Most of us are happy to be provided wisdom, inspiration, or practical tips about the practice of law. Some even go searching them out. There are several lawyers on LinkedIn who provide all of these in spades.

These lawyers have taken a platform intended for providing a place for professionals to connect and modified their usage of it to benefit others. The They’ve used LinkedIn as a place to share their ideas and grow their audiences. In short, they’ve turned it into a marketing tool. But not the ugly, self-aggrandizing and self-promoting marketing that we’ve become accustomed to.

The lawyers on LinkedIn who are doing this well are creating relationships, providing value to their followers, and sharing information and inspiration. The are implementing the highest and best form of marketing.

Lawyers on LinkedIn

Frank Ramos of Clarke Silvergate

When I think of lawyers on LinkedIn, my first thought is with Frank Ramos, who has done more to elevate the usage of LinkedIn than anyone else I’ve seen. Every day, Frank shares his thoughts about either the practice of law or contending with life’s tougher issues more generally. In fact, he has literally written the book on LinkedIn for Lawyers, which (I think) is scheduled for publication later this year.

Here are some selections of his contributions on LinkedIn in recent weeks, to give you a flavor of the diversity and value of his content:

• “I read biographies to emulate those who have succeeded. I read law firm websites to emulate firms who are successful.”
• “Associates at firms are looking for partners to invest in, care for and listen to them. If firms don’t care for their associates, why should the associates care for their firms?”
• “We can use our creativity, our imagination and our ideas for wondrous epiphanies or useless worry. We face this choice every day, every hour. Choose to create, not destroy.”

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Claire E. Parsons of Adams, Stepner, Woltermann & Dusing

Claire E. Parsons has a passion for helping other lawyers. She does this both through social media and by more traditional means; here’s a recent story Claire shared:

A law student just reached out to me to ask to meet. I don’t know him but he met a friend at an event and she referred him to me. I’m busy now but wouldn’t think of saying no.

Why?

Because I did the same thing when I was in law school. I told my torts professor I was interested in civil rights litigation. He didn’t know anything about that but referred me to an attorney in town who did. I didn’t know that lawyer but called him up. Not only did he call me back; he talked to me for 90 minutes about #lawpractice.

More importantly, he asked if I had a clerk job for the summer and I told him I had an offer. At the time, I wasn’t sure I was going to take it because it was in my home town and I didn’t want to go back. When I told him the firm name, he said such nice things about the attorneys there because he’d handled cases AGAINST them in the past.

I left the meeting and immediately called to accept the offer.

If you want to know the firm’s name, check out my profile. It’s the same place that I have been practicing my whole career and where I am now an equity partner.

Experienced #lawyers can help #younglawyers a lot by just giving them a bit of their time. Our time is precious but so is the future of our profession.

Claire recently shared she started posting on LinkedIn because she likes to write, and doing so helps her sort out her thoughts on issues. LinkedIn provides her a vehicle to do so in small increments, in what is also known as microblogging. But what she discovered is that practicing in public has given her an audience eager to receive what she’s sharing.

Michael Young of HeplerBroom

Michael Young is a civil defense lawyer in St. Louis who regularly writes about insurance issues. He promotes his colleagues. And recently he has started a daily, short-form podcast that discusses insurance issues. All of these are effective ways to (1) stay top-of-mind for clients who are continually seeking information about developments in their field, (2) to establish your expertise, and (3) build trust equity.

Lawyers to Follow on LinkedIn

There are plenty of lawyers on LinkedIn who you can follow and emulate to provide value to clients or become part of a community of people who are changing the way we interact with one another. But more importantly than being inspired by others, you can be a part of the changing landscape of lawyers sharing and helping each other.