Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

Lawyers and law firms often consult with outside writing consultants – or ghostwriters -- for important projects.  The lawyer provides legal expertise and the professional writer contributes speed, news context and clear, persuasive style.

A ghost helps lawyers meet deadlines.  Most lawyers are decent writers.  Given enough time, they can compile the law and the facts and pull together an acceptable article.

But lawyers are not always given enough time.

The article, chapter or white paper opportunity that seemed like a great way to enhance your reputation three months ago starts to spark panic attacks as the deadline looms.  You know what you want to say, and have a file-folder full of notes and research, but “real” work obligations are pressing and you simply lack the time to pull it all together.

When deadlines loom, a ghost can be a rescuing angel.  A good professional writing consultant can interview the lawyer, review the notes and research, and pull together a good draft in very little time.  The draft goes back and forth until the lawyer is completely satisfied that the final product accurately and ethically represents his or her knowledge, opinions and professional voice.

A ghost helps lawyers select topics and venues.  A professional writer keeps up with legal news and can help you choose (or fine-tune) a topic so that it will catch the attention of print and electronic publishers – along with clients and potential clients.  Most ghosts are trained and experienced journalists.

A good ghost reads the major national newspapers each day and uses an online aggregator to follow important legal blogs and online legal news sites.  The ghost uses this information to provide clients with story ideas regarding both breaking news and emerging trends, or to provide an attractive “news peg” for an article in progress.

A ghost helps lawyers translate into clear, persuasive language.  Lawyers are schooled in Bluebook style, which sets the rules for legal communications.  Professional writers are schooled in the AP Style Manual, which set the rules for virtually all business and consumer publications – and many legal publications as well.

Often, the greatest value a ghostwriter provides is “translating” a draft from legalese into a clear, persuasive article that will resonate with mainstream publishers and their audiences.  Publishers are much more likely to accept an article that complies with their style guidelines (especially length guidelines) right from the start and saves them the task of heavy editing.

Publishers want articles that relate to a breaking news story or a relevant trend.  They want articles that focus on providing useful information to their readers rather than “puffing” about the author.  They want articles with short, active sentences and paragraphs, broken into sections with interesting headlines and sub-heads.

Finally, publishers want articles with plenty of interesting and timely examples that illustrate abstract concepts in a clear and compelling manner.

 A good ghostwriter does not create a lawyer’s article from scratch.  A good ghostwriter works closely with a busy lawyer to quickly “translate” legal expertise into clear and persuasive language that resonates with publishers and their readers.

(A version of this article first appeared in Attorney at Work.)

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According to a post by Larry Bodine, an overwhelming majority of reporters and editors now depend on social media sources when researching their stories.  Larry gets his data from a national survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of George Washington University.

89 percent use blogs for story research

65 percent use social networks for story research

61 percent use Wikipedia for story research

52 percent use microblogs like Twitter for story research

Mainstream media have clearly hit a tipping point in their reliance on social media for research and reporting.  What do reporters and editors find out about you when they search these sources while researching and writing an article?

Have you populated blogs, social networks, content sites, Wikis and Twitter with the kind of informative, useful content that positions you as a reputable source for a reporter or editor?

Create good content.  Post it on sites that accept user-generated content.

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Reporters, editors and publishers from the mainstream media now rely on social media to learn about breaking news -- and to locate resources for the stories they write and publish.  In this Sept. 24 Webinar, Kevin O'Keefe of Lexblog discusses how lawyers and law firms can use social media to create and nurture relationships with mainstream media. 

In this Webinar, O'Keefe discusses how to use social media to listen -- to clients, prospective clients, referral sources and influencers (reporters, bloggers, associations and publishers).

Once you have listened carefully and know what interests these parties, you can use social media to create a relationship and give reporters, editors and publishers the information they need to know in order to do their jobs.  If you've done your homework, they will appreciate your input.

In addition, O'Keefe discusses the correct way to cite and build upon the work of others in your own blog and in social networks -- and let them know how your efforts have increased their circulation.  He also discusses the role played by Twitter in "getting out the news" about your practice or firm.

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