On February 17, 2009, Securities Docket is sponsoring a webcast that will look at the numerous ways that securities and compliance counsel and professionals can now use web 2.0 to promote, market, and network themselves, their practices and their firms as never before.

Please join Bruce Carton, Editor of Securities Docket, and me for a webcast that will discuss the best new tools and strategies available to securities and compliance counsel and professionals, including:

• RSS;
• Social Media, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook;
• Blogs;
• and much more.

To attend this webcast scheduled for February 17, at 2 pm Eastern, please sign up on the Securities Docket website.

The International Legal Technology Association is holding a lunch presentation in Boston on Social Networking for Lawyers and Legal IT.

Please join us for this exciting presentation and learn how the lawyers and IT staff at your firm can use Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs to capture knowledge and uncover expertise.

Presenters: 

Doug Cornelius is a senior attorney in Goodwin Procter’s Real Estate Group helping clients invest in real estate through a variety of investment vehicles.  In addition to his real estate practice, Doug is a member of the firm’s Knowledge Management Department.  In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing tools and resources to identify, create, represent and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness and learning.  Doug is a frequent speaker and writer on the legal profession’s use of knowledge management, enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0 and social networks.

Jenn Steele is the Director of Information Technology at Morrison Mahoney LLP.  She holds an MBA from the Simmons School of Management and a B.S. in Biology from MIT, with a minor in Expository Writing.  Prior to Morrison Mahoney, she was the Director of Information Technology at Donovan Hatem LLP from 2002-2007, and the Senior Applications Specialist at Burns & Levinson LLP from 2000-2002.  She has also held positions in the health and human services industry.  She is the author of Leading Geeks, a blog focusing on best practices for leading technologists (www.leadinggeeks.blogspot.com).

Robert Ambrogi is an internationally known legal journalist and a leading authority on law and the Web.  He represents clients at the intersection of law, media and technology and is also established professional in alternative dispute resolution.  Robert is a Massachusetts lawyer, writer and media consultant and is author of the book, The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web.  He also writes the blog Media Law, co-writes Legal Blog Watch and cohosts the legal affairs podcast Lawyer2Lawyer.

RSVP

The LMA put together this reading list for further reading:


Social Networking Articles

“Social Networks Get Down to Business”
eMarketer Daily Newsletter, August 18, 2008
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006482

“LinkedIn: A Competitive Intelligence Tool”
By Shannon Sankstone, Marketing the Law Firm Newsletter, August 14, 2008
http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202423760902

“The Social Network as a Career Safety Net”
By Sarah Jane Tribble, The New York Times, August 13, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/technology/personaltech/14basics.html?ref=personaltech

“Social Networking: For Lawyers Only?”
By Robert J. Ambrogi, Law Technology News, August 8, 2008
http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202423612473

“Social Networking May Pay off in the End “
By Robert Ambrogi, Law Technology News, June 9, 2008
http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202422007910

“Exclusive First Look at Martindale Hubbell Connected “
By Robert Ambrogi, Legalline, July 31, 2008
http://www.legaline.com/2008/07/exclusive-first-look-martindale-hubbell.html

“LinkedIn to My Facebook on My Blog – Social Media for Lawyers and Law Firm Staff“
By Jenn Steele and Doug Cornelius
Published in ILTA’s March, 2008 white paper titled, Marketing Technologies – Putting Your Best Face Forward
http://www.dougcornelius.com/pro/publications/linkedin_to_facebook_on_my_blog.pdf
http://www.jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=05cdf159-64b1-4a35-9d2b-bec72defe67d
or
http://www.iltanet.org/communications/pub_detail.aspx?nvID=000000011205&h4ID=000001184605

Social Networking Surveys & White Papers

Humans Seek Connections: The Case for Online Social Networking
LMA Resource Committee, with Jayne Navarre
http://www.legalmarketing.org/about-lma/products-and-services/white-papers/newssocialnetwork

Networks for Counsel Study:  Online Networking in the Legal Community
Independent research, sponsored by LexisNexis
http://www.leadernetworks.com/networks_study_form.shtml

Social Media in the Inc. 500: The First Longitudinal Study
The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research
http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/studiesresearch/blogstudy5.cfm

Social Networking Sites

LinkedIn  www.linkedin.com
Facebook  www.facebook.com
Legal OnRamp  www.legalonramp.com
Twitter  www.twitter.com

The Paperless Practice Toolkit: Taming the Technology Tiger

Next month, I will be speaking with Paul Lippe and Robert Ambrogi on Social Networking for Attorneys for the New York Legal Marketing Marketing Association.

I am not sure why they are using a Web 3.0 designation for the program. That will really annoy the semantic Web 3.0 guys.

Even with the odd moniker, it should be a great program. Here is a more detailed description:

Most law firms have experience using some sort of web technology, particularly with their own websites and associated blogs, podcasts, alumni mini-sites, client extranets and the like. A firm’s online presence has become a fundamental element of its overall marketing and communications strategy. But in today’s online world, static web pages and one-sided blogs are beginning to resemble the land-line phone: great as a basic tool for communicating, but definitely not the only – or the best – connection to the world.

New and emerging technologies are providing an interactive experience and allowing users to create their own networks of connections and information. These changes are already having a direct impact on business development and enhanced client service. Online tools such as LinkedIn, Legal OnRamp, and TakeLegalAdvice, strengthen attorney-client relationships and foster collaborative efforts between law firms and in-house legal departments. The web as we know it is changing. Again.

Don’t let your firm be left clinging to that land-line! Stay abreast of this exciting (and profitable) technological leap by joining us to hear from professionals at the forefront of this continually evolving technology. Led by moderator Robert Ambrogi, our panel of experts will guide attendees through practical approaches that your firm can and should be considering in this brave new world.

Chris Boyd and I led two discussions on  how web 2.0 tools can help with professional development. We started off using Jessica Lipnack’s technique of asking the audience to introduce themselves and why they were here. The topic was only briefly described and very open-ended, so Chris and I were prepared to talk about a wide range of use of Web 2.0/enterprise 2.0 tools. Most of the audience claimed ignorance of web 2.0, but wanted to learn more. Most did not know what a wiki was.

Chris and I started off with a few examples of how wikis can be used:

• Chris and I use an external wiki to help communicate and organize information for ILTA’s Knowledge Management Peer Group’s Steering Committee. 
• I am using a wiki to plan a meeting of Toronto and New York law firm knowledge management leaders.
• I use a wiki to manage one of my client teams.  
• My knowledge management department uses a wiki to manage our projects. 

We gave the audience a handout containing the wikis and happiness picture and my Wiki While You Work article published by ILTA. Most of the discussion focused on using wikis to help manage their own internal projects.  I think the instigation was the wikis and happiness picture showing the differences between using email to collaborate and a wiki to collaborate.

The audience really grabbed onto the concepts. We turned tables of skeptics in tables of bobbing heads by the end.  Chris ran into one of the participants at dinner that night. She had already gone back to her room, built a wiki on PBwiki and announced it to her group.  I think the session was a great success.

Thanks to Bridget Huffstutler and Scott Westfahl for inviting me to the PDC Conference. A big thanks to my co-presenter, Chris Boyd.

Tim Parker of The Bloom Group started things off with a great overview of web 2.0 and its use by professional service firms. Tim is in the middle of a survey of the websites of the 80 largest professional services firms in the United States. This is a follow up to the The Bloom Group‘s 2006 report: From Electronic Brochure to Online Lead Generator: Powering Up the Professional Services Website.  Tim threw out some interesting numbers.

• In 2006 only 6% of the websites had blogs. 
• Now 20% have blogs.
• In 2006, only 15% had RSS feeds. 
• Now, 48% have RSS feeds.

Here are Tim’s slides:

I was up next, focusing on the use of blogs in professional service firms.  Largely, my pitch was that converting some of your existing activities and publications to a blog platform can yield great results.

This was my slidedeck:

Last up was Yuval Zukerman of Molecular Inc with his presentation So You Have a Blog. Now What?

Yuval focused on the viral nature of Web 2.0 and how it can quickly spread your message across collections and network. He called for the audience to move beyond the walled gardens of their own websites and into the social collections of information on the internet. Post your events in Upcoming. Post your photos in Flickr or Picassa. Display your presentation in SlideShare. Host your videos in YouTube.

This is Yuval’s slidedeck

Thanks to Bob Buday of The Bloom Group for inviting me to speak. I saw a few bobbing heads in the audience. I think some people got the message. I think I even saw light bulbs starting to glow over a few heads.

UPDATE: I added Tim’s slides after the original post.

Establishing The Digital Relationship

While other industries have been far more aggressive in using the latest Web technologies, professional services firms have not been sitting on the sidelines. As of this March, more than 25% of the 200 largest U.S. law firms had blogs, with the number of blogs growing by 49% since August 2007. Consulting firms such as Accenture are encouraging employees to blog. A number of management consulting firms have made their Websites more interactive and informative, using tools like RSS feeds to update clients and prospects on new articles and other information that they publish. Others have Facebook profiles that give job seekers and prospects information on a professional firm and allow people to talk to others about the firm. Accounting firms such as Deloitte has numerous webcasts and podcasts on different topics, and email subscriptions based on viewers’ preferences.

Despite all the excitement, convincing partners at many professional firms to experiment with and invest in such “Web 2.0” technologies is not easy. In this session, we’ll hear from two professional firms at the leading edge of using such technologies about their experiences – good, bad and ugly. We’ll also hear the interim results of a new study on the Web practices of the 80 largest consulting, law, accounting and IT services firms.

Featuring speakers from:

• Goodwin Procter – Attorney Douglas E. Cornelius, a senior attorney in the law firm’s real estate practice and a member of its Knowledge Management department. He will discuss how his blogs have helped this major law firm create client awareness and share knowledge internally.

• Molecular Inc. – Mr. Yuval Zukerman, a consultant at this large Boston-based interactive agency, who has worked with a number of firms including Ernst & Young, Sprite, PC Connection, Belo to develop highly engaging and interactive Web experiences. He will also discuss Molecular’s growing use of blogs to cultivate business.
• The Bloom Group – Mr. Tim Parker, a principal of this professional services marketing firm, who will discuss the interim results of the firm’s research on how the largest professional firms are using Web 2.0 and other online technologies to market and sell their services.

Blogs, wikis and social networking are exploding in the consumer Web space. This session will discuss ways to leverage these tools inside the law firm for knowledge management, project management and many other purposes. The tools are fairly inexpensive and easy to learn for users. You can add tremendous value to your organization for very little cost.

UPDATED: With a fixed link to the event.http://tinyurl.com/5egzys