In today’s National Law Journal, Leigh Jones has a most interesting article about the impact of legal gossip blogs (ahem) on law firms. It begins:

Many of the nation’s most renowned law firms have felt the public relations wallop delivered by law gossip blogs, those online tabloids that can turn an interoffice memo into a virtual billboard of bad news for partners or associates.

Whether the topic is layoffs or love affairs, it seems that no subject is too edgy for sites such as Above the Law, Greedy Associates, AutoAdmit and a few others that dig up the legal profession’s dirt. The immediacy — and, at times, the brutality — of the media form is presenting a challenge for firms that are wary of their private matters entering the public domain.

True enough. But blogs can also be a medium for getting positive news out — e.g., associate pay raises, record partner profits, pro bono work, and charitable contributions — which firms are only now realizing.

Here’s an interesting comment from a firm leader one might expect to be less than enthusiastic about blogging:

Gossip blogs have created an immediacy of information and a quick way to share comments, compared with newspapers and magazines, said Rodgin Cohen, chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell. But the rule for law firms to follow has remained the same over time: “With any widely disseminated message, you have to ask if you’re prepared to see it in a publication,” he said.

New York-based Sullivan & Cromwell was highlighted for months on law blogs after former associate Aaron Charney filed a lawsuit in January 2007 alleging that he was subjected to sexual orientation harassment and retaliation by the firm. The case settled last year.

“I accept that publicity is a good disinfectant,” Cohen said.

Indeed (as Justice Louis Brandeis famously observed). Speaking of S&C gossip, does anyone have updates on Carlos Spinelli-Noseda?

More discussion, after the jump.

ATL gets prominent treatment in the piece:

With the rapid posting of innuendo, internal documents and reader comments, gossip blogs have empowered associates in an “information revolution,” said David Lat, editor in chief of Above The Law. His blog gets more than 100,000 hits per day, he said….

Above The Law’s popularity mushroomed with its obsessive attention to associate pay hikes, when attorneys could not post fast enough the news of their firms’ raises. Big law firms that had not increased associate pay were included on the Web site’s “List of Shame.”

With biting sarcasm and often raunchy commentary from readers, Above The Law makes no apologies for posting rumors and gossip, and is careful to note when its information is unsubstantiated.

There’s an interesting discussion of the controversy of Nixon Peabody’s quasi-theme song:

One of the more popular posts, [Lat] said, included that of Nixon Peabody’s pep song, “Everyone’s a Winner,” a funk-inspired tune produced last year and distributed to the firm’s partners and employees after it made Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work” list. The song also had a link on YouTube.

The law firm’s efforts to bolster teamwork with the song were shredded by blog commenters, one of whom wrote, “This is so embarrassing. Can I rescind my acceptance of NP’s offer?”

The story snowballed after a representative, unidentified by Above The Law, contacted the blog and asserted copyright infringement. Not only did Above The Law keep the link to the song alive, it reported on the law firm’s reaction.

Richard Rochford, chairman of Nixon Peabody’s intellectual property practice, said that, in hindsight, the firm’s reaction was a “PR gaffe.”

Hey, everything is a learning experience — both for Biglaw and the bloggers.

Interestingly enough, several firms that used to ignore ATL are now happy to respond to our inquiries. Perhaps they’ve concluded — correctly, in our view — that it’s better to have their side of the story out there, rather than ignored.

It’s also worth noting that ATL is read by many reporters from other media outlets. As a result, numerous stories broken on Above the Law eventually migrate over to the so-called “mainstream media” or MSM. If a firm is going to have to deal with a story eventually, it might as well try to get ahead of it.

But some firms continue to ignore the blogosphere:

Several law firm leaders did not return phone calls or e-mail messages seeking comment for this story. Other leaders said that they did not read Above The Law, Greedy Associates or other gossip blogs.

Perhaps they’re hoping that bloggers, and maybe the internet, will just go away. But blogging is probably here to stay (even if, like any other medium, it will evolve in the years ahead).

As for ATL specifically, we’re not only surviving, but thriving. The site will celebrate its second blogiversary this summer. We are currently looking to hire an additional writer.

These are just excerpts from a longer piece. You can read the complete article over here.

Gossip Blogs Bedevil Law Firms [National Law Journal]