Previewing Blawg Review #37

Our host for Blawg Review #37, The Wired GC, is a lawyer who blogs anonymously to express himself candidly without having to temper his thoughts out of concern for his employment as the General Counsel for a company located somewhere in the Midwest.

We sat down recently and had an email interview with this anonymous host to provide our readers with a bit more insight into The Wired GC.

What prompted you to start blogging in the first place?

I started "The Wired GC" more because I wanted to learn about the nascent weblog technology than because I thought I had something to say. But I knew I had a few ideas about the practice of law in an in-house setting, and about working with the outside counsel that are a key part of a providing legal services to business.

Now that you've been blogging for a while, how would you describe your law blog to someone who had never read it?

The Wired GC is an exploration about how the practice of law will possibly be changing over the next 3, 5, or even 10 years. Law has largely remained immune from some of the economic and competitive forces that have roiled industrial America in the last 10-20 years. From my vantage point in the Midwest, I have seen the toll this has taken on large segments of society. For those who haven't yet experienced true global competition, fasten your seatbelts, you are in for quite a ride.

What do you say to people who ask who you really are, why you remain anonymous, and whether you are a General Counsel in real life?

John, because, and yes. The middle response is no real mystery: when you are an active GC, for some reason outside counsel and vendors think you have the need--immediately--for all sorts of legal and technical services. I don't write about what I'm doing, and I don't want calls or emails at the office about what I choose to do on my own time.

Well, John, nice to meet you. I'm Ed. Seriously, what's the best thing about writing The Wired GC blog anonymously?

The people I have "met" virtually through blogging. I am constantly amazed at the depth and breadth of many of the active legal webloggers. I sometimes feel like I will be discovered as a mere pretender among the true digerati. I would like to meet them sometime and share a beer or three while discussing the legal issues of the day. I will wear a bag over my head. I feel I have a face for radio and a voice for the printed word.

You really seem to have found your voice on The Wired GC, especially now that you're podcasting The Wired GC Unplugged. What's next for The Wired GC?

The day after this edition of the Blawg Review goes live, I will have been posting random thoughts on my blog for one year. I hope to make it two years. But who knows?

You mean to say that in less than a year blogging anonymously you've managed to join the ranks of some of the "most influential" bloggers in the Law.com Blog Network? You know, John, if people look closely at our bio pics, some might wonder if you're the Editor of Blawg Review.

I really don't think so, Ed.