FOM LEGAL BLOG WATCH

Legal Blog Watch

In-House Bloggers Slowly Step Out One group of lawyers has remained largely absent from the blogosphere, reports Catherine Aman in Corporate Counsel magazine: the in-house bar. It is no wonder in-house lawyers are reluctant to blog, legal consultant Rees Morrison of Hildebrandt International tells Aman: "There are a lot of ways blogging by in-house counsel could go wrong." Even so, she writes, the number of in-house lawyers who blog is growing steadily -- some with the company's blessing, others anonymously. In-house lawyers who blog share a "desire to participate in serious dialogue, whether it be about public policy or emerging technologies and related laws," Aman say. She quotes Microsoft Corporation lawyer David Rudin, who writes the blog Standards Law: "My participation in the blogosphere, both as a reader and contributor, helps me be more effective in my role as an attorney. It keeps me up to date on the issues the community feels are most pressing. Likewise, I enjoy being part of the broader conversation on legal IT issues." Other in-house lawyers who openly blog include Mike Dillon, GC of Sun Microsystems, and two of the 10 contributors to Cisco High Tech Policy Blog. But for some on the inside, such as The Wired GC, blogging is best done anonymously. Microsoft's Rudin maintains that blogging is good for in-house lawyers and good for their employers.  He tells Aman: "We have an opportunity to provide a human voice and perspective to our company's actions and positions. The information in the blog comes from a single attorney and expresses my own views. Those views are influenced by the company's point of view, and it's my goal to be an effective advocate for Microsoft's positions." Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on November 6, 2006 at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) The Only Two Blawgers in Iowa Could Rush Nigut and Brett Trout do for blawging in Iowa what Prof. Harold Hill did for marching bands? From Dennis M. Kennedy at Between Lawyers comes a pointer to The Gospel of Blawging, a Des Moines Business Record story about Iowa's only two lawyers with blogs and their newfound mission to spread the word among their peers. Nigut, a business and corporate lawyer with Sullivan & Ward in West Des Moines, writes the blog Rush on Business, and Trout, a solo patent attorney in Des Moines, writes Blawg IT. The two lawyers will join forces to "spread the gospel" of blawging at a seminar for Iowa lawyers later this week. Trout tells the Business Record: "From what we can tell, we really are the only attorneys in Iowa doing this. And it's such a great tool that if we could keep it to ourselves and not let anyone else use it, I know I would in a heartbeat. But it's like the Internet. How are you going to keep it a secret? So we thought we would help get the word out ourselves." What do Iowa's only two legal bloggers see as its value? For one, says Nigut, blogging encourages the sharing of ideas. "You get to see some really great minds discuss the issues in your field, and then you yourself can chime in with your opinion. I've learned so much since I started this that I never would have encountered otherwise." As for the lack of other lawyers in their state with blogs, Nigut explains it this way: "Lawyers are very reluctant to be the first ones to do anything." But that is changing as more younger lawyers join the profession's ranks. "It's a generational thing," Nigut says. Sounds like Trouble, with a capital T and that rhymes with B and that stands for Blawg. Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on November 6, 2006 at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) For Women Lawyers: Good News, Bad News Blogger Chuck Newton points us to the newly published study from the National Association of Women Lawyers, NAWL's First National Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms. The news is not good. The survey finds law firms have plenty of women at their lowest level but a paucity at the top. From the survey: "[W]omen lawyers are well-represented at the lowest level of the profession, constituting 45% of associates, but not at the top of the profession. While women account for close to half of law firm associates, they account for 28% of of-counsel lawyers and 26% of non-equity partners. At the top level of law firm partnership, women account overall for 16% or 1 out of every 6 equity partners. Representation in the equity partnership during prime earning years (between 10 and 25 years experience in the profession) is a little better; in that group, women account for about 20% or 1 out of every 5 equity partners. Among the most junior equity partners, women account for about 24% or 1 in 4." It gets worse. Even women who achieve the status of equity partner tend to earn less than their male counterparts and play a lesser role in firm governance. On average, women hold only 16 percent of the seats on their firms' governing committees and make up only 5 percent of managing partners. But the good news for women lawyers, as Carolyn Elefant writes at MyShingle.com,  is that they are finding it easier than ever before to build successful careers in solo and small-firm practice. "As the barriers to starting a law firm decrease, more and more women are successfully starting firms ... and don't need to settle for the sham part time programs that some firms initially put in place." In fact, Elefant argues, these solo women are helping to improve working conditions for their peers at larger firms. Pointing to a Boston Globe article on greater part-time opportunities for women at larger firms, she says it is because solo and small-firm practice has become a viable option for women that larger firms are forced to better accommodate their need for flexible and part-time schedules. Call it, if you will, the "trickle-up" effect: broader options for women in smaller firms force larger firms to follow suit. Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on November 6, 2006 at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) A Vote for Blawg Review #82 Word has it, there's an election of some kind tomorrow. That would explain why Blawg Review #82 is hosted by Edward Still at the blog Votelaw. Still, a lawyer in Birmingham, Ala., is an expert in the laws relating to elections, voting and campaign finance. Appropriately, he starts this week's review of legal blogs with "some election-related stuff." Thankfully, he also gathers a number of items "for those of you who don't give a damn about elections." Even those readers who place themselves in the second group will enjoy at least one of the items from the first group: Madeleine Begun Kane's limerick for Jack Abramoff, Chatty Jack. Head over to Still's blog and register your vote for Blawg Review #82.   Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on November 6, 2006 at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

 

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