When Missouri City, Texas, entertainment lawyer Leslie Warren Cross launched a MySpace.com page in 2006, he wanted a way to provide up-and-coming musicians basic information about the legalities of music contracts.
But Cross says that as he acquired “friends” on his MySpace page, he realized the Internet social networking site is a great marketing tool for his firm, Les Cross & Associates, and a way to stay in contact with his vagabond musician clients.
“It’s been really good,” says Cross, a graduate of South Texas College of Law in Houston.
Cross, who opened his entertainment firm in 1997 and counts Paul Wall and Snoop Dogg among his clients, says he has landed a few clients through MySpace contacts, but he also spends a lot of time answering basic questions about music contracts from prospective clients who send him e-mails after seeing his MySpace page. He calls himself Music Attorney Cross (The Street Fighter) on his MySpace page, which features the music of client Jai Mike.
Cross and other Texas lawyers with MySpace pages that advertise their firms say it’s a legitimate way to reach prospective clients, particularly younger people who aren’t likely to look in newspapers or in telephone directories for a lawyer.
On MySpace, people can build a network of “friends” by giving other members permission to post on their sites.
“Most of my business is by word of mouth” either traditionally or through MySpace, Cross says.
