AmLaw 200 law firm blog growth in line with law firm blog growth
Just asked by a reporter this evening why I think so few AmLaw 200 law firms have blogs. This followed posts the last few days from Ron Friedmann, of Prism Legal Consulting, San Diego lawyer Dan Hull, Carolyn Elefant of AmLaw’s Legal Blog Watch saying not many large law firms were blogging.
With respect to Dan, Ron, and Carolyn, all leaders in innovation, the fact is AmLaw 200 law firms are blogging at a rate that’s equal to or exceeding the rate of smaller law firms.
Ron’s complied this list of nine AmLaw 200 firms who are blogging with “firm-branded blogs.”
This list does not include these that I know of on a quick look, conceding some of the blogs just say which firm the the lawyer is with, enough for me:
- Cathy Kirkman of Wilson Sonsini.
- McGuire Woods employment law blog.
- SCOTUS branded by Akin Gump, offering the firm high very profile for appellate work before the Supreme Court; presumably, the blog was also a big factor in Akin Gump’s courting and handing over chair of their Supreme Court practice group to Tom Goldstein, who’s been practicing for only 11 years.
- Lindquist & Vennum’s branded Corporate Securities Regulation blog.
So that’s at least thirteen AmLaw 200 firms or 7% of such firms. If 7% of all the law firms in the country were blogging that would be approaching 3,500 firms. I’m not sure we’re there yet.
LexBlog also has blogs for three more AmLaw 100 firms in the works, one (top 50 firm) I expect will go live this week. That will take it to sixteen AmLaw 200 firms blogging or 8% within a month or so. If 8% of the firms in the country were blogging we’d be approaching 4,000 firms.
Plus LexBlog is in serious discussions with a number of AmLaw 200 firms, all of whom contacted us. With this and the above I see the growth of large law blogs mirroring, if not exceeding blog growth for smaller firms.
The reason the blog growth for AmLaw 200 law firms does not greatly exceed the blog growth in small firms, and it may already be, is that Chief Marketing Officers, Business Development Directors, and Administrative Partners in those firms rightfully want to protect the brand of firm by making sure they do blogs right.
Doing marketing incorrectly, especially something that brings as much exposure to a lawyer or practice group as a blog, can be a liability if not done correctly. Investigation of what blogs are, how they can be used by the firm, deciding on a vendor, establishing blog policies takes some time. Demands on marketing and business development people in some large firms may prevent the immediate decisions that lawyers or innovative marketing professionals in smaller firms can make.
Blogs are here to stay and just like large law firms all have websites, we’ll all soon see the day when the vast, vast majority of the AmLaw 200 have blogs – and in the case of most AmLaw 200 firms, multiple blogs.