By Catherine J. MacIvor, Esq.

Building a law practice is not unlike any person trying to build a business – it’s all about relationships.  If you find yourself in a situation where you want to expand your business, Twitter is a potential avenue to be put in touch with those who may have an interest in what you do.

So what is Twitter?  It is a micro-blog that lets you send 140-character posts with pictures or links if you like to all of those people who follow you.

A lot of lawyers have pre-judged this service by saying that (1) they don’t have time for that and (2) isn’t that for kids or (3) why do I care what someone ate for breakfast?

I agree that lawyers’ have little free time as it is, but consider the potential numbers of people that you can reach through a medium like Twitter as opposed to the numerous hours spent attending charity functions and meetings trying to get new business.  It is not nearly as time consuming as those activities, and given that updates, links and photos can be delivered from most smart phones, it is also really convenient and can be done from anywhere.

Twitter is not for kids.  The service was recently featured on the cover of Time magazine in an article entitled, “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live.” The article describes – in the sort of detail that I cannot in this short article – how the phenomenon of Twitter can create a buzz around a specific event in a manner unlike what we have seen before. For example, it describes how the posts made on Twitter at a conference started by the people attending it spread quickly to numerous individuals who were not there and who began communicating with the attendees.

Why should you care what someone ate for breakfast?  Well, most people on Twitter don’t really post that sort of thing, but you need to set up your Twitter account with a view toward your goals.  What do you want to get out of it?  If you are a Twitter newbie, you may want to add some seasoned legal Twitterers to see what they are tweeting about.  Consider though that you may want to present yourself more as you really are.

By that I mean, you are not just a lawyer. You are a person with interests outside the law that may be interesting to other people and potential clients.  For example, let’s say your passion outside of law is music and, in addition to tweeting about interesting news articles, new decisions, and your victories, you also tweet about the next time your band will be playing and the type of music that you love.  You will find that people who are interested in your music will end up following you.

Another example is if you are a pilot and like to tweet about that.  Once you start tweeting about your weekends flying your plane, you may just find that other fellow flyers end up following you.

Twitter will enable you to expand your network exponentially in a manner that you never could have before. People can get to know you both personally and professionally at the same time, and you can get to know people you would never have had the chance to meet before.

If you are careful to set up your account properly, you will also find that you will get some really great information and “virtually” meet some really interesting people.  It is through these relationships you build that business may follow.  You never know, that pilot that ends up following you may have his own business and decide that he wants to hire a nice girl or guy like you.

Catherine MacIvor is a partner with Maltzman Foreman, a full-service law firm in Miami concentrating in the litigation of civil and commercial matters, including business disputes and transactions, hospitality and tourism, admiralty and maritime, first and third party insurance matters, class actions, personal injury and employment matters. MacIvor’s area of practice focuses on complex litigation. She can be reached at cmacivor@mflegal.com or 305-358-6555.