But as Liz Strauss, an expert in corporate online communications and communities, asks 'is the blog the problem?' A blog, though a relative unknown, is just a tool. Look at the real issue that's scaring you.

Look to the people. Isn’t the issue one of trust and control? The employer is concerned about what employees might write on the blog.

We let employees talk to customers daily — answering email, answering phone call, answering questions at exhibits, and answering letters at the office. We trust what they write on behalf of our company. We once worried in the same way about the telephone and email. Still today any of those customer conversations could be shared internationally or in a court of law.

It comes down to hiring and training employees who make good decisions.

If we trust our ability to choose the right employees and to let them know the values that we hold for our company and our customers, the question of whether we should let them blog falls away as an issue.

A blog is a powerful, customer-facing tool. Like a computer, it’s as strong as the people we choose to use it.

Liz' post is part of a series of blog posts she's doing on the 'The ROI of Trust.' Trust is what it's all about. Does your law firm trust your lawyers to talk about what it is the lawyer likes to do?

I was told recently of one senior lawyer who was told by the firm that they would not be permitted to blog. 'The firm does not allow its lawyers to blog.' The lawyer responded with a question. 'Why am I working at a place that does not trust me to talk about what I do - about a niche in the law I am passionate about?'

Law firms allow its lawyers, even new associates, to use the phone, write letters, go to court, speak with clients, write articles for industry publications, speak at conferences, and to network with existing and potential clients. Why? Because the law firm believes it hired talented lawyers and trained them appropriately as to firm protocols.

Why should blogs be any different?

This per the 'Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki' put together by Easton Ellsworth and John Cass working with Ross Mayfield of Socialtext.

The wiki provides a directory of Fortune 500 companies that have business blogs, defined as: active public blogs by company employees about the company and/or its products, a sampling of their blogs, and links to Fortune 500 business blog reviews.

Law firms competing for legal work from the Fortune 500 companies who are blogging may want to ask themselves why their law firm isn't blogging.

The necessity and effectiveness of law firm newsletters have been long overrated. Partly this is because the content is written by lawyers, and is therefore a reliably tortuous read. Partly it's because a general legal update is of limited interest and use to clients, who don't really have time for FYI documents that don't deal directly with an immediately relevant matter.

But mostly, I think, it's because law firms have never given newsletters the attention, support and priority to be anything other than pretty mediocre and indistinguishable from one another (if I took the banner off two random law firm newsletters and switched them around, could you tell the difference?)

Jordan makes some compelling points. Here's a bulleted list, but do read his whole post.

• Law firms think their newsletters are competing only against other law firm newsletters for clients' attention. They're not. They're competing against every business and industry publication their clients read, usually produced by large publishing companies with decades of experience. Unlike law firms, these companies don't regard their periodicals as a sideline, a nice marketing tool - they treat them the same way law firms treat their work product, as the lifeline of their businesses.
• If you're not producing truly great client publications that command clients' attention and generate respect in the field, drop them. Take the time and energy you've been sinking into these increasingly irrelevant publications and invest them in business development activities that have a chance of actually producing a worthwhile return.
• If you are going to publish content, create a Publishing Division within the firm, and mandate it to create publications that can legitimately be mentioned in the same breath as the leading client industry periodical and become a must-read information source for your clients, one that your competitors are pitting their mediocre content against.
• Top-notch editorial, graphic and web talent is out there by the truckload, often underpaid and underemployed - recruit it and retain it with the same intensity of effort you pour into finding associates who'll be gone in less than three years. Create an editorial board, drawn equally from your sharpest lawyers and your most valued clients in the industry you want to dominate.
• With blogging, get 20 lawyers who are passionate about practice areas important to your strategy, who can and will write frequently and engagingly, and let them charge their blogging hours as billable-equivalent time. Establish your firm as the authoritative blogging source for your clients, and reap the rewards that come from being the trailblazer and front-runner in an emerging area.

Bottom line Jordan says if you're not producing your best, stop doing it. 'You wouldn't send out mediocre, 'good enough' legal work to your clients. Don't pollute your brand by settling for mediocre, 'good enough' client publications.'

Want an example of what Jordan's describing? Look at the Climate Law Update published by Thelen. Breaking news, insight and commentary on climate change and sustainable energy. This blog publication rocks.

Kevin Livingston, Thelen's National Manager of Public Relations, tells me Climate Law Update is already beating the AP on some stories and receiving kudos from clients as well as the media.

Sure, tell me you can't do it. 'We're law firm. Our lawyers are too busy. Our lawyers will never do it. I'm too busy. I have a CMO who doesn't get any of this stuff. We don't have any budget for it.'

Fine. Keep producing the mindless self serving newsletter copy that more than one in-house counsel has told me is a joke. One in-house counsel asked me if the marketing people in law firms knew that in-house counsel were lawyers too. The point being they can follow basic legal issues on their own.

For those of you unwilling to accept mediocrity, take advantage of the forces working to your advantage.

• More people are getting news and information online than off.
• Niche publications can be be published and distributed online in a cost effective fashion, something impossible before the advent of blogs and RSS. See the Long Tail theory.
• Bloggers, lawyers included, are being treated as journalists and reporters. Interviews of people your target audience wants to hear from are easily attainable. Blog posts can be repurposed via RSS syndication to display at major publications (NY Times, Forbes, WSJ) and industry periodicals.
• Niche information for you to comment on and further distribute can be streamed to your desktop via RSS for free.
• Journalism grads, who were paid poorly before and who are are now starved for jobs with in a declining newspaper industry, are equipped to manage a firms news production and distribution.
• The cost of Internet publishing tools (not content management systems) are minimal. They're called blogs.
• A beautiful design for your publication or blog can be designed and developed at reasonable one time charge.
• Effective publishing on a niche topic costs less and offers greater returns than traditional law firm PR and communications.

Sure, you don't understand all this stuff. That's okay. Get someone to help who does.

Effective publishing can be done and those law firms who take advantage of the opportunity are going to do more effective marketing and PR than their competition. And at a lower cost.

The rewards of blogging are measurable in numerous ways. How each dimension is valued depends upon a law firm’s perspective and position in the legal marketplace.  

The single most important factor that contributes to a law firm’s success is attracting and retaining paying clients and lawyers need to spend time each week marketing with this goal in mind. Today, LexBlog has 850 lawyer authors posting to over 350 blogs. Our client retention rate exceeds 96% into our fifth year. Our clients teach us that blogging effectively does build long-term value that helps attract and retain those clients.
 
The checklist that follows encapsulates the benefits of blogging as reported by LexBlog’s clients:

Market Growth (increasing market share)

• Increases firm’s brand recognition in the right places with the desired audience: executives, thought leaders, journalists, etc. (70% of business executives and in-house counsel research lawyers online during the hiring process).    
• Results in new client acquisition (nearly 70% of people research online before selecting a service or product) and greater retention (higher affinity).
• Viral—leads to more referrals from other firms and influencers (blog posts regularly cited by amplifiers—bloggers and reporters).

• Enables firm to showcase law talent and specialized legal capabilities.
• Blog posts, resources and links are easily searchable by readers, in contrast to the intellectual capital buried deep within static websites.
• Regular posts and RSS feeds offer dynamic exposure helping clients and influencers appreciate the firm’s broad, deep knowledge and responsiveness by giving lawyers a prompt way to publish in response to legal developments.

• Blog platform is a superior delivery mechanism for sharing and extending reach of firm’s intellectual capital (legal alerts, email newsletters, etc.) when compared to a static website.
• Blogging professionally leaves positive impressions with clients and influencers that the firm is fresh and innovative.
• Ability to leverage the firm’s intellectual capital enhances information sharing among clients and staff in a timelier fashion increasing communication and satisfaction.

• The dynamic nature of blogs creates a solid Internet presence that enhances the firm’s brand recognition and reputation. Clients are seeing their content being syndicated to Forbes, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Harvard Business publications via RSS feeds.  
• Focused blogs enable firm to enter a new legal market quickly and monitor a legal niche more easily.
• Blog helps the firm maintain influence and status as thought leader (best of breed). 75% of journalists use blogs and RSS to locate experts and to obtain story ideas. Reporters monitor keywords and phrases from RSS aggregators such as Google Blog Search and Technorati.

• Effective blogging results in more clients and referrals over time.
• LexBlog’s turnkey blog solution is an insignificant marketing cost compared to the benefits returned.
• At a minimum, re-purposing email newsletters and legal alerts lowers costs and improves return on marketing dollars spent.

 “Although the revenue generated from my blog exceeds my investment in my blog, the most meaningful ROI may be that which is less readily measured. For example, the relationships with experts in my field, and the positive feedback from lawyers and clients around the country that were made possible through my blog, as well as the format allowing for an organized way to summarize cases and have them available via search terms, would make it worthwhile, for me, even if it did not generate any revenue.”

 “The cost of blogging is an insignificant marketing cost compared to the benefits we are realizing over time.”

 “I would ask what is the ROI for a law firm's website or for their distribution of client alerts? What’s the baseline? Is there ROI for conferences and speaking engagements? Client communications?  All of this requires attorney time.”

The first year cost of LexBlog’s turnkey solution is $4,900. Thereafter, the cost drops to $2,400/year. How many clients does a firm need to acquire to turn $7,300 ($4,900 + $2,400) into a huge ROI? The strategic ROI is much greater than just looking at the financial ROI. Under either scenario, the total blog life cycle profit is much greater than the cost.

Peter Drucker talks about the two key functions of a business: marketing and innovation. The business of law is no different. The effective use of professional law blogs is innovative marketing at its best and would suit Mr. Drucker just fine.

New Internet and communications technologies continue to change our daily lives. It’s possible today to switch easily between e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, blogging and social networking sites.

Teenagers simply use all of these at the same time! But for those who are a bit older, the impact of new technologies is profound. For in-house counsel, it is becoming increasingly important to think about both the challenges and opportunities these changes create.

When it comes to employees blogging (Microsoft has 1,500) Smith advises providing guidance on how to blog legally with a focus on existing company policy.

The goal [for Microsoft] was not to devise entirely new policies for blogging, but to help employees apply existing standards on confidentiality and business conduct in this new online environment. It was important to provide this advice in a form that employee bloggers would find natural and useful—namely, a list of frequently asked questions and best practices posted on an internal ‘blog for bloggers.’

Beyond employee blogs Smith offers other potential uses for corporate blogs:

• Medium for sharing information with employees.
• Make broad communication with employees a two-way street.
• Legal statements from companies not in the form of a traditional press release, but as less formal blog postings.

As to whether the corporate legal department should have a blog and what it should offer, Smith says 'A decade from now these questions may well seem like old hat.'

Bissinger said Will was full of shit, and basically said that blogs were a pile of crap, and that it's a travesty that people today are getting information from blogs as opposed to seasoned journalists. Reminded me of an AmLaw 100 CMO jumping me on blogs. ;)

Seriously though, lawyers and law firm management needs to recognize reality. Younger people, age 40 and below, are not looking to print for news and info - they're looking to the net. And you better understand better than Bissinger that all these blogs are not crap. These blogs are published by some of the most knowledgeable people around - and like it or not, these blogs are read by your target audience.

The average age of newspaper readers is over 50. Ask new lawyers around your office how many subscribe to the local newspaper at home. Let me know if you find anyone who does.

Getting the paper at the bottom of the driveway before a juice and english muffin each morning is as routine as taking a shower for me. But I'm a dying breed.

And those non-subscribers are not missing out on news. They're seeing what to they want to see, and arguably need to see, throughout the day.

Their trusted influencers (friends, bloggers, reporters) turn them onto things they'll find of interest through blogs, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, IM, and all sorts of social media. Better yet for the non-subscribers is that they are seeing the news the day before the people who subscribe to hard copy publications.

Don't get me wrong traditional news is still valuable. Good reporters and columnists continue to be in demand.

But they need to make their content relevant to a growing population getting their news online. Get the content online with a RSS feed. Have an effective Internet presence through blogs, and what are becoming mainstream, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, so that people on these mediums get familiar with you and your content.

Gain the trust of people using social media and those folks will spread word of your content to the masses. There's a stream of comments with links flowing through the Internet each minute of the day in a fashion that most folks cannot fathom. You need to get your content in that flow.

Unfortunately for most law firms, they have no desire to learn social media. Some just flat out say it's all bullshit - like Bissinger. Others give it lip service but don't hire or empower people to harness the powers of social media.

Law firms are filled with some of the brightest people in the country. Law firms try to use their intellectual capital to showcase this talent. But articles in print and archived on websites or email newsletters and alerts aren't going to cut it.

Those mediums are irrelevant to a growing population who get content through social media. Not only are you not connecting with the people under 50 who are leading today's businesses, you're increasing the divide.

I have some ideas, but I'd be interested in hearing yours. Share your ideas in comments or an email, and I'll post your ideas next week, and, if you wish, attribute to you the points you made.

Not wanting to jump the discussion, perhaps just to prime the well, here's a post on the ROI of blogs from 18 months ago (4.5 years ago in Internet years). Referenced Charlene Li's comments on the subject and made the following points:

• Enhancing the reputation of lawyer(s) or professional(s) as reliable and trusted experts
• Picking up more speaking engagements
• Being quoted as an expert by trade and mass media more often
• Enhancing one's search engine rankings
• Reducing the cost of content distribution to clients and prospective clients
• To showcase the lawyer(s) or professional(s) intellectual capital when meeting with prospective clients
• Make content easily accessible to journalists (40% use blogs as source at least once a week) and other users via RSS
• Monitoring RSS feeds on topics relevant to the blog and engaging in the discussion via the blog and commenting on other blogs
• Connecting with journalists via their blogs

Thanks for sharing sharing your ideas.

• 49% growth in larger law firm blogs in the last 6 months.
• 4 to 5 new law blogs launching each day.

Why? Conservatively:

• The busiest business people (potential large law clients) read blogs via RSS.
• 21% of senior executives read business-related blogs at least once a week.
• 96% of Fortune 1000 senior executives are familiar with blogs.
• 30% of executives have a thorough understanding of the term "blog" and its impact.
• Blogs are being cited by mass media daily (see WSJ, Business Week, Forbes, NYT, trade journals, etc.)
• 75% of reporters use blogs/RSS to locate experts (e.g. lawyers) for interviews, insight on stories and ideas. See Insurance Coverage Law Blog and Connecticut Employment Law Blog for two client examples.

Against this backdrop, consider:

• Large law firm competitors are blogging and developing an edge (full disclosure: some are LexBlog clients).
• Blogs take less time and expense than other forms of marketing but return more (LexBlog clients will confirm).
• Similarly situated firms do not have a problem maintaining a blog. (LexBlog clients will confirm).
• Dynamic blogs are better marketing tools than email newsletters/PDF articles buried in static websites.
• Blogs drive traffic to firm websites but websites don't necessarily drive traffic to blogs.

Large law firm websites talk about "innovation" and "...cutting-edge technologies to serve clients..." Philosophically, given this landscape, how can such a law firm afford not to make the time and commitment to blogging?

Kevin's addition to LexBlog last fall has been a great fit. He's got a large law background (including the mandatory judicial clerkship) followed by almost two decades of work in business development with emerging technology businesses. This allows LexBlog to be more empathetic and responsive to the needs and concerns of large law firms.

At the risk of this post becoming a LexBlog ad (which you'll find dam few of on here), if you're working in a large law firm and considering blogs, drop Kevin an email.

Good guy that's not going to try and sell you anything. For him, it's all about building long term relationships and making sure your law firm and LexBlog are a good fit for each other.

Kevin spends about 90% of his time educating and helping large law firm personnel navigate through the logistical, legal, and political obstacles associated with blogs in the large firm.

Growth highlights:

• Over 25% of AmLaw 200 law firms have blogs.
• 10% of AmLaw 200 law firms have more than one blog.
• 36% growth in last 6 months in the number of AmLaw 200 law firms publishing blogs.
• 49% growth in last 6 months in total number of blogs being published by AmLaw 200 law firms (some firms have more than one blog).

• 53 of the 2007 AmLaw 200 firms were blogging
  
• Those 53 firms were responsible for a total of 110 blogs
• 82 of the 110 blogs to be firm branded; the remaining 28 blogs were not branded. "Firm branded" blogs are those where the firm's name and/or logo are prominently displayed, indicating that the blog is more a product of the firm than of the individual author writing it.
  
• 16 blogging firms are LexBlog clients; those 16 firms are behind 42 of the 110 blogs AmLaw blogs.
• Of the non-LexBlog client blogging firms, there were a range of other platforms used: 24 were using Blogger; 8 were using Typepad; 2 were using Movable Type; 3 were using Justia; 2 were using WordPress; and 29 had their blogs published and hosted through other services or on personal domains.

See a list of all the blogging AmLaw200 firms, with links to their individual blogs, after the jump.

Note: a icon next to a blog's name means that blog is produced by a LexBlog client; the icon means that the blog is "new" to the list since our last post.

Law firms with blogs or lawyers blogging (Click link to go to list of blogs by that firm):

• Akin Gump
• Alston & Bird
• Arent Fox
• Baker & Daniels
• Blackwell Sanders
• Blank Rome
• Bracewell & Giuliani
• Bradley Arant Rose & White
• Carlton Fields
• Cooley Godward Kronish
  
• Davis Wright Tremaine
• Day Pitney
• Dechert
• Dewey & LeBoeuf
• DLA Piper
• Dorsey & Whitney
• Dykema Gossett
• Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge
• Foley Hoag
• Fox Rothschild
• Frost Brown Todd
• Goodwin Procter
• Hinshaw & Culbertson
• Holland & Hart
• Hunton & Williams
• Ice Miller
• Jackson Walker
• Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro
• Jones Day
• K & L Gates
• Kilpatrick Stockton
• Kirkland & Ellis
• Littler Mendelson
• Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps
• McGlinchey Stafford
• McGuireWoods
• McKenna Long & Aldridge
• Morris Manning & Martin
• Perkins Coie
• Porter Wright Morris & Arthur
• Powell Goldstein
  
• Proskauer Rose
• Quarles & Brady
• Saul Ewing
• Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold
• Sheppard Mullin
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
• Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
• Stoel Rives
• Sutherland Asbill & Brennan
• Thompson & Knight
• Wilmer Hale
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
• Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice

Originally started by Tom Goldstein – now a partner with Akin Gump – SCOTUSblog is the leading resource on the web for breaking news on the U.S. Supreme Court.

ClimateIntel

The second of two Akin Gump blogs, ClimateIntel provides updates on issues impacting the global climate. It is authored by attorneys from the firm's climate change practice group.

Securities Litigation Blog

Dealing with securities-related matters, and authored by attorneys John Jordak and Susan Hurd of Alston & Bird.

AdvertisingLaw.com

The Arent Fox Advertising Law Blog, though not updated for some time, focuses on advertising law issues.

Benefits Biz Blog

Authored by Baker & Daniels' benefits & executive compensation team, the Benefits Biz Blog covers financial matters.

Fair Use Blog

Blackwell Sanders LLP has four lawyers – Gary Pierson, Pete Salsich III, Geoffrey Gerber and Michael Kahn – operating the Fair Use Blog. In their posts, the attorneys deal with laws pertaining to first amendment and intellectual property issues.

Maryland Intellectual Property Law Blog

Authored by Blank Rome attorney Brian Wm. Higgins, this blog offers IP news and case analysis.

Energy Legal Blog

The Energy Legal Blog is the work of six attorneys from Bracewell & Giuliani’s Energy Practice Group, providing analysis of energy news.

Mississippi Law Blog

A LexBlog product, authored by the attorneys from Bradley Arant and focusing on various legal issues impacting the Magnolia State.

CLASSIFIED: The Class Action Blog

The Class Action Blog is a project from the lawyers and attorneys at Carlton Fields law firm. Content revolves around class action litigation in the Southeastern United States.

In the (Red) Business Bankruptcy Blog

In The (Red) is a blog that covers business bankruptcy issues. It is operated by Robert Eisenbach, an attorney with Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.

Broadcast Law Blog

David Oxenford, David Silverman and Brendan Holland, three broadcast attorneys with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, operate the Broadcast Law Blog. The blog provides information on legal developments in the broadcast world.

Privacy and Security Law Blog

The Privacy & Security Law Blog, another Davis Wright Tremaine project, is updated by a range of lawyers with the firm’s privacy & security practice group. The blog deals with digital privacy issues.

Telecom Law Blog

Davis Wright Tremaine have also developed the Telecom Law Blog. Updated by eight of the firm’s telecommunications attorneys, it provides news on developments in telecommunications law.

Corporate Finance Law Blog

The Corporate Finance Law Blog - written by DWT attorney Joseph M. Wallin - focuses on various tax and finance issues.

Washington Construction Law Blog

The Washington Construction Law Blog is the fifth Davis Wright Tremaine blog on this list. Written by John Parnass and four other DWT lawyers, the blog provides news and commentary on construction developments.

American College of Environmental Lawyers

Not an official DWT but featuring the writings of one of their attorneys, this blog is a forum for members of the ACOEL (a professional association of environmental lawyers) interested in writing on environmental law.

Employer's Law Blog

Day Pitney LLP have entered the blogosphere with their Employer’s Law Blog. Maintained by two editors – Wendy Johnson Lario and Kristine J. Feher – the blog focuses on New York/New Jersey labor law.

Drug and Device Law

The Drug and Device Law blog is a joint project between two lawyers: Jim Beck and Mark Herrmann. It provides commentary from the two attorneys about medical device product liability litigation. Beck is an attorney with Dechert LLP, while Herrmann works as a partner for Jones Day.

The 10b-5 Daily

Lyle Roberts is the blogger behind The 10b-5 Daily, a blog highlighting issues of securities class action litigation. Roberts is a partner with Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Dorf on Law

A law blog focusing on a range of legal issues, authored by Columbia professor – and special counsel to Dewey & LeBouef – Michael Dorf.

Chicago IP Litigation Blog

Written by DLA Piper attorney R. David Donoghue, this blog provides coverage of intellectual property cases taking place in the Northern District of Illinois.

Quirky Questions

An employment law blog authored by Dorsey & Whitney attorney Roy Ginsburg, answering questions that real-world executives & HR professionals encounter on a daily basis.

Airspeed

Stephen Tupper, a private pilot and aviation attorney with Dykema Gossett, writes this blog, where he details both legal and personal elements of aviation.

The Insurance & Reinsurance Blog

Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP operates InsureReinsure.com, The Insurance & Reinsurance Blog. It provides updates on insurance-related litigation.

Emerging Enterprise Center

The lawyers and attorneys at Foley Hoag LLP maintain the firm’s Emerging Enterprise Center blog. Content includes a range of information on business innovation issues.

Foley Hoag Blog

The second of the firm's two blogs, focusing on a wide range of legal issues with which the firm's attorneys are familiar.

Education Law

The Education Law blog is a new blog by Fox Rothschild LLP, focusing on changes within the educational profession. Attorney Karl Romberger, Jr. writes the blog entries.

Pennsylvania Family Law  

The Pennsylvania Family Law blog is written by Charles Meyer of Fox Rothschild. It provides updates and tips on family law issues in Pennsylvania.

Physician Law

Fox Rothschild has also developed the Physician Law blog. Written by attorney Todd Rodriguez, it deals with legal developments that impact physicians.

Tax Litigation

The Tax Litigation blog is another Fox Rothschild project. It is written by lawyer James Dawson, who highlights important tax cases.

Wage & Hour - Development & Highlights

Written by attorney Mark E. Tabakman, this Fox Rothschild blog updates readers with developments on wage & hour laws impacting small and large businesses alike.

HIPPA Health Law

This Fox Rothschild blog focuses on all-things related to health information, and is published by attorney Helen Oscislawski.

Pennsylvania Brownfields & Environmental Law

Writing about environmental developments in the Keystone State is attorney Joel Bolstein, who maintains this Fox Rothschild blog.

Employee Free Choice Act Blog

New Jersey attorney Brian Caufield of Fox Rothschild writes this blog, dealing with labor & employment issues related to the EFCA.

Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog

The Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog is written and published by Francis G.X. Pileggi. An attorney with Fox Rothschild, Francis provides summaries of court cases from throughout Delaware.

Patent Baristas

Patent Baristas is a blog related specifically to patent issues impacting the biotechnology/pharmaceutical worlds. It is written and published by “Editor-in-Chief Barista” Stephen Albainy-Jenei, a patent attorney at Frost Brown Todd LLC.

Business Connections

Frost Brown Todd's global business blog, dealing with global business matters and maintained by the firm's International Services practice group.

Employer Notes

A resource for employment law news and opinions, written by Frost Brown Todd's labor & employment lawyers.

Banking Law

The fourth Frost Brown Todd blog, authored by the firm's banking litigation attorneys. This project serves the financial services industry with news and commentary.

KM Space

Doug Cornelius writes his blog, KM Space, which provides commentary on legal technology. Doug is an associate with Goodwin Procter.

Real Estate Space

Another project by Goodwin Procter's Doug Cornelius, Real Estate Space updates readers with news on real estate law.

Caselines

Goodwin Procter's David Hobbie uses this blog to update readers on litigation knowledge management issues.

Internet Cases

Evan Brown writes the content for Internet Cases, a blog highlighting internet/technology-related legal news. Evan is an attorney at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Chicago.

Health Care Law Blog

Holland & Hart LLP operates the Health Care Law Blog, one of the firm’s three weblogs. Written by attorney Greg Piche, the blog deals with health care issues in the western U.S.

NASD, SEC and Regulatory Defense Blog

Holland & Hart attorney Michael MacPhail writes the content in the NASD, SEC and Regulatory Defense Blog. The blog deals with securities and regulatory defense issues.

Climate Change Law Blog

The third Holland & Hart blog, the Climate Change Law Blog is written by Jim Holtkamp, manager of the firm’s Environmental Compliance Group. Blog content deals with the challenges of climate change.

Immigration Law for Employers

Holland & Hart's immigration law practice writes this blog, meant to inform employers of the ever-changing legal realm surrounding immigration law.

Reasonable Basis

Reasonable Basis, a Typepad-produced blog highlighting developments in false advertising and consumer protection law, is written by Thomas M. Hughes. Tom is a partner with Hunton & Williams LLP.

Daily Dose of IP

Patent attorney Mark Reichel operates his own blog, called the Daily Dose of IP. In his blog, Reichel – an attorney with Ice Miller LLP – provides constant updates on intellectual property law.

Japan Trade Mission

Ice Miller partner Melissa Proffitt Reese detailed her experiences on a late 2007 trade mission to Japan at this blog.

Agribusiness Blog

Detailing the 2008 Indiana agricultural trade mission to Mexico, this blog is updated by Beth Bechdol, Director of Agribusiness Strategies at Ice Miller.

HIPAA Blog

HIPPA Blog is a healthcare-related Blogspot project written by Jeffrey P. Drummond, a partner with Jackson Walker.

Class Action Defense Blog

Michael Hassen of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmano LLP writes the Class Action Defense Blog. In it, he posts updates on class action lawsuits.

Hotel Law Blog

The second Jeffer Mangels law blog, the Hotel Law Blog – written by Jim Butler – provides hotel law updates from an experienced hotel lawyer.

Entertainment Litigation Blog

Jeffer Mangels' newest blog, written by attorney Melvin N.A. Avanzado and dealing with the legal issues that have bearing on the entertainment world.

Sports Law Blog

The Sports Law Blog is a blog published at Blogspot written by Rick Karcher, Michael McCann, Geoffrey Rapp, Greg Skidmore and Howard Wasserman. The blog’s founder, Greg Skidmore, is an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis.

EFCA Updates

A blog regarding the Employee Free Choice Act, maintained by four authors from Kilpatrick Stockton's various offices.

Electronic Discovery Law

K&L Gates operates the Electronic Discovery Law blog. Updated by the firm’s , the blog provides updates on news and legal developments related to e-discovery issues.

Workplace Privacy Counsel

Workplace Privacy Counsel features attorneys from Littler Mendelson's Privacy & Data Protection Practice Group blogging on employment related privacy issues.

Green Patent Blog

Written by San Diego attorney Eric Lane of Luce Forward, the Green Patent Blog covers the unique crossroads of intellectual property and green technology.

CAFA Law Blog

Authored by the lawyers & attorneys at McGlinchey Stafford, the CAFA Law Blog deals with issues related to the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

Suits in the Workplace

Suits in the Workplace is a blog about employment law. It is written by Lou Michels and Rod Satterwhite, partners in the Labor & Employment group at McGuireWoods LLP.

RFID Law Blog

The RFID Law Blog is a blog started by McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. Written mostly by Douglas Farry, chair of the firm’s RFID practice, the blog deals with the growing use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

Open Source Law Blog

Long dormant, this blog from Morris Manning & Martin deals with the law surrounding open source software, and is authored by attorney Paul Arne.

Digestible Law

Digestible Law is a blog produced by the lawyers and attorneys at Perkins Coie Law Firm. The blog deals with Internet law issues.

More Soft Money Hard Law

A campaign finance law blog authored by Perkins Coie attorney Bob Bauer.

Nanotechnology Law Report

The Nanotechnology Law Report is a project of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP. John Monica, Jr. and Michael Heintz write the entries, which focus on nanotechnology news and legal developments.

Federal Securities Law Blog

A blog from Porter Wright providing information on federal securities laws and updates, authored by the firm's corporate finance & securities practice group.

Employer Law Report

Highlighting the legal issues impacting employers nationwide, the Employer Law Report is maintained by Porter Wright's labor & employment practice area.

Export Law Blog

Authored by a trio of attorneys from Powell Goldstein - Clif Burns, Carolyn Lindsey and Illya Antonenko - this blog covers all things export law.

Privacy Law Blog

The eight attorneys from Proskauer Rose LLP’s Privacy and Data Security Practice maintain the Privacy Law Blog. It highlights a range of issues related to privacy law.

E-Discovery Bytes

A practical resource for issues in e-discovery, this blog – maintained by nine attorneys from Quarles & Brady – is the firm's first venture into the blogosphere.

New Jersey Zoning Watch

New Jersey Zoning Watch is one of two blogs operated by Saul Ewing LLP. It deals with various zoning and land use legal developments in the Garden State, and is written by Matthew Schiller, Henry Kent-Smith, Philip Morin III and Jennifer Forrest.

Utility News

The second of Saul Ewing's blogs, Utility News – edited by Saul Ewing associate Edward Lanza – focuses on various issues pertaining to public utility regulation.

Personal Wealth Law News

A blog authored by three attorneys from Saul Ewing (Robert Louis, Kathryn Crary & Ryan Gager), this site is geared at helping readers understand the process of wealth accumulation.

Legal Technology Blog

The Xerdict Group LLC, a subsidiary company of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP, operates the Legal Technology Blog. Written by Kenneth Jones, the Blogspot blog focuses on legal technology trends.

Antitrust Law Blog

Gary Halling and Carlton Varner, lawyers with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP’s Antitrust & Trade Regulation Practice Group operate the Antitrust Law Blog. The blog provides updates on antitrust developments.

Bankruptcy & Restructuring Blog

The 12 attorneys from Sheppard Mullin’s Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practice Group maintain the Bankruptcy and Restructuring Blog. The blog deals with legal updates on bankruptcy and creditors’ rights issues.

Corporate Securities Law Blog

Sheppard Mullin also maintains the Corporate & Securities Law Blog, operated by various attorneys specializing in Securities & Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions.

ESOP Law Blog

The ESOP Law Blog, with a focus on laws related to Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), is maintained by Laurence Goldberg and Lynn DuBois of Sheppard Mullin.

Fashion Apparel Law Blog

Robert Darwell of Sheppard Mullin maintains the Fashion & Apparel Law Blog, tackling legal developments in the fashion, apparel and textile industry.

FCC Law Blog

Sheppard Mullin also maintains the FCC Law Blog. The blog, updated by W. Kenneth Ferree and Erin Dozier of the firm’s FCC & Communications team, deals with issues related to FCC laws.

Financial Institution Law Blog

The Financial Institution Law Blog, operated by Sheppard Mullin, is maintained by six of the firm’s financial lawyers.

Intellectual Property Law Blog

The Intellectual Property Law Blog is another Sheppard Mullin project. Focusing on recent developments in IP law, it is updated by seven of the firm’s IP lawyers.

Labor and Employment Law Blog

The Labor & Employment Law Blog, also run by Sheppard Mullin, is updated by the firm’s labor and employment lawyers. The blog highlights various labor and employment developments.

Real Estate and Construction Law Blog

In Sheppard Mullin’s Real Estate and Construction Law Blog, four of the firm’s real estate specialists blog about developments in the realm of real estate law.

Government Contracts Law Blog

A blog providing readers with updates on developments impacting government contracts, written by Sheppard Mullin's government contracts practice.

Covering Your Ads

Maintained by attorneys from Sheppard Mullin's advertising practice group, Covering Your Ads is a resource for laws surrounding the sports and entertainment world.

Skadden Insider

A gossip blog from two anonymous lawyers employed by Skadden Arps (who occupy the top spot on the AmLaw 200), this site offers news and gossip regarding goings-on at the firm.

Health Care Privacy Law Blog

A blog focusing on privacy & security issues pertaining to the health care idustry, written by Sonnenschein Nath attorney Reece Hirsch and published by Healthcare Informatics.

Food Liability Law Blog

Bringing Stoel Rives to the blogosphere, the Food Liability Law Blog - authored by Seattle lawyer Kenneth M. Odza - deals with emerging legal threats that could potentially impact the food industry.

LNG Law Blog

Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP operate their own blog, the LNG Law Blog. It gives updates on liquefied natural gas (LNG) news.

Law and Insurance

David S. White maintains and operates his own Typepad blog, called Law and Insurance. The blog gives updates on insurance law developments. David is a senior counsel with Thompson & Knight LLP.

Law and the Environment

Law and the Environment is a Typepad blog produced by Scott Deatherage. The blog, which deals with the various facets of environmental law, is one of two produced by Deatherage, who is a partner at Thompson & Knight LLP. 

The New Carbon Cycle

The New Carbon Cycle is the second Typepad blog of Scott Deatherage, focusing on carbon trading laws and policies.

A Legal Blog

A general firm blog from Wilmer Hale, geared at "saluting the worldwide humanitarian pro bono efforts" of the firm.

Silicon Valley Media Law Blog 

Cathy Kirkman, an attorney with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, operates the Silicon Valley Media Law Blog. In her blog, Cathy provides updates on various technology and media-related legal issues.

Startup Company Lawyer Blog

The second of two blogs from Wilson Sonsini attorneys, this project - authored by Palo Alto lawyer Yokum Taku - answers legal and financial questions start up companies may be asking.

China Practice Blog

The first of 12 blogs by lawyers and attorneys at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice law firm, China Mission provides insights into the company’s goal at improving Chinese/American business relationships. It is written by Guanming Fang.

Trade Secrets Blog

The Trade Secrets Blog, by Womble Carlyle’s Press Millen & Todd Sullivan, deals with trade secrets litigation in the southeastern United States.

South Carolina Appellate Law Blog

The South Carolina Appellate Law Blog is written by Womble Carlyle attorney Bill Watkins. It focuses on rulings from various courts in South Carolina.

North Carolina Appellate Law Blog

The North Carolina Appellate Blog is another Womble Carlyle project. Maintained by three bloggers from the firm’s Raleigh Appellate Group – Burley Mitchell, Sean Andrussier and Sarah Buthe – the blog focuses on court decisions in North Carolina.

Commlaw - Mass Media

Maintained by the lawyers and attorneys from Womble Carlyle’s Telecommunications, Cable & Broadcast Group, the Commlaw-Mass Media blog focuses on the broadcast industry.

Commlaw Source

The Commlaw Source blog highlights legal developments related to the telecommunication industry. Content for the blog is written by Womble Carlyle’s Ross Buntrock and Michael Hazzard.

Construction Industry Blog

The Womble Carlyle Construction Industry Blog provides readers with updates on legal developments impacting the construction industry in America. It is written by the firm’s construction lawyers.

Antitrust and Distribution Law Blog

Another Womble Carlyle blog, the Antitrust and Distribution Law Blog deals with antitrust legal activity. Content is written by Jason Hicks.

Mixed Use Development

The Mixed use Development blog, dealing with mixed use real estate development law, is written by three of Womble Carlyle’s real estate attorneys: Pam Rothenberg, John Hagner and Lisa Ruddy.

Community Development and Affordable Housing Blog

The Community Development and Affordable Housing Blog is written by Womble Carlyle's Peter Duffley and Tyler Mulligan.

Fair Labor Standards Act Law Blog

Focusing on impacts of and developments surrounding the Fair Labor Standards Act in the American Southeast, authored by Womble Carlyle's FLSA team (Charlie Edwards, Kimberly Licata, John Pueschel, Richard Rainey and Sheri Robertson).

Unfair Business Practices Blog

Written by W. Mike Holm and Jim B. Kinsel of Womble Carlyle, this blog deals with business conspiracy and other unfair business practices in cases from Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia courts.

Today we start Legal Briefs, a new blog that will be available via a standing link on the right side of Legal Trade, just under Reader Comments and above Categories.

It's a place where members of the Houston legal community may post full press releases and announcements directly to a Chronicle blog.

Some of these announcements also will be covered in this blog or in the newspaper but most won't.

Ideally, this will be used by Houston law firms, lawyers, law schools and law-related groups to announce events, awards, new partners etc.

Today's posts include:

• Young Lawyers Teach HISD Students About Careers in Law
• Epstein Becker Green Wickliff & Hall, P.C to Consolidate Texas Off
• Bracewell & Giuliani offer Tips for U.S. Business Success in United Arab Emirates
• Jackson Walker Welcomes Two New Houston Attorneys
• New Nanotechnology Deskbook from Tracy Hester of Bracewell & Giulianii

If your law firm or legal organization in Houston wishes to participate, e-mail Mary Flood and she'll send you instructions.

The Houston Chronicle has been way ahead of the curve nationally on the effective use of blogs. But this is a first for newspapers as far as I know.

Toby has got a full course load at TechShow, where he'll be speaking on the following panels:

• "VoIP: Should I Converty and What's It Going To Cost Me?", with John Simek (3/13, 8:30-9:30 a.m.)
• "Winning the Beauty Pageant: Catching Corporate Counsel's Eye With Technology", with Ted Banks (3/14, 1:00-2:00 p.m.)
• "Client Retention: Technology to Avoid the Seven-Year Itch", with Carolyn Elefant (3/15, 9:45-10:45 a.m.)
  

1. Rob La Gatta: Does Fulbright & Jaworski have an official blog policy for its lawyers?

Toby Brown: Fulbright does not currently allow blogs due to the perceived ethical risks. Since our marketing department sees potential value in blogs, we continue to watch for specific opportunities to address this policy. We just need to make sure we address ethical concerns as we help move our firm in that direction.

2. Rob La Gatta: As someone in the marketing department at a large firm, do you see technology playing an increasing role in marketing tactics? Aside from blogs, what are some of the prominent technologies being used for marketing purposes by large firms?

Toby Brown: Absolutely. Many of our emerging marketing initiatives are highly technology dependent.

For instance, CRM is a major focus right now. Even though we have had that technology for some time, we are now very focused on using it more effectively to deepen our relationships with in-house corporate counsel departments. Besides, our marketing lists are solely dependent on the CRM system. So another focus is on new methods for improving the data in our CRM app and getting client contacts on the right marketing lists. Once that effort is in place, we will begin more detailed monitoring of marketing campaign success - another technology dependent effort.

Beyond CRM, we see a host of Knowledge Management technologies gaining ground. competitive intelligence tools, "firm experience," firm produced content (e.g. documents) and even alternative billing are on our radar. I interact regularly with our CIO and strategize on what the future holds for our firm.

3. Rob La Gatta: Over the past 6 months, we’ve noticed a bit of an upswing in AmLaw 200 firm-produced blogs. Do you expect to see more growth in this area in the future?

Toby Brown: Yes, and I hope we are an important part of it.

4. Rob La Gatta: You’re speaking at a TechShow panel on VoIP. Why is VoIP valuable to law firms? Have you seen it becoming popular among lawyers?

Toby Brown: VoIP is still a bit of a nebulous term for many lawyers. It is definitely becoming popular in more technology aware populations of lawyers, but hasn't really hit its stride in the legal market. It's value is centered on the ability to integrate traditional phone and voice mail services with every other aspect of communication and information.

I continue to be amazed by the new VoIP applications coming into the market. VoIP, on its own, offers firms a well-defined, short term ROI just because it shares infrastructure with a network. When you combine that ROI angle with the value-add of integrated communications, to me it's a no brainier. As lawyers discover value in using technologies that expand and deepen their client relationships, VoIP and its various value-add tools will become more and more popular.

5. Rob La Gatta: What do you hope to gain from attending the ABA TechShow, both personally and professionally?

Toby Brown: TechShow is a great way to stay in touch with emerging legal technologies and the people driving them. Every year of my involvement has given me some new important trend to watch and at least one new colleague with expertise I find interesting and valuable. The program is always exploring new paths, such as the Going Green and Client Relationship tracks new this year. I'm looking forward to my time in Chicago (minus the cold weather).

Interested in hearing more? Recent LexBlog Q & A posts:

• TechShow Q & A: Adriana Linares, president of LawTech Partners and author of the blog I Heart Tech [3.7.08]
• TechShow Q & A: Reid Trautz, legal consultant and author of Reid My Blog [3.6.08]
• TechShow Q & A: David Bilinsky of Thoughtful Legal Management [3.5.08]
• Bruce MacEwen, legal consultant and author of the law blog Adam Smith, Esq. [3.3.08]
• Mark Obbie, professor at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and author of the legal reporting blog LawBeat [2.28.08]
  

Fact is that the average of the 800 plus lawyers blogging with LexBlog is over 40. I'd guess most of our lawyer clients are more my age, between 45 and 55. I'm 52.

Two reasons.

One, lawyers my age went to law school when the idea of a lawyer marketing or advertising was absurd. Heck, the Supreme Court had just found lawyer advertising legally permissable. Any lawyer marketing their services was the surest lawyer to stay away from - they weren't good enough to get work.

Lawyers just assumed work would come. And it did. Our being a good lawyer spread by word of mouth. The more people became familiar with our skill, the more word spread.

Blogs are back to the future. Good lawyers networking and showcasing their intellectual capital, just online, as opposed to in person, so as to further enhance their reputation. Word of mouth on steroids.

Older lawyers feel a lot more at home networking through blogs to showcase their intellectual capital than being part of more aggressive marketing or advertising.

Second, lawyers who have been around the corner have a good deal of what feels like common sense in their area of practice. They feel comfortable in their skin. Such lawyers feel at home commenting on legal developments and answering legal questions.

Beginning the practice of law, new lawyers look across the desk at a lawyer 20 years their senior and wonder how the heck are they ever going to know all that stuff. Commenting on legal developments and answering questions doesn't come quite as easy.

Blogs are all about conversing with thought leaders in your niche area of the law. It's only natural that those lawyers who have developed a good deal of 'common sense' in their niche feel more comfortable engaging in a conversation.

Don't get me wrong. We have plenty of younger lawyers enhancing their reputation and getting business from blogging. Some are becoming rock stars in niche areas of the law.

But despite the perception, blogs aren't just for kids.

I'm amused reading pundits pontificating whether blogs are appropriate or a cost effective marketing tool for large law firms.

Those casting doubt fall in two camps. One is the uninformed. The second are those who have an interest in seeing law firms continue to buy or use less effective and much more expensive marketing tools (vendors and law firm employees wrongly believing blogs will cost them their job).

The fact is law blogs are an effective marketing tool for large law (and despite the Chicken Little's raising ethics & liability issues, they're safe).

The proof is looking at what is going on.

• Over 25% of AmLaw 200 law firms have blogs.
• 10% of AmLaw 200 law firms have more than one blog.
• 36% growth in last 6 months in the number of AmLaw 200 law firms publishing blogs.
• 49% growth in last 6 months in total number of blogs being published by AmLaw 200 law firms.

LexBlog is doing more blog work for AmLaw 200 firms than all the other blog service providers combined. And I can tell you large law firms are not using blogs as a diversion. They are using blogs as a very effective marketing tool to retain existing clients, to pick up work in new areas of practice for existing clients, and to get new clients.

Not one AmLaw 200 law firm has ever said blogging takes too much time or complained that the blog was not a success. Not only has LexBlog never had an AmLaw 200 firm stop publishing a blog, the majority of our clients are adding multiple blogs.

These blog marketing projects are in most cases driven or approved by innovative leaders in large law firms. Those administrative partners and chief marketing officers are focused on the bottom line, the financial health of their law firms. Blogs are a marketing device, not a diversion for them.

So you'll know I am not making this stuff up, I want to share the success of one large law firm lawyer. Dan Schwartz, who just joined Pullman & Comley started his Connecticut Employment Law Blog last fall while a partner at AmLaw 200 firm, Epstein Becker & Green.

In the first 6 weeks of blogging while with the large law firm:

• 5000 unique visitors
• Few prospective client calls a week and one new client
• Nearly 100 incoming links from third party websites and blogs
• Regularly cited by leading law & employment bloggers (3 of the most widely read)
• Article on Dan and his blog in Connecticut legal periodical

I thought of Dan's story because of an email from him a couple evenings ago sharing recent successes.

The [new firm] is very receptive to the blog...

The blog has led to some very favorable press for me the last week... The Hartford Business Journalwrote an article about a food server case that I blogged about a few weeks ago. The reporter saw my blog on the case and called me for quotes.

Business New Haven, another good solid niche business publication, saw my blog on employment law and called me about law firm mandatory retirement. They even mentioned my blog with a link to it. Cool stuff.

And to top it off, a producer from 60 Minutes called me this afternoon after seeing my blog article on USERRA (military leave laws) and wondering if I knew of employers who could talk about it (and talking to me about it for a few minutes).

(And I've gotten a new client off of it recently too.)

When giving me approval to share his email, Dan said "Just don't make it sound like I'm Superman or a publicity hound. The blog has just led to it."

As a former trial lawyer of 17 years, I know you need to keep proving what can seem like the same case again and again to a different jury who didn't believe until they understood the facts. Won't surprise me to be making the argument on the marketing effectiveness of blogs for large law firms 4 or 5 years from now.

You start with this total lockdown, suits read everything, one post a month model. Then you evolve. A year later, you get one that is more open. A year after that, they start to do something that is far more authentic.

Don't know that large law firm blogs are that bad, but blogs do intimidate the management of a lot of large law firms we speak with. I do think large law firm blogs evolve over time though. We definitely see a loosening of the reigns as firms get to understand blogs, get comfortable with them, and see the positive results on more than one front.

At LexBlog we tell firms launching blogs on behalf of the firm, i.e., a practice group, as opposed to an individual lawyer, to start slowly. For many firms repurposing content already being distributed in email newsletters and alerts is a start. Then proceed to more timely and brief commentary & insight on legal developments as well as items lawyers read in the news and in blogs, preferably from RSS feeds. Finally, engage in ongoing conversations with other thought leaders - blog to blog.

And if it took Walmart, guided by a sophisticated PR company like Edelman, a couple years to overcome their fake blog fiasco, maybe we ought to cut large law firms some slake in their blogging efforts.

What do you guys think? Do large law firm blogs evolve?

And they're not alone. Womble Carlyle, a 530 lawyer mid-Atlantic/Southest firm, as well Bingham McCutchen, a 1,000 lawyer International firm, are also running ads at the WSJ Law Blog.

Follows Clifford Chance's sponsorship of third party's blog last year.

Expect this to be a growing trend. Just as law firms would buy space in business publications, they can now buy ad space at a fraction of a price and reach a very targeted audience.

In the case of the WSJ Law Blog, they've got a good sized audience comprised of lawyers of all ages (nice for lateral hires) law students (good for recruiting), as well as in-house counsel and business people.

Answer may have come from Rich Brooks at Business Blog Consulting this morning.

There is one truism to a recession: market more. Yes, while everyone runs for cover, this is the time for you to ramp up your sales and marketing efforts.  One of the most cost-effective ways businesses can do this is through a blog. And, as every one else scales back on marketing, it makes your life so much easier.

Even with falling advertising costs, your blog still costs less....

Lower cost than other forms of marketing. Greater ROI. Getting a step ahead of your competition. The things that make a rising star out of a young associate or legal marketing manager at law firms. No wonder the phone continues to ring.

...[N]o matter what business you think you're in - be it making widgets or providing a service, you're now in the media business, plain and simple. Those that recognize this shift will succeed, those that ignore it will atrophy and eventually become irrelevant.

Now, what do I mean by the media business? Well, let's start where all good businesses start: with the customer. Your customer's media habits have changed dramatically in the past ten years. More likely than not, your customers spend nearly 15 hours a week online - it's where they play, communicate, interact with services, and shop and research major purchases. In short, your customer has developed a major new media habit. The question is: Has your business?

Dam few law firms have recognized the shift. Millions of dollars each are spent in offline marketing and networking by hundreds of large law firms in this country. What money is being spent online is spent on websites, which are as much about online media as a hard copy brochure.

To remain relevant, law firms will need to have their lawyers blog so as to syndicate their content not only to the RSS readers of clients, prospective clients, and amplifiers of their intellectual capital, but also to the likes of Forbes, Bloomberg, and other major media players who are running syndicated blog content. The number of places to syndicate law content to is only going to explode in the coming years. And we're not even discussing audio and video yet.

To remain relevant lawyers will need to network with other media players, whether they be bloggers, reporters, editors, publishers, or producers. And that networking is going to need to be done via blogging and social networking sites ala LinkedIn and mediums ala Twitter.

Scary to those law firm heads and quality and assurance committees who don't understand this innovation? Yes. But letting the unknowing guide your future is going to lead to irrelevance.

In a phone interview last week, we spoke with Doug about his firm's take on blogging,  legal advertising rules and their impact on the legal blogosphere, and more. See it all after the jump.

1. Rob La Gatta: Why do you blog?

Doug Cornelius: I blog for lots of different reasons.

• One, I blog just for personal knowledge management – I grab and write about things that I want to be able to find later.
  
• I blog to keep my fellow KM team members aware of what’s catching my attention or the things that I’m working on.
  
• I blog to keep a conversation going with people that I know.

Actually, I recently put up a post on that last point, called Putting the 'Social' Into Social Media. It’s great being able to exchange these conversations back and forth to people, and then when you actually run into them, you can have fantastic real time conversations; then when you have to leave, you can keep it going.

2. Rob La Gatta: Are you the only lawyer from Goodwin Procter who is blogging?

Doug Cornelius: There are actually two others: one is David Hobbie, whose blog Caselines is a little more sporadic, focusing on litigation knowledge management. And one of our attorneys at the Palo Alto office has a personal blog.

2a. Rob La Gatta: Do you get a sense of how receptive the firm is to these blogs?

Doug Cornelius: They don’t know what to do with it...which I think is true of a lot of law firms.

Our blogging policy is currently one sentence in the larger attorney manual (although I’ve heard rumblings that they’re starting to work on a more substantial blogging policy). If you notice, on my blog there’s not a whole lot of references to Goodwin Procter. They’re not clear what they want the association to be, and I’m happy to go either way – either to not mention them at all, or bring them onboard.

I think blogs offer a fantastic opportunity to make yourself known out there and to make people aware of your expertise. Over the past year, since I’ve been blogging, I’ve had so many more opportunities – people wanting me to speak and write articles who view me as an expert now, just because I’m expressing the things I know. I’m not sure whether I’m any more of an expert than I was a year ago, but just by exposing yourself out there, people see you.

3. Rob La Gatta: I saw that when Dennis Kennedy included you in his 2007 Blawggie Awards, he mentioned specifically how he respects your ability to live blog. What value do you see in live blogging events?

Doug Cornelius: The big thing for me – and I’ve discovered this periodically as I go through the stacks of papers on my desk – is when you go to some conference, you think its great, and you take all these notes...but they end up just sitting on a notepad somewhere, not being particularly useful for you or your colleagues.

At this point, with the live blogging, I’m capturing my notes and the stuff that I find interesting...at the same time, I’m sharing all that information with the people back in the office and with the rest of the readers: “Here’s a conference I went to, here’s some information that I found interesting and that perhaps you’ll find interesting as well.”

There are challenges. I was interested to see in Kevin’s recent post that the ABA Tech Show is embracing these web 2.0 technologies, by having the Flickr feeds and the Del.icio.us tags and all the other things flowing in there. Having just been at Legal Tech, where the wi-fi was spotty and expensive, and there weren’t power plugs, it was not easy to actually blog.

There are still a lot of barriers to live blogging, and I think you’re starting to see more at conferences to make it easier: can you get an Internet connection? Can you get a power source in there? Can you actually put information ahead of time so you can link to people? It allows much more for "living notes."

4. Rob La Gatta: Do you believe laws governing legal advertising, which differ from state to state, are hindering the growth of the legal blogosphere?

Doug Cornelius: Yes, I do.

I think people are not sure what implications these laws are having. Can you call yourself the Pit Bull Litigator Blog? If you’re down in Florida, you probably can’t (based on some of their advertising rules). It's clear, from what I see, that a lot of the state bars haven’t quite got up to speed to analyze it...in part because it's not even all that easy to define what a blog is. What makes it different than any other attorney website? What makes it different than someone just e-mailing you or faxing you publications periodically?

People are getting tied up in the form and the substance, but what it comes down to is you need to be truthful and you need to be honest. Don’t do anything in a blog that you wouldn’t otherwise be doing; and, largely, don’t be stupid. That ends up being a great blogging policy. You are an attorney: this is a reflection of your personal and professional stature, so write as if people are actually reading it. It’s often hard to gauge who is reading it and when they’re reading it, but people are reading it.

5. Rob La Gatta: Now that you’ve been at it for a year, what do you see as the most rewarding element of it?

Doug Cornelius: The most rewarding element is creating connections with people that I may never have otherwise met before. There are enough people out there that have persistent searches on particular topics or their names that, within an hour after you’ve posted on a subject, if it’s something they’re interested in, they’re going to comment on it. Then that connection is created, and the conversation begins.

Some of the people I communicate with often are in the Canary Islands, Chicago, Australia, the UK, other parts of the United States…it’s just a massive communication network that gets created, very quickly and very easily. And that carries over to across the different social media, and translates into live conversations.

Interested in hearing more? Recent LexBlog Q & A posts:

• Greg Storey, principal of Airbag Industries [2.15.08]
• Edward Still, publisher of the legal blog Votelaw [2.14.08]
• Ken Adams, drafting consultant and author of the AdamsDrafting blog [2.13.08]
• Susannah Gardner, author of Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies [2.11.08]
• Doug Berman, professor at Ohio State University and author of Sentencing Law & Policy Blog [2.8.08]

Though labeled as a blog, what Winston & Strawn has is not a blog.

• It's just just content periodically being added to the firm's website.
• It's lacking an RS