Illinois law professor : value of law blogs is in marketing legal services

Professor Larry Ribstein, of the University of Illinois Law School has written a nice piece on ‘The law and economics of blogging.’

Professor Rubstein nails it when he sees lawyer blogs & their RSS as valuable for both the creation of valuable knowledge and a way of marketing a lawyer’s expertise. In discussing the latter point, Professor Ribstein says:

To some extent it’s desire for recognition or the satisfaction of expressing a judgment or opinion. But the most valuable blogger posts are what I would characterize as ‘loss-leaders’ – that is, information made freely available by experts as a way of marketing or publicizing their expertise. The instant and cheap broadcasting enabled by the web makes such marketing or publicity cost-effective.

Professor Ribstein also goes on to caution the legal community when it comes to regulating lawyer blogs. I could not agree more. I have not seen a better way to enhance the free flow of legal information between not only lawyers, but also with lawyers and the public. Plus we have been waiting for a long time for a cost effective means of tastefully marketing our expertise. With law blogs we have it.

Source: FeedMeLegal