♫  Thunder and Lightning
I tell you it’s frightening
It’s thunder and lightning
And you’re in control… ♫

Lyrics and music by Chi Coltrane, “Thunder and Lightning”

A funny thing happened on the way to ABA TECHSHOW – perhaps it was the effect of the downswing in the economy – but a real emphasis at this year’s show was how technology can produce real returns for real lawyers.

One of the great themes was the power of Web 2.0 and how it can be levered to reach out to clients, to build dealrooms and reach out to clients in new ways.  Another theme was how social networking can be used to produce a great ROI for your marketing spend.  Richard Susskind, in his keynote, noted how the web is a disruptive technology.  The web can be equally viewed as a threat or it can be embraced as a way for lawyers to craft their own future. He challenged lawyers to exercise leadership and figure out how to break your legal service into discrete parts and send these parts out to contract suppliers to reduce the cost of the overall legal service.

One of the other important trends at the show was the extensive use of Twitter (www.twitter.com) and the continual posting of tweets by attendees.

There was a specific Twitter feed (#TECHSHOW) that allowed any twitterer to post and have their tweet seen by anyone who subscribed to the hash feed.  This resulted in a metric of sorts:  You could judge the most exciting presentations by the volume of tweets that referred to that session!

Furthermore, the bloggers were busy – aside from looking at attending the social event such as Beer for Bloggers sponsored by Kevin O’Keefe of Lexblog and the ABA Journal – they posted to their blogs during the show.  Examples were:

• Sharon Nelson: Ride the Lightning Blog post on MonetaMail.
• Kevin O’Keefe:  LexBlog (Real Lawyers have Blogs) interviewed a number of people at ABA TECHSHOW and posted the interviews as podcasts.
• Rex Gradeless: Social Media Law Student blog on All things ABA TECHSHOW – with his overview of the events at ABA TECHSHOW.
• Rick Borstein:  Rick’s slides from ABA TECHSHOW are posted on ACROBAT FOR LEGAL PROFESSIONALS blog.
• ABA TECHSHOW:  Techshow ran its own blog with great tips and ideas leading up to the show.
• Jim Calloway: Jim’s Law Practice Tips Blog featured the highlights of Richard Susskind’s keynote address.

and many many others.

It highlighted that if you add real content to your blog that provides value to your audience, they will keep coming back!  Furthermore, as a lawyer you can promote your value and expertise by blogging and indicating your interest in and awareness of current events and their implications for your clients.  After all, aren’t you trying to attract clients by demonstrating your insight into those changes that affect your clients?  A blog is an excellent way of doing so.  So as a lawyer – if you attend a CLE event – blog about it and the implications of the new developments for your clients.  You will show to your clients that you, too, are riding the lightning!

By the way, this blog post was written right at ABA TECHSHOW during the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes presentation by Dan Pinnington, Reid Trautz, Nancy Duhon and Ben Schoor.  Great Stuff!~