Blogging, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Labor / Employment

Make The Investment To Blog -- Corporate Counsel Will Reward You

Why do general counsel love blogs so much, and what do they look for when reading blogs?

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No one should be surprised that Fortune 500 companies hire some of the biggest names in law for legal services.

Corporate Counsel’s annual report lists the top ten law firms hired by the Fortune 500. As David Lat points out in Who Represents America’s Biggest Companies? (2014), “the most-mentioned firms aren’t necessarily the most prestigious or the most profitable. The rankings prioritize quantity, and they’re dominated by firms that excel in a particular practice area. See if you can guess which one.”

The answer? Workplace law.

I asked Brian Rice, LexBlog’s CFO/COO, for his thoughts on the Corporate Counsel report. Warning: Brian is a big-time data junkie. His take:

7 of the top 10 in overall Fortune 500 mentions are LexBlog clients. The dominant practice areas that contributed to their overall Corporate Counsel ranking tend to be those areas where they have made an investment in blogging. For example, 89% of the Jackson Lewis mentions are in the labor & employment and labor litigation practice groups. Jackson Lewis has 15 blogs covering these two subjects.

Here’s a list of the Jackson Lewis labor and employment blogs:

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  1. Affirmative Action & OFCCP Law Advisor
  2. Benefits Law Advisor
  3. California Workplace Law Blog
  4. Collegiate & Professional Sports Law Blog
  5. Disability, Leave & Health Management Blog
  6. Drug & Alcohol Testing Law Advisor
  7. Employment Class and Collective Action Update
  8. Healthcare Workplace Update
  9. Immigration Blog
  10. Labor & Collective Bargaining
  11. Non-Compete and Trade Secrets Report
  12. OSHA Law Blog
  13. The Corporate Compliance and White Collar Advisor
  14. Wage and Hour Law Update
  15. Workplace Privacy, Data Management & Sec Report

This list tells a story about the Jackson Lewis commitment to labor and employment. The firm makes no bones about its strategic focus. The Jackson Lewis tagline? All we do is work. And, that’s backed up by a litany of blogs within the workplace law niche. Powerful and sensible.

Law firms hesitant to adopt blogging as a strategy for growing their influence and revenue need only look to their Fortune 500 clients for a benchmark. “These corporations provide a look at emergent social media trends among America’s most successful companies.” According to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research 2014 report:

…[R]ank influences adoption of blogging in the F500, and those corporations ranked in the top 200, have consistently out blogged those in the bottom 200. This continues to hold with 45% of all F500 blogs coming from the top 200 corporations and 36% coming from those ranked 300-500 on the list.

The message? Blogging well showcases your passion, authority and expertise. And, that might just get you noticed by corporate counsel. Consider Mark Beese’s number one takeaway from the 2013 Legal Marketing Association annual conference:

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General counsel love blogs (and so does Google). Nearly half of all general counsel surveyed by InsideCounsel Magazine reported they had visited a legal blog over the past week. In the corporate counsel session facilitated by Inside Counsel’s new publisher Lloyd Johnson Jr., panelists Kevin Schubert (Las Vegas Sands Corp.), Simon Manoucherian (Griols Inc.) and Megan Belcher (ConAgra Foods) confirmed that they frequently use lawyer blogs to learn quickly about a legal topic before calling outside counsel for help. General counsel look for timely information (hours, not days) on legal developments and changing regulations. Favorite blogs give only information clients and potential clients need, with links to dig deeper. And yes, they’ve hired lawyers after reading a blog post that led to a phone call.

When it comes to search results, Google loves blogs because they are more likely to provide accurate and timely information. Fifty percent of all landing pages in Google searches are blog posts. I’ll let that sink in while you consider when to launch your legal blog.

All top ten firms cited by Corporate Counsel’s report deserve a hat tip. They all, for the most part, are following the same formula. I’ll focus on the other firms for different reasons in upcoming posts.

By the way, the top three Global 100 law firms by revenue for 2014 are also LexBlog clients. To Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, and Latham & Watkins: Congratulations!

Kevin McKeown (@KevinMcKeown) is president 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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