What is WisLawNOW? 

WisLawNOW is a community of Wisconsin legal bloggers established by the State Bar of Wisconsin in partnership with LexBlog. Through this syndicated network, Wisconsin legal bloggers reach a wider audience and build their reputations in their areas of practice, while helping expand understanding of the law, all in one place.

In essence, WisLawNOW allows Wisconsin legal bloggers to amplify the blogs they are already writing and creates a community of legal bloggers. Readers gain more insight on what’s happening in Wisconsin’s legal world, from lawyers who are practicing in the trenches and following the legal issues in real-time. 

How Does it Work?

Readers can read all blog posts on WisLawNOW, which includes profile pages for the author, firm, and blog. Blogs are categorized and archived by channel so readers can navigate to legal blogs in specific practice areas or by specific topics.

Once a blogger joins WisLawNOW, their posts feed directly into the network via RSS feed. Posts are aggregated into the online platform and displayed alongside other participating blogs.

What is LexBlog?

LexBlog Inc. offers legal blogging solutions to lawyers, law firms and other organizations and maintains a legal blogging network of more than 25,000 legal bloggers worldwide, the LexBlog Network. LexBlog’s fully-managed team also creates custom blogging solutions for bloggers and organizations. 

WisLawNOW is a custom blogging network created by LexBlog to help the State Bar of Wisconsin showcase legal bloggers who are members of the State Bar of Wisconsin. WisLawNOW is a professional platform designed by LexBlog that is optimized for mobile devices and social media, and includes other features that allow WisLawNOW bloggers to easily access a larger audience and showcase their own content.

Why should I participate?

Many Wisconsin lawyers are already blogging publishing about legal developments and providing analysis on their own publishing platforms. They are publishing content through blogs on law firm websites, or independent blogging platforms such as WordPress. WisLawNOW allows those bloggers to amplify their content.

WisLawNOW aggregates those legal blogs together, through an online platform, to create a network for Wisconsin law bloggers to showcase and leverage their content and their legal expertise. 

In essence, WisLawNOW allows Wisconsin legal bloggers to amplify the blogs they are already writing, creates a community of legal bloggers, and allows readers to access all Wisconsin legal blogs in one place.

WisLawNOW readers will gain more insight on what’s happening in Wisconsin’s legal world, from lawyers who are practicing in the trenches and following the legal issues in real-time. WisLawNOW will link back to original blog posts, and will include profile pages for the author, firm, and the blog. 

If you are a State Bar of Wisconsin member and you publish a legal blog, you can join to have your blog reposted in WisLawNOW. If the blog meets technical requirements and the inclusion criteria, it will be automatically reposted through the RSS feed. There’s no extra work, and no cost to you.

In addition, your blog may be included in a WisLawNOW digest that will be emailed periodically to all State Bar of Wisconsin members who choose to receive it. 

Is my blog eligible for inclusion in WisLawNOW?

Currently, legal blogs are eligible for inclusion in WisLawNOW if the author of the blog is a State Bar of Wisconsin member or the blog’s primary contributors are State Bar of Wisconsin members. Blog posts must include a byline of the author to determine if the blog post was written by a State Bar of Wisconsin member.

Blog posts must also meet the Blog Post Inclusion Criteria.  An initial review of the blog, as a whole, will be conducted to determine if the blog is eligible. To be included, your blog must have an RSS feed and meet other technical requirements. LexBlog can work with potential bloggers to ensure the blog meets technical requirements.

How do I sign up to be included?

Members are invited to submit their blogs by filling out a short online form. After filling out the form, the blog will be reviewed for technical requirements and other eligibility requirements noted. 

Blogs meeting all inclusion requirements will be added to WisLawNOW and its content will automatically appear there whenever the blog is updated, through the RSS feed.

How do I improve the likelihood of my blog post being highlighted on WisLawNOW?

All blogs eligible for inclusion in WisLawNOW will be displayed, but some blogs may be elevated by placement on the network or through WisLawNOW’s email digest. State Bar of Wisconsin editors will review blogs and make placement decisions. 

  • Substantive, significant, and timely legal information of wider interest is more likely to be highlighted. Blogs that regularly publish are more likely to have timely and relevant information of interest to broad segments of State Bar of Wisconsin members and other readers.
  • Blogs that contain artwork, such as stock photographs and other images, add visual interest, drawing reader attention to your blog.  The recommended image specification is 1200 by 630 pixels. However, posts are not required to contain artwork in order to be highlighted. The State Bar may choose to add images to select blogs to make WisLawNOW visually appealing to readers.
  • Correctly formatted posts. Titles should be short, specific, clear, and attention-getting. Ideally, limit your blog post to no more than 600 words, but longer posts are certainly welcome.

Why was my blog removed?

As the host of WisLawNOW, the State Bar of Wisconsin reserves the right to remove any blog posts at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s sole discretion. The State Bar of Wisconsin is not required to provide reasons for removing any blog post. In general, however, blog posts that do not meet the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Blog Post Inclusion Criteria may be denied or removed.

Who do I contact for additional questions?

Technical support: Peter Kraemer, digital communications coordinator, pkraemer@wisbar.org

General questions: Joe Forward, legal writer, jforward@wisbar.org