1. Define the geographic brief before reviewing stories
Bosseo describes Legal News as monitoring local and national legal-news sources for a state and matching stories to a firm’s practice areas. For a Franklin firm, the brief should distinguish Franklin from Milwaukee County, the broader Milwaukee metropolitan area and Wisconsin as a whole. Those are not interchangeable audiences. A story involving Franklin may warrant a different response from a statewide statutory change or an incident elsewhere in Wisconsin. The Census record places Franklin in Milwaukee County but does not establish where potential clients search, where a firm accepts matters or which geography produces qualified inquiries.
Recommended approach
Bring a written service-area policy to the consultation. Specify whether the firm wants Franklin coverage, Milwaukee County coverage, statewide Wisconsin coverage or a combination. Ask how story relevance would be judged when an event occurs outside Franklin but raises a legal question the firm handles. Do not use the city’s population as a substitute for a demand study.
