After 19 years of practice, most of it in large firms, I know why most lawyers shy away from blogging. The idea of complete transparency runs directly against any shred of formal marketing “training” we’ve received in our big firms. There is that image we’re supposed to project: the amazing multi-tasking advocate, surrounded by boundless resources to bring to bear on any problem that a client may present (and we’re supposed to be beautiful too). And, there are all those client confidences that must be maintained. Plus, we’re supposed to have all the answers, all the time (or some such nonsense). There is also the time commitment a blog requires. Since a lawyer’s business involves selling increments of time, and so many firms have very high billable hour requirements, the idea of committing a block of time each day to “nonbillable time” is hard for many lawyers to contemplate.
Another problem that should be considered is that lawyers tend to be boring. I’d like to say that we simply can’t help it, but I think it has more to do with our desire to provide the complete legal answer – to be technically correct. Since this is my first effort at a blog – I am no expert at this – I can only speak from my observation that several posts from attorneys that I have found seem more to be like articles on legal topics. My favorite blogs are much more personal, more authentic. If I want to find an article on a legal topic, I can probably find it easily enough with Google. I think this leaves a lot missing, and agree with Matt Mireles’ post criticizing “the utter lack of transparency and overall opacity of the market for legal services.”
I recently needed to find attorneys with lender liability, anti-trust and class action capabilities for a client in crisis and found it interesting that my ability to find the right talent for a particular situation still relied mostly on my own personal network and contacts and was not something that could be easily found through the web. If I were a client, or someone in need of finding the Right Attorney for a legal matter, without my network, I would be extremely frustrated. So why not take Matt’s challenge, and start my own blog. One of the benefits of setting up my own firm after spending so many years in big firms, is that I no longer have to worry about gaining a consensus about what to write. I also think it may be useful to share insights and observations that I share on a daily basis with my clients. So Matt, I will give it a try.
