But there’s help at hand for lawyers chasing their 15 minutes of fame, and it comes in the form of a new e-book on the art of self-promotion.

Lawyer Paul Brennan launched his e-book, titled We have the time if you have the money: the nine promotional competencies to raise your practice profile, last week at a Queensland Law Society breakfast.

The e-book tells lawyers in a practical way how they can utilise the “Nine Promotional Competencies”, which include how to write a book, how to deliver a humorous speech, and how to be interviewed by a journalist.

“This stuff is not easy to do, and I’ve followed a lot of paths which have been wrong. So this book is full of useful practical information,” Brennan said.

Brennan knows what he’s on about. A regular cartoonist for The Australian Financial Review, Brennan is also a legal columnist for MyBusiness magazine and is regularly interviewed on ABC Radio. He says that lawyers, who are trained to be incredibly thorough and accurate have trouble condensing their knowledge into media-friendly sound bites.

“When I make a speech I find it hard not to put everything in — even section numbers if there’s a piece of legislation. Lawyers tend to be a bit boring as far as the audience is concerned.

They need to lighten up — it doesn’t matter how erudite your speech has been if your audience feels they have been taken hostage. You have to make it more interesting for the audience you’ve got. It really is about the audience and not about you,” he said.

Featuring exclusive insights on negative press from Cherie Booth QC (that’s Tony Blair’s wife) the book contains a wealth of information on marketing yourself in the modern world, and is designed to help lawyers exploit the media.

“Lawyers are competing in firms next door and down the street and this will give them a bit of a push,” Brennan said.