Presentation: The Social Law Firm Index: How the Top U.S. and U.K. Law Firms Rank in their Use of Social Technology Presented by: Guy Alvarez, Chief Engagement Officer, Good2bSocial, LLC The audience will learn the results and general findings from a series of studies, which were conducted to assess the extent to which U.S. and U.K. law firms are currently using and relying on social technologies and practices as part of their business operations. The study reviewed the websites and social media profiles of the 50 largest law firms in the U.S. and the 100 largest law firms in the U.K. across all public platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Slideshare and others. The study assessed each firm’s publically available substantive content as well as its social reach and engagement, assigning a point value based on the number of followers, friends, likes, comments and so forth. This enabled us to rank the overall effectiveness of each firm’s efforts in social media. The U.S. study was undertaken jointly by Above the Law and Good2bSocial between June and October of 2013. The U.K. study was undertaken jointly by The Ark Group and Good2bSocial between March and June of 2014.

1. The Social Law Firm™ Index:
How the Top U.S. and U.K Law Firms Rank in
their Use of Social Technologies
Guy Alvarez, CEO
Good2bSocial
www.Good2bSocial.com
@guylaw1313

2. @guylaw1313
The Social Law Firm™ Index
• Fall 2013
– In conjunction with Above the Law
– AmLaw 50 Law Firms
– White paper released in December 2013
http://good2bsocial.com/the-social-law-firm-white-paper/
– Index announced January 2014
• Spring 2014
– In conjunction with The Ark Group
– U.K. 100 Law Firms
– Report to be published end of Summer 2014
• Summer/Fall 2014
– In conjunction with Above the Law
– AmLaw 100 Law Firms plus submittals
– White Paper released December 2014
– Index announced January 2015

3. @guylaw1313
Purpose
The purpose of these joint
studies are to assess the extent
to which U.S. and U.K. law firms
are currently using and relying
on social technologies and
practices as part of their
business operations

4. @guylaw1313
Methodology
• We reviewed the websites and social media profiles of
target law firms across all public platforms, including
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+,YouTube,
Slideshare and others
• We assessed each firm’s publically available
substantive content as well as its social reach and
engagement, assigning a point value based on the
number of followers, friends, likes, comments and so
forth.
• We also collected information across the legal market
through a series of surveys conducted by our
publishing partners.

5. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 1
A majority of firms
recognize the
importance of
social media
marketing and are
devoting
substantial
resources to
establishing their
firm’s social media
presence.

6. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 2
A majority of firms
currently recognize
the importance of
creating and
publishing
substantive content.
They are also
committing
resources to ensure
that substantive
content is updated
frequently.

7. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 3
Although a majority
of large law firms are
creating substantive
content, they are
not making
consistent or
effective steps
toward sharing that
content on their
websites or across
social media
channels.

8. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 4
The majority of
large law firms that
currently make use
of social media
have a very low
level of
engagement with
the public through
their own websites
and through public
social networks.

9. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 5
Marketing remains
the single most
important focus of
social technology
usage by law firms.
Among the large law
firm segment,
recruiting has
emerged as the
second greatest
focus of law firm
social media
practices.

10. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 6
In the large law firm
segment there is very
little use of Social
Business tools or
practices to foster
internal collaboration
and teamwork. Smaller
law firms are much
further ahead in the
deployment of Social
Business tools and
techniques in
connection with internal
collaboration and the
delivery of client
services.

11. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 7
While the vast majority of
large law firms have not
yet implemented firm-
wide social networks,
many firms are actively
experimenting with Social
Business tools and
practices in a more limited
fashion.

12. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 8
Small law firms have been
achieving a higher level of
success and satisfaction
than large law firms in
their attempts to
implement Social Business
practices.

13. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 9
Small law firms have been
much more proactive in
encouraging lawyers to use
social media for business
development purposes and
in providing training to
encourage usage. Large
law firms have been less
inclined to promote social
media training or usage.

14. @guylaw1313
Finding No. 10
Use of Social tools and
practices is becoming an
important part of the
criteria lawyers use when
deciding where to work

15. @guylaw1313
• The use of social technologies and practices is slowly gaining
traction in law firms.
• Adoption is proceeding at the slowest pace among the largest law
firms and more rapidly among firms with between 1 - 20 lawyers.
• The legal sector lags far behind the broader corporate marketplace,
as law firms seem to be in the very early stages of assessing the
opportunities presented through social business transformation.
• Almost all firms are packaging and presenting content in a way that
is disconnected from social media channels and difficult to share.
• In the majority of cases, large law firms are ineffective in their use
of social media, achieving low levels of reach and engagement
relative to the resources available and the market opportunity
Conclusion

16. QUESTIONS???
GUY ALVAREZ
GUY@GOOD2BSOCIAL.COM
WWW.GOOD2BSOCIAL.COM