Legal Commentary

Interesting post by Anna Maria Virzi on ClickZ, "BP Oil Spill Fuels Legal Marketing Machines," about how enterprising lawyers are using web tools to market their services to businesses and individuals affected by the Gulf Coast mess. And how BP itself is using the same tactics to try to salvage its image.

Searches on Google, Yahoo, and Bing for "oil spill" this week show that law firms dominate the sponsored listings in search engine results, she notes.

BP is also using paid search for reputation management, "directing people to www.bp.com/gulfofmexicoresponse to learn about the company's response to the oil spill,"  writes Virzi, who analyzes and compares some of the web advertising that various firms are using to establish their expertise and   rustworthiness, and dodge any "carpetbagger" labels.

Hat tip: Bill Pollak.