From May 30th to June 2th, Jurismus International held its annual conference, this time in beautiful Madrid, Spain. We are very happy that so many Jurismussers found their way to Madrid, a total of 59 lawyers participated from all over Europe and also this year from Costa Rica. Madrid gave us the perfect environment for the conference with good weather and a nice hotel located in the heart of Madrid. The hotel included at nice roof terrace with pool and great view.
On Thursday evening we started out with the early birds dinner where more than half of the participants attended. By Friday morning, the group was almost complete as we met in the lobby of the hotel and the official program could start.
Digital Marketing – the combination of Marketing and internet - was the main topic for the weekend and we focused on how lawyers and law firms can take advantage of new technologies and online marketing towards new markets and potential clients. Internet has become a vital showcase, more and more law firms are competing to achieve a good position on internet, that again allows them to extend their services to a larger number of potential clients. It is a reality that many customers today are using internet to find the right lawyer for their case. This means that also lawyers needs to adjust their way of marketing and take advantage of the possibilities that digital marketing offers. The goal is that new potential clients will find your name or law firm, when searching for an expert within your field of expertise.
The first day of the conference started out with speech by expert in marketing on line, Pablo Melchior, who gave a great and inspiring speech about how to get “relevant” on internet. Further, we learned about the importance of optimizing the position of personal and company website so that search engines as Google, puts your company in the top positions of a Google search. Pablo related theory and his experience from building up internet companies in a great way and showed how you can use online marketing strategy to grow from a small to a large business. On the internet, writing articles and commenting on cases / articles written by others within your field of expertise is very important. By posting links to your own articles and comments on relevant social media, you can increase the marketing effect. If digital marketing is done well - over a period of time - internet search engines will start to register you or your company as “relevant. The effect is that you / your law firm will be among the top search results when future clients search for lawyers within the actual field of expertise. Hopefully all Jurismussers who attended have already started to optimize their own digital marketing based on the many good tips from Pablo Melchor.
The next speaker Efa Rimoldi, General Director of Etrasa (company of Springer group) gave a speech about “How to profit from Communication”. She pointed out the different aspects of communication and how to profit from communication as a person and as a professional.
After a coffee break in the beautiful backyard of the Spanish Bar Society, the participants had a workshop where internet marketing and the use of social media as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were discussed in groups. The workshop showed that the use of social media and digital marketing is different among the Jurismusser. However, when summing up the discussions, all participants agreed that digital marketing is important. Lawyers today need to be present on internet, at least with a professional profile. The results of the workshop were presented the next day.
After a nice tapas lunch in the sun, the next stop was the office of Mariscal & Asociades Abogados, our hosts for the weekend. This was a great opportunity to get more information about being lawyer in Madrid, and of course for the participants to create and strengthen personal contacts within the network of Jurismus.
Afterwards the group enjoyed a guided tour at the National Park of the Retiro, a beautiful park with historical monuments; perfect for relaxing before dinner. In the evening dinner was held at Lamucca de Prado Restaurant. In addition to great Spanish food, Jurismussers got to exchange ideas and knowledge at all levels to develop their network of contacts.
On Saturday, the day was all about Jurismus and started out with general information about the different aspects of the organisation with presentations of the Jump Exchange Programme, The London School of English and of course Jurismus on social medias. Also the program for the next Jurismus meeting in Luxemburg 2014 was presented. Further, the general Assembly of Jurismus International was held. Stefan Daubner and Manon Dezentje resigned from their positions as board members. Thomas Benson, the president of Jurismus International for the last two years, also left the board. They have all done a great job for developing Jurismus as board members and president and we thank them for a well done job!
Marjolaine Ratier (Eurojuris,France), Loes Roze (Van Dam & Kruidenier Advocaten, Netherlands) and Erik Ulvesaeter (Lawfirm Stiegler ANS, Norway) were elected as new members to the board. Olivier Vibert was appointed the new president of Jurismus International. After the assembly, Javier Pérez – Expert in SEO and positioning strategies held a speech about « Internet Positioning Strategies » Pérez fulfilled the speech from Melchior and gave good points on how to enter the world of online marketing for lawyers.
In the afternoon all delegates went to Club de Tenis Chamartín for the final Jurismus night and Dinner. The highlight of the evening was of course the fact that the dress code was Superheroes disguises and the super lawyers danced into the night. And instead of trying to describe the costumes, join our group on Facebook and see by yourself!
Thanks a lot to the board and of course Marina Bugallal and her colleagues at Mariscal & Asociados Abogados for a well-organized conference.
Hope to see you all at the next meeting in Luxemburg.
The Jurismus Team
