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Legal Tech Needs Open Online Community With Company Leaders Participating

Northwestern Law Professor and widely respected author and speaker on legal tech and innovation, Dan Linna, told the UK’s Law Gazette that the lack of community leadership is stopping a true legal tech community from being formed. 

I responded on Twitter that while the Internet drives countless communities in other verticals and causes, we’re lacking a strong legal tech community and leadership because the people brining us legal tech are absent from the discussion – they do not use the Internet. 

A lack of community leadership is stopping a true legal tech community from being founded. – @NorthwesternLaw’s @DanLinna at @CodeXStanford https://t.co/SW6mWpvh3T << Internet enables communities to form in countless areas, but legal tech folks/companies don’t use net to network.

— Kevin O'Keefe (@kevinokeefe) April 15, 2019

A Twitter discussion ensued as to how to form such an online community, and how to frame and advance such a discussion. 

Should the forum be open or private?

What platform should be used for the discussion, ie, Slack to other discussion and thought design mediums.

Getting people together face to face to discuss how to advance the discussion on how to build a community.

Forming a new Facebook or joining in an existing one.

Rather than discuss how to form a community and what medium should be used, why not just start using the medium we have, the open Internet, and get the people we need in the discussion, the legal tech company leaders and legal entrepreneurs.

Our legal profession is notorious for lack of action and studying things to death. Partially out of protectionism and partially for fear of a real and authentic discussion listened to and engaged by all.

 Many in legal tech are acting, talking, and seizing the opportunity to bring access to legal services. 

Let’s now use the open net to share ideas, collaborate, and advance ideas, software and other technology. 

The net is an open communication medium. Starting with Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), usenet groups, AOL, message boards and, close to twenty years ago, blogs. You listened to what was being said and, if so inclined, you engaged in the discussion.

No one discussed how we should begin to talk, collaborate and network through the Internet. Various Google apps, Twitter, Medium and countless other tech advancements and products grew out of blog conversations.

The outcome:

Real and authentic insight and commentary, directly from the people in the know.

Advancement of ideas, concepts, software and products ensued.

Real leadership formed, by virtue of the discussion.

Trust or distrust developed in people, their companies or their products. 

Reputations were built so as to make for true, not manufactured influence.

Relationships were built so we knew who to trust when they shared news and information. 

Today, we have legal tech companies whose leaders are totally absent from the discussion. They “speak” through PR and communications people. Using social media, they get hired hands who know little of the underlying technology and its relationship to the law to cover for them.

Even tech organizations such as Legal Hackers, with about 200 chapters, worldwide, shy way from blogging to collaborate, to dialogue with us and to advance their important projects. Their Internet presence, if you want to call it a presence, comes largely in the form of websites.

I am no net guru, but a legal tech community starts with getting the players to participate. If legal tech company leaders are not participating l, call them out. Ask them what they are afraid of, why they do not want to give of themselves, what they are trying hide and why they don’t want to build trust with the community.

Leadership, like Linna talks of, arises of out action – of discussion in the community and open advancement of ideas and technology. Leadership is not another organization, conference or a title. 

Community requires inclusion.

Community is open to all on the Internet. Those talking and those listening. Ideas and leaders can come from anyone, anywhere in the world.

Community does not come by invitation, anymore than one would need an invitation to use the Internet.

Inclusion requires going where the people are, not where you feel comfortable. Blogging and other social media – listening and talking, personally

The Internet is a wonderful place, when used. We have a lot at stake in legal technology, and so do the people we serve. 

How about we be a little vulnerable and start conversing. Our community will evolve and leadership will arise through participation and action. 

Legal Tech Needs Open Online Community With Company Leaders Participating published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

See You In Atlanta Next Week – LMA Annual Conference

I am headed to the annual Legal Marketing Association Conference (“LMA” )in Atlanta next week. I’ll be joined by LexBlog’s new head of sales and business development, Dan Mintz.

Dan’s a good person who comes with a lot of passion and care. Like me, he sees business development as all about relationships. People buy people, not products. So don’t be surprised if Dan reaches out to say hi or to meet with you – if he hasn’t already. 

With LexBlog’s evolution from solely a professional turnkey blog publishing platform to a legal news and commentary network with over 22,000 law blog contributors, the feel of LMA has changed for us.

As the publisher of legal news and commentary, we’re looking to help, at no cost, law firms and those agencies helping law firms.

LexBlog is now publishing and syndicating law firm blogs, at no cost, whether the law firm is using LexBlog’s publishing platform or not. Each lawyer, blog and law firm receives a profile, automatically and at no cost. We’re looking to talk to those law firms whose blogs are not already on LexBlog. I saw a number of large law firms who we reached out to meet in Atlanta have already submitted their blogs.

PR and marketing agencies have law firm customers looking for exposure. We want to talk with you about your syndicating your clients publishing to LexBlog – at no cost.

Coverage about you from LMA. I have been contacted by a number of companies and PR professionals to report on product or service offerings. I am happy to do so, as relevant and newsworthy, via video or Twitter – you’d be surprised what you can report in 280 characters. LexBlog can then pick up my coverage.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have a business model founded on our managed WordPress platform for blogs, micro-sites and digital magazines.

Mintz has lined up meetings with a number of law firms and digital agencies. Agencies and PR professionals are looking to use LexBlog’s platform as a more powerful and less costly platform than something they development on their own. 

Socially, I am always happy to get together. Look me up or drop me an email if you’d like to get together. 

Last, but not least, LexBlog’s Beer for Bloggers comes to Atlanta – or at least a version of it – on Monday evening at 5 at Gibney’s Pub, 231 Peachtree St NE – a short walk from the conference hotel. 

Siteimprove and LexBlog sponsoring a joint happy hour for members of the Legal Marketing Association Marketing Technology, PR & Communications, and Social & Digital Media SIGs. All who attend will be eligible for our door prize – an Apple Watch courtesy of Infinite PR. 

See you in Atlanta.

See You In Atlanta Next Week – LMA Annual Conference published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

Lawyers and Twitter: Six Ways To Make People Like You

I use Twitter more to give shout outs to the good stuff being done by others than to broadcast about LexBlog and our doings.

I’ve always had a hard time believing I did something that qualified for bragging. Maybe that’s my Irish Catholic roots and my being an entrepreneur my whole life — nothing’s ever good enough and there’s no reason not to feel guilty.

Selfishly though, it just always felt good to make others feel good about what they’re doing. Lawyers, the organizations supporting access to legal services and the innovators bringing us the future of the law also need an attagirl or attaboy now and again. 

Turns out that sharing the good of others, rather than talking about my company and our products, is the most effective method of business development I have ever used.

Dale Carnegie, in one of the best-selling books of all time, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ laid out six business principles for making people like you – an essential he believe needed for business development.

Each of Carnegie’s points apply to how you as a lawyer can use Twitter to make people like you.

Become genuinely interested in other people. “You can make more friends in two months by being interested in them, than in two years by making them interested in you.” The only way to make quality, lasting friendships is to learn to be genuinely interested in them and their interests.

Smile. Happiness does not depend on outside circumstances, but rather on inward attitudes. Smiles are free to give and have an amazing ability to make others feel wonderful. Smile in everything that you do.

Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language. “The average person is more interested in their own name than in all the other names in the world put together.” People love their names so much that they will often donate large amounts of money just to have a building named after themselves. We can make people feel extremely valued and important by remembering their name.

Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. The easiest way to become a good conversationalist is to become a good listener. To be a good listener, we must actually care about what people have to say. Many times people don’t want an entertaining conversation partner; they just want someone who will listen to them.

Talk in terms of the other person’s interest. The royal road to a person’s heart is to talk about the things he or she treasures most. If we talk to people about what they are interested in, they will feel valued and value us in return.

Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely. The golden rule is to treat other people how we would like to be treated. We love to feel important and so does everyone else. People will talk to us for hours if we allow them to talk about themselves. If we can make people feel important in a sincere and appreciative way, then we will win all the friends we could ever dream of.

I use Feedly, a news aggregator, and Twitter lists in most of my use of Twitter. 

Feedly gives me news stories on subjects and from certain sources. Sharing the story, with an excerpt or quote from it, and also mentioning the person’s name (Twitter handle) by attributing the story/quote to them seems to work well. 

Twitter lists enable me to see what the people and organizations I’d like to know are sharing. By retweeting, with an excerpt from the underlying story shared or a kudos to the person or organization in the story – or to the party tweeting – seems to enable me to make friends.

With a decade or two under my belt, I’ve found generating business to be about friendships and people liking each other.

Unlike the “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett, though, I never realized Dale Carnegie’s course could be the most valuable degree I could get. I’m learning.

Lawyers and Twitter: Six Ways To Make People Like You published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

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Syndication of Legal News

What if there was legal news service, ala UPI, that syndicated legal news, information and commentary so that such news and commentary could be published by third-parties?

UPI (United Press International), founded in 1907, at its peak had more than 2,000 full-time employees, 200 news bureaus in 92 countries and more than 6,000 media subscribers, including newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations. 

As a kid I thought it incredibly neat that our local daily small town newspaper could pull and publish UPI stories and photos from around the world, in what looked like instantaneous fashion. 

Most of us who are old enough think Walter Cronkite broke the news of President Kennedy’s assassination. Not so, Cronkite got the news from UPI.

The essence of UPI, as well as AP and Reuters is syndication. Collect the news in various formats (text, audio and video) and syndicate it to those in the news business. 

With the decline in the traditional news business, these news services are no longer what that they used to be.

The legal news and journalism business is also on the decline.

With declining ad and subscription revenues, it is near impossible for traditional legal publishers to retain top reporters and editors.

Open publishing is starting to impact the publishers of treatises, reviews and journals who have traditionally received articles and editorial work for free and sold subscriptions, including to those who wrote and edited the content. 

Law firms are paying third parties to distribute the content published by their lawyers, with the third party often taking the Google search and social networking influence of the content. 

Third party publishers are asking legal professionals to write for them – for free – and for the third party publisher to retain ownership of the content and its original domain on the net.

What’s killing traditional legal journalism even more is the importance of the individual citizen journalist and what that citizen journalist should own and control in today’s Internet world.

Legal journalism has been democratized. 

Legal professionals have a printing press in their hands via a WordPress platform on a desktop or mobile device.

Legal professionals are reporting on law blogs – thousands of blogs with tens of thousand of bloggers, over 22,000 bloggers on LexBlog alone.

Legal journalism is now created by those in the know – practicing lawyers, law professors, law students and other legal industry professionals, all of whom have first hand knowledge and experience in niche areas.

Legal professionals can own and control their journalism (content and domain) without handing it to third parties for publishing or distribution, resulting in loss of influence caused by not having their domain be viewed as the primary domain.

With all of these law blogs, why not have a “UPI” syndicating this legal news and commentary?

The content could be syndicated to subscribers licensing a “syndication portal” displaying the stories the subscriber saw as relevant. 

Subscribers could include associations, law firms and other organization who had a ready reason to license a “syndication portal,” whether it be for member relationships, brand building or otherwise. 

Content could also be syndicated in niche focused “magazines” comprised primarily of syndicated legal news and commentary.

Most important in such legal syndication is it being all about the individual law blogger, not the third party publisher as in days past.

A hub for legal blogs with accompanying technology for “syndication portals” could make legal news syndication a reality. 

Syndication of Legal News published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

Legal Journalism Takes All Forms

I’ve been wondering of late how many lawyers have hands on, blue collar work experience. Jobs that shape character for life, as my colleague, Bob Ambrogi, put it to me this afternoon.

I was concerned that if lawyers lacked such experience they wouldnt be as good a lawyer. 

So walking off the ferry yesterday morning I put the question of blue collar work experience before law out on Twitter.

Has anyone every done a survey as to the percentage of lawyers who have worked “blue collar – get your hands dirty” jobs (at anytime) before starting a job as a lawyers? @atlblog?

— Kevin O'Keefe (@kevinokeefe) March 26, 2019

The resulting responses, and the story they in effect created, made for one of the more inspiring legal journalism pieces I’ve “written.” Or at least the kind of legal journalism I do out here on my blog and social media. 

I curated the responses in a Twitter Moments, below. The responses included farming, Army combat medic, fireman, ditch digger and Taco Bell. Thirty-five responses by Wednesday afternoon with more coming in.

As I flipped through the responses/tweets on “Moments” on my iPhone (best way to view) I was consuming journalism in a new form. Inspiring stories on an inspiring medium. 

I simply asked a question, received responses from folks I wanted to hear from, curated the responses on existing and free reporting technology and distributed the “story” on that same free media technology. 

Who’s to say the story, as reported, wasn’t as powerful as a story a full-time reporter would do for a traditional news publication. Admittedly not with the same thoroughness nor accepted news story format of a news site.

But perhaps a more widely accepted format of journalism for a new generation who have grown up with the net and for those of us who rely on social networks for our news.

Check it out. I’ll be adding the responses still coming in.

Real Lawyers With Real World Job Experience

Legal Journalism Takes All Forms published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

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Twitter as an Engagement Medium for State Bar Associations

Twitter, by definition, is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as tweets. 

In just twelve years, Twitter has changed journalism, business, politics and social networking in ways we could never have never predicted — mostly in a very positive way.

Every state bar association, except one, is using twitter. Many bars make their Twitter communications prominent on the front page of their website. Most invite people to follow them on Twitter.

But what’s missing for most bar associations is the social networking and interaction part of Twitter, what I call engagement.

Bar associations share news and information, varying from CLE programs to awards and pro bono/charitable efforts. Some bars have genrerated a decent Twitter following to this news, others have a very small following. 

Many bars are struggling to make themselves relevant to their members and the public. Most are looking to demonstrate the relevance of lawyers to a public which is increasingly attracted to alternative legal services providers not involving lawyers.

Twitter is an excellent medium for bars to increase their relevance with members and the public – so long as Twitter is used for social networking and interaction, in addition to news.

Follow the Twitter accounts of member law firm and lawyers who are Tweeting information of help to the public. These members may be even sharing information from their blog posts.

Retweet those Tweets with a comment providing your take or giving a kudos to the firm or lawyer for their efforts.

Follow the Twitter accounts of state and local reporters who periodically cover social justice, business or legal matters. 

Retweet those Tweets with comments and you’ll be in effect be reporting news, giving an atta-girl or atta-boy to the reporters and building a following from reporters.

Follow relevant organizations and businesses. May be other state bar associations or metro bar associations. Large businesses such as state organizations or health organizations may have interesting and well followed Twitter feeds. Same for chamber of commerces or other civic groups.

Retweet items of interest, again with a comments. Maybe use “what makes me feel good and is likely to make others feel good” being the guide as to what you retweet. 

Put these Twitter accounts into a Twitter list so it’s easy to quickly scroll through the Tweets and do the retweeting. Use Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to space out the five items you retweeted in 10 or 15 minutes. 

You’ll start to see these Twitter users follow you on Twitter and share your tweets with their followers, often a greater following than you have. 

In a short time, you as the State Bar will start to stick out as a shining star. Organizations, not just bar associations, don’t use Twitter much as a social networking and interaction  medium. Those who do are welcomed warmly by those of us who do.

You’ll have turned your megaphone into something akin to a handshake where you’ll be received with a welcome and an offer to help you.

You’ll have positioned the brand of the state bar to represent an organization and membership that serves and helps the public. All in a real and authenticate way, a way that establishes trust. 

Time and no staffing may be an excuse more than a reality. Bars are doing the engagement I reference.

Look at this item tweeted by a San Francisco lawyer retweeted by the Bar Association of San Francisco. 

10 Mediation Tips For Patent and Trade Secret Cases- Part 1 | ADR & Conflict Management Strategies https://t.co/MzNOiis21N Review the choices technology companies face in mediating these cases. @sfbar @SCCBarAssn @ACBAtweets @CCCBAR @smcbar #patents #tradesecrets #mediation #ADR pic.twitter.com/FbCp9f8nJn

— Frank Burke (@fjburkejr) March 20, 2019

The Florida Bar is well known for its social media efforts. Here’s a tweet where the bar highlighted the work of the Florida State University College of Law.

Last week the Assoc for Criminal Justice welcomed alum Krista Dolan (’11) from @Fla_Innocence. She shared details about public interest criminal and post-conviction work. Nearly every day, our student organizations host engaged alumni & distinguished speakers over the lunch hour. pic.twitter.com/Vtug94TDZw

— FSU College of Law (@FSUCollegeofLaw) March 21, 2019

Some education, mostly by trial and error, will be required. Reprioritization of your communications work will be needed.

The public, especially those looking to learn and network, is using Twitter en masse.

Bars, looking to make themselves more relevant to members, to serve its members and to help the public have no other choice than to use Twitter for online news — and for social networking and interaction. 

Twitter as an Engagement Medium for State Bar Associations published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

You Should Consider Where You Store Your Content

My COO, Garry Vander Voort’s post yesterday about MySpace’s deleting their user’s archived content should serve as a wake up a call to legal professionals publishing articles and blog posts to third party controlled systems.

MySpace announced this week, that in addition to other content, over 50 million music tracks were lost. 

Per MySpace:

As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from MySpace. We apologize for the inconvenience.

“We apologize for the inconvenience.” More than glib as Vander Voort describes the statement, it’s more of a “tough luck, what do you expect from us, we’re just one of those Internet companies to whom you pay little or nothing, what more could you expect.”

Think companies don’t think that way? Sit in an investors meeting when the projected businesses models didn’t pan out.

Your interests and your content will take a back a seat to their monies and the monies of the folks who invested in their fund. Monies are not going to be set aside for a perpetual archive of your content and the content of hundreds of thousands of other people. 

There are some brilliant people in legal innovation publishing on Medium, an online publishing platform founded by Ev Williams, a co-founder of Blogger and Twitter.

They include Rob Saccone and Ed Walters, writing to and storing their writings on Medium here and here. Rob has eight articles on Medium and Ed, six. 

Though not publishing often, when you’re a widely recognized legal tech entrepreneur and corporate leader writing and commenting on “Tech, Data and Innovation Breaking Down the Barriers Between Law Firms and Business,” you are going to be cited. Your pieces are going to be shared in law school and MBA classrooms. 

Same thing applies when you’re the co-founder and CEO of a 22 year old, yet still the fastest growing legal research company — and teach Robots and the Law at two law schools — and publish “Data is the New Oil: Legal Management Lessons from John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil.” 

We could blame companies like MySpace or, in the case of legal publishing, Bloomberg Law, for deleting content, but as Vander Voort says, “I think we would be wiser and happier in the long run if we instead used this opportunity to look at our own behavior.”

Do you care about the content you are posting online?  If so, you should be considerate of where you are posting it.  Is it a closed system?  Do you have the ability to retrieve that content when you want it?  Will it be in a format that is useful for you in the future?

Look at blogging. 

A lot of great options exist for open Content Management Systems that allow you access/download to your content in convenient formats. WordPress is by far the largest and most successful example.

Yet people continue to buy into closed systems. Either buying opaque packaged software that hides behind vague promises of security or in closed publishing platforms that strip you of the rights to your own work.

Get beyond looking at publishing as content marketing to grab attention or to improve search performance. That’s akin to advertising, something we’re not looking to store because of it’s lasting effect on learning, knowledge and advancements in business and the law. 

Vander Voort puts it well. 

The decision you make on “where” to post content has long term repercussions. Not just for the long term accessibility of your content, but also for the viability of the web itself. 

When millions of files are silenced all at once, it creates a giant hole in the web. It robs of us of our history and confines the talent of many people to the digital void.  The only evidence that they ever existed being tantalizing links that lead to nowhere. 

Maybe you think that the internet works best at a living AND dying entity.  Even if that is the case, you should consider what you do with your own content.  It belongs to you.  Don’t let other companies or “incidents” decides its fate.  Choose your platforms wisely to ensure that you are in control. 

Frequency of writing is not a reason to put your content at risk, inconvenience countless others who will go to dead links for years to come (links created by others such as online commentators, professors, presenters and business people), and decrease your object influence as measured by social networks based on a long standing consistent domain.

Compared to ten years ago, the costs of publishing to a platform that provides you control and long term archival are minimal. And beyond just storage and control, to a software language that is open and ubiquitous so that your content is effectively portable at a minimal cost – think WordPress. 

Each of us are sharing insight and ideas that are looked as valuable by those in the legal industry and beyond, perhaps more valuable than we think. Treat your insight and commentary with the respect it deserves. 

You Should Consider Where You Store Your Content published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

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WordPress, Used Correctly, for Law Firms is Stable, Secure and Highly Peforming

The reason that some law firm IT and legal marketing folks aren’t fans of WordPress is that when they neglect to update it or make ill-advised use of plugins and themes WordPress becomes unsafe.

It really is as simple as that. WordPress is one of the most, if not the most, stable, secure and highly performing content management solutions available to law firms, whether it be for a blog, a microsite or a website. 

Whether WordPress performs, is secure and stable comes down to its set up, maintenance and feature upgrades. Because of this, most law firms, including the largest law firms, are not running their WordPress sites themselves, they are using a managed WordPress platform or host. 

Think of an Indy racing car. Team Penske, perennial favorites at the Indianapolis 500, will be driving three Chevrolet’s this May. 

Chevrolet’s? Sounds too simple of a car to win the 500.  

Highly performing Chevrolet engines delivering 550 to 700 horsepower capable of propelling cars at an average of over 230 miles per hour for 200 laps, 2 1/2 miles each. 

Now hand that Chevy to an amateur or someone otherwise skilled and someone is going to get killed, let alone have the car highly performing. 

I read with a chuckle one legal marketing company’s checklist comparison of WordPress with their own website software.

WordPress costs more to use.  WordPress, no matter who you use for hosting or a platform, is dangerous to use and always insecure. WordPress is difficult to use. WordPress doesn’t work for search performance. 

Geez, sounds like a list of possible side effects from the use of a prescription drug. Maybe you have good web software, but to bash WordPress is a little silly.  

In a piece at Search Engine Land, Detlef Johnson, the editor of Third Door Media, makes clear that WordPress is very safe. Neglecting to set it up right and failing to maintain it, among other things, can make it unsafe. 

Detlef states the obvious. There is no such thing as a 100 percent secure system. WordPress, like any software, needs security updates to operate safely, and those updates shouldn’t negatively affect you. 

As a lawyer or law firm, make informed choices when it comes to web software and the parties whose web platforms you will be using. But don’t let anyone tell you WordPress is not suitable for law firms. 

If you need any comfort, look at the fact that over one third of the top ten million web properties and over two thirds of sites with a content management system (CMS) are powered by WordPress. 

WordPress, Used Correctly, for Law Firms is Stable, Secure and Highly Peforming published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

WordPress Now Powers Over One-Third of the Web

As reported yesterday, WordPress now powers over 1/3rd of the top 10 million sites on the web according to W3Techs.

Their market share has grown steadily over the last few years, going from 29.9% just one year ago to 33.4% today. 

WordPress isn’t just for individuals, small businesses or blogs.  

Over the years WordPress has become the CMS of choice for more and more people and companies. As various businesses use WordPress, the variety of WordPress sites grows. Large enterprise businesses all the way down to small local businesses: all of them use WordPress to power their site. 

LexBlog,  founded in 2005, was run on MovableType software. Looking at WordPress then, as developed by a sophomore at the University of Houston, Matt Mullenweg, I thought no way was WordPress credible publishing software for the legal profession.

Boy was I wrong.

In 2005, we were celebrating 50,000 downloads. Six years later, in January 2011, WordPress was powering 13.1% of websites. And now, early in 2019, we are powering 33.4% of sites. Our latest release has already been downloaded close to 14 million times, and it was only released on the 21st of February.

LexBlog switched to WordPress in 2009 and now runs one of the larger managed WordPres platforms around. 

WordPress is prevailing and will become the digital publishing software of record because it’s open source. Hundreds of thousands of developers, including LexBlog’s developers are working to improve WordPress — each and everyday. 

We’d like to thank everyone who works on WordPress, which is built and maintained by a huge community of volunteers that has grown alongside the CMS. This incredible community makes it possible for WordPress to keep growing while still also remaining free. 

Drupal, Joomla, Wix, Squarespace and Blogger (no longer even being supported) are not credible long term publishing solutions for law firms or other organizations. 

Congratulations to WordPress — and thank you for your success. 

WordPress Now Powers Over One-Third of the Web published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

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Word From the Shop, an Upgrade to PHP 7.2 on the LexBlog Platform

I don’t get word out from the factory floor often enough. I’ll try to do better. 

Our tech and development team worked weekends in February to upgrade LexBlog’s managed WordPress platform to PHP 7.2.

PHP is a programming and scripting language to create dynamic interactive websites. WordPress is written using PHP as the scripting language. Like WordPress, PHP is also  Open Source and used by countless developers and managed platforms, worldwide. 

Why should you and other digital publishers care about our upgrade? 

PHP 5.6 and PHP 7.0 are officially no longer supported by the foundation that manages PHP – this means no more updates to those versions making them a huge security hole for people still using those versions.

PHP 7.2 provides around a 20-25% performance bump from PHP 7.0 meaning sites will be faster and our servers can handle a greater number of inbound requests.

PHP 7.2 includes some nifty security benefits and as the WordPress core team pushes all of WordPress users to utilize more modern versions of PHP, these benefits will help protect passwords/emails/etc.

As reported by WordPress, only 12.6% of WordPress installations are on PHP 7.2. while around 56% are on PHP version 5.6 or older. 

This represents a huge problem for those site owners running on older versions of PHP – and another reason why lawyers and law firms should be running WordPress and any digital publishing platform on a managed platform which can seamlessly roll out upgrades just as you’d receive them on any SaaS solution. 

Thanks Jared, Scott, Angelo and Josh for another job well done. 

Word From the Shop, an Upgrade to PHP 7.2 on the LexBlog Platform published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

Why Wouldn’t State Bar Association Sites Include Member Blogs?

Reviewing state bar association websites and their online publications, we’re finding that the vast majority do not include a listing of their member attorneys’ law blogs.

There are exceptions. I gave a shoutout today to the Arizona Bar Assiciaton and veteran journalist and editor of the Arizona Attorney Magazine, Tim Eigo for their work in creating and running the Arizona Attorney Blog Network. 

Fabulous job, @AZStateBar and Tim Eigo/@azatty in your 'Arizona Attorney Blog Network,' a collection of over 100 blogs written by attorneys and others in the legal profession. https://t.co/0okn6rKsmH pic.twitter.com/bPAsjObcC6

— Kevin O'Keefe (@kevinokeefe) March 13, 2019

Bar association websites, as they should, routinely list resources for member lawyers and the public. Even though law blogs represent some of the best, if not the best, legal reporting, information and commentary – for the public and lawyers – blogs are largely absent from bar websites.

Resources for the public on websites include pamphlets, ask-a-lawyer, call a lawyer, self-help articles and lawyer referral services.

Imagine adding a listing of blogs sharing practical and regular insight from caring and experienced practitioners from cities large and small across your state. 

Better yet, imagine a flow of blog content across a bar site or online publication of curated law blog content. A living and breathing resource for the public and lawyers.

A number of bar associations have bar association or bar section blogs with contributions from members attorneys. They’re good.

Democratizing such blogs to include contributions from independent bloggers or a listing of such independent blogs and their publishers would only add greater value to member attorneys – and the public.

All bar associations discuss the merits of lawyers and how they serve people. Law blogs – in some states, over a hundred of them – and their lawyer publishers are living proof that lawyers do care and are willing to share information and insight freely with the public.

Shine a light on these women and men, it’ll keep them blogging, keep them them giving lawyers a good name and keep them establishing trust in lawyers in your state. 

I empathize with bar associations in that many are understaffed and underfunded. The idea of handing more work – getting law blogs positioned on a website or online publication – to some of the most hard working and dedicated people around is not appealing. 

Perhaps with some planning and effort overtime – and maybe a little help from LexBlog – we can make some headway in getting some of the better legal information and commentary available to members of bar associations and the public. 

Why Wouldn’t State Bar Association Sites Include Member Blogs? published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

WWW at 30 : Democratization of Legal Publishing Made Possible

The World Wide Web is thirty years old today.

The Internet may have existed for twenty years before the WWW, but it was not until English scientist Tim Berners-Lee brought us the Web So that documents and resources could be shared and linked to via Uniform Reosource Locators (URL’s).

A year later, Berners-Lee brought us the first software to display web pages on terminals called the Line Mode Browser.

It was not until 1993 when a Marc Andreessen led team at the University of Illinois brought us the Mosaic browser and then Netscape built on Mosaic a year later in 1994 that the Web became democratized – usable by the masses.

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress celebrated the Web’s 30th anniversary by sharing that WordPress was created fourteen years after the birth of the Web with the mission to democratize publishing.

In 2003, @WordPress was created to democratize publishing on the open web. #Web30 #ForTheWeb pic.twitter.com/1Xny14pqu4

— Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) March 12, 2019

Democratize publishing WordPress did. As recently as twenty years ago, it was unheard of for anyone to have ready and inexpensive access to a printing press and a worldwide distribution network. Today, WordPress open source software has made this a reality. 

Seeing the opportunity for citizen publishing by lawyers to build their name as trusted and reliable authorities in niche areas of law via the Web, LexBlog jumped at the opportunity fifteen years ago to democratize legal publishing.

Until then, large legal publishing and media companies held the reigns to publishing in the law. Only those legal professionals approved by these gatekeepers could write and publish whether it was a journal, news, commentary or an informative piece.

Now, any legal professional may publish and distribute news, insight and commentary. LexBlog, with 22,000 law bloggers contributing to its network is, as Ed Walters, the CEO of Fastcase, describes it, the largest newsroom in the history of legal journalism. 

We talk of AI and other technology bringing us extraordinary change in the years ahead. But, arguably, the digital printing press, enabling anyone to communicate, advance ideas and collaborate is the most powerful piece of technology we’ll see in our lifetimes. 

Mind too that we are witnessing all of these changes in many of our lifetimes. Vinton Cerf, recognized as one of the fathers of the Internet itself. was born just a decade before me.

We’re not talking Bell or Edison. In celebration of this 30th anniversary, Cerf tweeted a picture of he and Berners-Lee joking about who invented what.

#Web30! pic.twitter.com/3d5xUcn9Mb

— vinton g cerf (@vgcerf) March 12, 2019

When I think of it being only 16 years since the advent of the digital printing press and LexBlog grabbing it to build a managed WordPress platform for the law (thanks Matt), it feels like we are just getting started in democratizing legal publishing. 

WWW at 30 : Democratization of Legal Publishing Made Possible published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

Legal Tech Companies Should Contribute to Legal Journalism

Bob Ambrogi made clear in his talk last week that the future of legal journalism is founded on law blogs. 

Law blogs whose content is aggregated and curated by LexBlog into a meaningful network of content and contributors segregated by channel, industries and topics. And which content is distributed via the Web, email and social media. 

Rather than these lawyers and law firms hiring public relations and marketing agencies to get them in the news, these law firms and lawyers are creating the news with their niche blog publications.

No gate keepers. No relying on reporters whose publications are often behind behind pay walls.

If there is any group spending a lot of money PR and marketing while at the same time producing so little journalism in the form of blogging, it’s legal tech companies. The same legal tech companies heavily represented at Ambrogi’s talk on the power of citizen joiyrnalists – just like them.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from legal tech companies, “We’re going to hire someone to handle our blogging and social media, then we’ll be covered.

” Like having a 25 year old employee with no domain expertise on your technology and its role in the industry is going to help because they know how to type and use the Internet.

A credible alternative would be to look at doing six to twelves pieces a year and have those pieces flow into LexBlog.

You’ll pick up each a company profile page, a personal profile page and a page for your independent publication – a publication indexed on your domain, not LexBlog’s domain.

Need a platform and an independent publication site, LexBlog can do it for you. But we’ll do all of the above, including circulating your commentary, for free.

If this is too hard, then you should revisit why you have a company to start with – or at a minimum question whether you understand news and marketing today.

Six to twelve posts a year. That’s six to twenty hours a year.

Posts of 400 to 750 words, no one is looking for 1,000 words, unless it’s necessary to get your point across. And this is true journalism, not some lengthy word count that marketers are singing for SEO. 

Share what you’ve been reading and what it means; answer common questions; share what transpired at a recent conference. We’re not talking seminal brilliance here, it’s what you already know and are observing.

We’d all be the richer for having legal tech entrepreneurs as legal journalists. Lawyers, law firms, other tech companies, conference/show coordinators and investors. All of us.

Straight talk from the people in the know with no intermediaries, whether they be those packagaing the message for legal tech companies or third party publishers. 

Legal tech companies would be light years ahead. Trust, relationships, and spending much, much less and getting much more when it comes to brand awareness and business. 

Heck a legal tech company could have their own publication for $600 to $1000 a year and have their insight and commentary further reported and syndicated by a publication headed by the dean of journalism and legal tech reporting, Bob Ambrogi.

There’s an awful lot of PR and marketing professionals chasing Ambrogi – and guys like me – around to try and get coverage on behalf of legal tech companies. Often with shallow messages that do more to hurt the company than help it. 

Seems so simple, but legal tech companies, their founders and their marketing agencies are  always reluctant to enter the world of citizen journalism. What am I missing? 

Legal Tech Companies Should Contribute to Legal Journalism published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

The Future of Legal Journalism is Here

The future of legal journalism is here and that future has arrived in the form of LexBlog.com, according to Bob Ambrogi, its Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, addressing a standing room only audience of about hundred and fifty in Chicago last Thursday evening.

Speaking at the Chicago Legal Innovation and Tech meetup at Skadden, Ambrogi’s passion and vision were keenly on display. If there were any doubters of his message, Ambrogi pushed them over the top with his down to earth conviction in what he was telling us – from his personal start in legal journalism through today.

Now the Dean of legal journalism, @bobambrogi, the anchor leg of #LegalHackCHI discussing the future of legal journalism. @LexBlog He’s kind of telling the Bob Ambrogi origin story; really incredible journey! pic.twitter.com/04PT8W8Pn7

— Ed Walters (@EJWalters) March 1, 2019

Ambrogi always wanted to be a journalist. The problem was that the year he started journalism school was the same year as Watergate — and Woodward and Bernstein. Everyone and their brother wanted to be a journalist.  To his surprise, Ambrogi’s application letters to the New York Times and the Washington Post went unanswered. 

Planning to head to journalism grad school, someone told Ambrogi that would be waste. He ought to go to law schoool, because the law was part of everything. 

Though Ambrogi practiced law for a few years, he followed his passion for journalism to found the publication, Lawyers Weekly. A publication with a national circulation that I subscribed to while practicing law in Wisconsin.

To think that I’d some day be working alongside the guy running the publication would have been pretty far fetched.  

Ambrogi went on to lead and run a host of legal publications, newspapers and newsletter services with American Lawyer Media (ALM). The guy was Editor-in-Chief of the National Law Journal.

As successful, profitable and wide reaching as these news publications were, like newspapers, they’ve hit on hard times. Less publications, fewer reporters and editors and far less coverage, per Ambrogi.

As with other industries though, the Internet presented new avenues for legal reporting. But were they the answer? 

LexisNexis owned Law360,  providing sound legal reporting, leaves us with this screen, said Ambrogi, everytime we click to reach their stories from search or social networks. Legal news is behind a pay wall, just as LexisNexis required with previously open contributions on Law.com.

Other alternatives such as Lexology and JD Supra require publishers and reporters (the lawyers) to pay to run and circulate their reporting. Distasteful to a reporter at heart like Ambrogi, and preventing legal reporting for lawyers who don’t have the money to pay for circulation.

The best and most compressive legal reporting is taking place on law blogs, per Ambrogi. Law blogs have become the leading source of legal information, news and commentary on countless topics. Search for legal news and information and you find blogs.

However there was no where that pulled all of this content from law blogs together. No where to find the blogs, the bloggers and their organizations. 

Though in its infancy as a legal news and commentary site, Ambrogi sees LexBlog as the future. Aggregated and curated legal news and commentary for delivery from law bloggers, worldwide.

You could see the pride in this veteran journalist when he told the audience that there were already 22,000 legal bloggers contributing to LexBlog – with a profile page for the blog, blogger and organization for everyone of them.

Best of all, from Ambrogi’s standpoint, was that it was all free and all open. When Ambrogi threw this slide up to say free profiles and free and open access, the response from audience members was “No way, what’s the catch, you can’t sustain that.”

Ambrogi, and I’ll confess myself included, loved the desire of audience members, many of whom were leading law professors, entrepreneurs and practicing lawyers, to learn more.

They sensed what Ed Walters, the co-founder and CEO of Fastcase, reported first hand – the LexBlog network represented the largest newsroom in the history of legal journalism. 

More than 22,000 legal bloggers in the @LexBlog network. By far the largest newsroom in the history of legal journalism. #LegalHackCHI pic.twitter.com/6WMqaybBNc

— Ed Walters (@EJWalters) March 1, 2019

Perhaps more than the legal bloggers and LexBlog, it’s Bob Ambrogi delivering us the future of legal journalism. And why not.

Ambrogi’s the dean of legal journalism in an age where legal tech and innovation, exactly what he personally covers day to day, is driving the future.

The Future of Legal Journalism is Here published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

Entrepreneurial Fire Burns at ABA TechShow, See You There

If the cold of New York City weren’t enough, I am headed for another round in Chicago for the rest of the week.

ABA TechShow is what’s in store. Entrepreneurs and innovators on both sides of the aisle.

Startup and emerging growth tech companies run by entrepreneurs on one side. On the other side, lawyers operating smaller firms, who by necessity to effectively serve real people and crack the financial nut, are entrepreneurs in every sense of the word.

I’m at home with these folks. I practiced as a trial lawyer 280 miles up the road in Wisconsin for almost 20 years. I was an entrepreneur as a lawyer and have been an entrepreneur for the last 20 years in legal tech companies.

Having a beer, sharing a meal, and doing business with these women and men who are shaping the law as the law relates to the vast majority of Americans, consumers and small business people, is the stuff that life – and real law – is made of.

Rather than being dominated by large companies, some of whom totally pulled their support from TechShow, large law firms and corporate legal shops (all of which have fine people), as is the case at other legal tech conferences, there’s something real and entrepreneurial about the crowd at TechShow.

Rightfully so, call it innovation and legal tech with large law and large corporations, but it’s not not the same sort of entrepreneurship as where the mortgage and credit card bills are on the line. 

Please look me up if you want to meet, discuss blogging/digital publishing or grab coffe or a pint. I’d welcome meeting, I am not near as bad as some of the large legal publishers may say I am. (Email or text/call, 206-321-3617)

I’ll be there Wednesday through Saturday afternoon. In addition to meetings and me interviewing some of you, here’s some of what I’ll be up to.

On Wednesday, The Women of Legal Tech Summit 2019 at Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology.

Wednesday late afternoon, Startup Pitch Competition with with LexBlog’s editor-in-chief, Bob Ambrogi as master of ceremonies.

Wednesday night, Women in Legal Innovation at Centennial Chicago presented by Evolve the Law and Above the Law’s Innovation Center.

Thursday evening, LegalTech & Innovation Talks at Skadden.

Friday early evening, 12th Annual Beer for Bloggers at Emerald Loop presented by the ABA Journal and LexBlog.

Friday evening, Taste of TechShow Dinner with a legal blogging being the topic with LexBlog’s editor-in-chief, Bob Ambrogi (the guy gets around).

Also want to catch up with legal bloggers, including law student bloggers, to capture your experience with blogging for a new show I am starting.

Entrepreneurial Fire Burns at ABA TechShow, See You There published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

A blog hosting service for sources

Technologist and the founder of blogging, Dave Winer, blogged this week that if he were the CEO of The New York Times he would start a blog hosting service, with NY Times branding.

People would know, per Winer, that this is blog space, not editorial space. Blogs would be sources, from which the Times editorial people would be encouraged to quote.

Winer would also recruit people whose ideas were valuable enough to be otherwise quoted in the Times to begin to blog – or at least offer them a blog.

There would be a central place for the aggregation of all the blog posts with the ability to subscribe to individual blogs, all under reader control. 

Winer’s description of a NY Times blog hosting service sounds a lot like LexBlog and where we are going.

We have the service – more expansive than hosting alone. Had it for 15 years.

The last year plus we begin to aggregate and curate the blog posts coming from now over 20,000 legal bloggers.

With Bob Ambrogi, as Editor-in-Chief and Melissa Lin, as Associate editor, on board we’re know working on how we frame the reporting of legal news and commentary – with these bloggers being the sources, I suppose.

Though I have always had a problem with Winer’s reference to bloggers being the source.

No question bloggers are the boots on the ground, often with expertise and passion on what they’re covering. But they feel like more than someone to just quote. They are the reporter, the best and, often, the only source – they are the reporter, not a source to be quoted by a reporter or editor. 

When Winer was reporting/blogging from a national political convention almost 15 years ago, I didn’t need an edotorial person to get me his stories or to quote them, I read them direct.

Perhaps others needed Winer to be sourced for his story to get out. And perhaps legal bloggers need to be sourced for their stories to get out.

Semantics aside, a blogging service is definitely needed today to get us the reporting we need on any subject.

In Winer’s case, to get us the news that a democracy needs to function. In the case of a LexBlog hosted legal blogging platform and network, for legal news, information and commentary to get out there to both advance the law and make the law more accessible. 

I’ve long looked at LexBlog as empowering legal journalists around the world. I like Winer’s thinking here, even if we’re not in total alignment.

A blog hosting service for sources published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com

[khanguadalupe]

Lost in the Noise

There was recent discussion on Twitter and LinkedIn as to the ideal length of a law blog post.

Lost in all of the noise was what is real law blogging for business development. A conversation.

Listen first to what the people you want to engage/meet are saying/writing and what is being said/written about them. Then blog about what they are saying/writing or what is being said/written about them. They’ll engage you in return.

You may find the people and organizations you’ll want to engage like this will be the influencers of a lot of people that you want to reach – reporters, bloggers, respected social media users, conference coordinators, association leaders and corporate leaders.

My company has generated a lot of business from my blog (company was in fact built from my blog), but most of our customers did not find me from my blog posts nor had they ever read my blog.

My company and I built trust and a reputation through blogging, or perhaps better called, networking through the Internet.

Networking in person I have never measured the amount of words I used in talking with people as a measure of success and I’ll not do so online – though I have a problem going long in each case.

I understand there are other purposes for blogs, or for writing on blog software, that being reporting and long form analysis – that’s great and it works for many purposes – including, if done right, building a name and relationships resulting in business development.

If you’re chasing stats, clicks, likes, comments as the true measure of success and developing a strategy to get these, things can get confusing. Things also get noisy if you listen to all the marketing advice about the perfect way of doing this or that on the Internet.

Say what you need to say in engaging people, often not your clients and prospective clients, to engage people strategically, and move on.

It’s a fun and rewarding way to blog. 

Lost in the Noise published first on http://fergusonlawatty.tumblr.com