legalethicsI was fortunate to participate with 2 other colleagues, Atty. Amy Goldsmith and Carol Greenwald Ph.D., as we presented “NY Attorneys: How to Market Yourself Ethically on LinkedIn” for Lawline, recorded remotely, published on April 1st.

My talk was subtitled “10 Ethical Tips for Attorneys from a LinkedIn Guru,” preambled by Amy reviewing ethical practices required by the ABA,  NYC and NYS bar association requirements as a backdrop to my talk. (This source provides CLEs in NJ 2.4 Ethics credits, available until 03/27/2021 and in NY 2 Ethics credits, available until 03/27/2022).

As is my usual practice, I brought the participants through the process of understanding best practices in expressing why they do what they do, essential for convincing a reader of your LinkedIn profile to invest the time and attention bandwidth to consider engaging an attorney as a potential expert for the representation or experience needed.

My 10 tips:

  1. tell prospects why you do what you do
  2. embrace that you and the law are always changing
  3. there are a few social media things you didn’t learn in law school
  4. essential elements of an ethical, attractive LinkedIn profile
  5. personalize your brand with style, professionally
  6. optimize skills, endorsements, and recommendations (ethically)
  7. cultivate your connections and followers
  8. keep your LinkedIn profile current
  9. stay relevant and nurture your connections
  10. be ethically compliant throughout your LinkedIn profile

What should you do now? Get onto Lawline for on-demand viewing and listen. In two hours the three of us cover a lot of ground.

Then take a red pen to a printout of your LinkedIn profile and start making changes. Have a plan of what you want to convey about your “why” and tell us using the pronoun “I” and power verbs.

If you need more help, see our books and/or consult with us for personalized attention. Yu need it, you know that, you just may need a guiding hand to accomplish it.

This is not your formulaic bio page on the firm’s website. Tell us WHY you do what you do, not what you did.

Watch your ethics p’s and q’s.