Episode 11-The Social Media Maven

In the last thirty years, the importance of marketing has grown significantly in the practice of law. For most lawyers in private practice, an ability to generate work is now a prerequisite for becoming a partner.  At the same time, the tools for building your reputation and cultivating business relationships have grown. Selling legal services still requires you to develop a practice niche and building a network of clients who know, like and trust you. But social media has changed the way lawyers communicate with their networks. On today’s show, Betsy Munnell talks about how to incorporate social media into your legal marketing. Betsy has decades of experience representing lending institutions, private equity funds and businesses in structuring sophisticated debt and equity financings.  More importantly she is an accomplished rainmaker who has spent the last 9 years coaching lawyers on how to be successful in building a law practice. Betsy began her career as an associate at the Boston law firm Choate Hall and Stewart and then spent the bulk of her time practicing with the law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge (which has since become Locke Lord).  She was among the core group of “rainmakers” responsible for the growth of the Firm’s nationally recognized media and communications finance practice.  She was also one of the chief architects of her firm’s diversity program.   In 2009, Betsy left the partnership to pursue her interest in coaching.  She works with attorneys at all stages of their careers and has extensive experience coaching female law students at Harvard, Boston College and Boston University on transitioning into large firm practice.  At Harvard, Betsy directs an intensive individual coaching program for a small group of women headed for large firm summer jobs who are selected from the Board of the Women’s Law Association. Betsy also serves on the Board of the American Bar Association’s Legal Career Central. Betsy is a strong advocate for intensive training in business and financial skills and business generation for lawyers, particularly for associates who may otherwise advance to junior partnership under-equipped to manage critical relationships or generate revenue. She co-founded and teaches, with Matt Rubins, a former private equity fund manager, a one of a kind, case study driven business education program for law firm lawyers. She is an avid participant in social media and someone who is extremely generous in promoting the work of other professionals through social media (including myself!) As part of every coaching engagement, Betsy teaches her clients how to use online platforms --including LinkedIn and Twitter--to build network and brand and to develop lasting professional relationships. But she has an interesting approach that may appeal to those of you who are more leery of interacting and posting on social media. Additional Resources Twitter for the Reluctant Lawyer Winning Social Media Networking Strategies to Land a Job or Gain New Clients (a webinar) The Time for LinkedIn Has Come. Really What do Blogging and Vegas Have in Common