By Mark S. Britton
Special to the Legal Technology Blog
Why are practicing lawyers so afraid of the press? At Avvo, we get many calls from consumer media looking for a lawyer’s viewpoint on a variety of timely issues. In response, we often refer the reporters to specific lawyers, or we post the reporters’ questions in our free question and answer forum.
Consistently, queried lawyers will say, “I don’t like to speak to the press.” Huh? Even after I explain the significant upside, I have had more than one lawyer tell me in so many words that the potential risks outweigh the returns. Cited potential risks include being misquoted, taking a position that will upset a client, revealing attorney-client confidences and violating state bar rules.
I have found these responses completely bizarre, considering that press coverage is like a Willy Wonka Ticket for your average business person -- very valuable, but hard to come by. In fact, just like the Willy Wonka movies, business people will often fight tooth and nail just to get themselves to that coveted factory of executive quotations and product mentions. Why do they do this? Because (1) press coverage is free, and (2) different press outlets often have a much bigger mouthpiece than any advertising a business can buy. Avvo is a great example in this regard, as the local and national media have helped us grow at a rate that rivals (if not exceeds) those spending tens of millions of dollars on cable advertising, radio spots, etc.
As for the concerns cited above regarding being misquoted, upsetting a client, etc., I will simply say that they are all bunk. None of them are ever going to come to fruition if the lawyer handles a press inquiry correctly. I think these concerns largely reflect lawyers’ low tolerance for risk -- something that serves them incredibly well in spotting issues for clients but can do great damage in seizing opportunities for themselves.
Ultimately my message is simple: Lawyers need to be better press marketers. Many lawyers are spending tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars on Google Adwords, fancy Web sites and television advertisements, and yet they refuse a reporter that may get them in front of more potential clients than all of the aforementioned channels combined. It doesn’t make any sense; and, because it doesn’t make sense, I will offer tips in future posts on how lawyers might improve their performance on this front. Yes, it takes some work, but so does everything else that is valuable in marketing life.
My fellow lawyers, it’s time to meet the press! You are incredibly articulate and can almost always offer an informed point of view. Why shouldn’t your articulate and informed voices be on the rolodex of every reporter?
Mark Britton is the Founder and CEO of Avvo. He is a 17-year lawyer with deep experience in the legal and e-commerce industries. Mark is the former general counsel of Expedia.com and has worked as an attorney in large, medium and small law firms. In 2007, Mark was named one of Seattle’s "Top 25 Innovators" by Seattle Business Magazine. He is also a frequent commentator on financial, legal and other business issues, regularly appearing on programs such as ABC’s "Good Morning America," Fox Business’ "America’s Nightly Scoreboard," CNN "Money" and Dow Jones "MarketWatch."
