AmLaw 100 Firm Blogs
In 2006, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati ranked 54th on the American Lawyer's AmLaw 100 rankings of U.S. firms.
On the Silicon Valley Media Law blog, lawyer Cathy Kirkman, of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, has an interesting post about a recent article on lawyer blogging in which she was quoted. Her point in the article was that if business people are reading blogs for business intelligence, shouldn't lawyers be tapped in as well, at least as readers to know what's going on, but also potentially as contributors to add value to the conversation.
Wilson Sonsini's Cathy Kirkman points to an interesting quote in the article from veteran blogger and co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, Doc Searls:
Lawyers are ahead of most professions because they're trained to write and they're trained to think out loud, which is a lot of what blogging is about.Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is ranked this year at 77th among all law firms in the U.S. (up from 83rd last year) by the American Lawyer, with more than 480 attorneys in nine offices located throughout California and in New York and Washington, D.C.
Sheppard Mullin is one of the leading AmLaw 100 firms that has added law blogs to its website and client communications, with these weblogs focused on the principal interests of their most important clients:
- Antitrust Law Blog
- Bankruptcy and Restructuring Blog
- Corporate and Securities Law Blog
- Financial Institution Law Blog
- Intellectual Property Law Blog
- Labor and Employment Law Blog
- Real Estate and Construction Law Blog
Previewing a feature in the September issue of Law Technology News, Larry Bodine's Professional Services Marketing Blog notes:
It’s time to examine your client base and identify the industries in which the firm has experience (not the strong practice groups). Clients, even the GC, see themselves as a member of an industry, not a customer of a practice group. Industry experience is one of the first things clients look for on a law firm Web site."It’s time to identify the firm’s high-margin, most-profitable practices and start blogs about them," says Larry Bodine. The leading law firms are already distinguishing themselves from the followers, as seen by clients.
Many law firms make the mistake of "marketing their organization," that is, using their internal administrative structure to shape their marketing and structure their Web sites. This is a mistake. On the other hand, firms that market themselves as industry experts are "organizing around the market," and presenting themselves in the way clients buy.
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