Real Lawyers Have Blogs : Law Blogs, Social Media, Twitter

I wonder what people would think if I started offering insight and commentary on legal issues relating to the pharmaceutical industry?

I take tylenol and ibuprofen from time to time. I've even been prescribed antibiotics for pneumonia on two occasions. And anyone checking with Vern's Winslow Drug on Bainbridge Island would find my 5 kids have consumed a lot of prescription drugs for which I've paid a ton in co-pay.

I could offer opinions on which drugs are effective, which ones are not. How we could move more and better drugs through the FDA. Maybe get into IP issues as they relate to drugs.

But my VP of Client Development, and others on my executive team, may start to question my judgment. Why would someone who's developed some expertise on Internet marketing for law firms, particularly as to blogging and social media, and who knows little about the pharmaceutical industry start to opine on such things. Why would a guy with a six year old blog about law firm marketing, blogs, Web 2.0 and a little baseball start talking about drug and device law?

They'd be probably be right. I couldn't expect folks to view me as a much of an authority on the subject.

But it's never stopped Mark Herrmann, a leading defense lawyer at Jones Day, with a particular expertise in pharmaceutical claims, from offering commentary on the effectiveness of law blogs on his Drug and Device Law Blog (excellent blog on that subject). Wilder yet, lawyers and even the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, have cited Hermann's commentary on the subject for the proposition that law blogs don't work well for client development..

The latest is Hermann's commentary on Why Big Firms Don't Blog Well. And why don't large law firms blog well, per Herrmann? Because lawyers in large law firms aren't funny enough.

Be funny! Be provocative! Do something that will draw readers in.

That's the key for many successful blogs, such as Simple Justice. It's not a first source of news. It's not breathtakingly intelligent (although it's not bad on that score -- don't take offense, Scott). But it has a voice. It's funny, and it can be thought-provoking.

Hermann proposes three hypotheses why large law firms don't succeed. Here's the first two.

1. Most lawyers at big firms are not funny.

That may be true of many lawyers at big firms (although it hasn't stopped us). But it's surely not true of all. So some lawyers at big firms could write blogs in an engaging voice.

2. Lawyers at big firms are trained not to be funny in writing.

Now we're on to something. Opinion letters are not funny. They may do a fine job of analyzing issues and protecting the firm from allegations of malpractice, but they're not funny.

And briefs are generally not funny. (At least not intentionally so.) Briefs present the legal issues in a persuasive and intelligent way, and they give proper dignity to the occasion of a legal dispute. They're written in formal prose, with no room for contractions, the first person, or colloquialisms.

Briefs also avoid humor, and for good reason: Humor runs a risk. If you say something cute in a brief and the judge appreciates it, you might earn yourself a smile. And maybe some good will. But you're unlikely to win the motion on the basis of personality.

On the other hand, if you say something cute and the judge finds it to be offensive, you may have done your client a world of harm. So most lawyers appropriately use humor only very sparingly in briefs.

Perhaps years of brief-writing beats the humor out of lawyers.

The fact is there are some great large law firm blogs written by lawyers who've experienced practice and client development success through blogging. Here's just a few from the LexBlog Network:

• Francis Pileggi of Fox Rothschild, publisher of the Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog. Pileggi, the "dean of Delaware law bloggers" has been blogging for several years now, and receives regular accolades from other attorneys, judges, and members of the media. See more in our Q&A with him about his blogging experience.
• J. Russell Jackson of Skadden Arps, publisher of the Consumer Class Actions and Mass Torts. Jackson posts regularly and insightfully about complex class actions and mass torts - he actually started blogging because Herrmann encouraged him to. See our Q&A with him.
• Ken Odza of Stoel Rives, one of the publishers of the Food Liability Law Blog Odza and his team constantly provide updates, commentary and analysis - not dull law review type posts or simple aggregation. Says being part of a large firm is actually beneficial because he has a larger body of knowledge and attorneys to draw from. See our Q&A with him.
• Joseph Rosenbaum of Reed Smith, publisher of Legal Bytes, blogs about developments in law, marketing, and technology. Rosenbaum says having a blog at a large firm has helped internal firm communication and helps them serve clients better. See our Q&A with him.

Hermann's a nice guy I've enjoyed a beer with. I've described him as a little quirky, Woody Allen like (in a good way), when asked about him by our team here. But being a funny guy on your blog is not a prerequisite to publishing a good blog as a lawyer in a large law firm.

And when deciding who to take seriously on whether large law firm blogs can be a client and practice development success, please look at the source.

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Aaron Brazell's got a nice post this morning on Effective Presence Marketing in Social Media. Reminds me of Darren Rowse's post on placing your blog at a 'busy intersection.

From Aaron:

Presence Marketing is the recognition and exposure that a person or company gets simply by being there. Where is there? It is simply anywhere that people are.

In traditional advertising, it might be product placement in your favorite television show. An example of this is how Agent McGee uses the iPhone throughout NCIS. (It is unclear if this is actual Apple marketing or not - but any publicity is good publicity, in this case). Another example was the use of Cisco VoIP phones or Dell computers at CTU in 24.

In the online sense, it is nearly identical, but manifested differently. By being active on blogs, social networks or any other format that places a high dividend on visibility, companys and brands are engaging in Presence Marketing.

Lawyers do online presence marketing through effective blogging and the making use of social media.

Francis Pileggihas made himself a brand name in the area of Delaware corporate litigation through his blog. Not only is Pileggi seen on his own blog, but his blog is routinely cited by well known practicing lawyers and law professors who write on corporate law issues. Now through syndication and social media, Francis' content is displayed at the Wall Street Journal, in the news at LinkedIn, at Harvard Business School publications, and in Bloomberg news feeds.

Think in-house counsel and exec's selecting local counsel feel more comfortable calling Pileggi when they see him all over the place online?

And you don't need to be a major corporation to do presence marketing. Aarron gives you one example, that being the use of Twitter.

As an individual, you have more ability to be seen and engaged as any major brand anywhere in the world. In fact, due to Twitter, it is demonstrated repeatedly that simply being present and active on Twitter can create more brand recognition and marketing capital for individuals than companies engaging in the same space and not being 'as present'......In another day, or another age, this would not be possible because traditional marketing skews toward those who have money, time or historical depth.

I agree wholeheartedly with Aaron that little or no effort is required to be present and 'seen'. 'It is the lowest of the low hanging fruit in the marketing industry.'

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Texas appeals lawyer, Todd Smith, offered a newsflash from his blog last night, Appellate Judges read blogs.

While attending a bar function today, a local appellate justice I have met a few times before recognized me, introduced me to his companions as the author of an appellate blog, and confessed (?) to being one of my regular readers.  I have had similar conversations with other members of the appellate bench in recent months.

Appellate judges are often perceived as ivory-tower idealists.  They don't really read blogs, do they?

Yes they do Todd. Many LexBlog lawyer clients tell me that high in their readership stats are visits from courthouses, especially the federal courts. Clerks at those federal courts, the ones in turn briefing the judges, tell me they are regular readers of law blogs.

Delaware litigation attorney, Francis Pileggi, told me recently about a state supreme court judge who came up to him at a conference to introduce himself and to compliment Francis on his blog. The judge explained he was a regular reader.

No question that the day is near when lawyers with well written blogs on niche litigation subjects are going to be called in as co-counsel on an appeal or brief. The value of having a lawyer on your side whose material is regularly read by the court you're before is priceless.

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What's a high ranking in a law blog directory or blog search worth? 'That plus $1.50 may get you a small soda somewhere,' says Francis Pileggi, publisher of the well read Delaware Corporate and Commercial Litigation Blog.

...[R]ankings of blogs are not very meaningful on an individual level, because the value of blogs is directly related to the niche that they serve. If one is looking for a blog that focuses on the law of food poisoning and it does a good job of covering that topic, does it matter whether that blog is ranked highly in any particular survey?

A couple months ago the ABA Journal did its much ballyhooed 100 best law blogs. Other than drawing attention to the ABA Journal online for a short period of time, I'm not sure what it accomplished. It's surely not representative of the best law blogs (though there are some good ones there). It wouldn't be in the top 10 places a new niche law blogger would go to find blog discussion among the thought leaders in their field.

Justia, quickly becoming the new FindLaw (except much more powerful and tech savvy), has its Blawg Search, a law blog directory and legal blog search as well as its most popular law blog listings. If pushed on it, Tim Stanley, Justia's founder, would probably concede that the most popular blog list is a gimmick to draw attention to some of the great offerings of Justia.

Lawyers love rankings. Hell, we've been ranked our whole lives. In high school to get into the best colleges, in college to get into the best law schools, and in law school to get clerkships and into the top law firms.

Maybe now that we're a little older, and presumably more mature, we can get over it. Like Francis says, blogs are meaningful on an individual level, because the value of blogs is directly related to the niche that they serve.

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