Blogging Policies for Law Firms and Lawyers

PracticeLink, a publication of the Canadian Bar Association, has posted an article entitled Blogging Policies and Best Practices for Lawyers and Law Firms by Edward Poll.

It proposes a number of suggestions and ideas for defining policies relating to the purpose of a blog, the technology used, the management of time spent on the blog, and professional responsibility.

It also offers links to the blogging policies from corporations such as IBM, Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems and others.

"Blogs may represent a new form of communication for lawyers, but the glamour of the technology should not obscure what we’re trying to accomplish with them. Ultimately, blogs should be regarded and managed just as any other professional activity that a lawyer undertakes".

"Just as you have policies in your practice for how you prepare an engagement letter or develop a fee schedule, so too should you have policies, such as suggested here, for how you blog. Doing so will keep your blog in its proper place, as another tool that can help you secure clients and be of valuable service to them".