What Is Real Lawyers Have Blogs by Kevin O'Keefe?
Updated
Real Lawyers Have Blogs is a long-running blog written by Kevin O'Keefe, CEO of LexBlog. Its stated purpose is straightforward: publishing helps lawyers build a name and grow their business. O'Keefe has shared the why and how of that idea on the blog for more than 20 years, which makes it most useful to lawyers and legal marketing professionals who want a sustained argument for blogging and content publishing rather than a one-off how-to guide.
Who writes it and what it covers
The blog is authored by Kevin O'Keefe in his role as LexBlog CEO. The site describes its focus as explaining both the reasoning behind lawyer publishing and the practical methods for doing it. That combination—why publish, and how to publish—runs across two decades of posts.
Because the author runs a legal publishing company, the perspective is that of someone building and observing lawyer blogs at scale, not a general marketing commentator.
What the content actually looks like
Posts mix commentary on publishing practice with reactions to developments in legal media and technology. Recent examples from the site's own archive show the range:
- A post arguing that legal bloggers don't cite each other, and suggesting inclusion in a citation system for secondary law as a possible fix
- A piece on how StubHub's Claude integration hints at the next evolution in legal publishing and content marketing
- A post on preserving a legacy, framed around what lawyers can learn from artists about archiving published work
- A comparison between the preservation of local news and the preservation of legal publishing
- A note that Twitter/X no longer has a 280-character limit
The through-line is publishing as a long-term asset: building visibility, connecting with people, and keeping work accessible over time.
Who it's for
The blog suits:
- Lawyers considering or already running a blog, who want the case for why it's worth the effort
- Legal marketing and business development staff looking for publishing strategy from someone inside the legal blog industry
- Legal media observers interested in how lawyer publishing intersects with platforms, AI, and archiving
It is less suited to readers looking for purely technical SEO instructions or platform-specific tutorials, since the emphasis is on publishing philosophy and its business payoff.
How to use it
The site offers email subscription via a signup form with an email address and website URL field, and a chronological archive of previous posts. If you're evaluating whether lawyer blogging is worth your time, the older posts are the more valuable part—they show which arguments have held up over 20 years and which predictions about platforms and discovery have not.