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Practical Paralegalism Talks to Carolina Paralegal News About Paralegal Blogs

By Lynne DeVenny

Kimberly "Kay" Johnson, a paralegal and freelance writer for Carolina Paralegal News, recently interviewed me for an article about paralegal blogs, which appeared in the June 2010 issue, available online here. I'm honored to be included with the other terrific bloggers, and Kay kindly gave me permission to share the written portion of my interview as follows:

1. What is the purpose of your law blog?
Practical Paralegalism celebrates paralegals and other legal staffers - and shares a few cautionary tales (mainly for educational purposes). With so many blogs and publications focusing on attorneys, I wanted a place online to recognize the other critical part of the legal team: the talented staffers whose work is necessary to the practice of law today.

2. What event/decision prompted you to start a law blog?
The book I co-wrote with my supervising attorney, Workers Compensation Practice for Paralegals (Carolina Academic Press, 2008) had been published earlier in the year. I found I enjoyed writing for paralegals. Inspired by some of my favorite legal blogs, such as Above the Law and Legal Blog Watch, I decided a paralegal blog was the way to go. There aren't many paralegal blogs in the blawgosphere, so I hoped there was room for one that focused on paralegal news, legal humor, technology and career development.

3. What process do you use to select the content for the blog?
a. How often do you update your blog?
b. Is there a topic that you would not cover in your blog? If so, what is it?
I follow current legal and technology news and try to feature content that both engages and educates my readers. With the thousands of legal blogs available today, a blogger's challenge is to offer content that creates a loyal community of readers. I generally update Practical Paralegalism several times a week. As far as topics that I won't cover, I don't share information that breaches client confidentiality.

4. Did you have the computer skills to create the blog?
a. If so, was the blog easy to create?
b. If not, how did you learn the computer skills necessary to create the blog?
c. If you outsource the construction of the blog, why?
There are several free blogging tools available that don't require substantive computer skills, such as Blogger, the Google platform I currently use. While a simple blog is not difficult to set up, creating an attractive template and deciding how to make the best use of the limited space on your site is more challenging. More advanced blogging skills include learning how to add sophisticated elements to your posts, such as video, as well as mastering marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to bring traffic to your blog. I learned these skills on-the-job, by reading a lot and studying other blogs. Since Practical Paralegalism is an unpaid labor of love, I couldn't afford to outsource its construction, but did have help from my technologically-savvy spouse when we upgraded the template last year.

5. What do you want the legal community to gain, to learn from your blog?
I want to raise the profile of the paralegal profession and recognize the many educated, intelligent and multi-talented legal staffers working behind the scenes, as well as provide information for career development. And some posts are simply intended to entertain readers. The legal profession can be stressful and fast-paced. Sometimes we need a place to go where we laugh at ourselves.

6. Describe the easiest part of maintaining your blog?
The easiest and most fun part is sharing inspirational stories about paralegals.

7. Describe the challenging part of maintaining your blog?
The most challenging part is finding the time to update Practical Paralegalism consistently, although the more you blog, the easier it gets.

8. What type of feedback do you receive from your blog?
a. From the legal community?
b. From the non legal community?
I've been fortunate to receive positive feedback from legal professionals across the country, including nationally recognized legal bloggers that I respect and admire. I also get a lot of private email from readers commenting about stories or asking questions, which is appreciated. I don't hear so much from people who aren't legal professionals, although my teenage daughter shows my blog to her business technology classmates.

9. What advice would you give to a paralegal that is interested in starting and maintaining a blog?
The blawgosphere definitely needs more dedicated paralegal blogs. If you're seriously thinking about blogging professionally, check your employer's social media policies, get your supervising attorney's blessing, have a plan for your content and commit to publishing a post at minimum several times a month. I see too many would-be bloggers enthusiastically start blogs, post a few times and then disappear. A great outlet for paralegals who don't want to make the commitment to their own blogs is to write guest posts for already established blogs.

Related Post: Welcome the New Paralegal Bloggers on the Block

Full post as published by Practical Paralegalism on July 15, 2010 (boomark / email).