Year-end is a good time to update (or possibly improve) your bio. Two recent items triggered this thought, one dealing with advice on individual bios and the other more on firm bios. Both are worth a look.
First, an article by Jessica Sharp appeared on Law.com’s Small Firm Business which provided tips for lawyers in revising their online bios. They include:
- anticipating what your ideal clients would like to see and write to that;
- emphasizing your strengths, and contrary to Sharp’s suggestion, I would include accomplishments in bullet format detailing cases/transactions handled with dollar amounts were appropriate (but I wouldn’t mention clients names without their permission);
- describing your capabilities as a friend (or “raving” fan) would (and if you don’t know what they would say, ask them);
- putting the “important stuff up front,” (and where you went to school at the end); and
- updating it frequently to avoid becoming stale.
The other article was by my friend Paul Black and appeared on JDSupra suggesting “5 Ways to Make Your Firm Bios Stand Out Online”:
- put one person in charge to keep the revision effort on track;
- seek input from lawyers following a format to ensure consistency of information, as well as the look;
- have a short and long version – one with basic information, with a link to a longer bio for visitors to obtain more information;
- hire a professional photographer in order to get great photos, again for a consistent look or theme; and
- show some personality, individually and as a firm (my all-time favorite bio was the one by the late Martin Ginsburg, husband of Ruth Bader Ginsburg).
Nothing like freshening up that bio so as to put your best foot forward on the Internet in the coming year.