Best LinkedIn Groups for Attorneys and Legal Professionals (Part 1)

LinkedIn is like Facebook for grown-ups – or at least for those who are interested in following people, news, and discussions with like-minded professionals. While there are many sources of great information on the Internet, the place I find some of the best content online is through the LinkedIn Groups.

No matter which topic you’re interested in, chances are there are one or more groups you’d be interested in. Groups can be “Open,” meaning anyone can view and post, or “Closed,” requiring membership for access. 

I’ll share fourteen of my personal favorites in two installments, listed in alphabetical order, all focusing on various aspects of law and legal technology. I tried to go with ten, but just couldn’t cut four of these. There are 1375398 groups on LinkedIn as of 8/6/2012, which you can search for and locate by topic with this link. Feel free to add your suggestions for other groups you enjoy in the Comments section at the end of this article.

See Part 2: Best LinkedIn Groups for Attorneys and Legal Professionals

Group Title:
Association of Litigation Support Professionals (National Association)

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
6,359
Group Established:
January 14, 2008
Group Description:
The Association of Litigation Support Professionals is the only organization whose members comprise the full range of individuals involved with litigation support. ALSP is dedicated to advancing the profession and contributing to the career development of practitioners around the world.
Comments:
The ALSP is actively involved in setting standards for many facets of Litigation Support. The group features a good variety of topics, along with news on upcoming seminars and educational opportunities.

Group Title:
ASTC's Jury and Trial Research Interest Group

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
673
Group Established:
June 5, 2009
Group Description:
This site will facilitate discussion, networking, and collaboration about applied research into jury / juror behavior and trial advocacy. Members who may find they have something to share or to learn here include: lawyers, trial consultants, judges, law students, litigation support professionals, and paralegals... but we are not exclusive... Anyone with a hankering to understand how people and justice interact are more than welcome.

Topics covered here can span from pre trial jury research to change of venue studies to witness preparation... to anything about advocacy technique and lore. Juror behavior and decision making is always of interest.

We will share info and opinion about nearly any subject that informs those of us who work within the system and those who are just plain interested about what happens when the doors to the jury room close and everythng that happens from filing to verdict.

You needn't be a professional to follow or participate... an interest in the behavioral side of the law and legal system will do!

ASTC's Professional Visibility Committee welcomes you!
Comments:
Although this group is relatively small, it is comprised of many (likely most) of the top Jury Consultants in the nation. Membership also includes Trial Presentation Consultants and Graphics Professionals. Some excellent topics may be found here.

Group Title:
DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
10,040
Group Established:
November 23, 2008
Group Description:
DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar is the world's largest organization of 22,500+ attorneys defending the interests of business and individuals in civil litigation. DRI provides numerous educational and informational resources to DRI members and offers many opportunities for liaison among defense trial lawyers, Corporate America, and state and local defense organizations. DRI also has an international presence, seeking to enhance understanding of the law among members of the defense community who have reason to be concerned with the expanding globalization of litigation defense. The following are DRI's goals:

Education: To teach and educate and to improve the skills of the defense law practitioner

Justice: To strive for improvement in the civil justice system

Balance: To be a counterpoint to the plaintiff's bar and seek balance in the justice system in the minds of potential jurors and on all fields where disputes are resolved

Economics: To assist members in dealing with the economic realities of the defense law practice, including the competitive legal marketplace

Professionalism and Service: To urge members to practice ethically and responsibly, keeping in mind the lawyer's responsibilities that go beyond the interest of the client to the good of American society as a whole
Comments:
The online group of Defense Research Institute. This group features a great deal of consistently good content from a nice variety of sources, along with updates to the DRI calendar. The group’s most recent “Manager’s Choice” post shares the following:

DRI LinkedIn Group accepts 10,000th member!

I wanted to send a note to announce that the DRI LinkedIn group has surpassed 10,000 members. Over the last four years we have been one of the fastest growing groups on LinkedIn, and we now are the largest civil litigation group on LinkedIn.

I would like to think that the success of this group is attributable to the same factors that make DRI the largest organization for lawyers who defend the interests of businesses and individuals in civil litigation: great cutting-edge content, opportunities for education and advancement, and great networking. As you know, we protect the integrity of this group by closely monitoring the content to make sure that discussions are focused on issues of importance to civil litigators, and not just an opportunity to market services or products.

Group Title:
e-LEGAL

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
61,143
Group Established:
November 21, 2008
Group Description:
#1 Group For Lawyers Attorneys Corporate In-House Counsel Paralegal Law Students School Firm Recruiters Lawyer Attorney Trial Case Legal Technology e-Discovery Forensics Compliance Governance Litigation IP Intellectual Property Trademarks Patent Finance Real Estate Contracts Jobs Careers
Comments:
This is the grand-daddy of them all, at least in the legal professions. The demographics are equally as broad, with global membership. Recently, I suggested this site to someone with a legal question specific to the U.K., since there are nearly 2000 members from the U.K. With such a large membership, there is also a massive amount of great information from all corners of the world. The potential downside is that you might be trying to sip a bit of water from a fire hose.

Group Title:
KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
5,164
Group Established:
June 12, 2009
Group Description:
KNOW, The Magazine for Paralegals is designed for paralegals in law firms, in-house legal departments and government agenices. The group is for paralegals of all specialties and levels of experience from the U.S. and abroad.

We discuss careers, trends, job opportunities, current issues, success stories, substantive issues and more.
Comments:
This group is operated by Chere Estrin of the Organization of Legal Professionals, another group involved in the education and establishment of standards in the legal support professions. This is another great resource with a good variety of content for paralegals and litigation support professionals, including educational opportunities and event updates.

Group Title:
Legal IT Network

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
32,976
Group Established:
November 27, 2007
Group Description:
Legal IT Network is the global virtual community for people working in the legal technology industry like law firm IT staff, legal software vendors, legal IT consultants, but also paralegals, knowledge management specialists, and lawyers interested in the technology that facilitates their work.

Many topics are discussed in this group, all related to how technology supports the law firm practice. Various region- and topic specific subgroups facilitate networking with people sharing similar regions or interests.

The reason why this is a members-only group is because we want to keep the quality of discussions at the highest level. Feel free to join and become part of LinkedIn’s preferred Legal IT Network!
Comments:
In addition to a large amount of content (from such a large group), many of the most popular postings are questions by members posed to the group, resulting in some great dialogs. Although topics and content vary, topics can get pretty technical at times, as the title suggests.

Group Title:
Litigation Support Professional Networking

Membership (as of 8/6/2012):
13,631
Group Established:
February 22, 2008
Group Description:
Litigation Support Professionals is a controlled circulated group for qualified litigation support professionals, legal assistants/paralegals, technology specialists, recruiters and other legal support staff.

This group was established for knowledge advancement in the area and to network with fellow peers. Please do not post advertisements on the discussion board, if there are any advertisements posted I will remove you from the group.
Comments:
This group’s description also states its spam policy – something that some other groups could learn from. The larger the group (and this is another big one), the more potential for posts about non-specific jobs or other promotional drivel, which gets annoying very quickly. This group features a nice variety of content, and is obviously moderated closely, keeping the information quality standard high.

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See Part 2: Best LinkedIn Groups for Attorneys and Legal Professionals