Rule 33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) in Nigeria makes it contrary to professional etiquette for a lawyer to solicit professional employment by circulars, advertisements, through touts or by personal communications or interviews preclude any certified legal practitioner from advertising his business. In other words, it will be grossly unprofessional for a lawyer to take out any form of advertisement with a view to gaining professional employment. However, modern business practice has made it essential to employ some form of promotion or the other in the successful running of business. And as much as we would love to live in denial, the business of the law is business and more than ever in the wake of the global financial crisis the law firm must be run as a business. What this translates to is that in order to adequately compete in a cutthroat world, the legal practitioner must avail himself of the various media available to promote public awareness of his expertise. So how do we compete in this financial times without contravening the provisions of Rule 33 of the RPC?
Rule 33 of the RPC has an exception. This is what the exception says:
Publication in reputable law lists, in a manner consistent with the standards of conduct imposed by these Rules of brief biographical and informative data is permissible. Such data must not be misleading and may include only a statement of the lawyer’s name and the names of his professional associate; addresses, telephone numbers, cable addresses; date and place of birth and admission to the Bar; schools attended, with dates of graduation, degrees and other educational distinction; public or quasi-public offices; posts and honour; legal authorships; legal teaching positions; memberships and offices in the Bar Association and committees thereof, and positions in legal and scientific societies.
(Rule 33(b) Rules of Professional Conduct – Legal Practitioners Act Cap 207 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria)
This exception could have been written for the internet in general and social networks in particular. The power of the internet as a tool of advertising must not be underestimated – it is the widest media around and the only one which can effortlessly reach practically every nook and cranny of the world. Reputations are made and broken almost overnight through the internet. With the proliferation of social networks and the far-reaching tentacles of search engines, the internet has evolved beyond the website. In addition to the website, there are web directories, blogs, search engines and social networks.
Social networks are online communities which create social categories and foster relationships. Social networks and blogs are part of what is generally referred to as web 3.0. This is a more interactive internet which incorporates the different forms of media including audio and video. How does legal practice in Nigeria come into this? We’ll get to that in a moment.
There are several social networking sites on the internet but for the purpose of this article I will focus on three: LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com and Twitter.com.
LinkedIn.com
LinkedIn (Linked in) is a network of professionals in different fields. It is a network which connects prospective employers with prospective employees; professionals with prospective clients and peer networking.
How Does Your Practice Benefit From LinkedIn?
One aspect of legal practice which is crucial for the practitioner to remember is that even though your practice might be a business concern, it is the practitioner(s) that makes the business. As a result, it stands to reason that it is your expertise and that of the other lawyers in the firm that determine the expertise of that firm. This is essential to note because LinkedIn (and most social networks) rely on the personal approach.
In order to make the most of LinkedIn, once you have joined the network and created your profile, encourage the other lawyers in your firm to join. The first time you create your profile, your firm is automatically registered. The greatest part of LinkedIn is that it is free to join. But there are three other quick benefits:
1. High Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Search engines absolutely love LinkedIn. What this means is that if you are registered on LinkedIn as a tax lawyer for instance, there is a high probability that whenever anyone searches for a tax lawyer in Nigeria on Google.com, your profile will come up.
2. Easy Accessibility by Clients – Even though this in not an alternative to a website, it carries pertinent information about your firm, which makes it easier for clients to locate you.
3. Peer Review – This, in my estimation, is the best feature of LinkedIn. You can easily get past and current clients and colleagues to give you or your firm reviews. This adds to your reputation as an expert in your field.
Facebook.Com
This is another social network on the World Wide Web. While it is similar to LinkedIn in that they share the parallel purpose of connecting people, they are very different in the way they function.
With facebook, you can create a personal profile for yourself and another one for your firm. There are several additional features such as the creation of groups and pages. If for example, I am a partner at the firm, Soriver Solicitors (fictitious name), I could open a facebook profile with the name ‘Soriver Solicitors’, add my associates and other partners as my friends (if they are on facebook) and create a group of Soriver Solicitors where we can discuss business online, regardless of the different geographical locations. Depending on the nature of the business, the group could be open to all and sundry or it could be a closed group, by invitation only.
In the same way, Soriver Solicitors could create a page for the firm. This is usually open to everyone on facebook and interested people could become members (fans). They would automatically be notified of any news you put on the page.
The main advantage facebook has over LinkedIn is its wide reach. With over 100 million users, facebook is a marketing tool which demands complete utilization.
Twitter.Com
Twitter is in a totally different category from the other two. It can be defined as a micro blog which lets you answer in 140 words, the question: What are you doing? If yours is a firm that offers workshops, seminars and lectures, you will find twitter to be priceless.
How Does It Work?
Once you create your twitter account (and it is free to create by the way), search for leaders in your field and ‘follow’. This means that each time they post new tweets (news, updates and information), you are instantly notified. With time, people will begin to ‘follow’ you too so that once you post your tweets they are notified. That way, you keep the world up to date with your programmes. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for instance, needs a twitter account so that interested persons like myself, will follow them and become aware of their events and programmes.
Most social networks are free to join. Therein lays their appeal. This eliminates whatever financial constraints on the legal practitioner. The other source of discomfort might be lack of time to adequately manage or update accounts or access to the internet. If it is lack of internet access, let me just say that it is time you invested in the World Wide Web. Then again a good management service is the answer to both problems. For a reasonable fee, all you have to do is get the information to them and they transfer that to your account online.
Even though many professionals are of the view that the Rules of Professional Conduct need to be reviewed, social networks will afford you the opportunity to publicize ‘in a manner consistent with professional conduct’, your expertise in the legal profession.
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