We need your voice to promote civility, ethics and professionalism throughout the legal profession.
Your unique perspective and voice is critical to underscore the collegial nature of our organization. To help promote the organization and some of our programs, we are asking you - speakers, panelists, participants, members and alumni - to tell us why the American Inns of Court are important to you or for the legal community.
Here are some tips on how to film a very short video.
- Start with the most appropriate prompt below. Don't worry about introducing yourself; the video will indicate your name and other relevant information. Please choose from one of the our prompts or use something similar:
“Civility
is important to the legal profession because…”
“Ethics are a key component of legal professionalism because…”
"I value my Inn membership because..."
“Practicing the law with professionalism is critical because…”
“The program was valuable to me because…”
“Ethics are a key component of legal professionalism because…”
"I value my Inn membership because..."
“Practicing the law with professionalism is critical because…”
“The program was valuable to me because…”
- Please
answer the prompt in a
complete sentence, for example:
- Complete sentence: “Civility is important to the legal profession because it makes a positive impact..
- Incomplete sentence: “Because it makes a positive impact.”
- Use your smartphone—all smartphone brands or tablets are acceptable.
Hold your device:
- …horizontally for testimonials. This will make it look better when watched on a phone or on the web.
- …vertically for social media. Does your phone have portrait mode? Please use it!
- Please zoom in. We want to see your eyes, facial expressions and beautiful smile, not your legs, desk and chair.
- Prop your phone up or ask a friend to film you for a steady shot. Many phones have kick stands, or you can prop it against some books.
- Make sure you’re in a quiet location without a lot of background noise; do a couple of tests to ensure that the audio is loud and clear.
- Location doesn’t matter, but make sure it is not too loud or distracting (living room=good; carnival=bad). Having a background that relates to your job (aka your office/courtroom) or one of your skills/hobbies (foundry/ocean/Mt. Everest) lends interest.
- Make sure you have good natural lighting. Take the video near a window (or even outside in a quiet spot) and minimize yellow/fluorescent lights, which can distort the video’s coloring. Make sure you’re not too “backlit” – don’t sit directly in front of a window or lamp, or, outside, don’t sit with the sun directly behind you, otherwise you will just show up as a silhouette.
- Try to keep your hairstyle, makeup and clothing on the plainer side; some colors and patterns look odd on camera while others are flattering.
- Keep it short—testimonials should not be more than 1 – 2 minutes; social media videos should be no more than 15 seconds. Keep this in mind when planning your response to one of the prompts.
- Please save the video as an MP4 file; an MOD file works, but it takes a bit more work on our end to convert it.
- Upload your video below or email it to us. Be sure to include how you’d like your name/title/org/Inn listed and contact info.
Not interested in doing a video? No worries!
You can still share your ideas and thoughts with us with an audio message, sending an email or writing an article on any number of subjects:
We are always happy to hear from you!