Originally posted 2010-09-17 11:12:18.
For this week’s Guest Post Friday here at Construction Law Musings, we welcome Matthew Homann. Matt is a writer, speaker, facilitator and entrepreneur. He’s the founder of LexThink, and the author of the [non]billable hour blog. He was named a “Legal Rebel” by the ABA Journal, lives in St. Louis and has a daughter named Grace.
I believe most lawyers write their bios for themselves and their peers instead of for their clients. I don’t think many clients really care about where their lawyer went to law school 25 years ago, but go check out a dozen random law firm websites and, “Lawyer X graduated from Y Law School” is almost always the first thing you’ll see.
Is your bio any different? What’s in the first line? Is it something your prospective clients care about? If not, I challenge you to do the following to make your bio more interesting and relevant to your prospective clients: write it for them.
Some things to think about:
When you meet with a prospect for the first time, what do you talk about first as you get to know one another?
What in your office catches their eye? Is it your diploma, or the hardhat you keep on your bookcase because you regularly visit with clients out on the job site?
Are your potential clients more likely to ask why you didn’t go to Harvard, or how the little league team you coached finished up the season?
Do they want to know if you wrote an article for the law review in school, or if you’ve written contracts like the ones they need?
In short, make certain your bio shows them the kind of lawyer (and person) you are now and why they’ll like working with you. If you’re not sure what those things are, ask your best clients this simple question:
“What three things about me were most important to you as you were deciding to hire me as your lawyer?”
And if you’ve got a handful of loyal, wonderful clients, think about asking them if they’d take a crack at writing your bio in a way that would impress their peers. You might just be surprised at how many will say yes.
As always Matt and I welcome your comments below. Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Guest Post Fridays at Construction Law Musings.
