Blogs published by lawyers influence hiring decisions of in-house counsel

Blogs published by lawyers on relevant topics are becoming increasingly more important in in-house counsel’s research of lawyers and law firms for potential hire.

This per Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey (pdf) conducted by strategic communications firm Greentarget, American Lawyer Media and legal consulting firm The Zeughauser Group.

In-house counsel ranked the following activities “most important” for helping them vet and research outside counsel for potential hire:

1. Recommendations from sources you trust – 73%
2. Articles and speeches the lawyer has authored – 38%
3. Bios on the firm’s Web site – 30%
4. Blogs published by lawyers – 27%
5. Rankings and directories -25%
6. Twitter feeds from lawyers – 22%
7. Endorsements and connections on LinkedIn – 18%
8. Quotes by lawyers in relevant media outlets -15%

Whether a lawyer publishes a blog is going to be increasingly more important for the vetting of lawyers by in-house counsel.

• 37 percent of counsel aged 30-39 already rated “blogs published by lawyers” as the second most important activity for helping them to research outside lawyers for potential hire, following “recommendations from sources they trust.”
• Half of in-house counsel agree or somewhat agree that in the future, high-profile blogs authored by firm lawyers will play an important role in influencing clients to hire that law firm.
• 63 percent of counsel aged 30-39 agree or somewhat agree that they envision a future in which a law firm’s prominence through a high-profile blog will play an important role in influencing clients to hire that law firm.

With articles and speaking engagements ranking so high in influencing in-house counsel’s hiring decisions blogs become all the more important. Ask any lawyer who publishes a good topic centric blog and they’ll tell you that their speaking opportunities have increased dramatically with blogging. Blogging lawyers are also likely to tell you of their blog posts being re-published as articles and of increasing requests for them to write articles.

Many lawyers and law firms are still quick to dismiss blogs for business development. “Our corporate clients don’t read them.” It’s going to be awfully hard to hold on to unfounded views of the past with blogs being of such increasing importance to in-house counsel’s vetting of law firms for potential hire.