Purchasers of legal services want news from lawyer blogs

Via Tom Abate, I picked up a post from Tom Glocer, CEO of Thomson Reuters, about the value of news.

Tom began by addressing the value of financial news and news in general. But it was his insight on the news people need to make serious decisions – like legal decisions – that drew my attention.

[N]ews about advances in science and healthcare can be vitally important to those suffering from serious illness.  Again, when confronted with life and death challenges, we have little interest in being entertained or to have our news presented by pretty people straight out of make-up.

Lawyer blogs allow prospective clients to get a take on a lawyers philosophy, expertise, passion, and skill – something far beyond that provided by a bare bones directory or even law firm website. Purchasers of legal services have little interest in being entertained by slick law firm PR and marketing spin or a rating from a lawyer directory that’s over a century old.

This is the age of the Internet where information allowing us to make informed decisions is at our finger tips. Lawyers that appreciate this shift from what’s been acceptable to purchasers of legal services in the past to what the public is looking for now are going to find themselves attracted to communication mediums such as a blog. Such lawyers are not going to leave it the ‘marketers’ serving up fluff to entertain prospective clients.