BUSINESS
CAREERS
By the time you read this,
Facebook may count 700 million active members. More
people use Facebook than most
countries have citizens. It
inspired a Hollywood blockbuster.
Facebook is a massive phenomenon. Are lawyers taking
part? Should they?
The second question can be
tricky to answer, given Facebook’s typecasting as a social (as
opposed to business) network.
Straight-laced professional services providers like lawyers and
accountants may feel more
comfortable using LinkedIn.
Yet many professionals
LUIGI
BENETTON
undervalue the online social
aspect. Given “its more casual
tone, Facebook is analogous to
business development activities
like golf, ball games, or a wine
tasting: all are enjoyable activ-
ities, unrelated to law, that
enable lawyers and their clients
to get to know each other on a
personal level and in doing so,
determine whether they can
work well together,” according
to Social Media for Lawyers:
The Next Frontier, by Nicole
Black and Carolyn Elefant, of
the American Bar Association.
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
SCHULICH SCHOOL OF LAW
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
SCHULICH SCHOOL OF LAW
MacBAIN CHAIR IN HEALTH LAW AND POLICY
PURDY CRAWFORD CHAIR IN BUSINESS LAW
The MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy, named after Arthur
AllisterMacBain (LL.B. 1951) and established in 2011, was created
through the generous support of the McCall MacBain Foundation.
We invite applications for a tenure-track or tenured appointment to the
MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy at the rank of Assistant,
Associate or Full Professor, to commence July 1, 2012. The term for
the chair is five years and is renewable. The appointment is subject to
budgetary approval. Applications received before September 30, 2011
will be given the fullest consideration.
The Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law, named after Mr. Purdy
Crawford (LLB ’55), established in 2001, was created through the
generous support of alumni and friends of the Schulich School of
Law (then Dalhousie Law School).
The Faculty seeks applications from exceptional scholars in the field of
health law and policy. The chair holder will provide intellectual
leadership at the law school and with Dalhousie’s Health Law Institute,
and will be actively engaged in projects that seek to have an impact in
the health law field locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
The chair holder is expected to contribute to teaching and supervision
at both the J.D. and graduate levels.
We invite applications for a tenured or tenure-track appointment to
the Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law at the rank of Assistant,
Associate or Full Professor, to commence July 1, 2012. The term
for the chair is five years and is renewable. The appointment is
subject to budgetary approval. Applications received before
September 30, 2011 will be given the fullest consideration.
The Faculty of Law is already home to a Tier 2 CRC in Health Law in
addition to Dalhousie’s Health Law Institute. The addition of the
MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy is expected to make
Dalhousie the leader in health law and policy research in Canada and
place us among a small number of academic institutions with
international impact in this field.
The Faculty seeks applications from scholars of international
reputation in the field of business law, including, but not
restricted to, scholars with an interest in corporate law and
theory, securities regulation, finance, bankruptcy and
insolvency, taxation, competition law,` and other related
fields. The chair holder will provide intellectual leadership at the
law school and will be actively engaged in projects that seek to
have an impact in the business law field locally, regionally,
nationally, and internationally. The chair holder is expected to
contribute to teaching and supervision at both the J.D. and graduate
levels.
How to Apply
How to Apply
Applications, including a CV, a statement of teaching and research
interests, and the names of three referees, should be forwarded by
September 30, 2011 to:
Applications, including a CV, a statement of teaching and research
interests, and the names of three referees, should be forwarded by
September 30, 2011 to:
Dean Kim Brooks
Schulich School of Law
Dalhousie University
1459 Oxford Street
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
Tel: (902) 494-2114
Fax: (902) 494-2102
OR
Applications may be made by e-mail, addressed to:
lawdean@dal.ca
Dean Kim Brooks
Schulich School of Law
Dalhousie University
1459 Oxford Street
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
Tel: (902) 494-2114
Fax: (902) 494-2102
OR
Applications may be made by e-mail, addressed to:
lawdean@dal.ca
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians
and permanent residents will be given priority. Dalhousie University is
an Employment Equity/Affirmative Action employer. The University
encourages applications from qualified Aboriginal persons, persons
with a disability, racially visible persons and women. For more
information, visit the Employment Equity web site
at: www.hrehp.dal.ca.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however,
Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
Dalhousie University is an Employment Equity/Affirmative Action
employer. The University encourages applications from qualified
Aboriginal persons, persons with a disability, racially visible
persons and women. For more information, visit the Employment
Equity web site at: www.hrehp.dal.ca.
Business-savvy lawyers check
those rules once they grasp
Facebook’s value as an advertising medium. Members do things
like posting information about
themselves, public comments
and photos and videos. The
cumulative result of all this
activity by Facebook’s hundreds
of millions of members is infor-mation-rich territory that
attracts advertisers.
(Note: Tech-savvy litigators
already use Facebook’s “
informa-tion-rich territory” to research
clients, opponents, opposing
counsel, jurors, even judges.)
“Social media sites aggregate
all kinds of data on users’
employment, preference, geographic location, and family
status. Thus, it’s possible to
develop highly focused marketing campaigns that enable you
to target your ideal clients,”
according to Social Media for
Lawyers: The Next Frontier.
Facebook advertising does
suffer one weakness: members
can access Facebook using
smartphone apps and social
media “dashboard” applications
like Tweetdeck, thus missing
ads on Facebook web pages.
But advertising isn’t enough —
lawyers need to connect as people
too. Feld keeps a Facebook window open all day, claiming it’s
both a social outlet and business
development activity.
The irony of his rising blood
pressure at seeing Facebook on
his employees’ screens isn’t lost
on him. “It doesn’t further the
firm’s aims, but employees need
that outlet too,” he says.
Younger lawyers who are
already on Facebook ought to
stay on Facebook, since their
current online friends may go
on to found businesses and
engage in matters that could
cause them, down the line, to
require a lawyer’s services.
“They’ll turn to people they
keep in touch with over the
years,” Crosby says.
Older lawyers might want to
join too, since Facebook makes
reconnecting with old acquaintances easier than in just about
any other arena.
Crosby reminds lawyers of
the need for decorum in a
“place” as public as Facebook.
“Be careful who you friend,” she
advises. “Self-audit your Face-
book account. You can untag
yourself from photos. Use a pro-
fessional email address and an
appropriate avatar, and con-
tinue to cultivate relationships.”
Nicole Black, one of the
authors of Social Media for
Lawyers: The Next Frontier,
frets that even periodic self-
audits might not be enough.
“People can continue to post
See Facebook Page 27
