Apparently law firms do something called law

The last few months have been something of a learning experience for me. Having spent a fair few years reporting mainly on the business of law, the launch of Legal Week Law, our new online database of briefings and reports, has given me a chance to look more closely at the practice part of the equation.

In terms of reader response so far, the launch has exceeded our expectations with the site already having well over 3,000 registered users, a figure projected to reach nearly 5,000 by the third month of launch. The number of documents downloaded has also risen sharply, up from 500 in the first week to a current average of well over 2,500 a week, a figure we expect to keep growing. At present, we're adding about 50 new briefings a week.

This has meant spending a lot of time looking at the material law firms produce for clients and seeing how readers respond to it. Because the material on the site is actively selected, in practice that means looking for what we think will interest readers, not necessarily what law firms think will. From initial experience, here is what we've learned about reader preferences:

· Reference tools are very popular. Many of the most popular briefings on Legal Week Law are larger reports and set-piece research products that can act as reference tools. It appears that common or garden legal updates are seen as somewhat disposable, while more ambitious reports tend to gain traction with readers.

· Clients like lawyers to take a clear view. Another subset of briefings that are popular with clients are those in which firms take a clear view or organise developments into useful information. As such, briefings that provide practical examples or clearly identify the most important developments and lessons in an area go down very well. Fence-sitting does not.

· The headline matters. Clients are just like most readers but more so: busy and assaulted by information on a daily basis. If your firm has crafted a strong briefing you owe it to yourself to come up with a punchy headline that effectively sells your efforts. Unfortunately, many firms seem to think the more words in a headline the better (and long words at that). Getting this wrong makes a massive impact on the number of readers your material will get. In some cases we've doubled the number of downloads simply by re-writing or cutting back headlines.

· Speed matters. With major issues like statutory legislation and high-profile court decisions, there will be literally dozens of briefings produced by law firms. If you want to stand out you can either compete on speed, quality or ideally both. Some firms manage both. Some manage neither.

· Presentation matters. A bit like headlines - if you've worked hard on the actual content, don't let yourself down on the presentation. It never hurts and usually helps.

For some examples of briefings that have connected with readers, the top five downloads on the site since launch are:

1. Drafting contracts - key lessons from 2009, Herbert Smith

2. Privilege: An overview, Lovells

3. Email acceptance of offer: when is it effective? Allen & Overy

4. Latham & Watkins' Book of Corporate and Finance Slang, Latham & Watkins

5. UK Bribery Bill: Ten things you should know, Norton Rose

• To register for full access to Legal Week Law, click here.