Every attorney newsletter is created differently, but the audience is usually the same. So what representation should be similar across the board for these newsletters to appeal to the very lawyers who are being targeted or tasked with reading them? Four general characteristics are quite common among these newsletters, and almost all revolve around the way that these newsletters look. However, looks are not everything, with some of these newsletter publishers understanding that content is and should remain king.
One, an attorney newsletter usually is geared more specifically toward the attorneys in any given practice. The information, then, that goes into creating an attorney newsletter has to be written so that attorneys can be interested in them. Attorneys are trained to read things in a certain way, and they will be turned off if the legal newsletter is not tailored to them as a specific audience segment. So obviously, tone is very important.
Two, an attorney newsletter generally has just as many graphics, visuals and charts as it does concrete facts. Attorneys may be used to poring over pages upon pages of legal documents, but they still like to have that text broken up with some visual elements too. Charts depicting trends, graphics demonstrating ideas and visuals like stock art help bring a typical lawyer newsletter to life in ways that text alone cannot.
Three, an attorney newsletter typically has updates from the legal world that help these attorneys with their own cases and within their own respective careers. This information generally is detailed with articles that are either written by lawyers themselves or that are pulled together by writers familiar with the legal world. This could include case studies and analysis of those studies, latest updates from Congress on federal laws, top updates from respective states with regard to any changes to their laws, and so on.
Four, an attorney newsletter has content that is both targeted and succinct. As mentioned earlier, lawyers are so accustomed to reading huge documents that they sometimes need a break from this. To compensate, an attorney newsletter should be brief in its articles yet meaty enough to have real value for these attorneys. Articles that drag on and that do nothing to further the cause often cause these newsletters to wind up in the trash. So rather than go on and on about certain topics, most newsletters have more shorter articles rather than a few long ones.