Attorney Newsletters: Six Lawyers Tell How They Built the Best Newsletters in Their Niche

The Planetary Lawyer Challenge’s Matthew Karmel talks with Alex Su, Amee Vanderpool, Chris Harvey, Jonah Perlin and Albert Tawil about constructing a profitable lawyer e-newsletter in your area of interest.

The enterprise neighborhood is aware of the worth and endurance of newsletters: Latest research present the return on funding for e mail advertising is $36 for each $1 spent. With the rise of platforms like Substack, newsletters have gotten extra niche-focused and private, and attorneys are making the most of these traits. 

Not too long ago, I interviewed the authors of a number of high-profile lawyer newsletters to be taught what motivated them to start out their newsletters and what the influence has been thus far. From Alex Su’s exploration of AI and different careers to Amee Vanderpool’s concentrate on human-centric political and authorized points to my dedication to exhibiting how each lawyer can work on local weather, right here’s how these six attorneys are utilizing newsletters to additional their skilled and private objectives.

Alex Su left the apply of regulation in 2016 to affix a authorized tech startup as an entry-level salesperson. He’s risen via the ranks and is now Chief Income Officer at Latitude, a versatile authorized expertise firm that gives high-caliber contract attorneys to regulation corporations and authorized departments. Alex can be a social media influencer and the writer of “Off the Document,” a e-newsletter about his distinctive perspective on the authorized ecosystem, together with authorized know-how and AI, and observations about “unicorn jobs.”

What ought to attorneys anticipate out of your e-newsletter?

I share tales from my profession journey transitioning out of the apply of regulation. Subjects I cowl embody different careers for attorneys, gross sales & enterprise growth, traits within the authorized ecosystem, and AI for authorized. 

What kind of attorneys would profit out of your e-newsletter?

Anybody who desires to get a way of rising traits in authorized, know-how, and AI or anybody who feels dissatisfied with their lawyer job and desires to discover a extra significant profession. 

How lengthy have you ever been writing, and what motivated you to start out writing a e-newsletter?

I’ve been writing my entire life and this text for somewhat over two years. Through the pandemic, I turned recognized for my humorous video skits and memes, and I wished to share extra substantive content material with my viewers. I additionally wished a spot to doc all the things I noticed and heard and share my experience round gross sales and enterprise growth. 

How does your e-newsletter align along with your skilled objectives and values?

My e-newsletter offers me an opportunity to extend my skilled visibility by sharing my evaluation of the authorized ecosystem and my information of gross sales and advertising. It’s additionally one other approach to preserve contact with my viewers, who could be much less within the jokes and memes and extra serious about my extra substantive ideas. 

What’s a selected instance of how your e-newsletter positively impacted your apply or profession?

I’ve been capable of attain high-level contacts and have nice conversations with them as a result of I don’t must earn my credibility. They’ve already learn my writing, in order that they’re accustomed to my perspective, so we will even have a deeper dialogue somewhat than a surface-level dialog. My writing has led to advisor and consulting alternatives I by no means thought potential.

What recommendation do you may have for different attorneys considering of beginning a e-newsletter?

Write nice content material. The most important progress driver is having folks ahead your emails or share your content material with their buddies, and high-quality content material may be very shareable. There actually are hacks that may assist propel progress within the brief time period, however in the long term, the query dealing with readers is that this: Is the subsequent e mail I get from this text price studying? If the reply is sure, good issues will inevitably occur.

Amee Vanderpool is an lawyer, printed writer, newspaper and journal contributor, and BBC Radio analyst. She is the writer of SHERO, a e-newsletter about political and authorized points dealing with girls however affecting everybody.

What ought to attorneys anticipate out of your e-newsletter?

My e-newsletter connects the authorized and political dots for points dealing with girls however affecting everybody. Which means each lawyer will get extra publicity to some authorized points that will not all the time be on the forefront of authorized evaluation, however my articles additionally embody the political facets with the authorized ramifications for on a regular basis folks.

What kind of attorneys would profit out of your e-newsletter?

Any lawyer might glean a contemporary perspective on some points that they could not encounter in academia. I additionally endeavor to publish editorial content material that will give some perception into ideas and points that could be new and attention-grabbing.

How lengthy have you ever been writing, and what motivated you to start out writing a e-newsletter?

I’ve all the time liked to jot down. I truly received an essay writing contest within the sixth Grade, and ever since, I’ve pursued it in some type. As an lawyer, my tutorial writing advanced, however I additionally discovered that my fashion and voice turned clearer, particularly when discussing the political issues I used to be obsessed with. I by no means imagined that I might discover a profession by which I used to be capable of primarily write and management my very own content material, so my e-newsletter is a dream come true. Generally, you’ll be able to’t truly know what your particular, perfect dream job is till you create it for your self. 

How does your e-newsletter align along with your skilled objectives and values?

I’ve all the time maintained a excessive normal for my work, and my work ethic has all the time been intense, so this has translated properly with regard to my writing, advertising and publishing work on SHERO. I can pursue subjects and points that I’m obsessed with, which isn’t usually the case when you find yourself training. I really like the liberty this affords me, and I feel that this type of writing, which piggybacks off of my authorized coaching and profession, helps to make my content material attention-grabbing and informative whereas I can nonetheless make the most of my very own writing fashion and voice to speak concerning the social and real-world facets of a difficulty.

What’s a selected instance of how your e-newsletter positively impacted your apply or profession?

My favourite facet of writing SHERO has all the time been the suggestions from subscribers who inform me they really feel seen or that one thing I’ve printed was vital to them. Generally, this emphasis on humanity, communication and interplay may be lacking within the consumer expertise. What writing SHERO has taught me, above all else, is that if I’m feeling or experiencing one thing in my skilled or private life, MANY different persons are going via the identical expertise. As attorneys, we’re pressured to advocate for our purchasers, no matter selection or private desire. By sharing my experiences and understanding how many individuals are like me, I really feel I’m advocating in a means I by no means might within the conventional regulation. 

Recommendation for attorneys considering of beginning a e-newsletter?

DO IT. Attorneys are very gifted folks with the power to do many issues. Nevertheless, we’re educated in regulation college to remain in a single lane and worry shifting out of that chosen path. Don’t be afraid to place your self into the world with your individual voice, as a result of it’s wanted, and you’ll be stunned at how appreciated it’s.

I like to consider this TS Elliot quote once I consider enterprise an enormous problem that actually means one thing to me: “In the event you’re not in over your head, how will you understand how tall you might be?”

Matthew Karmel is the Chair of the Environmental and Sustainability Regulation Apply at Offit Kurman, a full-service Am Regulation 200 regulation agency. His apply combines conventional environmental illustration throughout transactions, litigation and regulatory compliance with cutting-edge sustainability initiatives, renewable power and cleantech. He’s the writer of “The Planetary Lawyer Challenge,” a e-newsletter for any lawyer who desires to do extra climate-friendly work. 

What ought to attorneys anticipate out of your e-newsletter?

Each different week, my e-newsletter shares insights on find out how to construct a climate-friendly authorized profession, tales from main attorneys engaged on local weather, and job alternatives that permit attorneys to work on local weather.

What kind of attorneys would profit out of your e-newsletter?

My e-newsletter will profit any lawyer trying to do extra climate-friendly work. It doesn’t matter what kind of regulation you apply or the place you might be in your profession, you’ll be able to help climate-friendly causes and corporations in many alternative methods. 

How lengthy have you ever been writing, and what motivated you to start out writing a e-newsletter?

I began the e-newsletter in April 2022. I had been training conventional environmental regulation for a while and was the way forward for my profession. I used to be aggravated that there have been so few assets for attorneys who wished to construct climate-friendly careers or simply do extra good issues for the planet, so I began to speak and write about my very own experiences constructing a climate-friendly profession.

How does your e-newsletter align along with your skilled objectives and values?

My e-newsletter permits me to share my perspective on what it means to be a lawyer engaged on local weather points. I wish to develop my very own apply and assist the subsequent era of attorneys (and the present one) construct careers that meaningfully have interaction with the planet, no matter meaning to the person lawyer. The e-newsletter helps me do all of that, and I hear from attorneys on a regular basis about the way it conjures up them or offers key assets. These are my objectives.

What’s a selected instance of how your e-newsletter positively impacted your apply or profession?

We started internet hosting occasions for the readers of my e-newsletter in 2023. We began with a webinar known as “How Can Any Lawyer Work on Local weather?” and had greater than 300 attorneys register for the occasion. We then had a two-day digital convention to show attorneys find out how to do extra climate-related professional bono work, and we had greater than 700 attorneys register for that one! From the e-newsletter and these occasions, my already wholesome community has grown and I’ve developed relationships with high-level in-house attorneys.

Recommendation for attorneys considering of beginning a e-newsletter?

Writing a e-newsletter is among the strongest and sustainable methods to market your companies as a lawyer. You get to talk on to your colleagues and potential purchasers and present them who you might be. That’s invaluable. However you must converse along with your distinctive voice and perspective. Lean into newsletters as inventive, particular person pursuits and you will see many rewards.

Chris Harvey has been a enterprise capital lawyer for over 14 years. He represents fund managers and traders in structuring fund formations and transaction paperwork reminiscent of LPAs, LLC/working agreements, Collection Seed, Collection A, mergers and acquisitions, and all issues associated to the enterprise capital lifecycle. He’s the writer of “Regulation of VC,” a e-newsletter devoted to regulation and authorized know-how because it pertains to rising funds.

What ought to attorneys anticipate out of your e-newsletter?

Excessive-level summaries of enterprise capital fund regulation with detailed footnotes and analysis websites if attorneys wish to be taught extra.  

What kind of attorneys would profit out of your e-newsletter?

Attorneys who desire a distinctive perspective on enterprise capital fund regulation for info they’ll’t discover in printed books or regulation treatises.  

How lengthy have you ever been writing, and what motivated you to start out writing a e-newsletter?

I began on Quora.com in 2015 however then moved to Substack within the early throes of the pandemic in 2020. The inspiration for the e-newsletter got here whereas I used to be sitting at residence in LA, questioning what I might do with all that further commute time saved by not going into my workplace. I took a two-month cohort-based on-line writing class known as Write of Passage by David Perell. I then spent the subsequent few months constructing out a thesis to jot down about. 

How does your e-newsletter align along with your skilled objectives and values?

Writing is a excessive type of leverage, and with the ability to distill complicated or troublesome ideas into easy checklists and frameworks sharpens my considering on the subjects. 

What’s a selected instance of how your e-newsletter positively impacted your apply or profession?

First, it opened the doorways to writing visitor blogs on different web sites, which led to me having the chance to put money into sought-after enterprise startups and funds. Second, it raised my means to draw purchasers who would have by no means discovered me or retained me as their lawyer.

Recommendation for attorneys considering of beginning a e-newsletter?

Study what your purchasers worth and supply that worth persistently, repeatedly and with out asking for something in return. Persistence and constant worth creation are the keys to a return on funding. You possibly can usually do that in one in every of two methods: Create attention-grabbing authentic content material or amplify current content material price studying. My weblog tends to draft extra authentic content material, however there are very profitable authors on the market who do the latter — my favourite is David Bushby’s InCounsel Weekly. 

Additionally, by no means be afraid to self-promote your content material on social media or via your community channels; simply ensure it’s price your potential consumer’s time to learn it. 

Jonah Perlin is an Affiliate Professor of Regulation, Authorized Apply, on the Georgetown College Regulation Heart. Jonah teaches and writes about authorized communication, authorized ethics and the know-how of regulation. Jonah hosts “How I Lawyer,” a top-rated podcast for junior attorneys, and a e-newsletter of the identical title. 

What ought to attorneys anticipate out of your e-newsletter?

In my expertise, newsletters are a very highly effective approach to talk immediately along with your meant viewers with out requiring an algorithm or writer. They’re additionally totally different from blogs within the sense that they arrive through e mail. That mentioned, the expectations ought to be modest — it’s concerning the content material you might be speaking. 

What kind of attorneys would profit out of your e-newsletter?

For now, my e-newsletter is only a approach to share my podcast (How I Lawyer). My major viewers is junior attorneys trying to be taught what attorneys do, why they do it, and the way they do it properly. Even in case you don’t hear to the episode, the e-newsletter shares the important thing dialogue subjects. I feel any lawyer would profit from studying from the consultants of our occupation!

How lengthy have you ever been writing, and what motivated you to start out writing a e-newsletter?

I began my e-newsletter three years in the past as a approach to share my podcast. Perhaps it should flip into one thing freestanding sometime, however not but. 

How does your e-newsletter align along with your skilled objectives and values?

As a full-time professor of authorized apply, my skilled north star is coaching the subsequent era of attorneys. My e-newsletter permits me to make use of the tales of these at the moment within the apply to share finest practices and the several types of profession paths attorneys can have.

What’s a selected instance of how your e-newsletter positively impacted your apply or profession?

The e-newsletter (and podcast) have had a huge effect on my means to share my message and the tales of authorized luminaries with the subsequent era of attorneys. It has additionally linked me with an unbelievable neighborhood of practitioners who’re serving to me discover different methods to help my efforts. For instance, I interviewed Brian Potts and now serve on the Authorized Mentor Community Board he co-founded. It additionally impacts my educating and scholarship. 

Recommendation for attorneys considering of beginning a e-newsletter?

Begin. Content material creation is the basic chicken-and-egg downside. You possibly can’t get an viewers to your content material except you create it, however you additionally don’t wish to create it with out an viewers. So, simply get began. 

Know your viewers. The important thing to creating good content material is figuring out for whom you might be creating it. Others can profit, however create to your avatar viewers and will probably be much more prone to truly “work.”

Albert Tawil is the Founder & CEO of Lateral Hub, the favored job board for laterals to seek out jobs at high corporations, and Summer time Affiliate Hub, a free useful resource and content material hub for regulation college students to navigate the BigLaw recruiting course of. Lateral Hub presents a weekly e-newsletter for attorneys, with profession recommendation, featured jobs, and humor. Summer time Affiliate Hub presents a e-newsletter for 1L college students to assist put together for the recruiting course of, together with day by day content material through the spring/summer time recruiting season. Albert is a former IP/Expertise Transactions affiliate at Cleary Gottlieb and Fenwick & West in New York.

What ought to attorneys anticipate out of your e-newsletter?

In Lateral Hub, I share a weblog submit, video, or different straightforward, useful, and enjoyable content material every week. Normally, the weblog posts concentrate on recommendation for a lawyer’s job search or find out how to succeed as a regulation agency lawyer. We additionally function jobs from our job board platform. And, in fact, we all the time embody a featured meme or reel video to inject some humor, together with movies that I make poking enjoyable at life as a BigLaw affiliate.

In our Summer time Affiliate Hub e-newsletter, we attempt to maintain it brief, with one “gold nugget” of content material in every e mail, particularly through the recruiting season (March-July), after we ship emails each weekday. This is usually a weblog submit, brief video, podcast episode or one thing else. We additionally remind subscribers about all of the useful and attention-grabbing content material we have now on our web site and find out how to discover it.

What kind of attorneys would profit out of your e-newsletter?

For the Lateral Hub, any lawyer actively searching for a brand new job at a regulation agency. However just about any regulation agency affiliate eager about making a transfer in some unspecified time in the future (so, everybody) or contemplating find out how to succeed and develop as an lawyer usually.

For the Summer time Affiliate Hub, any 1L scholar serious about securing a 2L Summer time Affiliate place at BigLaw agency and find out how to place themselves to try this as successfully as potential.

How lengthy have you ever been writing, and what motivated you to start out writing a e-newsletter?

I’ve all the time loved writing — persuasive writing, inventive writing, comedy writing. After I determined to launch Lateral Hub in early 2022, it turned clear that this enterprise wouldn’t simply be a job board. Offering high-quality content material and recommendation goes a good distance, whether or not or not the reader is actively searching for a job. So, I made a dedication to having a constant e-newsletter as a key a part of our enterprise.

How does your e-newsletter align along with your skilled objectives and values?

In all the things I do, I carry my full self. One of the best suggestions I bought as a BigLaw affiliate was that I used to be actual — I didn’t attempt to be another person or conceal my persona. Being real has helped me construct relationships each as an affiliate and particularly now within the authorized recruiting business. So, every e-newsletter begins with a brief word from me about why we’re together with this content material and another ideas. It’s a enjoyable means for readers to grasp that we’re actual folks behind the platform and have interaction with us.

What’s a selected instance of how your e-newsletter positively impacted your apply or profession?

It’s been unbelievable to see the facility of newsletters. By sending high-quality and useful info to folks’s inboxes, it permits them to share it, reply, and see it. We’ve had regulation agency profession advisors ahead our emails to all of their purchasers about job search packages we held. We’ve had attorneys ahead our e-newsletter to their recruiting groups, asking if they’ve thought of itemizing jobs on our web site. We’ve had coaches repost our content material on LinkedIn for his or her followers to see, encouraging them to subscribe. I wish to name it “word-of-mouse.”

Recommendation for attorneys considering of beginning a e-newsletter?

A colleague lately shared an exquisite guide about newsletters (Do Open), and as they are saying in that guide, attention-grabbing issues occur while you do attention-grabbing issues. My recommendation is: Don’t overthink it. If there’s a matter you might be obsessed with, and you’re feeling you may have a singular perspective or one thing to say, simply do it. Begin writing on LinkedIn and encourage folks to enroll in your e-newsletter. 

The one approach to develop a e-newsletter is to proceed writing high-quality content material — there is no such thing as a hack or shortcut. With consistency, you will notice the outcomes, and it may be unbelievable.

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