In 2016, will we see more lawyers and legal professionals share useful legal advice and info online? Even today there is still so much legal knowledge in niche areas not available for free online (many legal textbooks only remain available to the public if they’re prepared to pay many thousands of pounds) and there’s still a tendency for lawyers, most of whom are inherently conservative individuals, to be afraid of getting published on the internet for a misconceived fear of putting their head above the parapet and harming their reputation. What the legal profession needs to realise, particularly in these volatile times, is that the more useful legal info that a lawyer publishes (whether on their website or elsewhere), the more they are seen to be an expert in that area and the rewards in terms of business generated, provided done with the right online strategy in place, can be significant. Some organisations, such as Unlock The Law, (disclosure – I work alongside the great team of legal professionals there), will be making massive inroads this year and it is hoped there will be many others, whether for the purpose of helping those who can’t get legal aid to understand the basics following government cuts, or purely for the purpose of generating business or for any other reason (check out five great reasons to get published online here). What do you think? Will 2016 be the year you or your colleagues unleash your inner legal publisher?
