Last month, the Ontario Bar Association launched a public relations campaign aimed at improving the image of lawyers. I, like many others, actually found out about the campaign through an article in the Globe and Mail. So I went to the OBA’s web site and despite my fairly strong research skills, was unable to find even a single word about it — no link, no press release, nothing, at least not on the public parts of the site. A few lawyer colleagues I spoke to had done the same thing and come up empty as well. Turns out, the OBA has created a micro site, whyiwenttolawschool.ca, which gives lots of details about the plan.
A spokesperson for the OBA told me it was a grassroots campaign. The association is urging members to write a short tale about why they went to law school — not why they wanted to be lawyers. The micro site has a “wizard” that will guide members through the process of putting together their story into a pretty format (pictured here) that can then be used in a variety of ways including as advertising in local papers (ads paid for by individual members), or as part of a brochure promoting their practice, or myriad other ways.
While the plan is to have a more traditional media campaign launching later in the spring, for now the aim is to “begin conversations with other lawyers and stakeholders,” said the OBA’s Ed Borkowski. “Other professional organizations have spent millions on advertising with very limited results, we believe that a grassroots approach will be far more effective than an ad campaign.”
An article in the OBA magazine introducing Why I Went to Law School notes: “This is a campaign borne out of research the OBA conducted on public attitudes toward lawyers. We learned, perhaps not surprisingly, that people have a negative view of lawyers, seeing us as pretentious, self-serving, and arrogant.” The organization believes putting real stories of real lawyers out there will help to change that perception as individuals generally respect their own lawyers, just not the profession as a whole. “[W]e are collecting and showcasing all member stories. It is our hope that we see not just hundreds, but over time, thousands of our OBA lawyers participating. Imagine the powerful, cumulative effect this would have,” the article notes.
The campaign has been greeted with both positive feedback from some lawyers and with the usual eye-rolling that this is a waste of time and energy. It is a different tack from anything I’ve seen for any profession. The last PR initiative to improve lawyers’ image from a bar association was not successful — in fact was quite amateurish. This is quite slick and unique. It’ll be interesting to see not only how many lawyers actually participate but if it does, in any way, change public perception.
