Know-How Exchange : Copywriting

What are you going to do for a client-lawyer? Are you going to help them market their services, or are you going to write legal briefs? What kind of writing do lawyers want/need?

You might consider finding 4 or 5 lawyers who would each spend 45 minutes with you in an informational interview. Find out what they need when it comes to writing help and what they do now when they need that kind of help. Don't try to convince them they need your services. Just ask a few high-gain questions, listen closely to their responses, and take detailed notes.

When you have completed at least 4 interviews step back and review your notes. See if you think you have a broad enough sample (or if you need another 4 or 5 interviews), and then pose your original questions again in light of what you learned from the interviews. You'll have your answer.

My guess: As bad as most lawyers are at written communication, they are reluctant to entrust important writing to anyone who isn't a lawyer. (Maybe you want to spend 3 years in law school?)

Figure out how you will market your services BEFORE you spend too much time thinking about how this will give you what you want. If it doesn't satisfy an important unmet need among your target audience, you'll spend all your time trying to push water up a rope and never get to enjoy what you really want to do.

On the other hand, if they all react enthusiastically to the idea of hiring a copywriter, you'll know you've identified a hot idea and a great career path for yourself.

Be careful what you ask for ...

Being a specialist is a good thing. And yes, there are such people as legal copywriters, for example: https://www.marketsmiths.com/legal-copywriting, https://legalcontentwriters.com/, and https://www.lawblogwriters.com/ But you'll need to show that you understand legalese, and can be trusted with interpreting specific legal terms for a general audience.

yes, specialization is a good thing. But I would not recommend specializing on the legal field,

My recommendation would be to study mHealthi.

In addition to selecting technical industries, I would recommend that you focus your marketing on companies who historically spend money on marketing (which eliminates most attorneys, by the way). One way to do that is to limit your sales activities to companies who exhibit at trade shows. If a company exhibits at a trade show, you know that they are healthy financially. They are easy to get to know, since they send multiple representatives to trade shows (be sure you don't get in the way actual prospects). They have demonstrated that they spend money on marketing. They need a variety of items for the trade show. They will have a sense of urgency as each trade show approaches, and that will make it easier for you to close deals.

As someone who was in legal marketing for years, it's definitely a niche but not one that many do well. Many copywriters in the legal industry were attorneys or legal marketers before specializing. To do it well, you need to understand legalese, the law firm environment and basic ways to work with attorneys/marketing staff. I'd recommend learning as much about the legal industry as possible and either working at a firm or getting to know those in legal marketing to really understand the field. It's complex and not an easy one to break into without a JD or legal marketing experience - it's a tight knit, small field once you get into it.

Specialization is smart because it helps you to get a reputation and following, and to transcend the economic ups and downs that send many copywriters reeling.

If you view copywriting as a serious business, then start your practice with an eye toward the bottom line -- meaning, specialize in a growth industry that can support a long career, and that will require a lot of copy over time, such as computer/internet technology, software, health care, online retailing, energy, and environmental technology/issues.

If you want to accelerate your career, learn another language to help business clients communicate in growth areas such as China, Brazil, or Spanish-speaking South America. Bi-lingual copywriters are always in demand.

Lawyers prefer dealing with copywriters who are also lawyers or at least experienced paralegals. If you're willing to invest that much time in a specialty, then be strategic about your choice of business field -- specialize in one that embraces marketing and copywriting (i.e. always budgets for it), that always has a need to communicate, and that includes companies with a reputation for paying their bills (i.e., your income) on time. Unlike studying the law, you can learn quite a lot about many newer growth industries (and even earn some certifications) by studying them deeply online for a few weeks as opposed to spending several more years in college.

Best of luck to you.