Building your Career with LinkedIn for Lawyers

Having a LinkedIn profile is now an essential part of being a Lawyer in Melbourne. It is your personal brand presented online. It is your way to connect professionally with clients, potential clients and colleagues.

In any business, people want to engage people that they know, like and trust and the law is no different.

Presenting the best version of yourself online has never been more important.

This means a professional head shot. In this head shot you should be dressed for work. You should have a well written profile. If this is not your strength then consider engaging a professional. Include the problem you solve for people in your professional headline.

Your LinkedIn profile is more than a resume. It should include keywords and search phrases for which you want to be found. It should be engaging and readable. Remember that people tend to scan online material or often read it on a mobile phone. Paragraph spacing and short sentences improve online readability.

As a test, in LinkedIn run a search for your particular area of legal specialty. Do you come up in the search results? Have you used this key word in your summary and experience?

Always ensure your LinkedIn profile is connected to a personal e-mail address. This is to ensure that you do not lose control of it if you change firms. Also ensure it is kept up to date and remains relevant.

It is a good idea to make sure that you include awards, speaking engagements and career highlights.

Join Groups

Join Groups on LinkedIn that relate to your area of Law. This can help you connect with peers, and stay on top of trends and current areas of concern. Join groups that relate to your Alumni or even professional associations.

To join a group, click on Interests and then Groups. LinkedIn will recommend some that may suit you. Join in discussions that are relevant to your interests.

Endorsements

Get endorsed for your skills. Ensure that you have your most relevant skills listed. You may find that if you take the time to endorse your colleagues and peers that they take the time to endorse you back.

Publish

By sharing articles in your news feed that relate to your area of law, you demonstrate your interest in that area. Consider publishing well written and researched articles via LinkedIn’s Pulse to show your expertise. You are effectively educating your connections. You are likely to be front of mind when they have a question in this area.

Network with potential Clients.

LinkedIn is a great platform to build professional relationships with existing and potential clients. Ensure when sending a connection request it includes a personally written request.

Network with potential Referrers.

Is there a particular industry of people that often refer business to you? Taking a targeted approach you can build your network with referrers of business. For example a Property Lawyer may wish to increase their connections in relation to Real Estate Professionals.

Network with Media and Speakers Agencies.

If you consider yourself a spokesperson on a topic or for your firm, you can build relationships via LinkedIn with Media contacts. As you engage, publish and share information on your area of speciality you start to be considered an authority.

Be attractive to Recruiters.

Have the right connections. If you are wanting to be hired as someone that has a solid Melbourne network of potential clients, it is important to be able to prove this with evidence.

Recruiters and Hiring Managers often use LinkedIn as a source of potential Legal talent.

Research

Research Target Companies that you want to work for. Follow their company page and keep up to date with their news.

Apply for Roles

Use it to search for your next role using the Jobs Tab.

Follow key clients and colleagues and engage with what they are sharing online. LinkedIn is a good source of relevant industry news.

Keep the sales pitch to a minimum and don’t post updates too often. You don’t want your connections to get sick of seeing you in their news feed and to hide your updates.

Used well, LinkedIn can help build your personal brand. It provides a forum for potential clients to research Lawyers. It brings in referrals. It can help you land your next role. It can help you retain and engage key clients. If you leverage the power of LinkedIn effectively, it will help you build your Legal Career.

We would love you to connect with our Company Page for Legal People. You can do so here.