Social Media & Blogging with KCBA Solos

The topic for the King County Bar Association Solo/Small Firm Section monthly meeting on Wednesday was "Social Media & Blogging: Ethical Concerns and Practical Advice." The section chair, D. Jill Pugh lined up a panel of three local bloggers:

• Venkat Balasubramani, the principal of Balasubramani Law and author of Spam Notes;
• Dan Harris, the founder of Harris & Moure and the coauthor of China Law Blog;
• and me, a reference librarian, author of Trial Ad (and other) Notes, and coauthor of Gallagher Blogs.

Dan was in Asia because of a schedule change (that's what happens with an intercontinental business lawyer sometimes), but he was with us in spirit.

The lawyers at the meeting (and a couple who were participating via webcast) were really interested in how new media could help their practices. A blog is an easy and cheap way for a solo practitioner to develop a web presence and become known in the community.

Even easier are sites where you can post profiles, including Avvo and LinkedIn. There's no reason for a lawyer now not to have some information on the web so that colleagues and clients can find out more about him or her.

Curious about who else is blogging about law locally? See Law-Related Blogs in Washington State. Want to know more about blogs and blogging generally? See Blogs & RSS Feeds.

Venkat, Jill, and Dan all are on Twitter, which has been termed "microblogging," in addition to their blogs. For more on that, see Robert Ambrogi, Tweet 16: 16 Ways Lawyers Can Use Twitter, March 20, 2009 (orig. pub. Nov. 2008); Blake Boyd, How to Use Twitter as a Lawyer — 7 Ways to Use Twitter Part 5, Blog for Profit, Sept. 26, 2008.