Law 2.0 (A Marketeer's Perspective)

After the grandeur of the #ABATechShow, followed by the mutual admiration of Legal Marketing Association's #LMA13 conference, I've been deluged with new and increasingly more curious efforts by social media gurus to get me on board the tech marketing train. As Heather Morse wrote immediately after the Vegas convention ended, what happened at LMA won't stay there, much to my regret. 

One such effort was an email from Lucy:

Hi,

We're currently looking for new content for our blog bloglegal.co.uk/
and wondered whether you would like to contribute any posts for free?
Blog Legal has only recently been setup and our aim is for it to become a
place for those with a keen interest in the law to express and share their
views and opinions on any high profile cases or legal matters.

If you do have any content that you would like to publish, or wish to
discuss any ideas, email across your suggestions and we can discuss them in
more detail.

Kind Regards,
Lucy

I ran a quick cost/benefit analysis on the solicitation. I give them, a new blog without readers or recognition, content and they give me absolutely nothing in return except the opportunity to contribute for free.  Wow. I was on the fence on this enticing offer, so I decided to take a look.

The link led me to Criminal Defence Blawg, subtitled "Welcome to criminal law 2.0," which is so very law 1.0 of them. But there was a guest post in my face by attorney Leo Preston who, according to Google, doesn't exist, about how to avoid blunders when selecting a United States criminal lawyer. This seemed odd as Leo's blurb said she "worked in a law school for several years."  There is, however, a Leo Preston who is available as a guest blogger on a wide variety of subjects, including law.

As I'm fascinated to know how people can avoid blunders when finding a criminal lawyer, as opposed to a criminal defense lawyer, I read the post. It contained some critical gems of wisdom.

You can begin your search for a criminal defense lawyer online.  The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional organization and is the primary voice of the rule of law in the US and around the world. ABA recommendations can be trusted.

I never knew the ABA was the primary voice of the rule of law in the US. See? I'm learning already.

Using the ABA or seeking referrals from your local law school or non-profit legal center will eliminate most blunders you may make trying to find a criminal defense lawyer on your own, through a phonebook, through friend or family referrals, or through other online or prepaid legal plans.

Better to call your local law school than a referral through friends or family? More stuff I never knew.

Always do a thorough background check of the lawyer you select using the ABA, the better business bureau, other professional legal organizations, local law schools and the Chamber of Commerce.  Do not be afraid to ask lawyers you are considering to provide you with case outcomes for other clients charged with the same criminal offense you will be facing. Also ask for client references-references you can speak with in person.

What a great idea! It never dawned on me that we ought to be disclosing the identities of former clients so
that potential clients can learn of their criminal histories.

As it turns out, this new blawg is part of Gavin Ward's marketing network, and Gav is a former Scottish solicitor (admitted 2010), turned social media marketing strategist for lawyers.  By stacking blogs that interlink, filling them with content from any source one can get, and making the content appear minimally competent so that non-lawyers won't realize that what they are reading is nonsense at best, and dangerous at worst, marketeers can use the wonder of technology to engage with the public and promote lawyers, who in turn pay them for the leads they generate.

Welcome to criminal law 2.0 indeed.

The argument in favor of this strategy is that marketeers are going to do this anyway, making people stupider at every opportunity and doing so at a pace that will blow real lawyers away.  After all, when they can get content from every freelance guest blogger and, if Lucy does her job better, maybe even a real lawyer or two who haven't yet figured out that this isn't going to make them an internet rock star, why not hop aboard and get your name out there across the interwebz? 

The argument against it is that this is a scam, it spreads ignorance and grossly wrong information and harms those we work every day to protect.  Even if this tactic worked, and it doesn't, to get you clients and build your practice, do you want to be party to making people stupider? 

According to #ABATechShow and #LMA13, lawyers do, and the marketeers are there to help.  And if you can't find a good marketeer on the ABA's website, there's always Gavin.  I hear him and his pal Lucy are looking for lawyers to produce content for them for free. Or you could just act like lawyers, work hard and serve your clients and hope others make the "blunder" of being referred to you by your satisfied clients.

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Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/04/12/law-20-a-marketeers-perspective.aspx?ref=rss

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