As I do a few times a year, I'm headed to New York City next month for a client onsite workshop. While I'm there, I will sit in a cozy conference room and meet, one on one, with lawyers—about a baker's dozen in all. I'll talk to junior associates and senior partners, new hires and lawyers who have been at the firm for a decade or more. We'll chat for about 30 minutes or so.

At the end of those 30-minute sessions, my goal is that those lawyers will have (or be well on their way to having ) an effective and engaging professional bio.

Some of those lawyers will have eagerly signed up for a time slot; some will have been "voluntold" to come visit me. Some I've worked with repeatedly over the past few years (my favorite folks!) and some I won't have met before until they walk through the door of my "office" for the day.

The lawyers may all be individuals, but the questions and themes I'll deal with over the course of my workshop day will be similar.

Here are some good workshop questions I've been asked and some of my answers—to help the lawyers (and you) craft the best and most effective bio.

Q: No one really reads lawyer bios, do they?  

Sub-genres of this question include:

• Everyone in the industry/my practice area knows me.
• I have plenty of work already.
• I'm too busy to worry about this right now.
• I don't want to put too much in my bio because I don't want my opponents to know about me (yes, I have heard this a number of times).

A: The most visited pages—by far—on law firm websites are lawyer bios, because they serve as an information source for many different people and for many different reasons.

In a technology-driven world where people increasingly rely on the internet as their main source of information, your web bio stands in for you. Increasingly, it's the single information source that people look at when they're looking to find out who you are. Clients and referral sources are vetting you online often before you are even aware that they are considering hiring or referring you. And if they don't see the information they are seeking, don't like what they see, or your bio doesn't match up with what they've been told about you, you'll never hear from them.

Clients use your bio for a number of other reasons, including as an information source—which is why your publications and events should be linked to your bio and updated regularly. Your specific client contacts may also have to justify to higher ups or to a board of directors why they hired you (and why you're worth your rates), so help them by making sure your bio is up to snuff. In fact, if your name appears on a client bill anywhere, your bio should communicate to that client why you're a valuable member of the legal team.

Clients and referral sources are not the only ones looking at your bio. Associates should be aware that partners often look at bios when putting together teams for matters. If you want more and better work, or work of a specific type, your bio should be written to showcase the experience and skill set that matches the need of partners staffing those teams.

Some firms also look at bios as part of compensation decisions. Make sure your bio reflects your best and most recent work when that time of year rolls around.

Q:  I don't know what should be in my bio. How do I start?

A: Whatever your experience level, four sets of guidelines govern what you can and can't put in your bio:

• Your firm's bio template, style and best practices
• Professional ethics rules that apply in the state that you practice and your firm has offices
• Basic marketing principles
• Common sense

Many firms have a written template and style guide for lawyer bios, and some firms will even help you get your bio started with a basic draft that you can then revise. Ask if either of these are available.

But don't stop there. Go to your firm's website and take a look at the bios of lawyers in your practice area, not just those at your level, but a variety of bios, so you can get a sense of format, style and tone. Keep in mind that some consistency in tone, style and information across all the bios is good, but you don't want your bio to look exactly like anyone else's because the point of a bio is to differentiate you from other lawyers.

Pay attention to how the bio web page is structured and how the bio appears on the page — this will impact how you write your bio. For example, some websites only show the first paragraph of a bio, requiring visitors to click on a link or "read more" button to view the rest. In this case, the first paragraph should be a solid overview about your practice, so that if visitor never read more, they still have a full understanding of what you do.

The rules of professional ethics governing attorney advertising also apply to lawyer bios. While these rules vary from state to state, some general requirements are fairly universal.

Every state prohibits false or misleading statements, so the information in your bio must be accurate and supported by objective facts (not opinions). Comparative statements—you're the "best" lawyer in your practice area or comparing your skills and successes favorably to other lawyers—and terms like "leading," "unique," "unparalleled" or "unmatched" should also be avoided.

Most states also prohibit lawyers from claiming that they specialize or are experts in specific areas of the law, with very limited exceptions, so terms like "expert" and "specialist," and related words like "expertise" and "specialize," should be avoided too.

What can you say in your bio?

To market yourself most effectively, you can—and should—talk about the work you do, the kinds of clients you work with and how you help them. "Show, don't tell," works best. Get specific about the work that you do—especially if you are a younger lawyer—and use examples of notable cases or matters.

Try to write from the client perspective. Clients want to know that you can help them solve the problems they are facing, so focus on what you do for clients, rather than your "practice" as a lawyer.

Q:  I'm a junior associate and I'm struggling to fill the page. What should I say?

A: While you might not have a lot of law firm experience, you probably have more to put on your bio than you think.

Were you a summer associate at the firm or at a government or nonprofit organization? Intern for a judge or an organization during law school? Do pro bono work or volunteer at a legal clinic? Assist a professor with research or serve as a teaching assistant for a class?

All of that information can help you fill out your bio.

If nonlegal work you did—maybe between your undergraduate and legal education—is relevant, add that. An unusual career trajectory or other work experience could enhance your bio.

Q:  I'm a fifth-year litigation associate. Is it OK if I lead off with "Scott is a powerhouse courtroom advocate who successfully represents clients in bet-the-company litigation"?

A: That's probably not going to make the impression you want—and it probably violates the ethics rules too.

(And, by the way, if you think I'm making this question up, I'm not—although "Scott" is a pseudonym I'm using to protect the less-than innocent in this case.)

Remember that the rules governing attorney advertising require objective accuracy. In other words, can you back up that statement with facts? Let's acknowledge that you have skills and experience as a fifth-year associate, and that at least some of the cases you work on could be described as "bet the company." Even if some of the facts are technically accurate, this opener isn't quite the whole truth.

Statements that create an expectation of a guaranteed outcome are also prohibited, which make the "successfully represented" language problematic as well.

From a marketing standpoint, this kind of statement can also backfire on you. People who matter to your practice—clients, colleagues and the partners who staff those bet-the-company cases you want to work on—could either discount the statement as overblown puffery or worse, react adversely.

A solid and truthful message—that you're a litigator who has served as a key member of trial teams, for example—is more effective. Back it up with some specifics on the work that you've done, rather than vague and overused descriptors like "experienced" and "skilled."

Q: I've been practicing for a long time and my bio is really long. How can I make it more effective?

A: What often happens is that as lawyers move through their career, they add to their bios, but don't think about pruning and shaping them. One way to make your bio more effective is to understand that, at a certain point in your career, you don't need to describe everything in detail. For example, "lead trial counsel" or "first chair" is shorthand indicating that you have knowledge and experience in every aspect of litigation, so you no longer have describe in specific detail the work that you do. You can also highlight a handful of emblematic cases or matters to convey the depth of your experience, rather than including a laundry list of every matter from your career.

Reading these questions and answers probably took you 10 minutes max. If you were attending my workshop, we'd have 20 minutes left to work on your bio. So pull it out and give it a once over. In 20 minutes time you can make some changes that will make your bio a better and more effective marketing tool.

Meg Pritchard, the principal of CREATE: Communications—Media—Marketing, is a lawyer, writer and marketing professional who works with law firms and lawyers to develop compelling content for their marketing and business development. She can be reached at [email protected] or 215-514-3206.