Lawyers and Social Networking

There are mixed emotions when it comes to lawyers (Rechtsanwalt) and social networking.  You can find social networking sites which are set up according to interests, jobs, and other criteria.  Many of the more popular ones have been created by innovative thinkers.  Some wonder if lawyers can achieve this.  

Although the attitude towards lawyers has been changing in recent years, the idea of an entire network designed for the legal field still generates some questions.  The first being, how popular would it be?  It may be extremely well received by up and coming law students.   They could log on and check with their favorite mentor in their field.  It is a proven fact that we learn from the experience of others.  For a law student it would be an exciting thing to be able to interact on a social networking site with his or her favorite lawyer.

Another question which comes to mind is how often would the site be used?  Lawyers tend to lead very active lives due to the nature of their business.  Yet even a lawyer needs some down time.  Being able to log onto a site which gives you access to other attorneys and potential clients may be just what  you wanted.  It gives you the time to look at other things and gain a new perspective.  It can also become a great place to generate ideas.

No matter who you are, or what you do, in the professional world there always comes a time when a problem arises no one seems to know how to fix.  By being involved in a social networking site devoted to attorneys, the problem could be put before a group of your peers.  You could get new insight as to how to handle the problem.  There may have even been someone who had a similar situation happen.  Advice will abound on a social networking site.

Many people say lawyers and social networking just do not mix.  The idea that a bunch of lawyers are getting together to create a type of MySpace just does not sit well with the older attorneys.  For law students and even the younger lawyers it may just work.  One such sight which was set up last year showed a 7% membership increase in the first month it was on line.  The credit was given to the press releases which were circulated.  The fact remains it did generate interest.  Enough interest to have people log in and sign up.

Some of the older, more established law firms (in Hagen) still would prefer the social networking sites stay in the hands of the little people.  There are issues about the information asked for when registering.  They feel problems could generate from a social site which allows users to post so much personal information.  The more private a lawyer's life the better is how they feel.