Real Lawyers Have Blogs : Advice On Law Blogs and Social Media

Following up on my last posts (here and here) questioning the value of law firm video, I'm concerned we may have let the crazies out when it comes to law firm video. Or maybe it's just legal vendors preying on law firm marketing lemmings who love being 'on the cutting edge with Web 2.0.'

Whatever, here's a report into Above the Law from last week.

'Howrey is doing a film shoot in the lobby of its DC office... Multiracial attorneys in suits everywhere... Looks serious.'.....'A few minutes ago, I walked through my building's lobby to go out and get lunch. On the way, I was surprised to find the lobby lit up like a movie set. A few dozen young folks in suits -- many of them holding cell phones -- stood in a big group, listening to some guy shouting some directions. I chatted up the security guard at the front desk, who told me that Howrey was shooting a commercial.'

'From what I can tell, the whole scene will make for a fairly lame ad: 'Hire Howrey -- we stand around in suits, smiling and cell-phoning.' Perhaps the worst-case scenario would be Howrey trying to play off of the Verizon cast-of-thousands ads....'

'On my way back, I noticed that they have stacks of life-sized photos of people up against the wall. Maybe they decided to replace their associates with cardboard stiffs? (Some would say that, at Howrey, they did that years ago.)'

You guys at large law may think video is giving you an edge, but it's entirely possible, your target audience is laughing at you behind your back. Above the Law is probably the most widely read blog or news website in the profession.

And despite Martindale-Hubbell telling you online video is Web 2.0 (whatever Web 2.0 means), online video has been around for a while. It's just not been vogue enough for legal vendors to sell video production to law firms for big dollars.

Online video for law firms has its place. But the video, like other relevant resources on the net, is going to need to focus on the value to your target audience. A focus on the law firm and it's wonderful people is misguided.

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