I’m a small-town trial lawyer by trade.
Over 17 years, I made it to county courthouses in cities the likes of Viroqua, Prairie du Chien, Sparta, Black River Falls, Whitehall, and Mauston, Wisconsin. Occasionally I made it to courts in Madison, Minneapolis, and Chicago, Illinois.
I don’t believe I was ever invited to speak to a legal industry group. And only once was I asked to pen an article for publication.
Not in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned being invited to speak in Europe to an international audience of lawyers, technology executives, and in-house counsel.
Two weeks ago, that’s where I was. In Amsterdam at the Lexpo legal innovation and technology conference presenting on the power of blogging and social media.
Out of the blue last fall, I received a call asking if I could speak and what my fee and expenses would be. Amazing. “Could you come to Amsterdam, some place you’ve never been? We’ll pay your way and put you up. You really should bring your wife as you’re already being paid to come to Europe.”
Hey, maybe Rob Ameerun, Lexpo’s founder and organizer, didn’t say exactly that, but it sounded just like that to me. It was certainly something that was going to make me a star at home — we hadn’t been to Europe since we backpacked and hitchhiked across the Continent on $10 a day 35 years ago.
The reason I was in Europe was simple. I blog.
Rob and the person who recommended me to Rob knew of me and my passion for blogging and social media, the subject of my talk, because of my blog publication, Real Lawyers Have Blogs.
Wilder to me still was that, as a result of blogging and social media, people from any number of countries at the conference knew who I was. Invites to speak in London and Lithuania followed.
I’m not alone when it comes to American blogging lawyers being invited to Europe this spring.
Veteran law bloggers Jordan Furlong and Ron Friedman joined me as speakers at Lexpo.
Staci Riordan, longtime fashion law blogger and chair of Nixon Peabody’s fashion practice, is featured today in the International Trademark Association (INTA) Daily News for her presentation in Barcelona yesterday on advocating for a brand on social media, as a social media influencer yourself.
[Source”timesofindia”]
