Turning Wine Into Water

I hate to be skeptical.  (Well, really I do like to be skeptical).  But, I think the worst might be sneaking out of me as I read Kevin O'Keefe's post on Big Law going blogging.

Now, there is nobody better than Kevin O'Keefe and his company LexBlog.  It's his business.  It is just that when I hear Big Law is now asking how it can get into blogging safely, I think of that Dennis Miller rant about Hollywood taking notice of low budget pictures.  So, Hollywood is going to start cranking out low budget flicks . . . for a $100 million dollars apiece!

Mock my words.  Some how Big Law will manage to pervert what is a cheap and easy technology into to something that is expensive to own and operate.  It will somehow make the process unmanageable.  Every living drop of spontaneity will be squeezed out of the process.  After all, blogging is best when it is extemporaneous, impromptu, when it is ad-libbed, spur of the moment, and unrehearsed.  It is a form of freebasing - thought purified by a simple method.  Keyboarding without someone looking over your shoulder.  Speaking to the World (or at least to the few who want to listen) about that which is fresh on your mind and unfiltered.

Big Law is rule by committee.  Everything has to be vetted. Controlled.  Edited.  Spin is the norm.  That does not suit blogging well. 

There is a scene in M*A*S*H in which a nurse that Hawkeye is after falls for Winchester.  Hawkeye asks his friend BJ, "What's he got that I haven't?"  BJ says, "Sincerity".  Hawkeye replies, "Sincerity?....I can fake that!"  And this I fear is the corrupting nature that Big Law will could bring to blogging.  Pretense.  Codes.  Rules.  Oversight.  A degree of stuckupishness that will make the content so sterile you could do open heart surgery on it.  A new layer of management will have to be added to handle what a broadband connection and a few dollars a month should serve.

I hope I am wrong.  (Oh, who am I kidding, no I don't).

Comments

[Kevin OKeefe]

There's some excellent blogs published by lawyers in large law firms. They're not vetted nor are they spin.

When large law firms want to do blogs safely, that means looking at ethic's issues, branding of the firm versus the lawyer, who approves comments, design elements, how blogs fit into other marketing, and more.

Sure large law firms are going to move slower on blogs because of the processes such firms have in reviewing new forms of marketing. But that does not mean their blogs are any less of a contribution to the legal blogosphere than blogs published by lawyers in small firms.

[Grant Griffiths]

Amen brother. I could not have said it better myself. Even if “big law” is taking a look at blogging and even if some are doing it. They will not keep up with the advancements in law firm marketing nor law firm technology due to what you mentioned above. Solo and small firms will always be out front in these two areas because they can change quicker and more seamless than any “big law” firm out there. And what scares them the most is that both blogging and the technology currently available puts the solo and small firm on a more level playing field with “big law”