Social networking site set up for lawyers

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Jul 8, 2006 by Amy Johnson Conner

(This article was originally published in Lawyers USA, another Dolan Media publication.)

Lawbby.com - a sort of MySpace for the legal profession - has caused a fair amount of head scratching since it was launched two months ago.

Designed as a social network where attorneys can post a personal and/or professional profile, Lawbby has observers wondering just how the new Web site will be used.

When legal marketer Nathan Burke of Boston first viewed the site, he thought it was an unmitigated disaster.

Along with practice information and referral preferences, the profile categories included dating status, religion, turn-ons, turn- offs, hobbies and alcohol preferences as well as tastes in movies, music and books.

It just didn't seem right to me, said Burke. But the biggest problem I had with it was that I couldn't imagine attorneys signing up.

It looked like a dating service for lawyers - which was the last thing founder Chris Rempel intended.

So in less than a day, Rempel completely retooled the site. Although dating status remains, drinking preference has been changed to corporate profile, religion has become practice areas, and favorite movies has morphed into education and accomplishments.

These changes have caused Burke to modify his initial opinion of the site.

I think it has a little more potential, but it's still for the younger set, he said. It will be hard to get seasoned attorneys to sign up for something like this. If it does build some momentum, though, it could become something.

The site allows users to search profiles by geographic area, practice area and referral preference and contact members by leaving messages in their online inboxes. It also allows members to post entries in a very basic Weblog.

You'll recognize the model if your kids have a profile on MySpace.com.

It's more of a place where [lawyers] can relax online, look at other people's profiles - and this is free, said Rempel, who is based in Kelowna, British Columbia. It seems every other service out there costs.

Lawbby.com was launched with the goal of building a social network for lawyers who want to have a more personal Web presence without the hassle of starting a Web site or the day-to-day grind of a blog.

Rempel came up with the idea while conducting research for a client on law-related Internet forums. He quickly realized that the majority of these forums were conducted via e-mail rather than on the Web, and concluded that this was because most lawyers still lag behind the times when it comes to technology.

As a result, he targeted Lawbby.com to law students and young lawyers who are already familiar with web-based communities and blogs - lawyers like California intellectual property attorney Eve- Marie Lanza.

Lawbby.com's Internet-based service has an advantage over traditional networking activities [like local bar events] because it allows me to connect with a wide variety of people in the legal profession, from all across the country, she said.

But Lanza is also clear on the limitations.

It isn't as though someone is going to refer a client to you just because you're on their Lawbby.com friends list, she said.

So while the site may be useful for making acquaintances, it's no replacement for traditional relationship-building activities such as conferences, lunches and other face-to-face social events.

Although Burke is a big advocate of legal blogs, he anticipates a significant amount of resistance to Lawbby.com.

Thinking of it in terms of MySpace, you're going to have firms that won't want attorneys to post the type of personal information the site facilitates, Burke said.

But he also noted that it can be quite difficult to market an individual blog, many of which are left floating around in their little corner of cyberspace waiting for someone to stumble upon them. A portal like Lawbby can provide a common Web space where users can find one another.

If this can accomplish that, then that's great, Burke said.

Besides, the lawyers who visit Lawbby are not likely to be the types who would be turned off by those who choose to create Web spaces there.

I don't see it as something that could really hurt, Burke said. I don't recommend [firms] going out and [advertising] this as their blog, but if it's used for establishing contacts and networking, why not?

By the end of May, the site had 86 members - an increase of about 30 members just three days after Rempel launched a marketing blitz.

Every social network has a slow start, but it does build momentum, he said. There are social networks for dog owners and coin collectors. It's going to work, it will just takes some time to get there.

In the future, Rempel plans to solicit business from commercial users, who will pay a fee to list their business services on Lawbby.com, and they will be required to offer their services at a discounted rate to Lawbby.com subscribers.

Lanza agrees that sites like this are still in their infancy, but she sees untapped potential.