More On Ghostblogging

Dear Mr. Bennett,

Thank you for including my company in your blog post yesterday about the ethics of legal ghostblogging.  As a (relatively) new form of communication, blogging is still in many ways going through its growing pains, and as more and more professionals and businesses begin to see the value of blogging I know that there will be many more debates about various aspects of it, including continuing ethical debates.  Like you, I think these debates are important, and I look forward to seeing (and perhaps being a part of) how the field evolves.

The ethics of having a ghostwriter in a field that is still in many ways expected to be transparent is something that I discuss with each and every one of my clients; that is why some of my clients choose to have my tagline at the bottom of each post that I write for them, and every client of mine knows that I expect them to read and approve every post that appears on their blog. Personal and professional responsibility is not something I neglect or take lightly.  As you might expect, I have many of my own opinions about this subject and would be happy to engage in conversation with you if you are interested in discussion.

The reason I am writing you today is because–although I have no desire to censor the debate–I would like to ask you, as a professional courtesy, to remove your reference and link to my client testimonials page.  You are welcome to leave your reference to my business and my home page (your readers can find my client testimonials page from there if they are so inclined.) As I said above, professional responsibility is not something I take lightly, and I feel it is my professional responsibility to be the “front man” in this debate, and bear the brunt of this particular criticism. I realize that in the end this is your forum and your decision, and I appreciate your consideration of my clients and of my request.

If you would like to discuss this topic further I invite you to e-mail me privately at any time.

Best Regards,
Jenni Buchanan

www.LegalGhostblogger.com
My blog: http://blogprofs.typepad.com/

Dear Ms. Buchanan:

Thank you for your email.

Blogging is not so novel that there are no precedents. In the original post I drew analogies to claiming other lawyers’ results and résumés; in the non-legal world it’s like putting a picture of one thing on the outside of a can filled with another. I note that, of the five “bloggers” with testimonials on your testimonial page, only two use your tagline; Gene Osofsky, Rick Law, and Kimberly T. Lee do not. Why do you suppose that is?

It is very important for the discussion of the ethics of lawyers using ghostbloggers to be conducted publicly, in full view of those who might be affected by lawyers’ marketing choices—not only the clients whose fortunes and futures might be at stake, but also the lawyers whose reputations are at stake. You take professional responsibility seriously, but your clients are the ones with their licenses and their reputations on the line.

It is crucial that those with ultimate legal and ethical responsibility for online marketing (the lawyers) realize that they have some skin in the game. Some lawyers feeling that it is okay to have a “front man” causes many of the problems with unethical online marketing: they trust a non-lawyer to do it for them, and wind up paying for spam, splogging, or ghostblogging. I suspect that when lawyers realize that they might be called to public account for the things they delegate to others (Outsourcing Marketing = Outsourcing Ethics), they give a lot more thought to their marketing choices.

I’d be happy to hear your arguments that hiring a legal ghostblogger is ethical, but I don’t think your clients should be insulated from the effects of this particular decision.

Mark

Rent-A-Brain With Ghostbloggers

Lawyers: want to juice your stats a little so that clients are more likely to hire you? Have we got a deal for you! GhostWins.com has a stable of excellent but self-effacing lawyers who are willing to let you take public credit for their results. Here’s how it works: you sign up for GhostWins.com, paying $250 per month for syndicated results (which other lawyers might also take credit for) or $500 per month for personalized results. Every week we’ll send you three or four actual successful outcomes in your field of law, which you can then publicize on your website or blog as your own successful outcomes. We all know how potential clients love lawyers who win; with GhostWins.com you create the appearance of being such a lawyer without putting in the many hours of hard work (not to mention good luck) required to win your own cases.

Do you look like John Edwards? No, I thought not. Yet everyone knows that success is tied to physical attractiveness. So you might be interested in GhostMug.com. GhostMug.com works on the same principles as GhostWins.com: you pay a small monthly fee, and we provide you with pictures of a trustworthy person who fits your basic demographics—just like you but much better looking. As long as you continue your subscription, you can continue using the pictures as a substitute for your own—let’s face it—homely mug in your online marketing. We’ll even send you weekly updates of “your” face in law-related poses. $250 a month gets you a syndicated face, which other subscribers might also use (we can’t guarantee that someone in your field of law and geographical area will not use the same face as you) or $500 a month gets you a personalized face, which only you will have permission to use.

Since you’re still reading this, odds are that you didn’t graduate from a Tier-One law school. You know that it doesn’t make any difference to the results you get (or lease, through GhostWins.com), but some paying clients might be more likely to hire you if your resume were a little more impressive. GhostResume.com can fix that problem. On the same model as GhostWins.com and GhostMug.com, GhostResume.com allows you to contract out your credentials. For a nominal fee, you get to use the guaranteed-to-impress bona fides of an actual lawyer in your marketing materials. Your clients will never know the difference.

To maximize your online marketing potential, sign up for TheWholeGhostPackage.com. You’ll get weekly GhostWins, a GhostMug, and a matching GhostResume for a discounted monthly $700 (syndicated) or $1,400 (personalized).

So how is it okay for a lawyer to hire a ghostwriter to write his blog?

When a client hires a lawyer, more than the results or the face or the résumé, he’s paying for the lawyer’s knowledge, intellect and heart—attributes that good writing reveals and ghostwriting falsifies. Hiring a ghostwriter to write your blog (like some of the people here using a ghostwriter “to enhance their credibility”) is no more ethical than subscribing to TheWholeGhostPackage.com.

Five Lawyers Trading on the Death of an Innocent

I invite the following lawyers:

The Law Offices of Eric Strand
West Chester, PA

Law Office of Henry S. Hilles, III
Norristown, PA

to explain how it is okay to use a dead nine-year-old child to advertise legal services. Like Sassower, Chase, and Kahn (who are also invited to explain), Strand, Beck, Petersen, Hark, and Hilles are paying FindLaw to market them through dreckbloggen.

We didn’t know? You know now. What have you done about it?

We didn’t ask FindLaw to do this? Not explicitly, but you paid them to.

We trusted FindLaw?

Outsource your marketing, outsource your reputation.

New Blog Today

Avvo Pimp, about what I call answhores—lawyers like Alan Brinkmeier who answer questions on Avvo Answers without regard to whether those questions relate to their area of practice, their state, or even their knowledge.

Bloggers’ Best Cancelled for Lack of Interest

Thanks to South Carolina criminal defense lawyers Bobby Frederick and Johnny Gardner for participating.

We get the blogosphere we deserve.