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

With the redesign of the Wall Street Journal, law blog posts from lawyers around the country are getting higher profile.

Practicing lawyers posting on their blog yesterday received equal billing this morning with stories from The New York Times and Chicago Tribune in the Wall Street Journal's 'Breaking Law Stories from Around the Web.'

Look at the lawyers whose blog posts are included in 'Breaking Law Stories' this morning. Special kudos to LexBlog clients Dan Schwartz of Pullman and Comley, Sean Wajert of Dechert, and John Day of Day & Blair for being included.

And with the Journal's redesign, the 'Breaking Law Stories from Around the Web' is getting higher profile in the Journal's Law section. Expect to see more traffic to your blogs as a result. A post of mine included the Journal's 'Breaking News' this week brought about 100 new visitors to my blog.

Remember when law firms paid LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell to take the law firm's articles so they would be included LexisNexis content available by search at Dow Jones?

You now control your content's own destiny via effective blogging.

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Okay, Francis Pileggi, a Delaware corporate litigation lawyer, didn't exactly rock the WSJ. But the Journal did pick up another one of his blog posts in it's 'Stories from the Web' in the Law Section of the online Journal.

As an influential law blogger on corporate issues, Pileggi's's blog posts keep popping up all around the net. Ranges from main stream publications like the journal to widely read law blogs published by corporate law professors or corporate lawyers. Great thing it's happening for free and with out any overt effort (except for effective blogging) to push the content on folks.

It's happening via the magic of RSS and the syndication of content. Just like the AP is syndicating general news to newspapers across the country, Pileggi is syndicating corporate law news to major publications and bloggers whose audiences are comprised of readers Pileggi wants to reach.

Here's a screen shot from today's WSJ referencing Pileggi's blog, the subject blog post, a link to his blog, and links to blog posts referencing Pileggi's blog post.

How the heck do you get your content syndicated like this? Effective blogging. Not throwing up content randomly in an attempt to get high search engine rankings, but by engaging in relevant discussion among thought leaders in your field.

And it's within the reach of any of you. You need not be the world's greater writer, know technology like the back of your hand, nor have achieved rock star status in your field already. Blogging with a passion for your niche and a desire to be recognized as a thought leader is all that's required.

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The Wall Street Journal is continuing to run syndicated law blog content in the law section of the online Journal.

Maybe it's just me being from a small town in the Midwest, but I get pretty jazzed seeing people come to my blog from the Journal.

Reach the Law Section of the WSJ by clicking on 'Law' in the news section in the left hand navigation bar. You'll then see a box entitled 'Law Stories from Around the Web.' Click on any of the law stories, most of them law blog posts, to reach a page like that depicted below.

This screenshot was reached by clicking on the WSJ's reference to a story at law.com on 'Social Media Sites and Law Firm Marketing.' I referenced the story in my blog post, 'Lawyers use of LinkedIn,' so the WSJ linked to my post as well.

Note all the law blog posts highlighted and linked to by the Journal. Pretty cool.

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LexBlog client and insurance lawyer, David Rossmiller, has been getting plenty of attention in the media covering insurance stories. Comes as a result of David's Insurance Law Blog. The last couple days its come from the Wall Street Journal.

Yesterday the WSJ Baw blog named him law blogger of the day. Today David's picked up in the WSJ hard copy in Nathan Koppel's story, 'How Scruggs Case Engulfs Life of an Insurance Blogger.'

One of the more unlikely figures to have emerged as a prominent voice on the saga in Mississippi involving famed plaintiffs lawyer Richard 'Dickie' Scruggs is an insurance lawyer in Portland, Ore., who's never set foot in the state.

Somehow, in between his day job as a law-firm partner and his night job as a husband and father to three young children, David Rossmiller blogs about insurance. These days, he's 95% focused on the Scruggs affair, in which he has no formal role. On the matter, he has been cited in publications including the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Los Angeles Times and the online magazine Slate.

The blog, insurancecoverageblog.com, began in early 2006 as a repository for Mr. Rossmiller's thoughts on the insurance industry. But earlier this year, he says, he delved into the coverage battles involving Hurricane Katrina victims and State Farm Insurance Co., which he found 'absolutely fascinating.' He weighed in on court decisions, focusing largely on clauses in many homeowner policies that, asserted lawyers for policyholders, State Farm was using to justify denials in coverage.

For lawyers sitting on the fence about doing a blog or who may be listening to the blog naysayers, give David a call. Talking to him, which I did yesterday, is inspiring to the last. It leaves you with little question that a well done law blog focused on a niche in which the blogger engages in the online conversation can change one's life dramatically, both professionally and personally.

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