There’s no one better to turn to about cannabis law than attorney Hilary Bricken. She authors Harris Bricken‘s Canna Law Blog and provides top commentary on developments in the industry. She is a renowned blogger, speaker, and lawyer, and joined This Week in Legal Blogging to discuss the impact blogging has had on her career and why she does it.
Episode Summary
Hilary discusses how the blog has created a reputation and profile she may not have otherwise. Her articles have been featured in law school books and recommended by government officials. She is contacted by the media who often look to her posts as a credible source for their news pieces. Hilary discusses how blogging has been a great form of marketing for her and she offers advice to up-and-coming bloggers in the legal world.
Here’s the full episode and, down below, we have a selection of the best exchanges.
When did you know that it was making a difference? How long did it take for you to say “okay, I better keep this going because we may have something here”?
I was on stage with at least one major, major decision maker and influencer and regulator on what was then the Liquor Control Board. It’s now the liquor and cannabis board. And he was kind enough—and this was unprompted by me, completely unsolicited—to tell the crowd to check out one of the blog articles I had written about the top 10 red flags in the cannabis industry. This is like 2014. And I thought, wow, if a government guy who has no ties to our firm, there’s no kind of relationship, here is willing to put that out there as a beacon of information then we are doing something incredibly right. Then the most recent development was that we’ve showed up in a couple of law school textbooks citing to our articles, which is just incredibly bizarre. And I know these things become obsolete incredibly quickly. But that was pretty cool. So from then until now, that’s been the progression, really literally, from public service announcements to academia. Those were the indicators where I knew, you know, this, this is more than just legal writing to try to drum up work. This is actually important and we’re seen as an authority in the space and honestly, now we kind of have the obligation to write on some of these things as a leader and that’s really where you want to be getting work or not.
What’s the engagement been like with the media side of things? What role has it played in getting you out there with people?
It had significant impact, because you’re putting your knowledge level out there and your thoughtfulness and your consideration around these issues. And many of these reporters and journalists, they don’t have a deep background here. And they could be looking into incredibly serious issues around things like consumer protection, safety, quality assurance products and these lawsuits that affect that. That’s just one minor example. But they need a voice of authority. And I think that the blog really promotes that and not even just the blog. But when you do things like blog, you can take it to your social media. And that’s where a lot of them see your content, they’ll go and they’ll use you as a resource. My personal opinion as a legal blogger is you should not care at all if you’re not quoted as a source, that does not matter. What matters is the legitimacy of the relationship based on the validity of the information you’re providing. Because you’ve researched it, you know it firsthand, and you’ve written about it. So I’m very happy when I see these pieces come out where I know I contributed, maybe I checked the facts, or I gave legal context, or I helped with an analysis. I don’t care anymore at all if I do not see my name in print, it does not matter to me because it’s more about the integrity of the relationship. And the fact that they’re going to come back again and again to the blog, and not worry that I’m going to get offended that I didn’t get a soundbite.
How has it impacted your career as a lawyer going back, but then also even more interestingly, what do you want it to do going forward?
Blogging is one of the most legitimate marketing tools you can have as an attorney. It’s better than any bus bench. It’s better than any airport seminar in my opinion that’s out there, unless it’s obviously driven by an academic institution and is truly truly sophisticated. Because it’s your stage. It’s your platform, and you can get across you know these very, very impactful ideas and analyses that you couldn’t otherwise do in those particular settings…And a lot of law firms, and we’ve talked about this in the past, are fearful of giving away free advice without getting the return on the client. And from a business perspective, I just don’t think that that’s a legitimate concern, because no blog post is going to substitute for real life advice and guidance that’s tailored to a particular situation. So going forward, I really want us to remain the infallible authority. I want people to have said to each other, “I heard this,” “Did you check the canon law blog today?” “Have they written about it to be gospel?” that’s really what I would very much appreciate.
What advice would you give to a blogger who’s just getting started?
I really think the only way you’re going to stick with it is if you write about what you enjoy, which is so difficult to do as an attorney because things can seem so overwhelming soul-sucking or you don’t know enough. I’ve seen lawyers who are just completely paralyzed by this concept of blogging, because they cannot write a law review article. That is not the attitude or the approach that you should have. This is not academic, right? This is driven from marketing to connect with your client constituency, right, and to explore ideas, and get your visibility up. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But in order to get to good, you have to actually enjoy what you’re writing about.
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