What lawyer hasn’t heard tales of caution about using Facebook? From the judge who resigned after being accused of retaliating against a litigant who declined to friend her to lawyers who make inappropriate disclosures there, this particular social medium could cause any number of us to go ever so slightly astray professionally. And yet, what better way to stay in front of prospective clients in an unsolicitous, convivial sort of way?

Twice in as many months I’ve had Facebook contacts seek to hire attorneys. As much as so many lawyers still seem reluctant to engage in Facebook — despite its billion prospective clients — lawyers contemplating a foray onto Facebook might first consider what their competition is doing or figure out what Facebook can do for them.

A number of pages on Facebook are grand simply for gathering information and for keeping up to date with doings in the legal field. Here’s why I appreciate the updates of these organizations in my Facebook pages feed.

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Great networking opportunities abound in various local bar associations. Given my heritage and home base, I have a personal fondness for the Westchester County Bar Association’s and the Westchester Women’s Bar Association’s Facebook pages. If you need to take baby steps toward greater, better, stronger networking, a local bar association’s Facebook page can be a good way to do it.

Because we all should be doing more in our workplaces to minimize our environmental impact, I like the Westchester Green Business Challenge, which provides prospective networking opportunities as well as incentives to be more environmentally sustainable. Green business challenges are offered in other municipalities as well, like Chicago. Not one in your area? Why not start one?

To keep me current on everything in the universe of environmental law to the extent that a scrolling feed can, I am fond of pages of organizations like the Environmental Law Institute and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

To give me some long-range perspective on my place in the universe and progress in the legal field, I like Legal History Blog. Along these lines, I also enjoy the Law Library of Congress Facebook page, where I can pick up helpful information about legal research and also interesting tidbits of legal trivia. I like the Research at the US National Archives page for much the same reason.

I appreciate Fix the Court’s page as a reminder about judicial accountability.

As much as prisons have been in the news in my state lately for seemingly unseemly events, I like Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison because I might someday like to teach in one. Lawyers looking toward the long term might also find Facebook pages of organizations with which they might one day like to affiliate. Why not start learning about these operations now?

I get a dose of innovative ideas by liking the Center for Court Innovation’s page.

With a tendency to focus on all matters federal, I like the Council of State Governments as a reminder about important developments happening at the state level.

Lawyers who need to hire other lawyers or support staff might appreciate keeping up with headhunters and the current state of the legal market. I like Robert Half Legal’s page, which also includes developments of note to managers.

I am reminded of the ever-evolving legal marketplace by pages like that of prepaid legal services provider LegalShield and publisher for legal do-it-yourselfers Nolo.

Because I find them useful, I like the Leadership Directories page.

I am reminded to do bit of good for the universe by the pages of the ABA Center for Pro Bono and, more local for me, Pro Bono Partnership, Inc.

To ease my fear of falling behind in my legal research skills, I like the pages of LexisNexis and HeinOnline.

Because I don’t delude myself about my technological capacity, I like Legal IT Professionals for keeping up with developments in the land of information technology.

Because I went there, I like Georgetown Law.

Although the list of pages I like or follow goes on, this provides a glimpse of my Facebook professional strategy: this social networking site provides me with a little bit of networking, a smidge of news, a bit of keeping up, some snippets of knowledge, a dose of practical feeds, and a touch of loftiness. How might you make Facebook meet your professional needs?