Legal blogwatch has reported that there’s a new social media site for the legal community in the US
We like this report so here’s what Legal Blog Watch says in full
Ho hum. Another day, another social media site for the legal community. This time, reports The Shark, it’s Advanced Advocates, which bills itself as the first "worldwide collaborative platform for law students." Translated into current parlance, that’s "Facebook for law students," according to Brian Lauter.
So is the site worth a visit? Perhaps not just yet, says Lauter, because the site is somewhat sparse content-wise, with only 40 registrants to date. Still, Lauter sees some potential:
For instance, the site has searchable brief and outline databases. Also, there is a “Clerk Ratings” feature which basically allows users to rate their employers (the name is slightly misleading, as the idea is that users will want to rate legal employers of any kind).
The site also includes a less useful “Bookstore,” feature which would be cool if, instead of just hawking Amazon.com products, it allowed users to sell their used books to other law students a la Half.com.
A one-stop hub for briefs, outlines, student employer reviews, and book sales is actually a pretty good idea. The biggest problem with the site right now, as [Social Media Law Student] points out, is that there are only around 40 users. The site relies on users to upload their briefs and outlines to the databases, which I doubt many will do. No users means empty databases which means no reason to join, which means no new users.
Lauter suggests that Advanced Advocates might want to start putting together the databases itself to attract more students to the site. Otherwise, it will fail as another one of the “if you build it, they will come” situations.
What about you? Is the social-networking scene for lawyers at a saturation point? Or are there some sites that you’d still find useful in this space?
