5 Reasons Every Lawyer Needs a Blog

My life is about to change, big time. It might happen today, it might happen tomorrow – there is no way to tell for sure. But I pretty much guarantee that when I sit down to write next week at this time, my wife and I will have welcomed a new baby boy into our lives (my Wife is due on Monday). That will make us the proud parents of three children, all under the age of 4 (for another month anyway).

Wow. I can’t even believe I’m writing that. But that’s why I have a blog – to share these stories and experiences. And that’s one of the main reasons that you, as a lawyer, should have a blog as well.

I don’t care if you are at a large firm, in-house, or a solo – every lawyer should have a blog. Here are 5 reasons every lawyer needs a blog…

1. A blog will improve your communication skills.

As lawyers, one of the biggest assets we have is our ability to communicate effectively to clients and others. If you can’t write well, you will not be a very good communicator. Having a blog allows you to “hone your craft” and practice writing on a regular basis.

2. Having a blog will keep you up to date on the law in your practice area.

One of the only ways I was able to open a second law firm in North Carolina and get up to speed on all sorts of new laws, fast, was through blogging. If you write and blog about the law in your practice area – you will start to learn it much faster than if you just attend a CLE every once in a while.

3. To build trust with prospective clients.

Believe it or not, client’s are going to the internet to find their lawyers. If you don’t have a web presence, you WILL be left behind. One of the quickest and easiest ways to get noticed and build a presence online is through blogging.

4. To build authority in your practice area.

The more you write about your chosen practice area, the more respect and authority you will receive from your peers and your clients. I had a prospect call me yesterday because he had done a Google search and he found me at the top of the first page (because of the blog, I might add). He started combing through my website as well as the sites of several other lawyers who were also listed on page #1 of Google – and he was impressed by the volume of information, resources, and free tools that I provided on my website. It seemed to me that his mindset was, “well shoot, if I get this much value for free from this attorney, I must get an awful lot more when I pay him!” So he called and scheduled an appointment, without calling any other attorneys.

5. To share your vision of how you practice law.

I frequently tell my coaching students that they need to find a way to stand out in a crowd – that they need to find a way to be different from other lawyers in their marketplace. One of the best ways to do that is through blogging and sharing your vision for the practice of law.

Doing this makes you unique and different. I guarantee you that 90% of the other lawyers in your market are NOT doing this. So blogging in this way makes you unique – heck blogging alone might make you unique since so few lawyers have, even today, begun to embrace the power of a blog.

Bonus: What NOT to do when you are blogging!

If you are going to start a blog, I think that is fantastic. But too many lawyers think that blogging is this – they find an article online that is interesting and post a link with a one sentence description. No analysis. No feedback. No commentary on why the article was important.

Don’t be that lawyer – if you are going to blog, jump in headfirst and do it right.

Do you think you have an awesome blog? Feel free to post a link in the comments section below and I will give you some feedback.