict that has arisen since she took the role in 2008. Zack Needles and Ben Present write that court records show several litigants have petitioned to have Ross removed from their cases.

Below the fold on Page 1, Ben Present writes that a split among the state Supreme Court justices let stand a Commonwealth Court ruling that gives workers’ compensation judges discretion in suspending benefits of workers who fail to attend a required physical examination after claiming workers’ compensation.

On Page 3, Amaris Elliott-Engel writes that a Philadelphia judge has held a lawyer-witness in contempt for making a comment to a juror while advocates in the case were engaged in a sidebar conference.

There’s much more inside this week’s PLW, including Samuel C. Stretton’s Ethics Forum, in which he discusses state rules governing legal advertising; a commentary on Family Law by Christian V. Badali, in which he wonders whether the 9th Circuit’s decision in Perry v. Brown is a success or a setback for same-sex marriage; the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office appealing a judge’s ARD grant; and a judge ruling that a police officer needs probable cause for a DUI stop.

If you have questions or comments about any of today's stories, or our coverage as a whole, we invite you to e-mail any of the reporters directly. We hope you'll enjoy today's Legal.

Pinterest for Lawyers: Marketers Say Waste of Time and Copyright Issues Uncertain

By Gina F. Rubel
Special to the Legal

According to Law Technology News, “A new report from ALM Legal Intelligence finds that after years of showing only tepid interest in social media, the legal industry is beginning to recognize the significant-and multipronged-value that blogs and social networking sites can offer.” With each new social media site comes questions about strategic usage, ROI, ethics, copyright laws and so much more. After my last post, "Pinterest for Lawyers: Legal Marketing or Waste of Time?", I shared a link with my networks on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. There was a lot of conversation and commentary – especially with the Legal Marketing | Grow Your Practice LinkedIn Group as it relates to marketing strategy and copyright issues. In fact, an article came out on March 9, 2012, from Ragan’s PR Daily titled "Pinterest and legal issues: Read this before you pin anything". I suggest you read it.

As it relates to law firm marketing, Mark Zamora, an attorney in Georgia said, “I'm a strong lean to Pinterest being a waste of time for lawyers. At some point, you have diminishing returns, a limit to your day, and work to do.” He concluded by saying that adding Pinterest and Google+ would cause him to “wave the white flag of surrender.”

LeAnna Easterday of a Web marketing firm in Kentucky agreed with Zamora about the overwhelming laundry list of "must-dos," but added that “if you're hoping to rank well in the Google search engine, you may want to push Google+.” She said, “Google is emphasizing even low quality G+ content over other non-G+ content in search results.” She’s absolutely right.

Neither marketers Rebecca Palumbo (Chicago) or Tim Piazza (Indiana) would recommend Pinterest as a marketing tool for law firms. Piazza doesn’t believe Pinterest is effective for lawyers. However, he does share some thoughts about how Pinterest engagement could be successful for those who choose to jump on the bandwagon. He advises users to “create new content that has a higher potential for being shared by the mostly female audience on Pinterest.” Palumbo generally advises that lawyers should focus on blogging and “other social media opportunities that will give them a much stronger return on investment.”

One of the most compelling reasons why lawyers may want to avoid Pinterest for the time being is its terms of use, which say that Pinterest's members are solely responsible for what they pin and re-pin.

"You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services. Accordingly, you represent and warrant that: (i) you either are the sole and exclusive owner of all Member Content that you make available through the Site, Application and Services or you have all rights, licenses, consents and releases that are necessary to grant to Cold Brew Labs the rights in such Member Content, as contemplated under these Terms; and (ii) neither the Member Content nor your posting, uploading, publication, submission or transmittal of the Member Content or Cold Brew Labs’ use of the Member Content (or any portion thereof) on, through or by means of the Site, Application and the Services will infringe, misappropriate or violate a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, moral rights or other proprietary or intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or result in the violation of any applicable law or regulation."

According to Business Insider, users must have explicit permission from the owner to post everything. There are many blogs and other articles weighing in on how to manage copyright issues on Pinterest. PC World has an excellent article outlining the copyright issues but, as of yet, I don’t see a clear solution.

I agree with my legal marketing colleagues that for now, there is too much uncertainty about Pinterest for lawyers and law firms to add it to their marketing mix. But, as with all marketing strategy, this opinion can quickly change depending on the terms of use and other changes in the social media environment. If you would have asked me five years ago if law firms should engage in Facebook, I would have said an emphatic no. But Facebook has become an excellent marketing tool for SOME law firms (it’s not a one-size-fits-all tool) so stay tuned as the social media marketing environment continues to evolve.

Gina F. Rubel is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications Inc., a strategic marketing and public relations agency with a niche in legal marketing. A former trial attorney, she is the author of Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. Gina and her agency have won many awards for legal communications, PR, media relations, website and graphic design, strategic planning, corporate philanthropy and leadership. She maintains a blog, is a contributor to National Law Review, The Legal Intelligencer Blog, AVVO Lawyernomics and The Huffington Post. You can find her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Pinterest for Lawyers: Legal Marketing or Waste of Time?

By Gina F. Rubel
Special to the Legal

There has been a lot of banter about Pinterest lately. It’s said to be a hot and fast-growing social networking platform. A post by Sarah Kessler on Mashable, the leading blog for all things social media, says Pinterest is changing the face of website design. In fact, Mashable has an entire channel dedicated to Pinterest.

The Huffington Post reports that TechCrunch attained exclusive data from comScore showing Pinterest just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history.

For the not-so-social-media-savvy, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Think of the refrigerator magnets that hold up photos, business cards, recipes, images of things you want to purchase, coupons and the like. Pinterest lets you digitally organize and share all those images and links onto organized pinboards. Pins can also be shared to Facebook and Twitter, increasing their reach. So while many are using Pinterest to seek ideas for their kitchen makeovers or to find that travel destination to add to the bucket list, there are intuitive ways to use Pinterest to own some virtual real estate without getting overwhelmed with yet another social media outlet.

You start by “being invited” to join. That means finding someone you know to invite you or requesting an invitation. In my case, I tried to request an invitation, but there’s a waitlist. Then, I posted on Twitter that I wanted to join Pinterest and my friend Sean McGinnis, an attorney who provides digital marketing strategy to professionals, immediately invited me. I was in.

A few weeks later, Furia Rubel (my company) launched a branded Pinterest page to highlight our areas of expertise, client brands, client events and other relevant information that supports our corporate brand and service offerings. We’ve added the strategic use of Pinterest to our marketing and social media strategy. Our website analytics will certainly tell us if traffic has increased to our website as a result – for now, it’s wait-and-see.

Of course, legal marketers are asking, “Is Pinterest activity important for law firm social media and legal marketing strategy?” My answer is, as always, it depends.

Things to ponder:

If your firm serves the general public, then Pinterest may be a smart addition to your social media engagement. It’s becoming another micro search engine in and of itself, so if your practice areas fall within the following categories, you may want to create a branded Pinterest channel: divorce, personal injury, criminal defense, estates, etc.

If your firm works with corporations and other business entities or handles intellectual property matters, you may want to have a presence on Pinterest to monitor your clients’ brands and IP. Own your business name on Pinterest and perhaps “pin” your attorney headshots, photos from your website (as long as they’re not gavels and scales) and photos from company events – but understand that this use is more about protecting your clients than legal marketing.

In any event, it makes sense to “own the virtual real estate” with your firm’s name – and, when you can, post images from branded PowerPoint slides for thought leadership and search engine optimization (SEO). You can get creative and develop one-sentence branded tips and post them, too, but I don’t believe they’ll get a lot of traffic just yet.

I also came across a blog on small-firm innovation by energy regulatory attorney Carolyn Elefant, creator of MyShingle.com, titled “Why Lawyers Should Take an Interest in Pinterest.” Elefant provides some ideas for how Pinterest can help professionals with office and business management.

So, what do you think? Is Pinterest worth your legal marketing or practice management time?

Gina F. Rubel is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications, Inc., a strategic marketing and public relations agency with a niche in legal marketing. A former trial attorney, she is the author of Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. Rubel and her agency have won many awards for legal communications, PR, media relations, website and graphic design, strategic planning, corporate philanthropy and leadership. She maintains a blog at www.ThePRLawyer.com, is a contributor to National Law Review, The Legal Intelligencer Blog, AVVO Lawyernomics and The Huffington Post. You can find her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter. For more information, go to www.FuriaRubel.com.

Rocking Reputation-Building Techniques for 2012

By Kimberly Alford Rice
Special to the Legal

As a practicing lawyer, there is nothing more important than building and sustaining a stellar reputation.

Below are a few proactive steps you can take that are as important as building a solid reputation among your various constituents (clients, professional contacts, key influencers, prospects, etc.).

Focus on beginning 2012 with a few simple steps you can integrate into your daily practice which will yield long-term benefits of developing a solid reputation as a formidable expert in your chosen area of practice:

• Keep your bio (print and online) up to date and include recent achievements. Presumably, you are an overachiever, so the professional accolades are not far behind. Join a professional group, navigate into a leadership position within a trade or other business-related organization or take a high-profile role on your firm’s charitable planning committee. Document these activities on your bio.

• Jump into social network marketing by becoming actively involved in LinkedIn groups which align with your practice focus. Browse through the group listings to discern which business and legal-oriented groups would position you well in front of key targeted audiences. The key here is to become active in these groups to demonstrate your leadership skills and areas of expertise. Actively seek connections within the groups to grow your network and reputation.

• Become a go-to person known for something specific … whether it’s an area of law, a chosen cause, or business topic … this is all part of creating and building upon your unique personal brand.

• Author articles and blog posts around a topic of particular interest and find a publication (print or online) to publish it. This lends third-party credibility to your writing and may be re-purposed many times over. It only takes scant online research to find a home for your writing and it’s well worth the effort to reputation-building efforts.

• Reach out to appropriate media to cultivate relationships and provide expert commentary. Building a strong reputation in the press can be a highly valuable exercise for business development purposes. Research who covers topics in your area of legal practice (sometimes it’s the reporter who covers “legal” at a business publication) and offer relevant insights which may be helpful in future articles. Reporters are always scrambling to find reliable sources and often give preferential consideration to those who help them out.

Make 2012 a successful year in advancing your personal brand and professional reputation by taking thoughtful steps to enhancing your credibility in ways which reflect positively on you. You’ll find that this is a cornerstone for professional development for the years ahead.

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a legal marketing authority, she helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, she provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She can be reached at 609-458-0415 or via e-mail at kimberly@klamarketing.net.