Blogger's Law

Blogging about the law, the world, and the world of legal blogging.

Archive for the ‘legal blogs’ Category

Lawyers Feel the Need, The Need to Blog

Posted by redactic on December 23, 2009

We came across this article recently, detailing the increased pressure on attorneys feelings compelled to blog.  To put it simply, most lawyers don’t have enough time in the day to blog and practice law.  It’s a growing problem, especially as more and more attorneys and law firms realize the need to keep up to date content on their websites.  Though the importance is recognized, that doesn’t do anything about the time constraints.

Because we offer legal blogging services, we too see the value in blogging.  And not just for our income, but because it is a very cheap way to get your message across.  Even if you don’t hire a blogging services company like Redactic, you should understand how effective and efficient blogging can be for lawyers.  (And any other profession.)

Let’s take a hypothetical situation:  A medical malpractice attorney St. Louis starts a blog.  She writes about her day to day experiences two to three times a week.  Sometimes she writes about winning a case, sometimes she talks about her frustration with a personal injury settlement.

Unbeknowst to her (yet knowst to others) she has been marketing herself with every post.  And not just marketing, but indelibly leaving a record of herself to scatter to the internet winds, traveling all over the world.  Some of words she used in her writing are subsequently picked up by search engines.  They drive traffic to her blog.  A client might search the internet for “St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer” and bingo, her blog posts pops up.   That potential client reads it, like it, and clicks on the “contact me” button on her blog.

And that’s about it.  One post, one new client.  And that one post isn’t like a radio add that only airs for a certain amount of time.  It isn’t like a ad in the yellow pages you have to keep paying for every  month or year.  It’s there.  Out in the ether.  Floating around until someone finds it and follows it to your firm.

Nifty, isn’t it?

Posted in Law Firm Marketing, legal blogs, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

The Ethics of Legal Blogging

Posted by redactic on December 17, 2009

Ghostwriting and the legal profession are nothing new.  But as more and more law firms and attorneys start taking advantage of the opportunities presented by social media, blogs and other emerging techmologies.  (Yes, we said techMologies.  Because we like it.)

But the ethical considerations lawyers need to consider when ghostwriting, or hiring ghostwriters, are not inconsequential.  But ghostwriting a pleading for a pro se litigant who wants to trim costs is one thing.  Having a writer create content for your website or your blog is another thing.

Does a person reading your blog expect that it is written by you, the attorney?  If it isn’t written by you, do you need to make that clear?  If you don’t, does that make it unethical?  What ethics rule are you violating?

We’re going to keep up with this as time goes on.  There have been ethics rulings on ghostwriting and blogging, but we’re not aware of any on ghostwritten blogs.  We’ll keep looking.

(Photo courtesy Padraic’s Flickr page.)

Posted in legal blogs, Legal Ethics | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

ABA Top 100 Legal Blogs (or Blawgs)

Posted by redactic on December 11, 2009

Just a quick catch up on a news story we missed a week or so ago. The ABA Journal has published its list of top 100 legal blogs, which you can find here.

No, we’re not on it.

Yet.

Posted in Law Firm Marketing, legal blogs | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

 
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.