Q1 2025 Q&A
When did you decide to start to use LinkedIn to share posts and why?
About 3 years ago in the Spring of 2022, encouraged by some of our junior tenants in chambers.
Just to have a “presence” on the platform as many other lawyers with similar practices did.
Did you have any fears about being authentic and sharing your opinions in your posts at first?
Yes, having read in newspaper reports about some of the unwise material posted by lawyers who should know better on Twitter I was reticent to share personal views at first.
That reticence was reinforced when I made a comment that was “pro-choice” and critical of the decision of the US Supreme Court in Dobbs v Jackson.
I received some pretty unpleasant responses to the comment (as well as many more who agreed with me) which reminded me that any public post that includes an opinion may well provoke the trolls.
Why do you think your posts encourage your followers to comment and engage?
I try to be light-hearted but informative when posting on the law, legal profession and cases.
I have a very real concern about the current systematic attacks on the rule of law, and the constant misrepresentation of the legal profession and justice systems in the media (mainstream media and social media).
Even when I speak up on those issues I still try to leaven my concerns with a light hearted touch, and often with a musical accompaniment. My posts on the cats, wildlife, conservation, music and sport (5 of my passions) are tinged with a healthy dose of irreverence and seem to appeal to a very wide cross-section of Linkedin users. Lawyers are clearly pet lovers and there are a fair few ageing punks out there.
My posts on pupillage are intended to encourage people to apply. I do worry that the professions will become less inclusive as a result of funding challenges and letting people know their preconceptions about attitudes to recruitment are often wrong is – I hope – paying it forward.
Has your firm been supportive of what you’re doing and - assuming it has - what lessons could others learn from your approach?
I have never been told off!
Chambers has its own linkedin page but as it reflects “news” from 80 or more people it is necessarily more “deadpan” and tends to be simply factual save where articles are published.
My personal linkedin page is expressly stated to be just my personal views and not representative of the views of anybody else, even though occasionally members of chambers and the clerks will ‘like” my posts. I don’t think there’s anything to “learn” from my approach, it seems to work for me but I think copying anyone else’s approach is a dangerous thing.
Do clients ever say anything about your posts to you?
Surprisingly often!
Professional clients meeting me for the first time often reference Pluto and Artemis (my cats) who regularly feature in my posts and on my profile picture.
Others have commented that they feel they “know” me having followed me, one solicitor who instructed me for the first time after seeing my posts remarked that the posts showed I was a “normal person” not living in an “ivory tower”. (My family and friends would certainly contest any claim I am “normal” – they would say Roy Keane’s word for me in “The Second Half” is more apt - and I have never been anywhere near an “ivory tower”)
I think the Bar (and silks in particular) can forget how intimidating it is for the public and junior colleagues to meet a senior practitioner and if someone who meets me for the first time sees I have a softer side that can only be a good thing.
Has your success on LinkedIn inspired other colleagues to start using the platform?
Not that anybody has told me!
Many people have told me at court as they have passed me (or often in a lift) that they have enjoyed a post, but nobody has said I inspired them to ‘sign up’ or be more active.
What would you say to others that are thinking of adding their voice on this platform?
Be yourself, but remember what you write is there forever.
Don’t engage in arguments with people who comment however asinine or obtuse you may consider the comment to be.
What’s the most surprising result that you’ve produced due to your posting on LinkedIn? Or, have you had any breakthrough results?
A picture of Pluto with my wig garnered more than 60,000 impressions which was way higher than anything else I had previously posted.
But the most “surprising result” was when a post on criminal justice received a like from a “Steve Diggle”, when I messaged asking if he was THE Steve Diggle it turned out that he was.
We subsequently met in “real life” and he and I have become good friends – I never could have foreseen back in 1978 when I was pogoing to “The Buzzcocks” at Reading University that one day I would become friends with one of the band as a result of a mutual interest in criminal justice and punk rock music.
Have you found real life networking easier as a result of your profile on LinkedIn?
No, but I have received a lot more invitations!
That said I don’t go to many.
Which creators would other legal sector professionals be wise to follow?
I don’t follow many “creators” as opposed to connecting with people I know or admire.
Choosing who to follow really depends on what your interests are and what you intend to use the platform for.
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