Canadian Lawyer 4Students

Andrew Gage, staff counsel at WCEL, says the staff came up with the idea for a Twitter moot after trying to figure out how to use Twitter to raise awareness of environmental issues, and had seen others host "tweet-a-thons" to support various causes. So a legal issue was chosen, student teams from law schools across the country were selected, along with several judges, and a virtual moot was born. After the first Twitter moot on Feb. 21, 2012 was such a success, WCEL held a second one on Nov. 20. Sam Harrison, a first-year law student at the University of Alberta, was a member of the second Twitter moot's winning team. "It was a neat exercise to make things concise and try to make them understandable for everybody," he says. When considering whether social media could be incorporated into legal education, Harrison says it's "almost boundless. Personally I'm amazed to see how little it's used in our classes. There's a lot of benefit to be had [through social media] and the schools that put their weight behind it will reap the rewards." Simon Borys, a third-year law student at Queen's University and popular blogger, says it's time for law schools to join the social media movement to properly prepare students for the workforce. Social media "has to be incorporated into legal education going forward. I think that we're entering an age now where you can't deny that this will be a big part of the future of law, all areas of law — both in terms of the subject matter that you're going to deal with as a lawyer and also in terms of the provision of legal services that you're going to provide to clients," he says. Many law schools and professors have already started blogs. Some popular ones include: the University of Alberta's blog; the University of Calgary's blog; the University of British Columbia's student blog; Osgoode Hall Law School's library, dean, and law school each has its own blog; Université de Montréal law professor Paul Daly's blog; and the University of Toronto's faculty blog — and those are just a few examples. It is important to note, however, that social media does come with its risks. Alexandre Michaud, a second-year law student at McGill University, says he's pretty conservative when it comes to 8 Spring 2013 CANADIAN social media. He recently joined LinkedIn and created a Facebook profile — but under a pseudonym. "I think social media should be a little restrained compared to what some people make use of it," he says. "I'm very conservative on [those sites]. To me, it's really something to be used in a rather professional way to set up your image and be reachable." Geist knows students who have cleaned up their Facebook profiles in advance of law firm interviews because they realize potential employers may be searching them online, and there's a certain cHecK Out tHese pOpuLaR LaW BLOgs: L a w y e r 4 students • Legal feeds, the daily canadian legal news blog from canadian Lawyer and Law times, canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds • simon says by simon Borys, simonborys.ca • Michael geist's Blog, michaelgeist.ca • Law21 by Jordan furlong, law21.ca • environmental Law alert Blog by West coast environmental Law, wcel.org/resources/environmental-law-alert • the trial Warrior Blog by toronto lawyer antonin pribetic, thetrialwarrior.com • barrysookman.com by toronto Ip lawyer Barry sookman • slaw, published by simon fodden (which has many contributors), slaw.ca • Dean sossin's Blog by Osgoode Hall Law school dean Lorne sossin, deansblog.osgoode.yorku.ca • Doorey's Workplace Law Blog by York university labour and employment law professor David Doorey, yorku.ca/ddoorey/lawblog • Bc Injury Law by personal injury lawyer erik Magraken, bc-injury-law.com/blog • leeakazaki.com by former Ontario Bar association president Lee akazaki • À bon droit by Quebec lawyer Karim Renno, abondroit.com • Wise Law Blog by toronto lawyer garry Wise, wiselaw.blogspot.ca image students want to project. Furlong says students should always be careful about what they say online and how they say it. "Don't say or do anything on social media that you wouldn't do as a lawyer five years after your call," he advises. Borys says it's imperative that students not be perceived as giving legal advice. Avoid making broad, authoritative statements, he suggests. He also uses bold disclaimers on his blog Simon Says. Harrison says he's wary of his online activity. "It can be hard to kind of keep in check your social media persona and online persona," he says. "I think you just have to be really careful what you do online, and for that reason I try to use it less for my social life and more for only my professional life." Although using social media inappropriately could land you in hot water, it could also be used to your advantage if used properly. Social media "allows you to cast a far and wide net, and maintain relationships with people with very little effort," says Borys. "It's a tough market for potential employees to break into and I think that if you want to get hired in today's market you've really got to stand out from the crowd. You've got to find a way to distinguish yourself from your competition (from other students) and social media can help you do that. It really allows you to demonstrate your passion for a particular area of law and it also allows you to showcase the unique value that you have to offer to a potential employer." He argues that every law student comes to law school with a unique set of experiences, and combined with a law degree that gives them a unique value to offer to an employer. The trick is discovering what your unique value is. For Borys, it was rather easy. He's a former police officer who's now an aspiring criminal defence lawyer. Through his blog and other online activities, he was able to showcase his knowledge of the law — and it's paid off. Last year, he landed his summer job and now his upcoming articling position, and he didn't even apply. Several employers, who he says knew him through his online activities, approached him with job offers. Geist says he's seeing more students using social media as a mechanism to develop some name recognition and awareness

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