The shortlist (or should we say long list) of 100 selected finalists has now been published by the ABA and they want you to vote for your favourite in each of their 10 categories. Unfortunately the list isn’t quite long enough and we don’t make the grade. There are though plenty of blogs out there more deserving than us of attention so do take five minutes out of your day to suppoerrt your favourites.. blogging can be a lonely business ….
The ABA write
Third Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100
Welcome to the third annual ABA Journal Blawg 100?the best legal blogs as selected by the Journal?s editors. This year we did something even more blog-like. We asked our readers to help us find blawgs worthy of note.
We called it our Blawg Amici and we asked law blog readers to make the case for their favorite law blog, keeping their friend-of-the-blawg briefs to 500 characters or less. We were pleased with the contributions, many of which you?ll see scattered throughout this year?s list.
Our readers even clued us in to a few law blogs we?d never seen before. You?ll find them among the 40 blawgs completely new to our list this year. Those that didn?t make the top 100 are now cataloged in our online Blawg Directory alongside more than 2,500 other law blogs.
And this being the year of Twitter, we?ve also included for the first time Twitter handles for those who have them. According to an October report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, an impressive 19 percent of Internet users now utilize a form of status update like Twitter. More than 70 of our top blawggers use Twitter.
Again this year, you can go vote for your favorite in each of our 10 categories. We?ll be counting votes Dec. 1-31. The winners will be announced in the February edition of the Journal.
Link here to see the shortlist? http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/third_annual_aba_journal_blawg_100/
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We will vote for the following: Short note for those outside the US. This is a very US centric list.. No mention of Slaw, no mention of new Australian muckraker blog? Firm Spy and of course no mention of us !
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News
Above the Law Routinely credited by the mainstream media for breaking news of law firm layoffs and salary freezes, this self-proclaimed legal tabloid is a must-read for those who want to know the latest industry gossip. Editor Elie Ying Mystal is now ATL?s mainstay contributor, aided by anonymous tipsters and forwarded e-mails. In response to industry woes, the blog added a ?Notes from the Breadline? column this year.
Twitter: @ATLBlog
Quick Take: Just because Mystal?s name is on more posts, don?t count out David Lat, who breaks in from time to time with particularly juicy tidbits.
Legal Theory
If there?s a legal topic of concern to women, Feminist Law Professors is likely to cover it. Professors Ann Bartow of the University of South Carolina and Bridget Crawford of Pace provide frequent posts about court cases and news from a feminist perspective.
Twitter: @FeministLawPrfs
Quick Take: In the form of a blogroll, the site catalogs nearly 300 law professors who?ve identified themselves as feminists.
Careers
Law21 Jordan Furlong has a knack for looking at trees and seeing a forest. He doesn?t blog legal news as it breaks, but looks for trends and provides skeptical analyses of what all of the yay-sayers are spouting about the present and future of the practice of law.
Twitter: @jordan_law21
Quick Take: Furlong spent 10 years at the Canadian Bar Association but left in October to be a partner at the law firm consultancy Edge International.
Criminal Justice
As this section is purely US Based and not really our field we’ll pass on voting here
Lighter Fare
BabyBarista offers an entertaining fictional account of a junior barrister published by the Times Online. The blog?s author, Tim Kevan, described ?BabyBarista? to the U.K. news site This Is North Devon as ?a sneaky character who gets up to all sorts of shenanigans in order to succeed. You wouldn?t like his behavior at all, were it not for the fact that BabyBarista?s opponents are even worse.?
Twitter: @babybarista
Quick Take: ?BabyBarista? was anonymous until Kevan outed himself in March for the purpose of promoting his book, BabyBarista and the Art of War, which came out in August.
Practice Specific
SCOTUSblog is the place to go for up-to-the-minute coverage of the latest U.S. Supreme Court news, including moment-by-moment colorful commentary this summer during its live blog of Sonia Sotomayor?s confirmation hearings.
Twitter: @scotusblog
Quick Take: Founder Tom Goldstein, who has argued 21 Supreme Court cases, spends $100K of his own money each year to fund SCOTUSblog.
IMHO
(in my humble opinion) These sites, while sometimes taking a substantive look at the law, often attract our attention with rants?or let?s say strong opinions?about what?s in the news or creating a stir in the legal community.
NEW Charon QC No longer in practice, a certain U.K. attorney with a taste for satire, British law and politics has awarded himself the nom de plume Charon QC. ?Now, as no one can instruct him in any matter, or would wish to, he is free to comment as he wishes on matters which catch his attention,? he says.
Twitter: @Charonqc
Quick Take: Charon QC is ?a figment of a febrile imagination? of author Mike Semple Piggot, who serves as editor of the online magazine Insite Law.
Legal Tech
Savvy in the ways of legal technology and social media, these blawggers want to show readers how to use these tools to improve their efficiency and marketing reach.
GLARING OMISSION IN THIS SECTION – NO MENTION OF CHARLES CHRISTIANS’ ORANGE RAG blog
NEW Above and Beyond KM New York City lawyer Mary Abraham takes lawyers? use of social media to the next level, pushing ?knowledge management? beyond just identifying problems and finding quickie tech solutions.
Twitter: @VMaryAbraham
Quick Take: As a show of devotion to her blog, Abraham moved the site from the free Blogspot platform to her own domain on her one-year blawgiversary in January.
Business of Law
Adam Smith, Esq. is the blog personality and consulting biz of Manhattanite Bruce MacEwen, whose posts are aimed mainly at large law firms on topics that include compensation, partnership models and practicing in a global marketplace.
Quick Take: The blog?s name pays tribute to the founding father of capitalism and author of The Wealth of Nations.
Geo
China Law Blog If it?s law-related in China, Seattle-based Dan Harris and Shanghai-based Steve Dickinson have it covered. Posts are timely, thorough and often practical, focusing on what it takes to have successful U.S.-China business relationships.
Twitter: @DanHarris
Quick Take: A respect for Chinese culture and art shines through, adding personality to what could have been a run-of-the-mill business blog.
