How lawyers can use LinkedIn to connect to new clients

LinkedIn has become an accepted professional relationship-building tool, but many lawyers still aren't sure how to benefit from it.

At a June 23 seminar on using LinkedIn effectively, lawyers who weren't using the social networking tool said they knew they should be but didn't want to spend an inordinate amount of time on it. They also worried about having client contacts poached or violating client confidentiality.

The seminar, held by legal career coach Robin M. Hensley of Raising the Bar and social media consultant Jeffrey Brathwaite, attracted roughly 40 lawyers and other professional services providers, who ranged in age from about 30 to 60. "My generation is coming in kicking and screaming," Hensley told the group. "But LinkedIn is here to stay -- so no more whining."

Hensley, who started using LinkedIn two years ago, said she has 1,600 direct contacts now, who are a mix of clients, colleagues and friends.

Top executives and general counsel from just about every Fortune 500 company are among the 100 million people and organizations using LinkedIn, she said, and so are more than one million lawyers. That includes 127,500 general counsel, she said. A search of LinkedIn reveals 12,086 law firms with a profile page, including most major U.S. firms.

One attendee, Marc A. Taylor, said he has about 900 direct contacts on LinkedIn -- and wants 900 more. Taylor, one of the principals of Taylor English Duma, said he's been using LinkedIn actively for about two years as a way to stay in touch with contacts, including current clients, past clients and referral sources.

He said he uses LinkedIn to build relationships, not to land new clients. "This is a relationship business. It's a business where trust is the currency and you build trust over a long period of time," he said.

Taylor acknowledged that keeping up with 900 contacts can be time-consuming and was looking for tips on how to use LinkedIn more efficiently.

His partner, Joseph M. English, has almost 600 contacts and also has been using LinkedIn for about two years. English said he shares his connections with colleagues and clients. "It's like opening your Rolodex to the other person -- they can see if there's anyone you know that they want to meet."

Taylor English has grown rapidly -- from about 50 lawyers to 100 in the last two and a half years -- but Taylor said it has not recruited lawyers via LinkedIn. However, the firm has hired some paralegals and secretaries who made contact through its LinkedIn profile page, he added.

While LinkedIn has become a way to keep up with friends and associates and to stay up to date in one's profession, Hensley said lawyers can also use it to get actual clients. She emphasized that even though good networking can start with LinkedIn, it still requires a more personal touch.

First, identify target clients, said Hensley -- for instance, the general counsels of startup tech companies in Atlanta. A search for "general counsel" on LinkedIn produces 127,500 names, of which 2,900 are in Atlanta.

Then find out where the in-house lawyers and executives on your prospect list went to law school or college, she said, and see if you have a partner or friend who was in their class.

Hensley said one of her lawyer clients found out through LinkedIn that a law school classmate he'd thought was at a firm in Chicago had gone in-house at one of the companies on his target list. Another client, the local managing partner of a large law firm, discovered that the CEO of an Atlanta-based paperboard company he wanted to pitch was his old law school roommate. But her client hadn't been in touch with his old friend in a decade and worried that attempting to reconnect would appear "cheesy."

"He's on LinkedIn, so he wants to connect," Hensley told him. "Just send him an email."

"What's the worst that could happen? Could you get less business?" she asked, eliciting laughs of recognition from the audience.

Hensley acknowledged that getting started on LinkedIn takes some time. But you can easily import your email contacts from, for example, Gmail or Outlook to LinkedIn. Then you can see which people have LinkedIn profiles and click a button requesting to link, which can be done quickly.

Users can reveal either all their contacts to each new link, or none, but there is no way to selectively reveal contacts. This raises two of the biggest concerns for new users -- poaching and confidentiality.

One attendee was worried that allowing her contacts to see all her other connections could violate confidentiality obligations, since many are clients. Hensley pointed out that one's contacts don't know if the other contacts are "clients, friends or enemies."

Hensley said some lawyers worry that people will link to them only to poach their clients. She pointed out that if someone could poach clients from viewing their LinkedIn profile data -- such as job history, schools attended and group memberships -- then they are not much of a client.

"LinkedIn is about networking," she said. Hensley counsels "opening the kimono" and allowing contacts to see all your other contacts, but she admitted that she initially kept her own contacts hidden. "If you are not willing to open up and share your connections, you should not be on LinkedIn," she said.

Brathwaite pointed out that there are privacy measures built into the service. Visitors who have no connection to a user can't see any of the person's information unless the request to link is accepted.

Don't try to link with people you don't know, Hensley cautioned, and don't link willy-nilly with anyone who asks.

"They have access to your contacts, and you have access to theirs, so you want to have some kind of connection to them," Brathwaite explained.

Hensley added that one should ask one's LinkedIn contacts for introductions to their contacts in person -- not via the "request invitation" button on LinkedIn. She said she asks for introductions with a phone call or, better, over lunch. "It's a big ask -- and I don't ask often," she said.

There are numerous ways to maximize one's connectivity on LinkedIn -- for example, by joining groups, making status updates to stay visible and following companies that are clients or prospects.

Groups are a great way to make new contacts, said Hensley, since people gain access to the profiles and contacts of the other group members. They can also help people stay abreast of what's happening in their industry areas. And there are groups for all interests -- whether for Atlanta in-house women lawyers or RICO practitioners.

A LinkedIn group on marketing through social media that Hensley started a year ago has just hit 1,000 members. It's called "Raising the Bar: Social Media Marketing for Lawyers & CPAs," and members receive a free weekly tip from Hensley on using LinkedIn effectively.

(Published by Lawjobs.com - July 1, 2011)