Lawyers Can Find Referrals on ABA Online Social Network

By Larry Bodine, Esq., a business development advisor based in Glen Ellyn, IL. With the Apollo Business Development Program, he has helped law firms nationwide get new clients and generate millions of dollars of new revenue. He can be reached at 630.942.0977 and www.larrybodine.com.

Lawyers will find a new way to make connections and generate referrals on the American Bar Association's new online social network, Legallyminded.com, by using targeted matchmaking to expand your network, participating in one-on-one private discussions or public group threads, voting in an online poll or creating a blog.

"A lot of our members said we’re joining these online communities. But we found there’s a gap between lawyers and networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.  Plus there’s a lot of ‘noise’ there, so it’s difficult for lawyers to network effectively,” said Frederick L. Faulkner IV, Manager of Interactive Services of the ABA.  “It’s not just for lawyers, and we’re trying to combine social networking with content.”

I've been aware of Legallyminded since last June, when it was launched as a private "beta" site.  Faulkner is cognizant that the site is not perfect, so the existing site is considered a "public beta," still subject to tweaking and new features.  Legallyminded is free, public, and ABA membership is not required.

"We want to do something for the profession as a whole and highlight a bunch of content that the ABA and other sites publish.  We took some ideas of Facebook and LinkedIn in but added wikis, opportunity for members to have blogs, and content within the legal profession," he added.

Much of the site can be viewed without registering. To participate in a conversation or look up or download a file, a visitor must create an account.  

Three benefits

Legallyminded is the brainchild of Faulkner and ABA Executive Director Henry White. They began talking after the successful relaunch of the ABA Journal website and asked each other what they could do differently to let members connect and form online communities. While it may be true that more than half of all lawyers have a profile on LinkedIn, they are not using it to connect with others.

Accordingly, legallyminded has three primary benefits:

• Lawyers can cut through the clutter and reach referral sources. Visitors can read about business development in the Marketing & Business Development section, or join a discussion in the Legal Marketing group (which was started by JD Supra Vice President of Business Development, John Christiansen).  Lawyers can speak up in "LegallyChatting," which is an open chat room for all members of LegallyMinded, or collaborate on articles in "Wiki Space."

• A very cool networking feature is the People Map, which displays all the other network members who have indicated interests that match yours.

  You just hover your cursor over the people closest to you, and a pop-up box tells you more about them. You are free to contact them directly -- no intermediary or introduction is needed. You can also request a meeting with the person and add them to your contact list.

"So instead of having to know someone in Linked in, your ability to network is based on the interests you express," Faulkner said. "The person closest to you is person who matches you best. If you say you are a mentor, you will see a graphic of other people who want a mentor and match your interest criteria.  A lawyer could put down an area of practice and it will display people who are seeking lawyers in that practice.  Can start a dialog without an introduction. It’s a different approach to bring people together."

• The site carries content from the ABA, other sources and network members.  The home page and news sections are full of articles from ABA publications, AmLaw Daily, Findlaw and other publishers.  Plus there's member-contributed material by people like the Former chair of the ABA Cyberspace Law Committee to "insurancewoman" who is a civil litigator in solo practice.

New members are highlighted when they join, and "Top Contributors" are celebrated on their own page and community blogs are ranked by the highest number of posts. Activity and participation puts your name in front of other lawyers and referral sources.

Members are welcome to pepper the "LegallyMinded Feedback" page with questions like, "how do I change my user name?" "How do I put paragraph breaks in my bio?" and "some of the frames overlap others on my 13" Macbook."  It's clearly a work in progress, just as Google was when managing partners used to laugh about the name.  Now the partners want a top listing in Google.  The advantages will come to the lawyers and marketers who get active in legallyminded early in its existence.