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

January 15, 2011

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?