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Corporate Counsel Exchanging Information Through Social Networking

By Carolyn Elefant

Lawyers -- do you feel your ears burning? Maybe that's because corporate counsel are exchanging information about your services and how to save money on them on social networking sites like Linked In, Legal OnRamp and Martindale-Hubbell Connected, to name a few. Bloomberg reports that in an effort to cut legal costs, in-house attorneys are increasingly turning to social networks to identify expertise in a given field and identify cost cutting measures. Consider this recent exchange described in the Bloomberg piece: Steven Weinberger, general counsel of Wisdom Natural Brands, boasted on an online social network last month that he saves money by drafting his own trademark applications before sending to outside lawyers for review. Paul Escobar, corporate counsel at Cumberland Gulf Group of Cos., wrote back saying he, too, sometimes drafts legal documents to establish content and tone before outside counsel get their hands on them. So what industries are predominant on the social networking scene? Surprisingly, it's not high tech, but rather more traditional industries: financial services, manufacturing and health care. As corporate counsel come on board, law firms are motivated to join in hopes of attracting potential clients. These days, LegalOnRamp has 10,000 members. However, Larry Bodine reports...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).