Twittering for Clients

by Emmett Berg

California lawyers are signing on to use Twitter as a new communications tool. But opinions differ about whether that's a good idea.

Twitter.com is something of a hybrid between blogging and email: Authors write brief "tweets"?using a maximum of just 140 characters?that are then distributed to "followers" through email. The service's popularity has skyrocketed since its launch in 2006.

To get a notion of just how popular Twitter has become for lawyers, check out the hundreds of legal professionals twittering at LexTweet.com. Among them is Denise M. Howell, a prominent blogger and Newport Beach?based sole practitioner who began "tweeting" (@dhowell, on Twitter.com) about six months after Twitter's creation. Howell, who advises companies on the use of social networking websites, says people use Twitter as a complement to email and the phone. For lawyers, she adds, Twitter is "a way to become a supplier of good information."

To be sure, many attorneys use Twitter to comment on a favorable ruling, pass along an Internet link, or announce firm news. But Twitter's less tangible?and more typical?purpose is to let followers in on the writer's day-to-day activities and musings. It can add naturalness to an existing online relationship, or be a way to blow off steam.

But to skeptics, Twitter is just the new spam.

"In my mind, [Twitter is] simply a passing fad and doesn't have any practical application for busy lawyers," says John Harding, principal attorney at Harding & Associates, a firm based in Pleasanton that specializes in family law. Harding, who has dabbled in Twitter since November 2008 (@johnharding), adds, "I've never gotten any business out of it?to the point that I am soon to abandon it."

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina?based divorce attorney Lee Rosen (@leerosen), however, maintains that Twitter is a valuable tool for marketing and business development. "It's no different than distributing brochures or talking on the telephone," says Rosen, who has posted almost 3,000 tweets. "It absolutely gets me referrals." Los Angeles?based law-firm consultant Ed Poll (@lawbiz) says, "I used to dismiss Twitter out of hand until someone coached me. Now my focus is on [posting] short messages with relevancy to practicing law, and I have close to 2,000 followers."

As with blogging, attorneys naturally must be cautious about what they reveal on Twitter. Because tweets emailed to followers are also posted on Twitter.com, they are accessible to the entire world, including opposing counsel.

Of course, if you feel like tweeting about personal matters, you can always start a second Twitter account targeted at friends rather than professional contacts. And though Twitter may be tempting to use as an outlet for daily rants, former contract attorney Aviva Cuyler advises lawyers to maintain professionalism online and curtail their remarks on Twitter as they would for any social event. Cuyler, whose Marshall?based California company JDSupra.com runs multiple Twitter accounts (@avivacuyler and @JDSupra), adds, "If you can deliver valuable information, Twitter can help establish you in your field."

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