For Attorneys Who Need an Idea Starter
So, you have nothing to talk about on your social media pages or blog that would interest your prospective clients? Going through a creative slowdown? Writer’s block sucks!
But that’s about to change.
I perused various Q&A sections of some legal platforms, and I found thousands of inquiries. THOUSANDS!
The idea here is not for you to answer the questions but for the questions to get your juices flowing to create a piece of content that you can share with your audience. You don’t have to wonder what your audience wants to know; the subjects are there already — keywords and all.
Thought Leadership Brings in New Clients
Providing social media content in your legal wheelhouse can help prospective clients educate themselves and get to know your firm at the same time. By choosing these trending topics, you can stay relevant in the eyes of prospective clients and build your firm’s reputation with industry peers.
Here are a few of the many questions I discovered on legal platforms this month:
Adoption
How would my wife and I be able to be on the birth certificate for the baby my sister is having? My sister and her husband are willing to have a baby for us. They are willing to give up all rights and want no responsibility for the baby. What do we have to do to be on baby birth certificate once he or she is born?
Business Law
How can I void my operating agreement and take control of my company again?
Commercial Property Lease
Is it legal for a landlord named on a lease to not be the actual property owner and, if so, who do you sue if need be?
Consumer Protection
Can I sue a pet store for selling me a mixed breed dog when they told me it was a purebred?
Criminal Defense
Can a prosecutor use bribery to get a defendant to sign a plea?
Employee Stock Ownership Plans
My wife and I are separated. Her company is giving a buyout on her ESOP plan at work. Am entitled to half? Live in Missouri.
Family Law
If I move out of my home to separate from my husband, will he be able to sue me and get full custody of my teenage girls?
Family Trust
Can I sell my 1/3 interest in a piece of property that I inherited with my siblings?
Gender Discrimination
Does my manager have the right to make me take off my piercings because I am a male?
Immigration
Where and in what form should my investment fund for E-2 visa be placed?
Personal Injury
I was waiting on a bus on the curb and a truck backing up ran right over my foot. He said he didn’t see me. Now I can’t walk . . .
Real Estate
When dividing up a property with two houses, 15 acres, which has one deed, to do it equally, is the price of the house in play?
Still experiencing writer’s block? Use this writing cheat sheet:
• Take one of those questions, and write a five-sentence answer. Then, go to the first sentence and flesh that out into 5 or more sentences. Then, do the same with sentences 2, 3 4, and 5.
• Add a conclusion.
• Add a call-to-action.
• Go back and add an attention-grabbing opening sentence. If you can find a statistic of some sort that is relevant, open with that.
• Break up long blocks of sentences into smaller paragraphs.
• Add a bold subheading over every few paragraphs.
• If you see a series inside a sentence, like child support, child custody, spousal support, etc., turn those into indented bullets and expand on each of them.
• Stay away from long dense word walls.
• Stay away from legalese, but, if you must use a legal term, explain what it means — in simple English. And try not to make the mistake many attorneys often make, which is to break down a legal term by using other legal terms. Be mindful of that.
• Stay away from twenty-dollar SAT vocab. For example: Don’t say mendacity when you can say dishonesty.
