Blawg Review: April 2011

This Too Shall Pass

This too shall pass for a Blawg Review, an eclectic collection of bits and pieces of the blawgosphere linked together as if by Rube Goldberg.

Houston attorney Paul Kennedy hosts Blawg Review #307 at The Defense Rests to commemorate Sam Houston's defeat of Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, which was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. This edition of Blawg Review is as big as Texas and, not unexpectedly, focused on all things Texan. We'll play along.

Norah Jones performs "Lonestar" with fellow-Texan Willie Nelson at Farm Aid 25. Farm Aid's performances are donated by the artists in order to raise funds and raise awareness for family farmers. They've raised their voices to help — what can you do?

Blawg Review #306

Blawg Review turns six, today. What did you expect? Fireworks?

On April 11, 2005, the first issue of Blawg Review was hosted by Evan Schaeffer on the Legal Underground. Six years later, a growing number of lawyers new to blogging are asking, "What is Blawg Review?

Blawg Review is the blog carnival for everyone interested in law. 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. And 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. Thanks to all the law bloggers who collaborate to make Blawg Review one of the very best blog carnivals of any genre.

Colin Samuels, Blawg Review Sherpa Emeritus, describes it best. "Where once we were isolated legal students, practitioners, and academics who could share our thoughts only with those in proximity, blogging and social media have turned us all into a kind of "other memory" for one another. The knowledge, experience, and insight we are able to access here, within our ever-expanding networks of colleagues and friends, colleagues-of-colleagues, friends-of-friends, is nothing short of amazing. By participating, we are able to give and receive and grow beyond ourselves while allowing others to grow as well. Thanks to our tools, these memories need not fade or become inaccessible, but we should always keep in mind that tools do not create — we do."

On this sixth anniversary of Blawg Review, we revisited some of the most creative presentations of this carnival of law blogs. Each year for the past six years we've recognized the best of the best with the honor of Blawg Review of the Year.

Blawg Review of the Year 2005
Blawg Review of the Year 2006
Blawg Review of the Year 2007
Blawg Review of the Year 2008
Blawg Review of the Year 2009
Blawg Review of the Year 2010

These award-winning presentations show an appreciation of literature and art, a strong sense of community, passion for a cause, and a good sense of humor. These are common themes in the best of Blawg Review and, while only one presentation each year receives the award for Blawg Review of the Year, there are many more that deserve another look.

Whether you're new to Blawg Review and looking to get a better sense of the state of the art of law blogging, or a regular reader of this carnival of law blogs, you might like to look back at some of the past issues on this sixth anniversary--especially if you're thinking of hosting Blawg Review this year.

George Wallace pulled off an April 1st Blawg Review at a fool in the forest, leaving open the question whether his might be the last, and leading Colin Samuels at Infamy or Praise to ask, "Was there a fat lady in The Mikado?"

Perennial prankster Eric Turkewitz at the New York Personal Injury Law Blog posted an April Fool’s Day Deconstruction (A 23-Blog Conspiracy).

In what could have been an April Fool's joke on Jonathan Turley's blog, Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger, reported on Monkey Trial II: Tenn. House Passes Bill Permitting Teachers To Teach The “Controversy” Over Evolution.

What, for me, is the point of law blogging etc?" asked Charon QC and answered, "I have come to the conclusion that the ‘point’ is to provoke thought, comment and interest."

"Thinking runs in ruts and it takes a whole lot of effort to get it back on the tarmac again," wrote Simon Fodden in a thought-provoking post on Slaw.ca.

Antonin Pribetic on The Trial Warrior Blog asked, "Are You A Legal Expert? Really?"

Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice looked into cavity searches.

At the IP Kat blog, we read a Letter from AmeriKat about Google's $900 million bid for Nortel's patents, and were pleased to see the US and UK unite for some more sweet patent harmony.

Gene Quinn at IP Watchdog wrote an insightful blog post about what could be learned from Apple's patent for a newsreader for mobile devices.

Venkat Balasubramani on Spam Notes asked, "What is the "iPad for Lawyers" Crowd Smoking?"

iWant an office like C. Hank Peters at Big Legal Brain!

Brian Inkster launched The Time Blawg on the past, present and future practice of law, with the numerically significant UK Blawg Roundup #6, the time travel edition. If ever there was any doubt that the legal blog carnival genre is alive and well, the Brits are sending US as clear message. They're here to stay.

Blawg Review has information about how to host one of the upcoming issues, yourself.

Adieu

Blawg Review #305 is hosted by a fool in the forest. Being the last waltz for Blawg Review, as it were, this is dedicated to all those who have hosted the carnival of law blogs during the past six years. Adieu.