We’re not sure we agree with? comments (see blog post below)? made by Jane Genova? the author of blog? Law & More
In a post? dated? September 4th she suggests that legal media should stop talking about the downturn in the market and talk about the positives.
In our mind that plays right into the hands of firms and partners who’d rather none of us knew that the legal industry has been quite heavily affected by the downturn and the loss of commercial work especially in the financial sector.
None of this is rocket science but it’s a fact that many firms have been trying to limit the not so good information flowing out of the firms and towards the legal media
She also has a few predictions / views? which to honest we can’t find much in common with (her comments in? bold italics) with our responses below
A maturing legal media will become more discerning – and strategic – in topic and tone.? Snarky will be less cute.
We believe that legal media although it’s a fairly young concept in its current form, is already maturing, discerning and strategic in topic and tone. Yes, sometimes a little too much emphasis is placed on getting the advertisers in but that’s an issue with media of any stripe. Her comment? that “snarky will be less cute” we think misses the point entirely. The recent approach to reporting the law and legal industry from sites like Above The Law in the US and Roll on Friday in the UK reflect the chages in demographics as new generations move through firms and are less enthralled by dull as dishwater law society publications and the ponderous tone of the old American Lawyer format. The reporting and? tabloid approach imported by some UK players into the US legal media space may not appeal to all but it has breathed some life into an old dinosaur.
Here at HOB we believe that the legal media needs to go further and we’d hope for more interactive sites with video and audio and even more of a whistleblowing culture to open up firms further. Anybody following the legal industry at the moment knows that big changes are on the horizon and an industry media that supports, understands and reflects these changes can only be good for the profession.
More interactivity with audiences.
We agree with this although we suggest that’s what the likes of Legalease, Incisive & The Lawyer in the UK have been doing for the last fifteen or so years .. it’s just that the US legal media space is still playing catch up
Leveraging readership/brandname/reach into profit centers such as providing conferences, coaching services, publications, help-wanted advertising.
They’ve all been doing this for ages.. and sometimes to the detriment of their product.. this is where we’d actually suggest some brakes get applied. Too many tie ins, conferences etc will harm independence and thus reporting. Sorry Jane but we just don’t know which companies you are talking about..we don’t know a legal media organisation on the planet that hasn’t tried all of these and more
Shake-out of the weaker players, that is, those who don’t understand or don’t know how to create unique space or that “blue ocean” discussed by consultants W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.
We’d be interested to know who these weaker players are. It’s exactly what Incisive have been trying to do over the past 2 years. The problem is they’ve just shot themselves in the foot now the debt dragon has reared its ugly head. We imagine this will allow conservative thinkers? within the APAX (who now have a place on the board) organisation to stymie the changes they’ve been making across the board to the American Lawyer publications. We hope we’ll be proved wrong as legal media across the US needs to reflect the changes made on the east coast.
Greater participation of legal experts in the media.? Having a regular guest column will be considered a plum.? Think new business development, lateral mobility.
Umm ! More legal academics and self serving partners.. not sure we need that. But it would be nice to see writers from India on LPO trends, or people analysing in detail the changes that will need to be made at Big Law for firms to start entering a 21st century world. I wonder if we’ll still be discussing the end of the billable hour in 2020?
Meanwhile, come fall I plead with the legal media to focus less on the downward manpower trajectory and more on emerging trends, stars, and actual developments, e.g. contingency story, repositioning of the tort reform movement, image overhaul for state attorneys generals and plaintiff bar, leadership of Patrick Kennedy.
We agree that some of these other subjects should be covered but “downward manpower trajectory” is still one of the biggest isues facing the legal industry, and especially in the US.? Because it affects the industry all the way through from the beginning of the education process to how firms will have to operate in order to remain in business
We’ll still be checking into Law Shucks Layoff Tracker on a daily basis
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Here’s her full post? which can be found at
http://lawandmore.typepad.com/law_and_more/2009/09/tanked-law-market-why-is-this-still-a-story.html
Tanked Law Market – Why is this still a story?
The legal media should have ditched the tanked law market story months ago.? Yet, daily there is a body count about layoffs, declining percentage of offers to summers [along with declining percentage of summer slots], pay cuts, and more.
Why?? Could it be that legal media are in transition?? They are relative newbies in the business of popular news.? At one time there were the ponderous “journals” and the trade publications about accounts, personnel changes, compensation patterns.? Now, there are myriad micro niches.? Law, where the business category had been in the boom 1990s, has become hot.? Among those micro niches have been the gossipy tabloid Abovethelaw.com, the conservative policy commentary Pointoflaw.com, and the hybrid half legal/half trend analysis Legalblogwatch.com.
As with all mutations, there is a learning curve.? The media are learning.? The legal, public policy, legislative, corporate, activist, and consumer communities are also learning.? Expect change, especially in the next 12 months when the business of law, ideology on the U.S. Supreme Court, rulings by state SCs on contingency, and the proliferation of whistleblowers post-Pfizer award shift and then settle into patterns.
