Corporate Disclosure And Social Media
The New York Stock Exchange only recently recognized websites as an authorized vehicle for disseminating material company information and then along comes this thing called Twitter. With 81 of the Fortune 500 sponsoring public blogs, some with links to corporate Twitter accounts, what’s a corporate attorney to do?
The underlying concern is that 140-character tweets can’t convey appropriate admonitions required by SEC safe harbor rules. It’s a thorny issue and it was covered in detail last week by Stephen Older of McDermott Will & Emery on Law.com — Corporate Disclosure: The Twitter Effect.
Twitter Success Stories From BigLaw
Reprinted from Law.com Legal Blog Watch
From Small Tweets, Big Firm Clients Grow
Many large firm lawyers are hopping aboard the Twitter bandwagon, (as well as those of other social media sites) and realizing big time benefits from tiny, 140-character tweets, reports the San Jose Business Journal. However, it bears noting that most of the large firm lawyers finding business on Twitter represent startups or emerging technology developers who tend to rely heavily on social media.
For example, Glenn Manishin, an antitrust, telecommunications and technology policy litigator at Duane Morris says that at lease a half dozen clients have retained him based on connections built through social media. These days, Manishin’s clients typically DM him (DM stands for direct message, a way of sending a private tweet to a friend via Twitter) instead of sending e-mails. Corporate attorney Cindy Hess of Fenwick & West finds that using social media enables her to understand her high-tech clients’ businesses and even use their products, which in turn builds stronger connections with existing clients and sends a message to prospective clients that she’s not “out of the loop.”
Other large firm lawyers are slow to get on board with social media, but Pete Townshend of McDermott, Will & Emery isn’t complaining:
I’m happy my competitors are slow, and I would love their firms to adopt dumb policies about forbidding use of social networks,” he said. “The temptation is to adopt don’t-use-it policies without thinking about the client benefit. It’d be great for me if that was adopted because they obviously don’t understand the technology and completely whiff on the marketing opportunity.
It certainly makes sense for firms representing high-tech clients to engage Twitter and other social media.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on August 25, 2009 at 03:20 PM.
100 Reasons Lawyers Need A Strong Social Media Strategy
I know there are 100 reasons out there why lawyers need a strong social media strategy. I was able to sprout 45 right off the top of my head. Help me complete the list by leaving your suggestions in the comments section of our Why Plug In? page.
Listen Up Lawyers — Websites Are So Yesterday!
Back in the old days (a mere 10 years ago), Web 1.0 was a vehicle for broadcasting one-way messages. Get it? One-way, 1.0? Kind of like a static version of TV or radio news. Website owners paid thousands of dollars to put up little more than a simple brochure about their business, and they were the early adopters on the forefront of this web thing.
First, it was one page “brochure” sites focused primarily on providing contact information. And no, there was definitely no Google Maps supporting these sites. Then came the concept of “pages” and richer content was offered, albeit still static and one-way.
We ate it up! I remember the first time I hit the net in 1995. I logged in at 1 pm and surfed right through until 9 pm. I don’t think I even stopped for the bathroom. I certainly don’t remember eating.
I was mesmerized! I still remember my wonder and awe at being able to “shop” at my favorite gourmet market in Seattle, while I was sitting in Newport Beach. We didn’t even have pretty pictures yet in 1995. Alas, this shiny new thing called the web apparently wasn’t the end all and be all for my beloved Larry’s Market. But then being an early adopter out on the bleeding edge can be very painful. Just ask me about my IDXdirect days sometime.
Time passed and we grew bored with outdated, one-way communications Read more…
Bar Association Issues Ethics Opinion On Facebook Use
The Philadelphia Bar Association Professional Guidance Committee issued an ethics advisory opinion in March on the use of Facebook, opining that a lawyer can’t use a third party to send a friend request to an adverse witness in search of impeaching evidence on the witness’ private Facebook page. Sounds like a big “duh” to me, but it’s interesting to see a bar association tiptoe into the brave new social media world.
More interesting to me is how I found this opinion. Did you notice that it was posted on JD Supra by attorney David Barrett? David is an attorney and social media consultant. One of his revenue models (from what I can tell online) is attorney referrals. Therefore his expertise that he struts online is his ability to network on the web and provide quality referrals from all the people he “meets” online.
David took a piece of news (the opinion), uploaded it to JD Supra, a content syndication site, added one sentence of commentary and announced his “article” on Facebook. And what happened after that? People like me are sharing the opinion with David’s name and face on it.
This is a classic example of how to showcase your expertise using social media and the exponential ways your name can get redistributed. That was probably five minutes of effort for David (assuming his JD Supra account is set up and ready to use), but the viral effects of getting his name out there are “priceless.” You can do the same thing with your expertise.
Online Is Forever
In case you need a reminder that your online activities can haunt you in perpetuity, Bob Ambrogi compiled 10 social media horror stories involving lawyers and judges in When What Happens Online Ends Up In Court.
Need another cautionary tale? Take a look at Social Media As A Smoking Gun.
Remember to practice safe social media, boys and girls.
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