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Start a Conversation with GAVLEvery writer, lawyer, and marketer knows the feeling of writer’s block—when nothing is coming to you to write even though you need to reach a deadline or get fresh content published on your law firm’s website. When you don’t have any thoughts to put on the page, this can make you frustrated and make your writer’s block even worse. This can all lead to a dangerous, unproductive loop.
That’s why it’s important to know how to work through writer’s block. To beat it. And it can be beaten. As an attorney, paralegal, or other legal professional, you have deadlines to meet, cases to prepare for, and clients who are expecting progress. If you’re writing marketing copy for your website such as blogs or practice area pages, the information needs to be accurate and easily understood by the everyday person. If you’re having a tough time getting the information on the page, it can make what you end up writing more confusing for the reader. Let’s take a look at how you can combat writer’s block as an attorney to ensure that your content is the best it can be.
Make a Plan
Your first step when writing should be to make a plan. This can help you figure out your schedule and what you need to accomplish, and as you accomplish your tasks, you will likely feel more motivated to keep completing tasks. For example, if you plan your workday, your start time, some breaks, and what you need to accomplish by the end of the day, as you work, you’ll have a better understanding of what you’ve done and what you have left to do.
Planning can also mean creating an outline for your document or blog. Outlines might seem archaic, but they can actually be very helpful in breaking down your work and making it feel more approachable. For example, if you’re struggling to write an introduction to your blog, you can start by creating an outline that leaves a place for the intro, then plot your sub-headers and the content under each of those. That way, you have a feel for where your blog is going and what you’ll cover and can better formulate an introduction.
If you’re having trouble with coming up with titles for headers and sub-headers or coming up with a solid outline, don’t hesitate to get a little help from AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude, but be careful not to ask AI to write your entire article or blog. AI-generated content is actively penalized by Google and other search engines. We’ve also learned that AI-generated content, unsurprisingly, does not perform well over time. For this reason, if your content is going to be posted on your law firm’s website, you should only use AI to assist you in your outlining and researching tasks. AI is a fantastic tool, but it is only a tool. As content creators, it’s critical to remember this.
Fill in your outline as you get more information, then build out your writing from there. Writing about any topic is more approachable when you have a plan of how you’re presenting the information and what angle you’re taking. Also, don’t feel limited to starting at the beginning. Begin writing where you feel your most passionate points are, and then focus on building out the rest later. This method will almost always lead to project completion simply because there’s no better motivation tool than passion.
Keep Researching
If you’ve made a plan and have a solid outline, and you’re still having trouble getting the words out, then one option is to keep researching your topic. Legal writing requires plenty of research because you need to get the facts right. Since you’ll already be doing a lot of research, just keep searching for more helpful information so you can fully understand what you’re writing about. Bookmark good source material and make note of quotations you may want to use. These might inspire you to find a way around your block by giving you a sense of direction.
The more information you have from research, the better you can understand the topic, and the easier it is for you to transform the legal jargon into casual language. Look up laws statutes and any other relevant information to help you form your thoughts on the subject you’re writing about. The more confident you feel in your understanding of the subject you’re writing about, the easier it will be to write. Remember to keep your language as approachable as possible. Approachability matters when it comes to website content. Content that is easy to understand ranks better than content that’s full of legalize.
Keep Writing
This might seem counter-intuitive, but it can really help. Even though you’re having trouble writing and need to get through writer’s block, the best way to do that sometimes is to simply keep writing. What’s important to remember is that the first draft doesn’t have to be—and usually isn’t—perfect. Revision and editing are essential in writing, and sometimes that means cutting out a lot of what you’ve already written.
Don’t let that intimidate you into not writing or feeling like your first draft needs to be perfect. Even if you feel like what your writing isn’t good enough, keep going. Type those words out. You can go back and cut out what isn’t relevant later, or you can gear your content more toward SEO during your editing process. Let the words flow and worry about the technical stuff later.
When All Else Fails, Take a Break
If you’ve made a plan, done your research, and kept writing, but you’re still having trouble forming the right words, then it may be a good idea to take a break and work on something else for a while. Sometimes, pushing yourself harder to write can make the stress ever harder to break through. By taking a break and getting your mind off of your writing, you can come back with fresh eyes to see through what was blocking you before.
Your break could be going for a walk, grabbing a fresh cup of coffee, or doing some meditation. Any task that takes your mind off of your writing and makes you think differently can help you feel more refreshed and break through that writer’s block. You may also find it’s a good idea to bounce ideas off coworkers or other attorneys in the office. Talking through ideas with someone who understands what you’re writing about can make a world of difference. It’s important to remember that we don’t always have to write inside a vacuum.
At GAVL, we understand the pressure that comes with legal writing. Words are hard. Through curating content for our clients that not only presents legal information in an approachable way, but also considers SEO and other marketing tactics, our writers have a lot on their minds while writing. Our writers also have a metric ton of experience writing legal content at this point. If you want to improve your law firm’s approach to digital marketing and ensure the right content gets written for your marketing purposes, reach out to us so we can discuss how we can help. Let us do the writing, You focus on the lawyering.
