Observed

A tech novelties article caught my eye the other day.  I found Anne Eisenberg’s coverage of on-line dictionaries (think Worknik) fascinating for how it reminded me of the humanness of language.

(It also hit me that the editors of The New York Times placed an article about words on the Business page.  Yeah, I know, it was really a tech piece.  It also underscored — in my mind, at least — the importance of good writing to good business.  Just saying.)

I noticed the tension between Web purists like Wordnik’s founder, Erin McKean, and Old Schoolers who admonish writers not to lean too far into the Internet.

Example?  Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, likes Wordnik’s oceans of words and word associations.  On the other hand, Nunberg says,

“The idea that you can pull lexicographers out of the loop and have an algorithm to mediate between me and the English language is goofy.

“Without hand citations done by trained people, you get a mess.”

Then again, Wordnik (launched in June 2009) has raised almost $13 million in VC so far and has business partners on the hook.  Somebody’s leaning.

New York Times auto writer Lawrence Ulrich sights a Buddhist monastery and sees a connection to how the new BMW 6 Series handles on the winding ocean-side roads of Northern California. Does this willingness to take chances with storytelling suggest anything for the way we handle marketing content for professional service providers?

So, OK, I’ll admit that a journalist covering the auto industry isn’t exactly analogous to someone writing for business readers.  The keyword here, however, is exactly.

Because Lawrence Ulrich has something to offer those of us who order, create and approve content for law firm Web sites, client brochures and such.  As auto writer/critic for The New York Times, Mr. Ulrich takes a technical subject that’s part of everyday life and makes it come alive.

Decide for yourself.  See, for example, whether the wit and intelligence in this piece about BMW’s new 6 Series doesn’t suggest how your looks-and-sounds-the-same-as-everybody-else’s content might acquire some zing and become more engaging.

I could go on and on.  Of all of the things I like about this article, here’s a passage that made me laugh out loud:

With both of those optional onboard systems, along with chunky 20-inch wheels and tires, the 650i felt unflappable along Route 301 near Carmel — almost an affront to the nearby Chuang Yen Monastery, whose Buddhist monks might take one look at the lavish BMW and advise, “Peace comes from within, do not seek it without.”

Yes?

Dave Barry takes his readers on a little journey through the cornfields and bureaucracies of Indiana, where the citizens of Dana are battling to honor the life of one of their native sons, Ernie Pyle. It's too bad that so few of us recognize that name -- or the name of his gifted contemporary from Paducah, Ky., Irvin S. Cobb -- much less have read anything they wrote. That's our loss.

Do yourself a favor.  If you want to see how it’s done, check out Dave Barry’s solid little story about legendary WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle and Dana, Ind., the hometown town struggling to keep Mr. Pyle’s memory alive.

Consider, for example:

Dana is learning the familiar lesson that the famous are not forever so; names slip from collective memory, to be replaced by other names also destined for the tip of our tongues, and then gone. Who remembers, say, Wheeler and Woolsey, the wacky comedy team of the 1930s; or Irvin S. Cobb, a cigar-chomping humorist as well known as Will Rogers in his day; or the Dionne quintuplets, international sensations.

But Ernie Pyle was not just famous; he mattered.

Not too much.  Not too little.  Mr. Barry sinks his hook in the first sentence and keeps you caring about the Hoosiers with the big hearts…all the way to the end.

He gets out of the way.  No dazzling distractions.  No lofty arguments or self-important bloviations.

Just good, solid writing, worthy of Mr. Barry’s subject.

Praesent in multis potuit paucis? (Or...Why use a few words when many could do?) I wonder how much lawyers' love of Latin has to do with the hunger for academic respect that influences so much of their law school training. Or, with the powder-wigged, Boswellian affectations that characterize the case law they studied?

Take a peek behind the curtain of law school training in today’s New York Times.   In it, reporter David Segal outlines the failure of legal education in the U.S. to prepare lawyers to practically earn their keep.

The piece made me think about what might inspire the florid written wordiness I so often see from lawyers, even in non-legal business development content.  Could it have something to do with the obsession of law school professors to be taken seriously in academe?  Or, with the hidebound, 18th and 19th-century (and earlier) case law that still comprises so much of what law students pack into their brains?

Is the use of Latin, hallowed despite its death (or, perhaps, because of it), another way of compensating for the profession’s inferred inferiority.  Is Latin a way for lawyers to prove they they deserve to be taken as seriously and respected as much as, say, physicians or clergy?

Mr. Segal reports that the winds of reform are gathering, offering hope that law student loans and other wrongs will be blown away.  Maybe these fresh breezes will arrive with copies of Strunk and White.

Blogger Steve Coomes might say that PETA's proposed McDonald's statue for downtown Louisville was DOA.

I’m no genius, but I’ve been around this game long enough to recognize a red herring when I see one, and that decoy story looked a lot like a chicken.

That’s how blogger restaurant blogger Steve Coomes wrapped up his post in today’s InsiderLouisville.com about KFC’s change in marketing chiefs.

You may have noticed Mr. Coomes’s  use of  metaphors.  Well, these were just two of at least a dozen metaphors and other analogical usages…in a 700-word, 20-paragraph piece.

Writing Tip of the Day:  Don’t do that.

Some people mean more together than they do apart, whatever the stage. Churchill and Hitler. Bogart and Bacall. Ali and Frazier.

Writers want to engage, not distract their readers. Dave Anderson may have done the latter with his use of a much-hated name to make a point in his article about champion boxer Joe Frazier.

This is the lead in Dave Anderson’s farewell to Joe Frazier, the heavyweight boxer and former champ who died of cancer Monday night.

Did you notice the name in the second sentence?  Did you react the way I did?  With puzzlement?  Wondering why Mr. Anderson reached for such an inflammatory name to engage his readers and make a point about synergy?

Instead of being engaged, the analogy distracted me.  If I had been looking for a third pair for that match, I would have kept my distance from naming mass murderers.

But, hey.  Maybe that’s just me.

Holly Brubach. Period.

“With no closing time — and no drinks (B.Y.O.B!) — the site hosts selected fashion photos, ad campaigns, music videos, commercials and documentaries spanning the past three decades of Weber’s career alongside paintings from a show by the artist Jeremy Everett (a friend of Weber’s), an appreciation of Simone de Beauvoir’s book about Brigitte Bardot and high praise for Danny DiMauro, a barber in  Montauk, N.Y.”

– Holly Brubach, temporarily forgetting the concept of the period in a 64-word sentence.  Ms. Brubach was writing recently in The New York Times about fashion photographer Bruce Weber’s new Web site.

Despite what some attorneys may believe, it helps to have something personal in your Web bio. You don’t have to tell your life story, but give your visitor a taste of what you’re like as a person—particularly if you hang-glide, cure tropical diseases or do anything else that demonstrates a passion for something other than the law.

Prospects, clients and referral sources come to lawyers’ Web sites for three principal reasons.  They’re looking for solutions to their problems and assurance that someone will make their lives easier.  They’re are also thinking about whether or not they might actually like working with you.

Personalization of attorney bios is a great way to set the lawyer apart and establish a personal connection right off the bat with a client.  Surveys of business people – lawyers and non-lawyers alike – confirm that given the choice (and evidence that points them in the right direction), they’ll pick someone they might possibly like over someone else.

How personal is too personal?  According to the folks at Great Jakes, while it’s important to let the reader know that they’re dealing with a real person, some lawyers make the mistake of downplaying their legal expertise or even skipping it all together. The strongest bios are the ones that use a personal tone without dumbing anything down.

I can't say for sure whether Telemachus ended up thanking Mentor for showing the young man how to write better Web content or edit a video clip and upload it to YouTube. Let me know (doug@doug-stern.com), however, if anything like that appeals to you.

My business employs interns from time to time. Here’s a brief description outlining what that generally looks like.

WHERE

Experience has proven that face-to-face interaction improves just about every aspect of what an intern does, how they do it and what they get out of it.  So, at least a few hours a week ought to be spent on site, in my office.  I have wi-fi and whatever else an intern might need.

WHEN

I’m flexible.  For the sake of productivity, however, I suggest that interns expect to spend 4 to 8 hours a week either in my office or telecommuting, perhaps split between a couple days each week for however long the internship lasts.  A lot depends on what (if anything) an intern’s professor or degree program requires or recommends.

WHAT (more…)

Ovid got it. The young Narcissus and Echo, the mountain nymph, fell in love with, respectively, his own image and her own voice. As a consequence, both faded away, leaving only the aural effect and the flower we know. The same fate awaits the law firm with Web content that does not adequately create a sense of dialogue with the visitor and their needs.

Start with the simple stuff.  For example, begin Web site content with a phrase or a sentence or a something about the client. It might be as simple as writing “Clients seek our help navigating complex interstate commerce regulations.”

In other words, get the client out front.  Better yet, characterize them strategically.  For example, say “Leading regional manufacturers seek our help navigating complex interstate commerce regulations.”

The key is to make your content more about the client (“them”) and less about the firm (“us”).  Keep this in mind for whatever Web or other business development content you’re creating.

Plus, the more client-facing your Web content, the more readable.  It adds variety when you don’t over-rely on “our,” “the firm,” “we” and their repetitive variations.

In addition to the style of the content, make sure you document the firm’s record addressing the needs of the client…and do not merely enumerate the firm’s credentials.  That’s why it’s essential to incorporate client-facing summaries of representative matters into your bios, practice group descriptions and industry descriptions.

Such an approach is not only more responsive to the visitor’s needs, but it will also set you and your site apart from the vast majority of the law firms which appear to still be enamored with themselves.