Doug Cornelius .com

LinkedIn launched the LinkedIn Events module: Announcing LinkedIn Events. You get event recommendations, you can indicate if you are going and you can see who else is going. Once you mark an event, it shows up on your LinkedIn profile.

This is a great feature, but not a new idea. I have been a fan of Upcoming for while: [Doug on Upcoming]. The site is classic example of Metcalfe’s law. It gets more useful as more people use it.

LinkedIn provides a bigger user base of connections to tie into. I have 323 “connections” on LinkedIn, but only 23 “friends” in Upcoming.

Upcoming is a more open platform. In particular, Upcoming supplies lots of RSS feeds giving you notifications of new events that your “friends” are attending and new events added to groups that you join. It also ties into Facebook and other aggregators like FriendFeed.

With all these new applications, LinkedIn is starting to move closer to the Facebook model of aggregating information. It will interesting to see how the events and other application features evolve.

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF – News) and LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG – News) today announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which FNF will acquire LFG. [Press Release]

That means Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation will combine with Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title.

The combined company will have almost half of the real estate title insurance market, based on the Demotech Performance of Title Insurance Companies 2008 Edition.

Disclaimers

Kevin O’Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs  put together some key elements to have on your blog: Essential law blog pages needed to promote yourself.

I have read too many blogs, for lawyers and others, that do not tell you what the blog is about or who is writing it. Evey blog (including my blogs) wander a bit. You need to pull together a summary of what you are trying to say and where people can find more information about you.

If you are sitting on blogger like me, don’t use the standard About link. Create a blog post with the information. Backdate it to keep it out of the feed. Here is my about page: About this Blog and Doug Cornelius. To prove its importance, my tracking numbers show the “About” page to be one of the five most visited posts on this blog.

The one thing Kevin left out is a disclaimer. There is still some uncharted territory with blogs. Bar counsel has barely figured out what to do with Web 1.0. You should label your blog as legal advertising and disclaim any possible attorney-client privilege. I have a disclaimer in About this Blog and Doug Cornelius. Over at the Real Estate Space blog, I was more cautious and put a link to the disclaimer in every post. Since lots of blog content is read through RSS feeds, readers may not see the disclaimer.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this policy focused. It is written from an agnostic policy perspective, neither prohibiting nor promoting blogs or social media. I plan to use this as a starting point at the New Company.

When employees create their own blogs, comment on a blog, create a LinkedIn profile, use Facebook and/or contribute to or through any of the other online media (i.e., Wikis, blogs, chat rooms, Internet forums, electronic mailing lists, etc.) they are impacting their personal image and potentially impacting the firm. If your profile online indicates that you work at the firm, then that activity is associated with the firm.

When it comes to expressing opinions about anything having to do with the law, law firm employees are in a special position and have some limitation that other industries do not have. Statements in public forums may inadvertently create an attorney-client relationship, and may also violate the rules prohibiting law firm advertising.

Follow these guidelines when creating and/or publishing legal or non-legal content online:

· Maintain Client Confidentiality. Work for clients and the identities of our clients must be held in confidence to the extent appropriate for that client and client relationship. You must comply with the firm’s Client Confidentiality Policy.

· Be mindful of creating an attorney-client relationship. It is recommended that you not advise any course of action with respect to a particular set of facts. There can be a fine line between supplying legal information and supplying legal advice. Focus on new and interesting things happen in your area of expertise. Be careful asking specific questions.

· Think first. Remember you are publishing in a public forum, so don’t publish anything that you wouldn’t want to be viewed by your family, colleagues or the general public. Since content is easily transferred and replicated across the internet, it is nearly impossible to delete content once it has been published.

· Identify yourself. If you are commenting or publishing on topics related to your job, identify yourself as a lawyer or an employee of the firm. If you are an attorney, you may link to your bio on our public website.

· Disclaimers. You should make it clear that you are expressing views that are your own and not those of the firm.

· Be careful about jeopardizing firm-client relationships. If you are commenting on a legal matter, consider whether the position you take may be adverse or offensive to any of our clients. In case of any doubt, check with the head of the relevant Practice Area.

· Be respectful. Rumors and gossip spread like wildfire on the Internet. Be respectful of your colleagues, the firm, and our competitors.

· Follow the law. This should be obvious. In particular, be cautious of securities law violation and copyright violation. You must be familiar with and comply with the Copyright Policy.

· Use of firm logos or service marks. The firm logo or service mark cannot be used.

· Anonymous Contributions. The same cautions and restrictions on communications apply to supposedly “anonymous” blogs, comments, posts or other content. There almost nothing is truly anonymous on the internet. You should not use anonymity as a shield for malicious or wrongful content.

Blogs

• Registration: If you have a blog that is related to your job (for example a lawyer with a law-related blog), it must be registered with ______. 
• Media: Media inquiries related to your blog should be handled like any other media inquiry.
• Disclaimer: There should be a prominent disclaimer or link to a disclaimer on the main page, as well as in the “About” portion of your blog. See _______ for an appropriate disclaimer.
• Name of Blog: Neither the title of the blog nor the URL of the blog may include the firm name.
• Comments: Bloggers may allow others to comment on their posts. Comments may be attributable to the blogger so you should be prepared to moderate comments and delete offensive comments.
• Content: Do you have questions about what is appropriate to discuss on your blog? Ask the head of your Practice Area or the head of the relevant Practice Area.

Commenting on Blogs

You should treat the comments you make on another blog the same as you would treat posts on your own blog

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a powerful professional online networking tool. For attorneys, LinkedIn is a relatively new tool and state bar regulators have not ruled on what is appropriate.

• Avoid answering legal questions. It is very easy to inadvertently create an attorney-client relationship. The line between supplying legal information and legal advice is very gray.
•  Recommendations are particularly problematic. In some jurisdictions they can be viewed as testimonials and attorney advertising. Attorneys should avoid providing recommendations to other attorneys for that reason. If you receive a recommendation, please have it promptly reviewed by ________. Non-attorney staff members may recommend other non-attorneys if they otherwise comply with the above guidelines.

Facebook/MySpace/Other Social Network Sites

Although these are largely social tools, if you are a member of the firm’s network or list the firm in your work information then your activity in these types of sites impacts the firm as well as your personal image. The guidelines are applicable to your use of these sites.

Legal OnRamp

This site is a knowledge platform for attorneys matched with some features of social networking sites. Unlike some other online sites, this one is well-populated with in-house counsel of clients and potential clients. Please contact _____ with any questions about the use of this site.

Wikipedia

Any edits you make to wikipedia while using a firm computer can potentially be tied back to the firm. Even an anonymous edit marks the editor with its Internet Protocol address. This IP address can easily be tied back to the firm.

Twitter

Twitter is a type of blogging, limited to 140 characters per post.