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Message: Hi, I thought you might be interested in this article I found. The Flaw of Fame and Marketing for Lawyers There are a couple of lawyers in the Miami market who appear on television regularly. They will go on a community access channel in order to see themselves in HD. This is a great strategy if you behave professionally and provide accurate commentary (whether in a commercial or as an expert in earned media). But there are a couple of lawyers in this market (and around the country) who act like total idiots. Not just on television but on their Facebook profiles, in their commentary on their blogs and even during speaking engagements or in other public forums. Does this get them some clients? Absolutely. Does this get them the right clients? Yes. For what their law practice is right now. So what is the problem? For some lawyers there is no problem. They will always want to do the DUI case from the out of town client who just-so-happened to get caught while in Miami on vacation. Or the case from the washed up wrestling star who goes into a ‘roid rage and beats a bouncer to a bloody pulp. But for other lawyers, the ones who grow and mature, their law practice may grow and evolve over time. Their ideal client may change. The TV lawyer may decide that he wants to go from representing “club kids” in simple possession cases to handling complex civil matters (stranger things have happened). What then? Maybe you think nobody will remember that you were the goofball, making a fool of yourself on television. But other lawyers will remember. Your referral sources will remember. And the Internet will remember. It used to be, I would tell my clients not to say anything in the media they wouldn’t want their grandmother to read or hear. Now I tell them not to say it in public or on their blog or on Facebook. Sometimes the desire to be famous, to feed ones ego, can get the better of you. And if you are a lawyer, that may hurt you. The law is a relationship business. Your colleagues refer you business. Your colleagues become judges. Your colleagues sometimes oppose you in the adversarial process. If you act like a jackass on television, on Facebook or on Youtube, it will definitely hurt you. The one thing worse than being the lawyer with his face on the side of a bus is to be the lawyer on TV or on the Internet calling somebody names or pulling some asinine stunt just so people will talk about you. Because they will. And for a short time it may help your law firm, but years from now, when the guy you called out on Facebook is the judge in one of your cases, or is sitting in your grievance hearing, you’ll be sorry you had those 15 minutes of fame. Link: http://www.rainmakerlawyer.com/site/permalink/the_flaw_of_fame_and_marketing_for_lawyers/