Lawyers in the age of Social Media: LinkedIn® as an educational and a professional tool

The present study outlines how social media can be used as a learning tool within a training programme for the continuing education of legal professionals, and how this translates into developing valuable professional skills. In particular, it focuses on how the postgraduate programme EFLIT (English for Law and International Transactions), developed by Parma University (Italy) for professionals in the fields of Law and Economics, has adopted the EU recommendations on key competences for lifelong learning as a guiding principle, with digital literacy now one of the additional competences included in its scope. EFLIT itself manages its own webpage, mailing lists, Facebook page, and, lastly, LinkedIn®, seen as both a marketing tool for the project and an educational tool to be used by the trainers in supporting participants in the management of their professional identity, and their digital reputation and network. Thanks to the ‘task-based learning’ approach of its multidisciplinary teaching staff and the analysis of the participants’ needs, EFLIT promotes the development of their language and legal skills in English while monitoring the evolution of their professional world. This ‘hands-on’ format, where learners are actively involved in ‘doing’ (e.g. drafting a contract, negotiating, explaining provisions, etc.) has allowed EFLIT to become the largest provider of ‘legal English skills’ instruction in Italy and be recognised by professional associations for accreditation purposes in legal continuous education.