Sunday, June 20, 2004 4:00 AM
One of the interesting issues that I see facing attorneys who are establishing (or have already established) themselves as subject matter experts is whether and when to charge others for tapping into that expertise. On the one hand, attorneys have long shared their expertise in giving free seminars and speeches for a variety of reasons, including marketing their practice, networking/prospecting for new clients and just to establish or maintain goodwill with their existing clients and communities. Conversely, attorneys have also long made their living by charging a fee to advise clients, most often on topics within their subject matter expertise.
With these points in mind, I wonder whether technology offers attorneys a growing opportunity to create new revenue streams from their existing intellectual capital (i.e., subject matter expertise). For example, setting up a topical knowledge base and then charging a subscription fee to anyone who wishes to access it. Or, closer to home, pitching a new client with an added "free" service of a password-protected online daily news and information website (blawg, anyone?) prepared exclusively by the attorney(s) for the client. Finally, maybe a blawg author could follow the model of some newspapers, where they offer some teaser public information every day, but then charge a fee to get at the blawg's archive and meatier content.
The average attorney is carrying around years of education and experience. This knowledge has always had value, but in the Information Age the emerging question may simply be how to realize that value in new ways beyond the billable hour. Blawgs, in their simplicity of use, powerful dissemination features and low startup cost, may be a tool that helps answer that question.