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Contributor: Steve Matthews Stem Legal Web Enterprises Inc.

SUMMARY: There are a number of situations where a lawyer’s personal brand can take a hit on the modern web. From an unfavourable newspaper story being permanently codified within the paper’s archives, to casual web participation showing up in the search engines for a lawyer’s name. Reputation management has quickly become a very important consideration to how professionals choose to participate online. And since almost all content eventually hits Google, lawyers are now faced with the ongoing challenge to monitor (and mold) what clients and potential clients can see about them.

The intent of this piece is not to scare, but simply to identify some of the possible pitfalls that any lawyer can run into. It is important, however, to recognize that lawyers who do not participate online are often the most vulnerable to these types of reputation issues. While definitely not immune, lawyers who web-publish to promote their legal services are often in direct control of the content most frequently accessed about them. And in some cases, having this kind of web collateral can act as a buffer reducing the visibility of negative content.

Please note, this article originally appeared on Slaw.ca.

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Steve Matthews Stem Legal Web Enterprises Inc. Steve Matthews is the founder of Stem Legal, a company that helps law firms build... [Profile | Documents]

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