From The Mailbag

Collaborating with the Competition

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:34:35 GMT

Mark Herrmann at Jones Day and James Beck at Dechert may work at competitive law firms, but they saw no reason for that to stand in the way of collaborating to write Drug and Device Law.

As Mr. Herrmann suggested to me in a recent email, the blawgospohere contains many blawgs co-hosted by scholars at different law schools and fewer that are co-hosted by sole practitioners, both of which do not appear to be collaborations between direct competitors. There have also been collaborative efforts such as Between Lawyers, where five attorneys, ranging from solos to mid-size law firm counsel have joined together. Again, however, the lawyers participating in these joint efforts do not appear to work for law firms which are likely to be pitching the same clients.

With large firms like Jones Day and Dechert, it becomes difficult to reach the same conclusion. Jones Day has over 2200 lawyers worldwide, while Dechert fields 1000 across 17 offices. The two firms cover many the same cities, regions and countries in serving and seeking clients. The chances of these two firms pitching the same client somewhere is very likely, and probably happens on a regular basis.

I don't recall seeing another blawg co-authored by lawyers at direct competitors (if you know of one, please email me), but the idea is an interesting one. I will be watching to see if this is start of a growing trend or a simply a unique relationship.

If you would like to see for yourself, stop by Drug and Device Law; here are a couple recent posts to give you a flavor of the topics covered:

ALI Draft Would Abolish "Reasonable Degree of Professional Certainty" Requirement

Filing Fees Due After Severance For Misjoinder

Good stuff.

Blawgosphere's Public Defender Community Grows

Bill Gratsch — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:06:48 GMT

I received an email earlier this week alerting me to some great stuff going on among public defenders throughout the blawgosphere. I knew a little about this from past experience, but what I had not realized is how many public defenders had started weblogs. I discovered twenty-plus new ones in one sitting. And, the quality of many of the posts is suberb.

As with many things in legal, it is hard to pigeonhole the writings of this diverse group. For now, I have place them in a category called Public Defense, but really, on the whole, they cover a lot more ground than that.

The rights of the indigent and poverty law as well as public defense from the local to the federal levels are a sampling of the topics to which the group speaks.

You can dive in for a look by starting here, Public Defense.

Great stuff.

Law Professor Blogs .com

Bill Gratsch — Wed, 04 Aug 2004 23:52:54 GMT

University of Cincinnati Law Professor Paul L. Caron has started up LawProfessorBlogs.com, "a network of web logs ("blogs") designed from the ground-up to assist law professors in their scholarship and teaching." Sounds like a useful idea to me. Stop by and check it out.

A Lesson for Lawyers? BoardBuzz

Bill Gratsch — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 17:28:32 GMT

The National School Boards Association (NSBA), "a nationwide organization representing public school governance," now offers BoardBuzz, a daily weblog with the stated goal of "delivering every day a fast, sharp, informed read on important issues to school board members and to all public education advocates. BoardBuzz is written by a team from NSBA’s ranks of editors, advocacy professionals, and experts in policy and school law, who know the issues, the players, and the angles. From our perch here in Washington, D.C., we hear stuff. We learn stuff. Which leads us to the next question."

This all makes perfect sense to me. And, to lawyers charged with keeping existing clients informed as to laws potentially affecting their business or industry, there might be a lesson worth noting here. Information overload affects us all; and it is going to get worse. Lawyers who can "every day [deliver] a fast, sharp, informed read on important issues," will offer clients a real benefit by serving as information filters, adding value in the form of their subject matter expertise along the way.

Though not run by lawyers, BoardBuzz is a great "blawg" example for lawyers to consider. BoardBuzz not only provides a valuable service to NSBA members in its daily dose of School Law and Regulation developments, it provides a marketing tool for NSBA to gain new members.

Moblawgging the SCO lawsuit

Bill Gratsch — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 00:21:46 GMT

Received an email today regarding this recent mobile blawg (moblawg?) posting at the Groklaw blawg.

I cannot verify the accuracy of the posting, but it offers an interesting window into ongoing proceedings in the SCO lawsuit--blow by blow from the coutroom. The author suggests that his Treo was not considered a recording device, so he was allowed to bring it into gallery. Using his Treo, he proceeded to offer his own "transcript" of the day's activities, literally as the lawyers for IBM and SCO spoke.

Two Weblog-Blawg Marketing Articles

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 18:57:42 GMT

One of the many blawg feeds I subscribe to via my NewsGator feed reader, is from law marketing specialist Larry Bodine.

Following an interesting entry he made today on the topic of the marketing potential of weblogs for professional services, I ended up reading a couple of interesting pieces on the subject.

If this topic is of interest to you, here are the links:

Well-Written Professional Website Informs—But Does It Sell? - Canright & Paule
Marketing Directly to Clients and Prospects with Weblogs - Larry Bodine

Reset Bookmarks and 'Law is Fun'

Bill Gratsch — Thu, 05 Jun 2003 21:11:44 GMT

The Corp Law Blog has left blogspot for a new home at CorpLawBlog.com. The site also has an RSS Feed available at http://www.corplawblog.com/index.rdf

After resetting your bookmarks, you can stop by the simply titled (have I mentioned how great law student blawg names invariably are?), "Law is Fun," which records "daily musings on life, work, and law school..."

Tech Law Advisor has moved!

Bill Gratsch — Wed, 28 May 2003 16:14:20 GMT

You can now access the Tech Law Advisor weblog at: http://techlawadvisor.com/blog

Also the new RSS feed is this URL: http://techlawadvisor.com/blog/rss.rdf

2 from Louisiana

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 18 Apr 2003 03:10:39 GMT

Louisiana-Legal offers up two law related weblogs, one covering the Louisiana Legislature and the other the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Daily Whirl - Blawg Headlines

Bill Gratsch — Wed, 02 Apr 2003 22:27:58 GMT

Interesting new site, Daily Whirl, which offers "Headlines from a large number of blawgs, all on one quick loading page, highly configurable."

To view the headline feeds in which you are interested, you can select from a existing list of blawgs or suggest your own. I tried it the site and it worked pretty well. Check it out.