Legal Networking Advice for New Solos
By Adam J. Post
When starting off a solo practice, it goes without saying
that you should focus on your network. No matter your
existing network’s size, you should always be looking
to add to your contacts. First look to the usual sources
by joining your local bar association. Pay particular
attention to committees and sections in your area of
practice. For example, when I started my DUI defense
practice, I joined the Los Angeles Bar Association’s
criminal law and small practice sections. Many sections
have email lists that you can join, giving you the ability
to ask and answer questions from fellow solo practitioners.
By participating in this manner you build your network
in a practical way, making local contacts in your area
to help with issues as they arise.
I recently had a question about finding malpractice
insurance for my criminal defense practice. Of course
I went to the Internet to do an initial search, and I
found many insurance brokers who offered malpractice
insurance, but I had no information from people who had
actually used them. The best source of advice was my
local bar association’s solo practitioner email
list serve. I posted my query to the group, and within
minutes I had several responses from solo practitioners,
local attorneys who had faced my same issue and they
pointed me to several qualified insurance brokers. What
was most helpful to my search was that the information
response was both timely and relevant to my situation.
I saved several hundred dollars on my policy. I made
sure to thank those who responded, letting them know
that I used the information they provided and added them
to my growing network.
Make use of online networking tools such as Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Myspace. Both Facebook and Myspace
offer profiles for businesses and a platform for you
to post information about your practice. I recently joined
Twitter, albeit a little late to the growing Twitter
bandwagon, and I have connected with several criminal
defense and DUI/DWI attorneys from across the country.
Twitter can be used in the same way as the local bar
list serve described above: simply go to Twitter.com
and grab a user id that relates to your practice (I focus
on criminal law and DUI defense, so mine is twitter.com/LAduidefense).
Follow members with like interests and you will be amazed
at how quickly your online network expands. You can also
post a Twitter feed to your personal or legal practice
blog, which updates your site visitors to links for your
new Twitter posts. Another very smart play is to start
up a blog related to your area of practice. You can use
Wordpress or Blogger to get a blog up and running, giving
you a platform to reach potential customers and gain
exposure. Once you have your blog going, make sure you
update regularly with relevant legal materials. This
is important as I’m sure we all have visited unhelpful
sites that have not been updated in years. You will find
that the benefit of blogging regularly is twofold, you
will learn more about your area of the law while educating
your audience.
Don’t forget about your offline network and opportunities
that exist for making new connections at alumni mixers
and CLE events. Many law schools have local mixers/events
to encourage admitted students to attend or fund-raise
among alumni. Use these events to meet fellow practicing
alums in your local area. It doesn’t matter if
they don’t practice in your area of the law. Keep
a broad perspective of your growing network because referrals
can be a huge source of business for your practice. Let’s
say that I am attending an alumni event in Los Angeles,
and I meet a fellow alum who practices family law. One
may initially think, “Great, another attorney contact
outside of my practice area,” but in reality this
contact may be a source of future business. The moment
his divorce client gets arrested for a DUI or his friend
faces criminal charges, he will refer to attorneys in
his network. That probably means you. That is when the
shared experience of going to the same law school and
the connection made at the alumni event can pay off professionally.
One of the most powerful tools in networking is a positive
attitude. You must put yourself in the situation with
a determined, positive mindset. This will motivate you
past barriers to networking such as not knowing many
people at an event or having the occasional conversation
with someone who doesn’t really care what you do
or even forgets to remember your name. You will find
that most people, when contacted in a genuine and sincere
way, seek to understand who you are and where you are
going professionally. This practice of seeking to truly
understand and listen to another attorney’s stories
or advice is reciprocal and is the best way to actively
network in our profession.
Additional Resources for Networking Skills
You can find John E. Kobara’s blog “Adopting
the Mentoring and Networking Lifestyle” at http://jeknetwork.typepad.com/networking/.
Books to check out include: Dale Carnegie’s classic “How
to Win Friends & Influence People,” Napoleon
Hill's “Think and Grow Rich,” and Og Mandino’s “The Greatest Salesman in the World.”
Adam J. Post is a Los Angeles criminal law attorney. His solo practice, the Law Office of Adam J. Post, focuses primarily on DUI defense cases. Mr. Post is a former Deputy District Attorney and a graduate of UC Davis Law School and the University of San Diego. He can be reached at adampostlaw@gmail.com, and he maintains his websites at www.adamjpost.com and laDUIdefense.blogspot.com.
© Copyright 2009, American
Bar Association.
