Virtual Communities

Virtual communities are groups of people who use the Internet to communicate. They are potentially one of the most valuable Internet features for lawyers. There are three purposes, research (both legal and factual), marketing and networking:

Research 

"Interactive" research is using the Internet to find someone who knows the answer to your question and is willing to help you. It requires some sophistication to do this effectively, but this technique can produce amazing results on some research projects. Our Interactive Legal Research section has resources for doing this. 

Marketing

As many of the more sophisticated law firms have discovered, marketing via virtual communities has significant advantages over static web sites. Web pioneer Lew Rose's web-based Advertising Law Interactive Site and Greg Siskind's immigration law discussion group are good examples. 

Many law firms are using one way e-mail lists ("announcement lists") for mailing newsletters, and these can create one type of community. 

Networking

Savvy lawyers have long known that there are advantages in knowing your peers and being known by them. Internet virtual communities for lawyers are like meetings of bar associations or legal special interest groups, but have some 
advantages over their FTF ("face to face") counterparts, such as convenience and reach. 

Virtual Community Mechanisms

There are two major mechanisms by which virtual communities operate:

1. E-mail lists are the most popular type. There are hundreds devoted to legal themes. They are frequently referred to as "listservs," though Listserv™ is merely the name of a popular brand of software used to operate such lists. Most states have at least one for lawyers, and all law firms should, at a minimum, monitor the list for their state. Ken Johnson's article at LLRX, Mining Mailing Lists, contains an excellent introduction to e-mail lists for lawyers.
   
2. Web-based discussion groups are a popular alternative. They are accessed using a browser. These have the advantage of not cluttering up your e-mail in-box, but most lack e-mail's "push" attribute (i.e., you have to remember to visit them) and they are less convenient than a good e-mail program for rapidly processing a large volume of information.

Starting A Virtual Community

This page last revised: January 01, 2002.