Paver Smith conducted four workshops on social media at the annual conference of the international law firm Squire Sanders, which was held in Prague this month.

The 550 delegates included partners from the firm’s 37 offices located in 18 countries. The three day gathering was held at the Hilton Conference Centre.

The agency’s PR Director Chris Hulme addressed delegates about the rise of Web 2.0 and the impact of social media on employees, clients and prospects.

“There are conflicts at the heart of social networks for any professional service firm, but it’s important to understand how communication has changed and what research and business development opportunities are presented by platforms such as LinkedIn and Blogs,” said Chris.

Ambitious, competitive professionals are always looking for an edge and will quickly discard anything superfluous.

"There was a mixture of fascination at the unstoppable momentum behind social networks and scepticism that they could make a difference to the decision making in legal procurement. Facebook’s $104 billion public listing also happened during the conference - and provided a timely debating point about the value of new media v. old established networks.”