(R) MAUPE OGUN
Yesterday, the 19th of May, 2020, The Penthouse Law held an interactive session titled LEVERAGING THE POWER OF MEDIA, THE LAWYER’S ADVANTAGE. Charles Ajiboye,FICMC of The Penthouse Law hosted Maupe Ogun of Channels Television who was the speaker alongside six other Panelists from the top law blogs in Nigeria.
The Speaker Maupe Ogun laid a foundation stated that Radio and Television are the medium that the Government through the help of lawyers have written rules to help regulate the system. Monopoly held by the Traditional media outfits has since been shattered either for good or for bad since the advent of the internet and much later, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Lawyers who for example want to be relevant in the area of entertainment should be be more conscious of their contents and visibility on the media spaces. A lawyer has to find a way to attract the right audience to his/her space via the media channels available. There are lawyers who have done this successfully, built their clout and doing great job.
A lawyer who wants to build a clout around politic should maintain a consistent voice on political matters. Often times people tend to take the risk that comes with it for Example, Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory who is a fantastic example as he proved to be an advocate of the people during the military era when people were afraid to speak. According to Maupe, the edge that lawyers have comes from their training. Lawyers can hold as many opinions as possible. She also stated that in a world of disinformation and fake news in circulation, lawyers should have an edge because with the natural training of lawyers, facts are sacred. The lawyer’s understanding of the constitution is also an edge because people would always look to lawyers to interpret the law and their opinions are sought after.
The host, Charles Ajiboye, asked Chioma Unini of The Nigeria Lawyer: How Exactly can lawyers leverage on Social Media?
She started by saying that the importance of Social Media cannot be over emphasised. A lawyer in this age and time is expected to be on at least two social media platforms to have a good visibility. In Lawyers engagement on social media, one is meant to be conscious of RPC. Lawyers are expected to have a strategy, have good content delivery. It is also very important for a Lawyer to have a website in order to have a good visibility. Also, for lawyers to leverage on Social Media, graphics and video expressions are also very helpful.
Bridget Edokwe of BarristerNG was also beckoned on by the Charles Ajiboye for her own contribution. She started with a typical illustration that a lawyer who for example travels from Enugu to Abuja for a matter, lodges in a hotel and dashes to the court only to be told that the court would not sit. She says that the social media could have helped as a medium to communicate with lawyers concerned to give the appropriate information. She however advised that courts should utilize the usage of blogs and social media platforms to communicate with lawyers ahead of their matters in court.
Gloria Ireka of NewsWire talked extensively about the Content Creation. She says it’s the contribution of information to any media especially the digital media. Content can be expressed in various forms either through words or self expression. Article writing coupled with photography goes a long way in reaching more to the audience. Lawyers can subtly showcase themselves through writing of quality articles. Marketing of a lawyers skills is a major challenge and a good way to do this is by writing of articles. She however advised that “your content should be you” meaning that originality is a unique style which lawyers should adopt in their content creations.
Kayode Agbedejobi of Legal Nigeria was asked by the Host to shed light into tools for creation of legal content. He started by defining Legal Content as words and expressions used to communicate with the Legal Audience. He emphasized that one can derive a legal audience through blogs, websites or social media platforms since Lawyers are found in most of these spaces. Most importantly, one’s legal audience could be a court room. For creation of word content he stated that lawyers can leverage on Microsoft Word, Mailbox Providers, Word/Grammar Editors, Cloud Storage, SMS Text Messenger, Social Media Platforms and the dictionary. For creation of Graphics Content the tools that can be used are Corel Draw, Canva, Poster my wall, Pablo, Skitch, Easel.ly (info graphics) and many others. As for lawyers, blacks law dictionary, law reports, google scholar and other search engines can be used, he said.
Lere Fashola of Esq. Awards talked about the monetization of the media. He dwelt on social media as a major source. He stated that there are three basic ways in generating leads. Firstly the audience must be familiar with you and the views you represent. Building reputation through communication with the Audience. Secondly, a lawyer must be perceived as someone who knows the area of law he or she is talking about. Thirdly is referrals and recommendations, one’s audience must have had a level of confidence in your area of expertise that you would be considered for referrals and recommendations. Ways of generating leads in Nigeria: communication with the audience or client about trending things that affect them. Share information about your firm and attorneys working in the firm. Promotion of events in one’s area of competence also finds a way to generate funds.
Adedunmade of Legal Naija talked about how the usage of social media relates with Professional Ethics. He stated that everyone has the right of speech. He made reference to the criminal code and RPC. A lawyer is not expected to divulge a client’s secrets on social media. He advised that lawyers are expected to appear prim and proper everywhere especially on social media.
Much more was said and questions were asked. To have a full insight into all of these discussions, click the link below to watch the entire session.
