What does this service potentially mean to lawyers or aspiring lawyer writers?  It sounds like great PR opportunities!  Think build your name opportunities.  Ways to get noticed.  Ways to establish yourself as an expert.  Ways to generate clients and money.

Apparently, if you’re a reporter or writing a story, and you’re looking for lawyer(s) to quote, you submit a query, explaining what you’re after.  Your request is then matched with lawyers and you get replies.  If you simply want to get noticed in print or online media, you sign up for the chance to get matched to queries.

Sound cool?  Drop a comment below if you have experience with LawyerWire, and of course, if you subscribe and get quoted, please drop a line or send a tweet to @publishedlawyer.

In today’s Web 2.0–social media obsessed–world, how do you go about finding sources or experts for your interviews, assuming an editor hasn’t already suggested a lead or thrown an idea at you?  Try these popular sources:

1.  HARO (”Help a Reporter Out”).  What’s to love?  When you sign up to receive this list, you’ll receive up to three emails (typically morning, afternoon & evening) jammed with query requests sent to you each day.  If you’re a journalist or writer trying to find people to interview, you can fill in a form to submit your query.  HARO is free.

2.  ExpertTweet.  Gotta love clever Twitter applications, right?  Well, ExpertTweet helps people, including authors, writers, reporters, bloggers, and business owners find experts via Twitter.  You can also reply or suggest experts when you see queries that match the expertise of someone you know–even if that someone is you, Ms. or Mr. Expertise!    

3.  Bloggers, reporters, colleagues, social networking communities.  Stuck for an idea, ask around and dig into your network.  Just like telling everyone you know that you’re looking for a job comes in handy when you’re trying to find one, so does asking around when you need a specific expert.  The world is small.  Plus, you never know, until you ask, who you might get the opportunity to meet thanks to your contacts.

4.  Post a query.  Find relevant listservs or discussion boards where you can post a targeted query to an audience that you suspect will produce a source.

5.  Editors.  Really stuck for a source?  Talk with your editor.  If the editor really likes your idea, chances are the editor isn’t going to hang you out to dry…at least not completely.         

Copyright 2009 The Published Lawyer.  All rights reserved.