Generational Development
A law firm that doesn’t realize how highly connected the millennial Generation Y is, thanks to their online networking, is missing a very important asset of the young attorneys who join the firm. In any business or profession, such as law, that depends on networks, referrals, conversations, and relationships to generate revenue, it isn’t a stretch to say that when you hire someone, you hire his or her network. In today’s social online-networking economy this can be a very necessary consideration -for better or worse.
However, it is not enough to judge the worth of one’s network by its size. For any number of reasons, some people are not as public with their networks as others -befriending only people they know well. Yet even without 500+ connections they can have access to a much larger network of friends-of-friends. These are acquaintances all within one or two clicks. It’s also wise to consider quality and depth. Someone can have a large broad network but not know many members very well nor be able to claim close, trusted relationships. It is incumbent on the young attorney to learn how to choose and nurture connections that have the most potential to develop into trusted relationships.
In this reality there is both opportunity and risk. For example; even if the summer associate is not yet an official representative of the firm, they are likely to indicate that they are related to the firm on their Facebook, LinkedIn profile or blog. Official or not – as soon as they self-identify their employer they become a representative. Law firms can choose to train, trust and empower employees to behave online just as they would in the workplace. Or, they can do nothing and trust that the employees will separate what they do online from their law firm, and that they will always behave in a positive manner. There are a number of sample guidelines and policies on social media, social networking and social computing available on the Web that you can access via a search to help you organize your thoughts and intentions. Alternately, a training session on reputation management can be very effective.
LawGravity offers a Social Media Audit Program that helps law firms put permission based policy in place and trains associates in the 5 P’s of social networking –placement, persona, privacy, posting, and professional ethics.
Contact Jayne Navarre at jln@lawgravity.com for more information.
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