Readers Don’t Judge Legal Blogs by Whether AI is Used in Publishing—They Look to Reputation and Trustworthiness
I founded LexBlog because blogging democratized legal publishing. Caring lawyers with a passion for sharing their knowledge on niche areas of the law finally had a personal printing press at their fingertips—a tool that could publish to the Internet in no time at all.
It was a revolution in efficiency compared to trying to find someone to publish your short articles, something that was never going to happen. Blogging opened the door for 54,000 legal professionals (and counting) to share helpful legal information with the world.
Blogging and the Internet are already powerful tools. Now we have AI. Yet, some lawyers and associations believe AI shouldn’t be used in legal blogging—publishing by lawyers.
Seems crazy.
Immigration attorney Greg Siskind, widely regarded as the Godfather of Internet marketing for lawyers, put it best in an article by Michele Marchi for the ABA. He explained that consumers don’t care whether a robot was involved in creating a product—they care about the end quality:
You select a car based on a lot of subjective factors, including the reputation of the manufacturer and the perceived quality of the vehicle. Drivers usually don’t care whether the car is completely handmade or built with robots. But they do tend to care about things like the buying experience, the car’s look and feel, and the reputation and trustworthiness of the manufacturer. The buyers don’t care about how much automation was used in making the car. If a manufacturer produces a great product at a much lower cost to make the product because of superior technology, buyers are happy to reward them with higher profits. We would think it absurd if the government said that a car manufacturer had to lower their prices because of the savings they achieved through robots and automation. That would be the role of a competitive market. Why is law different?
Why is legal blogging different?
The consumer of a legal blog—whether it’s in-house counsel, a consumer, a colleague, or the media—cares about legal insight and your unique take on it.
If technology like AI enables you to blog more often or helps new bloggers cover uncovered niches, that’s a good thing.
AI, as an assistant, doesn’t crank out blog posts for you, nor does it remove your authenticity. Like automation in other industries, AI enables you to deliver more value, but that value still rests on your trustworthiness and reputation.
The bottom line? Readers aren’t judging you on whether you use AI to help draft your blog. They’re judging you on the quality of your insight, the depth of your expertise, and the trust they’ve placed in you over time.