Advanced Advocates survived the beta phase! Advanced Advocates is a new social platform built exclusively for law students. I built the platform to fill a much needed niche in the law school space. With all the great networks around us like Facebook and LinkedIn, there was nothing in my opinion that law students could leverage to enhance their education. Law students are a talented bunch and they each have a unique story. Getting into school is an accomplishment by itself. When I was in school, I only networked with students in my particular school. I met some great folks, learned a lot, and had some fun. But with technology now, law students should be crossing geographical divides and networking with EVERYBODY. Why not?

With AA, I tried to create features that were relevant for law students that enabled them to collaborate with law students across the country (or globe). In order to students to network on a regular basis, there had to be a compelling reason to return to the site.  Got a question about a case? Find the case and start a discussion thread. There’s ZERO marketing budget so it depends on positive statements from the users. As a relevant service, the network effect kicks in, meaning more users, more value, leading to more users, etc. Positive stories help.

It’s refreshing to see so many bright law students leveraging social media to create their personal brands. You can never start too early! Without a doubt, the universities will eventually get on a board and the entire system of legal education will be changed DRAMATICALLY. With AA, students can now discuss cases, form groups, leave feedback about summer jobs, share outlines, etc. Soon, it’ll a place where interested lawyers and recruiters can find the best and brightest. And it’ll always be free for students.

Lawyers are like the IRS…we’re slow, but not stupid. We’ve never been an industry of early adopters. It took a while for lawyers to grasp email, but, to the detriment of our marriages, we got there. It took a while for lawyers to jump on the blog bandwagon, but we got there. The slowness to change is probably due to the old guard that runs law firms. They’re the last one’s to change their habits to conform to new technologies. Guy Kawasaki says, “The higher up in an organization you go, the thinner the air.” It’s no different in law firms (when it comes to technology, not experience).

And now law students are getting it! They twit, blog, and write articles all over the net. In an article on Social Media Law Student, which is a very impressive site full of cool links and widgets, the author states,

But in all seriousness, it is exciting and refreshing to see a large bureaucracy [universities] willing to change a fundamental line [by allowing blogging and networking] they have been feeding students for the past few years.. . at least a few (albeit very few) institutions are sitting up and taking notice, and hopefully not too late to help America’s future lawyers.

The same author has the following as her tagline on her blog: “belief that legal services should be affordable, accessible, and online.” She also has a link to a virtual law office website, which is something I discussed in my Googley lawyer piece. Are you kidding me? Is there really a law student that’s smart enough to know the old model is broken? Yes! Now imagine five years from now when each student shares this belief. The next generation will be savvy enough to leverage technology. They’ll have a powerful network built up via law school. They’ll be able to work remotely, schedule their own hours, maybe even be happy with what they do. They’ll be a different kind of lawyer entering the market. Much more potent than myself and my peers. Can you see it? I can, and I’m trying to help.