Top 10 ways to write a blog like a legal copywriter
Nov 21, 2023
So, you’ve been tasked with writing the firm’s blog. You’ve been told to make it interesting and ditch the legalese.
Add to that your overflowing inbox, never-ending briefs and the race against the clock for those billable hours. It's like juggling with one hand tied behind your back.
The good news is, I’m here to make your life easier.
Unlike a lot of law firms, someone somewhere at yours (maybe you) understands the power of content marketing, even if you’re a smaller team without a big marketing budget.
If you’re in chambers, blog posts can help connect you with the right solicitors.
Blogs shouldn’t just live on the website – send them out to your network to ensure you’re top of mind when they’re deciding who to brief next.
Post them across LinkedIn and other company social media profiles and include them in your monthly email newsletter to clients.
For solicitors, blogs can help establish authority, reignite business relationships and attract new clients.
The problem is most lawyers don’t have time to write and edit regular blogs so that they’re readable, interesting and speak to their target audience.
In this blog, I’m going to run you through my top ten tips for writing a legal blog. By the end, you’ll be ready to write yours like a pro.
Understand your audience
Before you start writing, think about who you want to read your legal blog.
What purpose is it serving? Do you want your peers, referral network or potential clients to read it?
Get clear who is on the other side of the screen. Think about their level of technical understanding and the language they use.
Remember, one size doesn’t fit all.
Consider your audience’s literacy level and mother tongue – content aimed at new migrants to Australia would be different to a piece exploring new regulations for the financial services industry.
Of course, you don’t want to end up writing a blog without any substance that reads like a child’s book, but equally you don’t want to lose your readers in a sea of legal jargon.
If you write a long, technical blog full of legalese aimed at non-lawyers, your readers won’t connect with it…or you.
If you’re looking to boost referrals and remind your network, be it solicitors or barristers, of your expertise, it is essential your blog is useful and interesting.
An article that educates them or provides a unique point of view will help you stay at the forefront of their mind so that when they have a relevant case, they will be more likely to send you the brief.
Test your legal copy: is it readable?
It’s not always easy to review your own copy. You’re busy.
But is it important that your content is accessible and engaging, especially if it’s aimed at non-lawyer clients such as builders, SME business owners, visa applicants, families or personal injury claimants.
There are a few quick tests you can do to find out if you’ve hit the mark.
Used by marketers, legal copywriters, research communicators and policy writers, The Flesch Reading Ease is the most well-known. It is designed to show how difficult a passage of text is to understand and gives score between 1 and 100, with 100 being the highest readability score.
The two main factors considered are sentence length and word length.
The scores are broadly categorised as below.
90-100, very easy to read, easily understood by an average 11-year-old student
80-90, easy to read
70-80, fairly easy to read
60-70, easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students
50-60, fairly difficult to read
30-50, difficult to read, best understood by school graduates
0-30,very difficult to read, best understood by university graduates
Did you know most national newspapers are written to achieve a score of 90+?
Some other tests you could explore are:
3. Balance timely and evergreen content
Two types of blogs are the most effective for law firms and lawyers: timely blogs and evergreen blogs.
As an expert legal copywriter, I recommend writing both. A good content strategy includes a mixture of these two types of content and considers your broader marketing strategy (but we don’t have time to dive into that here).
Timely updates are blogs on breaking news, legislative rulings, court decisions and anything else relevant to your audience that is a point of public debate at the time of writing.
They should be snappy and written while the news or event is still part of public discourse.
I repeat: write these blogs while the topic is still relevant.
If your firm has a lengthy review process for blogs, get ahead of the curve and notify the relevant reviewers when you’ll be sending them your draft so they’re ready.
Far too often, I speak to lawyers who are writing an update on a new piece of legislation or landmark case that broke in the news a month ago.
The longer it takes, the less relevant it becomes.
Evergreen content is the opposite: these are blogs that more general, often longer and will always be relevant for your audience.
They tend to be more educational and often centre around answering questions that clients repeatedly ask.
This kind of content is important to include in your blog strategy – executed well, they can garner four time more website traffic than your topical blogs.
4. Create a mix of current and long-lasting legal topics
Supercharge your legal blog writing by banking a list of topics to write about. Trust me, your future self will thank you. Especially when you’re short on time.
Start a list and add to it every time:
A peer, client or prospect asks you a question that is particularly critical, interesting or popular
You see an interesting clause or addition to a contract, agreement or lease
Read or hear about a new development, case or judgment or an update within your client’s industry that you have a perspective on or expertise in
You make a speech or take part in a debate on a general topic, or attend one
You work on a particularly interesting, high profile or successful case.
These are all great material for blogs (and are where legal copywriters often get their ideas from).
SEO
Google and search engines add a whole new layer (and skillset) to blog writing.
While I don’t believe blogs are a quick easy way to reach SEO superstardom anymore, especially with the arrival of Chat GPT, they are still an asset. Just be prepared to play the long game.
As a copywriter, I research and cleverly include the right keywords throughout blogs to improve my client’s search engine ranking and drive more organic traffic.
If SEO is already part of your marketing strategy, find out what keywords you should be targeting in your blog. If you’re not sure, do some research, talk to an SEO specialist or legal copywriter, or use a tool like UberSuggest, semrush or Ahrefs.
Once you’ve got your primary keyword, use it throughout your content in a natural way. Create for your audience first, Google second.
6. Focus on one topic
This one sounds simple, but it’s a common mistake. Especially for evergreen blog posts.
Clarity trumps cleverness, always. Write about one topic in your blog for clarity and impact.
For SEO purposes (remember, the long game), the general consensus is that search engines now favour blogs between 1,500 and 2,000 words. But you need to balance this with your audience and your topic.
Ideally, you do want to be writing long form blog posts regularly. But if your audience simply is not interested, or you’re waffling for the sake of it, stop. Prioritise making good content over long content.
Having said that, if you’re running out of idea for your blog post and staying on topic, think about whether you could add:
Quotes from you, your colleagues or a relevant figure
Client case studies or testimonials
Infographics, charts, graphs (and an explanation)
Examples or scenarios
Another point of view.
Avoid legal jargon
You will find this tip on every blog about writing legal content, but I’m going to add: it depends on your audience.
If you’re using your blog to build better relationships with other lawyers, some jargon is ok – it’s probably expected.
But be careful you don’t fall into the trap of writing a memo because you’re using similar language.
Blog content should be interesting, engaging and compelling. It should draw your reader in and encourage them to keep reading with a strong narrative and interesting perspective, useful advice or piece of news.
Don’t forget the style of writing is different to a legal document.
Use headlines that hook
One trick to write a compelling blog is to write a killer headline.
Your headlines and subheadings should pull readers in. Make them snappy, relevant and packed with the benefits or value proposition of your service.
I like to include impactful data (results, statistics) where possible and use an active voice and action words for maximum impact.
If you can answer ‘why should my reader care?’ with your headline, you’re on the right path.
I like to write my headline last, after I’ve finished the blog copy. If you write it first, review it at the end and check it’s still relevant and captivating.
Share your legal blog far and wide
Hopefully, blogs are already a part of your wider content marketing strategy.
If they’re not, it’s time to think about maximising your content’s reach by cross-promotion. COPE is a marketing approach: create once, promote everywhere.
Once your blog is written and published, the piece of content can be used for business development, client and referral relations, community relations, public relations, internal communications, social media marketing, recruitment and even reputation management.
Most firms and lawyers have LinkedIn: your post can be shared on company and individual accounts. Same goes for Facebook, X and any other platforms.
If your business has a regular email marketing newsletter, it could be included and linked to. You and your colleagues could also send the blog to any peers, referrers, clients or prospects they think would find it interesting or useful to ignite a conversation.
The content could be repackaged into a leave-behind or brochure for any firm seminars, meetings or conferences.
Get creative – your blog has more reach than you think.
Get ready to do it all again
If you want to use a legal blog as a piece of client communications, to build authority or to position yourself, colleagues or your firm as a leader, you need publish regularly.
If you don’t already have one, draw up a consistent publishing calendar and keep to it for steady audience engagement.
What do legal copywriters do?
If the blog is always on your to-do list, never ticked off, or you want an expert to create content that your audience will resonate with, outsource.
Hiring an expert legal copywriter will ensure you get good quality content published on your website consistently, as well as material for social media, email marketing and beyond.
Legal copywriters can usually help with a range of services, including:
Case studies
Blogs, articles, opinion editorials
White papers
News updates on case law, new legislation
Email newsletters
Staff profiles
Website copy.
Read about my legal copywriting services and blogs and if you need a copywriter, please contact me.
