27 April 2012 www.globallegalpost.com Twitter: @globallegalpost

THE VERY BEST OF THE WORLD'S LEGAL MEDIAIncorporating The European Lawyer

TECHNOPHILE: PAGE 18

Fighting extinction ..•.

Some lawyers take a dJnosaur approach to social media- they shouldn't if they want to survive

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Technophile

Connect and surviveSocial media is not just a place for people to share their holiday snaps or keep up with celebrity

gossip, says Chrissie Lightfoot. Business lawyers need to get chatting and tweeting or risk extinctionI'm guilty. Guilty beyondreasonable doubt of having anaddiction - of being a socialmedia, social networking, socialsavvy junkie.

And I'm here to defend mycase against the cynics whocontinually persecute andridicule me and my fellowjunkies in the misguided beliefthat social media is a fad, a trend- a charade even.

How many times have I andfellow travellers had to listenpolitely to the smug blusterof middle-aged know-aIlspompously promulgating theargument that the beneficiariesof social media are limitedto dysfunctional teenagerswho have lost the ability tocommunicate by traditionalhuman means, or fading'celebrities' who are trying togenerate some temporary publicinterest in their near-forgottencareers?

Countless times, is theanswer. But I submit that welawyers - and all those workingin our law firms - mustn't beprejudiced by the blinkeredviews of the frightened or lazy.Instead we should embrace theextraordinary benefits of socialmedia. Why? Because of thesimple and practical businessphenomenon of the 'survival ofthe savviest'.

Joining the dotsLet'sjoin these dots: globaleconomic crisis, emergingeconomies, increased .competition, population andemployment time bombs,stretched resources (economic,

physical, environmental),artificial intelligence,nanotechnology, genetics, socialnetworking, the evolution of web2.0 to 4.0, runaway technologicalacceleration, working patternsand lifestyle chang~, consumersovereignty, spoilt-for-choiceclients, too many 'fat' law firms,too many lawyers and increasingmoves to dispense with lawyersat every level.

In the contemporarybusiness environment, thereare only three kinds of lawyer:unemployed, relatively low-paid assembly line workers andtop-end super-lawyers. The thirdcategory is populated by thosewith the ability continuallyto generate income throughattracting, relating to and servingclients in the space they occupyfor play and work. In otherwords, cyber-space - socialmedia and social networks.

At the beginning of th'e21st century, the Americaninventor. scientist and futuristRayKurzweil predicted that by2010 computers would 'becomeessentially invisible - woveninto our clothing, embedded inour furniture and environment'.He said they would tap into

the 'world-wide mesh' and thatwe'd have wireless internetcommunication at all times. Hewas right. as the widespreadadoption of smart 'phones andtablets for both work and leisuredemonstrates. And.in 2010,Facebook wunderkind MarkZuckerberg said 'over the nextfive years:or ~o,social networkingwill make it possible to pick anyindustry and rethink it'.

Playground and officeSo let's consider the legalprofession. Because of theubiquity of the worldwide weband the internet in business,not even the traditionallyconservative legal sector hasbeen able to ignore it. Socialmedia has become an integralpart of that environment - it isevolving into our 21st-centuryplayground and office space;there are some 1.2billion activeusers on Facebook, LinkedIn,Twitter and Google+ - totalling asixth of the world's population.

Law firm clients, prospectiveclients, competitors, friendsand family use social media.If lawyers do not engage theyare going to be excluded fromthe globally networked society

and collaborative community.As lawyers, if we hope torepresent clients - whether incontentious or non-contentiousmatters - we're going to have tounderstand and empathise withthem in the space they frequent.

Social media is a mediumthrough which we can interacton a more personal levelwith contacts, show-case ourprofessional accomplishments,expand our knowledge, amplifyour core messages, start andmonitor conversations, findpotential customers, carry outpublic relations, manage our(brand) reputations and provideextraordinary client service bysatisfying the expectations of ourcustomers in 'real-time'.

With social media, a littleeffort can produce a return ofa four, five, or even six-figureinstruction, reaching a potentialannual seven-figure revenuefrom social networking activityalone. With potential numberslike those, why wouldn't we use

,so\=ialmedia?The bottom line is that beinga successful lawyer in the 21st

century requires being sociablein 21st-century media. Lawyerswho use the free social mediastreams will have a highersurvival rate. And that's why, allthings considered, I'm happyconfessing my guilt as a socialsavvy junkie. The defence rests.

Chrissie Lightfoot is the chiefexecutive of legal consultancyEntrepreneurLawyer Limited andauthor of the book The NakedLawyer: RIP to XXX - how tomarket, brand and sell you!'

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18 TheGlobalLegalPost 27April2012 www.globallegalpost.com