Michael Ferguson

I’m on record that blogging for lawyers is more than creating content. I’ve wondered more than once if I may be creating a straw man argument on which to make a stand. But I always come back to blogging being a conversation, a way to engage one’s audience in a real and authentic way. After all the seminal book on corporate blogging from the early days of blogging, written in 2006, was entitled, Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers . The authors,  Robert Scoble and Shel Israel , talked about how blogs, bloggers and the blogosphere was changing how businesses communicate with their consumers and other stakeholders. Robert and Shel presented more than 50 case studies of companies and business leaders as leaders interacting with their audience. (emphasis added) Effective legal bloggers tell me that when a new client comes in the client feels like they know the lawyer. They’ve heard the lawyer ‘talk’ to them via their blog. ...

On Thursday evening, news broke on mainstream media (news television and news sites) that the American Bar Association was calling for a FBI investigation of the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh. Wanting to following the legal community’s, the public’s and the media’s commentary on the ABA’s position I went to Twitter looking for the ABA’s tweet on its position and the tweets that followed thereon. It would be in tweets that followed the ABA tweet that open public commentary would ensue. This discussion would drive commentary across the net — last evening and into this morning. The commentary could also bubble up to influence the mainstream media’s discussion of the ABA’s position. And who knows, maybe even commentary on the senate committee floor. But I could find nothing on the ABA’s position, from either the ABA itself or its president, Bob Carlson. I shared on Twitter that I found it odd that the ABA chose not to post its position on social media. Interesting that @ABAesq...

I was in Chicago this week, speaking at a couple of law schools. The topic? How law students can use blogging and social media for learning, building relationships and building a name. The more I speak at law schools, the more I realize law students and law schools are much like lawyers and law firms when it comes to blogging and other social media. There is the understandable fear of doing something that will leave an indelible mark, the fear of not knowing perfectly what you are doing (learning by trial and error is not usually done in the law nor promoted in law school), and the difficulty of being openly real and authentic. It’s hit and miss from law school to law school as to whether students are receptive to the message of networking through the Internet via social media and blogging. Those schools with law professors, deans and career development professionals acting as role models on social media and blogging and with educational programs in this regard are way ahead ...

Successful paralegals possess many skills that enable them to excel. Some of the skills that attorneys value in a paralegal include attention to detail and the ability to prioritize, work under pressure, and work with minimal supervision. Perhaps the most important skill an attorney requires of their paralegal is excellent communication. Improve your legal writing now!  Communication skills

As a result of poor publishing practices, law firms are inadvertently hurting lawyers and the law. The influence of their lawyers is at risk, if not diminished and the advancement of the law is curtailed. How so? Through a combination of sloppy digital publishing practices and not recognizing the role law blogs and their blogging lawyers play in both the advancement of the law and the administration of justice itself. Law blogs have achieved the status of secondary law, sitting equal to or even ahead of law reviews and law journals. Blogs have democratized legal publishing. Practicing lawyers, usually with niche expertise, who never published in law reviews and journals are regularly sharing their insight in blogs. Areas of law never covered before are being covered by lawyers with deep expertise obtained by practicing law. Blogs are routinely being cited  – by blogs, in social media, in law review and law journal articles, in briefs and memorandums and by courts at the trial...

RSS is the standard for the syndication of published content across the open web. For law firms, RSS is how their content reaches many readers, especially their blog content. But of late, I am finding many law firms not using RSS in publishing, even in their blogs. Other firms have their RSS feeds set up all wrong. All of their blogs in one RSS feed so users get a lot of content they don’t want. RSS feeds kicking out some content, but missing other content – kind of like a magazine with blank packages here and there. RSS feeds that don’t work at all so nothing shows in a news aggregator or on LexBlog. The crazy thing is that RSS is simple. Its non-abbreviated name even says so – Real Simple Syndication. RSS is not something that needs to be set up. RSS comes included in all blog publishing software. RSS is included in the largest content management solution (CMS), WordPress, which is used on 70% of all websites running a CMS, whether a blog or other content site. Even though RSS ...

Medical information available on the internet has grown and diversified in both the quantity and quality of materials. Every month, more information is added and it becomes challenging to sift through the many options to find the medical research you need for your case. Traditional search engines do not focus on medical sites, and therefore some very valuable sites are overlooked.   Below is a

Last week we shared the word with our clients and yesterday with bloggers, and other members of the press, that LexBlog has launched a global legal news and commentary network. Today, it’s time to share the word with you. Especially with those of you blogging, without which this news would not be possible. The network, running on the  LexBlog.com  site, is a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive, global news and commentary network, delivering timely and targeted articles from legal bloggers throughout the world. Any legal blogger, worldwide, is invited to add a feed to the network, and any reader is free to access the network, with no subscription or payment required. You need not be a user/customer of LexBlog’s publishing platform to have you and your blog included for free. LexBlog customers will automatically be included. “Non-customers” just need to go to the “ Join ” page on LexBlog. Some 19,000 legal bloggers already participate in the network, which features both curate...

The question of whether bloggers are included in the definitions of “press” arose at this year’s International Legal Technology (ILTA) Conference. Historically, ILTA invited bloggers as part of the press, but this year put limits, seemingly arbitrary, on which bloggers received press passes. Many bloggers (LexBlog had previously received press credentials) received a response akin to: Bloggers seeking press credentials must be working journalists or be affiliated in an editorial capacity with a qualified news outlet as described above.. which read: …credentialed journalists (i.e., professional reporters, editors, writers, news photographers, producers and online editors) who work for a publication, news service, broadcast outlet or news site that is regularly issued and published primarily for the dissemination of news, and operates independently from any commercial, political, government or special interest. Only media whose primary responsibility is the coverage of the legal, l...

Preparing a flawless paralegal medical records chronology or summary for your attorney can require years of experience. The important thing is to be well-versed in legal and medical terms  and also understand the nuances of civil litigation. Often, with a few days left before trial, paralegals at a personal injury law firm may find themselves face to face with an intimidating stack of medical

ILTACon came alive last week in DC for legal tech startups and emerging growth companies – and for folks like me who find these companies interesting. ILTACon (Internal Legal Technology Association), an annual conference for legal technology folks from around the world and ALM’s Legaltech Conference have historically been dominated by large company legal tech. The empahsis being, as it appeared to me, large companies selling to large law firms and corporations. Guys like me who I practiced in a small law firm and started legal tech companies can be overwhelmed. Walking through the exhibit hall in years past I hardly understood what the companies were selling. Sessions seemed to be presented by people from larger organizations. Unlike Clio Cloud, ABA TechShow and AALL Annual (American Assoc of Law Libraries), where I could understand the technology and relate to the people and their causes, I was a little lost at ILTACon. This year seemed different, and maybe it comes do...