King of Pop, McCartney, 222

Duncan Bucknell's IP Think Tank hosts Blawg Review #222.

Surprisingly, there's nothing in this week's carnival of law blogs about The King of Pop, Sir Paul, and the Right to Reclaim Copyrights. Is Michael Jackson not still dead? You remember Michael Jackson, the inventor?

Litigation Complex?

Overlawyered, with Blawg Review #220, to The Complex Litigator, hosting Blawg Review #221; do we know how to segue, or what?

Blawg Review Sherpas

Every week, around this time, the host of the upcoming Blawg Review begins the adventure of preparing the next issue of the carnival of law blogs with the help of the Blawg Review Sherpas.

Colin Samuels, the undisputed leader in hosting Blawg Review, guides our hosts with pointers to several of the best law blog posts from the previous week. Sharing the load with our weekly hosts is the indefatigable Vickie Pynchon, whose skill in hosting Blawg Review is remarkable, too.

Those who have hosted Blawg Review know what these sherpas do. Generally, however, their work behind the scenes hardly receives the recognition they deserve. Blawg Review is its own reward.

Before the modern-day Blawg Review Sherpas, there were others whose tireless work behind the scenes has made Blawg Review what it is today. We're forever thankful for the original guides in this community of law bloggers, Evan Schaeffer, Kevin Heller, Mike Cernovich, Jennifer Burke, and Diane Levin, who led the way for today's leaders in the blawgosphere -- Blawg Review Sherpas.

Get Over It

The more I think about it ol' Billy was right. Let's kill all the lawyers.

Blawg Review #220, by Walter Olson at Overlawyered, the oldest law blog in the blawgosphere. Overlawyered chronicles the high cost of the American legal system. You don't always have to hire a lawyer. Not for every little thing. Sometimes, you just have to get over it.

Law Practice, Worst Practices

This is disappointing. ABA Drops Tech Columnist After 15 Years Without Even Saying Thanks

The nothing.but.net column in the ABA's Law Practice magazine has been dropped after 15 years. Erik J. Heels, the columnist, finally got the message -- by email.

@ErikJHeels says...

I didn't follow my own rule: don't write when you're upset, cool down for 24 hours first. I know. As I said above, I wrote my column with passion, I write this blog with passion.

So what I am really upset about? I'm upset that I found out - today - that a decision had been made, apparently months ago, to drop my column. And that nobody extended me the common courtesy of telling me about the decision.

I can handle the truth. Every column has a beginning, middle, and an end, and if mine had run its course, so be it. But somebody could have told me. Instead, I had to milk the information out of the ABA. I sent emails in February, May, and June, all of which went unanswered. It took two more emails from me this month (July) for the ABA to finally admit what had happened. I'm not upset that I didn't get a roast or that I wasn't paid for my work (it was a volunteer gig).

I'm upset that I nobody told me that it was over.

Who wouldn't feel slighted?

Just think of the cartoon above as a "cube grenade" and, as the artist Hugh MacLeod would say, "Rock on!"

Blawg Review Bizcards

Hugh MacLeod is a genius. For about ten years he's been cranking out insightful cartoons on the backs of business cards, publishing them on his blog at gapingvoid.com and generously encouraging his readers to use them, free of charge.

We've had some printed up for the Editor of Blawg Review to hand out whenever he meets in person with friends and followers of this wonderful blog carnival for everyone interested in law.

The first card illustrates the essence of Blawg Review, a network that is more powerful than the node. On the reverse of this card is no name or address, simply the email contact for ed@blawgreview.com

The second card illustrates why Blawg Review is on Twitter, and on the reverse is only the @blawgreview address for the stream on the web, twitter.com/blawgreview


The weekly presentations of Blawg Review are "Social Objects", as Hugh MacLeod might say, and perhaps in a small way these bizcards are complementary Social Gestures.

Hugh MacLeod's acclaimed blog Gaping Void draws about 1.5 million visitors a month, they say, and his ebook, How to Be Creative, has been downloaded more than a million times.

Ignore Everybody, Hugh MacLeod's recently published book that's available in hardcover and for the Kindle, expands his thoughts about unleashing creativity. It's a great read, highly recommended. A lot of what Hugh says in the book is applicable to Blawg Review and to everyone who has creatively hosted one or more of these presentations on their own law blogs.

Hugh MacLeod probably doesn't follow Blawg Review or our tweets @blawgreview where he's mentioned from time to time, and we've never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, though we follow him @gapingvoid on Twitter. We really can't thank him enough for the inspiration, and the business cards. People love them.

The Power of Link Love

Cathy Gellis hosts Blawg Review #219 at her Statements of Interest blog. Gellis serves up the best of the past week's legal blogging with a healthy dose of rock, pop, and blue-eyed soul, courtesy of her favorite band, Huey Lewis and the News. If this edition of the carnival of legal blogging doesn't score her a bouquet of roses from Huey Lewis, the man has no soul.

If you enjoyed Blawg Review #219, share it with your fans -- link to it on your blog, tweet about it, and tell your friends on Facebook. There's power in link love.

On Independence Day

America the Beautiful

The Preamble of the Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The suppressed fact: deaths by U.S. torture

Happy Canada Day!

There's no place like this.