Path to Partner
Florida lawyer is building up her law practice and growing her network via social media
“There’s a huge benefit in having a post where it can only be seen for 24 hours, so followers have to check the page every day, or they might miss something,” Florida lawyer Claudia Cobreiro explains. (Photo courtesy of Cobreiro Law)
While others were baking sourdough bread, stockpiling toilet paper and watching Tiger King during the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida lawyer Claudia Cobreiro spent her time on Instagram. These were the days when in-person trials, depositions and office work were suddenly halted, and the legal community was forced to log on to Zoom.
Cobreiro, now 33, took a completely different approach, which ended up transforming her practice and her life. For her, it was all about “the ’gram.”
“I felt like I couldn’t spend COVID waiting for it to pass,” Cobreiro says in yet another Zoom meeting. “I wanted to grow my network.”
‘An honest conversation’
Attorneys typically use LinkedIn for social media networking, but Cobreiro decided that Instagram would be a better fit as someone who loves to stay up to date on trends, has an adorable dog worthy of attention, and was interested in breaking the traditional attorney mold.
She had barely dabbled in social media pre-pandemic, but once the pandemic hit, she started experimenting. Cobreiro, who had been working at a law firm then called Feinstein, Mendez & Cobreiro since 2018, noticed that successful influencers had some things in common, including a color scheme or an aesthetic, along with some form of value for followers.
Clad in all black (her chosen aesthetic), Cobreiro began posting and creating videos, Instagram Reels and Instagram Stories representing her entire life. Her Instagram page is filled with clips of concerts, adorable dog photos and, of course, her legal work.
“I’m talking about things that are news,” Cobreiro says. So when the Florida hurricanes hit, she chatted about flood-related insurance; and when it’s marriage proposal season (Christmas and Valentine’s Day), she films videos about prenups. She even started an Instagram series called “Asking for a Friend,” in which she would post about different legal topics.
Cobreiro found that her Instagram Stories, which are only live for 24 hours, were a huge hit.
“There’s a huge benefit in having a post where it can only be seen for 24 hours, so followers have to check the page every day, or they might miss something,” Cobreiro explains.
When anyone comments on Instagram Stories, those comments go directly to Cobreiro’s inbox, rather than being publicly displayed. Cobreiro thinks that her followers are more inclined to comment or ask more questions if it’s done in a private setting such as this one.
“People need their problems solved, but they want to talk to someone who gets them and will talk to them in layman’s terms instead of legalease,” says Karla Cobreiro, a public relations representative who just happens to be Claudia’s identical twin sister. “They get to know that she’s a human, so they can have an honest conversation.”
Toeing the legal advertising line
Initially, Cobreiro’s firm was perplexed and concerned about her Instagram dedication. She was the youngest of three in her firm, and Instagram wasn’t a platform that they had ever considered.
In Florida (along with most states), there are a host of rules when it comes to sponsored posts and advertising. For example, according to the Florida Bar, online networking used to promote a lawyer or a firm are subject to the lawyer advertising rules. Cobreiro, who thinks that she wasn’t specifically advertising on her page, toed the line by making videos about her work but refusing to receive paid advertising posts.
Cobreiro has close to 8,000 followers today, and, according to a spreadsheet that she uses to track incoming clients, receives 80% to 90% of her clients from Instagram. She spends about an hour per day creating content and posting Instagram Stories and another hour or so responding to comments and engaging with her followers.
These two hours of extra unpaid work were grueling, but it was her social media dedication that brings in the clients and led Cobreiro to her partnership.
“I was bringing in so much business, that if I didn’t make partner, I’d become a flight risk,” Cobreiro says. “They said, ‘We never had an associate who brings in that much business.’”
New path forward
In 2020, the firm’s office lease was expiring, and Cobreiro mentioned her strong desire to reduce her commute from her Kendall, Florida, home to the office in downtown Miami, which was a one-and-a-half-hour drive on a good day.
Considering that most of the firm’s court dealings had gone virtual for the immediate future because of the pandemic, the partners agreed to move to Coral Gables, Florida. The move resulted in a 45-minute drive for Cobreiro and a shorter commute for the other partners. A few months after the move, Cobreiro made partner.
In August 2022, Cobreiro decided to leave the partnership and open a firm, Cobreiro Law, in Coral Gables focusing on family, real estate, business law, estate planning and probate law. She continues to use Instagram to recruit clients and will persist in advocating for this method.
“I always would say at the beginning that I didn’t think there were any serious attorneys on Instagram. I would think they didn’t have enough work because they have time to be on Instagram,” she says. “But you don’t have time to not be on Instagram.”
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