What Makes a Good Lawyer Biography?

Recently, I have been involved in writing content for several lawyer websites. The bio or “About” page is one of the most viewed pages. This bio or profile helps new connections or potential followers make decisions about whether or not to interact with the lawyer.
What are the elements of a good biography?

• Description of who the lawyer is
• Reference of how the lawyer got where he/she is
• The knowledge and experience of the lawyer
• The fields of expertise, including court cases on
• The personal touch or other unique traits of the lawyer (or the law office)

An about page is what potential clients want to know about the lawyer. It must address what the clients want to know. This isn’t necessarily the same as what you think they should want to know.

Therefore, the lawyer’s bio should focus on:

• The target audience
• The target audience’s problems or challenges
• The solution and expertise the lawyer offers (how the lawyer helps clients or solves problems for them)
• How the lawyer’s approach is different from other law firms’ solutions

What clients want:

1. Clients do not care who you are; they want to know how you can solve their problems. Lawyers need to address their concerns. 
2. Clients don’t really care which university their lawyer graduated from; they just want to the credentials of their lawyer.  
3. Clients want to understand what their lawyer is about. Labels, such as “lawyer” or “securities lawyer” confuse. Be specific and talk (or write) about the people the lawyer helped or the problems he/she solved.
4. Clients want to see a realistic photo of their (potential) lawyer. People like to do business with people they know, like and trust. Posting a photograph helps (potential) clients to feel that they ‘know’ their lawyer.
5. Use social media. A lawyer’s (potential) customers are on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, so the lawyer should be there too. Blogs are a great way to engage. If you as a lawyer do not have the time, use an expert to do the social media for you!

Want help to write content for your website and colletaral? Contact Tip Top Writer or Debra De-Jong.

Verdict of the European Court - Incest Is Prohibited

The European Court decided that the prohibition of filial love (aka incest) is legitimate. A young man from Saxony (in Germany) had filed the complaint. He sired four children by his sister; two are handicapped. He is currently serving three years of his prison sentence.

Siblings have medically speaking a high risk of begetting a handicapped child. That is also one of the reasons for the incest article in the Criminal Code. According to some lawyers, this contradicts the spirit of the law concerning equal treatment. “In such a case, it should also be forbidden for handicapped people to become offspring,” one of them stated. Really?!

For now, prohibiting sibling love is not infringing on anyone's Human Rights. As such, the young German father is correctly serving three years in jail.

The sister (and ex-lover) of the father does not want to have anything to do with her brother. “It’s OK that incest is a felony,” she said. “I don’t have any guilt. I was very young and wanted to be loved. But I would never do it again. I do not want to have to deal with my brother ever again.”

The 28-year old mother denies that she is fighting the 35-year old father for custody of their 6-year old daughter. The girl is the only of the four incest children still living with the mother.

"We only communicate via our lawyers. There are no visiting rights; he is not allowed to visit our daughter. She also does not want to see him," declared the mother. "I do not want another fight about my kids. I do not want Social Services to also take away my youngest." Her three other children are being raised by foster families.

As a lawyer and a human being, I personally applaud the decision of the European Court – not in the least for the well-being of the children....

Why YouTube (and Other Social Media) is Important for Lawyers

Incorporating lawyer videos into a robust attorney Internet marketing campaign is important. An attorney video on Internet can serve various objectives, such as:

Securing high page ranking
The days of just optimizing the corporate website to achieve page 1 ranking on search engines are gone. Nowadays, lawyers must do anything to optimize, including images to articles, lawyer videos that are uploaded to video sharing sites (e.g., YouTube), articles, and free advice (e.g., “how to... guides as downloads) on their websites.

Law firms need to optimize their videos to showcase their abilities. They need to savvy about terms and keywords that can result in their video and their content to be visible to stand out in the Internet clutter. By incorporating optimized lawyer videos and optimized press releases and images in its comprehensive lawyer Internet marketing campaign, law firms will show up in search engine result pages.

Increasing client engagement
Potential clients prefer to watch lawyer video and funky content than read paragraph after paragraph of text a website. By incorporating a video onto select pages of a website, potential clients can learn way about the way a law firm operates. This keeps potential clients engaged and will entice them to visit the law firm’s website.

Building brand
A video enhances a law firm’s credibility and branding. It puts a face to the law firm name. It helps to ease a potential client’s apprehension and thus builds a sense of confidence in the law firm. By producing quality videos, a law firm can actually build its brand while building its credibility among clients.

In short, Use the available internet tools to stand out!

Lawyer sues Yellowbook for misspelling “justice”

Manuel de Castro, a Sioux Falls lawyer, is suing Yellowbook for a mistake in his advertisement in its phone book. De Castro ordered a half-page color ad with the headline “The Trial Lawyer Fighting For Your Justice”.

The lawyer was not amused when he found out that the published ad read "The Trial Lawyer Fighting For Your Justics". Furthermore, a hyperlink appearing under his name directs users to a defunct website.

Although Yellowbook never showed a copy of the ad before going into print, and also took responsibility for the mistake, they still want De Castro to pay in full. When he didn’t pay, the company threatened to take him to a collection agency.

To me, this doesn’t make any sense, since the amount ($6,780) is small for a company such as Yellowbooks, which is part of the Yellgroup. It also harms their brand, and therefore their business. Last but not least, it’s not wise to cross swords with lawyers – they thrive on lawsuits.

Mr. de Castro promptly sued Yellowbook, asking a jury to award him $6,780 for the ad, lawyer fees, and damages resulting from "humiliation and loss of business." As he explained: “All things being equal, when someone looks for a service in the phone book, they're going to choose the person that knows how to spell." Excellent point, confrere!

Yellowbook's PR person, Elizabeth Opacity of the PR company Weber Shandwick , gave the standard PR spin reaction: "the company doesn't comment on pending litigation". Yawn.

My (free) legal advice to Yellowbook: settle this issue quickly and discretely. In the mean time, Mr. de Castro, enjoy your free publicity courtesy of Yellowbook.