85% of blogs started by lawyers still going strong

In what may be the strongest evidence yet that blogs published by lawyers are working for the lawyers, whether for marketing or as a communications tool, Tom Mighell reports, of the blogs he has been tracking, 85% are still going strong. Anecdotal evidence indicates the percentage of blogs begun by the public at large that continue after a few months is much lower.

Mighell, Senior Counsel and Litigation Technology Support Coordinator at Cowles & Thompson in Dallas has published the Internet Legal Research Weekly newsletter since 2000 and blogged about the Internet and legal technology at Inter Alia since August of 2002.

Mighell reports he has been keeping track of new lawyer blogs through his ‘Blawg of the Day’ at Inter Alia since 2002.

During that time, I have tracked more than 500 law blogs, and I have also kept track of some 150+ other law blawgs through sites like Blawg.org and Blawg Republic. I was expecting to find a pretty high turnover rate among lawyer-bloggers, but that was not the case. Of the blawgs I have been tracking, almost 85% are still going strong.

Interestly, he also found the average life of law blogs gone dead was just over six months. He now uses that period of time as a benchmark — separating as he says “…[T]he dabblers from the blawgs that will likely be around for some time.”

Guys like me owe a debt of gratitude to people like Tom who have been out in the forefront on lawyer blogs. Their perspective is invaluable.