A new application – Twitter BFFs – shows you which Twitter users you @reply the most. While you can tweet the results of your top BFFs (your real BFFs versus mere BFs?), I found the entire list pretty awesome and worth posting here.

If you’d like to follow any of my BFFs – just promise you won’t steal them away from me! – here’s the links to ‘em.

@alexknowshtml @smallrivers @j_lavalley @legalninjakris @thesagecoach @farnoosh @recruiteresq @advertisinglaw @jkhoey @squirrelpants @letsfreckle @carolynelefant @radiocolin @memphisbar @anildash @legal rebels @vaultcareers @kimjessum @vark @cafepress @xanthippas @jsto @leoramaccabee @lawbill @legalweek @aellislegal @jusfonzin @thrillist @econwriter5 @cherylmckinnon @djillpugh @nancymyrland @gregminton @rapportive @richard_russeth @hannskk @emberr @markjlove @bobambrogi @richards1000 @lisasolomon @hubbardone @eric_b_meyer @wallstreetrock @umcle @robinmatthewfry @lawscribbler @nonpretentious @odubbeldam @youngamerican @reneefishman @lynn_adams @whatusk @scobleizer @lawyerkm @attorneyjobs @bren924 @lawjobchat @good @scarylawyer @hgmarketing @theWLA @taxgirl @glambert @shelbycountytn @commonrotation @hmriskgroup @kmhobbie @marinafeehan @tmj_usa_legal @orelawpracmgmt @posselist @martinstarr @nicole_brewer @jerry_levine @amyhoy @davepeck @slaw_dot_ca @jdickerson @insidelegal @scglprnetwork @thejurisdoctor

BONUS POINTS // SURVEY
How many of you found this post due to a Google alert of your Twitter handle? Would be interesting to hear from you in the comments!

Sidenote:  Some of these folks I’ve tweeted to only once or twice and I’m not really sure how they made the list.  (I’m looking at you, @shelbycountytn)

Related Reading:

1. Twitter Lists: Legal Job Market
2. Tweets from 2010-01-03
3. Tweets from 2009-11-15

I promised earlier in the week that I’d have a mistake for you. Here’s a fresh one right off the RSS feed:

The way I have my site set up, I publish my posts for the general public by default.

In other words, if I’d like to limit the post to members – or a tier of members – I have to indicate that affirmatively.  Pretty much, I have to check certain buttons, change certain settings, and choose who has access to the post before I press publish.  This will hide the post from the public and also keep it off the RSS feeds.

Once I override the default and limit access to members, members will be able to log in to the site and read the entire post or, in some cases, the rest of the post. (E.g., there is a teaser excerpt.)

Last night, I wrote a post that I was supposed to publish exclusively for members only but I didn’t go through all of the required steps to override the default: I published my discount code for the world to see!

Thankfully, I caught the mistake within a relatively short period and took the following actions while most of the world slept: I deleted the original post and updated the discount code.  I posted the new discount code and went through all of the steps to make sure it was accessible for members only and off the RSS feed.

This may not seem like a big deal but imagine the same thing in these scenarios:

On a larger scale:  Instead of sending around a newsletter announcing that Lady Gaga will be in town, the arena sent out an e-mail offering half-priced tickets!

Explaining the mistake to your boss:  Instead of you realizing your mistake, kicking yourself, and fixing it, your boss realized your mistake or found out about it somehow.  Now, there’s even more fuss about how this will impact the project, the company, and everyone’s reputation.  Fixing it takes way longer than necessary because everyone’s worried and scatter-brained.

This presentation is the bread & butter of your organization:  You own a small business.  Part of your stream of income comes from short (awesome!) campfires that are part webinar, part Q and A, and part chatter.  Imagine you only have limited space and you accidentally advertised that all of the $200 tickets were $100 off.

Mistakes.  Gotta live and learn.

[Note:  Next week's campfire only costs $19.99 - site members & newsletter subscribers receive $10 off as explained here.]

Related Reading:

1. Entrepreneurs Love Mistakes: A New Column
2. Reminder: WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm
3. Member Exclusive: August 2010 BigLaw 100 Job Listings

Next week, I will host my first campfire, an hour long training session that will include a presentation, Q and A, and any chatter for which we have time!

On Wed, Sep 8 2010, 4:00p.m. – 5:00p.m. EDT, the campfire will focus on how to use WordPress 3.0 to create a business website. You can sign up here.

WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm

Site members and newsletter subscribers will be able to sign up at a discount.

• Site members should be able to login and see this post with the discount code on the blog page.
• I’ll also send out the discount code in a newsletter announcement.

If you don’t receive the announcement but believe you should have, send me an e-mail! melissa at recruiteresq

Related Reading:

1. WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm
2. Entrepreneurs Make Mistakes and Publish Private Posts Publicly
3. 5000th Tweet: Announcing Weekly Campfires

As I mentioned on Monday, this week I’m playing catch-up. Mostly, this means that I’m browsing through the ILTA coverage and presentations that I missed last week.

However, as I scroll through Twitter and Google Reader, I’m finding a few link nuggets worth sharing:

Lawyer Transitions: Talking About Compensation
Tips for when to bring up compensation requirements and what to say in response to questions about compensation requirements.

Legal Rebels $5,000 Essay Contest
How I wish I kept up with my ABA dues.

A New View of the Automated Law Firm
Guest blogger Andrew McLennan-Murray succinctly describes this 2010 ILTA presentation by Gerard Neiditsch, Jeffrey Rovner, Mary Abraham, and Ron Friedmann (PDF download) of the same name over at Legal Current.

The Art and Science of Lawyer Bios
Bob Ambrogi writes an excellent primer on how to write lawyer bios in response to Matt Homann’s Venn diagram on the issue.

Law School Grades More Important to Career than Elite School, Researchers Say
That’s been my advice to anyone who pursues a career in law: go to the law school that offers you the best programs for the cheapest amount of money.

Related Reading:

1. My Wish List: ILTA ’09
2. Every Lawyer Knows the AMLAW Firms, First Post in the #AMLAWTweeple Series
3. Legal Mentor: Bill Chamberlain

I think the best part of being my own boss is that I can take risks without having to answer to anyone. I can try new things and if anything doesn’t work, I can stop and change direction. I realize that this is a rare but essential privilege for any business person. No matter how supportive your work environment may be, it’s a lot easier to bet the farm when it’s your farm.

In other words, I’m allowing myself to make mistakes so long as I learn from them. And, trust me, I make plenty of mistakes.

That’s why I really appreciated this article on Bootstrap Website Advice, for example. While Steve Matthews focuses on websites, his advice to those bootstrapping their endeavors applies to many projects. I especially appreciated these tips:

1. Give yourself permission to launch a ‘Version One’ website. Nothing online is permanent, including this site.
6. Good enough. Along the same lines as the previous item, you don’t have time to be a perfectionist. Most new entrepreneurs wear lots of hats, or ALL the hats. That means you don’t have weeks to spend on your logo, or to perfect your business image coming out the door.
7. Know when your startup period is over. Whether it’s 6-months in or 18-months in, your ‘Version One’ website has a limited life span. Simply put: kill it and upgrade your home base. If you’re using that same website in Year 3, there’s a problem. New businesses are forgiven for bootstrapping; established businesses look cheap, and turn away work without knowing it.

Not only did Matthews remind his readers that mistakes and trial periods are okay, but he also reminded us that there is a limit to the mistakes we make. Entrepreneurs are still responsible business people, not simply the reckless black sheep of the corporate world.

But, back to my mistakes. I’ve decided to create a column here where I admit to some of the mistakes I’ve made along the way. (…probably after I’ve taken some time to stop kicking myself over them.) While I’m not sure if it’s the smartest thing I’ll ever do – admitting my mistakes freely and publishing them on the internet – I’m hoping that other people will also learn from them and also remind other entrepreneurs that they’re not alone.

I’ll try to include my mistakes and also how I went about fixing the problem. I’ll appreciate any tips or supportive comments in the comments.

And, yes, there is already a backlog of mistakes that I want to write about so look for the first installment soon!

Related Reading:

1. Entrepreneurs Make Mistakes and Publish Private Posts Publicly
2. [WIIFL] What’s In It For Lawyers – A New Column
3. Checking In: Making Money, Am Law 200 Jobs, & AIIM Expo

Some law firms eschew social networking sites due to their potential as time-wasters and block access to them from work.

Other lawyers or law firms see social networking sites as a way to build or fortify relationships or find smoking gun evidence to win cases (e.g., in divorce matters). Usually, these are the firms that also take the time to draft careful social media policies to guide attorneys and staff members on how to use these sites.

Which one has it right? Well, in general, it’s hard to say without knowing the costs – including the opportunity costs – and benefits. When it comes to social media, it becomes even trickier. The costs – especially the opportunity costs of attorneys or staff members billing clients or doing other tasks – are incurred immediately. On the other hand, the benefits usually take months to become apparent. Even then, the benefits may be too intangible to assess a value.

And then Google steps in and changes the game.

Gmail users may now place calls directly from Gmail to any telephone in the United States for free. Telephone calls abroad are relatively cheap as well. Read the official announcement here or, if you prefer, watch the commercial. (I think it’s cute and clever.)

Disregarding what this means for VoIP in law firms or international communication, this is social media with immediately realized benefits(!), especially for small firms. For one, Gmail calls save cell phone minutes. For two, it makes it much easier to “pick up the phone” and keep in touch with people – clients, the associate down the hall, colleagues at other firms. Okay, okay, I’ll admit that this is not a scientific observation but rather personal opinion: Most of us who have grown up on web or video chatting did so to keep in touch with family and friends. This association makes the technology much more casual and less intimidating.

I’d be interested to know how firms are reacting to this announcement:

• Are they encouraging members to use this new tool?
• Are they scared to have associates make phone calls from personal gmail accounts?
• Will this encourage similar corporate solutions?
• In the future, will firms give out Google accounts rather than Blackberrys?

Further reading:  Gmail Phone Calls Are All About Facebook, Not Skype (Wired)

Related Reading:

1. Checking In: Making Money, Am Law 200 Jobs, & AIIM Expo
2. [CA Job] Facebook Seeks Advertising & Privacy Counsel
3. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, social media returns tomorrow.

After an unexpected “vacation” and no internet, I’m going to push back my first campfire to September 8, 2010.

Trust me, it will be worth the wait. Click here to get tickets.

Click Here to Get Tickets

Related Reading:

1. Reminder: WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm
2. 5000th Tweet: Announcing Weekly Campfires
3. [Favorite Law Firm Websites] townsend

Just in time for #LawJobChat #3 (this Thursday, August 26th from 9-10 pm EDT!), Amanda Ellis’s book is now available for pre-sale on Amazon.  The book, 6Ps of the Big 3 for Job-Seeking JDs: 60+ Ways to Get Hired Using Social Networking, costs $27.95 and is eligible for free shipping.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m more than a little biased when I say that Amanda Ellis is an expert on social networking and the legal job search.  After all, she and I have collaborated on a number of projects and we co-moderate #LawJobChat, a legal job search-themed chat on Twitter.  FN1.  At best, my endorsement may seem like expected support of a friend.  At worst, it may seem like back-handed promotion of my own work.

However, let me also fill you in on our back story:

Amanda and I both practiced law for a bit before becoming legal recruiters.  In late 2008, before we had met, we both recognized the potential of social networking sites in legal job searches, the changing nature of the legal industry, and decided to start our own firms with these new philosophies in mind.  We also both became active on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

In other words, it is not a coincidence that Amanda and I met on Twitter in early 2009.  Whereas traditional legal recruiting is even more cut throat than law school – hard to believe, I know – when Amanda and I met on Twitter, we immediately began collaborating on projects and bouncing ideas back and forth on how we could best help lawyers find jobs they love.  It was a natural partnership made in the clouds.

In addition to her lateral recruiting, over the past few months, Amanda has dedicated her time and energy to her book and a supplemental talk that she presents at law schools around the country.  I’m extremely proud of her and can’t wait to read the tips she offers.  If her free newsletter is any indication, I’m sure I’ll learn new tips and tricks even I may have missed.

With that disclaimer, I highly recommend that all JDs, recent and future, check out Amanda Ellis’s book when they embark on their job search.  I know I will.

FN1. ^ #LawJobChat is a monthly live chat on Twitter (“tweetchat”). On the last Thursday of every month from 9 pm – 10 pm Eastern, we invite guests hosts to chat about legal career paths and moderate incoming questions on Twitter.

Related Reading:

1. Twitter Lists: Legal Job Market
2. #LawJobChat 1: June 24th – Leaving BigLaw
3. [WIIFL] What’s In It For Lawyers – A New Column

Starting in September, I will host a “campfire” every other Wednesday from 4-5 pm Eastern.

The campfires will include 30 minutes of training on technology or career topics and 30 minutes of chatter.

Here is the tentative schedule of topics:

WordPress, Websites, and Your Firm
September 1, 2010
4-5 pm

Writing Effective Law Job Posts
September 15, 2010
4-5 pm

Cost for Non-Members: $19.99

Cost for Site Members: $9.99

E-mail me to reserve your spot!

Related Reading:

1. Weekly Headlines from the AMLAW Blogosphere
2. Member Exclusive: August 2010 BigLaw 100 Job Listings
3. RecruiterEsq.com

August’s BigLaw 100 Job Listings is now available for the public. You can download them here.

Read more about the job lists project here.

Members, I’m still in the process of making the archives available to you once you’ve signed in. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me about viewing July’s listings.

Finally, thank you to all members/newsletter subscribers who purchased the August listings when I first published them last week. There are some updates in the version now available for download so I will send you the updated version for free ASAP. (Again, it’s only fair, right?)

Happy Friday the 13th!

Related Reading:

1. Member Exclusive: August 2010 BigLaw 100 Job Listings
2. BigLaw 100 Job Listings – June 2010
3. BigLaw 100 Jobs Update and Latest BigLaw 200 Jobs