More On Big Firm Blogging

A couple of weeks ago, Herrmann noted in passing that, although many big firms now sponsor blogs, none of the ten firms with the highest profits per partner (that much-despised, but oft-cited metric) do.

You don't have to say much to set off an avalanche in the blogosphere.

Many folks contacted us, on or off-line, to suggest why lawyers at the most profitable firms don't blog.

We're staying out of this fray, but we offer for your consideration the six things we heard:

1. Lawyers at the most profitable firms are stupid:

"'Profitable' large law firms don’t see the need or the benefit of doing blogs. Clearly, if they are already doing well, why go to the trouble and work involved in blogging, when too many BigLaw lawyers still believe that the work will always be there. A mistake of course, but a perception nonetheless."

2. Lawyers at the most profitable firms are too busy:

"The reason they are so profitable is that everyone is working their heads off – nobody has time to blog."

3. Lawyers at those firms won't stoop to blog:

"They are so profitable that they don’t think they need to stoop to marketing (which is what they think blogging is)."

4. Lawyers at those firms don't want to give away their product for free:

"Lawyers at the top ten PPP firms wouldn’t want anyone at the firm to blog because they might divulge the firm’s precious secrets."

5. Lawyers at those firms lack the necessary skill set:

"Those high-profit firms are so profitable because they are very good at making money, but the skill sets required for being good at making money may not be the same as the skill sets required to blog."

6. Lawyers at those firms correctly believe that blogging is unlikely to yield a decent return on investment because of the nature of the firms, the work they do, and their clients:

"When your firm name is already well known and your reputation that well established, you wouldn't add any value by blogging."

As we said, we're staying out of this fray. Although we have a pretty strong opinion on this subject, we're keeping it to ourselves. But we thought we'd share with you the competing possibilities that had come over the transom.