Social Media Policies - Where do we Start?
Last week, one of our firm's marketing directors emailed me to see if I had a list of law firm social media policies. Though I've seen a few floating around, and know that Doug Cornelius includes law firm policies in his list, I haven't seen a strictly law firm-based listing.
Yesterday, in a post called "Social Media Policies for Legal Types," Above the Law mentioned Fast Company's series of policies, including the guidelines from Harvard Law. Obviously, a law school's social media guidelines would be different to that of a law firm, so they offer Adrian Dayton's (who advises firms on social media strategy) suggestions for law firms, which can be summed up by his opening thought "Don't say stupid things." I know Kevin O'Keefe would shorten that further and say "Don't be an idiot."
But if your firm is looking for something more comprehensive, I'll pass along the links I gathered for our legal marketer, with thanks to my friends on Twitter who passed some of these along.
- Larry Bodine's Sample Template Social Media Policy
- John Byrne's Sample Social Media Policy
- Jaffe's Template
- Corporate Social Media Policies from 100 organizations (not strictly law, but perhaps helpful)
Please feel free to add your own firm's in the comments as well, and check back to Above the Law's post, where they've invited commenters to do the same.
Thanks for sharing these policies Lindsay, very helpful.
Please note that it's not my philosphy to tell lawyers and law firms who ask me about social media polices, "Don't be an idiot." If I was that cavalier LexBlog would not have as clients over 60% of the 200 largest law firms in the country who are actively using blogs and other social media.
Without getting into detail here, my counsel to law firms is inclusion (getting all stakeholders involved - including having senior management's leadership), education (learning how social media is no different than traditional business development and learning where there are and are not liability/ethical/HR/PR issues arising in the use of social media), seeing if other policies the firm has in place cover the issues already -- and seeing where they can be modified, and making certain the firm understands the wake it is leaving (situational awareness) in crafting its policies (how it is viewed by existing employees, lateral hires, recent grads, clients, prospective clients and the general business community).
I've been a lawyer for 30 years, practiced law for 20 years, and been involved in corporate leadership (in multiple positions as an executive and board member) for 3 decades. I don't say that to impress you, but to impress upon you that I am not naive enough to blow off concerns on this front and not address them in a prudent way.
Sure I'll tell law firms not to be an idiot. But who wouldn't? Including their own leadership. ;)
Kevin, you're absolutely right, and I'm sorry if I made it sound as if you would be that cavalier. I take it to be a direct way of saying "Use some common sense," which is true for all business development activities. As you mentioned in the webinar the other day, there will always be people (in every profession really), who will say something insulting or silly on the golf course, at a cocktail party, etc. The internet just makes it longer lasting, and to a [potentially] broader audience. I think there are ways to minimize those issues through education, as you mention, but I firmly believe that a lot of the issues that exist in social media are human resources issues, and not unique to social media.
I just like that you have a direct way of pointing that out, while still offering to help law firms navigate their concerns :)
Lindsay,
Thank you very much for posting these. I'm working on a draft social media policy right now and this helps tremendously.
I've done a lot of research and found that each province's law society (in Canada) has great resources for draft social media policies too that adhere to their guidelines for advertising, etc.
Your posts are always very helpful, thx again!