As usual, the legal world is getting all excited about Twitter well after everyone else. I understand Richard Susskind is advising law firms to sign up, the Times has had a list of top 10 legal tweeters (no link because of the paywall). Legal Week has spotted some writing talent from Twitter and is publishing their contributions on its website and on paper. And now the Law Society Gazette has leapt on the bandwagon (helped up by a report from a web consultancy on law firms' use of Twitter).

Enough.

Before lawyers were allowed to do marketing (and well before the internet was widespread) a young lawyer might reasonably have wondered: shall I go into politics, join the Chamber of Commerce, or get stuck into the local Amateur Dramatic society? And his (or more rarely her) partners might have responded: do whatever you think will help you make good connections and which won't obstruct our business or clients, but make sure it is something you will stick at and make a good job of it. Thus, our local high-street general practitioner might have found it helpful to get become recognised as a mainstay of the annual Gilbert & Sullivan production because that recognition would help people choose a representative when buying or selling their house, making a will or getting divorced. In a different practice, the thrusting commercial lawyer who made a name for themselves in the local group of the CBI would be in the right place when a fellow committee-member decided to buy a neighbouring business. Alternatively, the lawyer who joined the Labour Party and worked hard canvassing at election time would in the right place to help advise the trade unions when a merger threatened the working conditions at the local factory.

And they could all play golf, if that was what took their fancy.

Times have changed. Lawyers don't benefit as much from those local connections. Some firms themselves are larger and more impersonal, and some of the work that they did even just 30 years ago is now done in bulk at low rates. Commercial relationships are often governed by panel arrangements with regular procurement-driven tenders. But relationships still count. In-house lawyers or commercial clients can still select which panel firm does a piece of work. People still need careful and tailored advice on their family arrangements. Choosing a lawyer is still very often a heart-felt decision.

And so, the advice is that lawyers should be on Twitter. Why?

If the answer to that question is that a web consultant or social media guru said so, then ignore them. If the answer is that there are people you already know there, then go ahead. But don't expect to get anything out of it if you just follow Stephen Fry and your favourite newspaper columnist. Don't even expect anything if you follow other lawyers (even in-house lawyers). Certainly don't expect any return if you just listen. Twitter is a two-way medium. It is a place for conversations. The lawyer who joins the golf club just to sit at the 19th hole and listen to other people talking is wasting their time. You need to get stuck in. Play the game, walk the course with people who have similar interests, and talk. 

Don't talk about the law -- nobody is interested in legal questions apart from eager students and people with an immediate problem. The first lot want you to give them jobs, and the second should be paying for their advice. Be natural, and commit to it. If you don't feel comfortable, the chances are that the clients you would like (and who would like you) are not on Twitter either.

They are probably playing golf.