There have been some great reports on law firm blogs recently.
Kevin O'Keefe published an update to regular reporting of law firm blogs: State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere, November 2008
Greg Lambert put together a list of Large Law Firm Officially Sanctioned Blogs and followed up with a Report Card on Whether The Law Firms Were Blog-Proud or Blog Tolerant. The report card credits those law firms that make it very easy to find their attorney blogs as being "blog-proud."
Kevin lists 159 blogs at 72 of the AmLaw 200 law firms. Greg lists 141 blogs at 56 firms. Kevin points out 37 blogs were not firm branded. Greg should add a third list of those firms that are "blog-intolerant."
The remarkable side of these stories is the tremendous growth. Kevin point out that in August 2007, only 39 firms were blogging with only 74 blogs. Over the past 15 months, those numbers have doubled. It looks like Kevin is single-handedly responsible for the growth with 79% of the firm branded blogs using Kevin's Lexblog platform.
Showing posts with label blawgs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blawgs. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
LexMonitor - Aggregating Legal Blogs
There is a new legal blog aggregator: LexMonitor.com. It was set up by LexBlog, the purveyor of legal blogs. As they describe LexMontor:
This a great tool from Kevin O'Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs and his team.
The great aspect of this site is it's power as a research tool. I ran a search for "Massachusetts Easements" and up come two blog posts on the topic. One was my post: You Can Construct a Sewer Line In Your Private Right of Way. I was testing to see if it would pull up a post from Friday.LexMonitor is a free daily review of law blogs and journals highlighting prominent legal discussion and the lawyers and other professionals participating in this conversation.
Pulling from nearly 2,000 sources and 5,000 professional authors, LexMonitor will shine a light on the ongoing conversation among thought leaders in the law for the benefit of the legal profession and the public at large.
This a great tool from Kevin O'Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs and his team.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Real Judges Have Blogs
Today's Boston Globe has a Page One article on US district Court Judge Nancy Gertner and her blogging activities: Off the Bench, Judge Blogs Her Mind.
To those of you who read Robert Ambrogi's Law Sites, you have already heard this story about Slate.com's Convictions Blog. I was surprised to see the Globe put it on the front page.
Is anyone else aware of other judges who blog?
To those of you who read Robert Ambrogi's Law Sites, you have already heard this story about Slate.com's Convictions Blog. I was surprised to see the Globe put it on the front page.
Judge Gertner has written four posts so far. She joins Judge Richard Posner, Judge on United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals as a blogging federal judge. Judge Posner blogs on The Becker-Posner Blog.[Gertner, whom President Clinton nominated to the bench in 1993, has long written on legal matters in law journals and newspaper op-ed pages.
For the past nine years, she has also taught two courses on sentencing, one a semester, at Yale Law School, her alma mater, where she shares her insights in her characteristically chatty manner. So blogging, she says, is not a radical departure.
"I saw this as the new media version of what I've always been doing," the former criminal defense lawyer said recently at her office at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse. "If this is where people are getting information, this is where we have to be."]
Is anyone else aware of other judges who blog?
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Blogging in SharePoint 2007
The Firm has taken its first steps into Enterprise 2.0. Using SharePoint's blog platform we launched our first blog today. Mark Puzella, David Hosp and Robert O'Connell started their Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secrets Blog.
They put up four posts the first day and a had handful of comments. (The comments were mostly the authors trying out the comments feature on the blog.)
In early April, we upgraded our intranet to SharePoint 2007. The blog feature works great in SharePoint. Certainly you can't add on the numerous widgets and other tools that you could with WordPress or Blogger. You can add categories to the posts. At first we thought you were limited to one category per post, but quickly found the setting to allow multiple categories per post.
Most of our planned uses for blogs are targeted at hosting firm announcements. It was great to have lawyers dive in and want a real law blog. I hope the Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secrets Blog will be a beacon showing other lawyers the power of blogging inside the enterprise. This may also lead to some external blogs.
They put up four posts the first day and a had handful of comments. (The comments were mostly the authors trying out the comments feature on the blog.)
In early April, we upgraded our intranet to SharePoint 2007. The blog feature works great in SharePoint. Certainly you can't add on the numerous widgets and other tools that you could with WordPress or Blogger. You can add categories to the posts. At first we thought you were limited to one category per post, but quickly found the setting to allow multiple categories per post.
Most of our planned uses for blogs are targeted at hosting firm announcements. It was great to have lawyers dive in and want a real law blog. I hope the Trademark, Copyright and Trade Secrets Blog will be a beacon showing other lawyers the power of blogging inside the enterprise. This may also lead to some external blogs.
Friday, March 28, 2008
State of the AmLaw 200 blogosphere
Kevin O'Keefe of Lex Blog has but together his latest status report on big law firms that blog: State of the AmLaw 200 blogosphere, March 2008. Kevin includes a list of the firms and list of the blogs.
Since August of 2007 the number of AmLaw 200 firms with blogs has increased from 39 to 53. Since many of the firms have multiple blogs, the number of blogs has increased from74 to 110. That is great growth
Since August of 2007 the number of AmLaw 200 firms with blogs has increased from 39 to 53. Since many of the firms have multiple blogs, the number of blogs has increased from74 to 110. That is great growth
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Why Are Legal Blogs Undervalued?
Over at the Drug and Device Law Blog one of the authors stirred the pot by posting: Why Are Blogs Undervalued? The post got picked up by the WSJ.com Law Blog: Law-Firm Blogs: Marketing Device or Mere Diversion? Since, the Drug and Device Law blog called him out, Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith, Esq. also chimed in: The Marketing Value of Publishing: 1440 to 2008.
The first thing to think about with a blog is how is it different from the other publications from your firm.
Is a legal blog really all that different than the client alerts and updates sent out by law firms? At the core, there is no difference. Information is just published to a website, rather than producing a pdf file and sending it out by email. With a blog the information is generally sent out by RSS feed, but can be sent by email. As of this morning, 15% of my subscribers get my feed by email rather than RSS.
A blog allows easier publishing. If I find an interesting case or story, I can have a post up in minutes. The client alerts do not match that speed. Most publications do not match that speed.
I do not agree with Mr. Hermann's fourth proposition that blogging is too much work for too little financial reward. It is nearly impossible for most big laws to justify that any particular marketing effort leads directly to new work (with the exception of an explicit client pitch). I never hear anyone saying that should not produce client alerts or substantive articles for public consumption because they do not generate enough business. Clients of big law firms expect to receive regular updates of changes in the law that affect their business.
Blogging, like any marketing or networking activity is about building your brand. With lawyers and other professionals that means showing your expertise, engaging in conversations about your expertise and publishing your expertise. Blogs allow all of these. And certainly do a better job than most firm's rather static websites. Over at the Drug and Device Law, they measured 25,00o page views per month on their blog. They call that a "drop in the bucket." But I would guess that number rivals the page views than their law firm website gets. And that is with zero assistance from their IT departments or marketing departments and zero out-of-pocket costs.
All of the dangers that people express are there because people can find the content. Blog posts get indexed by search engines and the linking and and cross-linking are the magic ingredients that makes your blog rise up in the search results ranking. People can find the bad content. But they can also find the good content. All that good content rises up and enhances your brand.
The first thing to think about with a blog is how is it different from the other publications from your firm.
Is a legal blog really all that different than the client alerts and updates sent out by law firms? At the core, there is no difference. Information is just published to a website, rather than producing a pdf file and sending it out by email. With a blog the information is generally sent out by RSS feed, but can be sent by email. As of this morning, 15% of my subscribers get my feed by email rather than RSS.
A blog allows easier publishing. If I find an interesting case or story, I can have a post up in minutes. The client alerts do not match that speed. Most publications do not match that speed.
I do not agree with Mr. Hermann's fourth proposition that blogging is too much work for too little financial reward. It is nearly impossible for most big laws to justify that any particular marketing effort leads directly to new work (with the exception of an explicit client pitch). I never hear anyone saying that should not produce client alerts or substantive articles for public consumption because they do not generate enough business. Clients of big law firms expect to receive regular updates of changes in the law that affect their business.
Blogging, like any marketing or networking activity is about building your brand. With lawyers and other professionals that means showing your expertise, engaging in conversations about your expertise and publishing your expertise. Blogs allow all of these. And certainly do a better job than most firm's rather static websites. Over at the Drug and Device Law, they measured 25,00o page views per month on their blog. They call that a "drop in the bucket." But I would guess that number rivals the page views than their law firm website gets. And that is with zero assistance from their IT departments or marketing departments and zero out-of-pocket costs.
All of the dangers that people express are there because people can find the content. Blog posts get indexed by search engines and the linking and and cross-linking are the magic ingredients that makes your blog rise up in the search results ranking. People can find the bad content. But they can also find the good content. All that good content rises up and enhances your brand.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Lifestream - Aggregating Youself
As social media is spreading and as I am using more social media tools, I find that the information about me is being spread across more and more sites. Of course one of of the great things about most "2.0 tools" is that they allow you to easily manipulate the information.
I created a lifestream using Yahoo Pipes:
http://pipes.yahoo.com/dougcornelius/lifestream
Shortly after putting that together I ran into Friend Feed:
http://friendfeed.com/dougcornelius
http://pipes.yahoo.com/dougcornelius/lifestream
Shortly after putting that together I ran into Friend Feed:
http://friendfeed.com/dougcornelius
I am recombining the feeds from several sites into one more comprehensive stream. Anyone who is interested can see a large swath of what I am writing about, what I am doing and what I am thinking about.
Now translate this to a use inside the enterprise. It is possible to pull disparate communication and authorship from a particular person and display that information in one place inside the enterprise. You can combine someone's internal blog, external blog, internal postings, internal tagging, external tagging and other sources and create a dynamic profile of that person. If you then store that "story" as it grows, you are creating a searchable repository of experience, expertise and interest for that person.
Currently, my friendfeed and lifestream are both pulling together information I add from:
- KM Space
- Real Estate Space
- Twitter for dougcornelius
- Shared Items from Doug's Google Reader
- Del.icio.us bookmarks for Doug Cornelius
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Blogging at Sun Microsystems
As a blogging lawyer, I tend to keep an eye on Mike Dillon. Mike is the general counsel of Sun Microsystems and writes a blog: The Legal Thing.
Mike was interviewed by Real Lawyers Have Blogs. A few things caught my eye in the interview.
One, Sun has between 3,000 and 4,000 employees blogging externally, including their CEO. As of this morning, they had 4039 blogs, with over 94,000 entries and over 96,000 comments. They leverage these blogs in one platform so you can search across all of this blog posts: http://blogs.sun.com. I ran a search for "knowledge management" and got over 8,000 results back. This robust collection of blogs is a tremendous knowledge resource. It seems like a great way for the company's employees to stay connected and for the customers of the company to be connected with the company.
The second was his take on in-house lawyers blogging:
Mike was interviewed by Real Lawyers Have Blogs. A few things caught my eye in the interview.
One, Sun has between 3,000 and 4,000 employees blogging externally, including their CEO. As of this morning, they had 4039 blogs, with over 94,000 entries and over 96,000 comments. They leverage these blogs in one platform so you can search across all of this blog posts: http://blogs.sun.com. I ran a search for "knowledge management" and got over 8,000 results back. This robust collection of blogs is a tremendous knowledge resource. It seems like a great way for the company's employees to stay connected and for the customers of the company to be connected with the company.
The second was his take on in-house lawyers blogging:
Third, I discovered that Sun has collection of blog postings from Sun's alumni. I particularly noticed their legal disclaimer:"It's surprising to me that more GCs don't blog. But, I think there are two factors behind this. First, attorneys are by trade somewhat conservative and risk adverse (I still remember attending legal seminars in the 1980s about the terrible risks associated with a new type of communication called "email"). Consequently, I think many of us focus more on the risks of divulging confidential information or violating the attorney-client privilege; risks that while possible are more than offset by the value of a blog.
The second issue is generational. I doubt that few GCs of large public companies today grew up using wikis, social networking, mash-ups, virtual communities or blogs. The current generation of law students cannot imagine life without them. They understand the incredibly rich and powerful benefit of these knowledge sharing and communications tools. And, they doubtlessly will apply them in their legal practices as they become GCs in the future."
"The individuals who post here are part of the extended Sun Microsystems community and they may not be employed or in any way formally affiliated with Sun Microsystems. The opinions expressed here are their own, are not necessarily reviewed in advance by anyone but the individual authors, and neither Sun nor any other party necessarily agrees with them. This site aggregates content posted on third-party sites. The content posted here may be hosted at third party sites in no way affiliated with Sun."Obviously, Sun's adoption of blogging comes from Sun's open corporate culture and focus on building communities. In the process they are building a rich knowledge repository that can be leveraged by their employees and customers.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Are Lawyers Blogging? - Yes they Are!
Lawyers are blogging. Kevin O'Keefe of Real Lawyers Have Blogs noted an article in the Financial Post: Blogging Can Be Useful As a Low-cost Public Relations and Marketing Tool. They cite an American Express Survey that 5% of businesses with 100 or fewer employees have blogs.
Kevin goes on to note that law firms adoption of blogs are on pace with other businesses. With "40,000 small law firms and 2,000 lawyer blogs, our profession is right on pace." Kevin also noted that 39 of the AmLaw 200 firms have blogs: State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere, August 2007.
Over at my Real Estate Space blog, I compiled a list of 39 blogs that originate from Massachusetts based lawyers: Massachusetts Blawgs.
I have found that law firms (including my firm) are unsure how to deal with blogs. There is a lot of concern about how blogs amplify bad content and make it easy to find that bad content. They are rightfully concerned about preventing the release of confidential client information, inadvertently creating attorney-client relationship, stating positions that are adverse to clients and attorney advertising restrictions.
I think the mistake is thinking that blogs only amplify bad content. They amplify all content. Good content rises to the top as well. I ran an example of a Google search for "bad boy guaranty" (that's a commercial real estate finance term). My blog posts on bad boy guarantees at Real Estate Space appeared on the top of the search results. Similarly, a Google search for "Interwoven Express Search" pulls up my posts on Interwoven's new search tool in the top position. (Ahead of Interwoven's website.)
Those results do not come from implementing expensive websites and SEO campaigns. (My blogs run on free blog hosting services, with no support from my marketing department or IT department.) The results come from writing content. If you are not writing content, people are not finding you. Some people may not like what you have to say and some people love what you have to say. You can't please everyone. But you will not please anyone if you remain silent. Blogs are about having that conversation. Lawyers should join the conversation.
Kevin goes on to note that law firms adoption of blogs are on pace with other businesses. With "40,000 small law firms and 2,000 lawyer blogs, our profession is right on pace." Kevin also noted that 39 of the AmLaw 200 firms have blogs: State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere, August 2007.
Over at my Real Estate Space blog, I compiled a list of 39 blogs that originate from Massachusetts based lawyers: Massachusetts Blawgs.
I have found that law firms (including my firm) are unsure how to deal with blogs. There is a lot of concern about how blogs amplify bad content and make it easy to find that bad content. They are rightfully concerned about preventing the release of confidential client information, inadvertently creating attorney-client relationship, stating positions that are adverse to clients and attorney advertising restrictions.
I think the mistake is thinking that blogs only amplify bad content. They amplify all content. Good content rises to the top as well. I ran an example of a Google search for "bad boy guaranty" (that's a commercial real estate finance term). My blog posts on bad boy guarantees at Real Estate Space appeared on the top of the search results. Similarly, a Google search for "Interwoven Express Search" pulls up my posts on Interwoven's new search tool in the top position. (Ahead of Interwoven's website.)
Those results do not come from implementing expensive websites and SEO campaigns. (My blogs run on free blog hosting services, with no support from my marketing department or IT department.) The results come from writing content. If you are not writing content, people are not finding you. Some people may not like what you have to say and some people love what you have to say. You can't please everyone. But you will not please anyone if you remain silent. Blogs are about having that conversation. Lawyers should join the conversation.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Blogging Lessons Learned from a Curmudgeon Turned Blawger
Mark Herrman, author of The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law, wrote a piece in The National Law Journal: Blogging Lessons Learned. It turns out he is also co-author of the Drug and Device Law Blog.
Here are his four lessons from legal blogging and my thoughts.
1. "Blogging about substantive legal issues is hard." A blogger must regularly post fresh content about interesting issues. There is not always interesting legal content on the subject of your legal blog. Often times I will read a case that sounds interesting for my Real Estate Space blog, only to find out the case lacks much meaning.
2. "Blogging is personally satisfying." Every blog post is a snapshot of an idea that I can easily retrieve. Even if nobody reads the blog post except me, I have created a resource for me. Of course it is great to see others referring to your article. [You like me. You really, really like me.] Even better is getting comments and criticism to help craft and fine tune my thinking.
3. "Law firms, like law schools, are clueless about how to value blogs." Most law firms are not sure whether to encourage lawyers to write blogs or to forbid them? Should they sponsor blogs (to claim credit) or disavow them (to avoid risk)?
4. "Blogging pays off. It pays off in part by being a self-fulfilling prophecy." Whether or not you know anything about the topics you cover in your blog, you appear to be an expert in that field. You can hold yourself out there as an expert. But unless people hear what you have to say (or read what you have written), they are not going to buy into your expertise. Also by blogging, I force myself to think about my subject for at least a few minutes a day. Blogging forces me step out of my workflow and "think" rather than just "do."
Here are his four lessons from legal blogging and my thoughts.
1. "Blogging about substantive legal issues is hard." A blogger must regularly post fresh content about interesting issues. There is not always interesting legal content on the subject of your legal blog. Often times I will read a case that sounds interesting for my Real Estate Space blog, only to find out the case lacks much meaning.
2. "Blogging is personally satisfying." Every blog post is a snapshot of an idea that I can easily retrieve. Even if nobody reads the blog post except me, I have created a resource for me. Of course it is great to see others referring to your article. [You like me. You really, really like me.] Even better is getting comments and criticism to help craft and fine tune my thinking.
3. "Law firms, like law schools, are clueless about how to value blogs." Most law firms are not sure whether to encourage lawyers to write blogs or to forbid them? Should they sponsor blogs (to claim credit) or disavow them (to avoid risk)?
4. "Blogging pays off. It pays off in part by being a self-fulfilling prophecy." Whether or not you know anything about the topics you cover in your blog, you appear to be an expert in that field. You can hold yourself out there as an expert. But unless people hear what you have to say (or read what you have written), they are not going to buy into your expertise. Also by blogging, I force myself to think about my subject for at least a few minutes a day. Blogging forces me step out of my workflow and "think" rather than just "do."
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Real Lawyers Have Blogs
The folks over at Lexblog decide to interview me on Real Lawyers Have Blogs: Doug Cornelius of Goodwin Procter [LexBlog Q & A].
Thanks to Rob La Gatta for making me sound reasonably intelligent and Kevin O'Keefe for putting me on the interview list.
Thanks to Rob La Gatta for making me sound reasonably intelligent and Kevin O'Keefe for putting me on the interview list.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Why Blog? - Why Every Client Should Want an Attorney Who Blawgs
Teri G. Rasmussen of the Ohio Practical Business Law Counsel has a great post on Why Every Client Should Want an Attorney Who Blawgs.
Teri point out that her blawg gets twice as many hits as the website for her 30 person law firm.
This blog only generates about 15% as many site visits as my firm's website. Of course my firm does have 850+ lawyers, dozens of marketing professionals and a professionally designed website. I just have me. Considering the resources on each side of the equation, I think my numbers are staggeringly high.
Teri's reasons why lawyers should blog:
Teri point out that her blawg gets twice as many hits as the website for her 30 person law firm.
This blog only generates about 15% as many site visits as my firm's website. Of course my firm does have 850+ lawyers, dozens of marketing professionals and a professionally designed website. I just have me. Considering the resources on each side of the equation, I think my numbers are staggeringly high.
Teri's reasons why lawyers should blog:
- Knowledge Entreprenuer.
- Communication 101.
- Authenticity and “Real Voice”.
- Quality and Competence.
- Commitment to “the Law” Made Practical.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
CLawBies
It is award season. After Dennis Kennedy honored me with a Blawggie, our friends up North handed me a CLawBie. Steve Matthews put together the Canadian law blog awards.
Jason Eiseman and I are co-winners of the "Friends of the North Award" for reading, commenting and linking to Canadian law blogs.
Toronto has a great law firm knowledge management community that I have enjoyed meeting with in person. I equally enjoy reading what they have to say on their blogs.
Jason Eiseman and I are co-winners of the "Friends of the North Award" for reading, commenting and linking to Canadian law blogs.
Toronto has a great law firm knowledge management community that I have enjoyed meeting with in person. I equally enjoy reading what they have to say on their blogs.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Blawggies Award
Dennis Kennedy put up his annual tradition of The 2007 Blawggies: Dennis Kennedy's Best Law-related Blogging Awards.
KM Space got the award for best new Best New Law-related Blog.
Really, it was an honor just to be nominated. But, I put together a short acceptance speech. I wanted to thank my wife for putting up with me and my children for still thinking I am cool. I want to thank Trudy Ernst, the Director of Knowledge Management, for encouraging me to keep it going. I want to thank the Marketing Department for not stopping me from blogging. I want to thank David Hobbie, of Caselines, for listening to my ramblings about blogging.
(The orchestra begins playing.)
I want to thank Dennis Kennedy and Kevin O'Keefe for their insight into blogging and lawyers in social media. I want to thank . . .
(And we go to commercial.)
KM Space got the award for best new Best New Law-related Blog.
Really, it was an honor just to be nominated. But, I put together a short acceptance speech. I wanted to thank my wife for putting up with me and my children for still thinking I am cool. I want to thank Trudy Ernst, the Director of Knowledge Management, for encouraging me to keep it going. I want to thank the Marketing Department for not stopping me from blogging. I want to thank David Hobbie, of Caselines, for listening to my ramblings about blogging.
(The orchestra begins playing.)
I want to thank Dennis Kennedy and Kevin O'Keefe for their insight into blogging and lawyers in social media. I want to thank . . .
(And we go to commercial.)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Law Firm Blog Policy - Points to Consider
Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog Blog put together a great of list of points to consider as part of a law firm blog policy: Law firm blog policy : Points to consider.
With "blawgs" the big issue to consider is the ethical limitations imposed on lawyer expression. Most states have vague policies on blogs, whether they constitute advertising and the implications of getting unsolicited information from clients and parties adverse to your clients.
Kevin is a great evangelist for lawyers blogging. I drank his Kool-Aid and created my own legal blog: Real Estate Space [http://realestatespace.blogspot.com].
With "blawgs" the big issue to consider is the ethical limitations imposed on lawyer expression. Most states have vague policies on blogs, whether they constitute advertising and the implications of getting unsolicited information from clients and parties adverse to your clients.
Kevin is a great evangelist for lawyers blogging. I drank his Kool-Aid and created my own legal blog: Real Estate Space [http://realestatespace.blogspot.com].
Monday, July 30, 2007
BlawgWorld 2007
TechnoLawyer put together BlawgWorld 2007. It is also combined with the Technolawyer Problem/Solution Guide.
BlawgWorld is 77 blog posts from 77 legal bloggers. The Problem/Solution Guide matches up vendors and their products based on the problem presented.
BlawgWorld is 77 blog posts from 77 legal bloggers. The Problem/Solution Guide matches up vendors and their products based on the problem presented.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Why Blog: Student Blogging May Be Ticket to a Job
The national Law Journal has an article on how law students landed jobs by blogging: Blogging may be ticket to a job (subscription may be required).
For students, it allows potential employers to see their writing ability and knowledge about a subject. It also shows that the student is "motivated, innovative and takes initiative."
For students, it allows potential employers to see their writing ability and knowledge about a subject. It also shows that the student is "motivated, innovative and takes initiative."
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Why Blog?
Ron Friedmann of Prism Consulting put together an excellent presentation on why law firms should use blogs: Blogging: Why the Fuss?
I have been trying to convince my marketing group to convert some of publications into blogs. The hang up seems to be trying to put together a blogging policy and branding (beyond the typical concerns about learning a new technology and attorney concerns).
I set up an example blog using Blogger in a few minutes and transfered over a substantial amount of content in a few minutes. Since it was Blogger it was free.
Cheap and easy is my kind of project.
I have been trying to convince my marketing group to convert some of publications into blogs. The hang up seems to be trying to put together a blogging policy and branding (beyond the typical concerns about learning a new technology and attorney concerns).
I set up an example blog using Blogger in a few minutes and transfered over a substantial amount of content in a few minutes. Since it was Blogger it was free.
Cheap and easy is my kind of project.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Insurance company refuses to cover law firm's blog
The New Jersey Law Journal is reporting that An Insurance company refused to cover a law firm's blog.
As Ron Friedmann reported, there is a distinct lack of blogs produced by large US Law firms. Anecdotally, most law blogs (blawgs?) I find are produced by smaller firms.
There are the advertising limitations on law firms that impacts blogs. Bar overseers are struggling with how to deal with the web presence of law firms and how they should be treated.
I understand the liability concerns that come with attaching the firm's brand to a blog: the possibility of the blog being considered legal advice or the inadvertent creation of a lawyer-client relationship.
There is also a question of removing posts that are no longer valid due to changes in law or are found to be inaccurate.
Ultimately, the biggest problem with blogs is getting lawyers to contribute to them. As with all knowledge management tools, content is king. Convincing a lawyer to make contributions on regular basis will be a difficult task.
Nonetheless, my firm is working on a blogging policy and has identified one of its regular publications for a blog pilot. This publication should be an excellent fit since it is published weekly and is full of substantive content. The process is already in place for a weekly mass email of the publication as a PDF file. Conversion to a blog will give it a much broader audience.
As Ron Friedmann reported, there is a distinct lack of blogs produced by large US Law firms. Anecdotally, most law blogs (blawgs?) I find are produced by smaller firms.
There are the advertising limitations on law firms that impacts blogs. Bar overseers are struggling with how to deal with the web presence of law firms and how they should be treated.
I understand the liability concerns that come with attaching the firm's brand to a blog: the possibility of the blog being considered legal advice or the inadvertent creation of a lawyer-client relationship.
There is also a question of removing posts that are no longer valid due to changes in law or are found to be inaccurate.
Ultimately, the biggest problem with blogs is getting lawyers to contribute to them. As with all knowledge management tools, content is king. Convincing a lawyer to make contributions on regular basis will be a difficult task.
Nonetheless, my firm is working on a blogging policy and has identified one of its regular publications for a blog pilot. This publication should be an excellent fit since it is published weekly and is full of substantive content. The process is already in place for a weekly mass email of the publication as a PDF file. Conversion to a blog will give it a much broader audience.
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