JD Scoop : JD Supra’s Blog : Content Publishing, Document Sharing, Expertise Marketing for Legal Professionals

Lawyers frequently ask us this question. Our answer: share any legal documents that help to demonstrate your experience and expertise.

JD Supra hosts filings and decisions in cases of national significance (as well as legal alerts and articles created by attorneys at some of the most prestigious firms), but neither situation is a requirement for a legal professional interested in participating on the site.

Our collection of legal documents is as varied as the group of professionals contributing to it.

Here are diverse examples of quality written work shared on JD Supra that have generated lots of views (and, as a consequence, exposure) for their contributors:

[One document listed here has received more views than any other on JD Supra - including the petition to cancel Facebook's Trademark. Be the first to guess which it is and we'll send you a $100 gift certificate for iTunes. Email your pick to us here.]

• FIRPTA Affidavit by Doug Cornelius
• Death Penalty Defense Motion Book by James B. Atwood, Jr
• Sample Family Trust by Jim Bowman
• Reaffirmation Agreements Post BAPCPA by Marc S. Stern
• Do Wikis Belong in Law Firms? by Connie Crosby
• Florida Divorce Guide - How to Prepare Yourself for Divorce by James W. Hart
• E-Discovery: Implications of FRCP Changes on I.T. Risk Management by Bradley Schaufenbuel
• Motion to Administratively Close Removal Proceedings (for I-751) by Amy L. Becerra, Esq.
• Response to Request for Proposal (RFP) Regarding Legal and Government Relations Support Services by Phyllis J. Outlaw and Associates
• Criminal Law in New York, 4th: Ch 30.(Offenses Against the Right to Privacy), by Nicole Black
• Letter of Intent - Commercial Property - Canada by Clark Wilson LLP
• Complaint, Jury Demand, and Designation of Trial Counsel by Law Office of Steven Siegler
• Course Outline by Jim Walsh

Our analytics show that the more you publish, the more traffic your profile will receive - and yet, when it comes to marketing and business development, it only takes one good connection between your work and a researcher to reap the benefits of sharing on JD Supra.

(Example: while many people have found Doug Cornelius's form FIRPTA Affidavit, above, it was the fact that the right person saw his less-trafficked article: LinkedIn to My Facebook on My Blog - Social Media for Lawyers and Law Firm Staff, that made the difference.)

So, experiment.  Share a diverse range of work that shows what you do, what you know.

What to upload? Articles, forms, filings, decisions, newsletters, alerts - the choice is yours.

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Further reading:

- Lawyers Open Their File Cabinets for a Web Resource, The New York Times

 

Two recent posts by Kevin O'Keefe at Lexblog caught our attention. (You should be reading Kevin daily if you're not already: real lawyers not only have blogs, they also read 'em.)

The first responds to the perceived difficulty of generating good (marketing) content. A  case for blogs, the post included the following points which especially resonate with our thinking here at JD Supra:

• Lawyers like the immediacy of seeing content on [the] net. They see something they want to share with clients, prospective clients, bloggers, and reporters and it's up in a day - or even immediately.
• [The] viral marketing bounce of blogs motivates lawyers. Content found on Google. Calls from reporters. Requests to speak at conferences. Content automatically syndicated to third party publications...

Kevin's other post is a response to the notion, paraphrased here, that the only reason for an online presence (blog, website, whatever) is to achieve high rankings in Google. Incorrect, says Kevin - and we agree with him.

The various networking and publishing tools available online today are indeed highly effective (for referrals, exposure, networking, marketing, promotion - you name it), but  they mean nothing if not backed up by quality work.  To whit:

Rise above the pack. Be the lawyer you want to be in the area of law for which you have a passion... Establish a reputation that's not fleeting. It can be done via online networking through effective blogging - not by just being at the top of Google.

Strong arguments not only for blogging but also for posting your daily work - briefs, articles, and the rest - online.  If a good blog post takes less than half an hour to write, consider how long it takes to upload a document already created during the course of your work, that shows in clear terms your expertise and quality level. Mere minutes.

One blog post won't establish your reputation; blogging for the sake of blogging won't establish your reputation, either. But over time, if you use the online tools available to you - use them for all they are worth (and that's a lot!) - you can effectively extend your brand, your reputation, online.

We're with Kevin. Start a blog. But also let your daily work speak for itself. When next you go looking for new marketing content, start with the documents already at your disposal. Build a professional profile and get them online.

In other words: Give Content. Get Noticed.