I guess every blog has to have a start, and this is mine. Sitting in the DFW Airport, drinking a Guinness, watching opening day baseball, looking forward to getting home and seeing my family, and thinking about where the last 2 years has taken me.
About 2 years ago (September 2008) I started exploring the world of Social Media Law. It began in a strange way, there were two hurricanes in St. Louis in a week period, (Ike and Gustav) the second caused a flood at my home, knocked out my phone and computer (and blackberry), left me with 2 feet of water in my living room and I had no means of communication. Stranded at my in-laws that evening (and having a court appearance scheduled for the next morning) I had to find a way to contact some of the attorneys at my office, at home, on a Sunday night to let them (and the Court) know that I would not be in. I knew a couple of them had Facebook accounts...so I signed up.
3 months later, I had reconnected with hundreds of old friends, and saw Social Media as a pretty amazing way to keep in touch with people and hopefully develop my own personal network...but then it got bigger. As Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, and then Four Square, Gowalla, and the other sites began to grow, I saw a unique opportunity in the law developing. What was essentially an entirely new area of our world was opening up, and growing....fast.
Just a few months later I presented my first CLE (continuing legal education) on Social Media to my firm (Armstrong Teasdale LLP). Soon thereafter a colleague of mine and I were asked to present on Social Media to the local bar association....fast forward 18 more months and I've given presentations all across the country, developed some amazing friendships and embarked on a new practice area that really didn't exist not long ago.
My law firm, allowed me and several others to start what we believe was the first Social Media Practice group in the country, if not the country, at least in Missouri. We've assisted clients with social media polices, training, and generally just provided what we believe is the beginning of an introduction into the growing world of social media law.
I hope this blog allows me to share some of what we've learned, provides a good space for people interested in the law, social media (and occasionally baseball and politics) to bounce ideas off of each other and hopefully learn something in the process. I will try to keep on top of the case law that develops related to social media (next post will be about an interesting case that just came out of Chicago last week) and I hope to be a source to those who are interested in the area. If you hear of something, are interested in the area, or just want to talk baseball, I look forward to talking to you.
