ALB Insights April 18, 2017 |
| | | Getting it right on social media: Tips and tricks for law firms
Social media is free to use and looks deceptively simple, but a small mistake can be costly for both law firms and lawyers. John Kang quizzes two law firms as well as a social media expert on the do’s and don’ts.
Social media has become an indispensable marketing tool for law firms, and it’s not surprising how this happened, given the sheer number of users. Almost half a billion people use LinkedIn, the preferred social media platform for legal-services providers. There are also more than 300 million people on Twitter, around 900 million on WeChat, and nearly 2 billion on Facebook.
Among those on social media are clients and prospective clients of law firms, as well as firms and lawyers who want to connect, engage and share their expertise.
Though social media is freely accessible, even minor blunders could prove costly. But what are the right and wrong ways of using social media? Law firms Baker McKenzie and DLA Piper, along with content marketing agency King Content, give some useful advice.
Laura Ashton, director of business development, marketing and communications, APAC, Baker McKenzie:
Be sensible in your content, particularly with information that may affect your clients’ best interests. This does not mean policing all the posts that our people make because that would not be feasible. With social media, we cannot fully control the conversation. And while this loss of control can be uncomfortable for some, it is part of having authentic communication.
The key to this, or any good marketing, is client-centricity. Think about the audience you want to engage with: What will be motivating for them to read? What kind of outcome do you hope to achieve? Then tailor your message, content and presentation accordingly, and remain involved with the debates and discussions that follow.
DLA Piper:
DO’S
Make sure your lawyers are engaged: Their followers are likely to include clients and targets, plus social media users are more likely to share content from people rather than companies.
Focus on images: Posts with strong images perform much better than those with just text or a firm logo.
Keep an eye on the stats: There is a wealth of analytics available on social platforms. Use this to inform future output – note what works and what doesn’t – and to keep contributors engaged.
DON’TS
Don’t link to PDFs: They are frustrating for many users because PDFs do not work well on mobile devices, and you are missing the opportunity to direct people straight to your website.
Don't overdo the hashtags: Putting a hashtag on too many words #can #make #copy #very #difficult to #read.
Don't make it all about you: If your feed only contains press releases about new partner hires and awards, it won't be fascinating to much of your external audience.
Judy Ngao, senior content editor at King Content:
Using jargon and abbreviations is a common mistake by professional service firms, including law firms. The vast majority on social media won’t understand it, and no one will take the time to Google what it means.
To get conservations heard and to keep them going, “ego baiting”, or tagging professionals on social media, can be helpful. This practice works especially well on LinkedIn.
Law firms should also monitor global events so they can figure out how to get involved via social media. For example, International Women’s Day, which occurs every year on March 8, is a great time to showcase what the firm is doing to support gender equality.
And lastly, for lawyers, avoid posting about your private lives on social media, especially on LinkedIn. Telling everyone, “Here I am at a BBQ on Saturday!” adds zero value.
To contact the writer, please email john.kang@tr.com. |
| | Legal and more: How ZICO is upending the traditional law firm model
There are law firms, and there are entities like ZICO, which has expanded beyond legal to offer a wide range of services as it looks to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market. Raj Gunashekar tracks the growth of the organsation so far and looks at what’s in store.
In February, the Singapore-listed ZICO Holdings launched yet another business – a subsidiary called ShakeUp Online that aims to deliver technology-enabled legal services to SMEs in the ASEAN region. The same month also saw it enter into a strategic partnership with Epoq Legal, a UK-based online legal document services provider.
These were only the latest forays of an organisation that started out as a law firm some three decades ago. It has become much more since then, and its key services now include law, advisory, asset management, business process outsourcing, corporate finance, corporate services, insourcing, intellectual property, investor services, shariah advisory and services, and trust advisory.
Much of ZICO’s expansion has been driven by the need to offer an alternative service-delivery model, as well as to provide a wide suite of legal and professional solutions to large corporate clients and smaller businesses alike. And this, according to the firm, has been underpinned by “a culture of calculated risk-taking and a desire to do things differently.”
ZICO began its journey in Malaysia in 1987, when it was founded as law firm Zaid Ibrahim & Co. At present, it has 168 lawyers, making it the largest law firm in the nation, according to the ALB Top 50. “We realised that there was a growing need for our organisation to develop beyond the confines of the traditional big law model. Clients were seeking multijurisdictional advice and counsel that was holistic and spread across various disciplines,” says Chew Seng Kok, managing director of ZICO Holdings.
SPREADING ITS WINGS
With that in mind, ZICO Corporate Services was established in 1992, and ZICO Trust Limited. As the variety of services on offer continued to grow, so did the reach of the law firm, which opened an office in Singapore in 2003 and entered Indonesia in 2005, following an association with Roosdiono and Partners.
Today, the ZICOlaw network spans all ten ASEAN nations, after expanding its reach into Brunei and the Philippines in 2017. The group has similarly diversified and formed a holding company, Zico Holdings, in 2014 that listed on the Singapore Exchange’s Catalist board. “With the Catalist listing, we have been able to devise a multidisciplinary platform,” says Chew.
He adds, “The structure allows us to leverage on alternative fee arrangements that are based on economies of scope, scale and jurisdiction. In turn, this grants us a unique platform to provide clients with the strategic, legal, trust, corporate and administrative connective tissue needed to get to the most cost-effective solution in the shortest time frame.”
ShakeUp, the latest member of the ZICO family, is expected to make access to law easy and affordable for small-and-medium-sized businesses in the ASEAN region. Chew says that this is in line with the firm’s mission to provide advice that is customised, culturally sensitive, and solution-oriented. “Having taken our cues from the changing marketplace, we understand that client experience is the overriding competitive linchpin in today’s economy. As such, we have reinvented ourselves to put clients at the centre of our business paradigm,” he explains.
To contact the writer, please email raj.gunashekar@tr.com. |
| | Opinion: Hong Kong’s first female chief starts from behind
Last month, Hong Kong saw the election of its first female chief representative in Carrie Lam. Lisa Jucca of Reuters Breakingviews says that Lam faces a tough road ahead of her.
Hong Kong has its first female political leader in Carrie Lam, elected last month by a 1,194-strong committee of mostly pro-Beijing loyalists. The career bureaucrat charmed local elites, but is otherwise unpopular. As growth slows and a wealth gap widens, Lam's plans to loosen the city’s purse strings might buy a few hearts. But the real test will be buttressing the rule of law. Pushing back against the forces that got her elected appears mission impossible.
This leadership race – the first since massive pro-democracy protests ended in stalemate in 2014 – was never going to be a popularity contest. But any pretence of democracy has been dropped. For the first time since the ex-British colony was returned to China in 1997, the winner lost the pre-election poll. Only 30 percent of the non-voting public polled by the University of Hong Kong said they would vote for Lam, compared to 56 percent for ex-finance minister John Tsang, who had said he would seek to introduce universal suffrage. Past leaders, including divisive former chief Leung Chun-ying, fared better than Lam.
Starting from such a low base, Lam could surprise on the upside. Growth is at seven-year lows and salaries aren't keeping up with housing prices. But the territory's economy isn't performing too badly, and its finances are in good shape after running budget surpluses since 2004-05. Lam’s pledges to lower taxes for small companies and invest in education could win support; ditto for plans to boost land supply to address the housing squeeze. If she delivers more social spending, she could earn credit for addressing the city’s economic divide.
More difficult for her will be to resist Beijing’s erosion of the rule of law in the territory, which has a separate, stronger legal system. In her victory speech, Lam stressed she enjoys China’s trust. To repay that trust, she may ignore calls for universal suffrage, push through controversial anti-subversion laws, or look away while secret mainland police drag people Beijing doesn't like across the border.
A bit of bread and circus spending may indeed help maintain stability in the financial centre. But this alone won’t do. Transparency and a trusted legal system are essential for Hong Kong to thrive. |
| | ALB Hot Startups: BurgieLaw
ALB Hot Startups is a weekly series that looks at the most promising new legal-tech companies in Asia. This week, we train our eyes on BurgieLaw, an online lawyer-search platform. By Raj Gunashekar
Firm name: BurgieLaw
Year of founding: 2016
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Founders: Lai Chee Hoe, who runs his own litigation law firm, Chee Lai & Associates, and Louis Gan, who loves to automate processes using technology
What they do: The startup is building an online platform to connect clients with lawyers. “Our first goal is to improve accessibility to lawyers. We want to let people look at lawyers’ profiles, know their areas of expertise and hourly rates, and other info. We also want to help them directly contact lawyers via messaging to seek legal advice or ask a quote for legal services,” says Gan, who acts as CTO.
BurgieLaw also believes small businesses can better protect themselves if they have access to legal templates such as shareholders agreement, letter of employment, and the like for a fraction of the usual cost.
Markets serving: Since it uses a marketplace model, the firm needs to fulfill both supply and demand.
“On the supply side, we work with small and medium-sized law firms to list their lawyers on our platform. We also educate firms on the benefits of getting their practice online and making it easy for clients to find them,” adds Gan.
On the demand side, BurgieLaw helps small businesses and individuals search for the right lawyer. “Business owners usually require legal services in areas like drafting agreements, breach of contracts and debt recovery. For individuals, they usually seek advice for divorce, employment termination and penal code offences,” explains Lai.
Capital raised till date: $200,000 from Tink Big Venture
How the idea came about: As a lawyer, Lai constantly receives referrals from his personal contacts via phone calls, emails and messages.
“Occasionally, he has to refer a case to another lawyer when the matter requires expertise in a different area or when he’s handling many cases,” says Gan. “Also, in most cases, clients couldn’t afford the legal fees. Since this happens often, he thought clients could save a lot of time if there’s a website that allows them to easily find and contact lawyers from different firms who are experienced and could offer their services at affordable rates.”
Lai and Gan formed the startup’s core team after researching on similar websites in the U.S., UK and Australia.
The journey so far: BurgieLaw’s journey has been challenging since its inception.
The startup built the first version of its website within a few months and held a networking session for lawyers. It also put together other events to help small businesses understand the importance of legal services.
It was also accepted into Malaysia’s national accelerator programme, which ran for four months. Gan says this gave BurgieLaw exposure to mentors from successful startups, who guided them in key tasks such as identifying a suitable business model and running effective marketing campaigns.
This year, the website’s second version was launched, and it promises a better user experience. “Customers can now track responses from the lawyers through our dashboard and have access to downloadable legal templates,” shares Gan.
Future plans: The startup plans to collaborate with government entities to push legal innovation at a national level.
“We want to introduce an application that will help small businesses manage a contract’s life cycle. We are also looking at expanding our reach to more cities around Southeast Asia,” says Gan.
To contact the writer, please email raj.gunashekar@tr.com.
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