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Friday 26 October 2012

Family Solicitor or Facebook Friend??



Here’s a question. Where do you go to find a lawyer?

There was a time when this was straightforward. Most people went to their local High Street firm or used the ‘Family solicitors’ who they had known for years. They were the days when most solicitors were a bit like GPs and did a bit of everything. We are now in a highly specialised world and those days are largely gone. In many ways that is not a bad thing.

So is it adverts in the press, radio or TV? Is it personal recommendation? Is it through a third party such as a Claims Management Company who will take the basic details and sell the case on to the lawyers? These continue to be frequently used.

It seems that the legal profession itself is missing out by not understanding the importance of Social Media.

According to a report in today’s Guardian – ‘more than three-quarters of people looking for a lawyer in the US did so online and Facebook was the most popular resource used by consumers in their searches.’


This is a surprise – not that clients look online but that lawyers have not got the message.

I have been an avid social media user for years. Admittedly it was originally to discuss books, music and Everton FC! But sites like Facebook and Twitter are now so influential that they becoming leading market places. We are invited to ‘like’ a huge variety of pages from multi-national PLCs to local charities. I have said before that social media is how the world communicates –


Social media enables lawyers to communicate with the public in way and around topics which are of interest and concern to them. And it is immediate. What better way to spread the news about changes in the law or to discuss events in the news? And of course any lawyer must have a blog (!!) - http://kevin.lexblog.com/

Those firms who do not embrace this are at risk of being left behind.

Those who do embrace social media have an opportunity to network in a way that we have never known before..


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