Blogging

Closing Of WSJ Law Blog Signals Strength Of Law Blogs, Not A Decline Of Blogs

The problem was that the WSJ Law Blog was diverting readers from the paper's main content pages.

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Wall Street Journal legal correspondent Ashby Jones (@jonesashby) announced last week that the WSJ Law Blog — launched in 2006 and after 20,000 posts — was shutting its doors, effective immediately.

Law Blog’s closure doesn’t signal a decline of law firm law blogs. If anything, it suggests the strength of blogs.

No question, the WSJ’s jumping on the law blog bandwagon back in 2006 added credibility to the legal blogosphere. Jones is right:

It had a simple name but a novel approach to legal news in the pre-Twitter era: a one-stop place for breaking news, quick and clear analysis and lively takes on the most compelling stories, trends and personalities shaping the profession.

Law Blog was the first of its kind at the WSJ and was an immediate hit, attracting readers from all corners of the legal world. Its success helped usher in a sort of Golden Age for blogs at WSJ and encourage the growth of a wider, legal blogosphere.

Some in the legal community saw the news of WSJ Law Blog’s shuttering as a sign that law blogs may be dying. Like we haven’t read the “death of blogs” headline any number of times over the years.

Looking at what WSJ is doing, though, is a sign that just the opposite is true. It demonstrates the strength, not the weakness, of legal blogging.

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WSJ, which makes its money by selling subscriptions to content behind paywalls, is moving all legal content penned by Ashby Jones and other legal reporters on the Law Blog onto the main Journal site — available only if you pay.

Robert Ambrogi (@bobmbrogi), a veteran journalist who headed a couple of legal newspapers and is now a blogger, responded on Facebook to the theory that shuttering the Law Blog was a sign law blogs are on the decline.

This isn’t about blogs. It’s about a news organization trying to funnel its readership towards specific products. The problem for the WSJ was that these blogs were diverting readers from the main content pages. If anything, that suggests the strength of the blogs, not the weakness of blogging.

A business development head in large law was right there with Ambrogi that we’re comparing apples and oranges. The WSJ was restricting access to subscription-only content, while law firms don’t directly derive revenue from their legal blog publications.

In addition, unlike the WSJ, most law firms did not have publications until the advent of law blogs. Law firm websites are neither publications nor journalism in the sense of the WSJ. Moving blogs inside a law firm site based on the Law Blog’s closing would mean the death of publications that law firms did not have before their blogs.

Sponsored

Lest there be any doubt of the WSJ’s goal, the 20,000 blog posts that Ashby Jones said would continue to be available at their original URL’s are already behind a paywall. Even Jones’s post announcing that Law Blog was closing is behind the paywall.

Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) is the CEO and founder of LexBlog, which empowers lawyers to increase their visibility and accelerate business relationships online. With LexBlog’s help, legal professionals use their subject matter expertise to drive powerful business development through blogging and social media. Visit LexBlog.com.

LexBlog also hosts LXBN, the world’s largest network of professional blogs. With more than 8,000 authors, LXBN is the only media source featuring the latest lawyer-generated commentary on news and issues from around the globe. Visit lxbn.com now.

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