I recently sat in on a panel titled 'Do What You Do Best & Outsource the Rest', along with other attendees from small to mid-size law firms. A hot topic that was mentioned a few times was the option of outsourcing the writing of content, better known as using a ghostwriter. It might not come as a surprise that this is a topic we have covered before and there are certainly a few pros to ghostwriting, but none of them really have enough weight to outweigh the power of authenticity.

A really simple way to think of this is when it comes to autobiographies. Even by sitting with someone for hours and reliving experiences for an autobiography, the end result still won’t be the same. Now a lot of autobiographies combine ghostwriting with writing from the main subject. This way, they get the best of both worlds as the client is able to give a unique insight into their own experiences, and the ghostwriter can tie it all together with their writing expertise. 

That could be where the comparison ends, because when it comes to creating content and insights on a topic, it's important that the author can authentically connect with the reader. In legal, the Author is the Attorney and writing content is a way of showing that they are the trusted source on their specialist subject. It is up to the author to show their personality and show that they are the leading legal mind on a subject. The key word there is personality. It is very difficult for a ghostwriter to fill in the between the lines with the personality of the Author. 

This comes straight back to the first sentence perfectly - "Do What You Do Best...." The experts on a subject are the Attorneys, and they are the best people to write the best content on their specialist subject.