I was struck by a recent blog post and article by lawyer and global law firm marketing and management consultant, Gerry Riskin, which talked of a law firm’s success being dependent on the success of the firm’s individual lawyers.
I find the same in blogging – success for the firm comes from the success of individual blogging lawyers.
I advise law firms to empower individual bloggers to chase niches that do or could lie within the strategic plan of the firm. LexBlog’s product roadmap, though improving our offering to groups of lawyers in large firms, is placing some emphasis on empowering individual lawyers to blog – whether in large or small firms. Easy to launch, inexpensive and eloquent blog publishing for an individual lawyer, or two.
With some exceptions, lawyers who blog individually, even at the largest of firms, achieve more than lawyers blogging in group blogs. Achievement being measured by revenue (in the millions of dollars a year) for the lawyer as well as for other lawyers in the firm who participate in the work generated.
This would likely be no surprise to Riskin. In his years of consulting with law firms around the globe, he’s found that the most successful law firms are those that empower individual lawyers to chase their dreams.
The lawyers in your firm deserve practices that are personally satisfying while also returning the financial rewards that are commensurate with the value they give your clients. As a law firm leader, you can help individual lawyers to create a vision for attaining personal fulfillment, while also contributing to the law firm as a whole, by providing them with the tools they will need to make those personal visions a reality.
There may be another reason solo bloggers out perform group bloggers. Lawyers cherish their independence, per Riskin.
Lawyers are among the most ferociously independent people on this planet who have ever chosen to work in groups. Many of us chose the law because we wanted to be able to apply independent thinking, and have a lot of control. We wanted to be able to decide for ourselves how to conduct a matter, and how to serve a client.
Risken provides the recipe for a firm’s success via the success of individual lawyers.
- Provide lawyers in the firm with the leeway to create a vision of the kind of clientele and the practice they want within the scope of the firm’s initiatives.
- Offer professional development sessions and workshops that will facilitate their moving closer to their goals, by honing business development skills.
- Conduct workshops in areas relating to client interaction that many lawyers find difficult.
- Help individual lawyers learn ways to combat the pressures of time.
Man, Risken may as well have been providing a roadmap for blogging success in large law firms.
I just blogged about launching a successful blogging initiavtive in a law firm. The key was finding a lawyer or two who want to blog, are passionate about building a name for themselves in niche industries or areas of the law and educating them as to what blogging is really all about.
As the lawyers become successful, they’ll serve as viral positives for lawyers who follow. As Risken says, “An outsider may have impressive credentials, but that is no match for the credibility that the top performers within the organization enjoy.”
Riskin might as well have been wrapping up this post on the advantages of individual lawyer blogs when he wrote the below.
Law firms with lawyers who have happy and fulfilling careers will prosper. Competitors cannot easily emulate them, and the advantages enjoyed by firms who have worked with lawyers to develop their own personal action plans quickly becomes obvious – resulting in benefits not only in the work environment but also on the bottom line.
Group blogs will surely continue in larger firms, and some will experience success, but individual bloggers generate significant revenue for themselves, other lawyers in the firm and the firm itself.