Back in the day, the fin de last siècle, many of the larger law departments prepared and distributed to their clients what were generally called newsletters. The typical newsletter had a couple of success stories that patted the law department on the back, a profile of one of the lawyers, an explanation of an area of law, something to do with improvements in the law department, and announcements of weddings, babies and promotions. The newsletter (aka client report, law department update) tried to humanize the department, educate clients a tad, and promote the services of the lawyers.
Today, legal department newsletters have all but dried up, victims of too much work, too little time, and the worry that if you have time to publish a newsletter, others in the company will suspect that you’re not working hard enough on value-added activities (See my post of May 1, 2006 on that loose term.).
I miss newsletters, and urge law departments to think of efficient, educational, yet simple communiqués for their clients.