Non-traditional Lawyers Also Need a Web Presence

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Lance Lawyer is enjoying a quiet evening meal at his favorite restaurant with his law school roommate, Scott. In law school, both men studied hard, were on law review and graduated in the top 10% of their class. After graduation, however, they took different paths to the practice of law. Lance is a shareholder in a small law firm practicing Elder Law while Scott, whose family had long been in the Military, is a JAG lawyer.

Over coffee, the conversation turns to marketing.

“We spend a lot of time and money on our website, blog and social media,” said Lance. “I need to update my blog tonight.”

“I’m glad I don’t need to do any marketing,” said Scott.

“I’m not sure about that,” said Lance. “What if you decide to leave the Military? No one will know you exist.”

Lance is right. Scott, like the many other lawyers who turn from a traditional practice to use their skills in such establishments as the government, magistrate, clerk, legislature, house counsel for corporations or academia, still need to consider maintaining an Internet presence.

 Why do you or other non-traditional lawyers like Scott need an online presence?

An on-line presence in the form of a profile, a website or a stop on the social media thoroughfare is as necessary for non-traditional lawyers as it is for lawyers working as solos or in a law firm. It isn’t only consumers who search for lawyers on the web; other lawyers also read those profiles.

web presence

Scott can establish relationships and connections that would otherwise be unworkable because of distance and time. These are lawyers you can meet only through e-mail or text or, perhaps, a short telephone call. Those associations can be as strong and as important to your career as ones established face-to-face at networking functions.

Lawyers can use the knowledge gained in other fields to make a career change A lawyer working for a governmental agency today could establish a connection and soon be practicing for a law firm in their government relations department. Legal publishing experience, for example, could lead to consulting on copyright and drafting contracts with agents and publishers. Managing an international non-profit would be helpful if you wanted to practice in International Law. Retired judges often turn to mediation and arbitration.

These movements from traditional to non-traditional legal careers and back again will only be successful if the world knows that you’re out there. And the easiest and least costly way to become known is through an on-line presence. Using social media, LinkedIn or your Member Directory, you can network within the legal field as well as market your practice to potential clients.

A legal career, whether traditional or non-traditional, can last 20, 30, 40 or more years. It can take many twists and turns as you travel along. Using the Internet to establish relationships with other lawyers and potential clients will help make the journey manageable, profitable and more pleasurable.

In-house Counsel Prefer Client Alerts for Information

In-house counsel, inundated with information coming their way every day, prefer client alerts as a source of legal information. When asked in the 2017 survey conducted by Greentarget and Zeughauser Group, (https://digitalandcontentsurvey.com/) “What types of law firm-generated content do you find most valuable?” 87% of in-house counsel answered “client alerts” as opposed to practice-group newsletters (67%), blogs (35%) or website content (22%).

What is a client alert?

A client alert is a mass e-mail message addressing a new or developing legal topic – perhaps a recent precedent-setting decision, a pending change to federal or state law or a trend you've observed. It is sent to in-house counsel for two reasons:

•  Help keep in-house counsel current in the trends in their area of commerce, and
•  Keep the law-firm’s practice expertise top of mind, assuring a contact when they need legal help.  

 Considerations when writing client alerts.    

e-mail message

Lawyers are judged by their written words. Everything from engagement letters, contracts, e-mails or daily correspondence should be relatively free of legalese, easy to understand and useful to the reader. Readers should be able to know immediately the topic and why it’s important for them. This is especially true of client alerts since your alert may be one of several the corporate counsel receives.

Start with the headline. If your headline doesn’t turn a browser into a reader, the time you spent writing your words is wasted. A great headline must do more than attract attention, it should promise some kind of benefit for the reader to lure the reader to read the body of the alert.

Your lead. The most important sentence of the article is your lead. It should be short (25 to 30 words), specific—state key points that appeal to your reader—and use active verbs to make it current. Follow up the main facts with additional information.

Early call to action. When action by the client is suggested or required, put that information in the third paragraph. The answer to the question “Why should I care?” needs to clear and soon in the article.

Use formatting techniques to make things interesting.

1.             Use pull quotes, key phrase or summaries to simplify information.
2.             Include links to documents or articles for those who want more information
3.             Use bold, lists, or graphs to break up verbiage.
4.             Also link to articles or summaries the firm has written about the topic.

You put a lot of time into developing client alerts—don’t waste that time. Make yours stand out among the 4 or 5 alerts on the same topic in-house counsel receive every day. Client alerts show readers you are current and on top of the issue and are one indication of how your firm communicates. Use the client alert to put your best foot forward.

Links and Your Website

Links are the mainstay of the Internet. They are what make it work; when you are browsing and you come across a blue highlighted word it’s a link. Move your cursor over it and the arrow turns into a little hand. Click on it and you will quickly go to another web page.

Why are the links blue?

One story is that Tim Berners-Lee, the main inventor of the web, is the man who first made hyperlinks blue. Mosaic, a very early web browser, displayed webpages with a gray background and black text. The darkest color available at the time that was easily distinguishable from the black text was that blue color. A practical reason is that blue is visible to most people even the color blind.

Types of links:

·      Internal link: A link between two webpages on your website. Your website depends on those links for navigation throughout the site.

·      External link: A link from your webpage to another site. If there were no external links, there would be no Web since the World Wide Web is a network of webpages. You use external links to provide information to add to your content.

Link--Internal, Incoming and Back 

·      Incoming links: A link from another website to your site; also called a backlink. The quantity and sources of the backlinks to your web page are among the factors that Google uses to evaluate your page ranking.

Using links:

Internal links attract the reader’s attention causing them to click through to other pages on your site, satisfying their need for information while staying on your site. Start with great content then add links to other articles, interesting videos, infographics or images. Consider what information is most important to your potential client and then use internal links to provide what they want.

Internal links also help search engines find your pages. Links should include descriptive words that are relevant to the destination page. This helps the search engine understand what your pages are about so they will be considered as part of the answer to the prospective client’s query.

Incoming and back links directing traffic to your site bring in more visitors. Links to your site from other sites are editorial votes telling the Internet community that your site has valuable information. Some ways to get others to link to you include:

·      Volunteering in your community—being listed on their website includes link to your website.

·      Use guest bloggers who will in turn link to your blog

·      Write an article that includes a link to more information—that source will link back to you.

·      Write about current events such as adding some thoughts to interesting trial that made the news. Being a regular source on current events will earn links.

Lastly, check your links to be sure they are working properly. Error responses will send mixed signals to your readers causing them to move on.

Your Law Firm’s Brand in 2018

Brands are important because more law firms are on the Internet competing for space and it’s harder to get noticed. Having a brand identity and message will lead to more targeted and consistent marketing, which will increase your business.

What is a brand?

A brand is a name and/or a symbol that uniquely identifies a seller's goods or services in the market. Brands enable customers to rapidly recognize the providers of services. Over time, and with consumer experience, brands acquire reputations for quality, value, price-level, reliability, and many other traits that help consumers choose among competing offerings. In legal terms, a brand is trademark.

Your law firm has a brand, whether it is one you created and control or one imposed on you from the outside world. It is a combination of reputation and such things as the font you use on your business cards, the colors and style of furniture in your office, the words you use in advertising or the sign on your door.

your brand

Developing your firm’s brand.

Start by creating firm brand journal. This is particularly important if you have staff and several lawyers in your firm. You want everyone to be on the same page and a journal can help. Include:

1. Your firm’s business goals, including planned practice additions or changes,
2. Your logo and color palette,
3. The descriptive words you use in marketing,
4. A description of your target audience

The secret to successful branding is to take time to plan so all the parts merge into one identifiable pattern that clients recognize. Think about how your clients view your firm. Don’t know? Simply ask—why did you come to our firm? The answers may surprise you. It may be simply because you were geographically close and your firm description included your work in a charity the consumer supports. All of those facts are part of your brand.

While it’s true that clients develop relationships with particular lawyers, it is also true that only through law firm loyalty created by good service along with branding will clients stay on if that lawyer retires. For junior members of the firm, a strong firm brand can help a lesser-known lawyer get better speaking opportunities, appointment to a prestigious non-profit board or be quoted by the media. It’s also true that in-house counsel has an easier time selling XYZ law firm to their board if it’s known and its image is easily recognizable.

Branding is important for both large and solo law firms. When a solo retires and sells the practice, its value is based on the network of referrals, connections, word of mouth business and the strength of the firm’s reputation—all indicators of a strong brand developed and sustained over the course of many years. Taking the long view of your firm’s branding will help you understand that not everything you do to promote your firm will have immediate results. However, patiently promoting your brand, your firm’s business will grow.

Your profile on the SBM member directory is part of your brand. Zeekbeek makes it easy with its expanded profile, where you can include location, courts where you practice, languages spoken, publications or events.