Header graphic for print
Real Lawyers Have Blogs On the topic of the law, firm marketing, social media, & baseball

Legal profession has long way to go in understanding value of law blogs

We have the American public increasingly reading lawyers’ blogs for reliable and trustworthy legal information, resources, and insight. We have thousands of leading lawyers across the country blogging for professional and client development.

Then we have Phoenix Attorney Eleanor Miller on the subject of lawyers’ blogs. The following from a comment she made as to law blogs on Scott Greenfield’s blog, Simple Justice.

…I think blogs are ridiculous and extraordinarily egocentric blatherings of people who apparently don’t get enough attention in their day to day lives.

I can’t find much, if anything, on Attorney Miller’s background online (she’s put nothing online I could find). But Miller does disclose in her comment that she is the past president of the Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice and a Certified Criminal Law Specialist by the state bar. Presumably she’s a pretty good lawyer.

What do I take from Attorney Miller’s opinion of law blogs?

  • Many very good lawyers across this country understand little when it comes to the subject of law blogs.
  • Opportunities abound for lawyers looking to improve themselves as a lawyer and do effective client development through blogs. Much of your competition has not a clue.
  • Law blogs are still in their infancy. When leading lawyers feel comfortable calling them egocentric blatherings by lawyers looking for attention, we have a long way to go before the legal blogging community matures.
  • Attorney Miller is lagging on an understanding of the Internet. She’s chosen not to use the power of the Internet to learn, network, and help the public we lawyers serve.

I’m interested in what you take from Attorney Miller’s views.

Obviously not her intention, but the single biggest thing I get from her is inspiration. Inspiration to continue the cause of empowering lawyers to network through the net – to help good lawyers and to to help the public we serve.

  • Jeannie Johnston

    Excellent write up! I also found it interesting that Attorney Miller used the internet as her platform to verbalize her distaste for blogging. She must not get enough attention in her daily life.
    I can remember in 1996 I approached my attorney boss and suggested we build a web site for our firm. He was mortified and commented that we may as well chase a few ambulances. LOL! Now there isn’t many firms without a site!
    Hopefully Attorney Miller will catch on just as law firms have. :)

  • http://www.practicalparalegalism.com Lynne J. DeVenny, NCCP

    Wow, Eleanor. That is HARSH.
    Kevin, you have done a wonderful job of focusing on the positive.
    I think legal professionals today are really missing out if they are not using social media, including blogs, to network and learn.
    There are hundreds of generous, insightful and hard-working legal professionals out there blogging – in order to help keep the rest of us informed, up-to-date and relevant in a fast-changing, technology oriented profession.

  • http://thebelieversguidetolegalissues.blogspot.com/ Stephen Bloom

    Unanticipated positive side-effect of blawging and tweeting: Radically stronger sense of community with my fellow lawyers.
    Oh, and I’ve picked up a few new clients too…

  • http://www.wvbusinesslitigationblog.com Jeff Mehalic

    Kevin,
    You’re right to view her opinion as an opportunity to educate. Either Ms. Miller is not reading any blogs or she’s not reading the right ones.
    Her comment could be applied to blogs pertaining to anything, whether it’s politics, culture, medicine, etc. Of course some blogs on any subject will be “ridiculous and extraordinarily egocentric blatherings of people who apparently don’t get enough attention in their day to day lives,” but those blogs shouldn’t and, I submit, don’t serve as the benchmark for everyone’s else efforts.

  • Argus

    Ms Miller is correct in some ways.
    The fact that Kevin can’t find a lot on Ms Ellie Miller only goes to show he knows nothing about her.
    Yet, Kev touts himself as quite the market hypster.
    So, he used the blogs as some ads to himself to toot his own horn.
    Scott Greenfield(Simple Justice BLOG) did a cyber sniper attack on Ms Miller, it was gratitious hit-job-cyber style, the usual mode, as he toots his own horn.
    It shows the Cyber spaces bring out some real lunatic fringe in some lawyers, maybe Kev cares not to get into that.
    Sure lexis was a computer search, sure the I-net is a communication tool, sure, many lawyers have slick WWW sites, and are marketing guru’s Madison Ave DREAMS, rain making on the WWW.
    However, Kevin misses the points on Scott Greenfield’s total cheap shots on Ellie.
    Hopefully, he is not supportive of cheap shots from afar in NY towards Az attorneys–just because some NY Esq has a modem, an I-connection, and
    thinks he is BLOG KING of the world for his shoddy antics.
    Having said the above, useful information on some blogs and their substative context(content) is jsut excellent. Thank you for that Kevin

  • http://www.palmcoastinjurylaw.com Phil Chanfrau

    An American friend who is married to a Turkish man read my recent blog about using translate.google.com and was very thankful to pick up some useful info to help in communication gaps/glitches in her marriage. Not every morsel of info on our blogs is intended as PR, nor can it be pigeonholed as purely legal. IF it helps, it helps! When the public realizes the power and grace of free information from lawyers it will elevate our pathetic standing.