The 10 Commandments For Lawyers Who Use Video

Here are my rules for attorneys who advertise and market themselves using video; they apply to every lawyer who creates attorney video and they’re mostly common sense, but because we’re attorneys, nothing is ever as it seems.

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF LAWYER VIDEO

1. Thou shall not disparage another lawyer in your video
2. Thou shall not puff yourself up
3. Thou shall not criticize another lawyer
4. Thou shall not compare yourself, by name, to any other lawyer or law firm
5. Thou shall not talk about yourself
6. Thou shall not make any guarantees that you cannot keep
7. Thou shall not be a salesman
8. Thou shall not use slogans
9. Thou shall make educational video
10. Thou shall learn how to answer your viewers’ questions

No, I’m not Moses, and no, these commandments are not written in stone (but that would be really cool if they were). These are guidelines to follow if you are serious about creating attorney video. Some of these rules are common sense. Some are embodied in ethics rules that each of us must follow in our own state.

I reviewed an attorney video about a year ago for a feature called “YouLaw” which is a column I write for Technolawyer blog. In the video was a trial attorney from the mid-west who had a very good educational video- for most of it anyway. He was explaining in his video how aggressive he was in taking cases to trial. So far so good. Then he did something horrible. He compared his firm to his competitor- BY NAME- and claimed that unlike THAT PARTICULAR law firm, he takes cases to trial. The other firm (specifically giving their name) takes them solely to settle cases before they ever get to trial.

Whether the claim is true or not is besides the point. He has now subjected himself and his law firm to possible claims of libel and slander by this other attorney in his town. He could have accomplished the same thing without mentioning the name of the other law firm. Bad move on his part. His video was immediately taken down after my review came out.

Next: Stop talking about yourself. Yes, you read that correctly. Viewers who are watching videos looking for an attorney don’t want to hear about YOU. They don’t care about you. They care about themselves. Stop wasting your time and money talking about you.

Stop selling your services. There’s nothing worse than walking into a store and the salesman hovers over you trying to sell you something the moment you move left or right. (I sometimes like to play around with them, especially in a jewelry store, where I move left, then shift to my right, and the salesperson follows my every move, hoping to make a sale). Aghhh! Stop selling yourself and start educating me, your consumer. By educating me, you become the expert and not the slick salesman. Re-read this paragraph again and commit it to memory.

GUARANTEE:

I guarantee that if you follow these 10 commandments, you will create video that is better than 99% of the nonsense that is currently online. (You see, I can make that guarantee because I know it’s true). Most lawyer video is not educational and does not help a viewer distinguish one lawyer from another. Follow these rules and you’ll be on your way to creating great educational video.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Have a great day!
______________________
Gerry is a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer in practice for over 21 years. He has produced and created over 200 educational and informative videos to help consumers understand how lawsuits work in the State of New York. If you want to see how Gerry has used video to promote his own practice click here.

Gerry created the Lawyers’ Video Studio to help lawyers get onto video. To get started with creating video to market your legal services, Gerry offers a simple and cost-effective turn-key video creation system where he does everything for you except appear on camera, click here to learn more.