Set in Style

Here it is:

Why make note of it? Because this copy — now appearing at DurretteBradshaw’s home page — has a rare quality (among law firm Web sites, that is). And that quality is this — it works!

And just how/why does it work?
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Your firm needs to be in the very place where more and more people go to find firms. It needs to be in the electronic marketplace evolving on the backbone of the Internet.

Suppose it’s the 1890s, and some law firms are installing telephones in their offices. What a smart idea!

100 years later, some law firms are putting up Web sites. Another smart idea. Phones are absolutely indispensable. E-mail is becoming more so.

10 years after that, most of them have Web sites, and some have blogs, their attorneys are Linked In or they Twitter, and they all have Blackberries or iPhones. Adapting to a changing world. Phones and e-mail are still indispensable. 

If your clients are spending more and more of their time electronically, then you need to follow suit. If you don’t, you’ll be ignored, more likely than not.

And you need more than just phones and e-mail to stay connected with existing clients and attract new ones. For that, you need to adapt.

I recommend this article titled Top 5 Reasons Why Every Law Firm Needs a Website. It explains how — if done right — a Web site is an economical and efficient way to attract clients and promote your firm or practice.

When work is just as slow as it is — that might be a fine time to figure out how to get fully connected. That way, you’ll have an advantage when work picks up.

Are you thinking of starting a blawg? Or do you already have one, but all it does is take up a part of your day?

In either case, I suggest you share a cup of coffee with Kimberly Kralowec, the attorney behind The UCL Practitioner and The Appellate Practitioner. I did, and I listened as she listed the ingredients of a successful blawg.

What motivated you to start The UCL Practitioner?

I first became aware of law blogs in 2002. I started reading How Appealing and Bag and Baggage, among others, and was really impressed with the way Howard Bashman would discuss new appellate decisions.  He not only notified his readers that the new decision had been handed down, but also summarized it and gave us his thoughts. That was incredibly helpful to me as a practitioner. Then I became aware of Blogger, and I thought to myself, I could do that, and it might be kind of fun. So, one day in October 2003, I created a new blog on the free Blogger platform. I decided to try writing about the Unfair Competition Law (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§17200 et seq.) because I had worked on UCL cases for a few years and knew something about the subject. I called my new site 17200 blog, the name reflected in its original URL, 17200blog.blogspot.com. In mid-2004, I changed the name to The UCL Practitioner. In 2005, I switched to the Typepad platform and changed my URL to www.uclpractitioner.com.  

Are you glad you started it, and why?

Absolutely. Creating The UCL Practitioner is one of the most rewarding career-related things I have ever done and has benefited me in ways I never anticipated when I first started blogging. Blogging has significantly raised my profile in the legal community, including among the judiciary, and has helped me develop a reputation as an expert in my field. It has resulted in regular press mentions, speaking invitations, and writing opportunities. It has generated new clients and co-counseling opportunities. I have learned my subject more thoroughly than I would have through practicing law alone.

Most importantly, blogging has connected me with other people. Hundreds of attorneys have reached out to me as a result of my blog. I get email from readers almost every day. Ultimately, what keeps me motivated is the knowledge that people are reading and that what I am doing is helping them.

And why did you start The Appellate Practitioner?

When you read appellate opinions on a regular basis, which I do as a blogger and also for my practice, you inevitably learn a great deal about appellate procedure. I’ve always been interested in appellate practice, and I started writing occasional posts on The UCL Practitioner relating to that topic. I even created a category page for those posts. After a while, I decided that the appellate practice posts that I wanted to write were too far off the topic for The UCL Practitioner. A sure way to lose readers is to start writing about things not directly related to your blog’s primary subject matter. Therefore, I decided to create a separate blog for appellate-related posts.

The Appellate Practitioner seems to get much less traffic than The UCL Practitioner. Why is that?

Three reasons: (1) I do not update it on a regular basis; (2) I have made no real effort to publicize it; (3) it is a younger blog and has not had as much time to develop an audience.

What are the ingredients of a successful blawg?

Readers will keep coming back to law bloggers who: (1) stay on topic; (2) post regularly (but not too often); (3) cover all of the relevant new developments (not just some of them); and (4) when discussing a new case, always provide an extra nugget that explains how the case fits into existing jurisprudence.

How much time do you spend blawgging?

On average, about 2-3 hours per week. I often spend a Saturday morning writing a series of posts for the upcoming week. I check the California and Ninth Circuit new opinions pages regularly throughout the week and put aside relevant cases to blog about later. For time-sensitive developments, I’ll do a post during lunch or at home after work.

Are there any drawbacks or dangers to blawgging?

Blogging can be very addictive and can absorb significant amounts of time if you let it. It’s important to have a carefully-worded disclaimer stating that you are not providing legal advice.

I am extremely careful about what I say on my blog. There’s always a danger that you may be educating your adversaries about relevant new decisions. Occasionally I have delayed posting about a particular case for that reason.

There is also a risk that you may be providing your adversaries with fodder to quote back at you in a brief. This is a risk for the author of any practice guide, whether paper or online. It has happened once in my five years of blogging. In that case, I pointed out in my reply brief that the cited blog post did not, in fact, support the proposition for which it was cited. I also provided the court with a citation to one of my blog’s category pages, where more posts on the subject could be found.   

Have you ever done anything to promote your blawgs?

Early on, my primary method of promoting my blog was to link to other law bloggers. Eventually the other bloggers took note and linked back to me, which gave me access to their readers. When I put up what I thought was a particularly interesting post, I emailed other law bloggers in hopes that they might link to it. I wrote articles for established print publications and included the name of my blog and its URL in my byline. I put the name of my blog and its URL on the back of my business cards.

My biggest promotional effort was simply making sure I found something interesting to post about every business day, particularly in 2004 and 2005, when my blog was starting to take off in terms of readership and recognition. Consistent posting is the single most effective way to promote one’s blog. I have never advertised my blog.  

You have 16 press mentions this year. Do your blawgs have anything to do with that?

This year, some of the press resulted from a high-profile case that I happened to be working on, but most of it resulted directly from the fact that I write The UCL Practitioner. It took over a year of blogging before my first press mention came in late 2004.   

You’ve been blawgging for five years. How have things changed in that time? Do you think it’s now harder to attract an audience, seeing as there are now so many blawgs?

When I first started blogging, many lawyers did not even know what a blog was. Now, almost everyone has heard of blogs generally and law blogs in particular. New bloggers do not have to educate people about what a blog is, which is an advantage. On the other hand, many of the best niches have already been filled with good law blogs. That said, I think there will always be room for well-written law blogs on niche subjects.

What changes, if any, do you see for the future of blawgs?

It is possible that future law blogs will be more interactive. Some lawyer-bloggers are turning to Twitter for faster-paced blogging, and I can envision companion wikis for more and more law blogs, such as the SCOTUSBlog wiki. It’s always possible that a new platform will supplant blogs entirely.

Are there any blawgs that you read regularly? What do you find so [useful, helpful, interesting] about them?

I read other California law blogs —such as Wage Law, California Appellate Report, and The Complex Litigator — to make sure I don’t miss any relevant new cases that I should be covering on my own blog and to stay current on related areas of practice. I read How Appealing to stay up to date on national developments and to learn about newsworthy decisions from other Circuits. I read SCOTUSBlog because it is the best U.S. Supreme Court resource, bar none.

Suppose you knew then (when you started blawgging) what you know now. What, if anything, would you do differently?

If I had known that I would enjoy blogging as much as I do, and that I would stick with it, I would have identified myself from the outset, rather than blogging anonymously, as I did for the first eighteen months or so.

You’re sharing a cup of coffee with another attorney. Talk turns to blawgs, and then she tells you she’s thinking of starting a blawg to help promote her practice. What’s your advice to her?

Do it! Choose an area of practice that you know well, that you find personally interesting, and that you want to master. Research whether other law blogs are already being written on your chosen subject, and consider how you could differentiate yours and what you could add to the discussion. Make sure the subject is sufficiently broad to provide enough material for daily posts. Do your best to post once each business day. Link to other law bloggers. They are a supportive and cooperative community and will help promote promising new voices.  

OK. You spend your days reading and writing legal matter. Fine!

But now you’re writing a client alert about some recent development. Do you write the client alert as if it were a brief to be filed with a court?

No, not if you want people to read it.

And why not? Because people are busy, and they don’t appreciate it when you waste their time.

Now, consider the intro to an announcement published by the IRS on 11 December:

The IRS issued a notice today announcing relief for certain retirement plans that do not have a written plan in place by January 1, 2009. The new guidance is for retirement plans covering employees at public schools, colleges and universities, and other tax exempt organizations. These retirement plans are often referred to as 403(b) plans after the relevant section in the tax code.

The IRS is extending the deadline for plan sponsors to adopt new written plans or amend existing plans to satisfy the requirement of the final 403(b) regulations because of difficulties expressed by numerous plan administrators in meeting the current deadline of January 1, 2009. This extension will give plan sponsors additional time to put their plan documents in place.

Now look at the intro to a client alert published by Proskauer Rose advising clients of the IRS notice:

On December 11, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) and the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) issued Notice 2009-3 (the “Notice”) providing relief during 2009 for sponsors of plans governed by Section 403(b) (“403(b) Plans”) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) with respect to the requirement to have a written plan document in place by January 1, 2009. The Notice also indicates that there will be forthcoming guidance with respect to obtaining Service approval of 403(b) prototype plans and individualized plans (as further described below). The Service has previously indicated its intent to create such a program.

Q: Which would you rather read — the client alert, or the IRS announcement?

A: If you value your time, go directly to the IRS for the information.

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If you spend your days reading and writing legal matter, then you need to shift gears before you write a client alert. And when you write an alert, you need to consider your audience — busy people who don’t appreciate it when you waste their time.

Connecticut Law Tribune has this interesting article by Bob Ambrogi about how attorneys can take advantage of Twitter. He offers 16 benefits to twittering, and concludes with this warning:

Before you post to Twitter, consider the consequences. A casual tool such as this makes it easy to unwittingly create an attorney-client relationship or overstep an ethical rule. Even with only 140 characters, you can easily get yourself in hot water.

Frank Ramos, a partner with Clarke Silverglate & Campbell in Miami, Florida, maintains a blog titled Advice for the Young Lawyer.

He recently wrote this post about what firms can do to get their lawyers to write better.

These two excerpts point to the tension in some firms between quality and ego:

Face it. Everything your firm sends out, every motion, letter, memo and even e-mail, reflects not only upon the author but upon the firm. We are constantly being sized up, and the measure of our talents is often what we write. That being the case, we owe it to ourselves to improve not only our own writing, but the writing of each and every attorney at our firm. Nothing less will do.

Most lawyers take pride in their writing, some so much that they view any revisions to their work as an affront to their very person. Tell them that their writing is less than perfect and prepare for bruised egos.

My own experience is this: attorneys who overreact to the sight of red ink on their writing aren’t confident writers.

Some of us pay big bucks to look good. When we’re on the job, we wear suits that cost thousands of dollars; we wear watches that cost as much as brand new cars; we wear shoes that cost as much as a vacation in Hawaii for a family of four. You’d be amazed at what some of us spend on designer frames for eyeglasses.

Why do some of us spend so much on our appearance?

To make a very certain impression on others: to let them know that “I’m very successful; I’m wealthy; and I’m influential — I can have a profound affect on your happiness.”

If you’re an attorney, or if you work with attorneys, then you probably know someone who makes that sort of impression. He doesn’t even have to say a word; you can tell just by his appearance that he’s someone special.

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Words are what lawyers use to do what they do, and those very special lawyers tend to be very, very good with words. They speak well, and they write well.

And that raises an interesting question — why would someone so concerned with his appearance not give a rat’s ass about how he appears in print?

So many law firms publish articles written by their attorneys so they appear like this:

That looks pitiful.

But more and more law firms are polishing their publications. They’re looking at what professional publishers do, and they’re following suit. Some are using professional designers in place of paralegals, because they want to look good in print. They know appearance matters. It matters a lot.

And those firms want their publications to look more like this:

Better Law Firm Type

That looks so much better. 

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Compare typical law firm type to better law firm type. And note the differences.

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This is weird:

At a top-notch law firm, everyone dresses up for work. The lobby looks like it belongs to an ad agency, and the artwork is plentiful and superb — it’s not like the cheap art you find in a dentist’s office.

If that firm, and those who work there, care so much for appearances, then why do they publish such hideous looking stuff as they do — stuff that will be seen by many more people than those who get to see how fancy the firm’s office looks.

To me, it makes not a bit of sense. You polish your shoes to help you look your best. So why the heck would you not to polish your type?

And always remember — anything worth doing . . . is worth doing right! Right?

You hear people (esp. younger people) talking about it. On the train (or the bus) to work, you see them doing it — reading and writing (e.g., texting or tweeting) on their little gizmos.

And you’re wondering, “Why do these people play so incessantly with these little gizmos on their way to work, rather than read the news, or chat, or wonder about that meeting at Ten? What motivates this craze? What’s the big deal?”

(When you ride the train tomorrow morning, you might stare out the window and think of it.)

Like it or not, this is what’s happening — the information superhighway (I’ll bet you haven’t heard that old term in a while) is making it more and more likely that people will form their first impression of you by what you write than by what you say or how you look.

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Here it is:

In a 1988 study, political science professors Greg Caldeira and Jack Wright of Ohio State University controlled for the “full array” of well-known influences on the court’s decision to hear a case — like a split in the lower courts or the participation of the U.S. solicitor general — and found that early-bird amicus briefs “substantially increase” the likelihood that a case will make the court’s docket. The chief deputy clerk of the court has even said that amicus briefs are one of four explicit factors the court weighs in deciding whether to grant a case.

Consider this — consider filing a pre-cert amicus brief for some non-profit (and do it pro bono) that has (as a member of its board) the wife (or mother or daughter or sister or brother) of the CEO of some Fortune 500 company that you’d love to have as a client.

See what I’m saying?

Here it is:

. . . how you talk to your prospect, how you present yourself and how you relate to the customer are as important as the facts about your product or service. 

Your potential clients are looking for an attorney they can trust — someone they feel comfortable with.

And that’s the impression you want to make on them.