Are you a solo practitioner looking for some helpful blogs? If so, check out these three.
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Tag: social media
Are you looking for ways to market your legal practice? Then check out the ABA Journal’s online article, 50 Ways to Market Your Practice, for tips and suggestions compiled by Terry Berger of Westminster, Maryland.
If you are looking for more in-depth coverage, the Law Library’s collection includes the following materials.
- Flying Solo: A Survival Guide for the Solo and Small Firm Lawyer, edited by K. William Gibson, et al.
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How to Start & Build a Law Practice,
by Jay G. Foonberg
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Avoiding Extinction: Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century,
by Mitchell Kowalsk
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Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Service Online,
by Stephanie L. Kimbro
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LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers,
by Dennis Kennedy and Allison C. Shields
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Blogging in One Hour for Lawyers,
by Ernie Svenson
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Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers,
by Dennis Kennedy and Allison C. Shields
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Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier,
by Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black
- Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers, by Jared Correia
Legal research can be challenging, even for experienced attorneys; however, there are many resources available to assist both attorneys and non-attorneys with their legal research needs. The Legal Research in the Blogosphere series will share blog posts and online sites that legal researchers may find useful.
The Law Review Commons (http://lawreviewcommons.com/) is a free, online collection of law reviews and legal journals. (A law review is a scholarly journal focused on legal issues, which is most commonly published through a law school or a bar association.) Users can both search and browse the collection of current and archival content. Check out the Law Review Commons and let us know what you think!
The Law Sites blog (http://www.lawsitesblog.com/) provides a short review fo the Law Review Commons at http://www.lawsitesblog.com/2014/11/largest-free-collection-law-reviews-web.html.
Categories
Legal Research in the Blogosphere
Legal research can be challenging, even for experienced attorneys; however, there are many resources available to assist both attorneys and non-attorneys with their legal research needs. The Legal Research in the Blogosphere series will share blog posts and online sites that legal researchers may find useful.
We would like to share a great post on the Ms. JD blog (http://ms-jd.org/) about legal research strategy, which is available at http://ms-jd.org/blog/article/research-makeover-strategy-in-legal-research-seeing-your-research-through-f.
Targeted to attorneys, the post lays out a three-step process for legal research: (1) strategize, (2) dive-in and (3) knowing when to stop. The post also provides some tips about how to keep your research organized. Check out the post, and let us know your thoughts!
All of these titles can be found in the law library. Find out how social media can be used in the practice of law.
Kimbro, Stephanie L. Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Service Online. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 2010. (KF320.A9K56 2010)
Elefant, Carolyn and Nicole Black. Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 2010. (KF320.A9E44 2010)
Kennedy, Dennis and Allison C. Shields. LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers. 2d ed. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 2014. (KF320.I57K46 2014 (in process))
Svenson, Ernie. Blogging in One Hour for Lawyers. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 1012. (KF320.I57S88 2012)
Kennedy, Dennis and Allison C. Shields. Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 2012. (KF320.K47 2012)
Elefant, Carolyn and Nicole Black. Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 2010. (KF320.A9E44 2010)
Correia, Jared. Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers. Chicago: ABA Law Practice Management, 2012. (in process)
A recent article in the ABA Journal online reported that the Knight Foundation awarded a grant to John Davidow of WUBR in Boston for his project to create best practices for the use of new technologies and digital reporting in the courts. A Boston courtroom will act as a laboratory with Wi-Fi to allow for live blogging and use of live streaming of court proceedings.
Other goals are to publish the daily docket on the web (the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court already publishes the Daily Docket on its webpage) and to create a wiki of legal terms for the public (the Peoples Law Library of Maryland includes a Dictionary of Legal Terms than might act as a good model).
Reading that the Library of Congress has and will archive all Tweets led me to find the LOC on Twitter which lead me to the Library of Congress Blog and Facebook page.
I am now following the Library of Congress on Twitter, subscribe to the blog with Google Reader and am a fan of the LOC on Facebook.
The LOC Twitterfeed consists of announcements with links to more information such as a Press Release or Blog post such as the one concerning the archiving of all Tweets or an announcement that the Librarian of Congress would be interviewed on ABC World News. The most recent Tweet, today, was as follows: “First Japanese Diplomatic Mission to U.S. Is Subject of May 24 Lecture: “Samurai 150! The First Japanese Diplomati… http://bit.ly/9n3GQi” The link will take you right to the news release page. The Library of Congress Blog is a great site to find out about LOC events and news such as a Shakespeare birthday event scheduled for tomorrow or the announcement that Tweets will now be archived. The LOC Facebook page most recent post was about a C-SPAN interview concerning the Twitter archive with a link to the video. There are lots of fan comments. (The Law Library of Congress has a Facebook page, too.)
In researching this topic further I found that the National Center for State Courts website contained a wealth of relevant information and links to actual examples.
Social Media and the Courts : Overview describes the issues from use by juries to use by the courts.
Social Media and the Courts : Resource Guide contains links to articles on such topics as the effects of jurors using social media during trials, use of social media by judges and attorneys, links to articles about court blogs as well as links to court blogs, and information on policy.
Social Media and the Courts : State Links examples of actual court use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Keynote speaker, Ari Shapiro, NPR Justice Correspondent, did a great job making the case for the use of social media like Twitter, blogs and Facebook by the courts. You can hear for yourself how (Twitter to announce new court opinions) and why (public interest and transparency) courts should make use of these new technologies. The video replay is already available on the CTC 2009 Blog through the NCSC CTC Conference Video Streams.
The program, The Role of Social Networking Tools for the Courts, continued the social networking topic. The speakers, both from LexisNexis, Christine O’Clock and Travis Olson, started with the basics by defining and describing three of these new technologies, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. But first they dealt with the why. They cited a number of reasons: people trust the more personal word of mouth information, people are already talking about the court, awareness in order to avoid pitfalls, traditional media is being replaced by social media and engagement for the development of better relationships with the legal community and the public.
Blogs can bring new audiences for court information resulting in a better understanding of the courts by the public. Blogs are not as static as a website and can be updated quickly and frequently and can put a more personal face on the court. The Las Vegas Clark County blog was presented as good example of a court blog.
Twitter was described a great way to listen to the world around you. It allows for the broadcast of real time announcements and can be used to drive awareness to other sites and tools. They liked the way the Superior Court of Fulton County Georgia(@FultonCourtInfo) had announcements and real time information on Twitter that linked to the court blog and website. A search for CTC tweets brought up the tweets of law librarian richards1000 who was recognized for his contributions in the legal Twitter sphere.
Facebook can present the courts perspective, discuss and listen. New Jersey courts are on Facebook where they have links to news, photos from court events, announcements and links to Youtube videos.
The program concluded with a discussion of how social technology can be implemented for judges, court administration, PR offices and Clerks of Court. All should make awareness and self education the first step. It is a good practice to monitor the technolgies for discussions of court cases or issues. Judges’ awareness allows the specific mention of the use of social media by jurors and witnesses and to develop media access policies. In addition, court adminstration can develop internal staff use policies and create a strategic plan for outreach to increase court transparency using social media. PR departments could add social media to the press release list. The clerk’s office can post announcements, spotlight frequently asked questions or create a tour of the court’s work flow.
The best way to learn about these new technologies is to jump right in and sign up and see how it all works for yourself.
AACPLL Blog: Law Library News 