LOTR Blawg Review

Blawg Review #144 is hosted at Cyberlaw Central by hobbit-like cyberlawyer Kevin Thompson, my precious.

Minor Wisdom, Major Writing

What makes great blogwriting?

A well written blog is a beautiful thing to read. When I hit upon a blog with great writing, I can spend hours digging into the archives, learning, laughing, getting to know a writer.

Because a great blogwriter, in the end, is someone you want to be friends with. It’s someone interesting, someone who can tell a story and hold a great conversation and be fantastic company.

On the award-winning law blog What About Clients? Dan Hull reviews Raymond Ward's Minor Wisdom. It's been quite a while since we've featured a law blog here on Blawg Review, and this review is too good not to quote in full:

And he'd just say shucks. It's Sunday: the only day I spend any time alone, am quiet for long stretches, and won't yell at anyone. In my head and heart, where things can grow, I've bumped Ray Ward's Minor Wisdom from the #11 spot to #1 on my best blogs/blawgs/sites/all on-line and electronic magazines. This is All Categories, All Professions, All Nations, All Tribes, All Humans, All Life, All-Cosmos. I've seen the light, having waited for a vision to deliver me. Minor Wisdom has beyond lawyerness: spiritual, literary, musical, political, brave, human, personal and get-off-your-ass. And he's one of the few Jesuit-educated humans who makes it all sounds like damn fun. His blog is so much better than every lawyer blog I've seen--including this one--that it makes me want to write full time, even if I starve ("purity of the heart is to will one thing"...). Well, strike the starving part. Anyway, let's pull Ray and MW from that soul-less category: lawyers. He's that and more. He reminds us that Jesus is headed for The Big Easy--and that's enough to make a blind man see.

Readers of Blawg Review enjoyed Ray Ward's great writing style when he hosted Blawg Review #90, a wonderfully-themed presentation from New Orleans on the feast day of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.

Blawg Review Themes

Blawg Review #143 is a special presentation on Public Defender Stuff for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It's always interesting when our hosts are inspired to do something special for Blawg Review.

If anyone's interested in hosting a special issue this year, there are still opportunities for specific themes on the following dates that are now available to be booked in advance to host Blawg Review:

September 8th is  International Literacy Day

September 15th is  International Day of Democracy

October 6th is  German-American Day

November 3rd is  Japan Culture Day

November 10th is  USMC Birthday

November 17th is  International Students Day

December 1st is  World AIDS Day

December 15th is  Bill of Rights Day

Check out the roster of future hosts in the sidebar on our home page for other available dates to host Blawg Review, and send the editor an email if you'd like to book a date to host, yourself.

Maybe you'd like to pick your own special theme for Blawg Review as did Colin Samuels, Eric Turkewitz and Anne Reed, the top three nominated for Blawg Review of the Year.

Whether your presentation might be inspired by a special day or your own interests, we'd like you to consider hosting Blawg Review.

All I Ever Wanted

"All I ever wanted was one of these," lamented Rodney Dangerfield, whose claim to fame was that he never got any respect. With all due respect to Mr. Dangerfield, the premier law blog for public defender stuff has announced The Rodneys, the second annual Public Defender Blogger Awards. Check out this year's winners here.

Gideon, editor of Public Defender Stuff, hosts Blawg Review #143 on Martin Luther King Day this year, following last year's MLK Day Special Blawg Review #91 by investigator Greg Worthen, the founding editor of the Pubic Defender Stuff blog.

Blawg Review of the Year

Following the Inferno-themed Blawg Review #35, named Blawg Review of the Year 2005, and Purgatorio-themed Blawg Review #86 that was Blawg Review of the Year 2006, The Divine Comedy's third cantica, Paradiso, provided the theme for Blawg Review #137, which received the most peer-reviewed nominations and is hereby recognized as the Blawg Review of the Year 2007. Congratulations, Colin Samuels.

Eric Turkewitz ran a very close second with #134, based on the New York City Marathon. And, if one had to select a third from the pool of nominees, #127 by jury consultant Anne Reed is an alternate that many would pick for Blawg Review of the Year.

As they say, it's an honor to be nominated, especially by one's peers, so congratulations to all. And thanks to everyone who contributes to Blawg Review and shares this extraordinary blog carnival with their readers each week.

Artwork credit:
Paul Laffoley
The Divine Comedy - 1972-75
Oil, and Acrylic on Canvas
Triptych Overall Dimensions:
73 1/2 x 220 1/2 in. (roughly 6 x 18 feet!!)

Letter to a New Lawyer

Blawg Review #142 by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build A Solo Practice is an excellent example of the letter and the spirit of Blawg Review.

Notice how she follows these hosting guidelines to the letter:

Unlike most other blog carnivals, which rely only on submissions, Blawg Review collects the best of the law blogs each week from various sources, including the recommendations of readers of law blogs.

A peer-reviewed blog carnival, the host of each Blawg Review decides which of the submissions and recommended posts are suitable for inclusion in the presentation. The host is encouraged to source another dozen or so interesting posts to fit with any special theme of that issue of Blawg Review.

The host's personal selections usually include several that reflect the character and subject interests of the host blawg, recognizing that the regular readership of the blog should find some of the usual content, and new readers of the blog via Blawg Review ought to get some sense of the unique perspective and subject specialties of the host.

Susan Cartier Liebel is a nationally recognized coach and consultant, who teaches lawyers how to create and grow their legal practice. To give us a unique perspective on her blog's subject specialty, Susan has drafted her Blawg Review in the form of a letter to a new lawyer.

(This Blawg Review is designed as a Letter to New Lawyer. I've incorporated the interesting names of many legal blogs as part of the narrative but you will have no clue what the topic of each blog post is until you click on the link. Hopefully you will have fun discovering each blog post. I've included some of the well-known and prolific usual suspects and am introducing you to some new and exciting blogs I've recently discovered. There may even be other Letters to a New Lawyer you will uncover. So, enjoy!)

Well done, Susan. No doubt, we'll see Blawg Review #142 nominated for next year's Blawg Review of the Year Award.

Which reminds me, today is the very last day for previous hosts (and those who are scheduled to host an upcoming issue of Blawg Review) to post nominations for Blawg Review of the Year 2007, which will be announced here on January 15, 2008. Don't miss this opportunity to recognize our hosts for their extraordinary presentations. Without your weekly participation and thoughtful support we might just be trying to figure out where to go next with this blog carnival.

Join the Fun

For Blawg Review #142, Susan Cartier Liebel has an idea that challenges followers of this project to submit or recommend law blog posts that contribute to an "open letter" theme.

Here's her proposition:

Some have been after me for a while to construct a "Letter to a New Lawyer" giving them advice, wisdom, perspective. That's a tall order because I don't presume to have any perspective but my own. So, here is the challenge. I will be writing that letter as a Blawg Review and am seeking submissions this week which discuss your experiences (not just from solos, either, even though I've been dubbed the solo-centric champion of solos!) This Blawg Review is for everyone in every aspect of practice. You can be a BigLaw lawyer, a law student, retired, solo, professor, judge, career counselor, jury consultant, public defender, legal aid, marketing guru, mediation consultant, etc.

There are many gifted blawgers who have opinions about their experiences and would like to share them. Your posts can be about your area of law, great cases, marketing, ethics, law school, BigLaw, going solo, work/life balance, blogging, education, anything as long as it takes the form of wisdom and advice you would legitimately pass on to a new lawyer seeking your counsel.

Anyone who wants to submit a blog post or recommend another's good one for inclusion in this Blawg Review should send in a link following these Submission Guidelines.

Instalanche!

The neologism "instalanche" alludes to Instapundit. In the blogosphere, this is similar to being Slashdotted; it refers to an avalanche of traffic to a blog after a very popular site links to a post.

Thanks to Professor Glenn Reynolds and all the thoughtful bloggers who link to the current issue of Blawg Review every week. We really appreciate your support.

An Honor To Be Nominated

Blawg Review was honored to be nominated by the ABA Journal editors as one of the Blawg 100, where our humble Blawg Review blog was unfortunately categorized under the heading "Generally Speaking" along with many of the most popular law blogs, including QuizLaw, Overlawyered, How Appealing, Point of Law, Ernie the Attorney, and May It Please the Court, each of which, incidentally, has hosted Blawg Review.

Amongst such heavy competition, Blawg Review placed respectably in the top ten, thanks to the person or persons who cast the 36 votes that enabled us to pull ahead of our closest rival in the final tally.

They say it's an honor just to be nominated. Nowhere is that more true than with the nominations for this year's Blawg Review of the Year. Hosts of Blawg Review have until January 14, 2008 to nominate law bloggers for the honor, and the issue of Blawg Review with the most qualified nominations wins!

Many law bloggers have included thoughtful comments in their nomination posts, giving us insights into the reasons for their selections:

Eric Turkewitz nominates #89, #101, #106, #127 and #137.
Diane Levin nominates #101, #102, #124, #134, and #137.
Peter Black nominates #93, #128 and #130.
Brett Trout nominates #102, #109, #123, #127, #129, #134, #137
Nearly Legal nominates #91, #116, #128 and #137.
Tom Colson nominates #93, #102, #106, #134 and #137.
Ed nominates #91, #93, #94, #102, #110, #124, #126, #127, #134, and #137.
George Wallace nominates #93, #122, #124, #127, #130, #134, and #137.
J.D. Hull nominates #94, #102, #116, #127, #134 and #137.
Kevin Thompson nominates #130+130 and #122.
Colin Samuels nominates #89, #116, #122, #127, and #134.
David Donoghue nominates #95, #106, #126, #127 and #134.
Charon QC nominates #115, #116, #131, #125, #134, and #137.
Todd Smith nominates #110, #118, #125 and #132.
Susan Cartier Liebel nominates #110, #127, #134 and #137.
Gideon nominates #117, #124, #125, #127, and #137.

We'll keep this list updated as nominations are posted up to the final date for nominations, when we will tally the nominations and declare the winner of the honor of Blawg Review of the Year 2007.

While some law bloggers eschew picking favorites, many who have hosted Blawg Review appreciate that it's an honor just to be nominated and welcome this opportunity to give recognition to their peers who have exceeded expectations with an extraordinary Blawg Review.