The British Are Coming

"Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775.

Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott kept watch in Boston for the approach of British troops the day before the Battle of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution. A system had been set up whereby an outlook in the bell tower of the Old North Church would hang one lantern to indicate that the British advance was by land over Boston Neck, or two lanterns to indicate that the British advance was by water across the Charles River to Charlestown. From his location in Charlestown, Revere saw the signal, two lanterns that meant the British were rowing across the river. Revere set out riding on the road to Lexington warning citizens to prepare for battle.

Not coincidentally, we have scheduled the British to host Blawg Review in back-to-back issues bookending the July 4th Independence Day holiday in America.

Nearly Legal is scheduled to host Blawg Review #115 on July 2nd, and Blawg Review #116 at Corporate Blawg UK on July 9th.

Charon QC, not a Queen's Counsel, has kindly agreed to host on January 7, 2008.

Justin Patten at Human Law was the first of the British law bloggers to take up the challenge and host Blawg Review #78.

And we're sure there are even more barristers and solicitors blogging across the pond who will join us in celebrating the best of the legal blogosphere.

The UK’s first law bloggers’ conference saw disparate minds converge to talk about their individual online experiences. Rupert White finds out about the pleasures and the pitfalls of the ‘blawgosphere’

The first conference of law blogging took place in London this month, sponsored by the Gazette, and it embraced a host of different legal points of view, from barristers to consultants. It was a success, considering the still small number of lawyers engaging in online debate.

Geeklawyer, the anonymous employed barrister who set up the event, told the Gazette he is already planning next year’s, perhaps grander, outing.

Blimey!

Funniest Law Blog

The competition was fierce -- 1,875 votes cast at Legal Antics.

The commentary was even fiercer, with some competitors declaring "shenanigans" and others insisting that they were getting "jacked around.". But at the end of the day, the winner was clear.

PhilaLawyer, a web site that, upon information and belief, doesn't even consider itself a blog, let alone a law blog, has won the "Funniest Law Blog" contest by a landslide. Above the Law came in second place and Quizlaw placed third.

Check out Legal Antics for the final vote count. And don't miss the acceptance speeches by the anonymous PhilaLawyer, by David Lat at Above the Law, and by Dustin Rowles at Quizlaw.

Teamwork

Mediator Stephanie West Allen of idealawg teams up with mentor and lawyer coach Julie Fleming-Brown of Life at the Bar to host this week's Blawg Review #114.

Out To Lunch

I got an email from LA's Dopest Attorney, today. Not inviting me to lunch, which would be delightful...



No, instead of inviting the Editor of Blawg Review out to lunch to thank us for the excellent write-up we gave her when she uploaded her promotional video to YouTube, LA's Dopest Attorney Allison Margolin wrote to ask that we remove this blog post. Allison complains:

According to my computer guys you apparently update it regularily to stay on the top of google list which is not very cool.

Er, no, actually we don't. So what is her problem with this post?

Did we say anything untrue or unflattering? Did we cause her embarrassment? No, it seems the problem is that her computer guys are having difficulty getting their client's blog to the number one spot on Google for the search string LA's Dopest Attorney.

What should we do about it? Take down our blog post? What about the freedom of the press? Allison Margolin is a civil rights lawyer and a blogger. She knows we haven't done anything different in writing about her promotional video on YouTube than the LA Times or Defamer, or the blawgosphere's best legal gossip blog, Above the Law.

But there's clearly no justification for Blawg Review having better seach engine optimization than Allison Margolin. So c'mon ppl, help an aspiring law blogger out. Please include a link to LA's Dopest Attorney on your blawg and give her the Google juice she thinks she deserves. And let's help LA's dopiest computer guy look like a genius, too.

Update: Susan Cartier Liebel offers her thoughts on Allison Margolin's blog and YouTube videos, and commments on my post above, which she says is "just too funny." And Bob Ambrogi, at Law.com's Legal Blog Watch asks, "In the quest for search-engine rankings, are lawyers forgetting the value of good PR?"

Blawg Review #113

Blawg Review #113 is at the Special Education Law Blog today, Autism Awareness Day, presented by Charles Fox, a Chicago, Illinois attorney who is also the father of child with special needs.

Father's Day Special

Today, on Father's Day, we'd like to share an emotional tribute to an incredible and inspirational dad, from his equally incredible and inspirational son.

My name is Richard E. Hoyt Jr., and I have cerebral palsy. I cannot speak or walk. To write this story, I'm using a computer with special software. When I move my head slightly, the cursor moves across an alphabet. When it gets to the letter I want, I press a switch at the side of my head.

I am half of Team Hoyt. We are a father-and-son team, and we compete in marathons and triathlons around the world. Our goal is to educate people about how the disabled can lead normal lives...[read more]

Blawg Review #113 at the Special Education Law Blog will be hosted on Autism Awareness Day by Charles Fox, a Chicago, Illinois attorney who is also the father of child with special needs.

You Heard It Here First

J. Craig Williams has the best blog design.

May It Please The Court went to the Los Angeles Press Club awards last night and came home a first-place winner in the Online Design and Layout category. The Judges' commented:

"Easy-on-the-eyes palette appropriate to the subject matter. Does a good job of accessibility and navigation to content across a variety of forms. User-friendly interface helps invite the reader to read a site devoted to a potentially tough vertical topic."

Of course, that's no surprise to the followers of Blawg Review, who will recall the kudos to May It Please the Court in our Blawg Review Awards presented each year on the last Monday in December.

Blawg Review Awards 2005

J. Craig Williams receives this year's award for Best Graphics on a Law Blog for the gorgeous redesign of May It Please the Court.

Blawg Review Awards 2006

Best Law Blog Design goes to May It Please the Court, with kudos to Optional Design Group for creative design and for site development to Neurosity.

What's more, in last year's Blawg Review Awards, J. Craig Williams received the award for Best Blog by a Practicing Attorney, as well, for May It Please the Court, recognizing that it's not just a good blog to look at -- but a good blog to read, too.

The Great Law Blog Search

Blawg Review #112 is hosted this week by Tim Stanley on Justia's Legal SEO & Marketing Blog.

As one would expect from the creators of Blawg Search by Justia, this week's Blawg Review #112 is a comprehensive roundup of some of the best blog writing from many of the leading law bloggers -- and some we hadn't yet discovered in the ever-growing blawgosphere.

By the way, you'll notice that we've added Justia's Blawg Search to the sidebar of this weblog, along with a link to Blawg.com, the legal blog search engine created by Bill Gratsch, host of last week's excellent Blawg Review #111. And, oh yeah, we should mention our own massive directory of legal blogs, which organizes a great selection of law blogs on one page.

But if you're searching for law blogs you won't likely find better search engines than this or this. Although, the new search engine called Quest by Law.com looks promising, too, don't you think?

Carnival of Trust

The First Carnival of Trust is up at Trust Matters, the business blog of Charles Green, co-author of The Trusted Advisor with David Maister, who hosted Blawg Review #76 and is scheduled to host again soon.

There are few business books that will have a greater positive effect on a lawyer's success than The Trusted Advisor, which I recommend every lawyer and law student read. So, it was as much an honor as it was a total surprise to me when Charlie Green contacted your humble editor by email asking for a bit of advice on how to set up and manage a blog carnival on the subject of trust.

I hope he'll trust me to host an upcoming edition of the Carnival of Trust for lawyers right here on Blawg Review, and that he might also agree to host an issue of Blawg Review for us.

Update: Charles H. Green responded by email:

Ed.,

You are very gracious indeed.

First you give me this wonderful advice, which I could have gotten from nowhere else; then you publicly give me such a wonderful sendoff. I am very grateful to you, and if I knew how to post this publicly on your site I would do so (please feel free to do so yourself).

As far as cross-hosting, that is even more generous of you. I want to try one more iteration with myself at the helm to test the categories, but I would be extremely honored if you’d be the first guest-host of COT the time after that. And I am even more flattered that you would have me host Blawg Review; that would be an honor, and I will do so anytime you say the word, at your convenience.

Many thanks for all this; you exemplify how the blogosphere ‘sposed to work.

Best wishes,

Charlie Green

Your blushing editor is looking forward to being the first guest host of the Carnival of Trust, and we welcome Charlie Green to be our host of Blawg Review at Trust Matters on March 10, 2008.

From There to Here to Where?

Bill Gratsch, whose directory of legal blogs at Blawg.com has listed over 1,600 law blogs over the past four years, is hosting an extraordinary Blawg Review #111 that takes us back to the early days -- 2001/2002 -- when only a handful of lawyers were blogging.

People with vision like LexBlog's Kevin O'Keefe, ClarisLaw's Nick Carroll and Justia's Tim Stanley were not only anticipating this growth and value of blawgs and the blawgosphere, but acting on it.

Indeed, it was the companies and people like these, who helped enable, foster and channel the content and buzz that the individual members of the blawgosphere were creating everyday in relevant and timely posts on myriad legal topics.

So what is the state of the blawgosphere in June 2007?

Today, the blawgosphere includes close to 2000 blawgs (Justia has indexed over 1800, while Blawg has over 1600, and with new blawgs coming online everyday no doubt some are not yet discovered). Companies, old, new and as-yet-formed, are crafting business plans and formulating ideas, all seeking to participate in some way, shape or form.

And, the members of the blawgosphere themselves continue to expand and deepen their writing and coverage of topics, large and small. To this point, just take a look at some of the best recent posts out there.

Next week, Justia's Tim Stanley will be hosting Blawg Review #112, and Kevin O'Keefe at LexBlog is already scheduled to host not one, but two, upcoming issues of Blawg Review in 2007 and 2008. Check out the sidebar of our Blawg Review weblog to see who else is scheduled to host upcoming issues and who has hosted the previous 111. Now, there's a directory of leading law bloggers if we ever saw one.