When you think about the law and the profession of lawyers, there is a good chance that the idea of using social media for your law practice is simply not something that crosses your mind. Lawyers have been around forever and if people need you, they'll find you, right? The truth is, that's pretty much wrong, as I had cause to learn when I met my friend Cassidy for lunch. Cassidy's one of the busiest personal injury lawyers in her city, and she's got plenty of wins under her belt. Even with all of that she still needs to think about ways to get her name out there when it comes to business, and she started telling me about how she does that.

"The truth of the matter is," she said over a plate of delicious Ethiopian food, "if other people are doing it, you have to. Lots of lawyers out there are putting themselves on the major networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, and if I don't, they're snapping up business that I'll never see. There are plenty of people, who, once they've found someone they like, will never look anywhere else." She shot me a meaningful look and I tried to figure out what she was saying.

"But you're good," I insisted. "Why do you need to worry about things like using social media for your law practice when you've got a great web page and tons of really happy referrals?" I couldn't figure it out. It's not like Cassidy was the new kid on the block. She's been practicing law for more than a decade and she's worked through some amazingly difficult cases and come out on top of it all.

She told me that it wasn't like that. You can't wow the people around you and your prospective clients if they don't even know you're there, and when more and more legal professionals were getting onto the social networking sites and making their services known before even a Google search was done, it becomes clear that even a good website can't save you. Cassidy, as I've mentioned, has been practicing for a while, and she has every intention of continuing; network marketing is going to be a part of that.

"It's a good way to let people know you're out there. Do I spend a lot of time prettying up the page? Not really. The important part is that you are making an effort to engage prospective clients in a way that they find comfortable and familiar. That's the first step towards winning your client's trust."

Lunch finished up and we bid each other a fond farewell, but what Cassidy said stuck with me. There's a lot of work that a legal professional has to do to make sure that his or her name gets out there, and if you are in a situation where you are hoping to attract more clients (and who isn't?) you may find that social media of various sorts gives you the boost you need. Look around, and figure out how to make connections today!