In the sprit of a tradition bestowed to my by my Tuskegee Airman, Freedom Fighter, College Professor Dad – Arthur C. Smith, who annually said,  “All Black People should be working TWICE as hard on MLK’s birthday…” I’m spending my at The Rainmaker Institute supporting attorneys in the development of their firms.

I can’t think of a more befitting form of self-expression of my admiration and commitment to humanity. Even as a very little girl, I remember my dad’s teachings and the sound of Martin Luther King’s voice resonating through our living room. I distincly recall how incredibly privileged I was to have a family around me who loved me so much.

Growing up, my parents made sure I had friends from across the globe from every imaginable faith, and ethnicity — yes, the little person in pink & gray is me!

Mom, Valerie Moultrie, reading to my nursery school class, at Oak Lane Day School in Blue Bell, PA - 1966

I quickly realized how strong and huge hearted my parents were and that they worked along with their friends and Martin Luther King to create our incredible United States as I know it. True – we have much work to do as humans in the realm of communication, compassion and cohesiveness. I am the last one to “sugar coat” anything!

I invite you to revisit Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech today — and allow yourself to be moved. I’ve no doubt his words will inspire you to continue manifest your dreams and serve those that matter most to you.

Our nation’s acknowledgement of Martin Luther King’s Birthday and the wonderful honor bestowed on The Tuskegee Airman — provides us all with an opportunity to remember the past and see how incredibly far we have come! Many, Many Blessings and Much Joy to you today as you celebrate human-kind!

Kara works with legal marketers and small to mid-size business to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

I am excited and enthusiastic about a conversation happening among barristers practicing international law.

European Parliment; Strasbourg, France

On the Martindale-Hubbell Connected German Law Group Blog, a London based journalist who specializes on the European legal market commented,

“There is no privilege for in-house lawyers in Europe.   As it stands now, any lawyer who wants to benefit from legal privilege has to be completely independent of the client they are taking instructions from…

Attorneys need to… re-focus their efforts on trying to persuade their local bar associations to allow them to join their organizations on equal term with private practice lawyers. Only once a significant minority of European countries treat in-house lawyers as just as “independent” as their private practice colleagues is the ECJ ever likely to change its opinion on corporate counsel privilege.

A scenaro which makes this situation worse, is often in-house counsel based in the United States is granted privilege by a European judge due to their US origin, in accordance with the standard practice here.

See the Poll on Martindale Hubbell Connected’s German Law Group Forum asking:
Should (German) in-house lawyers be allowed to be members of their bar?

It occurred to me that this situation is exemplary of the kinds of imbalances within the international legal community that attorneys using social media platforms designed specifically for them, will have the ability to bring to light and alleviate.  Martindale Hubbell Connected’s closed community on  is ideal for this, due to the scrutiny, reputation, and expertise of the firm; while other newer platforms may not be as oriented in the needs the international legal service provider.

Many law firms and individual practitioners alike work to resolve their areas of concern and skepticism about social media, from a strictly theoretical perspective.   However, those who are actively embracing the nuances online social media interaction are going to be far out in front in there ROI as a result of using it masterfully over time.  Legal organizations working globally are going to more subject to this than any other practitioners.

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Other articles you may be interested in:

Generate an International Legal Marketing Conversation Using Social Media

How to Use Twitter To Build Your International Conversation

Small and Medium-sized Firms Can Generate Business From Blogging

Listening, monetization, and ethics are key for successful social media campaigns and your legal marketing reputation

Alain L. Locke Elementary School P.S. 208 Celebrates World Dance

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

You can reach her at 917-856-5410

In my second podcast interview with Valentino Spataro of Italy’s Civile.it and IusOnDemand.com , we talked about what I do for legal marketers and how and why Twitter works to attract potential clients and generate new business.

Download Podcast

Using SocialToo, I receive a report each day of the number of people on Twitter who followed and unfollowed me, as well as the Tweet that went out at the time of their action.

In addition to the attracting US followers, Tweets containing the word “International”, as all of them do that link back to our podcasts, are generating a really interesting and wonderful international audience.

I’ve attained a considerable number of followers from Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, and India so there’s an obvious world wide interest in our conversations.

Using Twitter Later, I send Tweets out for my internationals between 3:00 am and 8:00 am, and am getting a great response.

Valentino Spataro is the founder of IusOnDemand.eu and www.Civile.it and other legal content websites based in Italy, totaling more than 55,000 pages each day.

Other Podcasts with Valentino: http://karasmamedia.com/home/?p=57

See these related articles:

My Typical Morning Routine Using Social Media Tools for New Business

How Social Media Impact Advertising & Marketing for the Legal Industry

Using Twitter in Business Is Now Mainstream – Is Your Firm Using Social Media?