Lawyers Lunch Less

Robert Half Legal did a study in February of this year that found that 56% of lawyers said business lunches are less common than three years ago.

Huh? If lawyers are lunching less, how are they supposed to develop relationships with potential (and current) clients?

Here’s how some enterprising attorneys are going about it:

First, they’re publishing great content.

Then, they’re sharing it via social media channels. This inevitably drives traffic to their online bios.

They are turning their online bios into rich repositories of credentialing information that include articles, blog posts, photos, tweets, and podcasts – all of which make the case for why they should be hired.

And, to top it off, they are using their bios to make a personal connection with visitors. Smiling portraits and bits of personal information help depict them as real and likable.

Does having a great online presence replace a face-to-face meeting? No, absolutely not. However, in an era when clients could reside hundreds of miles away, opportunities to share a lunch or cocktail are becoming rare.

As clients increasingly go online to obtain the information that they need to make informed decisions, lunches and other face-to-face meetings will happen less. This new reality beckons a question that applies to every attorney: What will they find when they search for me?