LinkedIn, a professional networking platform and business-oriented social networking site, was founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003.   As of November  2009 it had more than 45 million registered users, spanning 170 industries.  Posse List members by the thousands have signed up and have found it extremely helpful in building contacts and in building business.  

Our friends at JDSupra just published a great “how to” reading list for using LinkedIn to help you make the most of it and we highly recommend it.  You can access the article by clicking here.

Another great couple of weeks with the following classes scheduled:  click here.

In Part 3 of our Trends series (click here) we provided multiple ways to raising your profile by getting  published and thereby marketing yourself.   One of the best ways is via JD Supra (click here). 

JD Supra lets you create an impressive online portfolio of your articles, newsletters, alerts, court filings, and presentations in minutes.  Then, JD Supra helps you get noticed — by prospective clients, colleagues and the media.

The concept is easy to understand.  By regularly publishing in niche markets, you’re not only grabbing the attention of your target audience, you’re also establishing yourself as an expert. If a LinkedIn profile tells people what you’re good at (by listing your professional credentials), an informative, on-topic article shows it by displaying your expertise as you digest, analyze, and present important developments in your field of practice.

Moreover, in this digital Age of Information, regularly publishing your written work has additional benefits with enormous impact on your marketing efforts.  It’s relatively easy to manage what people find online if they’re able to search on your name. Much harder: the job of being noticed in the crowd by people who don’t know your name but need your service. This is where Internet publishing makes all the difference in the world.

Your online written work will almost certainly be indexed by the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc.). The more regularly you publish, the more chances you have of connecting with someone searching for the type of information you are providing. If the work connects back to you-well, that’s powerful marketing. That’s known as “Content Marketing.”

This model is at the heart of JD Supra, where legal professionals publish and distribute filings, briefs, articles, and other documents and connect the work to a practice-specific profile.

Content marketing is also one of the drivers in the popularity of blogging. It is no longer necessary to rely on the schedules and whims of busy editors; now, we can create and brand our own online publishing channels. For those who have time for it, blogging is a part of this strategy.

We access JD Supra all the time and we notice all the Posse List members on it posting their work.  JD Supra distributes your documents to targeted audiences across numerous channels.  You can get syndicated by third-party resources like Newstex, Complinet and Justia and also streamed to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, industry websites and blogs, etc.

We think JD Supra differentiates itself another way: by serving not only lawyers and law firms but also all of those service providers who have much interesting content to add as well.   This is why you see so many e-discovery vendors and other LP providers on JD Supra, too.   It is a level playing field. The content varies widely, but all of it is interesting – and has its own audience.

And through their JD Supra Law Center they aggregate by subject all of the documents and legal information posted daily to the site, organized into four broad categories:  business law, personal law, government law and law practice.  For details on how the law centers work click here.

Moreover, they have just posted “SEO Tips for Optimizing JD Supra Profiles”.   One of the best ways to achieve higher rankings within the search engines is to create a network of inbound links that are trusted and aligned with your service offerings.  JD Supra helps to simply the marketing of publications and work product but the site also plays an important role in helping to diversify your underlying link network.  For more on these SEO tips click here.

JD Supra is a terrific site and we urge you to explore it by clicking here.

And to follow them on Facebook click here and Twitter click here.

Like many other industries, the legal profession is being forced to make changes in a 21st century economy. Since 2008, law firms shed 10,000 associates, and these jobs aren’t likely to ever return.

Whether you’re a contract lawyer, a new grad or a laid-off associate you’ve got to take charge of your legal career.  And even if you are currently employed, shouldn’t you have a “Plan B” at the ready?   Granted, hanging your own shingle is a risky option but it is one that many of us simply may have to take.

By now, you’ve probably heard, or even bought into, many of the myths associated with starting a practice – but very few of the positives.  Let’s address those myths and show you how a starting a law firm or creating a plan ‘B’ can help you reposition yourself in this new economy. Topics we’ll cover include:

• Why starting a law firm doesn’t have to be your first career choice;  but it may be your only career choice
• Why you don’t need a years worth of savings to start a law firm; nor may you have the luxury of a years worth of savings
• Why you don’t need a ’sales-y’ personality to succeed as a solo;  you just have to want to succeed as a lawyer
• How to turn perceived disadvantages like lack of office space or shyness into selling points for your law firm; working with your personality instead of against it
• How you can get clients even if you don’t have any experience; (now that should send some jurassic lawyers into a tail-spin)
• Why going solo doesn’t mean being alone

Is Now the Perfect Time to Go Solo

The short answer:  Yes. I’m totally aware of the inner hysteria most people are feeling about our economy, needing to take a Valium before they open their 401k statement this month.  Watching your property taxes increase while your home value drops like an elevator with broken cables.  You’ve either been laid off or can’t get your first job. I get it. Trust me, I do.

History tells us when economic times are their shakiest, it is the perfect climate to start a new business. (No, I’m not insane   The following is information collected from disparate sources:

Did you know that 16 of the 30 companies which make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average were started during a recession or depression?  These little companies include Disney, McDonalds, Proctor and Gamble, Alcoa, General Electric and Johnson & Johnson.

Fast forward to 1973-75 when the U.S. was captained by an unpopular president, embroiled in the infamous Watergate scandal AND at the hind end of the Vietnam War, a highly controversial and expensive war which polarized the country.  Within two years gasoline prices had increased by more than 50%. Credit was very tight.  And, you guessed it, consumer confidence was at historic lows. (Does this sound painfully familiar?)

And in these terrible times a few entrepreneurs you may know figured ‘what the heck.’ Those tumultuous early 1970’s saw the beginnings of Famous Amos Cookies, Supercuts, Chili’s, Cablevision, Oakley and the start of a fairly well-know company (their products you might be using as you read this) called, that’s right, Microsoft. (wonder where Bill Gates is expanding to right now?)

Other notable businesses launched during recessionary times: Costco, Applebees, J. Crew, Whole Foods and Intuit.

You’re asking yourself, ‘how is this possible?’ Don’t most businesses fail? With times so tough starting a new business seems the height of insanity.  Not really. It is during these times that entrepreneurs (and very smart business people) realize they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  The world is crashing down around them anyway.  The very things which might have prevented those from starting a business before are no longer present – the opportunity cost is low. 

Yes, it’s a little concept called ‘opportunity costs.’  When times are good and you already have a safe job and many law firms are hiring, turning down a paying job with a paycheck means giving up the ‘opportunity’ of a good job and there is a quantifiable cost associated with turning down that job such as salary, health insurance, paid vacation and sick time, matching 401k.  You are giving up this known and quantifiable opportunity offered by another for the unknown adventure called solo practice, something for which you are totally responsible.

Now, a few select lawyers will always have these ‘job’ opportunities and if the jobs offered align with their professional goals they should grab it.  However, what if there are no good jobs being offered to you?  What if you are just finishing law school, passed the bar and no one is hiring?  You can stay home and watch reruns of ‘The Practice’ and ‘Damages’ or you can open your own solo practice.  There is little opportunity cost to do the latter as the alternative is sulking, fretting and eating lots of junk food or competing for a minimum wage position only to be told you are over educated for the cashier’s position.

When bad times hit, the world as we know it changes. Economies experience severe upheaval and disruption.  The earth moves as it deconstructs and rapid change becomes the norm. For most, paralysis sets in. But those who shake off the paralysis, those who see opportunities where others only see misery, are the entrepreneurs. They search the rubble of ‘what was’ and look for opportunities to create ‘what will be.’

What’s happening in our legal world (and the rest of the world, too):

• Competitors weaken.We are all reading about Big Law layoffs, partners jumping ship, small firms who became complacent and forgot the business components of running a law firm…well, they are freaking out. Many of those lawyers you viewed as competition with tremendous overhead, fancy offices, excess staff are facing challenging times. Maybe they are deciding its time to close up shop or downsize and outsource work.
• Clients are seeking alternative and cheaper ways of getting legal work done.When the status quo is acceptable, clients are more likely than not to stay with their current lawyers even if there are more innovative and creative and better lawyers out there. Complacency and disinterest in shopping around go hand in hand with good times. When money tightens, clients start shopping around.Whether for cheaper legal services or more value for the dollars they spend, they still are shopping. This lends validity to the statement, “in difficult times market, market, market.” There is a palpable shift in the flow of business and those with a great message pushed into the public arena WILL get new business. It is not a time to tighten your belt on marketing. Clients still have needs. You better be promoting your solutions.
• Big Law cuts back.They make the huge mistake of reducing their marketing budget and even services especially to their smaller or less valuable clients. These smaller clients may be a perfect fit for you.
• Client Disloyalty Can Benefit You.As your competition reduces services and clients look for more creative and cost-effective ways to save their scarce resources and get their legal service needs met, it means they are less likely to remain loyal to even their long term legal service providers if there is a better alternative which improves their own bottom line. You need to recognize this and be their innovative, cost-effective solution.

That means opportunities for you when you open your solo practice. Specifically, what you can do:

• Be the other white meat.Target those clients who are using more expensive, traditional legal service providers and show them there is an alternative to what they currently know.Show them in lean times fixed fees are superior to billable hours.
• Market aggressively. As the ties that bind clients to their lawyers unravel, your competitors’ clients are more willing to try a new legal services provider. However, they won’t find you unless they are receiving your message loud and clear. And if you are not shouting it out, I guarantee you some other lawyer(s) will be.
• Innovate.Be the low cost and/or high value solution to your competition’s clients and they will be receptive to listening to your message.
• Present yourself as an ‘outsource’ to Big Law. Big Law is laying off left and right. You can be the less expensive alternative to the associate who is being axed because you can be used ‘as needed’ without the carrying costs of a traditional employee. And the sooner you start leading the pack, the harder it will be for others to catch up.

Very few clients will make a change unless they are forced to.  The economic times we are in will rock many a client’s world.  Be entrepreneurial, innovative, aggressively seek out business while still maintaining your ethics.  When the dust settles, those who realized this was a time of great opportunity will be profitable.  Now is not the time to fade away and lick your wounds.  Now.

We assume you have a Twitter account.  Bad assumption?  Well, if you don’t have a Twitter account then get one.  It’s widely considered the fastest growing tool of web influence, and has had a major effect on the legal industry.

Giving you a finite definition of Twitter is tricky. It’s use varies greatly, and depends a lot on the individual user. Technically, Twitter is considered a micro-blogging tool. It’s just like regular blogging, but with one significant rule change. After logging in, you are faced with the question “What are you doing?”, and just like a blog you can share exactly what you’re doing, feeling, thinking, reading – but all in less than 140 characters of entry space.

To start, some “primers” on how it works, what it is:

What is Twitter?       

The Twitter Phenomonon  

The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter

Twitter FAQ: RT, HT, OH, etc. 

Comprehensive Guide to Twitter

Explaining Twitter 

7 Reasons Why The Micro Social Media Website Twitter Will Be The Essential Business Networking Tool Of 2009

Now, for a serious discussion of what Twitter is and isn’t for lawyers see Jordan Furlong’s fabulous post by clicking here.

For a good compendium of articles on how Twitter applies to the legal industry consult ”Twitter for Lawyers” which you can access here, and also check out To Twitter or Not To Twitter? That Is the Question for Lawyers.

And if you want to get into the more “advanced” material, try these: 

How to optimize your presence on Twitter in 8 steps

Tools to help you use Twitter

The Best Way to Build a Twitter Account? Step by Step

Twitter Confirms 4 new Premium Accounts

Visualization of Twitter Networks

TweetDeck : The Best Way to Manage Your Twitter Account 

How To Build (And Monetize) Twitter Content Channels 

How To Increase Twitter Followers & Monetize Them

How to publish your blog as a Twitter feed

How to create great Twitter backgrounds

10 great Twitter tools 

Thousands of new Twitter Groups

The best way to build a lawyer’s website

Law web templates

Lawyer Blogging Tip: How to Grow Your Blog to the Next Level With SEO

Unhub Offers A Simple Way To Showcase The Online You

Design basics

Build Your Blog Using Good Old-Fashioned E-mail  

An Introduction To SEO

Social Media Series Provides SEO for Beginners

The most popular blog templates are made by WordPress.  For some introductory material on WordPress:

A good list of WordPress sources

22 Professional WordPress Themes And Resources:Less Is More

WordPress TV

Now that you’re armed with all this knowledge, play it safe and go with a professional.  We highly recommend Grant Griffiths and his company G² Web Media.

Now solos even have their own university.  Practice management consultant Susan Cartier Liebel opened the doors to Solo Practice University March 20th.   As she explains, SPU is ”a web-based educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students staffed with outstanding faculty ready to teach you how to create and build your solo practice.”

If you’re interested in going solo, setting up a VLO, offering unbundled legal services, learning about law office tech, or all of the above, it’s worth a look. Go take a peek around the site.

And for a nice introduction click here for Gabe’s Guide review of the site.

Being a successful freelance, contract, or solo attorney is much easier thanks to the web.

You can get hired and paid right online, thanks to services like PayPal.

What’s funny is that despite the use of high technology, one fundamental thing hasn’t changed: people can’t hire you if they can’t find you and don’t know who you are.

And the process by which that happens has changed a great deal. That’s why you want a blog.

Most people search online first when looking for a service provider of any kind (including lawyers). Blogs kill it in search. Google loves blogs.

Think about this for a moment: with each new blog post you write, you could be adding more and more of the words people are using to find legal services online. Over even a short period of time, the average law blog will have many, many times the amount of keyword-rich content a “normal” law website has. A normal website doesn’t stand a chance.

The ABA Journal found out in a survey last year that less than 8% of lawyers blog.

That means a small number of people are getting all the action, and a lot of attorneys are missing out completely.

The time has arrived for solo, freelance, and contract attorneys. They are the future of law.

But even for that small group that blogs, a significant number of them are only partly successful because they’re making costly mistakes with their blogs and they don’t even know it.

How do you start out right, and where do you find the best information specifically for setting up and succeeding with law blogs?

Well, to start out right, you need to have experienced people who know how to teach show you the way.

If those people had a website, that would be the place to go learn about how to blog so that you get a non-stop stream of steady clients.

There is such a place, and it’s the only place online for this: Blawging Lawyers.

Blawging Lawyers is an online course you take in order to learn how to set up and run a law blog in the most effective way possible, so that you always have clients–educated clients, the best kind.

My name is Michael Martine. I co-founded Blawging Lawyers with former attorney Grant Griffiths, and we’ll be mentoring you here on The Posse Ranch about marketing your law practice through blogging. We look forward to hearing your comments! Do you have questions about blogging? Ask them in the comments below or send them to us at Blawging Lawyers on the Contact page.

Let’s get this party started! We look forward to helping you here at The Ranch.

I logged in yesterday to SPU and I want to tell you that it has brought new excitement to my willingness to practice law. The information that is available on this site is outstanding! Not only have you provided a great web site, but you have injected new enthusiasm into my veins. – Glenn Cook

“SPU is like a giant toy store, and I’m like a little kid – simply thrilled to be here. Although I know I can do this (go solo right out of school), it can, at times seem like a daunting task. SPU is so empowering, I don’t know why I even continue to surf job listings anymore. It’s not like there’s anyone I want to work for other than the clients that I will develop a marketing plan (with help from SPU) to identify.”- Karen Holman

At SPU, I have the support I need to create just such a practice – from branding to blogging, to home-office technology, to running a paperless office, to balancing work and family life, to in-depth substantive training and more. Unlike the competitive tenor of law school, I greatly appreciate that everyone at SPU – from the founders to the phenomenal instructors to the students – is invested in seeing everyone else succeed. Perhaps most importantly for me, at SPU I have all of this in a flexible format that allows me to learn at my own pace and on my own schedule (and with a chickenpox-covered, sleeping toddler on my lap, as is the case tonight). – Amy Martell

A completely virtual law office (VLO) is a professional law practice that exists online through a secure portal and is accessible to the client and the attorney anywhere the parties may access the Intrenet.   VLOs provide attorneys and clients with the ability to securely discuss matters online, download and upload documents for review and handle other business transactions in a secure digital environment.   Also termed elawyering or online lawyering, a virtual practice has benefits for the public as well as law practitioners.

One of the leading VLOs is run by Stephanie L. Kimbro, M.A., J.D., an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of North Carolina.   Stephanie was awarded the Jim Keane Award for excellence in e-lawyering.   She is an attorney and owner of Kimbro Legal Services, a Virtual Law Practice in N.C. 

We will have more about VLOs in a future series of posts.