Legal blogging group highlights for September 3 – 9, 2010

About a month ago, a marketing technology consultant asked the question,

"Do you (attorneys) feel that the participation of non-lawyers (ie: marketers) in this ‘Legal Blogging’ group is useful? Or do you prefer to see comments from your lawyer constituents?"

The discussion has heated up over the past week, and it’s a relevant yet somewhat controversial topic.

This concern over non-lawyers sharing in discussions is rooted in some truth: the tendency for online communities to fall prey to spammers. Says an Edmonton, CA will and estate planner:

I understand the reason this question was asked, I believe. I recently left another LinkedIn group because the posting was dominated by people marketing their resume-writing services and job-hunting services, even though job searching was in no way germane to the group.

Not all non-lawyers are spammers, however. This will and estate planner continues:

I can certainly see the value in the participation of non-lawyers such as paralegals, financial planners, insurance representatives, trust officers, charitable giving specialists, business owners, journalists, elder care specialists, blogging coaches and many others.

A broad range of experiences can add value and perspective to a single topic. A legal marketer adds:

The most successful businesses — even professional firms — understand and leverage the value of best practices from other industries and marketers.

It’s important to remember that lawyers are not always the only individuals involved in a blog, particularly one hosted by a large firm; marketing and business development people frequently help instigate, manage and maintain their firms’ blogs. Therefore, their insight can be very valuable.

However, participation in any community should always be about utilizing common sense. In the words of a San Francisco trial lawyer: 

Sometimes a question is more specific to the lawyers on the list. E.g., "Lawyers, did you find it difficult or easy to learn to use [fill in the blank]?" While a consultant may have an informed opinion on that, sometimes lawyers want to hear from other lawyers who don’t have a direct financial interest (such as being a certified/approved consultant for [fill in the blank]).

Even lawyers are not immune from sharing spam-like material, consciously or not. As a group moderator, I do my best to delete posts and discussions that are not related to legal blogging or social media as it relates to lawyers, no matter how well-written, well-intentioned, or charitable these may be. Please don’t take offense, and keep the good content coming.