5 Educational and Effective Legal Blogging Topics for Law Firms
Legal blogging should be used to establish expertise in your practice, educate potential clients, or attract new business. Everything else that doesn’t fit those criteria is just fodder or useless filler content that won’t make a difference whether you write them or not.
Whether you’re writing and maintaining the legal blog yourself, or you’ve outsourced the work to a reputable legal marketing company, choosing the right topic—and avoiding legal blog fodder—will make a huge difference in your blogging effort’s ROI.
So for this article, I’m going to list different categories your law firm can blog about, regardless of your practice area. I’m also going to include legal blogging examples for each category to give you an idea of the topics and headlines that fall under those categories.
Legal Blogging Topics Smart and Marketing Savvy Lawyers Write
1. Service Related Blog Posts
Blog posts under this category explain different situations and legal cases involved in your practice. Tip-based articles that can save your readers time and money in relation to their legal concerns are also included in this category.
For example, this article about drafting precise non-compete clauses and other restrictive covenants explains how these documents might one day save a business from different headaches.
Divorce lawyers, for instance, shouldn’t limit themselves to writing about how a divorce is processed. Some prospects are interested in less time consuming and expensive solutions, too, so write about those alternatives.
Don’t forget about somewhat obscure, but still useful topics your prospects might need information on. For instance, perhaps only few people sue their local government for some inconveniences they experienced. But that doesn’t mean no one is doing it—or needs help doing it. This article explaining California Torts Claim act provides information for anyone who might have a legal claim to the state.
2. Frequently Asked Questions
As a legal professional, you answer tons of questions about your practice. How long will this case take? What are my options to get custody of my child? Can I file a premise liability case against the store where I tripped?
You might’ve heard some of these questions a hundred times. I’m sure you’ve answered these questions just as many times. So why not write about it? Potential clients can have their FAQs answered before they even call you. You can even refer existing clients to this blog post, in case they need answers immediately, but you’re tied up in another meeting and can’t talk to them.
Not sure what FAQs to write about? Consider your client’s biggest concerns, and the questions you often get on initial consultations.
For example, with divorce lawyers, they’re sometimes asked if a divorce decision is final. Other common questions they get asked are the length of time before spousal support kicks in, and the fees incurred in divorce cases.
3. Legal Process Information
Perhaps a few decades ago, most clients are content to trust and follow whatever their lawyer says. The world has changed so much since then.
Whether in a bid to minimize legal costs, ensure their interests are protected, or just to get more transparency, more clients are asking lawyers for information about the legal process.
Like FAQ blog posts, you can use legal process posts to explain legal concepts to save you time from explaining the same thing repeatedly. Explaining the legal process behind your popular practice areas, whether that’s divorce, criminal law, or banking law, also establishes authority in your niche.
For instance, if you’re a personal injury lawyer, you can explain what goes into processing an elder abuse claim.
Divorce lawyers, on the other hand should write a post explaining what happens in a divorce case. With everything going on in your client or prospective client’s personal life, I’m sure they would appreciate some clarity into the big legal undertaking that goes into dividing their personal life and financial assets.
4. Industry Updates
The law changes every now and then. Sometimes, ground breaking legal cases and unexpected victories force your local court to change its views. Other times, new court rulings, industry changes, and legislations make the changes necessary.
Whatever the cause, it’s good to keep your readers and potential clients in the loop. It also shows that you’re up to date in your industry—an expert people can count on, not a dinosaur.
You can get updates of new legal trends by reading industry journals. Setting up a Google alert for your industry’s search terms, such as “personal injury accidents, divorce with no kids, or new traffic laws,” will alert you of changes in your practice area.
If you’re not sure which industry update would be useful or at least interesting to your prospects, check these blog posts:
I’m thinking this article will be useful for people trying to establish themselves as a parent for an artificially inseminated child, or the other half of a same-sex couple whose partner gave birth to their child.
It’s a useful article for anyone claiming to be the victim of a vehicle crash whose driver was holding a mobile phone while driving. The second updated law is also useful for parents, as it talks about new car seat requirements.
5. Blog Posts Defining Legal Jargon
Sometimes, you can’t take legal terms at face value. Sometimes, a lay person won’t even understand what those words mean at all.
For instance, to most car owners, a totaled car is wrecked beyond use, similar to the crushed cars you see in action movies. For legal and insurance purposes though, totaled cars aren’t limited to the flattened variety.
Here’s another conundrum. What qualifies as cohabitation and what qualifies as living separately? These self-explanatory terms were challenged when a couple who got divorced started living together again before divorcing a second time around.
Demonstrate Legal Expertise through Proper Topic Selection
Showcase your legal expertise by writing informative and useful topics for your prospects.
Don’t forget to add some personality and flair into your legal blogging. Show readers how you—or your firm—would handle the case. Use examples from previous cases you’ve handled, where possible. Every case is unique, so is every law firm. Use it to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
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