WHY LAWYERS NEED TO TAKE PERSONAL BRANDING SERIOUSLY AND THE TOOLS THAT CAN AID THIS ENDEAVOR
On the charge of “Failure to utilize online resources for personal branding” most of the Lawyers plead “Guilty” on all counts to the charge, but what is Personal Branding?
Personal Branding is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual. It, therefore, entails creating a brand and maintaining it while making an impression. Many lawyers never take their personal brands seriously, some feel and believe it is too much to ask for given their ever-pressing schedules handling client work, trying to attain professional learning points (Continuing Legal Education) and many more tasks that come with being a lawyer.
The Legal Profession in Uganda and Africa, in general, is growing increasingly competitive. In Uganda, there are about 12 Law Schools ‘manufacturing’ lawyers annually and sending them out into the world full of uncertainty and cut-throat competition. An average graduating class of a Law School in Uganda will at least have about 150–200 students. Where do all these end up? That is, however, a story for another day. In addition, the Roll of Advocates currently holds about 4,000 Advocates and still counting plus 700 Law firms registered in Uganda. There is undoubtedly an increasing need for many Lawyers to continuously differentiate themselves from the crowd. This can only be achieved through personal branding and this can come in a number of packages depending on one’s preference.
Previously, it was not an essential thing for lawyers to have an online presence. The internet and related technologies were viewed as a “luxury” — an Email address and Facsimile (Fax) machine could suffice. The number of lawyers was barely a quarter of what it stands at today. The Legal Profession was predominantly one with sole practitioners or as commonly referred “one-man law firms”. Law schools were limited. A Managing Partner of a Leading Corporate and Commercial Law firm once reminisced about his Bar Course Class at the Law Development Centre in the late 1980s — it had no more than 70 Students.
Fast forward, there are great advancements in technology, more law schools, and increased expectations from clients that lawyers are expected to deal with every day.
Technology and the Internet are so embedded in our daily lives that when people get referred to a lawyer, it is nearly impossible to escape the urge of being “Googled” by the prospective client before a meet-up. Many clients first google their problem seeking for Do It Yourself (DIY) solutions, when that doesn’t work out or information is not readily available for the particular jurisdiction, they then consider googling the lawyer. You can be sure in two-thirds of the time the client will have some information about your prior to contacting the Lawyer or meeting up.
It is therefore increasingly important to have online visibility. Firm Grown CEO, Olivia Kiratu, emphasizes the need for Visibility form African Lawyers in her podcast on Personal Branding in the Digital Age: What Lawyers Need to Know.
It is a growing practice in Uganda, for Law firms to set-up and actively manage social media platforms — this is, however, a recent trend that can be tracked from 2014; this is evidence that it is a concern that cannot be ignored. The popular sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter; a few bold firms even have Instagram. In this article, I will concentrate on what individual lawyers may use and particularly the basic and user-friendly platforms that are easy to access and master. These are some of the Platforms that can be utilized by Lawyers for Personal Branding.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great platform to build your brand. It is a website that has professionals from all walks of life. It also has great Online Communities of Professionals in various practices — you can choose to join any network/community and interact with like-minded professionals.
Most importantly though, make an effort to make your personal LinkedIn profile look professional and credible: Fill out your bio and contact info, have a high-quality photo, list all your previous jobs, pieces of training, conferences and educational experiences, show off some of your accomplishments, awards. Then do the same for your law firm: create a LinkedIn company page and make it look good! It is quite disappointing to find a LinkedIn account without a profile photo — you rather not open one in the first place: it is also an act of laziness to fail to update your profile and fill out all the relevant information.
It’s not bizarre in this internet age to find recruiters head hunting for professionals on LinkedIn, I know of many testimonies of Lawyers and other professionals that were recruited online — the recruiters simply had to look at their online platform and contact them and like it or not, some of your potential clients are going to find you on LinkedIn
Medium
Medium provides a platform for amateur and professional people interested in publications. Medium is regarded as a Blog host, and can, therefore, be the right platform to exercise your Thought Leadership as Lawyer by posting articles. One can even have drafts stored on the platform and publish when ready or even share peer-review links for peers to comment on a piece before it’s published. This is a great platform that many persons are always looking out for. Other blogs to consider are Wix, WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr just to mention a few
Twitter
Twitter; is an online news and social networking platform on which users post and interact with “Tweets”. Twitter has a word limit of 280 characters. This service can train a lawyer to convey a message with utmost precision and also network directly with potential clients. It requires consistency to have a following and usually, the Following is dictated or determined by the type of content you consistently post. You can Direct Message (“DM”) even the most influential of persons in real time. Most people prefer to manage their Twitter presence personally unlike Facebook.
Quora
Quora is the leading Q&A website on the web, with a keen focus on surfacing only high-quality answers to people’s questions. It is simply hard to fathom having a Q & A website without legal questions. As a lawyer, consistently answering questions with accuracy builds your reputation as a professional with expertise and credibility. It is a great online resource to practice answering questions with detail and precision and also gain much-needed visibility for your target audience. It equally has communities you can follow for updates, and one can choose which areas they want to concentrate on — you can decide to only answer questions related to Alternative Dispute Resolution practice that is mediation, arbitration, negotiation and the like.
Buffer
For the Lawyers who are too busy or find it hard to maintain a lot of social media platforms — Buffer might just be the tool for you. It makes it extremely easy to update all of your social networks at once, and to schedule posts in advance so you don’t have to constantly be thinking about it. This tool is one of the ways of building an active social media with minimal hustle.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a tool I always use in my writing to correct grammar and related typos, Olivia Kiratu, a Lawyer and Business Development Coach recommends the same in her thoughts on personal branding for lawyers. Since all the above platforms require writing, you wouldn’t want to create an impression that you lack an eye for detail or are too lazy to proof-read your work.
Remember you are dealing with Humans — tap into the emotional aspects
There are many Lawyers who take their personal branding seriously to a level of only posting about their profession. Always remember that your audience or network is made up of humans. Having posts that give a feel of what you are as a person does not in any way affect your personal brand if any — it actually boosts your brand when you “humanize” your brand. It is also important to avoid plagiarism or using the content of other writers without acknowledging that it’s their work you relied on to make the article, put the relevant links and names in your articles if you refer to any online information.
Creativity is King
From my experience, one can go as far as utilizing social media platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. You simply have to be creative about it. You can keep your contact list updated with thrilling posts all week if you have the time and interesting images with quotes or legal jokes on Instagram. Lighten up over the weekend, don’t be too serious
Consistency is Key
Building and managing a brand is a constant affair. It is a full-time job, the biggest mistake many people make is to create an online presence and abandon it. It is not enough to create an account on any or on all the above platforms and you fail to update them. You need to be consistent. Lack of consistency or having dormant accounts creates an impression that you are not good at maintaining what you started.
Mind Your “Language”
Much as it is important to be authentic and creative in your posts — It is of greater importance to mind the posts you make and the language you use on your social media. There is a level of restraining expected of lawyers while expressing themselves. It is also not advisable to share client details on social media without prior consent. Trust and confidentiality are essential for lawyers. Trust is to a Lawyer what a Hammer is to a Carpenter.
Warren Buffett once said that “If you can’t communicate, it’s like winking at a girl in the dark — nothing happens. You can have all the brainpower in the world, but you have to be able to transmit it. And the transmission is communication.”
The world is very competitive and we all need to improve how we are viewed by others, what we say and how we say it — it matters not that you are good at something if no one knows what you are good at. Express yourself and may you enjoy your personal branding journey. Cheers!!
