Bio mechanics

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Joshua M. Koch is a real Boy Scout.

The civil litigator at Arndt, Buswell & Thorn in Sparta highlights his Eagle Scout award in his online firm biography. Koch also advertises his love of hunting and fishing, personal tidbits which often prove useful in connecting with clients, especially in northern Wisconsin.

“Sharing similar stories kind of breaks the ice and makes things more palatable for people who can come in pretty nervous,” said the 2009 law school graduate.

For attorneys like Koch, who lack a laundry list of professional accomplishments on their firm bio to impress clients, personal information can be a suitable substitute.

But as resumes — personal and professional — grow, so too can the temptation to overload online bios with accolades and accomplishments.

In his experience crafting online attorney biographies, legal marketing consultant Larry Bodine said brevity is best.

“A bad bio will cost you business,” he said. “If yours is 17 pages long instead of 17 words, clients and general counsel are going to say forget it.”

Listing accolades and prominent victories is important, but only if they are recent. More important can be client identification, or at least specific work that attorneys have done on cases.

In his bio, Koch mentions his internship with state Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser, which included writing the majority opinion for a published case.

“It’s the best personal marketing I can do without the experience,” he said.

For veteran lawyers, focus is still essential, even for a specialized practice.

Patent attorney Mathew E. Corr’s biography is only three paragraphs long, but it highlights his background in chemical engineering and time as chair of the State Bar’s Intellectual Property Section.

He said the philosophy behind crafting attorney bios at Boyle Fredrickson is to showcase not only a lawyer’s legal expertise, but also his or her other accomplishments.

“When you look at an individual you see what they’ve done and cases they’ve litigated,” Corr said. “But you also want to dovetail that into other areas so if clients have questions, they know who to go to for answers.”

As someone who shops for legal services, Foley & Lardner attorney Mary K. Braza looks for relevant case work, as well as someone who is in the know locally.

When hiring outside counsel, the Milwaukee-based attorney said she will browse firm sites to find lawyers who are experienced and respected in the community.

“When I’m looking to hire out of town, I’m looking for someone connected in town,” Braza said. “I think that helps credential someone in their locale.”

Bodine agreed that recent activity in local bar organizations, charity groups or coaching a Little League team can help “personalize” an attorney for clients.

But he cautioned against overloading a potential client and pointed out that an online bio is not the same as a resume.

“Lawyers sometimes think they have to be totally comprehensive and that’s a mistake,” he said. “A bio is a marketing tool and an attorney’s homepage. It should be treated that way.”

As with any advertising, the goal is to have people get in touch, said Bodine, and some firms are incorporating social network links to Twitter and Facebook into their firm bios.

Bodine said one firm in Las Vegas even provides numbers clients or potential clients can use to text attorneys.

Boyle Fredrickson is considering incorporating a feedback feature into their attorney bios, although Corr said that kind of component may not fit a firm website.

“We’re looking into putting recommendations online, but we don’t want to make it overly available for anyone to make comments,” he said.

Koch said that while writing a bio isn’t easy, it’s an important task.

“I wrote my bio and it’s never easy talking about yourself, but it’s one of the first things I did when I came to the firm,” he said.