Large law firms discover blog success : National Law Journal
"No longer viewed as just forums for law gossip or associate griping, blogs are becoming a marketing tool for large law firms eager to create a buzz about their practice areas," reports The National Law Journal in a article (reg req'ed) this week.
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton of Los Angeles, Davis Wright Tremaine of Seattle, McGlinchey Stafford of New Orleans and other big firms have unveiled blogs recently that focus on particular areas of the law or specific statutes. Some blogs include open discussions that allow reader comments, while others are less interactive.All, however, are geared toward casting specific legal information -- and the firm's name -- into the World Wide Web.
The growing popularity of large-firm blogging represents a kind of evolution in the use of the technology, which up until about a year ago appeared to be largely the domain of individual lawyers and small practices.
Ain't it great that these are also all LexBlog clients. We must be doing something right.
Anthony Rollo, head of McGlinchey Stafford's consumer class action defense group and co-editor with Hunter Twiford of The Class Action Fairness Act Blog said "It's clearly an evolving area within the big firms. CAFA, a law that expanded federal court jurisdiction over class actions, is an ideal blog topic because it is specific to a certain kind of litigation -- class actions -- but one that potentially affects all such cases."
Sheppard Mullin, a 410 attorney firm has launched six different blogs to which lawyers from various practice groups contribute. Vickie Spang, chief marketing officer for the firm highlighted the advantages of blogs for the Journal.
The blogs, which cover antitrust, bankruptcy, securities and other subjects, are more efficient and effective than the electronic newsletters that the firm previously sent to subscribers. The blogs get much more readership than the newsletters received. [She] estimates that the antitrust blog alone receives about 2,200 hits per day... and that convincing the firm's partners to launch the blogs took some effort, but 'they soon saw the light.
The day will soon come when most practice areas, if not most lawyers, in large law firms will be publishing blogs.
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