Pandia Search Engine News has an interesting article by guest writer Brandon Leibowitz about writing and submitting articles to promote yourself and your business. If you are interested in such newfangled concepts as “personal branding”, this is a no-brainer. Publishing is one of the best tools for enhancing your credibility in a particular subject or field. You can expose your identity and your product to a broader audience by placing articles other venues and websites, increasing traffic to your law firm site.
Lawyers have long understood the value of writing and publishing articles to law reviews and journals. But the traditional publishing process can be somewhat time-consuming and certainly spaced-constrained by the inherent limitations of print publications.
The Web offers a far greater range of publishing options for lawyers considering employing their writing talent to directly build their rep. Sites that come immediately to my mind are JD Supra (legally targetted), DocStoc (general subject matter), and Digg. Publishing articles on these sites and linking them back to your own web site or your various social media profiles can increase your visibility to search engines and improve the chances that someone will notice your name and your product. With Digg in particular, there is a forum for voting up the value of an article and for discussing it with other Digg users, giving the author yet another opportunity to interact with potenial clients or referral sources.
Let’s face it: lawyers are busy people. Many have the skill but lack the time to devote to polishing their professional profile with extra-curricular writing tasks. Busy lawyers interested in reaping the benefits of on-line publishing can turn to professional writers and editors to lighten the work load. Advantage Advocates is a resource available to lawyers – services include topic development, subject matter research, content creation and editing and proofing. Lawyers can turn to such services to build their writing subjects or polish their final written product, depending on the degree of assistance required.
Article drafting is a simple, low-cost, and effective way to drive traffic, increase exposure and build brand. The Web has made it easier than ever to create and distribute product, from concept through publication. Why not consider leveraging these resources to raise awareness and direct attention to yourself and your firm?

Criminal defense lawyer Jon Katz makes a valid point at his web site about properly checking the viability of a case to be relied upon. Given the ease of “Shepardizing” on Lexis or “KeyCiting” on Westlaw using a web interface, it is easy for me to believe that many researchers might look at the results page, note whether there is a clear history or a “flag” and leave it at that.
But the results page, in and of itself, is not the final word on case status. It is vital that the researcher follow both the case history and the citing opinion links and determine what was actually accomplished by subsequent courts in connection with the target authority. First, the little flag or short case history phrase is not descriptive enough to clearly identify what has happened with the authority. Second, Shephards or KeyCite could very well be *gasp* wrong. Attorney Katz cites two examples of the latter in his post at the jump above.
It is certainly true that following all of the links to a case, particularly a higher level case with an important outcome, can be time-consuming, to say the least. But you must follow those links – the quality of your argument and your own reputation depend upon careful examination of the strength of your authority. Thorough research is more than just finding the decision that supports your point; it also includes ensuring your argument’s foundation is crack-free.