As the way law firms communicate with the community evolves, it’s important that law firms evolve with the times by creating policies that address employee social media use.  When creating a social media policy for your law firm, it’s important to address social media policy use by those directly in control of your firm’s social media platforms and all employees who may speak on behalf of the firm on their personal social media accounts. At Smokeball, we implemented a social media policy in regards of personal accounts and the company’s account. It’s important for your law firm to understand how the company wants to be portrayed online as well as individuals. Let’s take a look at a few best practices you should implement for your social media policy.

Personal Social Media

Sometimes law firm employees may reveal on their social media accounts that they work with your law firm. Even if they’re not officially representing your law firm when posting to their social media, anything they say or do can reflect on you for better or worse. There have been many instances where employees have been fired because of what they’ve said on their personal social media. It’s up to you to spell out what you expect from employees on their personal social media account, especially if they are using their real name and mentioning that they work for your law firm. You should also make clear that they may not present themselves as “official” representatives of your law firm while on their personal social media.

Address Individual Platforms

As new social media platforms emerge, it’s important to address them individually since they will present different issues. For example, you might have a Facebook Live policy that forbids employees from live streaming meetings at your law firm.  Or, you might forbid employees from posting on Instagram the photos of clients, without written permission.

Approval Process

For all social media communication, you should put in place an approval process. Who can post what on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc.?  And who are the decision makers for approving or blocking certain content?  Make sure everyone in your law firm knows who they need to get approval from if they want to post content on the firm’s social media accounts.

Standards and Tone

Every law firm should spell out what standards and tone all content must meet.  What are the themes and topics you want to focus on for your blog and social media accounts? What controversial topics do you want to avoid?  Do you want to keep a strictly formal tone or are there days when content can take on a more informal feel?  Whatever you do, make sure that you keep content standards and tone consistent.  

Protected and Unprotected Speech

When instituting rules around social media use for your employees, be aware that protected speech cannot be prohibited by your law firm.  For example, constructive and collaborative discussions about work conditions at your law firm is considered protected speech.  However, revealing confidential information or engaging in libelous discussions about your law firm on social media is considered unprotected speech. Unprotected speech can be prohibited by your law firm. When prohibiting speech, be specific. For example, you might say in your policy that employees may not discuss on social media, client cases or other employees.

Control Your Platform

If you want to encourage your employees to use social media, create a small team of people who will be empowered to post to your blog and social media platforms. Give them their own social media accounts specific to your law firm so that they are not using personal social media accounts that you don’t control.

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Mike Smith is the Talent Manager of Smokeball, a legal case management software company that automates over legal forms tailored for all areas of law making it easier than ever for solos and small law firms to increase productivity and become more efficient. With over 20 years of experience in Human Resources, Mike has been able to bring his expertise with helping many businesses strategically plan for recruiting quality talent while planning, implementing and evaluating company culture, programs, policies and practices as well as employee relations.  Mike holds a Masters in Science in Management and Organizational Behavior.