Study: Law Firms Spending Millions in Online Advertisements

03/02/12

The report also found at least 25 trial attorney firms spending more than $100,000 annually in Google keyword advertising. And in total, at least 800 law firms were found actively purchasing keyword advertising during the time frame of the study.


According to the study by New Media Strategies, funded and published by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal reform, “Plaintiffs' firms are devoting millions of dollars to the creation and maintenance of websites, Facebook pages, Twitter handles, blogs and YouTube channels. By measuring Google advertising spends on 125 keywords during a 45-day period and then extrapolating to a 12-month period, we estimate firms will spend more than $50 million on Google keyword advertising alone. To put that in perspective, the Obama for America campaign – often held up as a pioneer in digital advertising – spent $16 million total in online advertising in 2008.”

Law firms have embraced social media with gusto because it serves up opportunities to monitor and engage potential plaintiffs on the “very social media platforms where people share the most personal and intimate details of their lives.”

The incentives of course come from the huge turnover in torts practice: The U.S. tort system cost $264.6 billion in 2010 alone. With lawyers using clever marketing tactics and trying to ensure that each person “can get justice in the courtroom, even when taking on the most powerful interests” use of digital media has become aggressive.

According to the report, the plaintiff's bar “contributes to the commercialization of the legal profession by using a sophisticated and complex combination of paid search advertising and high organic search optimization of websites to generate site traffic – all with the goal of collecting the personal contact information of potential plaintiffs.”

Researches view that the entire legal industry may be on the verge of a new era where management and monitoring of social media allows access of lawyers to the social backyards of people and potential plaintiffs. As the use of social media continues to grow among people as a place to share their concerns and opinions, efforts of lawyers and law firms to use these platforms effectively also increase.

The report can be accessed here (http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/sites/default/files/The_Plaintiffs_Bar_Goes_Digital_2012.pdf)