Lawyers Who Receive Their Work by Referral Leverage Legal Blogs for Reputation Validation

I talked to a solo practitioner today who is going to publish his second blog on the LexBlog Network. 

He shared that his goal wasn’t to directly generate work from the blog.

Previously, he had been a leading lawyer at a major law firm and had built up a strong reputation for his work. 

His second blog will focus on an ultra-niche area, from which all his work would come through referrals – presumably from other lawyers. 

We didn’t use the phrase, but his blog is essentially ‘reputation validation through thought leadership.’ 

He is using blogging in this niche as a tool to validate his authority and demonstrate expertise in the case of referrals.

More than merely reinforcing his standing as a leading lawyer in the area, he provides reassurance to both the referring lawyer and the client about the quality and reliability of the legal services being offered. 

The referring lawyer can assure the client, ‘Don’t worry. He’s the best in this area of the law; you’ll see he writes the leading publication on the subject.’ When the client sees the blog publication, she feels confident that she has found the right lawyer – he researches the subject and shares his expertise through publishing. 

Furthermore, the client may notice that the lawyer’s blog is cited by other publications, enhancing his credibility. 

For some lawyers, a legal blog is more valuable as a tool for reputation validation than for visibility and marketing purposes. 

We have worked with quite a few lawyers who publish a blog for this reason.

Traditionally, it has been the leading lawyers who engage in publishing, underscoring the intrinsic link between thought leadership and professional stature.