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Building a strong profile in the legal community can bring many benefits including, increased knowledge, increased visibility to key industry players and most notably can be an invaluable when looking to make your next career move be it looking for a new legal job or going for promotion. There are several methods to use to begin to build your profile:

Speaking at Events

There are hundreds if industry events each year with speaking opportunities and you need to be proactive to get your name onto the programmes of these conferences and events. You can do this several ways:

• Speak to the lawyers or partners in your organisation who already speak at events and let them know you are interested in these opportunities and also able to step in for them should they be unable to attend at late notice. Coming in as a reserve speaker can be a simple way to make yourself visible to the event planners for the future.
• Speak to your marketing department as events teams often make them their first point of contact if they do not have established links in a firm.
• When you are attending events, be an active participant and ask questions and use the breaks to network and to make contacts with the relevant publications covering the event. Also take time to speak to the organisers and discuss possible speaking opportunities in the future.
• Giving speeches gives you great visibility and people will begin to think of you as an expert in the topic you cover. The more visible and active you are at events, the more likely you will be noticed by industry press and used a source for comment in the future. If you are speaking at an event, make sure your colleagues and especially your marketing team know about it. They can publicise it on the company website, in client newsletters and around the firm.

Networking

If you are not a confident public speaker, you can use events and conferences to build on your network. Do you research on the speakers and their firms in advance, listen to the speakers and come up with relevant comment and questions and approach them in the breaks to discuss their presentations. Contact the organisers in advance to obtain a press list to research and then network with journalists at the event and share your thoughts. Don't shy away from the evening cocktail parties but think of the opportunities there as people start to relax after the day. If there are people you really want to connect with, ask the organisers to introduce you, if they can't arrange this, they will often give you the contact details for that person so you can make contact after the event. Make sure you follow up with contacts once you are back in the office to start to build a business relationship with them.

Writing or commenting on articles

It can take time to build a strong enough profile to be able to write articles for publication. A starting point is to comment on articles in relevant publications. The reporters will often look at posted comments when they need a source for a future article so it is a good place to begin. If you are approached, try to build and maintain a relationship with the journalist to be considered a valuable source.

You can also start to write articles and post them online. These are often republished and can help you hone your writing skills.

Many law firms write regular white papers and reports to be circulated to clients and posted online. You can be proactive and ask to be involved in developing these in your practice area.

Hosting a Blog

It is now easy and free to start a blog. You should write short and relevant articles on your blog. A blog enables you to write in a more informal relaxed way. You can cover legal issues but also comment on current affairs. You should link your articles to other influential bloggers in your niche to develop credibility.

Starting a Twitter Account

Many influential lawyers now are regular tweeters and have strong followings. As your posts are limited, make sure they are pertinent and relevant. You can also have RSS feeds from other twitter accounts but make sure you still make enough personal posts.

To build a following, you need to identify relevant and influential people, follow them and comment on their posts. Also look at their followers and connect with them. You will often find that people automatically follow you in return.

Joining Linkedin Groups

Linkedin groups are a great way to network if you don't have time to get out to industry events and conferences. There are groups covering all aspects of law and you should join several and be an active participant. You should also connect with other relevant members of the group and see which groups they belong to that you may not have identified in your research.

If you follow as many of these steps as possible you will start to build a strong profile in the legal community and the more you do, the more you will be visible and known. It can start with small steps but will grow exponentially as you become increasingly viewed as an industry expert.

The time and effort you put into this will reap many benefits for your future career and personal development so make a start today!