How Cyber-Stalking Can Help You as a Law Clerk, and Possibly Get You the Job

Cyber-stalking is creepy, you say? Normally, I would agree, but these days using social networking websites to gather information is vital. Besides, it’s only creepy when it’s being done to you.

In my experience, social media is highly underutilized in the legal profession. Face it, most of the people we work for are older attorneys, with few exceptions. Attending the MoBar Solo and Small Firm Conference, I realized that some attorneys are beginning to implement social media into their practices, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that many attorneys are simply out of touch. That’s why I’ve come up with what I hope will be a useful list of ways you can impress your employers by teaching some old dogs new tricks.

Obtaining this information can be very important, and rather easy to find. For example: “two-thirds of the world’s Internet population now utilize social media sites, traffic to these sites is growing at 3x the rate of other Internet traffic and people now spend 10% of all Internet time on social networking sites.”

This is much like finding information about employers, as mentioned in Josh Camson’s OCI post, or snooping about friends and casual encounters from over the weekend (don’t act like you haven’t done it). The end-game is different, but the concept is the same.

Screening Potential Lawyers and Law Clerks

Now that you’ve got the job, in large part due to Josh Camson’s advice no doubt, try convincing your new employer to use social media to screen job applicants. If anything, it will be good practice in case you decide to hang out your own shingle.

First, this shows that you care about the future of the firm. By showing your interest in the firm’s future, it demonstrates that you have a serious interest in staying put, not just using them as a stepping-stone in your legal career.

Second, it will make you look like you’re somewhat tech-savvy, even if you’re faking it. Remember, you may be dealing with old-fashioned attorneys who still dictate everything because they don’t know how to type. Trust me, they’re still out there. To them, you may be saying groundbreaking stuff.

Finally, this could signal to your employer that you are more than associate material. By showing early that you want to be more than a lawyer, that you want to be involved in the business side of things as well, you paint yourself as partner material. That, my friends, is for many people a very big deal.

Quick Tips:

• When bringing up the subject, don’t present it in a way that makes your employer think their hiring process is bad. This will only offend them and make you look bad. Remember, they hired YOU by using the same process.
• Obviously, you’d be an idiot to suggest this if your Facebook page shows you doing keg stands, so be sure to clean up your profile before making any recommendations.

Using Social Media to Get Clients

Law firms have largely not tapped into social media to attract clients, but even when they have, they have not done so effectively. For example, simply creating a MySpace page and stopping at that is not how to attract clients. You have to integrate. Rex Gradeless is one of the trendsetters in this area. By integrate, I mean that you need to find creative ways to link your Facebook page to your Twitter account, your Twitter account to your LinkdIn profile, and so on.

There are three basic rules that you need to abide by when using Twitter and the other social media sites as advertising tools.

1) Have a consistent message.

2) Update your status and content continuously (this doesn’t mean you have to do it every five minutes)

3) RESPOND to direct messages and messages promptly.

A good example of using Twitter effectively is JD Supra’s Twitter page. It is updated continuously and the message is the same. One of the biggest mistakes Tweeters make is varying their messages to the point to where they have no identity. Create an identity and you will begin to develop a following. Obviously, there’s more you can do, but these are just the basics.

Quick Tips:

• Post big firm victories and announcements, much like a press release.
• If your firm has multiple practice areas, use multiple accounts to better target clients.
• Never set up an account for your firm without their permission.

Using Social Media to Keep Clients

Another good way to use social media is for keeping clients. People love reminders about important dates and events in their lives. For instance, the realtor who helped my wife and I buy our house sends us postcards on our birthdays, anniversary, and every major holiday. At the very least, it keeps us thinking about her. At best, it will get her referrals and future sales. Where did she get this information? Trust me, not from memory. She did her research and found this information on our Facebook pages. This woman is 65 years old and destroying realtors half her age because she knows how to use social media to her advantage.

As a caveat, some attorneys might classify sending postcards to clients as advertising, and many are against advertising for a variety of reasons. However, I would disagree. Rather, it is just clever marketing and even smarter business. Nevertheless, even if it is advertising, many noble professions do it, and so should lawyers.

Quick Tips:

• Save time and money by sending e-cards instead of postcards.
• As soon as you sign up clients, put important dates and events into a spreadsheet so you can later use mail merge.
• Entice clients (and even other attorneys) to frequently visit your social media pages by offering information they can use on a day-to-day basis.

Using Social Media to Screen Clients, Parties, and Witnesses

When first signing up clients, one of the most important bits of information you should obtain is the social media accounts they have and the monikers they use. Why? In short, CYA! You don’t want to waste your time by filing a lawsuit only to later find out from your client’s Facebook page that she’s only suing to get back at a past fling gone awry. Social media sites can be very revealing. Facebook and MySpace will likely yield the most information about potential clients, but remember to check all possible sites.

The reasons are obvious for wanting to screen an opposing party. Catching the other side in a blatant lie, contradiction, or stretching of the truth can be a lawyer’s dream. I call this the “gotcha moment.” Take 15 minutes out of your day to do some quick cyber-stalking. Imagine how happy your boss will be when you find those pictures of the plaintiff dancing in the club after allegedly slipping on peanut butter in the supermarket.

A not so obvious way to use social media can be best explained through a hypo (oh, the law school hypo). Assume we have a defendant we can’t find for service of process. We can probably find out WHAT he’s doing, WHEN he’s doing it, and WHERE he’s doing it, just by doing some simple research. If he has an updated Twitter account, chances are we know what he’s doing and possibly where he’s going to be for the next few hours. If he has a Facebook account, I know where he works, where he goes to school, what his interests are, and who he hangs out with.

You’re probably saying, “You can’t figure that out since you’re not his friend.” Seriously? Come on, we all know that getting friends on Facebook is a competition for most, a challenge for others, and a gift for the rest of us (FB me…please). With real luck, he has a public profile. Much of the same information can be found on MySpace and LinkdIn. So, lets assume I find his Twitter account and it says “Ugh, studying Remedies at the library.” Next, I look to his Facebook page and find out that he attends law school at Washington University in St. Louis. Whammo, we get on the phone and get him served immediately. Now, I understand this is an oversimplified and probably unrealistic example, but you get the point.

Quick Tips:

• When finding gotcha moments, save screen shots and pictures in case they decide to remove them later.
• Don’t do anything you feel might be unethical; if it doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t.
• Look at all social media sites, not just one or two so that you get the full picture.

One of the most important things you can remember is to be creative. The more you can find ways to better your firm, the better your chances are of getting an offer. Good luck!

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