How advocate can maintain their reputation and build a personal brand on social media

An advocate's personal brand begins with their professional reputation, which can be both strengthened and undermined by ill-considered publicity. Therefore, social media is not only a tool for communicating with clients and colleagues, but also an area of increased risk.

Advocate Daria Tarasenko spoke about how to use them effectively and ethically during the webinar «Personal Branding through Social Media», which took place on May 21, 2025, at the initiative of UNBA NextGen representative in Ivano-Frankivsk region Lilia Ivanchuk.

Daria began her presentation by talking about her own experience of creating content and choosing platforms and forms of online communication. She provided participants with practical advice on managing a page and interacting with an audience. According to her, she created her pages without the help of SMM managers and without additional funds, which is entirely possible for any of her colleagues.

The speaker emphasized that a personal brand is an image that is formed in the public perception of a particular person. At the same time, she stressed that professional independence is an integral part of an advocate's presence on social media, internet forums, and other forms of online communication. They must consider the consequences of their online communication for their professional activities, in particular, ensuring the completeness, accuracy, and confidentiality of information.

Separately, the advocate reminded of the obligation to comply with the oath, the Rules of Professional Conduct for Advocates, the norms of legislation, and the decisions of the Congress of Advocates of Ukraine and the Bar Council of Ukraine. In particular, an advocate shall not disclose attorney-client privilege without the client's consent or use it in his or her own interests or in the interests of third parties. It is also prohibited to advise a client to take actions that are deliberately aimed at facilitating the commission of offenses or otherwise intentionally facilitate their commission by his or her client or other persons.

Participation of advocates in social networks (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus+, Tumblr, Instagram, Flickr, MySpace, etc.), Internet forums and other online platforms is permissible, but the information posted or commented on should not harm colleagues or the authority of the legal profession.

A lawyer shall take into account the context and potential audience of the communication and ensure that comments are clear and unambiguous. When establishing contacts on social networks with clients, colleagues, judges, procedural opponents, and other persons, an advocate shall exclude the possibility of a conflict of interest. They must also adhere to high standards of integrity and consider the consequences of their actions for their professional reputation.

Before becoming active on social media, it is important for advocates to identify their target audience: who their clients are, what they are interested in, how old they are, and which platforms they are active on. For example, young people do not read long texts, so it is not worth targeting them with this format.

It is also important to choose the right photo for your avatar — it should correspond to the purpose of the page and be recognizable. According to D. Tarasenko, it is better to communicate with subscribers in simple words that are accessible and useful to a wide audience.

When asked whether text or video is better, the speaker noted that these are different formats for different people. Using only text is not justified, as video allows the viewer to get to know the author better and perceive them emotionally.

The main content for an advocate on the Internet is expert content: explanations of legislation; analysis of draft laws; overview of court practice; stories of successes and failures; comments on legal news; brief descriptions of requests and consultations; samples of legal documents; algorithms of actions; links to interviews, publications, webinars.

In addition, limited inclusion of materials about everyday work, opinions, books, films, and professional jokes is possible. However, such content should not exceed 10% of the total volume.

Personal life is an area that should be approached with caution. An advocate should think in advance about how such information will affect their reputation and personal brand.

Among personal «taboos», the speaker outlined: statements on topics in which the advocate is not an expert; calls for illegal actions; criticism of colleagues; copying other people's posts without reference to the author (reposts are acceptable).