Why senior lawyers should blog

There is a post on the LexBlog Blog about why senior lawyers should blog titled "Eleven reasons blogging for senior lawyers makes sense".  Granted this is a bit of a leap for many senior lawyers who rarely use their computers for much more than a shelf for papers and the occasional email when the secretary is not at her desk but I think there is quite a bit to this meme.  If you accept that lawyers are essentially knowledge workers (which we are) then I believe that it is important to spread and preserve that knowledge and some of the best repositories of legal knowledge are senior lawyers who have considerable experience in their areas of expertise that is of tremendous value.

There are two challenges though.  The first is convincing these lawyers to share their knowledge.  This is not as easy as it may sound because in this game, knowledge really is power.  Lawyers make money from what is in their head.  If everyone knew the law or had access to legal knowledge then they wouldn’t need to consult lawyers.  While some lawyers share their knowledge fairly freely, many hold on to it for dear life because they have come to believe that if they open Pandora’s box, their means of earning a living will disappear.

The second challenge is persuading lawyers to use technology more efficiently.  This will happen over time, if anything else, as younger lawyers base their work practice on their use of technology and as those younger lawyers progress through their firms.  Law firms are also investing quite heavily in document management systems, publishing newsletters on a variety of topics and on ways to collaborate more effectively and all of this lays the groundwork for more effective knowledge sharing within the firm and with people outside the firm.

Blogging is a pretty easy way of sharing some of that knowledge.  It is not the only way to share that knowledge or even the best way but it is an effective channel that can be used pretty effectively.

Tags: senior lawyers, blogging, knowledge sharing, knowledge workers, knowledge management