Another No CLE Credit CLE Seminar On Twitter For Lawyers, By Non-Practicing Lawyers

Will it ever stop? Do we care that marketers are swarming all over the legal profession, dropping the red meat of "how to make money" and pretending that teaching us how to communicate with a keyboard is a science?

Oh, you just want to know where to send the $125?

Here.

It's yet another "Twitter for Lawyers" seminar. Not twitter for doctors, engineers, truck drivers or fruit stand owners - just lawyers. Us silly lawyers, unable to understand how to type on twitter, unable to go about our days with out learning how every single social media platform can make us money.

Now this tele-seminar is put on by ALI-ABA, which claims to provide "Continuing Leadership in Professional Education." This professional education though provides no continuing legal education credit. None.

Tweet tweet tweet.

Here's what you'll learn:

Twitter Basics: Setting up your profile and what to tweet

The Language of Twitter: Codes and shortcuts

Platform Choices: Twitter.com versus social media management tools

Twitter in Context: How Twitter supplements your web presence, and,

drum roll........

Twitter for Client Development

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Did you check out the faculty? Three people, none of them practice law. They can't tell you about the last legal client, or case they got through twitter last week, last month.

I know, you don't care. If they can give you the keys to new clients through twitter, you're pulling out the credit card.

Enjoy.

Anonymous comments are welcome as long as they say something relevant and half-way intelligent and aren't a vehicle for a coward to attack someone. I trust you understand.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.

Twitter: Still The Worst Place To Find A (Real) Lawyer

My friend and fellow blogger Scott Greenfield revealed the conspiracy - that a few of us lawyers decided to take a break from the silliness of twitter.

Twitter, at its core, is a means of communication. To some, it is their career. To some, it is their life. Those obsessed with the fallacy that twitter is the key to building a successful career in any field are angered anytime anyone (like me) states anything to the contrary. It's not that they disagree, it's that the mere voicing of any disagreement with the notion that twitter or social media is the end-all-be-all, may actually cause people to agree. Those that have failed at substantive careers and opened up offices in Starbucks or their kitchen tables don't want word to spread that it's all a cruel, meaningless, irrelevant, joke.

When I first starting using twitter, I soon stopped. I didn't understand it. I was urged to try again, and given, for free, the best social media advice around - "just get on there and start talking to people."

So I did.

Then I got it. Twitter is a conversation, nothing more.

Twitter is also a great medium for former and failed and disbarred, and convicted lawyers to parade themselves as relevant to those desperate lawyers looking for the silver bullet of success. There are as many "Top 10" lists as there are hours in a day. There as those who had their fill of law, whether it was 10 years or 10 minutes, that are there to tell you how to do everything. There are plenty of desperate, broke, Starbucks dwelling lawyers, who are all too ready to believe that a lawyer who practiced "associate" law for 6 months has all the secrets to building business.

Few ask questions, many kiss the ass of those that have no specialized knowledge of the medium other than that they are "passionate" about it. The circle of those that think each other "awesome," or "change agents" or "gurus," or "rock stars," is a circle of the most irrelevant humans on the planet.

Then there is the notion that the use of social media must, must, have goals. Bullshit. Those that preach this are doing so because they can sell you those goals. Those who preach secrets of social media are shameless losers merely looking for that desperate consumer who will maybe write a check for some "guru" advice.

No lawyer will ever build a practice on twitter. Have I received referrals and cases "from" twitter? Sure. But it's not because I dimed out the latest fake lawyer claiming to be the Wizard of Oz, or because I mentioned the word "law" or "lawyer" or whatever. I received and receive referrals and cases from twitter because people take a closer look, because I actually have an office, and a practice, and clients, and cases.

The cart never comes before the horse - except on twitter. My rule is that anyone on twitter trying to get you to pay them for social media advice, is someone from whom to stay far away. There is a collection of these scam artists, these tweeters of everything shiny and techno and social media like, who claim to know something. They know nothing. They like social media, that's all.

Sure I'll be back on twitter. I enjoy the conversation. I've met some great people. I have developed relationships with lawyers and other people not because they are on twitter, but because who they really are.

My time off from twitter has given me a new perspective on the conversation going on there with those former(and even current)-lawyers-turned-social-media-idiots. Some of the conversation is nothing more than re-tweeting articles about social media, and re-tweeting articles about new shiny things and their sure domination over the world. Twitter still, is the worst place to find real lawyers, because the real lawyers are not interested in conversations about cell phones and their apps. Technology is a tool for lawyers, not the core of their existence.

The further I am from these shallow "lawyers," the more I am embarrassed by their existence in my profession. The more I wonder why anyone listens to them, except for the fact that they believe snake oil is the solution to their woes. Meaningless conversation is always important to get through a day. To some of these folks, it's the entirety of their conversation. To some, their day is based on meaningless conversation, attempts to get hired by lawyers, and making sure everyone knows that people love them. These "lawyers" will never accomplish anything important, except to have someone else tell them how awesome they are.

The lying continues, the demeaning of our profession continues, and the hope of desperate lawyers looking to retire off of twitter, continues. It's all very sad.

I look forward to jumping back in to the mix, and continuing to point out all the garbage that calls themselves "lawyers." To me, it's fun. To others, it's sadly, all they have.

Please RT.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.

Do Lawyers Need Protection From Themselves On Twitter?

There's been a bit of a sweeping cleanup of the cess pool that is twitter these days. Those parading as lawyers or "former lawyers" have been called out on their qualifications, and lack thereof. They have quietly removed the lies about their background, while taking advice from "internet defamation lawyers" to "not engage." That's good advice to those who have nothing of any relevance to say.

And yesterday an interesting question was asked from an anonymous commenter on Brian Cuban's Blog: Do lawyers really need that much protection?

Great question.

Do lawyers not do their own research to see the background of the person who wants them to "blog for profit" or if the latest "twitter for lawyers" book was written by a lawyer who is suspended, or if the real estate "lawyer" who wants lawyers to network with her firm was recently convicted and is currently delinquent with the Bar?

No.

These are desperate times.

And desperate lawyers would rather follow people lying about their qualifications as social media experts than real lawyers who may have a tip or two about becoming not a better tweeter, but a better lawyer.

Here's the proof:

Listed below are some of the people who are perceived to be "social media" and "tech" types on twitter that are or were lawyers, or market to lawyers, and their followers:

Grant Griffiths (Disbarred) 6,302 Followers

Adrian Dayton 41,812 Followers.

Sheryl Sisk Schelin (Suspended) 772 Followers.

Stephen Fairley 10,256 Followers.

Now here's a sampling of a few lawyers who actually have clients, may go to court, generally spend their days "practicing law," and their followers on twitter: (This is not an "all-inclusive list of all the great "real" lawyers on twitter, so please stop emailing me).

Eric Turkewitz - Personal Injury Lawyer 291 Followers

Mark Bennett - Criminal Defense Lawyer - 536 Followers

Scott Phillips - General Practice Lawyer - 240 Followers

Ben Kearney - Business Law - 214 Followers

Ken Lammers - Prosecutor - 139 Followers

Gideon - a public defender - 593 Followers

Donzell - another public defender - 223 Followers

Cynthia Henley 277 Followers, and Jackie Carpenter 68 Followers - female criminal defense lawyers (not many of those unfortunately).

And the incomparable Scott Greenfield - criminal defense lawyer - 812 Followers.

And yes, there are the exceptions - some "real" lawyers have thousands of followers. But the difference in general between those who market to lawyers, and those who are lawyers is remarkable.

So this begs the question to the lawyers on twitter - don't any of you aspire to be like any of these lawyers? Practice in areas in which these lawyers practice? Learn something that may make you a better lawyer?

Or are you just looking for the latest IPhone app?

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. Please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

Transparency On Twitter

Twitter has a dark side. While many see it as a social communication tool where people post every meaningless fact about their day, there are people trying to sell you, anything. Mostly, for lawyers, they are trying to sell you a practice.

There are three kinds of lawyers on twitter.

1. Lawyers with real practices who use twitter to socialize, post a blog post, and meet other lawyers and others with similar interests.

2. Lawyers who are trying to build a practice and are thirsting for any advice they can get; and,

3. Former or part-time lawyers who claim to have all the answers on social media - blogging, twitter, facebook, and all that is the internet.

The problem is that 2 is walking in the desert, and 3 claims to have the water.

Twitter and transparency don't always mix. In this economy, where laid-off and young desperate-for-business lawyers will listen to anyone talking, there are plenty of 3's talking on twitter.

The problem is that few of the 2's are asking questions.

So because all the scammers on twitter are quick to threaten defamation ("hey, you defamed me, I don't know anything about defamation, but I know you defamed me"), let me give you a hypothetical.

Lets say there was someone on twitter who offered services teaching lawyers to, uh, blog.

Now, I learned to blog by setting up a blog and typing, but if you need to pay someone to teach you how to talk on the internet like a human being, be my guest.

Let's say that person refers to themselves as a "former lawyer."

Would it make a difference to you, as a young hungry lawyer, that the "former lawyer" you were hiring to help you build your blog and hence your reputation, was disbarred?

If that lawyer told you he was a former lawyer, would you ask why? Should you?

Would you care?

Those that follow me on twitter know I'm growing tired of the lies, scam artists, and self-proclaimed "experts." Why? Because they are scamming otherwise good and decent lawyers who want not only a practice, but a reputation.

Sleep with dogs.......

So do me a favor, ask questions. These people won't tell you the truth about their backgrounds and experience, otherwise they'd be out of business.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. Please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

How To Market Yourself As A Lawyer On Twitter

I'm on twitter. Yeah, "everyone's" on twitter, but like Facebook, we lawyers are a little shy about telling people.

Here's why I'm not shy: I was referred a Federal Criminal Tax Case, solely because another lawyer on twitter knew me. So twitter has paid for itself, thousands of times over.

I've also met some great people, received some good advice, read some great blog posts and articles, and have made connections for others that have been invaluable. Get on twitter, visit another city, tweet that you're looking for something, and within minutes someone will connect with you. That connection may lead to a free appetizer at a local restaurant, some good tickets to an event, or a tip that will make all the difference in your trip. That's just one example.

No, I'm not into the celebrity thing on twitter. I'm also not into those that have "others" tweet for them

When it comes to lawyers on twitter, some are downright in-your-face selling their practice, over and over again.

This weekend I unfollowed a lawyer who tweets nothing but tips on DUI, his location, and his phone number. I couldn't tell you the first thing about him, except that he's a DUI lawyer, where he practices, and his phone number.

I wouldn't refer him a case, ever.

Why?

Because I couldn't tell you the first thing about him.

See, when I refer a case, I like to tell people about the lawyer. Things, besides what he or she does, and their phone number.

When I first joined twitter, I quickly stopped using it. I didn't understand the concept. At dinner one night with someone active on twitter, I was given the advice I give everyone considering twitter: "go on there and just start talking to people."

Twitter, simply, is a conversation.

People converse about many things. Some are interesting, some annoying, some nonsensical, and some scary.

I post links to a blog post I've written, talk about my personal interests, ask questions, answer questions, talk about Miami, joke around, but never, end a post with MIAMI LAWYER and my phone number.

That's not conversing. That's marketing.

If you want to know how to market your firm on twitter, don't. They don't' want you there.

If you want to market yourself as a lawyer on twitter:

[1] Use your name.

I used to use MIAMICRIMLAW, but I'm not MIAMICRIMLAW, I'm Brian Tannebaum (@btannebaum).

[2] Follow people who share your interests.

Follow lawyers, and heavens forbid, non-lawyers. Interested in golf? Follow people interested in golf. Interested in Montana politics (for whatever reason), follow people interested in Montana politics. Want to find them? Go to search.twitter.com.

[3] Don't play the "I need followers" game.

Nothing magical happens at 100, 1000, 10,000 or a million followers. The more followers you have (that are not spam followers) the more your message gets out. But don't be needy. If you say something interesting or important, people will follow you. Which leads me to....

[4] Say something important or interesting.

Your practice area and phone number are not interesting, and are only important to you. Spend some time getting to know people on twitter, and people will know what you do. Stay out of their face.

[5] Do not auto DM, auto tweet, use tweetlater, or do anything else that causes you to tweet when you are not around.

If you're not on twitter, you don't know about any of those terms, and you're better off.

Oh, and one more thing, if the majority of your conversations involve you talking about yourself, not introducing others, not paying attention, not focusing on who's talking to you or taking no interest in anything else but yourself, forget twitter.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. Please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

The Worst Place To Find A Lawyer - Twitter

Twitter is the worst place to find a lawyer.

Twitter, a land of millions of people from all walks of life, boasts a large number of lawyers. Finding one when you need them is another thing. Go to twitter's search site, and it's a complete waste of time.

I don't use twitter for business, but I have tried to find lawyers for people, with little success.

I'd like someone to tell me the easiest way to find a lawyer on twitter with this example:

I get an email from someone looking for a criminal lawyer in Los Angeles. Assuming I'm not connected with one myself, how would I find them?

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. Please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com

Can We Lawyers Just Shut Up About Twitter And Tweet?

I think I've read one too many blog posts about how to behave on twitter.

I read this one today on how to get "unfollowed."

Twitter is like a big cocktail party. There's different people, having different conversations, some more interesting than others, and some that cause people to run for the bar, or the door.

I tweet. I tweet about law, wine, Miami, current events, and whatever else comes up that may be interesting to me.

The newness of twitter has created an environment where everyone has an opinion as to how it should be used. I'm growing tired of it all.

As a lawyer, I am a member of several e-mail lists. I get e-mails that make my skin crawl, I see the same people that cannot understand how to "respond off line," I read personal stories that have no business on the list, yet I remain. I remain because overall, these lists provide good information, and allow for the back-and-forth that lawyers need to bounce information off each other.

I know that the lawyers on twitter are lawyers. I'm not really interested in a 24/7 tweetfest about law. I don't mind learning the personal side of these lawyers. Let's face it, most people think lawyers are a bunch of boring assholes that charge too much. We know (for the most part) that this is not the case.

I have no interest in what any lawyer is having for dinner, or that their kid won't sleep, or that their flight is delayed. But these "tweets" don't change or ruin my life.

I also don't care if someone disagrees with me. It amazes me that a lawyer, seemingly committed to the constitution, will "unfollow" someone because they have differing political views. I am connected with a serious right-wing conservative lawyer on twitter, and we have nice debates on our differing views. It's America, we're lawyers, it's shameful that a difference of opinion would cause us to "unfollow" each other. Are you truly a lawyer if you cannot take someone publically disagreeing with you and debating your beliefs?

I'm also tired of the preaching about what lawyers should do on twitter. It does not belong to us, or the marketers, the SEO people, or any other faction. Let's lose the arrogance and criticism of those who are just so beneath us. You want to tweet about law all day, go. Just go.

I have my own peeves on twitter. I've unfollowed one person, someone who couldn't take a joke and loudly unfollowed me. He's now realized I was kidding, so he's following me again, although with no apology for his ridiculous personal attacks.

Some people though, are trying to make twitter their own personal conversation. They spend more time trying to avoid the "noise," then they do participating in a good discussion.

Twitter is like an expressway. There's traffic. There's good drivers, and idiots. Some of the good drivers are sometimes idiots. Good drivers have accidents. Sometimes people pull their pants down and stick their ass out of the window. To some it's funny, to others, it destroys their moral well-being.

We all need to lighten up a bit.

So as lawyers, I ask that we just be tolerable. That we tweet about law, music, culture, family, dinner (but not too much) and whatever else makes us interesting.

Again, it's a cocktail party. If you don't like it, quietly grab your date and go have dinner. That's what professionals do.

Oh, and if this post offends you and you must unfollow, I'm MIAMICRIMLAW on twitter.

Have at it.

Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. Please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com