Here at Reputation.com we believe that, while everyone should take steps to protect their good names online, there are still some professions where it’s especially important. I mean, would you hire an attorney with bad Google results?

Few professionals rely on their reputations more than attorneys, which is why Reputation.com is out in full force at this year’s American Bar Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Today, several members of the Reputation.com team will be on the expo floor talking about online reputation management and the importance of maintaining a top-notch Google resume. As the only reputation management product recommended by the ABA, Reputation.com is proud to offer all of our products at discounted rates for ABA members. Please stop by the Reputation.com exhibitor’s table to learn more.

In addition to being on the expo floor, Reputation.com will also be represented in one of the many excellent panel’s at this year’s meeting. This afternoon at 2:00pm PST, Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik will join several other Internet experts during a panel on online reputation management. The program is entitled, The Only Thing That Matters: Your Professional Reputation.

Check below for a detailed description of the panel.

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Time: 2:00 – 3:30pm PST

Panelists: Michael Fertik, Natasha Innocenti, Brian Cabrera, Tim Stanley, Baldwin Lee

Panel Description: Due largely to the Internet, there is growing importance being placed on lawyers’ reputations based on the increased transparency of their actions, their character, and the way in which others perceive them. The Internet can be both a blessing and a curse for lawyers in that their reputations are now on full display to prospective buyers of their services – every win, every loss, and every personal blemish is laid bare for the world to see. Today, a considerable cost of any business transaction is assessing the reputation of your potential business partner, and this ease of assessment will have a significant impact on the global economy. Many lawyers will be greatly impacted by these shifts. The search for legal advice is often still highly unstructured, based on anecdotal recommendations or rudimentary searches. As important, clients of large professional firms may start to be more selective about who they wish to work with at a firm, creating a more streamlined meritocracy. The mechanisms for measuring professional reputation are still very crude; yet, over the coming decade we can expect to see substantial changes in how professionals are found. This will impact many facets of the industry. The question we will explore is: what can lawyers do to manage and control their reputations?

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If you can make it to the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting, we would love to see you. Please feel free to swing by the Reputation.com booth or hear Michael Fertik in today’s panel. To keep up with the ABA Annual Meeting on Twitter, follow the hash tag #ABAAnnual.