No More Excuses. Learn This S*** Already
Jonathan Fitzgerrald, CMO, Greenberg Glusker (Bad for the Brand and so much more) and I sat down yesterday to discuss our upcoming Webinar Best of the Web for Professional Development.
Of course, a Vente iced-coffee propelled us off topic now and again, and at one point we started ranting about legal marketers (none of whom are reading this, so we were not talking about you, in general or specifically) who REFUSE to learn or participate in social media, and are clueless about legal (business) technology in general:
- I don’t get it.
- I don’t have time.
- I’m too private.
- That doesn’t apply to me.
- I like to keep my work and private life separate.
Get over it. You don’t have the luxury of remaining clueless much longer. If the lawyers need to know and understand this “stuff,” so do we.
An article in today’s Law.com, Are Proposed Changes to ABA Ethics Rules Too Little, Too Late? (free subscription), includes a whole nifty section on how lawyers “must be technologically competent.”
The commission has proposed that “Comment 6″ be revised to read: “To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject.” (Changes noted with italics.)
These additional words are a game changer. In a surprising statement, the commission stated that “this obligation is not new. Rather, the proposed amendment emphasizes that a lawyer should remain aware of technology, including the benefits and risks associated with it, as part of a lawyer’s general ethical duty to remain competent in a digital age.” (emphasis added)
There you go folks. The pre-season for social media and technology is over and game is on.
If lawyers are operating in a cloud, using Dropbox on their iPads, opererating in a virtual environment, communciating and blogging digitally and remotely, than you must understand how this works. Period.
You don’t need to be fluent in tech and social media, but you need to be conversant and knowledgeable. This is not something you can downsource to a recent college grad sitting in a cubicle.
And it’s not just about doing a good job at your firm right now. It’s about your next job and your career in general.
Just like you need to know and understand how to use Word and Excel as a basic tool, you need to understand and know how to use Twitter and LinkedIn, at least in their simplest forms. Not to mention how groups, lists, and hashtags really make these applications soar.
How are blogs being used? And what is an RSS feed? And why do people care so much about keywords, tagging and hyperlinks?
I could go on and on, but I’m just preaching to the choir here.
Imagine this: Your client is a 37-year old deputy general counsel of a Fortune 500 company, who has over 1,000 LinkedIn connections, Tweets every day, uses Facebook on weekends, and relies on blogs to get his news and information. One day he asks a senior lawyer at your firm a question about social media…then he let this Tweet fly….
“JUST SPOKE TO A LAWYER WHO DIDN’T KNOW WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA WAS ABOUT. HUH?”
Huh…you’re not following him on Twitter, so you don’t know he’s talking about you. Worse… a competitor sees the Tweet, has been trying to get work from the company for years, and now he can…via social media.
If your law firm (lawyers, marketers, administrators, etc.) makes claims such as “we listen to our clients,” “we partner with our clients,” We know your business,” or “…we’re on your team” (and all the other popular BS) and don’t participate with your clients in social media even at a basic level, rest assured…they will find someone who can.
Clients are using these communications tools, daily, not to mention that some clients have to defend their reputations on social media, daily. The idea that marketers and lawyers “don’t have time to learn social media,” are “too private” or risk averse is professional suicide, period.
I wish I could like you comment.
Heather & Jayne, the choir thanks you!
Choir here! Trying to preach as fast and furious as possible. =-)
Let me know what I can do to help you spread your message.
One of the sure ways I like to prompt a lawyer’s engagement in social media is asking him/her to name a client they wish they had and then spend five minutes (and it’s usually no more than that) showing all the ways that person or firm appears online in social media. For my recalcitrant friends in legal marekting, I often tell them “You don’t need another business card, just send me an invite on LinkedIn.” The ones with the “deer in the headlight” look hear the song that Heather just gave to the choir.
You are absolutely right Heather and Jayne. Social media will follow the same path that email and websites did many moons ago (I am dating myself… I know). People will resist based on fear until there is no going back. Technology is cumulative. Unfortunately, it is easy to be left in the dust scrambling to catch up. Thanks for pulling so many people through these changes!