More for new Oregon lawyer bloggers: see here and here too.
These are baby steps I talk about here, but you have to start somewhere:
Tracking statistics: Google Analytics and FeedBurner are the easiest and the most popular.
I have friends who attend (and love) the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and always try to encourage me to do likewise. But, when I ask if ISWF offers sessions on blogging, the answer is always no (despite the fact that a large percentage of their student body probably blog about their own ISWF experiences). Is blogging not worthy of attention by excellent writing instructors and the ISWF?
Writing a good blog is a lot harder than it appears. For now, let’s look at the blawgs on the ABA Journal Blawg 100. (Yes, there are other Top 10, 20, 25, etc. lists of terrific blawgers and the nice thing is, you are free to make your own list, without being influenced by others’ lists or by things like this and this.)
What do you tell lawyers who ask you about blogging? Top of my list are these:
· Read other lawyers blogs (the good, the bad, and the ugly – content and style matter)
· Read some of the best of the lawyers who write ABOUT blogging. I include these to start with, but there are others:
I link to Oregon Legal Topics blogs and Oregon lawyer’s blogs – see the Oregon Legal Research sidebars to the right – including topical blogs on Employment, Insurance, Business Litigation, Divorce, Labor & Employment, Constitutional law, and Sustainability.
I’ll add more as they are created and as I locate them. I link to Oregon lawyer blogs that have topical and substantive legal postings (including news and commentary) and try not to link to blogs that are primarily for marketing purposes or are too heavily weighted to the personal rather than professional. This is a judgment call – my judgment – and you may challenge my decision if you wish.
Yes, I know the personal leaches into the professional when blogging, and vice versa, and there are wonderful legal blogs that do both, but I can’t just blog (blog is both a verb and a noun) since I blork.
We (meaning my stupendous library assistants and I) have finally released a copy of our How to Find a Lawyer in Oregon – in 6 Easy Steps. (If this direct link to the PDF doesn’t work, try from my library’s hompage, and click on the Legal Research Resources Overview tab.)
This guide started out around 3 pages and we cut, and cut, and cut (no one wants to read 3 pages on finding a lawyer!), so maybe it is too bare bones now. But give it a try and send along suggestions we’ll consider for a future update.
And for Washington County residents (lots of Mult Co listings too), the 2008 Community Action Find guide is out too. You can search it online at their excellent database, but my library and others keep a print copy handy. It is a fabulous resource and complement to our How to Find a Lawyer guide.
Many but not all Oregon attorneys know about the terrific 3 volume set of Will and Trust Forms (Oregon Version), compiled by Joseph J. Hanna, Jr. and Campbell Richardson and published by the US Bank Private Client Group.
Rumors have been swirling that there is a 2006 edition, but upon inquiry we were informed that this is incorrect and the 2003 edition is still the latest one. (In 2006 I was told no update was in the works so a new edition is still likely a ways off.)
This is good news for most of us. The set is not cheap (but is excellent value) and must still have a good and long life ahead in its current form. Some changes may have occurred in filing requirements, so don’t forget to check the OSB practice and course materials, the statutes (the 2007s expected within a few weeks), and (of course) the court where you are filing to make you are using the correct forms.
Oregon CLE is not a puzzle; it is a product of Hawk Education Services and, among other things, produces CLE (continuing legal education) courses that lawyers can use to fulfill their state MCLE requirements. But nowhere, that I have found yet, does it link back to the Oregon State Bar (OSB), which is the state’s bar licensing entity that, inter alia, sets the rules.
If you are a new lawyer, not yet completely familiar with Oregon MCLE rules, read them and learn.
I discovered this website by following a link from Tom Mighell’s Blawg of the Day Nov 1 post.
A Legal Profession Blog 10/6/07 post on attorney positional conflicts links to this OSB formal ethics opinion, 2007-177.
A letter by attorney Frederic Cann in the October 2007 OSB Bulletin makes several important points about attorney ghostwriting, the subject of a July 2007 OSB Bulletin article, “The Ethics of Unbundling.”
Here’s an excerpt from the letter:
“The past few years have seen many articles in the OSB Bulletin about ‘unbundling’ legal services. In the consumer law area the expense of full-service legal representation means unbundled legal services are here to stay. However, lawyers providing unbundled legal services in litigation do have to navigate a “minefield,” because they often are unable to control the ultimate use or presentation of their work product.
These really are, “Insanely Useful Websites” for tracking government (primarily federal) transparency. Thanks to the Law Librarian blog for the link.
Oregon Legal Research Blog