Blawg Review

Where's Blawg Review?

2011-09-05T14:21:00.008-04:00

The sun hasn't set on Blawg Review, but we've been traveling these past few weeks, and not just to law conferences. If you're wondering, by the way, where's Ed?

I am not an Athenian, nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world. ~ Socrates

Blawg Review will be back soon; the peripatetic editor, maybe not.

LawLawpalooza!!!

2011-08-08T10:51:00.008-04:00

Fitz and the Tantrums might be the name of a law blog, but no; it's the name of a hot new band that performed its brand of soul-influenced indie pop this weekend in Chicago at Lollapalooza 2011.

Sarah Randag of the ABA Journal was all over it, and brings us her report in this week's Blawg Review #314 she calls LawLawpalooza!

Coming Soon, ABA Journal

2011-08-02T11:37:00.007-04:00

Molly McDonough and Sarah Randag host Blawg Review #314 next in the ABA Journal during the ABA Annual Meeting 2011 in Toronto.

What's that? The American Bar Association is holding its annual meeting in Canada? Has Ontario joined the Union? Did the United States invade the Great White North and take it over without a shot being fired? Wait, wait...

THIS JUST IN:

CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2011 – The American Bar Association and the Canadian Bar Association are preparing to sign a historic agreement that will lead to enhanced cooperation and information exchanges between the two organizations, their in-house counsel constituencies, and the U.S. and Canadian legal professions.

A signing ceremony with the associations' presidents and witnessed by other bar leaders is scheduled for 4 p.m. Aug. 6, pending approval of the agreement by the ABA Board of Governors, at the Royal Conservatory, 273 Bloor St. West, Toronto. Following the ceremony will be the ABA Annual Meeting Opening Assembly, featuring remarks by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

“We have enjoyed a long and warm relationship with the Canadian Bar Association,” said ABA President Stephen N. Zack of Miami, Fla. “The signing of the agreement, on the occasion of the ABA's Annual Meeting in Toronto, will formalize our mutually beneficial cooperation that has been in place for the past 80 years.”

BFF

Keep It Simple

2011-08-01T13:03:00.005-04:00

Stephen Albainy-Jenei at Patent Baristas hosts his fifth carnival of law bloggers, Blawg Review #313, riffing off Keb Mo's Keep It Simple. It's a laid-back Blawg Review; thoroughly enjoyable.

Today is also Emancipation Day. The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ended slavery in the British Empire, August 1, 1834, which is remembered in the colonies with various holidays and celebrations, like Caribana Caribbean Carnival in Toronto. From the first colony to abolish slavery, Toronto-based Omar Ha-Redeye earned Blawg Review of the Year kudos for Blawg Review #278 on the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Worth another read.

Blawg Review #312

2011-07-18T01:10:00.009-04:00

Happy 93rd Birthday, Madiba. Today is Mandela Day, in honor of the birthday of Nelson Mandela, often called Madiba, an honorific, his clan name.

Mandela needs no introduction to our readers. As a lawyer he led an exemplary life, 27 years of which he spent in prison for his principled political activism for the causes of freedom and justice for all in his homeland of South Africa. Many have read his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, with its introduction by former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. I've been reading Mandela's recent publication of Conversations With Myself, a collection of the writings of Nelson Mandela, many of which were written while imprisoned. As he says, in prison you've got time to think.

Nelson Mandela's prison cell, Robben Island, South Africa

This year on 18 July - Nelson Mandela’s 93rd birthday - the UN is joining a call by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to devote 67 minutes of our time to helping others, as a way to mark Nelson Mandela International Day.

Here on Blawg Review, we've covered topics and issues that were of great interest to Nelson Mandela, the lawyer, and the man. Notably, Omar Ha-Redeye hosted Blawg Review #278, which was recognized at the Blawg Review of the Year 2010, to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Earlier in 2010, on Slaw.ca, Omar Ha-Redeye hosted Blawg Review #249 on National Freedom Day.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation seeks to contribute to a just society by promoting the vision and work of its Founder and convening dialogue around critical social issues with The Dialogue Programme. Mandela would have been a heck of a law blogger!

Today, on Nelson Mandela's 93rd birthday, this Blawg Review #312 honors him with a collection of links to law blog posts that draw attention to issues close to Madiba's heart. Throughout the day, we will add links to additional law blog posts that our readers find appropriate for inclusion in this week's Blawg Review, had they known it was to be Mandela Day or that there would be a Blawg Review this week at all. Help us out here...

The Innocence Project Blog reports that New York exoneree Dewey Bozella received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY Awards. Bozella served 26 years in New York prisons for a murder he didn’t commit before he was exonerated in 2009. Nelson Mandela, was a previous recipient of this award.

On the Human Trafficking Law Blog Wendi Adelson, Kathleen Kim, and Bridgette Carr report that:

South Africa has been identified as a major human-trafficking destination for victims from within the country, the region and beyond, yet there is no legislation that specifically criminalises human trafficking and protects victims.

The country is a signatory to the 2000 UN protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. In signing this document, also known as the Palermo Protocol, the government committed to adopting legislation to make human trafficking a criminal offence and began the process of drafting a law in 2003. However, the Prevention and Combating in Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Bill only reached parliament in March 2010 and there is no indication of when it will be passed.

Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger on Jonathan Turley's blog, hopes that this somehow works out well for establishing an Egyptian Democracy, rule of law and freedom.

Glenn Greenwald reports how the U.S. government uses its media servants to attack real journalism.

Mandela might have thoughts on this study, blogged by Doug Berman on Sentencing Law and Policy, that finds "black men live longer in prison than out".

Scott Greenfield asks, "How many millions of fliers, of citizens, of people, must have their personal privacy and physical integrity sacrificed in the off-chance that the TSA might, eventually, stop a terrorist?"

Mark Bennett, on Defending People, tweaks the TSA.

Dan Hull at "What About Paris?" on Bastille Day.

Zamantungwa Khumalo is studying a Bachelor of Arts with a triple major in International Relations, Political Studies and Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. She anchors the current affairs talk show The Edge on Voice of Wits FM and is sponsored by the University of the Witwatersrand to attend the One Young World Summit in Zurich, Switzerland. She writes that it is on this day, that her generation needs to ask, “Who will be the Mandela of our generation?”

In an interview with Elisabeth Braw for Huffington Post, Desmond Tutu says young South Africans don't know what Mandela did for us.

We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference. - Nelson Mandela

Remembering Joel Rosenberg

2011-06-06T06:29:00.005-04:00

We remember Joel Rosenberg as a champion for justice in an intolerant world, the host of Blawg Review #238, which is this week's Blawg Review in his memory. It was an honor to have known the man, whom I had the pleasure to meet in real life. He will be missed.

Photo credit © Oleg Volk, reproduced with permission

Blawg Review #309

2011-05-02T23:47:00.007-04:00

O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. ~Psalm 119:97

On May 2, 1611, four hundred years to the day, the King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England.

The original printing of the Authorized Version was published by Robert Barker, the King's Printer, in 1611 as a complete folio Bible. It was sold looseleaf for ten shillings, or bound for twelve. Robert Barker's father, Christopher, had, in 1589, been granted by Elizabeth I the title of royal Printer, with the perpetual Royal Privilege to print Bibles in England. Robert Barker invested very large sums in printing the new edition, and consequently ran into serious debt, such that he was compelled to sub-lease the privilege to two rival London printers, Bonham Norton and John Bill. It appears that it was initially intended that each printer would print a portion of the text, share printed sheets with the others, and split the proceeds. Bitter financial disputes broke out, as Barker accused Norton and Bill of concealing their profits, while Norton and Bill accused Barker of selling sheets properly due to them as partial Bibles for ready money. There followed decades of continual litigation, and consequent imprisonment for debt for members of the Barker and Norton printing dynasties, while each issued rival editions of the whole Bible. In 1629 the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge successfully managed to assert separate and prior royal licences for Bible printing, for their own university presses – and Cambridge University took the opportunity to print revised editions of the Authorized Version in 1629, and 1638. The editors of these editions included John Bois and John Ward from the original translators. This did not, however, impede the commercial rivalries of the London printers, especially as the Barker family refused to allow any other printers access to the authoritative manuscript of the Authorized Version.

We had hoped to get a legal scribe from England to host this week's Blawg Review but, alas, the usual suspects were apparently preoccupied with the Royal Wedding. So, here we are on this historic occasion with no host to speak of but an interesting theme, nevertheless.

The King James Version of the Ten Commandments

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

Ron Coleman brings forward this Divine Trademark on Likelihood of Confusion, and points to more about Church symbol trademarks by this tradmark guy, Owen Smigelski.

9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Eugene Volokh has a post about Sex-Based Inheritance Rules, Islamic Law, and the Old Testament. (Editor's Note: the professor probably means "gender-based" but one can't not appreciate the lovely Muslim girls served by Google Adsense with his post.)

11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Which reminds me, where the hell is Geeklawyer when you need him?

12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

Hard to believe it's the 8th anniversary of this blog.

14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

By happenstance, John Hochfelder was assigned April 27th to publish this piece. It so happens that April 27th - in 1922 - was when an American hero was born.

17 Thou shalt not kill.

"From an international law perspective, it’s worth noting that the operation against Bin Laden is an example of targeted killing," writes Ilya Somin on the death of Bin Laden and the morality of targeted killings. At the Volokh Conspiracy, too, Kenneth Anderson adds links to his own thoughts on Targeted Killing and Drone Warfare.

18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

The Wicked Bible, sometimes called The Adulterous Bible or The Sinners' Bible, is a term referring to the Bible published in 1631 by Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, which was meant to be a reprint of the King James Bible. The name is derived from the compositors' mistake: in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:14) the word not in the sentence "Thou shalt not commit adultery" was omitted. This blunder was spread in a number of copies. About a year later, the publishers of the Wicked Bible were fined £300 (roughly equivalent to 33,800 pounds today) and were deprived of their printer's license.[citation needed] The fact that this edition of the Bible contained such a flagrant mistake outraged Charles I of England and George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said then:
I knew the tyme when great care was had about printing, the Bibles especially, good compositors and the best correctors were gotten being grave and learned men, the paper and the letter rare, and faire every way of the beste, but now the paper is nought, the composers boyes, and the correctors unlearned.

Talk about Slackoisie!

19 Neither shalt thou steal.

If copying an entire newspaper story is fair use, is it a sin to steal large segments of copy from Wikipedia? I didn't think so.

In most of the world the Authorized Version has passed out of copyright and is freely reproduced. This is not the case in the United Kingdom where the rights to the Authorized Version are held by the British Crown under perpetual Crown copyright. Publishers are licensed to reproduce the Authorized Version under letters patent. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the letters patent are held by the Queen's Printer, and in Scotland by the Scottish Bible Board. The office of Queen's Printer has been associated with the right to reproduce the Bible for centuries, the earliest known reference coming in 1577. In the 18th century all surviving interests in the monopoly were bought out by John Baskett. The Baskett rights descended through a number of printers and, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Queen's Printer is now Cambridge University Press, who inherited the right when they took over the firm of Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1990.

20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

"You might think that this notion, the whole tell the truth to the judge thing, was pretty well settled. Obviously not," says Scott Greenfield.

21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

While it's generally believed that one will burn in Hell for transgressions of the flesh, only recently did we learn from Randazza that you might burst into flames right here on earth.

Speaking of flames, "the Koran is not being burned in Dearborn Michigan but the 1st Amendment has gone up in flames," according to Brian Cuban, in a guest post on Antonin Pribetic's Trial Warrior Blog.

It is commonly believed that the writing of the Old and New Testament was inspired by God. No one will think that of this Blawg Review. Inkster penned an inspired UK Blawg Roundup at The Time Blawg, I know.

Please let me know if we've missed a law blog post that you would have included in a Blawg Review with a biblical theme, and we'll add a link.

Blawg Review has information about how to host one of the upcoming issues, yourself, if you'd like to have a go at it.

This Too Shall Pass

2011-04-25T10:27:00.000-04:00

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.

Lone Star Blawg Review

2011-04-21T00:37:00.002-04:00

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

2011-04-11T00:01:00.003-04:00

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

2011-04-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

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.

Blawg Review Goes Nukular

2011-03-27T18:07:00.005-04:00

George Wallace, a lawyer who blogs on Declarations and Exclusions about News and Comments on California Insurance Law, the Politics of Insurance, and Other Risky Business hosts Blawg Review #304 on a very serious subject.

George is, perhaps, better known in the blogosphere for his more humorous personal blog, a fool in the forest, so it's a surprise that he resisted including this.

And remember, you can't tweet too often about Blawg Review.

Hosting Blawg Review Next

2011-03-25T17:06:00.008-04:00

We don't just let anybody host Blawg Review, you know -- the trick is to get the right host for each specific date.

George Wallace, a lawyer who writes about insurance law on Declarations and Exclusions and blogs about his personal interests on a fool in the forest, (an excellent host for April Fool's Day) would not have been the best host for this week's Blawg Review #303.

George is scheduled to host Blawg Review next week, instead.

This week, it's my show!

Blawg Review #303

2011-03-21T00:01:00.017-04:00

The peaceful march resulted in the death of 17 unarmed civilians at the hands of the Insular Police, in addition to some 235 wounded civilians, including women and children.

Where the hell did this take place? Tunisia? Egypt? Bahrain? Libya?

The Ponce Massacre is a violent chapter in the political history of Puerto Rico. On March 21, 1937 (Palm Sunday), a march was organized in the southern city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. The march, organized to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico by the governing Spanish National Assembly in 1873, was also formed to protest the incarceration by the U.S. government of nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, a Harvard educated lawyer, on sedition charges. Today, he is honored in the Casa de la Masacre and the Pedro Albizu Campos Park, a passive recreational park in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

After the U.S. occupation of Puerto Rico in 1898, the Island's political status within the US became a subject of ardent conversation within Puerto Rican political circles. A number of political parties sprung up as a result of this, with platforms founded on the differing ideologies of what such relationship with the US should be. The three basic platforms were independence, statehood, and commonwealth, an in-between status of greater local autonomy while still being a territory of the US.

Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico: The Commission, 70p, np, May 22, 1937.

(The Commission was formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding violent actions by the Insular Police of Puerto Rico, a force somewhat resembling the National Guard of the typical U.S. state that answered to the U.S. appointed governor. The affray took place in Ponce, Puerto Rico’s second largest city, on March 21, 1937. A large contingent of the Insular Police had been assembled to enforce an order from the Governor forbidding a planned parade by members of the Nationalist Party, a group that, while non-violent, fiercely advocated Puerto Rican independence. At least 14 persons were killed and another 64 injured when the police suddenly opened fire both on the Nationalists who were assembling to parade outside their clubhouse and also upon the many bystanders. An official report on the incident was submitted to Ernest Gruening, Director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The report alleged that an official investigation had been made on the scene, that the investigation had determined that the police had been protecting themselves after first being shot at by the Nationalists, and that following the affray a quantity of arms and ammunition had been discovered in the Nationalists’ clubhouse. This version of events was echoed in the American press. However, after hearings held in Ponce and elsewhere on the island, the Commission’s report carefully lays out the facts discovered and concludes that: no official investigation had in fact been conducted; only the militia were armed; what occurred was in fact a police riot, and that; the “only possible descriptive title” was “massacre.” It also revealed a fact till then unknown, namely that the local Prosecuting Attorney had resigned in protest at what he considered the untruthful official version of events. While principally focused on the Ponce incident, the report also touches upon the state of civil liberties generally in the U.S. colony. The Commission was headed by Arthur Garfield Hays, one of the founders of and longtime General Counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union, headquartered in New York. The rest of the commissioners were distinguished Puerto Rican citizens.)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico National Chapter, documenting the current human rights crisis in Puerto Rico, says the First Amendment is under seige.

While the world celebrates the democratic revolution in Egypt, major violations of basic human rights are occurring in our own backyard. Since Governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño came into power two years ago, free speech has been under all-out assault.

Jacqueline Hall writes, "police brutality, constitutional violations and government sponsored propaganda are rampant and currently destroying civil liberties in Puerto Rico. Though nearly everyone is aware of the recent uprisings in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, the injustices being suffered by Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, are hardly mentioned in mainstream media."

The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) [March 12, 2011] urging it to intervene in serious human rights and civil liberties abuses reported to be occurring against the people of Puerto Rico at the hands of the territory’s government. The ACLU asked that DOJ conclude its ongoing investigation of allegations of serious incidents of police violence and the suppression of free expression – including numerous reports of violent attacks against peaceful protesters and racially motivated police abuse – and take action to end these egregious practices.

National Guard ends year of policing in Puerto Rico. Yay!!! Mission accomplished.

In other news, the ACLU is Looking on the Bright Side During Sunshine Week.

Jeff Jarvis says, "The US has a chance to move on from a history of clandestine foreign policy – instead it acts like a clumsy spammer."

Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler argues against the prosecution of Wikileaks, detailing government and news media "over-reaction".

Bruce Ackerman (Yale) and Yochai Benkler (Harvard) are circulating a letter protesting the inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning’s detention and asking for law professor support. Kevin Jon Heller at Opinio Juris reports on the letter and email campaign.

On the Volokh Conspiracy, Kenneth Anderson discusses Libya and the Three Modes of the Security Council.

"We go to war……. against Libya… and we’ll see what happens." Charon QC, a UK law blog.

In a post on Opinio Juris headlined "Guatemalans Bring Class Action Against United States for Syphilis Medical Experiments" Roger Alford notes, "As a legal matter the claim is weak. The statute of limitations has long since run on the claims, the United States enjoys sovereign immunity, and the Guatemalan victims are not within the class of individuals that enjoy constitutional protections. The U.S. Constitution simply does not travel abroad to protect foreigners against the foreign misdeeds of the United States." That's one of the benefits of being Puerto Rican, apparently.

Eugene Volokh at the VC reports on the case of Elton Simpson, indicted for knowingly and willfully making a materially false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Ken at Popehat blogs a friendly reminder to just shut up! You know Ken, he's the California defense attorney who leads a glamorous life.

Speaking of uprisings, Simon Fodden at Slaw.ca has penned an interesting blog post about Luddites and the Law.

Speaking of Luddites, Brian Tannebaum has a thoughtful review of Gary Vaynerchuk's new book, The Thank You Economy.

Ron Coleman at Likelihood of Confusion says the dark side clouds everything.

There are a couple of insightful posts by Becker and Posner on the Middle East Uprisings and the Economy.

Josh Gerstein, writing Under the Radar, reports that the Justice Department has released portions of a detailed legal analysis from 2004 of President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program.

Christopher Danzig (hope that's a pseudonym;) is a new writer at Above the Law, who makes a good case that suing hundreds of anonymous people will not make you popular.

Scott Greenfield says dead lawyers have no enemies.

Rick Horowitz closed his law office for most of last week. This post explains why.

The National Association of Environmental Law [ANDA: Asociación Nacional de Derecho Ambiental] is hosting their 6th environmental conference from March 23 to April 5, 2011, at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Law School.

United States Plus One – The Prospect of Puerto Rico as the 51st State: When HR.2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2010 passed the House 223 - 169, it barely gathered a whimper of press.

The prospect of America gaining a new state would normally be newsworthy, yet H.R.2499 missed out. Meanwhile, decade old perceptions of Democratic gerrymandering, and opinions based on the 93 and 98 failed plebiscites re-surfaced.

This 78 Minute Audio Documentary speaks with the participants themselves, and looks into the decades long debate over Puerto Rican Statehood.

On March 21st, the anniversary of the Ponce Massacre, it's perhaps time to look into the history of Puerto Rico and reconsider its relationship with America, if for no other reason than you don't want to be like this Ward guy.

President's Task Force on Puerto Rico

"For over a century, the people of Puerto Rico and the United States have woven a lasting political, economic, social, and cultural relationship. Today, this relationship is strengthened and renewed by more than four million U.S. citizens who call Puerto Rico home and nearly equal number of Puerto Ricans living on the mainland who travel back to Puerto Rico for business, vacation, or visits to see family and friends. We honor their contributions to the Nation and welcome their vigorous participation in helping to develop, shape, and implement the recommendations presented in this Report."
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, MARCH 11, 2011

In a statement, the Resident Commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, called the White House Task Force Report an historic document, one that says that resolution of Puerto Rico’s status issue should be an urgent priority, discusses the economic situation on the Island in detailed fashion, and offers recommendations in important areas like health and education.

Governor Luis Fortuño and Other Puerto Rican Leaders React to White House Status Report

If you get the chance to visit Puerto Rico, be sure to meetup with Santiago Lampón, a Puerto Rican lawyer and a very gracious host, who blogs at Vieques and the Law. Click on the photo below if you'd like to learn more about his "small island" off Puerto Rico.

And on that recollection of my recent sojourn in Puerto Rico, I leave you with this post by Jodi Ettenberg, who writes at Legal Nomads about how travel helps us keep life in perspective.

Next week’s Blawg Review will be hosted by George M. Wallace, an insurance lawyer who blogs on Declarations and Exclusions and at his personal blog, a fool in the forest, where he's hosted Blawg Review many times before. You'd be a fool not to tune in next week -- and the week after that!

Blawg Review has information about future hosts, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed. Mirriam Seddiq, who hosted Blawg Review #301 a couple of week's ago, apparently has writer's blawgk. Whatabout you?

Where's My Pie?

2011-03-14T16:12:00.007-04:00

pls clarify if it's Pi Day, or is it Pie Day?

Blawg Review #302 has the answer to the question, "What is Pi?

Now, does anyone have the answer to that other question that seems always to be on the minds of real lawyers who blog, "Where's my pie?"

We Are The World

2011-03-07T21:48:00.003-05:00

"We Are the World" a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa was released on this date, March 7, in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World.

Omar Ha-Redeye, who earned high praise for his Blawg Review #278 to mark the “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition,” must have been a young boy when that was recorded. Omar Ha-Redeye is a recent graduate (Juris Doctor) of the law program at the University of Western Ontario, and a frequent contributor to leading Canadian law blogs, Slaw.ca and Law is Cool, where he hosted Blawg Review of the Year 2010.

Can We Get Together?

2011-03-01T12:19:00.005-05:00

Tonight's my last night in Puerto Rico, Daddy Yankee fans, and then I'm off to New York City where, if I'm lucky, Greenfield will have the limo sent to meet me at the airport. One night only, but that's just the beginning of this whirlwind tour.

Next, we're off to San Francisco for a meetup with Bay Area Bloggers at Harry's Bar on Saturday, March 5th where we'll announce the award for Blawg Review of the Year 2010 at 7 pm. Everyone's invited!

Sunday, March 6th I'm in San Jose, where dinner or drinks with blawgers there would be fun. Nothing's arranged yet, but we'll update here to let you know.

Then it's off to Cincinnati, where I'd like to arrange meetups or get-togethers with Cincy law bloggers, maybe the evening of Wednesday the 9th of March.

Thursday, March 10th, arriving in Chicago, where there's a Windy City Bloggers Meetup scheduled for 5:30 pm at Sweetwater.

I'll be in Buffalo on Monday, March 14th for a few days and, from there, who knows?

Can we get together? Email ed@blawgreview.com if you're up for it. As we make further arrangements for these meetups, tweetups, and get-togethers, this post will be updated with details.

Blawg Review #300

2011-02-27T02:00:00.019-05:00

The Battle for Blawg Review of the Year

Like the movie business, with its Academy Awards, the business of blog reviewing is highly competitive. The rewards are immeasurable. It's not about money; lawyers have easier ways to make a buck. No, it's about writing some epic piece, an incomparable Blawg Review, that will leave adversaries in awe and ensure the continuing loyalty of a small army of followers.

Before this battle is over the world will know that few stood against many and, in the end, there is only one Blawg Review of the Year 2010.

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. The host of each Blawg Review has complete control over the production; director's cut, if you will, in movie parlance. We think this brings out the best in the best.

Colin Samuels, who writes a pretty good review, himself, whenever he gets around to it, makes the point. "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."

Let's revisit the creative presentations of Blawg Review in 2010 and see what our hosts have been up to this week, too, shall we? The first link in each paragraph below points to their respective presentation of Blawg Review, while the next link points to a recent post by that blogger. The best stuff is in the links. Click away, and enjoy!

CharonQC, with what was then his fifth Blawg Review (he's since hosted an impressive sixth) started the year off with a welcome from the Baron Mandelson of Foy, Prince of Darkness, First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills, Lord President of The Council and Witch Finder-General for H M Government…"You are unwise to lower your defenses" This week, Mike Semple Piggot and his friends at the bar covered a great deal of ground in the first episode of Without Prejudice, a round the table podcast: Assange verdict on extradition, European Arrest Warrants – The British Bill of Rights and the ECHR – The oversupply of lawyers …and we even had time to consider Garrow’s Law and Silk the BBC tv dramas on law and lawyers.

The Client Revolution gathered the best and the brightest from the blawgosphere for the first full week of the 2010s and looked at them through the lens of a crystal ball. Jay Shepherd has run the Boston management-side employment-law boutique Shepherd Law Group for the past 13 years. Jay also founded Prefix, LLC, which helps lawyers and clients value and price legal services. He writes the ABA Blawg 100 honoree The Client Revolution, which focuses on reinventing the business of law, and Gruntled Employees, a workplace blog, and still he finds time to contribute a regular column to Above the Law, Small Firms, Big Lawyers.

Gideon, blogging as A Public Defender, did justice to another of his thoughtful and inspiring Martin Luther King, Jr. Day editions of Blawg Review. But looney times are here again, and Gideon reports on an influx of bills in a new legislative session that make you go “stfu!”.

The Scots Law Student treated us to a traditional Burns Supper on Robbie Burns Day. Recently the Scots Law Student blogged about the human cost of control orders exemplified in a story in the Guardian about two men, best friends, sitting outside one of their homes talking, drinking and eating snacks. They cannot go inside.

Omar Ha-Redeye, a regular contributor to one of the leading Canadian law blogs, Slaw.ca, marked the start of Black History Month, on National Freedom Day with a theme of African slavery in America, using the model of Alex Haley’s novel, Roots. In his latest article on Slaw.ca, Omar reports on an interesting case involving, incidentally, a recent law graduate and others suing a zipline company, which was cleared over waiver.

Antonin Pribetic, writing on The Trial Warrior Blog, presented Blawg Review with a theme based on the Bushidō (武士道), or “the way of the warrior,” the moral code of the Samurai, the privileged warrior class of ancient Japan, whose philosophy of Bushidō emphasized loyalty, frugality, the mastery of martial arts, and “honor unto death.” This week, Nino demonstrated a “real and substantial connection” between his blog and his legal practice.

The Canadian Trademark Blog hosted Blawg Review from Vancouver: Olympic Host City. A recent blog post on the Canadian Trademark Blog reports on a recent case in the Province of British Columbia concerning the purchase of keywords of competitor institutions, so that when someone entered the name of the competitor in a GOOGLE or YAHOO! search, as well as the organic search results that would turn up for the competitor, such searches would also turn up prominent sponsored links or advertisements.

Jordan Furlong created a monster of a Blawg Review based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which he hosted on Stem Legal's Law Firm Web Strategy blog. In his most recent post on that blog, Jordan writes about helping lawyers generate content for their blogs; pitfalls and possibilities.

Spring Break, South Florida Lawyers played host. Sounds like fun, but anyone who thinks Florida law is all beach bunnies in bikinis hasn't had a citrus canker.

Niki Black hosted Blawg Review, in celebration of International Women's Day, National Women's History Month, and the 30th anniversary of the National Women's History Project, on Sui Generis, her New York law blog. Niki published an ode to my mentors, and their dedication this week, as the latest of her regular columns in The Daily Record.

Law Shucks, the blog about “Life in, and after, BigLaw”, hosted Blawg Review on the Ides of March, marking the first anniversary of the worst month for law-firm layoffs in history, and other doom and gloom. On the bright side, this week, Law Shucks notes that some lawyers really are bargains at $1,000 an hour.

Blawg Review of the Year 2009 host Kevin Thompson put together an epic presentation on Cyberlaw Central in honor of the 45th anniversary of the best-selling science fiction book of all time, Frank Herbert’s Dune. Dune is often credited with raising awareness of our planet as a living complex organism, and has also been credited with supporting the movement now known as Earth Day. March 22, 2010 is also World Water Day, which makes Dune particularly relevant. On Arrakis, water is the most precious resource. Cyberlaw Central appears to have lapsed into a month-long coma after posting Kevin's latest Blawg Review. I blame dehydration.

To celebrate the first anniversary of 22 Tweets, a blog that posts Twitter interviews of practicing lawyers, Lance Godard put together a special version of Blawg Review. Are You Writing This Down? Are you talking the talk? Walking the walk?

Cathy Gellis, blogging on Statements of Interest, hosted Blawg Review celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Statute of Anne. Coincidental, I think not. Anyway, the rush of traffic hitting her last year's Blawg Review seems to have borked her blog.

Legal Blog Watch marked Five years of Blawg Review. What started as a "blog carnival" for everyone interested in law has grown into a community that comes together every week to review recent legal news, opinions, and commentary from an increasing number of remarkable law blogs. Seems like a good fit with ALM. We should talk.

Dan Vorhaus, on the Genomics Law Report, on DNA Day, established by Congressional resolution in 2003 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the description of the double-helix structure of DNA and to celebrate the publication of the final consensus human genome sequence produced by the Human Genome Project. This week, the Genomics Law Report has more news on DNA in forensics.

Jeremy Phillips at The IPKat hosted Blawg Review on the tenth World Intellectual Property Day. This week, Jeremy, wise old cat that he is, organized a special deal for students, trainees and recently-qualified IP professionals who are not TIPLO members and could not be expected to fork out £135 for delicious delights at Growltiger's IP Dinner. Purrrrrfect.

Matthew Frederick VanVoorhis, one of the few non-lawyers invited to put together a Blawg Review hosted at his Public Intellectual blog on World Press Freedom Day. This week, VanVoorhis was on Human Rights Radio.

She Negotiates hosted Blawg Review to celebrate Mothers Day. In addition to the main post, they also posted Blawg Review #263 on their She Networks, She Succeeds, She Transforms and She Resolves pages (up at the top of the blog). Then they deleted their Wordpress blog altogether, and started over on another blog platform. Oh noes, mom, you threw the baby out with the bathwater? And now you're thinking of asking for a raise?

Rossa McMahon at A Clatter of the Law hosted Blawg Review National Famine Commemoration Day, which marks the Great Famine in Ireland. Recently, on his blog, asked and answered the vexing question facing newlyweds in Ireland, "Do you own your wedding album?"

Marty Schwimmer hosted Blawg Review on The Trademark Blog while he was at the INTA Annual Meeting. In a recent post, Marty points to the claim in the case of Swatch v. Bloomberg and the issues of copyright in a conference call.

Quit Facebook Day (really, you can't make this shit up) seemed an appropriate day for Peter Black to host Blawg Review on Freedom to Differ, a blog that speaks freely about law, politics and the internet. Ironically, perhaps, talking on the telly this week about technology and the way it frames our world, Pete discusses an Egyptian man naming his first born "Facebook", a Facebook timestamp being used in a lawsuit, a computer taking on humans on a US quiz show, and the end of the bookstore.

Venkat Balasubramani hosted Blawg Review on Spam Notes, a law blog covering electronic communications, email, social networks, privacy, and more. This week, Venkat writes that Paper.li Combines the Evils of Faux Curation and Spam.

David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog, HealthBlawg, hosted Blawg Review on Flag Day. David's latest post tells the fateful story of the medical record that didn't return. "It is fascinating... -- and possibly a wake-up call to folks concerned about loss of privacy due to digitization of health records -- that in this digital age, an age of lost laptops and stolen hard drives, an institution at the heart of Boston's identity as a medical Mecca is tripped up by carelessness with paper records."

Andrew Raff hosted Blawg Review on his IPTAblog.org blog, from New York on World Music Day. In his latest blog post, Andrew has a surprise: Authors Like Copyright.

Gulbransen at Preaching to Perverted went retro. Whoa, Dave!

Kevin Underhill hosted Blawg Review on Lowering the Bar to mark X-Day, the main holiday of the Church of the SubGenius. A recent blog post on Lowering the Bar discusses a case in which the judge had to decide if a pizza is a solid object for the purpose of a statute. Bacon. Hardly. Shook. Lunch ensued.

The Lawyerist hosted something. Don't know what that was, but it wasn't Blawg Review. This week, The Lawyerist suggests you might want to put a QR code on your business card. One commenter suggested no name even, just a QR code. Yeah, everyone should do that!

Joe and Richard at ninetyfiveyears took us back to the future. The boys haven't posted on their blog in, like, 95 years in blog years.

At the LoTempio Law Blog, patent attorney Vincent LoTempio marked the 20th anniversary of the Americans Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Recently, Vinny blogged about the Jeopardy IBM Challenge.

Charles H. Green is founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates hosted Blawg Review on Trust Matters. This week, Charlie discusses Trust & Investment Banking: Interview with The Epicurean Dealmaker.

Blawg Review on IP.com's blog, Securing Innovation, focused not Intellectual Property but Indigenous Peoples to mark International Day of the World's Indigenous People. This week, they blogged about Presidents Day & Black History Month.

At the Chicago IP Litigation Blog, Dave Donoghue celebrated the Chicago Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup in 2010. Recently reported on the Chicago IP Litigation Blog, a case where "even though individual defendant Riddick was the sole officer and employee of each co-defendant, the corporate defendants required representation because a corporation cannot represent itself pro se."

Law is Cool, the law school blog and podcast from Canada, hosted Blawg Review by Omar Ha-Redeye on the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. In his most recent post on Law is Cool, Omar blogs about "perhaps one of the most bizzare products liaiblity cases we’ll see in some time."

Mirriam Seddiq at Not Guilty hosted Blawg Review on the International Day of the Disappeared. In her latest post, Legalize it?, Mirriam says, "while the argument for or against legalizing drugs is one that we will continue to have for years to come, to say that ending the war on drugs would solve all of black America's problems is just as disingenuous as saying that there is no racism in America."

Ron Coleman at Likelihood of Confusion celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment for all of humanity—even lawyers. Even judges. Even blawgers! This week, Ron posted the amicus brief prepared on behalf of the Media Bloggers Association in the matter of the Righthaven lawsuits.

Keith Lee at An Associate's Mind drew our attention to World Suicide Prevention Day with a thought-provoking, though dark and depressing, Blawg Review. Keith hasn't blogged or tweeted in months, so we're worried about him.

Mark Bennett on Defending People hosted Blawg Review to remind us about Constitution Day, or, as he calls it, the thinking person’s Patriot Day.

Ed @ Blawg Review hosted on World Tourism Day, in the middle of his "all-you-can-jet" adventure, to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide. This week: Had a great tweetup with @SantiagoFLampon in Old San Juan, PR, after visiting his blog Vieques and the Law Can't wait to visit his island.

In recognition of the 40th anniversary of her October 4, 1970 death, this edition of Blawg Review on Houston-based Mark Bennett's Blog was dedicated to Texas*-born blues wailer Janis Joplin. This week, Bennett's wailing about TSA Grooming.

The theme of this Blawg Review on Freedom to Differ was a little more personal for host Peter Black and didn't fall into his usual areas of teaching, writing or blogging. Lately, since Pete's had the freedom to dither, he's been wondering if this group of Aussies singing the Facebook song is totally fucking amazing, or just gay?

Drawing attention to the National Day on Writing, we called upon a pseudonymous host for Blawg Review, Piercie Shafton, not that Piercie Shafton, “the meddling tool of wise plotters–a hair-brained trafficker in treason–a champion of the Pope, employed as a forlorn hope by those more politic heads, who have more will to work mischief, than valour to encounter danger.” Piercie Shafton had to create a Gmail account to post on ATL, so he's very interested in Google's privacy policies and finds it good to know that Google gives you the freedom to be who you want to be...

Keith Lee at An Associate's Mind hosted Blawg Review a second time in as many months because he was keen to express his thoughts on National Freedom of Speech Week. We wonder, "Why has his voice not been heard in so many months?"

Houston's Paul Kennedy at The Defense Rests hosted Blawg Review to celebrate the triple witching hour of All Saint's Day, All Soul's Day and the Day of the Dead, or, more appropriately, El Dia de los Muertos. This week, he's remembering the Alamo.

Patent Baristas hosted Blawg Review on November 9, the birthday of inventor and Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr. This week, Stephen Albainy-Jenei says it's crunch time for the Patent Reform Act.

Pink Tape hosted Blawg Review, taking as her theme for the week “the trouble people get into for saying stuff”. Need we say more? This week, familoo received a gift from the MOJ that, shall we dare say, set her off.

Dave Gulbransen stepped into the breach and hosted "sua sponte" a last minute Thanksgiving edition of Blawg Review. Thanks, Dave!

Thanks to all the bloggers who have collaborated over the years to make Blawg Review one of the very best blog carnivals of any genre. In review, then, here's the complete list of those who took up the challenge of hosting Blawg Review in 2010.

We're gonna need your help to choose which of those presentations will be named Blawg Review of the Year 2010. All this week, we'll be looking for feedback. By all means, blog about it, tweet about it, or send private emails to ed@blawgreview.com telling the editor who you think is most deserving of this honor. All such emails will be held in strictest confidence, if you like.

Blawg Review of the Year 2010 will be announced next Saturday, March 5th, at 7:00 pm Pacific time, live from Harry's Bar in San Francisco, where the Editor of Blawg Review and everyone who wants to attend can join us for a law blogger meetup. We will live-tweet the event, of course, and post the name of the Blawg Review of the Year 2010 as a final update to this post, as soon as it's announced.

If you're thinking, "This is Blawg Review of the Year!!!" you'd be right, and if you clicked on the banner graphic below, you'd know which blawger earned this honor for 2010.

Finally, if I may quote Keith Lee from his latest Blawg Review, "I’d like to take a moment to encourage readers to offer to host Blawg Review. It’s a challenging task but by participating you’re contributing to a pillar of the blawgosphere. It’s a great resource and a worthwhile endeavor. Step up to the plate, and thanks for reading."

Blawg Review has information about next week's host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

All We Are Saying

2011-02-21T00:03:00.003-05:00

Give peace a chance; read Blawg Review #299.

Jennifer Lubinski hosts Blawg Review this week, marking the anniversary of the design of the peace symbol created to promote nuclear disarmament.

I'm Sorry I Tweeted

2011-02-20T22:57:00.003-05:00

Sometimes real life just smacks you in the head.

Don't listen to me; follow ALJAZEERA now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T21:59:00.004-05:00

Wow! Who isn't in that movie? More importantly, who isn't in this week's Valentine's Day Special Blawg Review #298 hosted by the blawgosphere's ~~pitbull~~ sweetheart, Brian Tannebaum.

Hot, or Not Blawg Review

2011-02-07T14:33:00.009-05:00

That's not potty-mouthed ~~redhead~~ dirty-blonde Amy Derby in the movie Bonfire of the Vanities. As far as we know, Amy's never even been in a movie -- not one we can embed here, anyway.

So, if you want to see Amy Derby in action, you'll have to follow her on Twitter or, better yet, click on over to Blawg Review #297 on Big Legal Brain where she's got a ~~bit~~ big part opposite one of the rising stars of the blawgosphere.

The Bold Look of Koehler

2011-01-31T13:38:00.007-05:00

Jamison Koehler hosts Blawg Review #296 at Koehler Law, putting faces to the names of many leading bloggers of the criminal defense bar.

"Don't piss on my blog and tell me you're contributing something personal in the comments," added Koehler when reached for his thoughts on hosting this week's carnival of law blogs. (Okay, we made that shit up.)

Kohler Arts Center washroom photograph by Keith Stokes

Big Brother

2011-01-24T01:21:00.009-05:00

On this date in 1984, Apple sold its first Macintosh computer, announced by Steve Jobs in a keynote address that featured this ominous television ad by Apple, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Also on this date, in 2003, the Department of Homeland Security began operations, and things haven't been the same since.

On this momentous date, Kevin Thompson hosts Blawg Review #295 on the Blawg Review of the Year Award winning Cyberlaw Central, where he blogs about the digital world, its impact and legal framework.

"Somewhere I read..."

2011-01-17T14:33:00.002-05:00

On MLK Jr. Day, somewhere I read, in Blawg Review #294 by Gideon on a public defender blog, the best law blog posts of the past week.

His Name Is Mudd

2011-01-10T22:07:00.003-05:00

"Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd died 127 years ago today. For those of y'all not familiar with Dr. Mudd's story, he was imprisoned for conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln."

Blawg Review #293 by Paul B. Kennedy, at The Defense Rests, tells the story in a wonderfully crafted presentation of this week's carnival of law blogs.

Happy Birthday, Tully

2011-01-03T10:41:00.012-05:00

There can be little doubt that Marcus Tullius Cicero would have been a blogger as passionate as Scott Greenfield.

"It might be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently is nothing short of criminal."

Tully would have considered Twitter more useful than Brian Tannebaum.

"Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so."

And he would have found Facebook as indispensable as Kevin O'Keefe.

"Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends."

Certainly, he would have liked his iPad as much as Jon Bloor.

"If you have a garden and an iPad, you have everything you need."

Yes, Cicero would have appreciated Blawg Review #292, and, like many of us, Tully would have followed @Charonqc on Twitter and started each day reading Charon QC for inspiration.

"Hoc vinum annorum sexaginta est. Bene aetatem fert."

We got an award, eh?

2010-12-31T22:48:00.001-05:00

It's about time those hosers in the Great White North figured out how to give an award to Blawg Review, eh?

Sabbatical

2010-11-30T20:03:00.032-05:00

After 291 weeks without a break, Blawg Review is on sabbatical until the new year. Get the picture?

This post may be updated from time to time during my sojourn, if as and when there's a connection to the world wide web. Hope you're all here when I get back. All the best, Ed.

Some might be wondering what's with the backpack. Typically, I travel with a Brookstone Dash Rolling Office, which I've converted into an ultralight hardcase carry-on by removing the dome-fastened file dividers. But for this trip, I'm traveling with some interesting gear in an unusual backpack.

The Osprey Kode 30 is a winter sports backpack, specifically designed to accommodate skis and snowboards. What makes it the all-seasons backpack of choice for me? There are many things I really like about the Kode 30, but the key feature is that it opens wide like a suitcase, providing easy access to all the gear in the main compartment. Clothes are compressed in a Sea-to-Summit compression sack, as is the bedroll that includes an Outdoor Research bivy, an ultralight MEC Equatorial sleeping bag, Lifeventure silk mummy liner and matching silk pillowcase. I've got an ultralight ThermaRest Neo air mattress.

Clothes are light, wicking, high-tech fabrics, designed for adventure travel. I packed three pairs of black ExOfficio underwear, two white ExOfficio Reef-runner shirts, one pair of REI Adventure pants, and a Patagonia bathing suit that can be worn as shorts, as well. I didn't forget my Tilley Airflo hat. I have a Marmot Precip Jacket and pants, and a microlight REI breeze jacket. I packed three pairs of wool hiking socks of various styles by Fox River. Hiking and water shoes are Salomon Techampibian and Columbia Blackfin. Off the beaten path, I didn't pack my Fudellos.

For this trip, I packed a Steri-pen Journey for water purification, and well-designed Kor One hydration vessels manufactured in Mexico, but sold only in the USA, Canada, and Australia. I also brought ultralight dry sacks by Outdoor Research and Eureka! I packed a Pocket Towel by Sea-to-Summit, and a bug-net jacket!

Technology-wise, I travel with an Acer Aspire 1410 ultraportable notebook computer, an unlocked iPhone 4 that I bought from Apple Canada and a BlackBerry Bold 9780. Backup power supply for both smartphones is Mophie's Juice Pack Powerstation. Headphones, chargers, adapters and all sensitive electronics are protected from moisture by a LOKSAK.

I stay connected with Motorola Talkabout but the most interesting technology on this adventure is the Spot GPS. If you'd like to track the editor of Blawg Review, click on this link to spot Ed.

Pardon the Interruption

2010-11-25T20:12:00.011-05:00

In serious news, via the Pardon Power blog:

Dan Froomkin, senior Washington editor for the Huffington Post has written a fantastic piece on President Obama's complete failure to pardon. It is entitled, "Turkey Spared - But Obama's Compassion for Humans comes up short." Froomkin makes several outstanding points and provides snippets of commentary from the Editor of the Pardon Power blog, George Lardner, former Office of the Pardon Attorney staff member Sam Morison and conservative columnist Debra Saunders.

In Blawg Review #291, a Thanksgiving edition of Blawg Review, Dave Gulbransen notes the law bloggers he is especially thankful for this year, encouraging readers to add links in the comments to others they're thankful for, as well, making this a truly collaborative Blawg Review.

Looking ahead, we may have been given a break here at Blawg Review, inadvertently.

Nov 29 Date Available
Dec 6 Date Available
Dec 13 Date Available
Dec 20 Date Available
Dec 27 Date Available
Jan 3 CharonQC
Jan 10 The Defense Rests
Jan 17 a public defender
Jan 24 Cyberlaw Central
Jan 31 Koehler Law

Speaking not only for myself but for all who follow Blawg Review, we'd like to thank everyone who hosted the previous 291 presentations; hardly a turkey among them, if you'll pardon the pun.

How to Make Money

2010-11-21T12:01:00.007-05:00

Some lunatic sent the editor of Blawg Review this smarmy email today:

Hi, I'm contacting you because we offer a blog carnival submission service and have an affiliate program specifically designed for those who host carnivals. After referring a new subscriber to our service you get 30% of every payment they make for life. After joining our affiliate program you can promote our service by simply including your affiliate link in your published carnival editions. Or if you have an email list of those who submitted posts to your carnivals in the past you can simply email them and let them know about our service. There are already several carnival hosts making money with our affiliate program. You can learn more about our service here: http://bit.ly/dslr3u and you can join our affiliate program here: http://bit.ly/9plSRo

Sorry buddy, there are some things lawyers won't do for money.

Eclectic Pink Tape

2010-11-14T18:40:00.004-05:00

Blawg Review #290 hails from Bristol (UK not PA) where the family law barrister known affectionately as "Familoo" in the blawgosphere maintains an eclectic blog she calls Pink Tape.

Pink Tape is not just about family law: I post about what interests me and whilst that is largely family law, it also includes non-family legal stuff, non-legal family stuff and stuff totally unrelated to either law or family.

This is the second time Pink Tape has played host to our carnival of law blogs, having hosted an excellent Blawg Review #226 a bit over a year ago, and we couldn't be more pleased that Lucy offered to host again this year.

Not Just a Pretty Face

2010-11-08T12:08:00.007-05:00

Blawg Review #289 by Patent Attorney Stephen Albainy-Jenei on Patent Baristas honors Hollywood Actress Hedy Lamarr for her inventiveness, and to mark Inventors' Day in German-speaking nations.

Previous presentations of Blawg Review, on the Invent Blog and on Securing Innovation, have marked Inventors' Day in the USA and Argentina respectively honoring their national inventors of note, and a couple of years ago Think IP Stategy tipped their Aussie hats to Hedy Lamarr, as well. Seems that Patent Attorneys love geek gurls.

Trick or Treat?

2010-11-01T00:26:00.016-04:00

"This Halloween Season McDowell Laybourne & Rodemer reminds you to be safe and designate a drunk driver." (hic)

The badly-drafted blog post speaks volumes, and the picture's worth a thousand words.

In the spirit of the season, we have a special treat this week, the 31 October 2010 edition of ukblawgroundup, the fourth in the series of round-ups initiated by Michael Scutt to promote blogging lawyers in the UK, hosted by In-House Lawyer Melanie Hatton.

The theme of this edition is, spookily enough, what with the date and everything, Halloween; the origins of which date back to the Celtic festival of Samhain which celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", where the border between this world and the other becomes thin enough to let the spirits pass through, and when we wear costumes and masks to ward off evil.

What a hoot!

Blawg Review #288 this week is hosted by Houston's Paul B. Kennedy at The Defense Rests, where he presents "assorted ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches and clowns from the blawgosphere."

So there you have it, a double dose of Halloween treats from blawgers around the world!

NFSW and NSFW

2010-10-25T13:14:00.005-04:00

Blawg Review #287 is hosted by An Associate's Mind to mark National Freedom of Speech Week or #NFSW as they call it on the Twitter. For lawyers who like their First Amendment rights NSFW, there's the Legal Satyricon.

Blawg Review #286

2010-10-17T16:48:00.021-04:00

"We shall meet again," said Sir Piercie Shafton, " at least I trust
so..." from The Monastery by Sir Walter Scott

It's been three years since I was a a guest blogger on Above the Law with this nom de plume, Piercie Shafton. As I said at the time, don't bother to Google me. I'm not that Piercie Shafton, “the meddling tool of wise plotters–a hair-brained trafficker in treason–a champion of the Pope, employed as a forlorn hope by those more politic heads, who have more will to work mischief, than valour to encounter danger.” However, I imagine that, in another time and place, I may well have been a figment of the imagination of a lawyer who published controversial writings under an assumed name.

Today, I'm hosting Blawg Review #286 in the stead of a regularly scheduled host who has not blogged or tweeted in months and has been unresponsive to our editor's email reminder messages. We fear he may be unable to write (a fate worse than death for a blogger) and wish him a speedy return to his craft.

Rather than call upon Professor Kingsfield to castigate a recalcitrant blogger, our editor commissioned a more literary Blawg Review to draw attention to the upcoming National Day on Writing, which is October 20th.

Whether we call it texting, IMing, jotting a note, writing a letter, posting an email, blogging, making a video, building an electronic presentation, composing a memo, keeping a diary, or just pulling together a report, Americans are writing like never before. Recent research suggests that writing, in its many forms, has become a daily practice for millions of Americans. It may be the quintessential 21st century skill. By collecting a cross-section of everyday writing through a National Gallery of Writing, we will better understand what matters to writers today—and when writing really counts. Understanding who writes, when, how, to whom, and for what purposes will lead to production of improved resources for writers, better strategies to nurture and celebrate writers, and improved policy to support writing.

In the National Gallery of Writing they’re collecting all kinds of writing from people from all walks of life—people just like you. Submit stories, poems, recipes, emails, blogs, even audio, video, and artwork.

Take part in the National Day on Writing.

It pains me that this is styled (as Americans are wont to do) a "National" Day, whereas...whatever.

We share the view of Dan Hull on Cultural Literacy in America.

Put another way, Americans, the Alpha-humans, the elect and the "winners" in modern world history, are not well-rounded in our knowledge of the world, its people, and how we all got to this point on earth. Browse the American blogs of the Internet for a few hours. Mostly bad neighborhoods--and getting worse and dumber every week. We are insular and at best (being charitable here) semi-literate as a people. We are uninformed about the history, political roots, ideas and art of the West.

Rather than focus only on American lawyers who write, this Blawg Review on writing takes a global view.

For reasons that make perfect sense, if you click the links and read between the lines, we begin this Blawg Review in England, the homeland of our mother tongue, with CharonQC, who, in his euphuistic style, announces the return of West London Man. If you have never read West London Man – a social satire – and wish to do so there are the first 25 episodes at the link, including guest appearances by Scott Greenfield and Colin Samuels. More about them, later in this Blawg Review.

No review of literary lawyers would be complete without a look at BabyBarista, where this week we find a Solicitor advocate.

BabyBarista is a fictional account of a junior barrister practising at the English Bar. The stories he tells appeared on The Times for three years and now appear on The Guardian and also led to him getting two book deals with Harry Potter’s publisher Bloomsbury. Law and Disorder was first published in 2009 as BabyBarista and the Art of War and republished with its new title in 2010. Book Two of the BabyBarista Files is entitled Law and Peace and will be published by Bloomsbury in May 2011. BabyBarista is written by barrister and writer Tim Kevan.

In America, we had the Anonymous Lawyer blog and book, or "blook", as it was called, but he hasn't blogged in a year. Still, the hilariously well-written attorney bios of the Anonymous Law Firm website are timeless.

Scott Greenfield, on Simple Justice, finds much to criticize about the Real Lawyers of Las Vegas.

"What's wrong with your law firm bio?" asks Adrian Dayton, writing on Above the Law.

Should only the gray-haired senior practitioners among us write about how lawyers can improve their business practices with the proper use of blogs and social networking? Or might we learn something from those younger than ourselves? What are we afraid of? Gerry Spence (if you prefer to listen to elders) has written an interesting blog post about the great power of ignorance.

Jordan Furlong, a lawyer, former legal journalist, thought leader and consultant, with more than a dozen years’ experience leading three top Canadian legal periodicals, knows something about what's wrong with the legal profession, and he knows how to make his point with a story.

Rossa McMahon, who blogs at A Clatter of the Law, knows how to write about cases in a way that makes a technical legal matter interesting, not just for other lawyers, but also for clients who read their blogs.

Eoin O'Dell, a senior lecturer in Law in Trinity College Dublin and former Blawg Review host who blogs at Cearta, compares and contrasts the US and EU positions on the extent to which ISPs can be immune from liability in defamation for defamatory posts which they host.

Kenneth Anderson at the Volokh Conspiracy has a very interesting post, effectively headlined for search-engine-optimization, Google Cars Drive Themselves, and Robots and the Law.

Mark W. Bennett (you'll see why lawyers named Bennett always use their middle initials) knows how to tell a story about the trials and tribulations of criminal defense when there's too much to mock.

Among social media savants, few have the klout of Scott Greenfield. "You've got an idea or cause you want to share with the world and you've found the perfect medium for it. Your audience counts on you to champion your cause." Scott Greenfield is a rebel among legal rebels IRL* and Rebels Don't Hide In The Shadows.

Neither does Norm Pattis, who writes on his blog this week about Qualified Immunity And The Police State.

On Lawyer2Lawyer, the Real Betty Anne Waters, who is portrayed in the movie Conviction by character actor Hilary Swank. There's also an interview in Moving Pictures Magazine where "Conviction writer Pamela Gray discusses why writing the script was an arduous journey and how the film was able to hold onto its artistic integrity...Gray dishes on her reasoning for cutting scenes from the script, why you don’t know your characters until you meet the actors who will play them, why she thinks the film is a love story, and her newfound friendship with the real-life Betty Anne."

Colin Samuels has more in this Round Tuit post highlighting the past week's law blogs, with his well-written commentary.

Keith Lee at An Associate's Mind says, Do NOT Tweet, Blog, or Any Other #*$&! While in Trial.

The Wars on Drugs and Terror: mirror images, is an important blog post by Glenn Greenwald, a writer who's a lawyer by profession.

When it comes to literary Blawg Review presentations, we always recognize the award-winning writing Colin Samuels on Infamy or Praise based on Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Not to mention The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" Speech.

Charon QC, himself a literary blawg reviewer, first noted the trend here.

I have noticed the literary bent of many of the hosts of Blawg Review…. the elegance of Dante, the earthiness of Shakespeare…. but this is hardly surprising; lawyers use language, words, psychology, pathos, emotion…. as arrows of desire and bows of burning gold… our stock in trade.

CharonQC followed up with his own masterwork as the Lord of Misrule on Twelfth Night.

But no day on writing would be complete without mention of Kevin Thompson's excellent presentations of the best law blogs with literary themes based on Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as well as the Lord of the Rings.

We end as we began this Blawg Review, leaving the last word to CharonQC who reminds us in his War of 1812 Blawg Review that it was James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, who cried out “Don’t give up the ship!”

Wait, wait. One last post, from a fool in the forest, George M. Wallace, a must-read for his thoughtful perspectives on culture and the arts, in real life. Everybody Give It Up for . . . Giving Up!

Blawg Review has information about hosting and instructions how to submit your blog posts or recommend others for inclusion in next week's presentation.

*IRL In Real Life - Something people who have such a thing say on the Internet to irritate those of us who do not. These three letters send the average geek loner into a nostalgic flashback of better times in their childhood.
"I'm talking about my friends IRL not you, loser."
"I wish I could attract members of the opposite sex IRL."
"Do you think we'll ever meet IRL?"

Coming Out Day

2010-10-11T23:16:00.007-04:00

Peter Black, on Freedom to Differ, hosts his sixth Blawg Review.

Remembering Janis Joplin

2010-10-04T02:28:00.002-04:00

In recognition of the 40th anniversary of her October 4, 1970 death, this edition of Blawg Review is dedicated to Texas-born blues wailer Janis Joplin.

Houston-based criminal-defense attorney Mark Bennett does her proud in his thoughtful presentation of Blawg Review #284 on his law blog, Defending People.

Blawg Review #283

2010-09-27T05:03:00.003-04:00

Get up. Go somewhere different. Meet someone different. ~ Dan Hull

Today, September 27, is World Tourism Day. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide.

It seemed like a good idea, then, for me to volunteer to host Blawg Review in the middle of my "all you can jet" adventure on JetBlue. Last year, I logged 22 legs with my AYCJ pass. This year, I've booked about 17 flights in 30 days. I'm taking it easy. Others I've crossed paths with during these travels, like photographer Clark Dever and digital designer Amber Rampino pictured below, travel at a more hectic pace.

I'm no photographer, you see, but I did take a few snapshots during my recent 24 hour stopover in JetBlue's Terminal 5 at JFK, which I now just call "The Terminal".

In addition to some of the best law blog posts of the past week, this editon of Blawg Review includes a few photos of my "all you can jet" tour and links to some of my favorite travel blogs that might be interesting to our readers. But I digress.

As the world comes together to celebrate 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, UNWTO is happy to announce that the World Tourism Day (WTD) celebrations, hosted officially this year by China, will take place under the theme Tourism and Biodiversity (27 September, Guangdong Province). The theme provides a unique opportunity to raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity to tourism and the role of sustainable tourism in the conservation of life on Earth.

Biodiversity is a key tourism asset and fundamental to its sustained growth. Intact and healthy ecosystems form the cornerstone of thousands of tourist enterprises and products worldwide, attracting hundreds of millions of tourists each year. As a leading economic activity, sustainable tourism has an important role and responsibility in managing and conserving biological natural resources. As a key source of income and employment, tourism often provides strong incentives to protect biodiversity. Sustainable tourism can furthermore generate significant revenues for conservation and community development and help to raise awareness of biodiversity issues.

The theme Tourism and Biodiversity is particularly pertinent in 2010. Concerned by the continued loss of biological diversity, the United Nations Assembly declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. The year coincides with the target adopted by governments in 2002, to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss.

“Tourism and biodiversity are mutually dependent. UNWTO wishes to raise awareness and calls upon the tourism stakeholders and travellers themselves to contribute their part of the global responsibility to safeguard the intricate web of unique species and ecosystems that make up our planet” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai.

Speaking of China hosting World Tourism Day, don't miss The China Law Blog World Tour.

Jodi Ettenberg, a former lawyer from Montreal who has spent the past few years eating her way around the world, one country at a time, blogs at Legal Nomads and has written a review of Eat, Pray, Love for a CNN travel blog.

Johnny Vagabond shares some photos of awesome office space from his Quest for the Perfect ‘Digital Nomad’ Office.

Lance Godard of 22 Tweets interviewed Kevin A Thompson of Cyberlaw Central, who has a post on his law blog that is of concern to international tourists: ACLU challenges Suspicionless Laptop Border Searches. Coincidentally, I'm having lunch with Kevin in Chicago, today, and we'll go over his plans to host his sixth Blawg Review -- another award-winning Blawg Review of the Year perhaps?

George M. Wallace is on the road again and has similar concerns with "security theater" in a post he titles "Meet the Beagles". Always entertaining, as well as instructive, this blog post on A Fool in the Forest has a little traveling music that struck a familiar chord -- The Handsome Family: All the Time in Airports.

Portland attorney David F. Sugerman is Live in Doha–chasing KBR and Halliburton and combining work with travel.

Ed Peterson at Man on the Go explains how we can all learn from thinking a little more like tourists on our travels. International business travelers can take a few lessons from tourists. Ed says focus your next overseas business trip on building relationships, not just accomplishing tasks.

Libel Tourism: Solving the Problem of Globetrotting Defamation Plaintiffs -- with Legislation, Treaties, and Legal Outsourcing is the title of a blog post by Sayuj Banerjee on Law Without Borders.

Across the pond, Charon QC, has a good piece: Rule Britannia – a free country? Best justice in the world? You have to be joking, Guv! And, did you hear? Charon published a new book! – CHARON QC THE JOURNEY!

David Allen Green at Jack of Kent explains why the Paul Chambers case matters. Charon QC hashtags it #Twitterjoketrial and has more to say on the subject.

Tim Kevan at The Barrister Blog wonders if the Times' paywall has started leaking.

Mike Cernovich at Crime and Federalism writes on Ethos and Persuasion.

In a blog post titled Sticks & Stones on The Common Scold, Monica Bay of ALM looks at a recent case concerning allegations of online bullying, citing analysis of the issues in a recent law journal article.

In the New York Law Journal, Stephen Kramarsky, a member of Dewey Pegno & Kramarsky, analyzes the case and recent efforts to create legislation to protect teens in the light of recent suicides related to bullying.

"Much of the public discourse in online communities and social media -- whether private blogs, websites like Facebook or MySpace or services like Twitter -- consists of button pushing and trash-talk, good natured or otherwise. Context, in such situations, can be extremely important and broad legislation, while satisfying in the wake of tragedies ... is not always the best solution," says Kramarsky.

The new issue of The Jury Expert is up with a second piece on Millennials -- Between Coddling and Contempt: Managing and Mentoring Millennials.

Gerry Spence wrote about The Great Power of Ignorance and The Joy of Senility.

Earlier in the week, I had lunch with Scott Greenfield and we talked about a lot of things, and people, Barry, Peter and Science. I met Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld quite a few years ago in New York, and we talked about the Innocence Project starting an Innocence Blog.

Adrian Dayton writes a guest column for Above the Law: Have Law Blogs Failed to Live Up to Their Expectations? Biglaw Firms Weigh In. Adrian and his wife @NatalieDayton, as he calls her, joined Tim Baran and me for breakfast in New York this past weekend.

When Travel Days Go Wrong: How to Sleep Safely and Comfortably in Public

Lena Kozlova commented: Thank you for this very useful post. I have researched this issue a while ago - I'm starting a 6-months trip around Asia, with lots of flights by low cost airlines, which have some ridiculous schedules. I ran into a great site: www.sleepinginairports.net It's dedicated to sleeping in airports only, but it has some cool ideas that can be applied to sleeping in public in general.

We Slept on the Floor at JFK Last Night, Thanks to Weather and the Tarmac Delay Law

Blawg Review has information about future hosts, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

Afterword: The Friday, September 24, 2010 edition of On the Moneyed Midways, where each week they round up best posts in each of the best of the week's money and business blog carnivals, takes note of the final edition of the Carnival of Trust, which we hosted here on Blawg Review.

It's the final edition of the Carnival of Trust as we've known it - hands down, the best of the business or money-related carnival we review regularly and the source of many of the posts we declared to be The Best Post of the Week, Anywhere! We're going to break from form and simply recommend you visit the carnival and click through to all the contributed posts. It is, as it has always been, a rewarding experience!

Afterward: The Editor of Blawg Review continues his "all you can jet" adventure on JetBlue, crisscrossing the country this week for a series of meetups with friends and followers of this carnival of law bloggers in Chicago on Monday, San Fransisco on Wednesday, and Boston on Saturday, before heading to Las Vegas on Sunday for a few days of rest and relaxation. In my travels this month, I've met with some of the many law bloggers who have hosted Blawg Review over the past years, including Craig Williams, Denise Howell, Stephanie West Allen, Scott Greenfield, and Adrian Dayton. Today, I'm in Chicago for lunch with the host of this past year's Blawg Review of the Year 2009, Kevin Thompson. On Friday, I'm circling back through Chicago to go to a Blackhawks game with Dave Donoghue. Who knows who else we'll meet on this adventure?

Constitution Day Blawg Review

2010-09-19T21:06:00.004-04:00

We the People of the United States marked Constitution Day this week, and called upon criminal defense attorney Mark Bennett to review some of the best law blog posts of recent days that provide deeper insight into the true meaning and modern-day significance of those historic words, in Blawg Review #282.

Next week, Blawg Review will travel the worldwide web, across time and space, boldly going where no one has gone before, lest anyone be concerned that this carnival of law blogs has become irrevocably US-centric. ;-)

You Were On My Mind

2010-09-13T12:47:00.003-04:00

When I woke up this morning, you were on my mind.

Where's Blawg Review this week? Readers were emailing me, asking where to find the weekly carnival of law blogs. Some lawyers, it seems, are grumpy on Monday mornings if Blawg Review isn't right there when they need their review of some of the best law blog posts of the past week. Well, here you go.

An Associate's Mind hosts Blawg Review #281.

Cantor Cantankerous

2010-09-06T15:21:00.009-04:00

Trademark guru, dare we say, IP maven, Ron Coleman hosts his third blog carnival, Blawg Review #280. It's a mitzvah.

Update: Rosh Hashana “Blawg Review” and a Jewish guy talks with his hands

Learning to Fly

2010-08-31T05:52:00.029-04:00

"For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight."
Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thoughts, he lived a long fine life indeed.

How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!

Inspired by Jonathan Livingston Seagull, the editor of Blawg Review will be flying around the country on a JetBlue "all you can jet" pass, wherever these wings take me. Learning to fly; learning to be.

You can follow the journey by reading this blog post, which will be updated frequently in the days and weeks ahead. Last year, it was 22 flights in a month; this year, maybe more. Like a bird on the wire, I'll be tweeting @blawgreview and might even check in from time to time on foursquare to let followers know exactly where I'm at on this remarkable adventure.

Let's begin, where photographed above, at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California. Where to next? You tell me.

Before we take off, let's make sure I've packed everything necessary for a month of unlimited travel where we jet on JetBlue. As they say in the airline business, there's only two kinds of luggage, carry-on and lost, so I never check baggage. Still, I like to have absolutely everything needed for any possible travel situation. This isn't backpackin' around the world like Tim Ferriss, with 10 lb or less. This is serious business travel. Just how do I pack?

I travel a lot; think George Clooney in Up in the Air, without the unlimited sex. What's in your backpack?

Arriving soon, in a city near you. Follow me on Twitter @blawgreview and here, where you can see where I've been on the JetBlue AYCJ pass, and where I'm going next:

LGB to LAS ... LAS to JFK ... JFK to DEN ... DEN to JFK to BUF ...
BUF to JFK to LAS ... LAS to JFK ... JFK to ORD ... ORD to JFK to SFO ... SFO to JFK to ORD ... ORD to BOS to JFK to LAS ...

Disappeared

2010-08-30T11:25:00.001-04:00

Mirriam Seddiq at Not Guilty hosts Blawg Review #279 marking the International Day of the Disappeared.

Slavery Days @ Blawg Review

2010-08-23T10:06:00.002-04:00

Omar Ha-Redeye hosts Blawg Review #278 at Law is Cool to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Lord Stanley's Mug Shot

2010-08-16T03:05:00.007-04:00

Chicago IP Litigation law blogger and unapologetic Chicago Blackhawks fan R. David Donoghue hosts this week's Blawg Review #277. Having attended a playoffs game in Chicago as Dave Donoghue's guest, I really hope he sees his Stanley Cup on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame this year.

Indigenous Peoples Day

2010-08-09T01:02:00.007-04:00

Blawg Review #276 is hosted by IP.com on Securing Innovation marking the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

Included in this week's Blawg Review is a case involving Don Henley of the Eagles who, despite his disdain for YouTube, might approve of the use of this video clip of a performance of The Last Resort to raise awareness for indigenous people on this special day.

Trust Matters for Lawyers

2010-08-02T00:01:00.001-04:00

Charles H. Green is hosting Blawg Review #275 on Trust Matters. Charlie is not a lawyer but he did go to Harvard Business School, and he's the co-author of one of the most important books any lawyer will ever read: The Trusted Advisor.

A few years ago, I wrote a recommendation of this book for the Reading Minds column in Law Practice Magazine, which can be found online at ABA Net in the wayback machine. If you Google hard enough for that book review, here's what you'll find:

The theme of The Trusted Advisor (Free Press, 2000) is that the key to professional success is not just technical mastery of one’s discipline, but also the ability to work with clients in a way that earns their trust and gains their confidence. This book is a seminal treatise on the subject of trust.

Most, if not all, young lawyers starting out as new associates in established firms want to get ahead as fast as they can. Freshly minted from a competitive law school environment, they typically think being the best lawyer is all about mastering the law. Authors David Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford write this:
“Then comes that crucial career transition, from technician to full professional, from content expert to advisor. As technicians, our task is to provide information, analyses, research, content and even recommendations. All of these are basically tasks performed out of the client’s presence. In contrast, our task as advisors is an ‘in-person,’ ‘in-contact’ challenge to help the client see things anew or to make a decision. This requires a complete change of skills and mind-sets.”
Lawyers who make this career transition, achieving the status of trusted advisor, know the meaning of true professionalism and, unlike so many of their colleagues, really enjoy the practice of law. For young lawyers starting out, there’s no book I’d recommend more highly than this one.

Ed Post, is the pseudonym of the Editor of Blawg Review, a weekly carnival of the best law blogs presented on a different host’s blog every Monday. Ed was a young lawyer himself, ~~almost~~ over 30 years ago.

The Trusted Advisor is a great book for lawyers, but don't just take the word of an anonymous blogger. Read the book and decide for yourself.

While you're waiting for Amazon to deliver The Trusted Advisor, you might want to pick Charlie's brain on his blog, Trust Matters, where he's hosting Blawg Review #275.

The Carnival of Trust

2010-08-01T23:50:00.015-04:00

We've hosted the Carnival of Trust before. It was here on the Blawg Review blog that the founder of the Carnival of Trust, Charles Green, took the show on the road in August 2007, letting us host the first of these trust carnivals away from the big top at Trust Matters. The Carnival of Trust has had a great tour since then, over the past three years, stopping along the way at some great law blogs familiar to our readers.

Last month's Carnival of Trust hosted by lawyer Doug Cornelius is a tough act to follow--what with the circus clowns and all--so if we're gonna try to trump that performance, we should probably open with the King, in Las Vegas, and Cirque du Soleil.

The performers of Cirque du Soleil exemplify professionalism and trust. Opening with "Jailhouse Rock" is a nod to the lawyers in the house and regular followers of Blawg Review, the blog carnival for everyone interested in the law. Ending with "Suspicious Minds" reflects the larger view of trust that is the scope of the Carnival of Trust.

Now, without further ado, let's get on with the show!

Where better to start than at Trust Matters, as Charles H. Green and Rich Sternhell have co-written a couple of posts about restoring trust and confidence in business. In their post titled CNBC Asks Experts How to Improve Confidence in Business: Hmmm.. Sternhell and Green look critically at a recent panel discussion of experts in the mainstream media. In a follow-up post to that constructive criticism, these trusted advisors offer their recommendations for Restoring Trust and Confidence in Business. "Talk about a simple, succinct recipe for restoring trust in business!" adds Don Peppers, of Peppers & Rogers, in the comments on Trust Matters.

Do journalists collude with one another on how to "spin" stories? On developing "talking points," just like politicians? Do they share ideas on some kind of JournaList? David Warren discusses The Trust Thing.

Ruth Suehle, a writer and editor for Brand Communications + Design at Red Hat, blogging on opensource.com, has some interesting thoughts on Trust, transparency, and WikiLeaks: Who gets to have control?

In an article on Salon headlined Project Vigilant and the government/corporate destruction of privacy, Glenn Greenwald writes, "Project Vigilant is but one manifestation of a booming and unaccountable industry: groups which collect vast amounts of highly informative data about American citizens -- particularly their Internet activities -- and then sell it or otherwise furnish it to the U.S. Government."

Though social-networking sites like Facebook are growing in popularity, they are not necessarily satisfying their customers, according to a recent survey. David Toussaint wrote a very interesting article about how he got disappeared by Facebook, leaving him feeling rather, well, unsatisfied to say the least.

Facebook is about transparency. What about those who would choose anonymity?

Mike Wokasch, on Pharma Reform, a blog about transforming pharmaceutical companies in an era of healthcare reform, writes that Perceptions of the Pharmaceutical Industry can make Normal Business Practices seem Unethical or Illegal. He says, "It all boils down to a lack of trust and credibility. The industry can’t even credibly defend itself to maintain normal business practices because there are just too many cases that demonstrate companies are willing to betray this trust and take advantage of the market for financial gain. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t seem to be too concerned or you would have seen a dramatic change in behavior." In the comments to this blog post, Charlie Green adds, "You can blame lawyers, PR people, marketers, or general management: but until pharma stops focusing on preventing risk, and instead gets comfortable with telling the truth, they will not earn the reputation for trust and credibility that you rightly suggest they need."

What should business-minded lawyers advise when their corporate clients ask what to do when a bribe is suggested to get a deal done? Alexandra Wrage, President of TRACE, wrote on The Huffington Post an interesting article about Bribery as a Business Strategy.

Chris Brogan, co-author of Trust Agents, wrote an interesting blog post about How Trust Agents Empower Business Benefits. Comments ensued.

"Sales organizations at companies like Xerox, IBM, and the Chicago Blackhawks consider customer-centricity in every part of the sales cycle, from prospecting to lead management to post-sale activities," writes Elizabeth Glagowski at 1to1 Media, in an interesting article about The Customer-Focused Sales Cycle. Apple, not so much.

Brian Galvin at Aria tells a story about trust in customer service and in a subsequent blog post titled Trust, but Verify tells of another situation from his consulting career where a similar type of situation was occurring, and where it was fixed simply and effectively.

Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, on ReputationXchange.com, asks, "Is Civility a Reputation Driver?"

John Gapper, at BusinessDay, wrote about how not to salvage a corporate reputation with reference to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward. "Not everything Hayward did was wrong, and nor was poor public relations the only cause of his downfall. Hayward’s fate was sealed when BP’s early plans to cap its well failed, leaving oil still spewing. As one of BP’s advisers argues: 'This is not a PR disaster; it’s a disaster.'"

Bret Simmons wrote an interesting post Leadership Integrity, Value Congruence, and Employee Engagement with thoughtful links to related subjects: "Leaders with integrity in the eyes of their employees speak and act in ways consistent with what employees value. The leader’s personal behavior reflects values congruent with employee values. As leaders inspire others to enact their best selves and stretch for higher and higher levels of performance, they never expect values to be compromised, and they never accept compromise in their own behavior or in the behavior of others they have been given the privilege to lead." How many lawyers have leadership integrity, as viewed through the eyes of their partners, associates, employees, and clients?

When will you trust someone again? Art Markman, a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas whose research spans a range of topics in the way people think, says attitudes affect beliefs by making them more coherent. "There is even evidence that these mechanisms are at work in juries making decisions about court cases," writes Markman writes in Psychology Today. "Dan Keith Holyoak and Dan Simon studied people playing the role of jurors in a 1999 paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. They found that as jurors came to believe that someone was guilty, they focused more on evidence consistent with guilt than on evidence consistent with innocence. Conversely, as jurors came to believe that someone was innocent, they relied more on information consistent with innocence than on evidence consistent with guilt."

Professor Mark Liberman, an expert in linguistics at UPenn, who with his colleagues at Language Log long ago helped us lawyers agree to disagree on the use of the portmanteau word "blawg" for law blog, has an entertaining post this week about the art of conversation. Bloggers and commenters alike will appreciate the included blog post "Conversation" in which Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams wrote, "...I believed that conversation was a process by which I could demonstrate my cleverness, complain about what was bugging me, and argue with people in order to teach them how dumb they were." Sound like a blawger?

Peter Friedman, Associate Professor, Legal Analysis & Writing, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, wrote provocatively, Own your words. Anonymity is cowardice, and cowards aren’t known for their wisdom. The ongoing discussion in the comments to that post is why we read lawyers who blog, including those we trust who remain anonymous, wisely. Professor Friedman's follow-up post, Anonymous online writing: bad writing that wouldn’t see the light of day if the writer knew readers could match the words to the person, continues the discussion of anonymous blogging with often insightful and sometimes incendiary commentary. You thought law blogs would be boring?

Well, then you don't read Simple Justice religiously and haven't met the new Scott Greenfield, No More Mister Nice Guy.

That's it for the Carnival of Trust. No, really, that's it.

Elvis has left the building but there's more blog carnival goodness for you at Trust Matters, where our good friend and mentor Charlie Green is hosting Blawg Review #275.

Are You Disabled?

2010-07-26T12:35:00.003-04:00

Reading this week's Blawg Review #274 at LoTempio Law Blog, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the passing of the Americans With Disabilities, Act got me thinking. If I had one of the disabilities covered by this legislation, would I have had the courage to overcome adversity and become a lawyer? Could I pass the Bar Exam with one hand tied behind my back? Could I blog with one hand? Would I even try?

"The next time you're ready to call in sick because you got a paper cut on that really painful place between your thumb and pointer finger," you might want to think about these courageous people who persevered and turned their "disabilities" into superpowers.

Among our law blogging peers, Vinny LoTempio is that kind of superlawyer.

Weekly Law School Roundup

2010-07-25T04:35:00.013-04:00

We've been following the Weekly Law School Roundup for many years, since it was started by attorney Evan Schaeffer, one of the bloggers who's been with Blawg Review from the very beginning. Evan hosted Blawg Review #1.

If, like Evan Schaeffer and me, you're a fan of the Weekly Law School Roundup, you might like Blawg Review, too. It's usually hosted by lawyers but sometimes by law professors and, yes, even students. One such student was Dave Gulbransen, who hosted Blawg Review #182 having just passed the Bar Exam. "Dave!", you might have noticed, was one of the law student bloggers linked by Evan Schaeffer in the very first Blawg Review, and Gulbransen has hosted Blawg Review five times since then -- four as a law student and, most recently, as a lawyer.

If you're one of the regulars here who reads Blawg Review every Monday, you might also enjoy the Weekly Law School Roundup on Sunday, alternating between Evan's blog Beyond the Underground and a student who's been snickering in the back row since 2007. You can find some recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category on Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here on his blog.

This week, the editor of Blawg Revieiw is filling in for the scheduled host of the Weekly Law School Roundup, a law student who's in the middle of studying for the Bar Exam.

While the scheduled host of the Weekly Law School Roundup #235 has been ~~falking~~ walking the dog instead of studying in the library, the hard-working editor of Blawg Review has been reading blog posts from the past week by law students, some current or almost current, and some recently-graduated. Here's a few we'd like to share:

Do Not Tell Me How Hard The First Year Is

So Anxious

Coping Mechanisms in Law School

This is Madness!

take a deep breath and Practice. in that Order.

Despite what you may have been told, judges and lawyers aren't all saints and angels

Transferring: would you stay or would you go?

Wednesday Morning Garden

Surviving The Bar Exam, Part XV

Fucking Bad Timing

Please stop telling me I'm going to pass the Bar.

That last post was also selected by Evan Schaeffer for the previous Weekly Law School Roundup #234, but it's a poignant post by a law student facing the fate of a Bar Exam like a death row inmate awaiting a parole hearing, so, hopefully, readers who have been there, done that, might take a few minutes to read and comment with their experience.

One more before the bar

Well, that was fun.

It's Supposed to be Fun

2010-07-19T11:12:00.006-04:00

Blawg Review #273 is up at ninetyfiveyears, a blog about technology, media, culture and the law.

Future hosts of Blawg Review will probably need to spend more time in the library working on their presentations if we're to continue to be the best blog carnival; or at least spend more time reading law blogs.

If you don't like reading law blogs, you'll probably not have fun hosting Blawg Review.

H/T to Professor Gordon Smith at The Glom for the video from BYU, which was submitted for this week's Blawg Review.

It's Not About You

2010-07-12T15:08:00.003-04:00

If you're ever hosting Blawg Review, it's best to keep in mind that it's not about you. No, really, it's not about you.

Charlie Green, our friend and mentor, co-author of The Trusted Advisor and moderator of the Carnival of Trust, said it best.

Improving credibility can take a long time; gaining credentials, earning degrees, publishing, getting references, learning presentations and speaking.

Lowering your self-orientation is a life’s work—it’s hugely powerful to be able to focus on others in times of stress, but easy? Not that one.

It wasn't easy for the host of Blawg Review #272.

Whenever a host of Blawg Review puts self-orientation ahead of the community of law bloggers, Professor Kingsfield is likely to make one of his impromptu appearances here to school the insubordinate host.

We really didn't want to have to ask Professor Kingsfield to lecture again and, apparently, he had other commitments today, so this is all we got.

For this video link, we'd like to thank 95years a blog about technology, media, culture and the law, which is hosting Blawg Review #273 next. We hope you'll come back and visit Blawg Review then.

In the meantime, be sure to read this month's Carnival of Trust, hosted today by Doug Cornelius, a Boston lawyer with experience in real estate, private equity, knowledge management, compliance and corporate ethics.

Happy 5th of July!

2010-07-05T13:45:00.002-04:00

The most important thing about the 4th of July, a day when Americans celebrate freedom from oppression, is that it's a day off work, even if it falls on a Sunday as it did this year. Take Monday off, slackers!

BigLaw attorney Kevin Underhill, who blogs about legal humor, seriously, at Lowering the Bar hosts Blawg Review #271 with a theme that explains why the 5th of July is such a big day off.

On Independence Day

2010-07-04T00:09:00.003-04:00

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.

It is the Fourth of July...

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T17:10:00.002-04:00

Blawg Review: THIS IS IT

2010-06-28T02:09:00.008-04:00

The Filipino inmates that rocketed to fame by doing a re-enactment of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” held a tribute show to celebrate the one year anniversary of the singer’s death.

If you want to learn more about these dancing Filipino prisoners, check out this report that includes their original music video.

This week, Blawg Review #270 goes retro with a look back at Dave! Gulbransen's greatest hits.

Vuvuzela Blawg Review

2010-06-21T02:37:00.004-04:00

Blawg Review #269 is on Andrew Raff's IPTAblog for World Music Day and, like everywhere else, all you can hear is vuvuzela, world cup, vuvuzela, vuvuzela, world cup. Even Hitler has had enough, already!

Flag Day Blawg Review

2010-06-14T00:36:00.007-04:00

David Harlow hosts Blawg Review #268 at HealthBlawg on Flag Day.

In other news, English, U.S. fans react differently to 1-1 draw.

They Called Him Coach

2010-06-09T10:51:00.002-04:00

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves.

Why Blawg?

2010-06-07T00:05:00.001-04:00

On this date, June 7, in 1893 Mahatma Gandhi, born in India, educated and trained as a barrister in England, began in South Africa a life of non-violent resistance that changed the world.

In South Africa, Gandhi faced the discrimination directed at Indians. He was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to move from the first class to a third-class coach while holding a valid first-class ticket. Traveling farther on by stagecoach he was beaten by a driver for refusing to travel on the foot board to make room for a European passenger. He suffered other hardships on the journey as well, including being barred from several hotels. In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban - which he refused to do. These events were a turning point in his life, awakening him to social injustice and influencing his subsequent social activism. It was through witnessing firsthand the racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa that Gandhi started to question his people's status within the British Empire, and his own place in society.

Gandhi influenced many civil rights leaders in the past century, including Martin Luther King, and his words and teachings are still relevant today.

Blawg Review #267 is hosted by Venkat Balasubramani.

Scott Greenfield, Not Perfect

2010-06-06T15:16:00.023-04:00

Scott Greenfield has hosted Blawg Review on Simple Justice only twice. Scott would tell you that was enough.

His last Blawg Review #223 "Sphincter Rules" was Scott Greenfield at his best. We sprung the idea of him hosting that Blawg Review the day before it was due. He was up for the challenge. Although Scott had struggled with his first Blawg Review #170 and ultimately hated doing it, his second Blawg Review was spontaneous and he had fun with it. Without a week to fret about pulling off a potential Blawg Review of the Year, Scott was free to express himself as he does every day on Simple Justice--off-the-cuff, in-your-face, and on-the-money.

We sometimes disagree, but he's never disagreeable. Scott Greenfield is not perfect; his blog isn't meant to be. It's one of the best, that's all. Simple Justice is a great law blog because Scott Greenfield is a natural blogger. He is generous with link-love and that makes him a great host of Blawg Review. He gets it. It's not all about him.

Scott Greenfield plays the curmudgeon in the blawgosphere but, in real life, he's a nice guy. He will deny it, but it's true. We've met in person a couple of times, when our paths have crossed at a legal conference or two. We've shared the rubber chicken on the road. It's been real.

Now, if he'd just invite me out to a fancy dinner in New York City sometime, I'd probably say Scott Greenfield is the perfect host--or anything else he wants me to say.

It's Up Down Under

2010-05-31T10:14:00.006-04:00

Blawg Review #266 is hosted this week by Peter Black on his Freedom to Differ blog from beautiful Brisbane, Australia. Brisbane is on the left coast of Australia, as seen on the map down under.

Some might wonder what the world is coming to when a new generation on the worldwide web thinks today is Quit Facebook Day when it's Memorial Day, a day to remember those in the military who died in wars. In Australia that would be Remembrance Day, which is on Veterans Day. Confused, mate? Welcome to Australia.

Towel Day Meetup

2010-05-25T23:32:00.004-04:00

How much is that doggie in the window? Don't ask. He's cute though; an especially thoughtful touch in a hotel room on Towel Day. Just one of the many nice things about our visit to Chicago for Inside Counsel's SuperConference.

With interest in this year's SuperConference tweaked in anticipation of Scott Greenfield's presentation on "white collar crime for lawyers" a great mix of law bloggers got together for rare face-to-face meetup.

Chicago's own Windypundit showed up with a professional camera, so there's no denying it if you were there.

A Trademark Blogger's Dream

2010-05-24T02:31:00.007-04:00

My good friend Marty went to Boston and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

Scheduled to host Blawg Review #265 on The Trademark Blog, which recently marked its 8th anniversary, Marty Schwimmer has taken the show on the road to the INTA Annual Meeting in Boston.

Joining us there will be previous Blawg Review hosts Jeremy Phillips and Marc Randazza and many other leading bloggers who have hosted Blawg Review. As part of the fun at INTA this year, Marty Schwimmer, Ron Coleman, Pam Chestek and John Welch will host Meet the Bloggers VI tonight, May 24th at 8 p.m. at Lucky's Lounge in Boston.

Lucky, we're lucky Professor Kingsfield isn't in Boston anymore. This might go down in the history of Blawg Review as the "Lost" edition.

Irish Famine Blawg Review

2010-05-16T19:36:00.008-04:00

Custom House Quays, Dublin. Painfully thin sculptural figures, by artist Rowan Gillespie, stand as if walking towards the emigration ships on the Dublin Quayside.

To commemorate National Famine Memorial Day, Rossa McMahon hosts Blawg Review #264.

The Great Famine of Ireland is memorialized in many locations throughout Ireland, especially in those regions that suffered the greatest losses, and also in cities overseas with large populations descended from Irish immigrants.

The history of the Irish Famine has been re-examined in recent years by historians like Jim Donnelly, who writes about the catastrophe in no uncertain terms.

Altogether, about a million people in Ireland are reliably estimated to have died of starvation and epidemic disease between 1846 and 1851, and some two million emigrated in a period of a little more than a decade (1845-55). Comparison with other modern and contemporary famines establishes beyond any doubt that the Irish famine of the late 1840s, which killed nearly one-eighth of the entire population, was proportionally much more destructive of human life than the vast majority of famines in modern times.

Christine Kinealy, in The Great Irish Potato Famine, and: Famine, Land and Culture in Ireland, credits Donnelly's work and its importance.

Ireland's Great Hunger was a watershed not only in the development of Ireland, but also in the development of the United States. Yet, until the mid-1990s, it was ignored, marginalized, or disregarded by Irish historians. The 150th anniversary produced an unprecedented and unexpected outpouring of interest that extended far beyond the reach of professional historians. Consequently, scholars have recently employed new methodological and interdisciplinary approaches to increase the understanding of this pivotal event. Students of Ireland's Great Famine owe a debt to James Donnelly. His early research on the Famine helped to break an academic silence and to give the tragedy its rightful place in Irish history. In 1989 he contributed a set of chapters to the solid (but not widely read) A New History of Ireland. In an article published in History Ireland in 1993, Donnelly identified the gap between academic and popular perceptions of the Famine. He also took revisionist historians to task for not having confronted the tragedy "honestly and squarely"...

For many Irish, it was a difficult choice: Death or Canada.

For Torontonians, the influx of 38,560 refugees from the Famine to their city, in 1847, not only challenged public officials, and strained local resources in what would amount to the greatest civic crisis in the young city's history, the spring and summer of "Black '47" would leave an indelible set of images regarding the nature and character of "the Irish"

In the summer of 1847 the Toronto Waterfront witnessed one of the greatest human tragedies in the history of the city. Between May and October of that year, over 38,000 Irish Famine emigrants arrived from Ireland at a time when the city's population was just 20,000 people.

From Toronto's Island Airport, it's a short walk to Ireland Park to contemplate the Great Famine with four bronze statues of Irish immigrants arriving at the Toronto wharves in 1847, modeled after the Dublin Departure Memorial; tomorrow evening at 7:30 a meetup of bloggers and tweeters at the Irish Embassy Pub to raise a glass to our friends on the Emerald Isle and salute Rossa McMahon for hosting this Blawg Review #264 to mark National Famine Memorial Day in Ireland.

Who's gonna meetup at the Irish Embassy Pub on Monday, May 17th? Let us know if you can be there and we'll add you to this list.

Ed. @blawgreview
Connie Crosby @conniecrosby
Omar HaRedeye @OmarHaRedeye
Antonin Pribetic @AntoninPribetic

We'll be there from around 7:30 pm until they throw us out.

Everyone's welcome, so please help us spread the word on Twitter.

Mothers Day Blawg Review

2010-05-09T23:41:00.000-04:00

She Negotiates, She Succeeds, She Networks, She Transforms, and She Resolves.

She mothers. In honor of mothers this Mothers Day, Victoria Pynchon hosts Blawg Review #263 on her newest blog that celebrates women, in law and in life.

World Press Freedom Day

2010-05-03T17:39:00.002-04:00

Blawg Review #262 to mark Word Press Freedom Day is hosted on the Public Intellectual blog, not a law blog.

Freedom starts with democratizing knowledge. It’s hard to imagine a democracy without a free press and freedom of speech. Anyone can claim to be a proponent of free speech. But most people are flip-floppers on free speech. The First Amendment is a lightswitch that they turn on an off as it suits their agenda.

Have you ever met a person who openly admitted to being against “free speech”? That seems to be an undesirable position, even among those who are in fact the First Amendment’s enemies; I find that such people don’t classify whatever they’re opposing as “free speech.” Instead, they redefine it as something that sounds unpleasant, such as “hate speech”; that way its easier to get people on board with denouncing it.

Check out the links selected for this special edition of Blawg Review on World Press Freedom Day.

Bloggers in Boston for INTA

2010-04-29T01:51:00.014-04:00

The INTA Annual Meeting, held each May, is the largest and most prestigious meeting of the international trademark community, with more than 7,000 participants from more than 130 countries taking advantage of five days of educational programs, committee meetings, exhibits, social events and networking opportunities.

Last year, in Seattle, we met a great group of bloggers, including Jeremy Phillips, the host of this week's Blawg Review #261.

This year, in Boston, many of these same bloggers and more will be getting together at Lucky's Lounge on Monday, May 24th, from 8pm until whenever. Everyone's welcome, so even if you can't make INTA but are in Beantown, please join us.

INTA’s Annual Meeting is the trademark community’s premier event for networking, continuing legal education, and committee and client meetings. Valuable skill-building workshops, industry breakouts, interactive table topics, and trademark law sessions focused on international and U.S. topics, are packed into three days of education, while numerous other events present the ideal opportunity to expand your reach and meet with colleagues.

This year, the 132nd annual meeting of INTA from May 22-26, 2010, presents a great opportunity for Boston blawgers to come out and meet many law bloggers who are in town for this major conference. These guys and girls know how to party!

MEET THE BLOGGERS VI is hosted by Pam Chestek, Marty Schwimmer, Ron Coleman, and John Welch, who made the announcement here. Like everyone else invited, I'm just happy to have this chance to meet the bloggers at INTA's Annual Meeting again this year. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

If you're planning to meetup with us at Lucky's Lounge, on Monday, May 24th, please send me an email or DM on Twitter @blawgreview and we'll make note of it here.

Jeremy Phillips @Ipkat
Aurelia J. Schultz of afro-ip
Barbara Cookson @filemot
John Welch @TTABlog
Cathy Gellis @CathyGellis
Marco Randazza of The Legal Satyricon
Ron Coleman @RonColeman
Marty Schwimmer @mschwimmer
Bob Ambrogi @bobambrogi
Ed. @blawgreview

We expect a lot more, for sure, so if you're coming please confirm so we can let everyone know. It's gonna be huge this year.

IP Kitten on iPad

2010-04-26T00:40:00.000-04:00

It's World Intellectual Property Day on Monday, April 26th so we've asked Jeremy Phillips, the blawgosphere's professor emeritus of intellectual property law at @Ipkat, to host Blawg Review #261. You're a smart cat, buddy.

SuperConference

2010-04-22T19:24:00.022-04:00

InsideCounsel magazine comes to life in hometown Chicago through more than 20 highly interactive sessions providing the corporate legal community with insights and ideas from some of the sharpest minds in law coming together for the 10th Annual SuperConference, from May 25-26, 2010.

Featuring experts from across the legal industry, including top general counsel, leading law firms, government and regulatory leaders, program highlights include:

The role of the general counsel as counselor

Fighting back against IP theft

Innovative ways to defeat plaintiffs’ damages

Demonstrating your law department’s value

Getting the alternative fee arrangement that’s right

White collar criminal investigations and prosecution

Wait, what was that last one? Who's gonna sugar-coat that? Uh, oh! This is for real. Scott Greenfield will be there with an old briefcase full of stories from the trenches to deliver a "wake-up call" for corporate counsel and to dispel "the myth of white collar crime." Seriously, it doesn't get more real than this.

In conjunction with the 10th Annual SuperConference, InsideCounsel's First Annual Transformative Leadership Awards will be presented at a gala dinner on May 24, 2010 at The Fairmont Chicago. The Awards honor women general counsel and law firm partners who have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the empowerment of women in corporate law.

For the evening of the 25th we'll organize a night out on the town for everyone at the conference who wants to meet the bloggers, including our many friends and Blawg Review hosts there in Chicago. Follow us on Twitter @blawgreview and @InsideCounsel at the SuperConference to see when and where we're getting together that Tuesday night.

Lookin' forward to seeing you again this year in Chicago.

Go Cubs! Go Blackhawks!

Meet the Bloggers in Chicago at Inside Counsel's SuperConference at the Fairmont Chicago Aria Bar on Tuesday May 25th from 6 p.m. for as long as we want to enjoy the amenities.

A good crowd is expected including these visitors to Chicago for the SuperConference:

@blawgreview
@ScottGreenfield
@adriandayton
@kashhill

and many Chicago bloggers who have indicated they will join us there, including:

@cyberlaw
@molly_mcdonough
@rdd
@pzura
@internetcases
@dgulbran
@amyderby
@windypundit

Please let us know if you're planning to join us for this meetup so we can add you to this list and look for you there. Hopefully, some of the general counsel attending Inside Counsel's SuperConference will stop by and meet the law bloggers gathering in the Aria Bar off the Fairmont Hotel lobby. It's a fun group of legal professionals, and very interesting, too. Everyone attending the conference is encouraged to join in this informal get-together with the bloggers.

Thanks to @InsideCounsel and @FairmontChicago for the hospitality and to conference organizer @sheilabrennan for extending the warm welcome to local law bloggers and those visiting Chicago for the SuperConference.

What is Blawg Review?

2010-04-18T01:01:00.006-04:00

Seen the 5th anniversary Blawg Review at Legal Blog Watch? Want more? Keep an eye out for future hosts. We're lookin' at you.

Future Hosts of Blawg Review

2010-04-12T00:08:00.038-04:00

Sep 27 Ed. @blawgreview
Oct 4 Date Available
Oct 11 Date Available
Oct 18 set in style
Oct 25 Date Available
Nov 1 Date Available
Nov 8 Patent Baristas
Nov 15 Date Available
Nov 22 Date Available
Nov 29 Date Available
Dec 6 Date Available
Dec 13 Date Available
Dec 20 Date Available
Dec 27 Date Available
Jan 3 Date Available
Jan 10 Date Available
Jan 17 Date Available
Jan 24 Date Available
Jan 31 Date Available

Five Years of Blawg Review

2010-04-11T00:06:00.007-04:00

Five years; what a surprise!

We got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that's all we've got.

The Statute of Anne 1710

2010-04-05T07:54:00.009-04:00

This week marks the 300th anniversary of the Statute of Anne.

Cathy Gellis celebrates this tricentennial with Blawg Review #258 on her blog, Statements of Interest.

...the Statute of Anne was passed as “An Act for the Encouragement of Learning.” The intent of the copy right it created was always to stimulate the dissemination of knowledge. Now, three hundred years later, we have the ultimate disseminator of knowledge: the Internet, yet in England -- as well as countless other countries -- copyright law is evolving to stop the spread of information -- the exact opposite effect.

But its project has not yet succeeded, and the Internet is so far still able to provide a wealth of information, a small portion of which this Blawg Review will highlight as I explore the premise, promise and problems of the Statute of Anne and its legacy.

Enjoy.

Remembering MLK Jr

2010-04-04T12:46:00.004-04:00

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, on April 4, 1968. Here's how the mainstream media broke the story on television that day.

How different it would be today, with ubiquitous social media.

Blawg Review has commemorated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, annually on MLK Day.

Blawg Review #91 on Public Defender Stuff
Blawg Review #143 on Public Defender Stuff
Blawg Review #195 On Being A Black Lawyer
Blawg Review #247 at A Public Defender

April Fool's Blawg Review

2010-04-01T02:29:00.007-04:00

A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
A motley fool; a miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool
Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun,
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms and yet a motley fool.

As You Like It,
Act II, Scene 7

George Wallace, a partner in the law firm of Wallace & Schwartz, Pasadena, California, who occasionally blogs about insurance law and other legal matters at Declarations & Exclusions, has for years (four years, precisely) hosted a special edition of Blawg Review on April 1st at his personal and cultural web journal, a fool in the forest.

Here's a review of those unbelievable presentations: 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Incredibly, each of those was in addition to a corresponding Blawg Review, #51, #102, #153 and #205.

This year, 2010, is really exceptional.

April Fool

22 Tweets on Blawg Review

2010-03-29T03:54:00.005-04:00

Lance Godard, who's been "helping lawyers tell their stories, one tweet at a time" for over a year now at 22 Tweets and @22twts on Twitter, has an especially engaging Blawg Review #257 on his blog "Are you writing this down?"

Cube Grenade courtesy of Hugh MacLeod at Gapingvoid.com

ALM Events, Blawger Meetups

2010-03-23T11:19:00.014-04:00

Thanks to ALM Events for inviting the editor of Blawg Review to attend the IP Counsel Forum in San Jose, today.

Tomorrow, after this conference, we will be in San Francisco for an informal meetup of Bay Area Blawgers and anyone who wants to join us to meet some law bloggers in person. If you're planning to join us Wednesday evening at The Owl Tree in San Francisco, we'll be there at 7:30 pm and hangin' out late. Law bloggers are night-owls, you know.

As expected, a good time was had by all who, who, who attended:

Ed from Blawg Review
Colin Samuels of Infamy or Praise
Cathy Gellis of Statements of Interest
Aurelia Schultz of Afro-IP
Mike Cernovich of Crime and Federalism
Kevin Underhill of Lowering the Bar
Mr. Thorne who blogs about What's Up

You won't want to miss the next Bay Area Blawger Meetup.

Dune on Blawg Review

2010-03-22T01:41:00.003-04:00

Dune on Facebook and Twitter, and now, Blawg Review #256. What's next, another movie?

Beware the Ides of March

2010-03-14T22:49:00.012-04:00

On the first anniversary of the worst month for law-firm layoffs in history, Law Shucks, the blog about “Life in, and after, BigLaw” takes up Blawg Review #255.
Editor's Note: Above the Law regularly features posts by Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the dreaded Layoff Tracker. But there's a lot more to life in and after BigLaw than layoffs, so check out Law Shucks daily for the latest goings on in law firms.

And click here to see the job they do on Blawg Review #255.

International Women's Day

2010-03-08T05:38:00.008-05:00

Nicole Black hosts Blawg Review #254 in celebration of International Women's Day, National Women's History Month and the 30th anniversary of the National Women's History Project.

Hopefully, many of our followers will link to this Blawg Review #254 on their blogs and in their tweets on International Women's Day using the hastag #iwd on Twitter.

Kicking Ass

2010-03-05T12:26:00.003-05:00

Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice is kicking mediocrity's ass.

Spring Break Blawg Review

2010-03-01T06:41:00.004-05:00

Some people, like the guys in the YouTube video above, take Spring Break seriously. Others, like the hosts of Blawg Review #253, these South Florida Lawyers, not so much. They're anonymous bloggers, and for good reason. It's Florida, after all, and this is Spring Break. Well, it's always Spring Break in South Florida!

Monster Blawg Review

2010-02-21T23:23:00.004-05:00

Jordan Furlong has created a monster!

Blawg Review #252 is alive at Stem's Law Firm Web Strategy Blog.

You won't believe your eyes.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

2010-02-15T00:58:00.009-05:00

Cumulonimbus! The Olympic Torch and Blawg Review #251 arrived in Vancouver Canada, which is hosting the 2010 Winter Games, and the best of the blawgosphere this week at the Canadian Trademark Blog.

The Art of Blawg Review

2010-02-08T14:11:00.003-05:00

The Trial Warrior Blog hosts of Blawg Review #250. Antonin Pribetic is well-regarded for strategic blogging about trial advocacy and international litigation and arbitration. A litigator, he draws inspiration from Sun Tzu and the Art of War, as does his blawg.

Photo Credit: 663highland Wikipedia licensed Creative Commons

This week's presentation of Blawg Review is artfully produced with a theme based on the seven Bushido virtues: rectitude, courage, benevolence respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty.