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Legal directories apt to fade. Social networks are how lawyers will connect.

How many of you have connected with friends from college and high school through Facebook in the last year? What are the chances you would have connected with those same people through college or high school directories?

How excited would you be if a company putting your high school directory together contacted you to get your updated biographical information? Who’s your spouse? Where do you live? How many kids? Pictures? What if they wanted you to buy a high school directory for $100?

We connect via social networks today. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or blogging. Past friendships or common interests bring us together and let us connect in a more inviting and meaningful way than a directory.

Networking by you as a lawyer that connects you with others is likely headed the same way. Whether it be social or common professional interests, networks will connect you with others — including your target audience for client development.

Is Martindale-Hubbell headed up or down over the next few years? How about Chambers? Or Super Lawyers?

Sure, those organizations are crafting ideas to hang on to what they have. A ‘Connected’ community at Martindale. And awards, rankings, and publications at Chambers and Super Lawyers.

Those directories also benefit from a lack of understanding of the power of social networks by law firm leadership and in-house counsel. It’s easier to sell legal directory services to professionals on both sides of the equation – law firms and corporate consumers of legal services – when they have yet to experience the power and value of social networks.

The investment community is betting on networks. TechCrunch picked up this morning on the opportunity that Union Square Ventures, a venture capital firm that has invested in Twitter, Zynga, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Disqus, sees in networks. Union Square is putting together a $200 Million fund for continued investment in networks.

From Fred Wilson, a partner with Union Square:

Since 2004, the opportunity to invest in networks has evolved. In 2004 the entire market capitalization of the social media sector was probably less than $100M. Today a single company in that sector is valued at over $50B. The amount of venture capital focused on the sector has exploded. Networks that did not exist in 2004 now consume a huge chunk of users’ time and attention, making the launch of new networks more challenging.

LexBlog is working with a client that is a large legal network, whose present Internet presence is dominated by a lawyer directory. Rather than re-investing in a directory as our client looks to upgrade its Internet presence, we have advised our client to invest in the future and lead with the power of an online social network.

Harness the power of aggregated blog feeds, Twitter feeds, LinkedIn groups, Facebook, and mobile applications. That’s today for many. That’s the future for everyone.

A directory for a network of lawyers — and even arguably for a law firm’s listings of lawyers on its website is the past.

This process of moving from directories of lawyers to networks seems inevitable as lawyers who understand the power of networks move into leadership positions with law firms and corporations and those in leadership positions today become more network savvy.

Am I wrong? What do you think?

  • http://ShopTOism.com David Pylyp

    Social Media is permitting people to connect and preview their service supplier prior to money changing hands. Lets hope it leads to better service.
    Watching Yellow Pages with fascination as they struggle to reinvent themselves Now claiming to be the Number 1 internet search leader.
    I thought Google was winning that battlefield.

  • http://www.delawarelitigation.com Francis Pileggi

    Kevin,
    Once again you are “leading the way” for law firms and lawyers to show us “what is around the corner”. Thanks for keeping us up to date on social media developments applicable to the legal profession. I wonder how much more room there is beyond blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, for “new arrivals” to compete with these existing social media outlets.

  • http://www.thecorporatecounsel.net/blog/index.html Broc Romanek

    I think there could be a brief window for someone to create a “social” network for lawyers (and their clients) if done correctly. Part of doing it correctly is ensuring it has some type of value-added feature that doesn’t exist on the primary social networks out there today.
    I see a lot of lawyers sign up for LinkedIn, but not really use it that much yet. And I’m not convinced that folks want to use their personal Facebook page to also interact for business purposes – perhaps if they have two Facebook accounts that will work one day.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin OKeefe

    Thanks for the comments Guys. No question we’ll see new mediums for social networking beyond blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. But it will be these media/networks and new ones by which lawyers should look to connect. Use what is in front of you and what is popular for lawyers and the public at large.
    I don’t see a closed social network for lawyers and their clients as a winner. Gated and walled communities have a history of failing online. And why would lawyers, who have limited time, drop where they are connecting already and start using a community with limited membership and exposure.
    LinkedIn works wonderfully for lawyers who know how to use it. It’s a learning curve that needs to be met, not a community that’s needed. At least from what I see. ;)

  • http://www.disputesloop.com Matthew Rushton

    Interesting stuff. Two points, if I may: 1) I upgraded a modestly successful legal directory (www.themediatordirectory.co.uk) into a social network for dispute resolution lawyers (www.disputesloop.com) a year ago. And while the market was comfortable with the former, all evidence suggests that they aren’t with the latter. They simply don’t “get it”.
    2) What drives the success of directories like Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 is not connecting lawyers with clients, but in purporting to offer a qualitative analysis of an opaque market, they stroke the egos of a profession well endowed with megalomaniacs. They are unable to publish anything negative their research might throw up, and thus everyone gets an independently researched plaudit to add to their CV/website. It’s a successful formula, and barring a sudden and unforeseen outbreak of humility in the profession, I wouldn’t bet against it.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin OKeefe

    No doubt ego is an issue moving ahead Matthew. But Martindale-Hubbell banked on that to their detriment. Though MH’s prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for large law firms may have been too high to pay out of ego. ;)
    Looks like yoiu did a nice job putting disputeloops.com together, but I think the networks that are open and being used by everyone are the netwiorks apt to work best. I view those networks today as blogging, Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. Lawyers willing to put some into testing how these networks work will be ahead of the game.

  • http://www.deferolaw.com Mark Thompson

    This is an interesting blog but it only offers the same forecast that has been forecast for several years now (check out Larry Bodine from at least 3 years ago). The truth is that there is room for both. Every major law firm on the planet still buys into the directory process. That is a fact. They like the independant opinion and assessment of their profession. Yes, this might be because directories “stroke the egos of a profession well endowed with megalomaniacs” but that’s lawyers for you!
    As for the “lack of understanding of the power of social networks by law firm leadership”, I deal with thousands of legal marketeers, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s – they certainly don’t lack understanding of what social media can do!
    I these people realise that they can increase their online exposure and foster genuine relationships via social media, and use the great things said about them in the directories to further those relationships. But that’s always been the way, it’s just that the processes of communicating have changed.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin OKeefe

    Thanks for the continuing feedback.
    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying directories will go away altogether. I’m just saying their importance will fade as far as their use in selecting competent and appropriate legal counsel.
    We still have yellow pages today and lawyers are still pouring a ton of money into them. However, the importance of yellow pages for consumers and small business people finding a lawyer has fallen off big time over the last 15 years.
    Based on the feedback I received via Twitter to this post, there are a quite a few in-house counsel and executives who agree that directories are fading and that social networks are becoming increasingly important in selecting counsel.
    Networks allow one to build relationships and allow lawyers to demonstrate their care, expertise, and passion. Those are things important to people looking to build a relationship of trust. Those things are absent in a directory.

  • http://www.giancolalaw.com minneapolis criminal lawyer

    Social media has become a powerful force — everyone is connected. However, mixing business with personal has always been a tight rope to walk. I’d definitely stick to LinkedIn.. It has a more resume building and professional environment to it.