LexBlog Q & A: Francis Pileggi of the Delaware Corporate & Commercial Litigation Blog

Today we mark the arrival of a new month by continuing our Five Questions feature – recently renamed the LexBlog Q & A – where I interview important figures from the LexBlogosphere and beyond. Today’s guest is Delaware lawyer and attorney Francis G.X. Pileggi, a Fox Rothschild attorney who maintains the Delaware Corporate & Commercial Litigation Blog.

Francis, who has been receiving some solid media coverage in recent weeks, joins us to discuss how he got into blogging, his writing routine, advice for beginning bloggers and more.

1. Rob La Gatta: You started your blog nearly three years ago, at a time when legal blogs weren’t as popular or widespread as they are today. Why did you decide to start blogging in the first place, and how familiar were you with how to write for blogs when your site first launched?

Francis Pileggi: I realized about three years ago, just before I started my blog, that more and more people were using the Internet to both find lawyers and to “find out about lawyers” and that it was, therefore, necessary to be able at least influence the “Internet presence” which might be the first and only way that people would be finding out about you (as opposed, for example, to Martindale-Hubbel in the past). I also noticed several blogs by partners at major law firms who were writing their own blogs without their firm’s logo. I was not familiar with blogs at that time but I found Kevin, and he and his staff educated me on the finer points.

2. Rob La Gatta: You update your blog almost daily. Do you have a specific routine for blogging? Where do you write best – at home? In the office? Somewhere else?

Francis Pileggi: The most predictable time for me to blog is at night and on weekends, though if I receive notice of an important decision during the day, I sometimes will try to rearrange my schedule to at least post briefly about it, and come back later with more details. It is easiest for me to blog while at home at night after my family is sleeping.

3. Rob La Gatta: Do you keep track – either through Google Analytics, through comments in your blog, or otherwise – of where your readers are located? Are they mostly in Delaware, or spread across the country/world?

Francis Pileggi: Through the software that LexBlog provides, I do track the number and source of my visitors. There are many from Delaware, but most of the visitors to my blog seem to be lawyers and professors from around the country, and some from around the world.

4. Rob La Gatta: A recent article called you the “Dean of Delaware law bloggers.” Are there any other Delaware-based blogs that you’d recommend to readers?

Francis Pileggi: Over the last year or so there have been several new blogs by Delaware lawyers and others. I am hesitant to pick just one from among the many good law blogs in Delaware, but among the non-legal blogs I read is one on Delaware politics at DelawareGrapevine.com.

5. Rob La Gatta: What advice would you give to a lawyer – someone unfamiliar with blogging and why it is important – who was just starting their first blog?

Francis Pileggi: It should be a labor of love. It will be easiest for those who already write and publish often. If writing in general is a chore and does not come easily, then blogging is not for you. If you enjoy writing often, and have the time management skills to weave some amount of time each day for blogging into your schedule – even if it is for reading of materials for use on the blog, as opposed to actual writing – then you will find it to be a very rewarding experience and a positive return on your investment of time.

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for more LexBlog Q & A interviews – some of which will begin to move beyond LexBlog’s clients to highlight major players from the greater legal blogosphere – in coming updates.