TechnoLawyer: TechnoLawyer

As we close 2005, TechnoLawyer has nearly 12,000 members! Without you, TechnoLawyer would not exist. Thank you for your support!

2005 was the year of the blog for us. We launched our own blog in April (to give non-members a taste of our newsletters), and then launched the BlawgWorld eBook in November (to give you a taste of 51 blogs).

2005 was also the year we finally reached out to national, state, and local bar associations. So far, the members of six bar associations are entitled to a free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscription. We have many other bar deals pending that we'll announce soon.

On the newsletter front, in 2005 we published more exclusive TechnoFeature articles than ever before. We also published 744 Posts compared to 673 last year, and we canceled the Topical Compilation newsletter so that we could publish an extra issue of Answers to Questions each week. This move helped us distribute your Posts faster (in 2006, some new twists will completely eliminate any remaining time lag).

Thanks to these and other initiatives, TechnoLawyer attracted more new clients than ever before — plus we held onto most of our existing clients. Many legal vendors have already signed on for 2006.

At the end of this week, we will take a much needed break to recharge and retool for 2006. We stop publishing on December 16th and start up again on January 9th. However, on New Year's Day, look for a special message from me discussing our plans for 2006. Until then, we wish you an enjoyable holiday season with your friends and family. See you next year!

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

BlawgWorld has generated a tremendous amount of controversy and discussion online, not all of it favorable. Ironically, most of the criticism has come from bloggers, some of whom admit in their remarks that they have not read the eBook.

The most common criticism concerns our decision to use a PDF eBook for this project. Instead, these critics argue that we should have used a blog. These remarks strike me as insular. Using a blog would have defeated the purpose of the project — exposing those who don't read blogs to blogs.

BlawgWorld contributor Bob Ambrogi does a nice job of collecting all the criticism, including his own, in a Post entitled BlawgWorld: The (Mixed) Reviews Are In.

A few days after Bob rounded up all of this criticism, the latest review of BlawgWorld arrived, this time in traditional media — the January 2006 edition of West's Lawyer's PC newsletter. Here's an excerpt:

"Many lawyers ... remain oblivious to blogs — or have sampled them and are wholly unpersuaded they can serve useful purposes.... TechnoLawyer has taken an important step to prove to skeptics that legal blogs can be very useful.

"In late November it announced its new e-book, BlawgWorld 2006: Capital of Big Ideas, a compendium of publishings from some of the best blawgs online today. The resulting e-book, carefully edited/assembled by Sara L. Skiff and impressively packaged by art director Gabe Evans, shows you onscreen just how interesting and informative a well-conceived and well-maintained legal blog can be.

"I'm loathe to tout any publication as a 'must read,' but this one certainly comes close .... I'm hoping this is 'volume one,' with periodic sequels to follow."

We know of one other review being written, and doubtless others will follow. We'll keep you apprised of future BlawgWorld developments. In the meantime, thank you for your enthusiasm as evidenced by the 17,372 downloads thus far!

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

We celebrated the launch of BlawgWorld with a private party at Brandy Library on November 30th attended by about 40 TechnoLawyer members in the New York City region, including BlawgWorld contributor Bruce MacEwan. Everyone had a great time. Some people even made promising business connections. We wish all of you could have attended. Take a look at some photos:

Hosts Neil Squillante and Sara Skiff.

Bruce MacEwan of Adam Smith, Esq. with a copy of BlawgWorld.

TechnoLawyer members belly up to the bar.

Jill Bauerle, Roger Lee, and other guests.

Luke Daigle and Mark Moran discuss Web design.

Solo Mary Dempsey chats with Bradley Feldman and Jonathan Hirschman of Relevant Evidence.

Jennifer Katz and Lisa DeRosa take in the scene.

At least two guests took advantage of the seating.

Barkeep, another sidecar please!

Inset Photo by Brandy Library.

Photos 3, 4, 5 by Gabe Evans.

Photos 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 by Eric Skiff.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

On November 30th, we released BlawgWorld 2006: Capital of Big Ideas, a TechnoLawyer eBook designed to take you on a journey through 51 of the most influential legal blogs (blawgs).

So far, TechnoLawyer members have downloaded the eBook 15,674 times! This level of interest far exceeds our expectations. We had hoped for 1,000 downloads the first week, 5,000 within three months, and 10,000 within six months.

If you don't yet have a copy of the eBook, simply join TechnoLawyer at www.blawgworld.com. Upon joining, you'll immediately receive a free copy of BlawgWorld via email (membership is also free).

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

More than three months in the making, today we published BlawgWorld 2006: Capital of Big Ideas, a TechnoLawyer eBook designed to take you on a journey through 51 of the most influential legal blogs (blawgs).

The 51 essays in BlawgWorld were handpicked by each respective blogger as most representative of their blawg. As a result, you will likely find several blawgs worthy of your continued attention.

You cannot buy a copy of BlawgWorld. It's free, but available exclusively to TechnoLawyer members.

Earlier today, we distributed a free copy to all our members. Tonight, we're celebrating the launch of BlawgWorld with a party at Brandy Library in New York City (TriBeCa). We look forward to hosting about 40 of our tristate-area TechnoLawyer members as well as some special guests, including BlawgWorld contributor Bruce MacEwen of Adam Smith, Esq.

Not a TechnoLawyer Member?

Join now using the form on this page or any other page on our site, and you'll immediately receive a free copy of BlawgWorld via email (membership is free).

Or visit the official BlawgWorld home page for more details, including two sample essays from the eBook. We hope you enjoy reading BlawgWorld as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

In a Post to the Solosez Listserver, legal technology consultant Ross Kodner criticized some legal bloggers for being elitist. Law Technology News Editor-in-Chief Monica Bay posted Ross' message on her Common Scold blog, sparking a fierce debate in the comments section.

I participated in the debate, but steered clear of the main issue. Instead, I discussed a side issue about the merit of PowerPoint presentations. Why did I censor myself? Because I'm working on a secret project that you'll learn about this Wednesday. It would have been disingenuous of me to opine without disclosing this project, which I cannot do until Wednesday.

Read the debate.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Recently, AOL acquired Weblogs Inc., a Mark Cuban-financed startup company that operates dozens of enthusiast blogs, but which is best-known for Engadget.

Those of us in the online media business read MediaPost's Just an Online Minute, an e-mail newsletter about our little world. Naturally, the newsletter covered this deal, writing:

"America Online's decision to purchase Weblogs for $25 million is the latest example of the if-you-can't-beat-em-join-em attitude that, these days, established media companies exhibit toward consumer-generated sites.... These moves also suggest that the dichotomy between mainstream media ands [sic] user-generated content is breaking down. Perhaps the large corporate media companies are no longer as wary as in the past of giving citizen journalists and other consumers a platform."

The above characterization of Weblogs Inc.'s content as "user-generated content" (what we call "peer-written content" here at TechnoLawyer) is not correct. Weblogs Inc.'s pays freelance writers to write its blogs. That's not user-generated content, it's traditional content. The content just happens to reside in a blog with fewer layers of editing (or perhaps no editing). The only user-generated content Weblogs Inc. publishes consists of the reader comments below each article — no different than what you'd find in a mainstream media publication.

By contrast, here at TechnoLawyer, we not only publish user-generated content, we place it in the spotlight. For example, our Answers to Questions and Fat Friday newsletters consist of your contributions. If we have anything to say, we place our comments BELOW your Post, not above. Perhaps an even better example, our TechnoFeature newsletter consists of an article written by an expert in the subject matter, not by someone who earns their living writing.

Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing Weblogs Inc. We ourselves publish a newsletter — TechnoLawyer NewsWire — written by a freelance journalist. I've always felt that you need a mix of the two. Instead, I'm just pointing out an error in the use of the term "user-generated content." I have requested that MediaPost publish a correction, but it has not yet done so.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Two weeks ago, we announced free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscriptions for all 35,000 members of the Canadian Bar Association.

Today, we're bringing this benefit home to the USA! The TechnoLawyer Archive is now free for all active members of these bar associations:

• State Bar of Texas: 75,000 lawyers
• Oklahoma Bar Association: 15,000 lawyers
• Cincinnati Bar Association: 4,000 lawyers
• Washoe County Bar Association: 1,300 lawyers

The first bar association executive I spoke to this year was Jim Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program. Thanks to Jim's enthusiasm, he won the approval of his colleagues just in time for the Oklahoma Bar Association's annual meeting this week.

Not long after I met Jim, Charles Awalt of the State Bar of Texas' GP Solo & Small Firm section and Jeffrey Lisson of the Computer & Technology Section inquired separately about free TechnoLawyer Archive access for their members. I suggested that we open it up to all Texas lawyers, and contacted John Sirman. Don't ask me how he did it, but John along with Patricia Moore, the State Bar of Texas' General Counsel, managed to secure approval in record time, which just goes to show that large bar associations can move quickly to serve their members.

Meanwhile, at this year's annual meeting for the National Association of Bar Executives, Peggy Gruenke, Director of Membership at the Cincinnati Bar Association, served on a panel about member benefits. Therefore, it's only natural that Peggy arranged for free TechnoLawyer Archive for Cincinnati Bar Association members.

Christine Cendagorta, the Executive Director of the Washoe County Bar Association, is also a big fan of member benefits. Plus, she's a power user when it comes to technology thanks to her tricked out Power Mac G5. She too jumped at the chance to secure free TechnoLawyer Archive for members of the Washoe County Bar Association.

I've truly enjoyed working with Jim, John, Patricia, Peggy, and Christine, and look forward to continuing to work with them now that the launch is officially underway!

More Announcements Soon. In The Meantime ...

If you belong to both TechnoLawyer and one of the above bar associations, just visit your bar association's Web site, and follow the link to TechnoLawyer for instructions on how to obtain your free TechnoLawyer Archive subscription.

If you would like your bar association to offer this benefit, please ask the executive in charge of member benefits to contact me (the bottom of every page on our site has a contact link).

A few months ago, we took some flack among bloggers (despite being bloggers ourselves) for publishing a TechnoFeature article entitled A Contrarian View of Legal Blogs.

Now comes a Forbes cover story entitled Attack of the Blogs that has generated a storm of controversy. The article discusses bloggers who try to sabotage companies, products, and people.

Fine, but just as many if not more bloggers also praise companies, products, and people without disclosing their financial ties in the same — an equally serious problem.

Transparency is always the best policy. That's what we aim for here in TechnoLawyer. Shills sometimes elude our "doesn't smell right" detectors, but we squelch most such attempts.

When it comes to blogs, no one can screen them for you so keep this advice in mind — if you cannot ascertain the identity of the blogger, don't trust what you read without corroboration from a trusted source. Common sense goes a long way whether you're reading a blog, newsletter, newspaper, prospectus, etc.

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Thanks to CBA PracticeLink Editor Mark Kuiack and his colleagues at the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), all 35,000 CBA members are now entitled to a free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscription.

The TechnoLawyer Archive is a searchable Web-based repository of all TechnoLawyer content since September 1999. Unlike our popular newsletters, the TechnoLawyer Archive is not free. We charge $65 for a one year subscription.

When I set out to work with bar associations a few months ago, I have to admit that I was thinking solely about US bar associations (I'll have some announcements in that regard next week). Fortunately, longtime TechnoLawyer and CBA members Dan Pinnington and Christopher Pike introduced me to Mark and the rest is history — and historic!

Mark guided our proposal through approvals at the CBA's national office and we soon found ourselves signing the agreement and exchanging high-fives. (Okay, no high-fives since I signed it in New York and he signed it in Ottawa, but we exchanged exuberant email messages.)

I would like thank Mark for getting the ball rolling! He and the CBA truly are models for all bar associations seeking to procure benefits for their members.

Are You a Member of the CBA?

If you're a current CBA member, just visit the CBA PracticeLink Web site to redeem your free one year TechnoLawyer Archive subscription.

Not a Member of the CBA?

The TechnoLawyer Archive is a terrific resource that has received rave reviews from Law Office Computing and others. We'd like every lawyer in North America to have free access.

Do you belong to a bar association? Would you like this benefit? If so, I need your help.

Please contact the executive at your bar association in charge of member benefits, tell him/her about our offer (perhaps point to this blog post), and ask him/her to contact me (the bottom of every page on our site has a contact link).

Just so you know, all we're asking in return from bar associations is a plan to inform their members about the benefit. There's no point in providing a free subscription if no one knows it exists.

PS: Don't worry paralegals! We plan to work with your associations too. One step at a time.