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Want to break your law firm’s ignorance on blogging? Be the best informed person in the room.

August 15, 2009

Reading Seth Godin’s post ‘Willfully ignorant vs. aggressively skeptical,’ about challenging the status quo got me thinking about my preparation for an upcoming speaking engagement.

I’m on a couple panels at the ILTA (International Legal Technology Association) Conference at the end of the month, one being on blogs. Asked by co-panelists employed by law firms what I wanted to address, I told them I wanted to challenge attendees to think bigger, to not be afraid to rock the boat at their law firms, and to share with attendees what they really needed to know about blogging to achieve success. I’m a believer that a little inspiration and education can go a long way.

I was told that sounded more like a keynote speech and that the blog session needed to be focused on ‘the realities’ of law firms. That law firms may not be ready to blog so perhaps internal blogs could be used as a test. That lawyers in law firms were not ready to network with their target audience through the Internet for client development – law firm blogs may be best tailored to better distributing email newsletter-like content.

I was told I wasn’t inside a law firm so I didn’t understand the reality of things. That to tell attendees how blogs work in the truest sense would not give them the information they truly need. Inspiring them to bring about change in their law firms would only lead to frustration on the attendees’ part and lead to them hitting their heads against a wall.

To me that seemed like the goal was to keep attendees in the dark so that they would not hurt themselves or ruffle feathers at their law firms. And God forbid we challenge people in law firms to change the status quo.

Working in a law firm for almost 20 years and working with law firms on networking through the Internet the last 10, I’ve found breaking through the ignorance to be the greatest challenge to changing the status quo. I’ve also found a combination of education on the subject combined with a challenge to do better – for you personally and your law firm to be the best method to break through this ignorance.

Seth’s post nailed what I believe.

If you want to change what your boss believes, or the strategy your company is following, the first step is to figure out how to be the best informed person in the room.

How do you become informed? Like anything else, through reading, meeting people (online or offline) who are willing to share their expertise, practicing what you are learning, and ultimately teaching others.

Fortunately for you as a lawyer or other legal professional, the Internet community is made up of people who give. You can have fun while becoming informed.

  • Read blogs written by thought leaders, in the law and outside the law.
  • Engage thought leaders and other people with like interests who are similarly situated through your own blog. A blog on either what you enjoy professionally or personally will get you the needed experience.
  • Go to conferences, legal and non-legal, where speakers challenge you to think differently. The legal industry has too much of lemmings following each other, even if it means off a cliff.
  • Start to make your case within your law firm. Ask co-workers, including the firm’s management, if they’d like to know why all the fuss in Corporate America about social media. Ask them if they’d like to see how competitor lawyers and law firms like are using social media to grow their practices. You’re now becoming a real asset to the firm.

Life’s too short to accept the status quo. Succumbing to law firm politics leads to stress that makes a job no fun. You were made to achieve greater heights.

Become informed and break through the ignorance.