Last week, we featured 7 top entries in the first of a two
part series, “
Best LinkedIn Groups
for Attorneys and Legal Professionals (Part 1).” This week, we’ll
conclude in alphabetical order by adding 8 more, for a total of 15. As
indicated by running a search
with this link, you’ll
find a total of 1,382,598 groups, as of 8/13/2012 (for an increase of 7200 over
just last week). I’m not claiming these are the best of all 1.4 million, but
they’re a few of my favorites in the law & technology categories.
Feel free to add your suggestions for other groups you enjoy
in the Comments section at the end of this article. In case you missed the
first half, you can
get
to it with this link.
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
2767
Group Established:
March 25, 2008
Group Description:
This is a group to provide assistance and access to professionals working
at the intersection of law and medicine. Whether you are in the counsel's
office, a risk manager, in compliance, an attorney, in insurance, or in human
resources, this group is for you.
Comments:
This group features a nice collection of articles, and also serves a
secondary role as an informal Medical Expert Witness referral/search system
(via member posts). A great deal of current events with respect to Legislation
and other breaking news are also covered.
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
9613
Group Established:
December 3, 2007
Group Description:
Innovation, Inventions, and patents.
Focus on the technical, engineering, and scientific aspects of patents. Patent
litigation, Invalidation, Prior Art, Claim Charts and Obviousness.
Open discussion on Patent Infringement cases in high tech.
Comments:
If IP is your thing, this is your group. Content found here is representative
of its members, who come from all sides of the table – including lawyers and
inventors. Interestingly, the largest percentage of the demographic is from the
San Francisco Bay Area (New York City tops most other Legal groups). Also, in
the Job Function category, “Legal” is at the top, but then followed by “Research”
and “Entrepreneurs.”
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
4148
Group Established:
May 22, 2008
Group Description:
This is a professional network for personal injury lawyers. Connect with
and learn from top PI attorneys from across the country.
Discussions include:
- how to make referrals to other PI attorneys
- latest trends in product liability cases
- new drug cases
- what top PI lawyers are doing to generate more and better referrals
- proven strategies for marketing a personal injury law firm.
Contact group moderator Stephen Fairley for admission:
http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/StephenFairley
Comments:
This group was started by Stephen Fairley, of the
Rainmaker Institute. This is
typically a well-moderated group, featuring a great deal of content from many
related professionals, including lawyers, nurses, doctors, and researchers.
There are also a number of questions posted by members, which often get
numerous and helpful responses. A few posts here and there do lean a bit toward
advertising, but certainly not to the point of becoming a real nuisance, like I’ve
seen in some other groups.
Group Title:
Membership (as of 8/13/2012):
1809
Group Established:
February 7, 2009
Group Description:
Welcome to the Product Liability Defense Alliance! This is a network of
risk and safety professionals who work in claims-handling, risk management,
legal defense and safety innovations in the realm of product liability. We
welcome insurance claim people and TPA personnel who handle product liability
claims, defense attorneys specializing in this litigation field, self-insured
claim and risk management personnel, product safety specialists, consultants,
etc.
The aims of this group are to:
• Exchange ideas on improving product liability claim-handling and defense
• Discuss new and emerging areas of product liability trends and law
• Exchange ideas on product liability risk management and safety
• Provide a counterfoil to the well-organized plaintiffs’ bar
• Offer networking opportunities for product liability professionals
To join, go to Search Groups and type in that field, “Product Liability
Defense.” This group’s name (“Product Liability Defense Alliance) should appear
as an option.
There should be a link, "Join this group… "
Click there and I think it should be straightforward from there.
Comments:
Although the group’s demographic fits the mold of many other legal-centric
groups, content includes current and recent cases, CLE opportunities and
conference info, and also features in-depth technical info from products experts.
Interestingly, several of the top (most popular) articles were posted over a
month ago, showing a slower rate of digestion than many other groups. One
possible reason for this might be that Products Liability Defense lawyers are
one busy bunch of folks – certainly not a bad thing these days, but it can cut
into the recreational reading time.
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
2166
Group Established:
September 20, 2008
Group Description:
EDRM – the Electronic Discovery Reference Model – was created in May 2005
to address the lack of standards and guidelines in the electronic discovery
(e-discovery) market – a problem identified in the 2003 and 2004 Socha-Gelbmann
Electronic Discovery surveys as a major concern for consumers and providers
alike.
The completed reference model provides a common, flexible and extensible
framework for the development, selection, evaluation and use of electronic
discovery products and services. The completed model was placed in the public
domain in May 2006.
In its on-going effort to provide standards and guidelines, EDRM is updating
and expanding the original model to include six projects: EDRM Evergreen, EDRM
XML, EDRM Metrics, EDRM Model Code of Conduct, EDRM Search and EDRM Data Set.
Understanding how to deal with electronically stored information (ESI) has
become everyone’s problem. Join EDRM and be a part of the solution. Everyone
involved in e-discovery can benefit from joining EDRM. As an EDRM participant,
you can share best practices for managing the e-discovery processes from the
initial management of electronically stored information all the way to the
ultimate presentation of that information. You can offer insights to others and
help improve the e-discovery processes as well as the entire industry.
Comments:
If you know what EDRM (Electronic Discovery Reference Model) stands for, of
if you’ve heard of, read, or participated in the Socha-Gelbmann Electronic
Discovery Surveys, you are probably already a member of this group. If not, and
you are interested in a “Google Earth” perspective on the litigation lifecycle,
you will find it here, and on the
EDRM site.
The surveys have been instrumental in gathering information on issues
associated with electronic discovery, and how to deal with them, including
in-house and outsourced options. The majority of posts stick with the
e-discovery topic.
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
3743
Group Established:
May 27, 2008
Group Description:
Networking group for trial lawyers and attorneys interested in civil and
criminal practice before the court. Join and learn from top trial lawyers what
they are doing that's working right now.
Discussions include:
- Trial strategies for both civil and criminal cases
- Marketing strategies for a litigation law firm
- Building a referral based law practice
- How to manage and run a litigation boutique law firm
- Strategies for differentiating your practice from competitors
Contact moderator Stephen Fairley to request admission to the group:
www.LinkedIn.com/in/StephenFairley
Enter email: stephen@therainmakerinstitute.com to connect.
Comments:
This group’s demographic and content are similar to the Personal Injury
Attorney Network (see above), with a notable exception that a greater
percentage of members of this group are at the “Senior” level, with a slightly
lesser amount at the “Owner” level in comparison, perhaps suggesting a
difference in firm size.
Topics include a nice variety of “how-to” articles, recent
case updates, member questions, and CLE opportunities. Currently, the most
popular topic is “
What was the best piece of advice you received before your
first trial?,” with 64 responses posted. It is certainly encouraging to see
this level of dialog and response to a member’s question, and there are many notable
and quotable responses. In fact, since this is an open group (you can read and
post without actually joining the group), I’d recommend spending some time reading
this little gem.
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
2773
Group Established:
September 8, 2009
Group Description:
Trial Technology Group is a Professional Network of interested individuals,
where they may share information and request the assistance, advice and/or
other related information of its members.
Attorneys, Paralegals, legal professionals, law students, vendors, legal
recruiters and others interested in discussions, news and jobs related to the
use of technology for purposes of trial prep and presentation are encouraged to
join.
Standard courtesies with respect to spamming this group are appreciated and
will be enforced.
Comments:
I may be a bit biased in favor of this group, as I am the founder and
moderator. The demographic features a blend of attorneys, paralegals, in-house
litigation support, and consultants. Topics are loosely focused around
technology used in trial, and cover a good variety of related subjects.
There’s also a monthly poll open to members, offering
insight into various topics, and featuring a number of member comments. If you’re
interested in trying cases with the tools of today, or are a provider of those
tools and services, this group should be on your list.
Group Title:
Membership (as of
8/13/2012):
2681
Group Established:
December 15, 2008
Group Description:
The White Collar Criminal Defense Attorneys Group is for attorneys who
specialize in representing corporations and individuals in government criminal
and civil/regulatory investigations and who advise companies and individuals
about related corporate compliance and governance issues.
Comments:
One thing that makes this group different than many is its choice to
include news items, which are automatically posted via an RSS feed. For the
reader, that can mean finding out about current relevant news long before
someone else has time to find it, read it, and then share it. It also means a
larger number of posts, with some being more relevant than others. Overall, it
can be a good feature when set up properly, and in this case, it seems to work.
As one might expect, there is a great deal of content
related to current events from members and other sources including the SEC, USDOJ,
New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.
***
If you missed the first half of this two-part series, you
can
get
to it with this link. Feel free to add your comments or suggestions
for other groups you enjoy in the Comments section below.
