Generally, when I write about using Twitter in my work, the column is per se about marketing. But this article is more about another way lawyers can use these social media—as an advocacy tool for your clients. Building up a social media following through a good marketing plan can pay dividends for some of your clients in a way lawyers might not yet appreciate. And it can indirectly help your marketing as well.
To illustrate, let me first tell you a remarkable story of a recent matter at our immigration law firm in Memphis, Tennessee. Last January, I received a knock on my office door from my colleague Johnna Main Bailey and her paralegal who had worried looks on their faces. They had a crisis on their hands and weren’t sure what to do next.
Carmen Puerto Diaz, a Honduran woman, accompanied by her husband who is a U.S. citizen, had gone to a green card interview without representation and was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when she arrived at the local U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services office. While she was on a path to getting a green card, she was undocumented and, unbeknownst to her, she had an outstanding order of removal from when she lived in another state (she had moved and never received the paperwork). To make matters worse—much worse—she was five months into a high-risk pregnancy and was under very close medical supervision.