Social media is giving individual solicitors and barristers a voice and helping them to develop their careers in new directions. In doing so, it’s stripping away some of the power of big law firms and chambers. But rigid trainee and pupil recruitment procedures make it much harder for law students to benefit directly from blogging and tweeting.
As such, there was broad agreement from the panel of star lawyers (pictured in action below) at last night’s Google Campus debate that legal rookies are best advised to learn their trade through the traditional routes – then use the knowledge they’ve gleaned to build their profiles online and launch entrepreneurial ventures. Expect a new wave of ‘Indie Lawyers’ in their late 20s and 30s emerging to shake up the profession over the next few years…
Legal Cheek‘s podcasting guru Kevin Poulter caught up with some of the panelists and guests over a drink after the debate where they expanded on some of these themes…
Law students Simeon Klein and Fraser Alcorn
Accutrainee founder Susan Cooper
Kaplan Law School’s Nick Miller and Katharine Trewern
These podcasts are also available on iTunes.