Thanks for the feedback everyone!
I have read articles stating the same thing. Like everything with SEO, we want to use guest blogging at a minimal level. I certainly don't see a benefit to over doing it. but we still want to get a few back links.
We definitely want an audience, but we are working with the tools we have.
At this point we are considering reputable sites like major news outlets or state level law blogs. There are a few sites that sell "SEO services" like Alllaw, findlaw, or NOLO, but we have found that while they can get the client business, they don't actually do much to drive traffic to the actual website (ie those companies want to charge and arm and a leg, but not give you the option of really improving your SEO.)