Legal Marketing & PR

How NOT To Use Twitter in the Legal Profession

Posted on July 08, 2009
In the online legal community, we talk and blog and tweet at length about ways lawyers use Twitter and other social media tools to network and get business. We talk about getting noticed, building relationships, and sometimes even garnering recommendations and referrals...

Is Your Law Blog Accessible to People With Disabilities?

Posted on June 08, 2009
When I recently attended SOBCon, a blogging and social media conference in Chicago, my favorite presentation was given by my friend Glenda Watson Hyatt on the topic of blog accessibility for people with disabilities. Her presentation, which she has made available as a free ebook titled How POUR is Your Blog? Tips for Increasing Your Blog’s [...

Can We Honestly Measure the ROI of Online Relationships?

Posted on May 05, 2009
This weekend I attended SOBCon, a social media conference, in Chicago. The theme of this year?s conference was ?the ROI of Relationships? which, I must admit, stirred up my skeptical side a bit. How does one measure the return on investment of a relationship online? The cost/benefit of a relationship is difficult enough to weigh [...

A Trio of Twitter for Lawyers Discussions

Posted on April 27, 2009
Blogs and Twitter for Lawyers Webinar Last week,  Rocket Matter and Grant Griffiths put on a free webinar on how social media can help lawyers grow their practices. I missed the webinar but was happy to find out this morning that an MP3 recording was posted at the Rocket Matter blog...

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Weekend Reading: ABA Techshow Edition

Posted on April 19, 2009
I’ve posted a few times about my own experience at ABA Techshow, but I’ve had even more fun reading what others have written about the conference. In case you missed them: My Favorite Tips from ABA TECHSHOW 2009 at The Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success The Best of ABA?s Tecshow at Avvo Blog Richard Susskind’s Keynote Speech at [...

ABA Techshow: Kevin O?Keefe on Twitter for Lawyers

Posted on April 13, 2009
The first panel I attended at ABA Techshow was called All aTwitter: What?s the Buzz about Microblogging? The panel was made up of Kevin O?Keefe (@kevinokeefe), Tom Mighell (@tommighell), Catherine Reach (@catherinereach), and Dominic Jaar (@dominicjaar)...

ABA Techshow: Bringing Networking Home

Posted on April 05, 2009
As many of you who follow me on Twitter @lawfirmblogger already know, I attended ABA Techshow here in Chicago this weekend. This was my first time attending, and I’ll admit I was a bit apprehensive; despite my chattiness on Twitter etc, I tend to have a bit of social anxiety in big crowds...

Social Networking: Changing More Than How I Do Business

Posted on April 05, 2009
This is a follow-up post to ABA Techshow: Bringing Networking Home. Part of my joy in attending ABA Techshow came from being able to meet up with folks I already knew. I did run into a few folks I knew from my past life (haha) at DLA Piper, and I met up with a few [...

What Is the Purpose of Your Law Blog?

Posted on March 31, 2009
Yesterday in Kevin O’Keefe’s LinkedIn Legal Blogging group someone asked blogging lawyers a few questions, one of which was “What is the purpose of your blog?”  I think it’s a great question, and I would love to know all of your answers...

Weekend Reading in the Law Blog Community

Posted on March 29, 2009
Law firm websites : Do all lawyers need them? at Real Lawyers Have Blogs Kevin O’Keefe suggests that a website alone won’t do the job, but that blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networking sites are much more effective methods of getting the best legal work over time...

Ads on Law Blogs? Are We Really That Desperate?

Posted on March 18, 2009
I rarely read Darren Rowse’s Problogger, but today’s headline got my attention: Should Legal Blogs Be Monetized - If so?. How? In his post, Darren says he doesn’t “pretend to be an expert in the legal blogging niche” and goes on to discuss ways a legal blogger might monetize his site with ads...

Interview with Susan Cartier Liebel on Solo Practice University

Posted on March 16, 2009
Susan Cartier Liebel of Build a Solo Practice was nice enough to take the time to let me interview her about Solo Practice University. I’ve been reading Susan’s blog and chatting with her on Twitter for what seems like a lifetime in internet years, so I was thrilled when she agreed to chat with [...

Weekend Reading in the Law Blog Community

Posted on March 07, 2009
Social Media Best Practices for Law Schools (Part 1) at Social Media Law Student Laura Bergus shares her adventures in pushing her law school to get real about social media. Do a Post Series on Your Blog at Blog for Profit Grant Griffiths, in the last day of his 28 Days to Build a Successful Blog series, offers [...

Law Blog vs Lawyer Website: What?s the Difference?

Posted on February 24, 2009
Lots of lawyers ask me why they should have a blog, or if they should have one. If they haven’t heard much about blogging, one of their first questions is often “What’s the difference between a blog and a website?” Here’s my response: Your law firm website is the online version of a marketing kit...

Interview with Virginia Construction Law Blogger Christopher Hill

Posted on February 20, 2009
Twitter has introduced me to some genuinely good people — and some of them are lawyers! One of these very awesome folks is Chris Hill, a Virginia construction lawyer with the Richmond firm DurretteBradshaw, PLC. Chris blogs at Construction Law Musings...

Why Old School Marketing Won?t Work For Your Law Blog

Posted on February 17, 2009
When lawyers contact me for law blogging tips, most of them have heard that blogging is a great marketing tool. Blogging is relatively easy (compared to updating a website), it’s pretty cheap (compared to print-marketing), and it often gets results faster (and better) than other types of marketing...

Blawging Lawyers Has Cured My Insomnia

Posted on February 16, 2009
It seems like just a few weeks ago that Grant Griffiths (aka ?The Blawgfather”) told me about an awesome new project he and Michael Martine (aka “The Remarkablogger”) were collaborating on called Blawging Lawyers. I have a heck of a lot of professional respect, as well as personal admiration, for both of these guys...

Social Media for Lawyers ? a Lesson in Technology and Humanity

Posted on February 05, 2009
Yesterday on Twitter, I caught a tweet from @ErikMazzone of Law Practice Matters. I had been working on a difficult project and was in the mood for a humor break, so I clicked through to read Erik?s post Social Networking Humor From My New Favorite Blog, which led me to spend a few minutes taking in the [...

How to Get Comments on Your Law Blog (and How NOT To)

Posted on February 03, 2009
A lot of lawyers ask me how to get comments on their law blogs. My response to their question is usually this: “Who are you hoping will comment?” Fellow lawyers? The general public? Potential clients? If you determine who you’re targeting, it’s much easier to figure out how to reach them… Certain folks hang out at certain places, [...

Three Tips for New Law Bloggers

Posted on January 26, 2009
Last week a lawyer I?m connected with on LinkedIn asked me ?If you had three quick, simple tips for a new blogger what would they be?? I thought it was a good question. Here were my answers: 1) Know who you’re blogging for and why. 2) Understand who your potential reader is and how to connect with [...

Do You Use Video On Your Law Firm Blog?

Posted on January 14, 2009
What Can Video Add to a Lawyer Blog? In browsing YouTube the other day, I came across a video interview done by attorney Andrew J. Smiley: The interview led me to his Injury Lawsuit Blog, which utilizes video in a way that seems to be working for him...

Catching Up With The Legal Blogging Community

Posted on January 10, 2009
A New Year, an New Reading List Ever take a break from blogging and feel like you’ll never catch up again? Yeah, me too… There’s no way to turn back time and get to everything, is there? But going through my feed reader and blog list this morning, I’ve found a few – ok, more than a [...

Community Creation Inspiration: Calling for Guest Bloggers at Your Law Blog

Posted on December 14, 2008
Should You Open Your Blog Doors to Guests? Today Bill Marler put out a Call for Guest Bloggers on Food Safety and Food Law, which I thought was pretty cool. Even cooler? He’s opening his blog’s doors to the industry and the defense. What’s so cool about Bill Marler? Well, many things...

How Does Your Law Firm Use Social Media?

Posted on December 02, 2008
How Howard Rice Uses Social Media I’m always interested to learn about the different ways lawyers and law firms use social media, so I was excited to find this video about how Howard Rice uses social media to recruit law students. How is Your Law Firm Using Social Media? Every day on Twitter and LinkedIn, I watch lawyers [...

Social Media Law Student: an Experiment by Rex Gradeless

Posted on November 30, 2008
Can Social Media Help a Law Student Get a Job? That’s one of the questions law student Rex Gradeless is asking on his new blog Social Media Law Student.  Rex Gradeless is a third-year law student at Saint Louis University School of Law, specializing in Civil Litigation...

Twitter for Lawyers: Using TweetDeck

Posted on November 21, 2008
TweetDeck for Easy Organization of Twitter Checking your messages from twitter.com?s web interface isn?t the most efficient way to do things. It also only catches any @replies that begin with your username. So if, for example, I send a message that says ?Hey @you, do you do Chapter 7 bankruptcies or just Chapter 11?? my message [...

Closed Comments: Don?t Make This Mistake at Your Law Blog

Posted on November 18, 2008
Are You Talking To Me or With Me? My ironic moment of the day: I found the ABA Journal’s article Web 2.0 Still a No-go via Twitter, tweeted by Michael Lubofsky (aka @lawmarketing). I was fascinated by the article and had something to say. And hey, abajournal...

Law Blog SEO: the Good and the Bad

Posted on November 17, 2008
Which Kind of SEO Do You Want on Your Lawyer Blog? My last post (Is SEO Killing Your Law Firm Blog?) has gotten me a few emails from folks asking where I draw the line between good SEO and bad. It’s a fine line, but my boilerplate answer is that good use of SEO doesn’t interfere [...

Is SEO Killing Your Law Firm Blog?

Posted on November 11, 2008
Remember Humans? They Use Search Engines, You Know… SEO (search engine optimization) is important to any website or blog, of course. But more important is not losing sight of the people using those search engines. Example: I’m currently in the top spot for “law firm blogger” in google, but if you clicked through and didn’t find any [...

Launching a Lawyer Blog: Your Appearance Matters

Posted on November 03, 2008
Make Your First Impression a Good One! If anything, your appearance matters more online than off, because folks will judge you faster. The average web browser spends 4 seconds taking you in before deciding whether you’re worth getting to know. You wouldn’t show up to court in cut-offs and sandals; why show up on the web looking [...

Twitter for Lawyers: Networking in 140 Characters or Less

Posted on October 30, 2008
Time Suck or Valuable Networking Tool? You Be The Judge! In case you haven’t heard of Twitter yet, it’s a free online networking tool based on the question “What are you doing?” Those random thoughts not interesting enough to make it to your blog have at last found a home! Finally, folks who are interested in knowing [...

Successful Law Firm Blogs Have Personality

Posted on October 26, 2008
#1 Mistake of Law Firm Blogs: Reporting Just the Facts Folks can find the facts anyplace on the web. Chances are, if they’ve landed on a law firm blog, they’re looking for more than what has already been reported by the Associated Press. As is true anyplace in the blogosphere, people come to your blog to [...