The Akron Legal News

Campaign aims at showing some love for lawyers

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 14, 2016

Do you harbor a particularly strong affinity for your lawyer? Now there is a day, and a hashtag, for you to express your love.

"Love Your Lawyer Day" has technically been around for the past 15 years after a legal marketer, Nader Anise, national director of the American Lawyers Public Image Association, created the celebratory day and declared it the first Friday of every November.

But last year, the hashtag #LoveYourLawyerDay finally succeeded in trending on Twitter and the ALPIA, the organization sponsoring the social media marketing strategy, aims to do it again this year when the holiday rolls around on Nov. 4.

The ALPIA backs the campaign with the hope of "highlighting the good that lawyers do, often thanklessly," according to the association's website.

"After creating a viral firestorm in 2015 ... Love Your Lawyer Day is on a trajectory to eclipse last year's remarkable success," the association said in a statement.

Anise said that the plan this year is to "break the internet."

"On Nov. 4, at exactly 11:04 a.m., we would like everyone to use the #LoveYourLawyerDay hashtag to flood social media with their loving and congratulatory messages to their favorite legal eagles," Anise said. "It's a worldwide hashtag-aganza."

The ALPIA also encourages clients to send their lawyer flowers, a car or a not, a gift, make a donation to a charity in their name or take them to lunch.

The synchronized Twitter messages are specific to timezone and the association hopes that the plan will generate positive messages flowing in via social media throughout the day.

"Anise expects last year's Love Your Lawyer Day's most ardent supporters to be fully on board with this year's efforts," the ALPIA said. "The social media arm of the Florida Bar was especially enthusiastic and skillful in helping ALPIA generate unprecedented buzz during last year's celebration, as was former appellate judge Simone Marstiller and the New York, Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Texas bar associations, to name a few."

The day is not only for patting legal professionals on the back. The association says that the goal is for charities to win big on Love Your Lawyer Day.

Attorneys are asked to perform one hour of pro bono work or donate to their favorite charity in exchange for the recognition and participants are asked to keep a clean tongue or donate to charity.

"Is it too much to ask for people to refrain from lawyer bashing and telling tasteless lawyer jokes for a single day?" the association asks on its website. "If for some reason, you're unable to tame your tongue for that 24-hour span, then donate $20 to charity for every joke you tell. Deal?"

Participants are also encouraged to post throughout the day via other social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

[Back]