To Thomas Crane, the best thing about his blog is educating people.

Back in 2009 when he was restarting a practice after being called to active duty, he was looking for a good way to market himself when he started thinking about blogging. But it was the ability to simultaneously educate an audience that appealed to him most. To him, it seemed like one step beyond the message boards on the old Internet where he would help people with legal advice.

For that reason, the San Antonio Employment Law Blog is geared towards an educated layperson, instead of fellow employment lawyers. Crane strives to help them learn better what what to do or not do.

“I think it gives people the opportunity to see for themselves what they need to know; it helps them formulate the questions they want to ask, and gives them the opportunity to figure out the next steps—or even if they have next steps to take,” said Crane.

Part of the appeal for lawyers is the unique, personal voice Crane can bring to these issues. He comes from a writing background; all his life he’s written articles here or there, with a few published in journals. He’s a former-Boy Scout who’s still active in the organization as well as a recently-retired U.S. Army Reserve member, both of which he’s blogged about on the San Antonio Employment Law Blog. He’s not afraid to discuss his own perspective on a case upfront—in fact, he draws from it.

“The Army has a pretty good system of training lower-level and mid-level managers—they call them leaders, but essentially they are managers—and that means they’re good at avoiding problems,” said Crane. “In lawsuits you see a lot of untrained mid- and low-level managers. In the Army you’re taught that from a very early age, [but] I’m always having to tell readers: leadership avoids issues.”

When looking for story ideas, Crane has always found the media to be a fountain of job and litigation issues in general. Those stories can introduce readers with concepts or people they’re already familiar with, and then build on their knowledge from there.

“What happens to a famous person in these cases is similar to what happens to a not so famous person,” said Crane.

Those high profile cases can often help him speak without dipping into legalese. Though Crane speaks to an educated layperson, he’s always sure to define a lot of the terms that lawyers take for granted. If he uses a legal term—even one as seemingly simple as “plaintiff”—he’ll be sure to define it, and make it clear to readers who might not know who the plaintiff is, and what that role means to the case.

In Crane’s experience, that education trickles back to the lawyers that do the blogging as well.

“It helps to manage our time as office workers or as lawyers to do some things requiring high energy levels at some times but not others,” said Crane. “Writing a blog post is easier than drafting a pleading. So, there are times in the week when blogging is a way to still be productive, but not necessarily tax yourself.”

These days, he doesn’t even find blogging that challenging. What for others is a time-consuming chore, Crane finds to be a boost to his practice and a constructive activity—after all, he’s more likely to remember a case six months down the line when he’s written about the case. And just like when he’s writing a pleading, he’s used to being his own editor and meeting a deadline.

With blogging, he just gets to set the priorities. And priority number one is always to be helpful.

“I like educating people, and helping them with their problems,” said Crane. “It’s rewarding when you can help people, while also being a pretty good way to market yourself.”