Attorneys have always gotten their best work by virtue of relationships and their word of mouth reputation. The Internet has not changed this.

You’ll learn how many lawyers are saving time and money by using the Internet to:

• Enhance their reputation;
• Grow their network of relationships;
• Establish themselves as subject matter experts; and
• Get not just clients, but high-quality clients.

We’re on this Thursday, May 17 from 12 to 1 ET. Click here to register.

Thanks much to Rocket Matter, a leading cloud legal software, for sponsoring the the Legal Productivity Webinars.

• California’s Long Awaited Brinker Decision on Meal and Rest Period Obligations – Brian Gross and Brittany Maly of Cooley Manion Jones on the firm’s blog, Defense Litigation Insider
• Houston CFO Fired for Social Media Activity – Houston attorney Travis Crabtree of Looper Reed & McGraw on his blog, eMedia Law Insider
• Cyber Gripe – Opinion, Defamation or Outright Harassment – Omaha lawyer Kyle Wallor of Lamson, Dugan and Murray on the firm’s blog, The Nebraska Litigation and Trial Advisor
• Top 10 Reasons to Avoid Crowdfunding – Seattle lawyer Andrew Ledbetter of DLA Piper on The Venture Alley
  
• Federal Securities Law Blog’s Monthly Review (May 15, 2012 Edition) – Washington, DC lawyer William McGrath of Porter Wright on the firm’s Federal Securities Law Blog
• Senate Committee Discusses Issues Impacting Work/Family Balance – Washington, DC lawyer Ilyse Schuman of Littler on the firm’s blog, Washington, DC Employment Law Update
• NLRB Union Representation Election Rule Struck Down for Lack of Quorum – Washington, DC lawyer Lee Beck on his blog, the Federal Regulations Advisor
• How the NLRB Failed to Have a Quorum on the Quickie Election Rules – Atlanta attorney Brennan Bolt of McKenna Long & Aldridge on the firm’s blog, Labor Relations Today
• The real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs – for legal leaders – PART THREE – Australia legal marketing expert Sean Larkan on his Legal Leaders Blog
• Carefully Defining “For Cause” Termination in Employment Contract Critical to Avoid Paying for Misconduct – West Bloomfield lawyer Jason Shinn of E-Business Counsel on his blog, Michigan Employment Law Advisor

Mark Zuckerberg in New York during Facebook’s road show. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

With Facebook’s IPO coming this week you can’t get away from all the news and talk about Facebook.

Is all the hullabaloo warranted? Should you care as a lawyer or law firm?

Yes.

I used to think Facebook was not worth a lawyer’s time. How could a lawyer use a forum where people shared personal notes and pictures to grow professionally or from a business development standpoint? I didn’t get it.

I still didn’t get it when Steve Rubel told me at a Knicks game two years ago that Facebook, by far, was the future for business development, engagement, and brand marketing. I had asked him, as EVP of Edeleman Digital, what was the most important social networking and social media platform for businesses, including law firms.

Facebook is now on the verge of being the plumbing, hub, network, or whatever word you want to put on it for the exchange of ideas and the cultivating of relationships for the majority of Americans.

I share on Facebook a blog post by Mark Cuban on the inevitable bubble we’re going to see burst on student loans and college tuition. A discussion among lawyers and business leaders (one managing $500 Million profit centers for a multi-national publisher) breaks out in the comments about whether the talent, passion, and ability to get the job done is more important when hiring a prospective employee than the degree they received from a leading university.

That dialogue in the Facebook comments among my friends and business colleagues is the stuff relationships are made of. The only thing better would be a good discussion on the subject over a drink with the same folks. Though when face to face, people are more ‘reserved and politically correct.’

Like Zuckerberg says, Facebook empowers people to get more done in less time.

• You can accelerate ideas.
• You can accelerate relationships.
• You can accelerate your word of mouth reputation as a trusted authority.
• You can accelerate collaboration.
• You can accelerate movements.
• You can accelerate the influence of individuals at the expense of corporate brands.
• You can accelerate everything from the cure of disease to the overthrow of dictators.

Facebook serves as a utility to get all of this done.

Like the phone, it didn’t matter if you liked or trusted Ma Bell. Everyone used Ma Bell so you did too. You didn’t have the option to say “Phones aren’t for me, I only use them for personal discussions, they’re only used by younger lawyers.”

Facebook for lawyers is like the phone. It’s where people engage and develop relationships that lead to face to face meetings. It’s where we get to know people faster and learn to trust or distrust people faster. Clients, prospective clients, friends, business associates, association leaders, the mainstream leaders, and corporate leaders. We’re all here on Facebook.

Sure, not everyone is on Facebook. Yet.

And not everyone, me included has figured out how to use Facebook in a time effective manner. Heck, I am not even sure I need to be time effective with things I enjoy doing like going out to eat with business friends, going to a ball game with a client, or playing golf with fellow Seattle entrepreneur. Facebook is the same thing.

Sure, you may find comfort in joining the half of Americans who think Facebook is a fad (AP-CNBC Facebook Poll). There are also plenty of lawyers who will join who in your belief that that there’s no way lawyers are going to start using Facebook in large numbers to grow relationships and a reputation.

Many lawyers found comfort knowing that the Internet was a fade when the dot.com bubble burst in 2001. Many found comfort laughing at something called Google – of course it will never be used by lawyers to find information.

When viewing the news tomorrow evening on the Facebook IPO, rather than thinking this kid in a hoodie is as crazy as the people giving him billions you might possibly look at Zuck (as I understand his friends and business associates call him) as an Alexander Graham Bell. An eminent inventor, engineer and innovator who is making the world a better place for you. A place where you get the things most important to you done in less time.

Facebook is here to stay. You as a lawyer are going to use Facebook to become a better lawyer, to better serve clients and the public, and to grow your business so you can do the work you love doing.

• District Court Strikes Down National Labor Relations Board’s New ‘Quickie’ Election Rule – New York lawyer Seth Borden of McKenna Long & Aldridge on the firm’s blog, Labor Relations Today
• U.S. Supreme Court Denies Cert in Robbins v. Texas: What Happens When Trial Evidence is Known to be Scientifically Unsound? Apparently, Nothing. – Terry Lenamon and Reba Kennedy of Lenamon Law on their Death Penalty Law Blog
  
• Integration of ESG Factors into Private Equity Investment and Management Processes – Washington, DC attorney Sarah Altschuller of Foley Hoag on the firm’s blog, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law 
• Using Old Starsky and Hutch to Sell New Furniture? – Minneapolis lawyer Steve Baird of Winthrop & Weinstine on the firm’s Duets Blog
• OSHA to Turn Up the Heat on Heat-Related Illness – Amanda R. Strainis-Walker and Eric J. Conn of EpsteinBeckerGreen on the firm’s OSHA Law Update
• Doing Business On A Handshake – Philadelphia lawyer Maxwell Kennerly of The Beasley Firm on his blog, Litigation & Trial
• Anesthesiology Practice Undergoes “Legal Equivalent of a Proctology Exam” in Shareholder Dispute – New York attorney Peter A. Mahler of Farrell Fritz in his New York Business Divorce Blog
• ABA Commission Proposes Ethics Rule Requiring Adequate Data Security – Washington, DC lawyer Scott Loughlin of Hogan Lovells on the firm’s blog, Chronicle of Data Protection
• **EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL WILLIAM. K. SUTER, U.S. SUPREME COURT CLERK** – Cleveland lawyer Steven Delchin of Squire Sanders on the firm’s Sixth Circuit Appellate Law Blog 
• Crowdfunding: Who Will (and Who Won’t) Be Doing It – Ohio attorney Kevin LaCroix of OakBridge Insurance Services in his blog, The D & O Diary

(Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

It was class for mostly 3L’s entitled ‘Practical And Professional Responsibility Issues in the Small or Solo Law Practice.’

The course description in the catalogue:

This course examines the practical, ethical and personal issues which are unique to small firm and solo law practice. Issues to be explored include capitalization and financing of the small/solo practice; selection of practice focus; marketing; client relations; trust account management; advertising; limitations on multi-disciplinary practice; and the recognition and amelioration of common personal issues such as professional isolation, stress management and integration of one’s personal and professional life. Classes will be presented by lecturers, guest lecturers, and panels of practitioners, with small group participation/interaction.

As I have been for the last three years, I was invited to come in and speak on how lawyers can use the Internet for professional development (getting to be a better lawyer) and business development (getting a job or getting clients in an area you want to work in – area of practice or location).

Rather than being ahead of the curve in their use of the Internet, most of the students were behind practicing lawyers in how to use the Internet to accelerate relationships and word of mouth referrals. Ironically, all of them agreed it was referrals and a strong word of mouth reputation that drove a good lawyer’s practice

Afterwards out in the hallway (where you get to know students and their struggles), students came up to me and asked why doesn’t someone like me teach a semester long class or do a semester or year long clinic on how to use the Internet in the ways I was trying to cover in 2 hours. Students told me that no one had told them how to use the net this way. One student told me he felt so far behind the times.

I explained it’s tough for someone like me to dedicate the time. I also explained when I have offered similar things to law schools I met a wall of bureaucracy and skepticism. “We have some courses on stuff like that. Our placement office uses the latest technology. Our students do not get jobs and grow as lawyers through the Internet.”

I wonder if what I am really getting is ignorance. Do law school leaders, deans, professors, and especially, placement officers, know how to network through the Internet to grow professionally, to build relationships, and to build a stronger reputation? Have any of these folks been out using the Internet like this of late? Do they have a reason to do so personally?

If these folks did know how to network through the Internet to accelerate relationships and a reputation, wouldn’t they be neglect if they didn’t share this knowledge with law students?

After all, I was told an out of state law student at UW pays $35,000 per year. And I’m told that this is one of the less expensive public law schools for out of state students. A student from Washington chimed in that in-state tuition was not far behind.

If law school placement offices don’t know how to use the Internet for networking, don’t they have an obligation to either find out how – NOW – or get people in to help them, and in turn their students?

We’re talking about using an RSS reader, LinkedIn as a network, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms on the net to grow as a lawyer, to get the job you want, to do the work you want, and to serve people.

If we’re training lawyers to help people by doing good legal work, we sure as heck should empower lawyers to connect with people so they can serve the public we are dedicated to serving as a profession.

I’ll bet I can visit any law school website and it’ll have language about training students to make a difference, to serve people, and to make the world a better place. But is the school really delivering?

The economy is not great. The law school here has told students the economy is the worse since the early ’80′s. Okay. That’s reality. Deal with it.

As a law school placement office or law school dean, start exposing students to things that will help them – and the public.

The Internet, used effectively (not websites, which most all the students this AM thought was the most important tool to connect with the public), is one powerful thing. It’s being used by everyone to get more done in less time. Why not law students and recent law grads?

Mark Cuban (@mcuban) wrote yesterday about the coming meltdown in college eduction.

At some point potential students will realize that they can’t flip their student loans for a job in 4 years. In fact they will realize that college may be the option for fun and entertainment, but not for education. Prices for traditional higher education will skyrocket so high over the next several years that potential students will start to make their way to non accredited institutions.

While colleges and universities are building new buildings for the english , social sciences and business schools, new high end, un-accredited , BRANDED schools are popping up that will offer better educations for far, far less and create better job opportunities.

As an employer I want the best prepared and qualified employees. I could care less if the source of their education was accredited by a bunch of old men and women who think they know what is best for the world. I want people who can do the job. I want the best and brightest. Not a piece of paper.

If you as a law school dean or placment officer won’t act for the law students, do it to save yourself and your law school.

Make your law school and your school’s degree relevant and valuable for law students and grads.

Sure, get them a degree, teach them the law, help them understand how to think like a lawyer. But really become relevant and valuable by helping your grads serve people, to become even better lawyers, and to earn a living doing what your grads want to do. As with everything today, it’s going to take using the Internet.

It is possible. What are you waiting for? If you don’t act now, aren’t you being neglect in your duty to your law students, the state (if state funded or owned), your board of trustees, your alumni, and the public?

I’m in Spokane this weekend for our daughter Molly’s graduation from Gonzaga.

We’re staying at the Davenport Hotel and Towers. It’s quite a place. Historic hotel restored to 5 star status with wonderful rooms, decorative lobby, and flamboyant lounges. Not to mention a staff which makes you feel like a million bucks.

This morning I wanted to go out for breakfast in downtown Spokane at a place known for its breakfasts, close to the hotel, and frequented by the locals. 10 or 15 years ago, like any sane person, I’d go down and ask the concierge. I may even tip them for the good advice.

I didn’t think of it this morning. Why not? I trusted the Davenport enough to stay there. The Davenport is a strong brand, it’s known for its service, and it has a strong word of mouth reputation.

Like others, I don’t trust brands, institutions, and organizations as much today. I trust other people. People in the same situation as me.

Wild thing is that I don’t need to know the people whom I will trust. I just need to see that they were in the same situation, that their advice seemed spontaneous, and that what they said seemed sincere. I’ll weigh the voice of multiple people so I am not overly influenced by one person on the edge.

Where did I go to get advice? Yelp. What did I find? The Satellite Diner and Lounge. Part greasy spoon and part local bar with juke box, large screen TV, and pool table. It’s great and just what I was looking for. Only a few blocks down the street from the Davenport.

I was speaking in Hawaii and Vancouver the last couple weeks. Both times attendees were staying in first class hotels. In Vancouver, The Fairmount. Both times attendees brought their spouses.

I asked the audience how many were looking to go out to nice places for dinner and meals with their spouse and friends. Everyone. I asked how many would get advice from the concierge. Hardly one. People said they would turn to Tripadvisor, Yelp, or Urban Spoon as their most trusted source for advice.

I asked how many would turn to a restaurant’s website to decide whether to go there. I asked how many would be influenced by testimonials on such a website. No one. I didn’t look to see if the Satellite Diner had a Website before coming over here.

Why do law firms think they are exempt from potential clients making their decisions the same way? Why do law firms think their website is going to influence people to trust and hire them?

I get it. Most people and corporations are not going to select their lawyer from Yelp. Some may use a service such as Avvo, which rates lawyers, but most people will spend time on the net, including turning to others they trust (even if they have not met them) to select a lawyer in an informed fashion.

Lawyers looking to build this trust and a strong reputation on the Internet need to be using social media to create an online identity that is the equal of their offline identity.

This doesn’t come from law firm websites. It doesn’t come from legal marketers writing content for lawyers. It comes from a lawyer’s effective use of a blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the like.

The days of the concierge’s influence are over. Even for lawyers.

• Solving The Balance Billing Problem In New York And Elsewhere – New Jersey lawyer Richard J. Webb of Healthcare Neutral in his Healthcare Neutral ADR Blog
• Lawsuits Against John Travolta Are Foolish – Tennessee attorney John Day  at his blog, Day on Torts
• Pressing The “Like” Button, Reluctant Counselors, And Key Lieutenants – First Amendment “Hot Topics” – Los Angeles attorney David Urban of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore on the firm’s California Public Agency Labor and Employment Blog 
• Bills Would Prohibit Employers From Requesting Access to Employees’ Email and Social Networking Sites – Washington, DC lawyer Ilyse Schuman of Littler on the firm’s blog, Washington, DC Employment Law Update
  
• Rosetta Stone v. Google Fight Continues – Seattle attorney Stacia Lay of Hendricks & Lewis on her blog, IP Law Chat
• Tempted to Use a Summer Intern- Think Again – Arden Hills, Minnesota lawyer Marylee Abrams of Abrams & Schmidt on the firm’s Minnesota Labor & Employment Law Blog
• Forensic Accounting and Divorce – Ontario attorney Brian Galbraith on his Ontario Family Law Blog
• Terms of Service and Employee Social Media Passwords – Toronto lawyer Lisa Stam on her blog, Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada
  
• When can an employer fire an employee for medical leave fraud? – Winston-Salem attorney Robin Shea of Constangy on the firm’s blog, Employment & Labor Insider
• Obama Adds Three Requirements to Retroactive Review of Regulations – Washington, DC lawyer Lee Beck on his blog, the Federal Regulations Advisor

• Fox Rothschild continues to add their network of publications—already at 30+—as they launch Law in the Sunshine State. West Palm Beach attorney Peter Blacklock serves as editor on this publication, which examines many areas of the law important to Florida businesses: real estate, taxes, construction and many other topics.
• Tax Assessment & Condemnation Report is the third publication on the LexBlog Network from Bond, Schoeneck & King. In the words of the firm’s Tax Assessment, Condemnation and Property Valuation Group, publishers of this blog, “objective of the TAC Report is to provide a forum for discussion of issues related to real property tax assessments and the acquisition of private property for public use under the power of eminent domain.”
• A cleverly titled blog here, the Making Friends with Benefits, Pensions & Compension blog is authored by Toronto lawyer Donna Walwyn. Head of the Pensions and Employee Benefits Practice in the Toronto office of Baker & McKenzie LLP, Walwyn has represented pension funds, boards of trustees, plan administrators and internal pension committees on pension and other employee benefits matter.
• Even without any formal announcement from us at LexBlog, Pam Waldow‘s At the Intersection still made it onto the ABA Journal Blawg 100. Partner and General Counsel of global legal consulting firm Edge International, Woldow draws on  her wealth of expertise to write on topics that include law firm profits, legal project management, working with general counsel and the “new normal” for law firms.

In “Networking on LinkedIn at the Next Level : Building Relationships and Enhancing Your Reputation,” you’ll learn to harness LinkedIn’s most effective features (many of them new) to get work the old fashioned way: through relationships and cultivating a strong word of mouth reputation.

This hour-long webinar on May 22 at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT, hosted by LexBlog CEO & Publisher Kevin O’Keefe, will share hands-on ideas on (among other things):

• Use of ‘LinkedIn Today’
• Use of LinkedIn iPad and iPhone Apps
• How to make real and last connections
• Following targeted individuals and companies
• Sharing information with your network to build trust
• Using advanced search to grow your network
• Advancing LinkedIn search and connections to face to face meetings
• Case study success stories of lawyers using LinkedIn
• 5 new LinkedIn features in 5 minutes

When? May 22 at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT

Where do I register? At LexBlog’s events center

Questions or concerns? Email helen@lexblog.com.

Can’t make it? The webinar will be recorded and posted to Real Lawyers Have Blogs and the LexBlog Support Youtube channel 24-48 hours after the session.

• Attracting Profitable Clients In A Post Recession Market – Law marketing consultant Elizabeth Ferris on her Authentic Law Marketing Blog 
• Think Like an Editor – A Webinar Recap – Legal marketing expert Lindsay Griffiths of International Lawyers Network on Zen & The Art of Legal Networking
• Members of Congress Examine Impact of Media and Marketing On Children – Washington, DC lawyer Libbie Canter of Covington & Burling on the firm’s blog, Inside Privacy 
• C Corp, S Corp or LLC: What Corporate Form Should You Choose For Your Startup? – Colorado attorney Mike Laszlo of Laszlo & Associates on the Boulder Business Law Advisor
• If Not You, Then Who? Appeals Court Addresses Who Is Responsible for Protecting Wetlands – Boston lawyer Gareth Orsmond of Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster on the firm’s Massachusetts Land Use Monitor
• Seventh Circuit Holds Pharmaceutical Reps Exempt Under Administrative Exemption – Orange County attorney Thomas Kaufman of Shepperd Mullin on the firm’s Labor & Employment Law Blog
• Creating Your Franchise System: Why The FDD Preparation “Process” Matters? – New York attorney Charles Internicola on his New York Franchise Law Blog
• Big Pharma’s Marketing of Painkillers Launches Senate Probe – Dallas attorney Kay Van Wey on her blog, Pill Mill Monitor 
• The Conspiracy That Never Was – Dallas lawyer Charles Sartain of Looper Reed & McGraw on Energy And The Law