Envision Agency Hosts First Legal Media Panel Discussion

Major Legal Publication Editors Convene at LawNet Annual Conference

During this year’s annual LawNet conference, Envision Agency and LawNet hosted the first inaugural legal media editors panel discussion. The goal of the event was to give legal vendors a better understanding of the legal media landscape and the “how-tos” of working with the legal editors. The initial vendor response was overwhelming with over 60 vendors, firms and agencies having attended this event. The event was hosted by JoAnna Forshee of Envision Agency and moderated by Jobst Elster, VP of Envision Agency and Andy Spiegel, Media and Publications Specialist for LawNet.

The distinguished panel of legal publication editors included:

• Randi Mayes, Editor-in-Chief of Peer to Peer newsletter and Executive Director of LawNet, Inc.

• Monica Bay, Editor-in-Chief, Law Technology News, Managing Director, Law Firm Inc., and Small Firm Business

• Jay Strother, Editor-in-Chief, Legal Management and ALA News

• Jamie Tyo, Managing Editor, Law Office Computing, Legal Assistant Today

Here are highlights of the topics covered during the lively 60 minute panel discussion:

Press Release Submission Process

Panelist spent a portion of the discussion detailing how to submit press releases and to whom to send them. In the case of Law Office Computing, the appropriate contact person is determined by the content of the press release. Currently, Lilledeshan Bose is in charge of product reviews, Kathryn Feather cover new product releases in the “Just Released” section, and Jamie Tyo, LOC’s Managing Editor is focused on firm profiles and success stories in the “Tech Setters” and “My Solution” columns, and beginning in December/January a large firm focus. While Jay Strother, Editor, Legal Management and ALA News, receives all news releases but is primarily focused on trends and solutions for his legal administrator readership. Randi Mayes and Andy Spiegel with LawNet’s Peer to Peer newsletter include excerpts of most newsworthy press releases in Peer to Peer’s quarterly Product Announcements section. According to Monica Bay, Editor-in-Chief for Law Technology News, and Editorial Director for Law Firm Inc. and Small Firm Business, over 3000 press releases are sent to a general press release account on a monthly basis, and based on relevance and subject matter are then redirected to the appropriate publication. The key to getting into these publications boils down to knowing the magazine, the different departments and features, and writing a press release in a succinct and easy-to-understand style.

Article Pitching & Placements

This topic focused on the process by which an article or by-line makes its way to a legal publication. In the case of membership publications such as Peer to Peer and Legal Management, editorial content and article preferences are a direct reflection of what trends, technologies and legal developments organization members are most interested in. Peer to Peer article submissions should be purely educational in nature and are focused on firm processes, implementations and case studies and success stories. ALA’s Legal Management takes its editorial highlights from a periodic Knowledge Skills & Abilities Assessment for Law Firm Managers, a survey that identifies 57 proficiency areas for firm management. As a result, most editorial is determined accordingly with a technology feature focus in the March/April issue. In addition, recurring features in Legal Management include “Competitive Edge” and “Practice Management”, both of which have a technology slant. As for ALM’s legal technology publications, as well as Law Office Computing magazine, the key to successfully pitching an article is to fully understand what topics are being covered in a given month, and to position a legal client and their successes and failures versus simply contributing a vendor by-line. Also, all panelists agreed, that article pitches and ideas succinctly delivered via e-mail have the best chance of getting reviewed and potentially archived for future consideration.

PR Etiquette

The consensus among the legal editors is that vendors who follow preset editorial guidelines, understand and read the publications their targeting, know the audience, and respect media deadlines will have the most success in meeting press release and article goals. Among the biggest “pet peeves” of what not to do when working with this media audience includes telephone follow-up on news releases, not empowering employees to give out basic firm information as part of standard media requests, and excessive use of technology jargon in press releases and article submissions.

Envision Agency is the legal industry's leading PR and marketing firm.  If you have any questions or comments about our inaugural legal media panel discussion or our services, please feel free to email us or call 770-438-1908..