social media for elder law attorneys - powerpoint presentation
DESCRIPTION
While the first few slides focus on the elderly the rest of the presentation is focused on how to use (and how not to use) social media in law practice.TRANSCRIPT
Social Networking in Your Elder Law Practice: Risks & Opportunities
Jennifer Ellis, Esq.
Freedman Consulting, Inc.
65+ Has Surpassed 50%
For the Elderly
Social Media has Positives and Negatives:
Mainly Positives
Positives
• Limit Isolation – Video/Audio Technology – chat with family
– Facebook/Other Sites • See what family is doing
• Meet new friends
• Find things to do off line
• Enables home/bed-ridden to communicate
• Research – Items won’t discuss with doctors
– Social Services
Negatives
• Scams
– Easy to prey on elderly
• Burglary risk
– Provide too much information
– Burglars can take advantage of
• Knowing elderly home alone
• Knowing when elderly are out
• Computer Malware
Mitigate the Risk
• Privacy Settings
• Careful about what posting
• Choose friends carefully
• Updated Malware Protection
– Automatically updates
• Government Website http://fightfraud.nv.gov/SocialMediaScams.htm
Ethical Concerns
The Two Rules of Jennifer
1. Rules & laws that apply off-line apply on-line
2. Amount of possible trouble is expanded by the reach of the Internet
Watch for the Streisand Effect
• Barbara Streisand sued to have an image of her house removed from the Internet
– Resulted in greater publicity and a lot of insults
• Lesson learned?
– Suing rarely works
Apologies are Good
• Best way to deal with such errors of judgment?
– Don’t make them
– Apologize (sincerely)
– Lay low
The Umbrella of Ethics
• 7.1 Don’t be misleading in communications either on or offline
• 8.x Obligation to “Maintain the Integrity of the Profession”
7.2 Attorney Advertising
• Copies/Records kept 2 years
• No celebrity endorsements
• Fee language restrictions
• Geographic location disclosures
• Etc.
What is Advertising?
• Ads on Google or Facebook – Yes
• Website – Yes
• Blogs?
• Facebook and Tweets?
• Does it feel like advertising?
• It’s the content not the format
Blogs
• In Virginia attorney disciplined for not including advertising disclaimer and blogging about his cases
• Overturned, can blog about his cases as long as “already available on the public record”
• Must have appropriate disclaimer • Some argue unique case because his site was
“blatant marketing” • Other states have no issue with blogging • Advice – include disclaimer
Preservation
• Archive website
• Screenshots of ads on Google or Facebook
• Pdfs of appropriate pages
Firm Name
• One attorney?
– Not & Associates
• One office?
– Not offices of
• Trade names ok
– Not confusing
– Not suggest results
8.5 Multi-State Practice
• Comply with rules where:
– Office is located
– All attorneys admitted
– Seeking clients
Solicitation
• Watch for “real time” communication – Chat on Facebook?
• Might not be ok
– Email? • Ok – reveal if advertising
– Friending on Facebook? • What is your content?
– Ad on Facebook encouraging people to “Like” a business page? • Fine
7.4 Specialization
• Attorneys in Pennsylvania: – Do not specialize – Are not experts
• They – Focus on – Limited to
• Exceptions – Patent – Admiralty – Actual certifications
• CELA (Certified Elder Law Attorney)
5.5 Unauthorized Practice of Law
• Careful answering questions
• Could
– Inadvertently form a client relationship
– End up practicing in a state in which not licensed
– Have a conflict problem
Include Short Disclaimer On All Pages
• Nothing on this site is to be taken as legal advice.
• No communication between FIRM and readers of this site is to be inferred to cause an attorney client relationship.
• For more information view the full disclaimer.
• The attorneys of FIRM are licensed to practice in Pennsylvania.
Full Disclaimer
• Comports will all requirements in all appropriate states
• Reminds that contact through site is not confidential
• Does not form attorney client relationship
Contact Form? Require Disclaimer
Avoid Trouble (Unlike These Folks)
Don’t Share Confidential Information
• Shared Confidential information
• Insulted judge
• Suspended
• Page after page of negative search results
Don’t Insult Clients
• Lawyer insulted client on personal blog
• Upset client, upset firm, bad PR
• Forced to apologize
• Numerous negative links in Google search results
• Now retired
Be Nice to Judges
• Florida Attorney Wrote Judge was: – “Evil witch” – “Seemingly mentally ill” – “Clearly unfit for her positions and knows not what it
means to be a neutral arbiter”
• Florida Bar Concluded: Attorney guilty of:
– Making false and reckless statements regarding the qualifications of a judge
– Engaging in professional conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of Justice
Not Practicing? Doesn’t Matter
• Attorney served as juror • Blogged about • case • Case overturned • 45 day suspension • $14k legal fees • Lost job
Remember No One Can See or Hear You
• No body language or vocal inflection
• Different senses of humor
• What is a joke to one person is an insult or a grievous threat to another
Tweeting “Jokes”
• Indiana AG Fired over Tweet
– “use live ammunition”
No Private Life
• Will be punished for behavior regardless of whether on a personal or public account or personal or public topic
Prosecutor Fired
• Attacked student for being gay
• His attorney, said his client was merely expressing his free-speech rights
• In explaining the firing his ex-employer stated “[he] repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately used state resources”
Judges Should Be Careful
• Judges
– Friends with defendants
– Ex-parte communication on Facebook with attorney
– Not allowed to friend attorneys in Florida
Proper Use of Social Media
Social Media Is Very Useful
• Despite the malfeasance of some, social media is very useful
– As a networking tool
– As an advertising medium
– As a research tool
Keep Track of Your Image
• Set up Google and Yahoo alerts to see when you are mentioned online
Reputation Problems?
• Bury bad information with positive information
• Blogs
• Press releases
• Ask clients to write recommendations on Google, Avvo, LinkedIn, other sites
Brand Yourself and Your Firm
• Consistent message
• Consistent image
• Show level of knowledge
• Engage with your audience
Blogs
• Best SEO tool
• Best for showing level of knowledge
• 1 in 4 people read blogs
• 74 of top 100 AmLaw firms have blogs
– Some have several
• All attorneys should have completed LinkedIn profiles
• 161 million members
• Executives from 100% of Fortune 500 companies
Avvo
• Practicing a while
• Robust profile
• Never in disciplinary trouble
• Remember – Cannot remove Avvo score
• 900 million users
• Create a page for your firm
• Consider whether you want to share your personal account
• Top 10 most visited sites daily
• Easily connects to Facebook – (and vice versa)
• Excellent way to increase blog presence by sharing titles of posts and links to posts
• Good for short bits of information
• 1.1 million daily active users
• 10 million active visits per month
• Majority female
• Visual medium
• Link pictures to sites – Such blog posts
• Show personal side – Recommended books, movies, recipes
Google+
• 100 million people
• Not extremely popular for day to day use
• Valuable for SEO
– Google integrating Google+ posts and pages with other services including search and local
• Share useful information with appropriate keywords
• Both personal account and business page
Fill Out a Personal Google + Profile
YouTube
• 800 million unique users each month
• 4 billion videos viewed each day
• Great SEO value
• Create videos – Attorney bios
– Explanation of legal issues
• Upload on YouTube – Use proper title, keywords
• Embed on blog and other locations
Document Sharing – Scribd
• 100 million active users
• Upload presentations
• Other useful documents
• Connect to blog, other social media sites
Connect Everything
• Link everything
• Re-use content everywhere by linking and embedding
– Don’t repost
– Reposting harms SEO
Final Thoughts
• Don’t be afraid of social media
– It can be a powerful marketing tool
– It can be a powerful research tool
– Simply be sure to remember that many people will see what you post
– Obey the ethical rules
Blog
Website
Use Tools to Save Time
• Hootsuite
– Post once
– Put everywhere
– View several sites in one place
– Currently works with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and some other sites
