As many legal professionals know from firsthand experience, LinkedIn can be a powerful resource for law firms and lawyers. Of course, LinkedIn is a great networking platform that enables legal professionals to show their information to prospective clients and other people within the legal field. For this reason, many law firms (as well as businesses in other industries) have embraced LinkedIn. However, numerous law firms should improve their LinkedIn practices to ensure that employees are not pressured into engaging with their employer’s content on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
Many law firms across the country, both big and small, post content on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Sometimes, the content involves a recent victory of the firm, and other times it involves a client update that provides useful information meant for individuals and companies facing a specific legal issue. Often, law firms send emails to employees mentioning that a post has been published by the firm on LinkedIn and encouraging employees to like and share the content on social media. Of course, it is fine to suggest that employees circulate content a firm creates, and sharing such content might present a good opportunity to develop business and cultivate contacts.
However, it is probably inappropriate if a law firm makes it somewhat mandatory that employees like and share the firm’s content on LinkedIn. Of course, law firms rarely say that employees are required to like and share content on LinkedIn, since law firms understand that they would receive a significant amount of blowback if they explicitly co-opt the LinkedIn accounts of employees.
However, some firms seemingly reward employees for liking and sharing firm content on LinkedIn and apply pressure to employees who do not. Many law firms reward “firm citizenship,” a notion that employees of a shop should go above and beyond for the good of a firm (like wearing more than 15 pieces of flair, for all fellow Office Space fans!). I have heard of some firms conveying that liking and sharing firm content on social media is part of “firm citizenship,” and “firm citizenship” is often part of the attorney evaluation and promotion process. In addition, I have worked at firms at which partners and administrators have publicly lamented the fact that not enough employees have been sharing and liking content on social media, and employees were strongly encouraged to do so.
All of this implied pressure and rewards lead to some unfortunate outcomes. I once worked at a firm that strongly promoted itself on LinkedIn and pressured employees to engage with firm content on the platform. As such, I liked the firm’s page soon after being hired so I could seem like a team player from the start. For as long as I was an employee at that firm, each time I saw our firm’s logo on a social media content, I instinctively liked the post, usually without even reading what the post was about.
I also found myself liking pretty much anything that partners posted on LinkedIn no matter what the post was about or even if I read the post at all. Since that firm was really engaged with LinkedIn, I thought I could best demonstrate my “firm citizenship” by liking posts written by bosses even if I wouldn’t normally like the post if anyone else had posted it. It would be interesting to investigate if the seemingly high number of likes on posts published by some bosses is because of the value of the posts or if employees just want to appease their bosses.
Along similar lines, employees should not be pressured into creating LinkedIn profiles in the first place. I created my LinkedIn profile after I attended a business development presentation given by a firm that strongly encouraged everyone to create profiles in order to connect with prospective clients. However, LinkedIn is not for everyone, and with the rise of Instagram, many people are looking to Facebook to fill a role that LinkedIn once occupied among professionals. In addition, some people are private individuals who do not want to provide the information needed to set up a LinkedIn profile. Still others are not attracted to the corporate and often serious nature of LinkedIn, or do not wish to engage with social media at all. Firms should not judge people for not having a LinkedIn account, especially since there are many ways to connect with prospective clients.
All told, I am not a hater of LinkedIn, and I believe the platform provides value to the legal profession and other industries. However, employees should have the right to do what they wish with their own LinkedIn accounts, and they should not have their speech co-opted by their employers. Many law firms and other employers may believe that their current policies are appropriate because they do not explicitly force employees to like or share content. However, sending subtle cues that creating a LinkedIn profile and liking law firm content is highly encouraged may be just as powerful as explicit policies. Law firm managers should carefully evaluate how their actions impact the speech of their employees and ensure that workers have an actual choice about how they engage with the social media content published by their employers.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at [email protected].
