12% growth in corporate blogging by law firms

Figures from the 2010 ABA Technology Survey Report show that there has been substantial growth in corporate blogging by law firms.

The US survey reveals that 30% of large law firms had blogs, compared to 18% in the 2009 survey, indicating a clear shift in attitudes towards the value in social networks. In fact 10% of respondents “had a client retain their legal services as a result of use of online communities/social networking”.

Overall 14% of law firms of all sizes reported having blogs compared to 9% in 2009. However, the Above The Law blog notes “this data seems a little skewed downwards for small firms”, due to the probability that a large law firm with many staff is more likely to have staff members involved in maintaining a blog than a small practice.

There’s also evidence that large firm lawyers are more likely to use social media than solo practitioners. 63% of large law firms reported having a presence online compared to only 52% of solo respondents. Again this could be due to the input required to maintain an online presence, in addition to the demands of running a practice, limiting the participation of smaller firms.

The survey identified 83% of lawyers using LinkedIn, and 68% using Facebook, with an average of only 1.9% of lawyers reportedly using Twitter.