Social Media for Elder Law Attorneys - Powerpoint presentation

Social Networking in Your Elder Law Practice: Risks & Opportunities

Jennifer Ellis, Esq.

Freedman Consulting, Inc.

jennifer@freedmanlpm.com

65+ Has Surpassed 50%

For the Elderly

Social Media has Positives and Negatives:

Mainly Positives

Positives

• Limit Isolation – Video/Audio Technology – chat with family

– Facebook/Other Sites • See what family is doing

• Meet new friends

• Find things to do off line

• Enables home/bed-ridden to communicate

• Research – Items won’t discuss with doctors

– Social Services

Negatives

• Scams

– Easy to prey on elderly

• Burglary risk

– Provide too much information

– Burglars can take advantage of

• Knowing elderly home alone

• Knowing when elderly are out

• Computer Malware

Mitigate the Risk

• Privacy Settings

• Careful about what posting

• Choose friends carefully

• Updated Malware Protection

– Automatically updates

• Government Website http://fightfraud.nv.gov/SocialMediaScams.htm

Ethical Concerns

The Two Rules of Jennifer

1. Rules & laws that apply off-line apply on-line

2. Amount of possible trouble is expanded by the reach of the Internet

Watch for the Streisand Effect

• Barbara Streisand sued to have an image of her house removed from the Internet

– Resulted in greater publicity and a lot of insults

• Lesson learned?

– Suing rarely works

Apologies are Good

• Best way to deal with such errors of judgment?

– Don’t make them

– Apologize (sincerely)

– Lay low

The Umbrella of Ethics

• 7.1 Don’t be misleading in communications either on or offline

• 8.x Obligation to “Maintain the Integrity of the Profession”

7.2 Attorney Advertising

• Copies/Records kept 2 years

• No celebrity endorsements

• Fee language restrictions

• Geographic location disclosures

• Etc.

What is Advertising?

• Ads on Google or Facebook – Yes

• Website – Yes

• Blogs?

• Facebook and Tweets?

• Does it feel like advertising?

• It’s the content not the format

Blogs

• In Virginia attorney disciplined for not including advertising disclaimer and blogging about his cases

• Overturned, can blog about his cases as long as “already available on the public record”

• Must have appropriate disclaimer • Some argue unique case because his site was

“blatant marketing” • Other states have no issue with blogging • Advice – include disclaimer

Preservation

• Archive website

• Screenshots of ads on Google or Facebook

• Pdfs of appropriate pages

Firm Name

• One attorney?

– Not & Associates

• One office?

– Not offices of

• Trade names ok

– Not confusing

– Not suggest results

8.5 Multi-State Practice

• Comply with rules where:

– Office is located

– All attorneys admitted

– Seeking clients

Solicitation

• Watch for “real time” communication – Chat on Facebook?

• Might not be ok

– Email? • Ok – reveal if advertising

– Friending on Facebook? • What is your content?

– Ad on Facebook encouraging people to “Like” a business page? • Fine

7.4 Specialization

• Attorneys in Pennsylvania: – Do not specialize – Are not experts

• They – Focus on – Limited to

• Exceptions – Patent – Admiralty – Actual certifications

• CELA (Certified Elder Law Attorney)

5.5 Unauthorized Practice of Law

• Careful answering questions

• Could

– Inadvertently form a client relationship

– End up practicing in a state in which not licensed

– Have a conflict problem

Include Short Disclaimer On All Pages

• Nothing on this site is to be taken as legal advice.

• No communication between FIRM and readers of this site is to be inferred to cause an attorney client relationship.

• For more information view the full disclaimer.

• The attorneys of FIRM are licensed to practice in Pennsylvania.

Full Disclaimer

• Comports will all requirements in all appropriate states

• Reminds that contact through site is not confidential

• Does not form attorney client relationship

Contact Form? Require Disclaimer

Avoid Trouble (Unlike These Folks)

Don’t Share Confidential Information

• Shared Confidential information

• Insulted judge

• Suspended

• Page after page of negative search results

Don’t Insult Clients

• Lawyer insulted client on personal blog

• Upset client, upset firm, bad PR

• Forced to apologize

• Numerous negative links in Google search results

• Now retired

Be Nice to Judges

• Florida Attorney Wrote Judge was: – “Evil witch” – “Seemingly mentally ill” – “Clearly unfit for her positions and knows not what it

means to be a neutral arbiter”

• Florida Bar Concluded: Attorney guilty of:

– Making false and reckless statements regarding the qualifications of a judge

– Engaging in professional conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of Justice

Not Practicing? Doesn’t Matter

• Attorney served as juror • Blogged about • case • Case overturned • 45 day suspension • $14k legal fees • Lost job

Remember No One Can See or Hear You

• No body language or vocal inflection

• Different senses of humor

• What is a joke to one person is an insult or a grievous threat to another

Tweeting “Jokes”

• Indiana AG Fired over Tweet

– “use live ammunition”

No Private Life

• Will be punished for behavior regardless of whether on a personal or public account or personal or public topic

Prosecutor Fired

• Attacked student for being gay

• His attorney, said his client was merely expressing his free-speech rights

• In explaining the firing his ex-employer stated “[he] repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately used state resources”

Judges Should Be Careful

• Judges

– Friends with defendants

– Ex-parte communication on Facebook with attorney

– Not allowed to friend attorneys in Florida

Proper Use of Social Media

Social Media Is Very Useful

• Despite the malfeasance of some, social media is very useful

– As a networking tool

– As an advertising medium

– As a research tool

Keep Track of Your Image

• Set up Google and Yahoo alerts to see when you are mentioned online

Reputation Problems?

• Bury bad information with positive information

• Blogs

• Press releases

• Ask clients to write recommendations on Google, Avvo, LinkedIn, other sites

Brand Yourself and Your Firm

• Consistent message

• Consistent image

• Show level of knowledge

• Engage with your audience

Blogs

• Best SEO tool

• Best for showing level of knowledge

• 1 in 4 people read blogs

• 74 of top 100 AmLaw firms have blogs

– Some have several

LinkedIn

• All attorneys should have completed LinkedIn profiles

• 161 million members

• Executives from 100% of Fortune 500 companies

Avvo

• Practicing a while

• Robust profile

• Never in disciplinary trouble

• Remember – Cannot remove Avvo score

Facebook

• 900 million users

• Create a page for your firm

• Consider whether you want to share your personal account

Twitter

• Top 10 most visited sites daily

• Easily connects to Facebook – (and vice versa)

• Excellent way to increase blog presence by sharing titles of posts and links to posts

• Good for short bits of information

Pinterest

• 1.1 million daily active users

• 10 million active visits per month

• Majority female

• Visual medium

• Link pictures to sites – Such blog posts

• Show personal side – Recommended books, movies, recipes

Google+

• 100 million people

• Not extremely popular for day to day use

• Valuable for SEO

– Google integrating Google+ posts and pages with other services including search and local

• Share useful information with appropriate keywords

• Both personal account and business page

Fill Out a Personal Google + Profile

YouTube

• 800 million unique users each month

• 4 billion videos viewed each day

• Great SEO value

• Create videos – Attorney bios

– Explanation of legal issues

• Upload on YouTube – Use proper title, keywords

• Embed on blog and other locations

Document Sharing – Scribd

• 100 million active users

• Upload presentations

• Other useful documents

• Connect to blog, other social media sites

Connect Everything

• Link everything

• Re-use content everywhere by linking and embedding

– Don’t repost

– Reposting harms SEO

Final Thoughts

• Don’t be afraid of social media

– It can be a powerful marketing tool

– It can be a powerful research tool

– Simply be sure to remember that many people will see what you post

– Obey the ethical rules

Blog

Website

Use Tools to Save Time

• Hootsuite

– Post once

– Put everywhere

– View several sites in one place

– Currently works with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and some other sites

Thank You

Jennifer Ellis

Freedman Consulting, Inc.

jennifer@freedmanlpm.com