Internet Newsletter for Lawyers |
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Family Law Week is one of the new breed of legal update sites
offering free content and email updates for a specific sector. Each week commissioned articles, news stories,
judgments, case digests and legislation are added to the site, all of which are free to access. Those who want
to receive a weekly email summary of what s new on the site, with links back to the relevant items, can register
again for free. The paid for element is online CPD, and we have just revamped this to become an annual subscription
instead of pay as you go. Each month we post two assignments, one on money and the other on children, based on the
cases published that month. Those of you who have used Crimeline or Gary Webber's Property Law site will be
familiar with the concept.
We set up the site for three reasons. Firstly, we could see that there is an increasing volume of information
becoming available free over the internet but there is still a need to bring that information together in a
structured way for a specific market, so that the end user can reduce the time spent gathering it all for
themselves and also add value with our own content. Secondly, because this sort of service is part of the
future of legal publishing and there was an opportunity to get in before anyone else. And finally, with over
30 years of experience between the directors of Law Week in family law publishing we just kind of thought
it would be fun to give it a go.
We have been up and running for 18 months now so here are some thoughts on what we have learnt about
how web publishing differs from traditional publishing, what we have got wrong and how our initial vision
has matched up to the harsh reality of daily legal publishing life.
That was 18 months ago. Now I do not know whether I am waving or drowning under the flood of new initiatives,
techniques and features being hyped up as Web 2.0. Whereas Family Law Week is resolutely the old spoon fed
web 1.0 type of resource, Web 2.0 afficiandos say that blogs, collaboration, wikis and communities are the future.
They may well be right so I have to be aware that, just as we have challenged some old notions, there
may be others lurking out there considering challenging us in just the same way. The only defence is eternal vigilance.
At the same time...
They have responded magnificently in signing up for our weekly email and feedback indicates that they find
the site accessible. Yet there is still a distinct nervousness about the way they use the site, particularly
when it comes to amending their personal details. We provide an account page for each user so that they can
change contact and email details as and when necessary. Yet we continue to get regular emails asking for us
to change things for them. I do not blame them - I am happy to help. But the lesson learnt is that many of
our users are what Rupert Murdoch has recently described as internet immigrants adrift in alien environment
and not internet natives. As a result, they do not intrinsically trust accepted website protocols and will gladly
look for help if they can get it.
It was an eagerly awaited decision as it was hoped that it would clarify some key issues concerning conduct,
equality and the length of the marriage in arriving at a fair settlement. For that reason we had regular emails
from a number of users in advance of publication wanting to know when the judgment would be published so they
could advise clients immediately on their own cases.
The upshot is that a judgment can now be disseminated to thousands of lawyers within an hour of its publication.
Using this raw material solicitors and barristers will start to advise clients without waiting or any in-depth
commentary or analysis to be prepared. Now this is not entirely novel but the scale and the speed are new and
this has implications for how case law is handled in the future. In my view, there will be an onus on the judiciary
to ensure that their judgments offer clear statements about the issues and conclusions in the matter. This is not
always the case now but I am certain that at least informal guidelines or styles will be developed.
But the very existence of such statistics highlights a crucial difference between web publishing and my former
life among traditional printed books and journals. In the days when I worked for a traditional publisher, our
only definitive measure of whether anyone was reading our books was the number of sales made and some anecdotal evidence picked up at conferences and the like. Online, I can build a much clearer picture of what s being read and use that information to provide a service that is much more closely matched to the readerships needs.
But the key realisation is that we can react and respond more quickly than ever before. User surveys can be
out and returned within a few hours. This is not a startling revelation but after spending many years in
traditional print publishing this speed of response is always surprising.
As we designed the site we would constantly think of additions and refinements that we thought would add to
our users experience and set us apart from our competitors. One such idea was a hugely complex concept of
creating online groups that would allow a team of users to club together and buy online CPD in bulk.
We devised all sorts of internal messages, invitations and management tools and spent the money on coding
them. Hardly anyone has used them and we should have realised that from the start but it is so easy to get
carried away. So the lesson is that the simple features are the ones that get you users.
No doubt these are just the first in a long line of lessons that we will learn as the site, our users and the
web develops in the future. If you ask me what Family Law Week will look like in five years time I would be
very hard pressed to give a definitive answer given the Web 2.0 changes on the way. What I can say though is
that we will at all times try to take the best of what is on offer and adapt that to the needs of our readers
in an accessible and practical way.
David Chaplin is a publishing, information and marketing expert with over 15 years experience at senior positions
in the industry. He is Publishing Director of Law Week, a joint venture between
Lime Legal, and
Bath Publishing.
Back to Contents.
Lessons Learned While Publishing Family Law Week
by David Chaplin
1. On the internet, always remember you are old hat
When I started thinking about the project I imagined myself as an internet pioneer, at the cutting edge of
web publishing. I thought I was using the latest resources and techniques to create our vision.
2. Most lawyers are still learning how to use Web 1.0
One of my greatest fears on launch was that our potential user base was not ready for us. I think I was half-right.
3. As publishing gets faster, so does the law
A recent high profile case illustrates this lesson nicely. On 24 May the House of Lords published a judgment
in two divorce appeals: Miller v Miller and McFarlane v McFarlane. It was published as usual on the Parliament
website that morning and also on Family Law Week within an hour.
4. Lawyers still love paper
While planning the site I could not rid myself of an uneasy hunch that our market still prefers to read off
a badly printed piece of paper rather than the latest HD flat screen. So we decided to launch a hybrid service
by publishing a print ready monthly round up (in pdf) that our users can print out and read in a more traditional
manner. This has proved enormously popular, but I am left with a bittersweet feeling that the web revolution for
lawyers still has some way to go.
5. I must stop looking at our web statistics
Using our web stats package we can see how many people visit the site, what they are reading, how long they
spend there and where they come from. This is endlessly fascinating and undoubtedly addictive: it is all
I can do each morning not to log-on.
6. I do not need a warehouse full of envelopes anymore
In my opinion, this is one of the greatest blessings of moving to web publishing. I can now publish, every
week, a newsletter to several thousand readers at almost zero unit cost. No need to print invoices, manage
a mailing house or format address labels and all the other paraphernalia associated with a printed journal.
7. Keep It Simple
This may be obvious but our experiences have seared this one into my consciousness. I'll explain.
Email: david.chaplin@bathpublishing.co.uk.