Dennis Kennedy

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December 21, 2009

Dennis Kennedy's 2009 Law-related Blogging Awards (The Blawggies)

Welcome to the 2009 edition of Dennis Kennedy's annual Best of Law-related Blogging Awards, better known as the "Blawggies." The Blawggies, which honor the best-related blogs as determined from my personal and highly-opinionated perspective, were first unleashed on an unsuspecting blogosphere in December 2004 and are now an annual pre-Christmas tradition here at DennisKennedy.Blog. I’m very pleased that this sixth edition of the awards makes them the longest running annual awards list for law-related blogs selected by a lawyer named Dennis Kennedy living in St. Louis, Missouri.

Background.

The Blawggies are not based on any popular votes, surveys or, God forbid, objective criteria. They are highly-opinionated choices made by me alone, based on my experience, expertise and likes and dislikes gained from nearly seven years of blogging and several more years before that of reading blogs voraciously.

Over the years, the reaction to the Blawggies has run the gamut from "who does this guy think he is?" to "if he’s so smart about blawgs, why isn’t mine included?" Actually, almost all of the reactions fall into the first category.

Seriously, though, I want to accomplish three things with the Blawggie awards:

1. To highlight the law-related blogs I read and like and to say thank you to the bloggers who write them.

2. To direct my readers to the law-related blogs I enjoy.

3. To prompt others to give their own awards so I can learn about other blogs I should be reading.

From the beginning, I expected that many bloggers would pick up on the idea and do their own awards posts. That has started to happen in the last year or two. When you realize that there is no reason that you can't simply post your own awards, you move you from merely blogging to becoming a Blogger with a capital "B."

So, the best response to my list is to post your own list, although I do invite your comments and discussion about my list. See, e.g., ABA Journal's Blawg 100 or the Clawbies.

The Blawggie Criteria.

In general, I like to see blogs (1) consistently useful content, (2) a generous and helpful approach, and (3) a combination of commitment and talent, with an emphasis on good writing. In other words, I like blogs that compel me to read them on a regular basis. I read almost all blog posts in a newsreader, so the awards will reflect a bias toward blogs with full-text RSS feeds, as well as my many other biases and personal preferences, which are too numerous to list here.

It’s very important to remember that the awards also, necessarily, reflect the blawgs I actually read. That reflects my own interests and the focus on my own legal work. I read a lot of law-related blogs, but it's still only a small fraction of the available blawgs. For example, I'm a transactional lawyer, so I'm simply not familiar with most litigation-oriented, criminal defense or regulatory blogs. You get the idea. I also tend to focus more on law practice management and legal technology blogs than others might. Another reason to do your own list.

A Word about the Name "Blawggies."

Among the historic documents of law-related blogging is a series of emails in which Denise Howell (@dhowell), blogging pioneer and coiner of the term "blawg," had on the question whether "Blawggies" should be spelled with one or two "gs."As a result, I’m pretty confident of the correct spelling.

I tend to use the word "blawg" in the sense of "law-related" blogs. I find "lawyer blogs" or "legal blogs" (as opposed to "illegal blogs"?) to be limiting and inaccurate for what I want to cover. You'll also notice that the blogs I highlight fall more into the law practice category than the substantive law category.

The Twitter Factor.

Last year, I said, fairly presciently in my Blawggie post: "It's easy to overstate the importance of Twitter as of right now, but the potential for the future is very intriguing. Even in the last month or so, you can see many of the law-related bloggers using microblogging as an alternative channel. Definitely the trend to watch."

Many active bloggers actually tend to post more to Twitter than to their blogs. It’s definitely had an impact on the frequency of blog updates for many bloggers.

Executive Summary.

First, let's do away with the suspense.

Here's the "executive summary" of the award winners. I do encourage you to read the whole post for details and the runner-up choices.

2009 Blawggie Award Categories and Winners.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - SLAW

2. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog – Tie: Steve Nipper’s The Invent Blog and Patrick Lamb’s In Search of Perfect Client Service

3. Best Law Practice Management Blog – Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Management Tips

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Non-US Blawgs

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Weblog

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

7. Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award – Allison Shields’ Legal Ease Blog

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Paul Caron's The TaxProf Blog

10. Best New Law-related Blog – Social Media Law Student

11. The DennisKennedy.Blog Best Legal Technology Blog – Ron Friedmann’s Strategic Legal Technology

12. Most Important Trend in Law-related Blogging – Tie: Group Blogs and Microblogging

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I encourage you to read more about the winning blogs (and why they were winners) and the runners-up. If you'd rather simply see if your blog is named on mentioned, simply use the "find on this page" feature in the edit menu of your browser. ;-)

THE 2009 BLAWGGIE AWARDS

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - SLAW

SLAW is a repeat winner. It is a group blog written by a steadily growing list of the brightest minds in Canada on the subject of law practice management and other legal topics. Like last year, whenever I sat down and thought about what blawgs were candidates for this award, I always came back to SLAW. It can be very difficult to achieve continuity and continue to keep momentum and quality with a group blog (especially where contributors have their own individual blogs), but SLAW has continued to succeed. I like the steady stream of high-quality, useful posts on a variety of topics, often with practical advice you can use immediately. Simon Fodden is the SLAW administrator and there is a stated aim "to share knowledge, offer advice and instruction, and occasionally provoke." Which they do.

Runner-up - Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq. provides the best analysis of the business and economic aspects of the practice of law you will find. Constantly thought-provoking, this blog is mandatory reading in these complicated economic times).

2. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Blog – Tie: Steve Nipper’s Invent Blog and Patrick Lamb’s In Search of Perfect Client Service

I named this award for Marty Schwimmer's lifetime achievement with The Trademark Blog in setting an example of what you can do with a practice-specific blog and because, otherwise, he would win every year. His blawg still rocks. This category is always a difficult one for me because I don't read a lot of practice-specific blogs and there are many great blawgs in that cover topics well outside my area of focus (that's another it makes sense for you to do your own awards).

I chose the two winners this year because they illustrate how you can maintain great practice-specific blogs with names other than " Blog" and how the best practice-specific blogs can go "off topic" with great results.

Steve Nipper’s Invent Blog covers patent law, with lots of great practical information, but he also covers topics in his local community, technology tips and other useful information. When you combine Steve’s efforts on his blog with his Twitter presence, you can see how the many ways you can use social media to create visibility and community. The one thing that always stands out in Steve’s efforts is a sense of helpfulness.

Patrick Lamb’s In Search of Perfect Client Service is a great example of a way to use a blawg as platform for thoughtful commentary and grow an audience for that material that also cannot help but conclude that this thoughtfulness and insight must also be part of your lawyering skills. Patrick is in the forefront of alternative billing and client-focused innovation in providing legal services and his blog will keep you on top of developments in those areas.

Runner-up – Matt Buchanan’s Buchanan Intellectual Property Office is the continuation and evolution of Matt’s Promote the Progress. I really like where Matt is going – he is one of the most insightful of all lawyer bloggers – but, as he reminded me recently, this is a blog-in-progress. I want to see where the progress takes us.

3. Best Law Practice Management Blog – Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Management Tips Blog

Every now and then, a blogger will get in the "zone" and write a string of great posts, one after another. Jim had one of those stretches this year, where everything he posted was great. Jim is the Practice Management Advisor of the Oklahoma Bar, a popular author and speaker, and one of the most knowledgeable experts on law practice management you will ever find, especially in the solo and small firm space. His genuine helpfulness and willingness to teach always shine through in his blog.

Runner-up - Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq. could win this category every year and has long been one of the best law practice management blogs, with an audience of some of the biggest decision-makers in the legal profession. Bruce has a great talent for applying economic analysis to the business of the practice of law and writing about it in a compelling and engaging manner. The blog offers vital insights and perspective in these complex economic times.

4. Best Legal Blog Category – Non-US Law-related Blogs

There is a whole world of law-related blogs outside the US. If I could read a language other than English, I’m sure that I’d know even more about these than I do now. The United Kingdom blawgs got my attention this year, but, as many readers know, I really like the Canadian bloggers. As I’ve said before, "If you only have US blogs on your reading list, you need to go global and there's no better place to start than in Canada." The Clawbie Awards are a great starting point for Canadian law-related blogs, which cover a wide variety of law practice management, technology and knowledge management. It’s time to diversify the list of blogs you read and move outside the US.

Runner-up – For my money, you just can’t beat the law librarian blogs for great information, links to great resources and just plain interesting insights into topics like knowledge management and our changing world of information.

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Weblog

Another repeat winner. Some blogs that aggregate information from other legal blogs, digest posts from other legal blogs or highlight and point to posts on other legal blogs. You can effectively monitor the best posts from a number of blogs in one place. Nancy Stinson at the Stark County Law Library Weblog is my favorite example of this category. She makes excellent choices and it's a great way to keep up with developments in the blawgosphere when you don't have much time.

Runner-up - Legal Blog Watch. There was a momentous transition this year when Carolyn Elefant stepped away from the Legal Blog Watch, but they’ve done a good job of keeping momentum. Legal Blog Watch is another great place to find links and commentary on some of the best blawg posts of the day in one handy place.

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

The name of this category is an inside joke so I could make Kevin use the word "blawg," which he hates, when he mentions that he won this award. As I said in 2008, "No one covers the world of legal blogging (and now related topics like Twitter and social networking) better than Kevin does. And no one today knows more about the practical aspects of legal blogging and what lawyers are doing in blogging than Kevin does. . . . If you want to learn how to start blogging and how to blog better, there's no better place to start than Kevin's blog."

Runner-up – The vast majority of attention has been on lawyer’s using Twitter and other forms of social media than blogs this year. However, you can learn a lot about blogging simply by looking at and reading as many blogs as you can and noting what you like and dislike. For years, Tom Mighell's Tom Mighell's Inter Alia has offered a Blawg of the Day feature that both provides a service to the blawgging community and gives you a way to find lots of new blawgs. It also is a great way to spot trends and patterns and see what is happening in terms of design and content in new blogs.

7. Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast

Disclosure: Our podcast, The Kennedy-Mighell Report, is now produced by the Legal Talk Network and I’m an unabashed fan of the production team at LTN. That has no impact on my choice, but you might wish to factor that into account Interestingly, we’re at LTN in part because of an off-hand comment I made about re-starting our podcast in last year’s Blawggies post.

The winning podcast is Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast is, I believe, the longest-running regularly-scheduled legal podcast, with well over 100 episodes. The podcast does a great job of pulling in great guests on the leading topics of the day. The coverage is broad, which is both a plus and a minus, since an episode might stray outside your area of interest.

Runner-up – While I’m really likely where we are going with The Kennedy-Mighell Report, I’m not sure I have a clear runner-up this year. There are some good law-related podcasts out there, especially on the , but, even more so than blogs, your interest in legal podcasts will be directly proportional to what you are interested in. As a big podcast fan, let me just highlight a few good ones for you to sample - Denise Howell's This Week in Law; The Digital Edge with Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway; Charon Podcast, and Adrian Dayton’s Weekly Voir Dire.

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award – Allison Shields’ Legal Ease Blog

I'm a big fan of the pure writing ability of some of the best legal bloggers. I named this award after the legal blogger who had the biggest influence on my blog writing, Sherry "Scheherezade" Fowler (who is now blogging at Rhubarb Pie). This is my favorite of the Blawggies. In most years, I spend a lot of time making my decision, but I’ve known who the winner this year would be for a long time.

This year's winner is one of last year’s runners-up, Allison Shields at the Legal Ease Blog. I said last year that "Allison has a practical, comfortable style, focused yet informal, that strikes me, after meeting her, as right in line with her speaking style – I enjoy her writing, no matter the topic." Allison covers a number of areas- law practice management, legal marketing, legal technology. She is succinct, well-organized and fills her posts with a surprising amount of sage advice, often in a fairly short post. I always read whatever she writes.

Runner-up – Tie: showcases Jordan’s stylish and thoughtful essays on a variety of law practice topics. Often the first to delve into a topic, Jordan always makes you think and his posts are often retweeted by many people on Twitter. Ernest "Ernie the Attorney" Svenson is one of the pioneering lawyer bloggers and, although he doesn’t write so much about law any more, he’s great on legal technology, New Orleans and wry observations about the human condition. I always enjoy reading whatever Ernie writes.

9. Best Law Professor Blog – Paul Caron's The TaxProf Blog

The Blawggies have always had a spot for the best law professor blawg. In part, it’s my little effort to bring closer (unsuccessfully, as of yet) the great divide between practicing lawyers and law professors (although realizing that a favorable mention of a law professor's blog outside academia might be disastrous for his or her tenure chances, I try to be careful). When I find an interesting post in Google Reader, I star it. I’m not sure any law-related blog has gotten more starred posts than Paul Caron's The TaxProf Blog, although my early background in tax law has something to do with that. Paul covers not just tax issues, but the economic turmoil, law school topics and more.

Runner-up - Tie: Jim Maule's Mauled Again is another great tax law blog with a broader scope and very interesting posts. Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog has great coverage of cyberlaw and intellectual property law issues.

10. Best New Law-related Blog – Social Media Law Student

As you will see in the next award, the two biggest trends in law-related blogging in 2009 were group blogs and social media. This category’s winner combines both and answers the question "what will blogs of people who establish a reputation in Twitter or other social media look like?" In fact, I’ve argued that this blog gives us a glimpse of what the next generation of blogging will look like. For the purists out there, I realize that the winner had a few posts in late 2008, but I’m still counting it as a new blawg for 2009.

The story of Rex (@rex7) Gradeless and his immense Twitter following has been widely told, but fewer people know about the blog that grew out of the initial Twitter success. Social Media Law Student is a group blog that he is a founder of and it covers a lot of territory in the areas of social media and law and law practice. It’s evolved into a great resource with thoughtful articles with a slightly irreverent style and lots of energy. Definitely a blog to watch.

Runner-up - Tie: Jeff Richardson's iPhone J.D. and the Hildebrandt Blog. Jeff Richardson's iPhone J.D. is the perfect example of a niche legal technology blog. Great coverage of the use of the iPhone in legal practice – developments, tips, news, apps recommendations. I don’t even have an iPhone and I’m a regular reader. The Hildebrandt Blog is almost too new for me to mention, so I hope they keep it going for a while. Suffice to say, it’s off to a great start with insightful and incisive posts on law practice management topics, exactly what you’d hope to see from one of the leading law practice management consulting firms.

11. The DennisKennedy.Blog Best Legal Technology Blog – Ron Friedmann’s Strategic Legal Technology

Longtime readers will know that I used to give my own blog this award every year, which had more to do with the tendency for the author’s attribution on a list like this to disappear when the list gets reposted on the Internet than my sense of humor about putting myself on the list. Last year, I simply named this award after my blog so I could keep a mention and a link in the post. There’s no bigger fan of legal tech blogs than I am and it’s always difficult for me to pick a winner, but this year I felt one blog really stood out.

Ron Friedmann’s Strategic Legal Technology was last year’s runner-up and Ron has, especially lately, been posting great items on the "big picture" legal technology topics (he’s great on outsourcing, for example) and legal technology strategy. In a way, his blog reminds me on an Adam Smith, Esq. on legal technology. The fact that Ron and I have similar perspectives on legal technology and similar interests doesn’t hurt either.

Runner-up – I couldn’t decide on a legal tech blog as a runner-up, so I decided to go with a tech advice blog I really like that I think many lawyers will find quite useful – Ask Dave Taylor, which is a great Q&A blog that offers practical answers to all kinds of technology questions. Give it a try.

12. Most Important Trend in Law-related Blogging – Tie: Microblogging (Social Media) and Group Blogging

It is impossible to overestimate the impact Twitter and social media have had on law-related blogging in 2009. I use the term microblogging to describe the use of Twitter as a vehicle to publish content that might have otherwise gone into a blog post. Because a post on Twitter (known as a "tweet") is limited to 140 characters, microblogging consists of quick insights, short observations and pointers to links. There are also community and communications aspects to Twitter/microblogging that are somewhat different than what you get with blogging and comments.

What happened in 2009 was that microblogging siphoned a huge amount of content and energy away from blogging into social media. I like to say that any tweet on DennisKennedy.Microblog (my blog’s Twitter account - @dkennedyblog) would have probably ended up as an extended post on my blog in the past. The same is true for many other bloggers. So, we are seeing a movement of bloggers into social media and, even more interesting, a movement of people successful in social media into blogging (e.g., Social Media Law Student). Where it will end up, I don’t know, but it’s definitely where the action is in law-related blogging.

A second trend, somewhat related, is the movement to group blogging. If a blogger is running a blog, participating in other blogs, using social media, podcasting and other things as well, something has to give. Often, the traditional blog post is what gets pushed back and you see bloggers posting to their blogs much less frequently than before. One solution is to add additional bloggers to an existing blog. Another approach is simply to start group blogs. Law firms are also using the group blogging approach to get blogs up and running.

I, only half-jokingly, like to say that I’ve participated in more now-dead group blogs than any other blawgger. I can attest to the fact that it is very difficult to sustain group blogs over the long haul.

Runner-up – Federation. There might be a better word for this. The idea is that, if I have all of these outlets for what I am producing, I should be able to see them automatically in one place and people should be able to subscribe to everything I’m doing in one place. People are looking at things like FriendFeed, Posterous and other tools/services for help with this.

And there you have it - the 2009 Blawggie Awards.

As usual , it's painful not to give awards to all the blogs I like, but, as with any awards, you have to make some choices. I'm making available for download soon an OPML file with the Blawggie winners and a list of many of the other law-related blogs to which I currently subscribe and grabbed for this list. Follow the instructions in your RSS reader for importing OPML files and you'll be able to instantly start reading the law-related blogs I do. I welcome your feedback, but, as ever, I really invite you to post your own awards as a way of saying "thank you" to the blogs and bloggers that matter most to you. Or, perhaps most important, if you don't have a blog, but have been thinking about starting one, I encourage you to jump right in.

Best wishes for 2010.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Technorati tags: blawggies blawggie 2009 legal technology dennis kennedy awards blawg blogging microblogging law-related legal

Posted by dmk at 07:05 PM | Comments (6)

December 21, 2008

Dennis Kennedy's 2008 Law-related Blogging Awards (The Blawggies)

Welcome to the 2008 edition of Dennis Kennedy's annual Best of Law-related Blogging Awards, better known as the "Blawggies." The Blawggies, which honor the best-related blogs as determined from my personal and highly-opinionated perspective, were first unleashed on an unsuspecting blogosphere in December 2004 and are now an annual pre-Christmas tradition here at DennisKennedy.Blog. This fifth edition of the awards makes them the longest running annual awards list for law-related blogs selected by Dennis Kennedy on the whole Internet.

WARNING: What follows is what is known in blogging as a "long post." An executive summary of the winners will follow shortly, although I hope that you will take the time to read the entire post.

Background.

A little background on the Blawggies for those who are new to them. The Blawggies are not based on any popular votes, surveys or, God forbid, objective criteria. They are highly-opinionated choices made by me, based on my experience, expertise and likes and dislikes gained from nearly six years of blogging and several more years before that of reading blogs.

Over the years, the reaction to the Blawggies has generally fallen into two categories. The first can be summed up as "who does this guy think he is?" The second category is . . . well, maybe there isn't a second category.

Seriously, though, I want to accomplish three things with the Blawggie awards:

1. To highlight the law-related blogs I read and like and to say thank you to the bloggers who write them.

2. To direct my readers to the blogs I enjoy.

3. To prompt others to give their own awards so I can learn about other blogs I should be reading.

From the beginning, I expected that many bloggers would pick up on the idea and do their own awards posts. With a few exceptions (e.g., Blawg Review, the Clawbies, ABA Journal Blawg 100), that didn't happen until this year.

While I'd like to take credit for the surge this year in blawg awards and top ten lists (see, e.g, Susan Cartier Liebel's great blogs I read challenge, Jordan Furlong's list, Victoria Pynchon's list, and the Tony(c) Awards (and especially for the nice comments about me here).

I attribute it primarily to the ABA Journal's Blawg 100 list. It seems to have prompted the sense of "who do they think they are and what do they know?" that inspires people to say, "If they can do a list, why can't I do that on my blog?" When you realize that there is no reason that you can't, you move you from merely blogging to becoming a Blogger with a capital "B."

So, the best response to my list is to post your own, although I do invite your comments and discussion.

The Blawggie Criteria.

In general, I like to see blogs (1) consistently useful content, (2) a generous and helpful approach, and (3) a combination of commitment and talent, with an emphasis on good writing. In other words, I like blogs that compel me to read them on a regular basis. I read almost all blog posts in a newsreader, so the awards will reflect a bias toward blogs with full-text RSS feeds as well as my many other biases and personal preferences, which are too numerous to list here.

The awards also, necessarily, reflect the blawgs I actually read. That reflects my own interests and the focus on my own legal work. I read a lot of law-related blogs, but it's still only a small fraction of the available blawgs. For example, I'm a transactional lawyer, so I'm simply not familiar with most litigation-oriented blogs. You get the idea.

A Word about the Name "Blawggies."

Among the historic documents of law-related blogging is a series of emails in which Denise Howell (@dhowell), blogging pioneer and coiner of the term "blawg" had on the question whether "Blawggies" should be spelled with one or two "gs." You see the result.

I tend to use the word "blawg" in the sense of "law-related" blogs. I find "lawyer blogs" or "legal blogs" (as opposed to "illegal blogs"?) to be limiting and inaccurate for what I want to cover. You'll also notice that the blogs I highlight fall more into the law practice category than the substantive law category.

Executive Summary.

First, let's do away with the suspense.

Here's the "executive summary" of the award winners. I do encourage you to read the whole post for details and the runner-up choices.

2008 Blawggie Award Categories and Winners.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - SLAW

2. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog - Evan Brown's Internet Cases

3. Best Law Practice Management Blog - Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq.

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Canadian Law-related Blogs

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Weblog

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

7. Best Legal Podcast - Tie, This Week in Law and Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Jim Maule's Mauled Again

10. Best New Law-related Blog - Jordan Furlong's Law 21

11. The DennisKennedy.Blog Best Legal Technology Blog - Rick Georges' Futurelawyer

12. Most Important Trend in Law-related Blogging - Microblogging

I encourage you to read more about the winning blogs (and why they were winners) and the runners-up. If you'd rather simply see if your blog is named on mentioned, simply use the "find on this page" feature in the edit menu of your browser. ;-)

I've also put together an OPML file that you can import into your RSS reader (e.g., Google Reader or FeedDemon) with all the blawgs mentioned here and a few others for you.

THE 2008 BLAWGGIE AWARDS

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - SLAW

You will notice a distinctly Canadian theme to the Blawggies this year. SLAW joins previous winners, Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific.com, Tom Mighell's Inter Alia, Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog,/a>, and Tom Collins' (now-retired) More Partner Income blog. SLAW (recent post) is a group blog written by a steadily growing list of the brightest minds in Canada on the subject of law practice management. Although there were almost too many worthy candidates for this award and the choice was difficult, SLAW was always one of my favorites throughout the year. I like the steady stream of high-quality, useful posts and the fact that they have been able to maintain a group blog for an extended period of time, something that I can attest is quite difficult to do. Simon Fodden is the SLAW administrator and there is a . The stated aim is "to share knowledge, offer advice and instruction, and occasionally provoke." And they do an excellent job.

Runner-up - Tie: Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq. (must-reading in these troubled economic times) and Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs (great coverage of lawyers using the Internet - from blogs to Web 2.0 to Twitter and beyond).

2. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Blog - Evan Brown's Internet Cases

I named this award for Marty Schwimmer's lifetime achievement with The Trademark Blog in setting an example of what you can do with a practice-specific blog and because, otherwise, he would win every year. This category is always a difficult one for me because I don't read a lot of practice-specific blogs and there are many great blawgs in that cover topics well outside my area of focus (that's why it makes sense for you to do your own awards). I chose Evan Brown's Internet Cases blog (recent post) as this year's winner because it covers an area of strong interest to me and does a solid and comprehensive job of covering the category with timely news and discussion of cases and other developments in the area of Internet law. The idea behind a good blawg can be quite simple – what matters is how you execute it. Evan gives you a great example of how to execute on practice-specific blog.

Runner-up – Tie: Ken Adams' AdamsDrafting blog (excellent coverage and discussion of practical contract drafting issues) and Steve Nipper's The Invent Blog (consistently interesting and useful information, links and resources and intellectual property and related topics)

3. Best Law Practice Management Blog - Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq.

Adam Smith, Esq. (recent post) has long been one of the best law-related blogs and has an audience that includes some of the biggest decision-makers in the legal profession. Bruce has a great talent for applying economic analysis to the business of the practice of law and writing about it in a compelling and engaging manner. See his recent post on the billable hour as just one example. I've long been a fan and one of my 2008 blog-related highlights was getting the chance to have an in-person conversation with Bruce this summer. In these times of economic turmoil, Adam Smith, Esq. is mandatory for me and many others.

Runner-up - Tie: Jordan Furlong's Law 21 (great thoughtful, topical analysis on a variety of practice management topics – see more below), Matt Homann's The Nonbillable Hour (Matt's return to regular blogging after being reinvigorated by Twitter is welcome news – innovation and asking hard questions are the topics here) and Carolyn Elefant's MyShingle (the top resource for solo lawyers will probably become even more important if layoffs and closures make more lawyers "suddenly solo").

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Canadian Law-related Blogs

A look through this year's awards will show you what an impact the Canadian law-related blogs are making this year. And they make it easy for you to dig in to the long list of excellent Canadian law blogs (see Vancouver Law Librarian Blog's List of Canadian Law Blogs,/a>). I've gotten the chance to meet a good number of the Canadian bloggers and that's been great because they are as interesting and helpful in person as they are on their blogs. They've won this award before, but it seems that, as a group, they took things to a new level in 2008. If you only have US blogs on your reading list, you need to go global and there's no better place to start than in Canada.

Runner-up - Law librarian blogs (Consistently the most useful and helpful of all the law-related blogs – great resources on many topics, and the combination Canadian law librarian blogs is especially a good one)

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Weblog

Some blogs that aggregate information from other legal blogs, digest posts from other legal blogs or highlight and point to posts on other legal blogs. You can effectively monitor the best posts from a number of blogs in one place. Nancy Stinson at the Stark County Law Library Blog is my favorite example of this category. She makes excellent choices and it's a great way to keep up with developments when you don't have much time.

Runner-up - Legal Blog Watch (great coverage and I admire the way Bob Ambrogi and Carolyn Elefant have kept up the pace of daily posting – well-chosen items) and Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs (a regular feature highlights significant posts from the LexBlog family of blogs).

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

The name of this category is an inside joke so I could make Kevin use the word "blawg," which he hates, when he mentions that he won this award. No one covers the world of legal blogging (and now related topics like Twitter and social networking) better than Kevin does. And no one today knows more about the practical aspects of legal blogging and what lawyers are doing in blogging than Kevin does. I always enjoy getting the chance to talk with and present with Kevin. If you want to learn how to start blogging and how to blog better, there's no better place to start than Kevin's blog.

Runner-up - Tie: Steve Matthews' Law Firm Web Strategy Blog (great discussion of practical blogging topics with an emphasis on strategy - he also does the Clawbie awards); Darren Rowse's Problogger Blog Tips (not a blawg, but my favorite blog for learning about ways to blog better), and Tom Mighell's Inter Alia (I believe that you really learn how to blog and how to improve your blog by seeing and reading a lot of blogs – Tom's Blawg of the Day provides a service to the blawgging community and gives you a way to find lots of new blawgs).

7. Best Legal Podcast - Tie: This Week in Law and Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast

I really like podcasts and listen to a lot of them, although most of them are not legal podcasts. Tom Mighell and I are also discussing the revival of our podcast, The Kennedy-Mighell Report, and I have some audio I'm working on editing. I couldn't decide which legal podcast was the winner of this category, so I named two. Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast is the longest-running weekly legal podcast and has more than 100 episodes. They cover many legal topics, which is both a plus and a minus, since an episode might stray outside your area of interest. But they generally do a great job of finding broad enough topics and getting excellent guests on leading edge topics. Denise Howell's This Week in Law is not exactly weekly, but is a regular podcast on Internet and technology topics that are right in my area of interest. Her regular contributors are often friends of mine and listening to the podcast is like hearing a group of your smartest friends discussing subjects that matter to them. Excellent insights abound.

Runner-up - Jim Calloway 's and Sharon Nelson's The Digital Edge podcast (monthly discussions and interviews on legal technology topics, with great information, even though often I want to suggest that they run a fund drive to get Jim a better microphone)

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave

I'm a big fan of the pure writing ability of some of the best legal bloggers. I named this award after the legal blogger who had the biggest influence on my blog writing, Sherry "Scheherezade" Fowler (who is now blogging at Rhubarb Pie). In many ways, this is the most important of the Blawggie awards and I spent a lot of time thinking about it. This year's winner is Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave. Chuck's blog (recent post) covers solo practice and the very important idea of Third Wave legal practice (recent post). However, he's succeeded in establishing a writing style that makes me willing to follow wherever his article reads. Chuck is also example of someone (Matt Homann is another) who might not have started out blogging with the feeling that they were a "great writer," but blogging has made them so. I wrote a post called "The Land of Hope and Dreams" in which I cited some examples of bloggers, including specifically Chuck for this post, who wrote "off-topic" with a compelling compassion and authenticity that produced great pieces of writing. My hat is off to Chuck on his evolution as a blogger and his ability as a writer and his wise and practical posts.

Runner-up - Tie: Allison Shields Legal Ease Blog (Allison has a practical, comfortable style, focused yet informal, that strikes me, after meeting her, as right in line with her speaking style – I enjoy her writing, no matter the topic, and am grateful to her for contributing the closing comment to this recent roundtable article that ended the piece perfectly and was exactly the type of comment I was hoping she'd write); and Jordan Furlong's Law 21 (Jordan blows me away with his excellent, polished, thought little essays on a variety of topics and, in person, is a marvelous storyteller – like Allison, I found his writing and speaking voices to be very much in sync).

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Jim Maule's Mauled Again

I always attempt to bridge that chasm between practicing lawyers and law professors (although realizing that a favorable mention of a law professor's blog outside academia might be disastrous for his or her tenure chances, I try to be careful). Jim Maule's Mauled Again (recent post) is all about tax law developments and, as I've said before, it is so darned interesting that you won't believe you are reading a tax law blog by a tax law professor. I've found his coverage and insights into the current economic crisis to be invaluable.

Runner-up - Tie: the multi-authored MoneyLaw (coverage of new approaches to legal academia) and Eric Goldman's Technology & Marketing Law Blog (great coverage of cyberlaw and intellectual property law issues).

10. Best New Law-related Blog - Jordan Furlong's Law 21

I asked Tom Mighell (@tommighell) a while back whether there were so many new blogs that a new blog really could not grab much attention with other law-related bloggers from the start. Jordan Furlong's explosive debut of the brilliant Law 21 blog (recent post) shows that you can still command a lot of attention with the launch of a new blog. Jordan is a gifted writer, an incisive thinker, and has a winning approach. The topic of Law 21 is law practice management and the legal profession, with a firm eye on the future and sharp on current practices. Simply put, it's a must read and one of my favorite blogs.

Runner-up - Tie: Mary Abraham's Above and Beyond KM (Knowledge management is a big interest of mine and I've noticed that I'm constantly impressed and informed by Mary's posts – check it out) and 3 Geeks and the Law (almost by definition, I'm a fan of anything Toby Brown is involved in, but this new group blog has caught my eye with its insightful posts and attitude). On the topic of new blawgs, don't forget about the new Lawyers Guide to Collaboration blog Tom Mighell and I started earlier this year as a companion site to our book (and its companion microblog at @collabtools).

11. The DennisKennedy.Blog Best Legal Technology Blog - Futurelawyer

I've had an annual tradition of giving my own blog the Blawggie award for legal technology blog, in part because of the tendency for attribution on a list like this to disappear when the list gets reposted on the Internet, but also for other reasons I've explained before. While I've done some cool things on my blog this year, like DennisKennedy.Microblog, it's time to end the tradition and, instead, simply name the award after my blog so a mention and link will stay in the list. This award is difficult because every legal technology blog is excellent in its own way. This year, however, Rick Georges' Futurelawyer (recent post) is the clear winner. I appreciate the "everydayness" of his posts and the nuggets of information, reviews and insights he posts on a regular basis. I might not agree with all of Rick's conclusions, but I'm always interested in how he gets there. I learn a lot and keep up-to-date with this blog. A must-read.

Runner-up - Ron Friedmann's Strategic Legal Technology (Ron and I have similar perspectives on legal technology and his blog covers the strategy of legal technology very well, with an emphasis on legal process outsourcing).

12. Most Important Trend in Law-related Blogging - Microblogging

In simplest terms, microblogging refers to the use of Twitter as a vehicle to publish content that might have otherwise gone into a blog post. The trick, however, is that a post of Twitter (known as a "tweet") is limited to 140 characters. As a result, microblogging consists of quick insights, short observations and pointers to links. There are also community and communications aspects to Twitter/microblogging that are somewhat different than what you get with blogging and comments. I'm intrigued by the way bloggers with very focused niche blogs use Twitter as a vehicle for more personal or "off-topic" posting. Very interesting indeed.

I have two stories to relate about microblogging. First, it was exchange of emails with Marty Schwimmer (@mschwimmer) that gave me the idea that became DennisKennedy.Microblog (@dkennedyblog). I wanted to try it as an experiment and I've been very encouraged by the results, particularly as it helps give me an "everydayness" about my blog without the need to do full posts and it complements my personal Twitter ID (@denniskennedy). The second involves Tony Colleluori (@thatlawyerdude). I had a moderately negative attitude about Twitter and microblogging and their potential until one Thursday evening the Jets were playing on NFL Network (not available to me) and I noticed Tony tweeting almost play-by-play on a very exciting game. Suddenly, I "got it," and saw the potential for microblogging as a way to create community. I felt like I was watching the game with Tony in New York. Tony has commented on my influence on him, but I've also been influenced by his non-techie ability to grasp the true potential of technology to connect people.

It's easy to overstate the importance of Twitter as of right now, but the potential for the future is very intriguing. Even in the last month or so, you can see many of the law-related bloggers using microblogging as an alternative channel. Definitely the trend to watch. To get started, take a look at the list of lawyers on Twitter compiled by Adrian Lurssen on the JD Scoop blog.

Runner-up - Sadly, my guess is that state-based ethical regulation, largely misguided, will have a confusing and ultimately negative impact on law-related blogging in 2009. I hate to say that and to see it, but I think it's very likely.

And there you have it - the 2008 Blawggie Awards.

As usual , it's painful not to give awards to all the blogs I like, but, as with any awards, you have to make some choices. I'm making available for download an OPML file (you'll need to right-click on the link and "save as" the file) with the Blawggie winners and a list of many of the other law-related blogs to which I currently subscribe and grabbed for this list. Follow the instructions in your RSS reader for importing OPML files and you'll be able to instantly start reading the law-related blogs I do. I welcome your feedback, but really invite you to post your own awards as a way of saying "thank you" to the blogs and bloggers that matter most to you. Or, perhaps most important, if you don't have a blog, but have been thinking about starting one, I encourage you to jump right in.

Best wishes for 2009.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Follow my microblog on Twitter - @dkennedyblog; Follow me - @denniskennedy

Now Available! The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Visit the companion website for the book at LawyersGuidetoCollaboration.com. Twitter: @collabtools

Technorati tags: blawggies blawggie 2008 legal technology dennis kennedy awards blawg blogging microblogging law-related legal

Posted by dmk at 06:50 PM | Comments (11)

December 01, 2008

DennisKennedy.Blog Named to ABA Journal Blawg 100

It was great to get notice today that this blog was again named as one of the ABA Journal Blawg 100 for 2008 in the "Plugged-in" category. There are nine other excellent blogs in the category and other excellent ones that did not get named, so I'm honored to be in the company and it's always nice to get recognition for what I do with this blog. I also like the way the blurb about my blog both referred to me as a "tech guru" and mentioned my companion microblog (DennisKennedy.microblog - @dkennedyblog), probably the most innovative thing I've tried in blogging in the last few years.

I want to congratulate every blogger who made the list. I also want to compliment the ABA Journal on the immense amount of work that went into the Blawg 100 selections and descriptions and for its support of the blawgging community.

However, I do have some mixed feelings about this recognition that come from the fact that, as the author of a monthly technology column for the ABA Journal, I'm a paid contributor to the magazine. For that reason, I really wouldn't mind if they left me off the list entirely, but, because of this and because my relationship with the ABA Journal might not be completely clear from the Blawg 100 blurb, I do have a favor to ask.

Part of the Blawg 100 is a contest for votes for the top blog in each category. There are nine other great choices in the Plugged-in or Technology category, several of which are likely to end up with one of my own 2008 Blawggie awards. Please vote for one of them - I would be very uncomfortable if I won this category and was a paid contributor to the magazine. It wouldn't feel right to me, and it probably wouldn't look right to others.

Instead, if you like my blog, I ask you to check out my most recent ABA Journal column, consider becoming a follower of my microblog (@dkennedyblog), subscribing to the RSS feed for this blog, or buying a copy of The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together.

While you're looking at the Blawg 100, pay special attention to the interview with Ernest "Ernie the Attorney" Svenson, with his observations on blogging and a great quote from Martha Graham.

And, of course, the Blawg 100, in addition to generating conversation about law-related blogs, gives you a great way to sample blogs and pick some new blogs to subscribe to.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Now Available! The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Visit the companion website for the book at LawyersGuidetoCollaboration.com.

Technorati tags: legal technology blawg blawg 100

Posted by dmk at 10:07 PM | Comments (1)

December 22, 2007

The 2007 Blawggies: Dennis Kennedy's Best Law-related Blogging Awards

Welcome to the 2007 edition of Dennis Kennedy's annual Best of Law-related Blogging Awards, first unleashed on an unsuspecting readership in December 2004 and now an annual pre-Christmas tradition here. These awards, which have become affectionately known as the "Blawggies," celebrate the best of law-related blogs as determined from my personal and highly-opinionated perspective.

Background.

A little background on the Blawggies for those who are new to the concept. The Blawggies are not based on any popular votes, surveys or, God forbid, scientific measurements. They are highly-opinionated choices made by me, based on my experience, expertise and likes and dislikes gained from nearly five years of blogging and several more years before that of reading blogs.

My original idea was simply to illustrate how your blog is essentially your own printing press and you can do whatever you want with it - like hand out official-sounding awards. I actually expected that many bloggers would pick up on the idea and do their own awards posts. Still do - call me an optimist.

Surprisingly, if only to me, the Blawggies post has annually been one of my most controversial posts. Comments have ranged from "who is this guy?" to "he's so full of himself" to my personal favorite, "he only gives awards to the blogs he reads." Well, yeah. For what it's worth, it was no surprise at all to me that the ABA Journal's top 100 blawg list generated some controversy when announced a month or so ago.

Perhaps I should have done the Blawggies instead as one of those "tag, you're it" blog memes that said, "hey, I did some blawg awards and gave you one, now you need to do a set of awards too." Be that as it may, the Blawggies have become a tradition at DennisKennedy.Blog.

About the Blawggie Criteria.

In general, I like to see blogs (1) consistently useful content, (2) a generous and helpful approach, and (3) a combination of commitment and talent, with an emphasis on good writing. In other words, I like blogs that compel me to read them on a regular basis. I read almost all blog posts in a newsreader, so the awards will reflect a bias toward blogs with full-text RSS feeds as well as my many other biases and personal preferences, which are too numerous to list here.

The Blawggies are also intended to recognize the work of long-time bloggers who might otherwise get overlooked in the usual blogging focus on the newest and latest thing. Once again, I have provided an executive summary for those too busy to read the whole post, and I do recognize that some blogging pundits deplore even the idea of long posts, even as I consistently break that "rule."

But, first, let's do away with the suspense.

Executive Summary.

Here's the "executive summary" of the award winners. I do encourage you to read the whole post for details and the honorable mention choices.

2007 Blawggie Award Categories and Winners.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income

2. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog - Ken Adams' AdamsDrafting

3. Best Law Practice Management Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs, Non-US Law-related Blogs and Solo Lawyer Blogs (Tie)

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

7. Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Ernest Svenson's Ernie the Attorney

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Jim Maule's Mauled Again

10. Best New Law-related Blog - Doug Cornelius's KM Space

11. Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

12. Most Important Trend in Law-related Blogging - Niche Blogs

I encourage you to read more about the winning blogs (and why they were winners) and the honorable mention blogs below. If you'd rather simply see if your blog is included in the honorable mentions, simply use the "find on this page" feature in the edit menu of your browser. ;-)

The Details.

As I've said in connection with earlier award posts:

What do they call it when you get thousands of lawyers, law professors, law librarians, law students, legal consultants and others writing blogs that focus on law-related content? A good start. My real purpose with the Blawggie awards is to encourage a whole bunch of legal bloggers to do their own "awards." I think that if they did this, it would be a great way for legal bloggers to highlight the blawgs they really like and a great way for me to learn about some great blogs I might have been unfamiliar with.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income

Tom joins previous winners, Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific.com, Tom Mighell's Inter Alia and Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog. I wanted to use these year's awards in part to celebrate Tom Collins' retirement from active blogging. What a run he has had! I read this blog everyday and almost always put it into my starred and shared items in my Google Reader. I enjoy Tom's selection of topics, his style, his perspective, his incisive analysis, and the personal warmth and generosity that permeates his work. Tom has long history of seeing how law firms are run and we are all blessed that he has decided to share his perspectives and wisdom. In many ways, Tom's blog illustrates how organizations could use blogs to share the insights and wisdom of the most experienced people in KM blogs. Best wishes to Tom on his retirement. We'll miss your steady stream of excellent posts but always appreciate the mark you have left on law-related blogging. Best wishes to Brian Ritchey on taking over for Tom. Honorable Mention - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs - I read every post and occasionally comment on them.

2. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Blog - Ken Adams' AdamsDrafting

I named this award for Marty Schwimmer's lifetime achievement with The Trademark Blog in setting an example of what you can do with a practice-specific blog. There are many more practice-specific blogs this year than ever before and that makes choosing a winner a difficult task. The big issue in choosing a practice-specific blog is that I tend to read the blogs that relate to my individual practice. Therefore, I'm going to miss great blogs that cover areas I don't work in (and that's why it's a good idea for others to do their own awards). Ken Adams' blog focuses on the practical aspects of contract drafting. He covers many of the issues that we transactional lawyers have discussed and debated over the years (e.g., "indemnify and hold harmless" or just "indemnify"?). His posts are especially valuable to my practice and his mission of helping lawyers create clear, precise and readable contracts is a laudable one. Honorable Mention - Rob Robinson's Information Governance Engagement Area (Electronic discovery seems to have become a practice area of its own, hasn't it?)

3. Best Law Practice Management Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income

Sensing a bit of a trend here? Thank you again Tom for the great work that you've done with your blog. I said last year that "For lawyers, the most beneficial aspect of reading blogs is how much you can learn from the enormous amount of useful, practical information you can get about running, marketing and improving your law practice. On a daily basis, you can get tips and insight that can make or save you thousands of dollars." When I sometimes struggle to find a topic for a post on my blog, I often look to Tom's blog for an idea or a post of his that I can point to. As a former partner in a law firm, I can attest that Tom hits on all the issues that partners have concerns and points the way to effective solutions. Honorable Mention - Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq.

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs, Non-US Legal Blogs and Solo Lawyer Blogs (Tie)

I have to be one of the biggest fans of law librarian blogs there is. I learn so much from these blogs and they get named for this award every year. As I said before, "across the board, these blogs have developed into strong information resources, often with links to primary source information that I'm not sure how I would find otherwise." There's a whole list of great law librarian blogs listed here. I've also been reading more non-US law-related blogs this year, limited only by my lack of non-English language skills. I singled out the great Canadian blogs last year, but have noticed more non-US blogs, especially UK blogs, in my reading in 2007. Here's a great starter list on Non-US blogs. 2007 also seemed to be the year that blogs of solo lawyers, always an important part of the "blawgosphere," really came to the forefront. There are a diverse mix of solo blogs out there, focusing on a variety of topics, and they all have a lot of personality and have developed a voice, to me the key in becoming a great blog. Add a few solo blogs to your reading list (start here) and you'll agree.

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog

There are some excellent blogs that aggregate information from other legal blogs, digest posts from other legal blogs or highlight and point to posts on other legal blogs. You can effectively monitor the best posts from a number of blogs in one place. Nancy Stinson at the Stark County Law Library Blog has been blogging in this fashion for a long time and I've been reading her blog for just as long. It's a great way to keep up with developments when you don't have much time. Honorable Mention - Rob Robinson's Information Governance Clearance Area.

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

The name of this category is an inside joke so I could make Kevin use the word "blawg," which he hates, when he mentions that he won this award (bloggers like to do little things like that to each other). No one covers the world of legal blogging better than Kevin does. And no one today knows more about the practical aspects of legal blogging and what lawyers are doing in blogging than Kevin does. I've also enjoyed several chances to present with and talk with Kevin this year. If you want to learn how to start blogging and how to blog better, there's no better place to start than Kevin's blog. Honorable Mention - not a blawg, but Darren Rowse's Problogger Blog Tips is my favorite blog for learning about ways to blog better.

7. Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast

This regular weekly podcast of interviews and panel discussions has a new name for 2007, but is once again the clear choice as best legal podcast. The ability to produce a consistent weekly show with great topics and guests helps this podcast move to the top of the list. I'm consistently impressed by the way Bob Ambrogi and Craig Williams put together shows on the leading stories of the day. If you want to learn about how to do a good legal podcast, you can go to school on this one. And it's fun to be a guest on ths podcast. I also like how their podcast intro shows that they have no blog or podcast self-esteem issues (see my comment on blog self-esteem in #11 below). Honorable Mention - This Week in Law.

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Ernest Svenson's Ernie the Attorney

Before commenting on this award, I wanted to quote my favorite paragraph of blawg writing this year from a post called "Law Blog vanity contests : ABA adds to the silliness" from Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs:

Law blogs represent disintermediation of publishers and gatekeepers. No more are those in supposed power and control going to screen and serve up what they think is important. A lawyer in a town with a water tower, an old grain elevator and 3 four way stops is on equal footing with a lawyer who clerked for a Supreme Court Judge. The democratization of publishing and dialogue we get through law blogs is at the very heart of what we stand for in America.

I'm a big fan of the pure writing ability of some of the best legal bloggers. I named this award after the legal blogger who had the biggest influence on my blog writing, Sherry "Scheherezade" Fowler. Ernie has won this award before, but I just like reading his blog, as do many others. No matter what his choice of topic, I'm ready to ride along with him. This year, Ernie has moved away from a legal focus, but I'm more than happy to move with him. Honorable Mention - Denise Howell, especially for Lawgarithms.

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Jim Maule's Mauled Again

Practicing lawyers often feel that their blogs never even get onto the radar of the law professors. Law professors often say, "there are blogs by practicing lawyers?" But, seriously, I always attempt to bridge that chasm (although realizing that a favorable mention of a law professor's blog outside academia might be disastrous for his or her tenure chances, I try to be careful). Jim Maule's Mauled again is all about tax law developments and it is so darn interesting that you won't believe. Or maybe the time I spent earlier in my career as a tax lawyers colors my opinion toward this blog. Jim has a great accessible style and an always-interesting perspective on his topics and legal education. Probably the best compliment you can pay a law professor blog is that it makes you want to take a class with them, and Jim's definitely does. Honorable Mention - the multi-authored MoneyLaw.

10. Best New Law-related Blog - Doug Cornelius's KM Space

It's a bit of a Blawggie tradition for me to accidentally give this award to a blog that actually started before the year of the award, so I checked the starting dates of the blogs under consideration this year. Doug Cornelius has been blogging since January 2007 on one of my favorite area, knowledge management, for almost a year. I got to meet him in person at the ILTA conference in August. One of Doug's signature skills is his ability to "live blog" conference sessions. Knowledge management seems to be making a comback in the legal profession and Doug's blog is a great place to track developments in this area. Honorable Mention - Sharon Nelson's Ride the Lightning.

11. Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

I've tried, but, continuing my annual tradition (see my actual explanation here) of giving my own blog a Blawggie, I just can't objective about my blog - there are apparently no blawg self-esteem issues here. DennisKennedy.Blog covers legal technology and related topics from a variety of perspectives, with an emphasis on the business and practical implications of technology in the practice of law. You will find coverage of electronic discovery, strategic planning, technology developments, Web 2.0 and Law 2.0, sometimes all in one post. This blog also makes an effort to point you to great articles from other blogs and elsewhere, with the popular "money quote" from the blog posts mentioned. From practical tips to posts that challenge your assumptions and make you think about the future, you will find a broad range of legal technology coverage on DennisKennedy.Blog. Posts of note this past year include: Recapping ILTA 2007; Are Lawyers Doing Work That Should Be Done By Machines?; Green Legal Technology: Is the TIme Ripe?; Birth of the Blawg - A Historical Visit and Thoughts about the Future; 26 Electronic Discovery Trends for 2008; and How About 3 ED Trends Instead of 26?. Honorable Mention - Ron Friedmann's Strategic Legal Technology, Tom Mighell's Inter Alia (I've gotten a lot of great tips from Tom's non-blawg-of-the-day posts), Rick Georges' FutureLawyer, Jeff Beard's Law Tech Guru, Ross Kodner's Ross Ipsa Loquitur, Adriana Linares' I Heart Tech, Rick Borstein's Acrobat for Legal Professionals, and ABA TECHSHOW.Blog.

12. Most Important Trend in Law-related Blogging - Niche Blogs

If you read Tom Mighell's Blawg of the Day posts, you cannot help but be struck by the number of blogs that have titles like [State Name] [Practice Area] Law Blog. Throughout the history of blogging (and websites), niche blogs (blogs that focus on specific, targeted audiences) have always done well. My original blog was called "Estate Planning Links" and did exactly what you would expect from the title and drew a surprisingly audience. I've often said that strategically I know that my best bet for a blog for my legal practice would be "The Missouri Information Technology Transactions Law Blog," but I would have found that way too constricting. With "DennisKennedy.Blog," anything I want to write about is "on topic." Kevin O'Keefe has played a huge role in popularizing the niche blogging concept and it's clearly become a feature of this generation of law-related blogging, with positive results for many who have tried it. I still miss, a little bit, the early days of blogging when Latin legal phrases were often used for blog names, but I think that they were all used up. Honorable Mention - Law-related blogs from traditional legal publishers and mainstream media publications.

And there you have it - the 2007 Blawggie Awards.

It's painful not to give awards to all the blogs I like, but, as with any awards, you have to make some choices. This year, however, I'm making available for download an OPML file (you'll need to right-click on the link and "save as" the file) with the Blawggie winners and a pretty large list of many of the other law-related blogs to which I currently subscribe and grabbed for this list. Follow the instructions in your RSS reader for importing OPML files and you'll be able to instantly start reading the law-related blogs I do. I welcome your feedback, but really invite you to post your own awards as a way of saying "thank you" to the blogs and bloggers that matter most to you. Or, perhaps most important, if you don't have a blog, but have been thinking about starting one, I encourage you to jump right in.

Best wishes for 2008.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Get your legal technology information by audio. Check out The Kennedy-Mighell Report Podcast.

Technorati tags: legal technology blawggies law blogs awards dennis+kennedy 2007 blogginglawyers law-related blogs

Posted by dmk at 03:22 PM | Comments (6)

December 22, 2006

The 2006 Blawggies: Dennis Kennedy's Best Law-related Blogging Awards

Welcome to the 2006 edition of Dennis Kennedy's annual Best of Law-related Blogging Awards, the longest-running set of awards honoring blogging in the legal profession. Beginning all the way back in December 2004, these awards, which have become affectionately known as the "Blawggies," celebrate the best of law-related blogs as determined from my personal and highly-opinionated perspective.

A little background on the Blawggies for those who are new to the concept. The Blawggies are not based on any popular votes, surveys or scientific measures. They are highly-opinionated choices made by me, based on my experience, expertise and likes and dislikes gained from nearly four years of blogging and several more years before that of reading blogs.

In general, I like to see blogs (1) consistently useful content, (2) a generous and helpful approach, and (3) a combination of commitment and talent, with an emphasis on good writing. In other words, I like blogs that compel me to read them on a regular basis. I read almost all blog posts in a newsreader these days, so the awards will reflect a bias toward blogs with full-text RSS feeds as well as my many other biases and personal preferences.

The Blawggies are also intended to recognize the work of long-time bloggers who might otherwise get overlooked in the usual blogging focus on the newest and latest thing. Once again, I have continued two Blawggie traditions - the executive summary (for those too busy to read the whole post - I recognize that some blogging pundits deplore the very idea of long posts) and giving DennisKennedy.Blog an award (see explanation in 2005 awards post - ah, heck, I do it because it's my award list and I have all the votes).

I'll start this post with an "executive summary" that lists the award winners and then tell you more about each of the winners and the awards for 2006, which may become known as the year before onerous state bar ethical regulations changed blogging in the legal profession in an unduly burdensome, paternalistic and micromanaging way. I do encourage you to read the whole post.

I. List of 2006 Blawggie Award Categories and Winners.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog

2. Best Overall Law Practice Management Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income

3. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog - Evan Schaeffer's The Illinois Trial Lawyer Weblog

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs and Canadian Law-related Blogs (Tie)

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog and Bob Ambrogi's and Carolyn Elefant's Law.com Inside Opinions (Tie)

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

7. Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Coast to Coast Podcast

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Tony Colleluori's That Lawyer Dude

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Tung Yin's The Yin Blog

10. Best New Law-related Blog - Peter Lattman's WSJ.com Law Blog and Adriana Linares' I Heart Tech (Tie)

11. Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

I encourage you to read more about the winning blogs (and why they were winners) and the honorable mention blogs below.

II. The Details

What do they call it when you get thousands of lawyers, law professors, law librarians, law students, legal consultants and others writing blogs that focus on law-related content? A good start.

My real purpose with the Blawggie awards is to encourage a whole bunch of legal bloggers to do their own "awards." I think that if they did this, it would be a great way for legal bloggers to highlight the blawgs they really like and a great way for me to learn about some great blogs I might have been unfamiliar with.

I'll also note that this year I highlight blogs that I read on a consistent basis and are in the "page 1" folder in my newsreader.

And . . . away we go.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog

Marty joins previous winners Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific.com and Tom Mighell's Inter Alia Blog. Marty has done excellent work this year and the Trademark Blog sets the standard for legal blogging in the way it compelling combines education and entertainment. It remains the model for practice-specific blogs (see #4 below) and is both a treasure trove of useful insights and information on intellectual property issues and a showcase for Marty's experience and expertise. The only things better than Marty's blog are his emails and phone conversations with him. My favorite thing about this blog is how you can show wit and personality in a blog while focusing on a specific topic. And Marty's use of pictures in his blog is second to none. A representative post. Runner-ups in this category - Rob Hyndman's robhyndman.com and The Technology Liberation Front.

2. Best Law Practice Management Blog - Tom Collins' More Partner Income

The category is new and probably one I should have done in previous years. For lawyers, the most beneficial aspect of reading blogs is how much you can learn from the enormous amount of useful, practical information you can get about running, marketing and improving your law practice. On a daily basis, you can get tips and insight that can make or save you thousands of dollars. The title of Tom Collins' blog, More Partner Income, says it all. Even when I have limited time, I read Tom's posts. The biggest compliment: when I'm struggling to come up with a blog post topic, I know I can point to and write about one of Tom's recent posts. There is much wisdom in Tom's writing and he gets right to the heart of the matter. A tremendously valuable resource. Runner-ups in this rich category - David Maister's Passion, People and Principles and Bruce MacEwen's Adam Smith, Esq.

3. The Marty Schwimmer Best Practice-Specific Blog - The Illinois Trial Lawyer Weblog

Rather than give Marty this award every year, I decided to remove Marty's blog from consideration, recognize his lifetime achievement, and name the award after him. This year's winner is Evan Schaeffer's Illinois Trial Practice Blog. I also considered Evan's work at Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground Blog when making this award. Evan's blog is exceedingly well-written and loaded with practical tips and insights. I also enjoy Evan's occasional impassioned efforts to defend trial lawyers from the constant stream of criticism they get. I don't think he's been able to change many opinions, but I admire the effort. Evan's now written a book on deposition techniques, in no small part because of his work on this blog. If you are a trial lawyer, this blog is a must-read. If you have to hire a trial lawyer, this blog is a valuable read to help you understand the process and to evaluate what your lawyer is doing. Runner-ups in this category - Ken Adams' AdamsDrafting and Steve Nipper's The Invent Blog.

4. Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs and Canadian Legal Blogs (Tie)

I remain a huge fan of law librarian bloggers and enjoyed getting the chance to meet some of them during their convention in St. Louis this summer. As I said last year, "across the board, these blogs have developed into strong information resources, often with links to primary source information that I'm not sure how I would find otherwise." Anyone else notice in the past year that more and more of the law blogs you read regularly are based in Canada? There's great work being done north of the border. Let me mention Rob Hyndman, Vancouver Law Library Blog, Connie Crosby and Slaw.ca for starters.

5. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog and Bob Ambrogi's and Carolyn Elefant's Law.com Inside Opinions (Tie)

2006 saw the continuation of the trend of blogs that aggregate information from other legal blogs, digest posts from other legal blogs or highlight and point to posts on other legal blogs. These blogs let you monitor the highlights of a number of blogs in one place. Nancy Stinson at the Stark County Law Library Blog has been highlighting and pointing to useful posts for a long time now. Bob Ambrogi and Carolyn Elefant, blogging pioneers in their own right, took over Law.com's Inside Opinions (f/k/a Legal Blog Watch) this year and continued the great work of Lisa Stone. I really like the way that they will point to great posts outside the Law.com network from time to time.

6. Best Blawg About Legal Blawgging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

I renamed this category as a bit of an inside joke so I could make Kevin use the word "blawg" when he mentions that he won this award (bloggers like to do little things like that to each other). Kevin's blog was definitely a candidate in categories #1 and #2 above this year. No one covers the world of legal blogging better than Kevin does. I appreciate his insights, which are informed by his long experience on the Internet. Kevin is not shy about letting his opinions be known, comments incisively, and points to great information that you might not otherwise find. He likes to get conversations started. His blog is also chock-full of practical information for bloggers and bloggers-to-be. Kevin's blog is also a textbook example of how you can blog about the business you are in and provide great information rather than self-promotional content. Kevin's expertise speaks for itself. Runner-ups in this category - Bill Gratsch's Blawg's Blog and Tim Stanley's Justia Legal Marketing Blog.

7. Best Legal Podcast - Bob Ambrogi's and Craig Williams' Coast to Coast Podcast

This regular weekly podcast of interviews and panel discussions is the clear choice as best legal podcast. Good production values (especially since they got Bob off his cell phone), great topics, excellent guests and a regularly flow of shows are some of the strengths of this podcast. There's always good coverage of topical issues. Bob and Craig have a comfortable and engaging style and I've thoroughly enjoyed being a guest on this podcast. An excellent example of how law-related information can be offered through the podcast format. Runner-ups in this category - Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground Podcast and The Kennedy-Mighell Report Podcast (especially for the episodes on podcasting and Web 2.0). Bonus Award: Best Podcast Episode - Marty Schwimmer's excellent discussion of the basics of trademark law on this Podcast Brothers podcast episode (link to mp3).

8. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Anthony Colleluori's That Lawyer Dude

I'm a big fan of the pure writing ability of some of the best legal bloggers. I named this award after the legal blogger who had the biggest influence on my blog writing Sherry "Scheherezade" Fowler, who just ended her blog, Stay of Execution, one of the important blogs in the history of legal blogging, to start a new blog called "Stay." Ernest "Ernie the Attorney" Svenson won this award in 2005 and could have easily done so again with his great posts on post-Katrina New Orleans. However, the blogger whose writing really grabbed me this year was Tony Collelulori at That Lawyer Dude. After meeting Tony, I always describe him as having a heart of gold. That comes through in his writing and his writing often has an emotionally compelling quality that you don't often see. Some of his posts make me think about them for days - they grab you. Here’s the recent post that clinched this award. His analytical posts are great, but his personal essays are the highlights of his blog. If you are not reading Tony's blog, you should be. Runners-up in this category - Ernest Svenson and Denise Howell.

9. Best Law Professor Blog - Tung Yin's The Yin Blog

Professor Yin's blog covers both law and popular culture. It's also an enjoyable read and I like the fact that he and I are fans of some of the same television shows. The blog shows that law professors can write about academic topics without being overly academic. Congratulations on the great tenure news. Runner-ups in this category - Jim Maule's Mauled Again and Paul Caron's TaxProf Blog.

10. Best New Legal Blog - Peter Lattman's WSJ.com Law Blog and Adriana Linares' I Heart Tech Blog (Tie)

The new blog awards go to representatives of two different styles of blogging. Peter Lattman's Law Blog is a tour de force of legal news blogging. It's professional, it covers current legal issues as they happen, and it has a newsy approach. It's also very well-written. I recommend the blog highly, but, for my taste, the number of posts can feel a bit overwhelming, and the focus is on general legal matters and news, case developments and the like, not on a specific topic area. Adriana's blog focuses on practical aspects of legal technology, with an emphasis on practical tips to help you with things you use your computer for on a daily basis. The blog has a great friendly, humorous style and is a pleasure to read. I also highly recommend it. It would be instructive to read and compare the two blogs to see how people can write great blogs using very different approaches. Runner-ups in this category - Denise Howell's Lawgartihms and Ross Kodner's Ross Ipsa Loquitur.

11. Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

DennisKennedy.Blog covers legal technology and related topics from a variety of perspectives, with an emphasis on the business and practical implications of technology in the practice of law. You will find coverage of electronic discovery, strategic planning, technology developments, Web 2.0 and Law 2.0, sometimes in the same post. This blog also makes an effort to point you to great articles from other blogs and elsewhere. From practical tips to posts that challenge your assumptions and make you think about the future, you will find a broad range of legal technology coverage on DennisKennedy.Blog. [Note: For explanation of why I always give my own blog a Blawggie award, see the explanation in the 2005 awards post. Runner-ups in this category - Ron Friedmann's Strategic Legal Technology and Rick Georges' FutureLawyer (great coverage of new product).

And there you have it - the 2006 Blawggie Awards.

I had to make many difficult choices this year and it pains me to leave blogs like Between Lawyers, Matt Homann's Nonbillable Hour, Rethink IP, Bag and Baggage, Golden Practices, George's Employment Blawg, Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips, and so many other great law-related blogs off the list.

These awards obvious reflect my personal perspective on the Blawgosphere today. I welcome your feedback, but really invite you to post your own awards as a way of saying "thank you" to the blogs and bloggers that matter most to you.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Technorati tags: blawggies blawg legal blogs awards 2006

Posted by dmk at 05:58 PM | Comments (3)

December 19, 2006

By Request: Will You Be Announcing the 2006 Blawggie Awards Soon?

Thanks for asking. I'm currently making my list and checking it twice. The third annual edition of my somewhat infamous Blawggie awards for excellence in law-related blogging will be announced on this very blog on December 22.

To see what all the commotion is about, prepare yourself for the announcements, and generally get into the Blawggie frame of mind, check out the 2004 awards and the 2005 awards. The one thing of which I am certain is that the 2006 awards post will be shorter than the 2005 announcement post. I think.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: legal blogs blawggies blawg awards

Posted by dmk at 08:50 PM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2005

Dennis Kennedy's 2005 Best of Legal Blogging Awards (the Blawggies)

Welcome to the 2005 edition of Dennis Kennedy's annual Best of Legal Blogging Awards, celebrating a tradition that began nearly one full year ago. These awards, which have become affectionately known as the "Blawggies," celebrate the best of law-related blogs as determined from my personal and highly-opinionated perspective.

When Neil Squillante first started the @ awards at TechnoLawyer.com, he had an online awards ceremony. As I recall, I was one of a small number of people who really enjoyed the awards ceremony pseudo-atmosphere he was able to create through an email list. I thought I'd pay a little tribute to Neil and bring back the tradition of an online awards ceremony. I've held the Blawggie awards ceremony at the beautiful DennisKennedy.Blog Conference and Convention Center. As it turned out, all of the winners were too busy doing their real work to attend, but fortunately I was there to accept on their behalf.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that, like most of these ceremonies, the Blawggies awards show ran a little long. I know that many people do not like long posts, so I'll start this post with an "executive summary" that lists the award winners and then follow it with a transcript of the awards ceremony that will tell you more about each of the winners, the awards and a few of my observations about legal blogging as we enter 2006. I do encourage you to read the whole post.

I. List of 2005 Blawggie Award Categories and Winners.

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Tom Mighell's Inter Alia

2. Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs

3. Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog - Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog

4. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog

5. Best Blog About Legal Blogging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

6. Best Legal Podcast - Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground Podcast

7. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Ernest Svenson's Ernie the Attorney Blog

8. Best Law Professor Blog - James Maule's Mauled Again

9. Best New Legal Blog - (Tie) Between Lawyers; Rethink(IP)

10. Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

11. Best Legal Blogging Trend - Bloggers Making Money from Blogging

I encourage you to read more about the winning blogs (and why they were winners) in the transcript of the awards ceremony below.

II. "Transcript" of 2005 Blawggie Awards Ceremony."

"Hello and welcome to the 2005 Blawggie Awards - the second annual edition of Dennis Kennedy's Best of Legal Blogging Awards. (Theme music, based loosely on the intro music to Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground Podcast, plays.)

Your host for the show is Dennis Kennedy of DennisKennedy.Blog. (Warm applause.)

Good evening, ladies and germs, er, gentlemen! (Polite laughter.) I just flew in from St. Louis, also known as "Blawg City USA" . . . and boy are my arms tired! (Scattered chuckles, rolled eyes.) Is this thing on? (Silence.)

Well, let's jump right into the show. 2005 saw a tremendous growth in the number of legal blogs, also known as "blawgs," thanks to the word-coining abilities of Denise Howell. What do they call it when you get thousands of lawyers, law professors, law librarians, law students, legal consultants and others writing blogs that focus on law-related content? A good start. (Applause.)

My attitude towards law-related blogs is "let a thousand flowers bloom." I'm enjoying the wide variety of law-related blogs and the many different approaches legal bloggers are taking today. It's been a great year. (Applause.)

Let me note two interesting trends I've noticed this past year. First, long-time legal bloggers seem to be expanding the scope of their blogs and writing about more general topics while newer bloggers are creating highly-focused blogs about a specific topic. In part, this trend illustrates the movement into a second generation of legal blogging and I'm fascinated by the evolution of legal blogging. I've learned much from new bloggers this year and expect to learn much more in the future.

The second interesting trend is how often I notice that some of the best writing on legal topics can be found on blogs that would not be categorized as legal blogs. It's an indication of how blogs are often a conversation in which all can participate.

A few words about the first Blawggie awards and then we'll get to the envelopes with the 2005 awards.

Some of the reaction to the 2004 Blawggies surprised me.

I said in the 2004 awards post:

The Blawggies are not based on any popular votes, surveys or scientific measures. They are highly-opinionated choices made by me, based on my experience, expertise and likes and dislikes.

In general, I like to see blogs (1) consistently useful content, (2) a generous and helpful approach, and (3) a combination of commitment and talent. In other words, I like blogs that compel me to read them on a regular basis. I read almost all blog posts in a newsreader these days, so the awards will reflect a bias toward blogs with full-text RSS feeds as well as all of my other biases and personal preferences.

My real purpose, as it is with the 2005 awards, was to encourage a whole bunch of legal bloggers to do their own "awards." I thought that this would be a great way for legal bloggers to highlight the blawgs they really liked and an even better way for me to learn about some great blogs I might have been unfamiliar with.

I was surprised that people seemed to take the notion of "awards" a bit more seriously than I expected and that "a thousand blawg awards did not bloom." I also noticed a few criticisms of my awards. I thought I'd address some of those criticisms as a way to explain what my intention is with these awards.

1. Dennis Gave Awards Only to the Blawgs of his Friends. There is a sort of chicken-and-egg element to this comment. I now have a number of blogger friends who became my friends because we read each other's blogs and respected each other's work. We wouldn't have known each other any other way. I really like and respect their blogs. However, as I said, "They are highly-opinionated choices made by me, based on my experience, expertise and likes and dislikes."

2. Dennis Focused on Old Blawgs. Well, Dennis is one of the older bloggers. I think I had a pretty good mix of old and new, but I do focus on the entire body of work of a blog and that probably does favor long-standing blogs.

3. Dennis Gave Himself an Award. Yes, I did. I've been writing and presenting lists of "best of the Web" lists and doing other lists of links for many years. I've learned that these lists get reused and repurposed in a number of ways and often people don't notice (or don't get the chance to notice) that I was the author of the list. As a result, I usually include my website or blog on any of these lists where they fit. Bob Ambrogi has been writing about legal websites and blogs since almost before the World Wide Web existed. Bob recently wrote an article calling 2005 the year of the podcast and listing his podcast on his list of best legal podcasts. Let's face it, any list of legal podcasts that did not include Bob's podcast would be ridiculous, whether or not Bob wrote the list. I usually try to find a way to list my site or blog in a non-controversial way and I'd recommend that other people do the same thing when creating a "best of" list, at least based on my experience. Generally, you can create a narrow enough award that you can fit onto the list. For example, "best blog focusing on legal technology and technology law with the author living in the 63119 zip code" would work well for me. Anyway, it's not all an ego thing. I did give my blog an award again this year.

4. Who is Dennis Kennedy? A fair criticism. I expected this criticism and this was part of the fun of doing the Blawggies. I thought that people would say if this guy can give awards, why can't I? At worst, they might check out my blog.

5. Dennis Didn't Give the Same Awards I Would. I enjoyed the fact that the Law Dork blog (which I've read and enjoyed for a long time) won a recent vote as "best law blog." I was surprised that some people seemed to get those noses out of joint because the Law Dork blog won the prize. Similarly, I was surprised by how the discussion of the TechnoLawyer BlawgWorld eBook focused more on what blogs other people would have included, rather than on the fact that the eBook is an excellent sampler to give people who have just recently heard about legal blogs to get started. I'm not very responsive to criticism that boils down to "he didn't do it the way I would have." What's cool about blogging - you have your own printing press or your own channel to do the version you would have done. That's a notion I've often referred to as "two turntables and a microphone." In fact, my Blawggie awards are explicitly an invitation for you to announce your own awards. As an aside, I could not disagree more with recent commentary that blogs are a new form of a "vanity press." Two turntables and a microphone.

Now, let's move from the 2004 Blawggies to the 2005 Blawggies.

In the past few months, I've changed the way that I "read" blogs. As you may know, I rarely visit a blog. Instead, I subscribe to the RSS feeds in a newsreader and read the posts in my newsreader. Recently, I created a number of "saved searches" or "watches" and, rather than attempt to read all of the posts in all of the feeds, I monitor certain topics and read a limited number of blogs on a daily basis these days. The award-winning blogs represent some of the law-related blogs I read on a daily basis.

As another clarification, I really do not read more than a few political blogs. I get my political news through emails from Marty Schwimmer. (A few chuckles and some muttered complaints about bloggers and their @#%*& inside jokes.)

As a transactional lawyer, I do not read many litigation blogs, except to the extent they deal with electronic discovery. As a result, some may feel that blogs in these categories are under-represented in these awards. My awards also focus on blogs of practicing lawyers.

I'll also note that the narrowly-focused blogs will work well for marketing and related purposes, but will diminish your chances to win general legal blogging awards. They've chosen the correct priority.

For the curious, I'm subscribed to around 180 law-related blogs in my newsreader these days. (Gasps from audience.) As I mentioned, that does not mean that I read all of them on a regular basis, except as they touch on topics that I'm interested in. Also, because of BlawgThink, I got the chance to visit hundreds of law-related blogs and meet or at least exchange emails with many legal bloggers. I say this both as background about me and to give some credibility to my claim that I'm very impressed by the quality of what's going on in the blawgosphere. Narrowing my selections for these awards was very difficult this year.

Finally, I prefer blogs that have maybe five or fewer posts a day and, big surprise, I tend to prefer blogs with longer essay-like posts.

And, now, the suspense-building is over, and we open the envelopes for this year's awards. (Loud, relieved applause.)

1. Best Overall Law-Related Blog - Tom Mighell's Inter Alia

Last year's winner was Sabrina Pacifici's BeSpacific.com. I could have easily given this blog the award again this year. However, I wanted to select a different blog for this award in 2005. I've noticed in the last few months that Inter Alia is the first legal blog I read each day. There are three things I want to highlight about Inter Alia. (1) I learn highly useful, practical information on a regular basis. (2) Tom has a great, succinct style that I admire greatly. (3) Tom's "Blawg of the Day" feature not only lets me know about new legal blogs, but is also an act of great generosity. Tom and I now write two columns together, have done presentations and webinars together and Tom is part of the Between Lawyers blog with me, so I get the chance to learn from Tom on a regular basis outside his blog. By the way, Tom has agreed to work with me to help me write shorter posts in 2006.

2. Best Legal Blog Category - Law Librarian Blogs

I stand in awe of the job that law librarian bloggers as a group are doing. Across the board, these blogs have developed into strong information resources, often with links to primary source information that I'm not sure how I would find otherwise. There are so many great blogs in this category. I'll simply mention a few to get you started: BeSpacific.com, The Law Librarian Blog, Out of the Jungle, Law Dawg Blawg, WisBlawg, Vancouver Law Library Blog, Stark County Library Blog, Library Boy, LawLibTech, Connie Crosby, BarclayBlog, and Slaw.ca

3. Best Practice-Specific Legal Blog - Marty Schwimmer's The Trademark Blog

The Trademark Blog won this award last year and, even though I wanted to move to a different winner, the fact is that The Trademark Blog remains the model of a practice-specific blawg. Marty covers trademark law with a great eye for compelling material, his trademark wit and lots of pictures. I said last year: "The Trademark Blog is a great example of a way lawyers can speak in a plain voice to both a legal and non-legal audience in an engaging way." Two other practice-specific blogs I wanted to single out this year are Dennis Crouch's widely-acclaimed Patently-O blog and Janell Grenier's always interesting Benefitsblog. Both are great examples of ways to do practice-specific blogs.

4. Best Legal Blog Digest - Stark County Law Library Blog

This blog could also win my most under-appreciated blog award. A big trend in legal blogging in 2005 was the development of blogs that aggregate information from other legal blogs, digest posts from other legal blogs or highlight and point to posts on other legal blogs. These kinds of blogs can be quite useful as a way to monitor a number of blogs in one place. Nancy Stinson at the Stark County Law Library Blog has been highlighting and pointing to useful posts for a long time now. She does a great job of picking up interesting and useful posts from other blogs, usually a few each day. I like this approach because other approaches can overload me with the sheer number of posts they cover. My honorable mention in this category goes to Lisa Stone's Legal Blog Watch. Lisa's summaries of posts are so great that I rarely go to the underlying post. Even though I understand the purpose of the blog, I wish Lisa would cover blogs outside the Law.com blog network on a regular basis.

5. Best Blog About Legal Blogging - Kevin O'Keefe's Real Lawyers Have Blogs

I like the way Kevin puts his opinions and his incisive comments and wise observations out there for discussion on a regular basis. He wants to get conversations started. He also has a long history of using the Internet, runs a blog design, hosting and consulting business, and has excellent insights and experience in the world of legal blogging. I always respect Kevin's opinion on these matters, even on the occasional times we disagree. I always learn something. If you want to learn about developments in the world of blogging, the use of blogs for marketing and practical information about the use of legal blogs, you'll find no better starting point than this blog.

6. Best Legal Podcast - Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground Podcast

I'm not prepared to go as far as Bob Ambrogi and say that 2005 was the year of the podcast, but podcasting was certainly an important development in 2005. My favorite podcast is Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground Podcast. Evan recently finished his 44th podcast. Evan's set a high standard of professionalism for lawyer podcasts - he uses scripts, excellent recording techniques, music, sound effects and creates a professional, polished podcast. He also created podcasts that run about 10 to 15 minutes (or less), a time that many people believe is the "sweet spot" for podcasts. Better yet, the material is great, often humorous and always insightful.

7. The Sherry Fowler Best Writing on a Legal Blog Award - Ernest Svenson's Ernie the Attorney Blog

As I wrote about here, I'm a big fan of the writing ability of some of the best legal bloggers. There are some legal blogs I read because I like the writing. I think that the best writer among legal bloggers is Sherry "Scheherezade" Fowler. However, Sherry has stopped practicing law and was wondering the other day whether she's still a legal blogger. That's for her to decide, but I decided to honor her writing abilities by putting her name on this award. Since the end of August, Ernie's writing, especially about the aftermath of Katrina, has been stellar. He's become such a great writer and captures something essential about New Orleans on a regular basis. If publishers are looking for someone to write a great book about Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans, I'd point them to Ernie.

8. Best Law Professor Blog - Jim Maule's Mauled Again

As Professor Maule says, his blog features "more than occasional commentary on tax law, legal education, the First Amendment, religion, and law generally, with sporadic attempts to connect all of this to genealogy, theology, music, model trains, and chocolate chip cookies." His blog also shows that you can write engaging and helpful commentary about the U.S. tax system. Mauled Again is a great read on any topic I really enjoy the writing. Two other law prof blogs earn an honorable mention from me because I enjoy reading them so much: Paul Caron's TaxProf Blog and Tun Ying's The Yin Blog (among other things, we like some of the same TV shows).

9. Best New Legal Blog - (Tie) Between Lawyers; Rethink(IP)

Oh, puh-leeze, like I'm not going to have Between Lawyers listed in this category? Both winners in this category represent the important new group blogging phenomenon and that's part of the reason that I picked them in this category. I've enjoyed the evolution of the Between Lawyers experiment (although the jury is still out on the "Lawyer X" thing). Between Lawyers shows how highly individual and well-known bloggers can create a group blog with a different focus and voice that exists alongside their individual blogs. I know a number of people who will tell you that one of the coolest things about legal blogging and its potential was seeing the RethinkIP guys - Doug, Matt and Steve - hanging out together at the ABA TECHSHOW. We all thought that they were best friends from college. The fact was that they were meeting in person for the first time. I like the way they've used the Rethink(IP) blog as a way to create a group voice and a forum to discuss issues that do not fit into their practice-specific individual blogs. They also taught me how to do Skype instant messaging this year and helped me rethink my approach to blogging, collaboration and making gratuitous "rethink" references. As I mentioned before, there are a ton of great new law-related blogs this year - there are many worthy of winning this award.

10. Best Legal Technology Blog - DennisKennedy.Blog

Ha! I figured out a way to give my blog an award. My recent effort to republish many of my legal technology articles over the last few months probably locked up this award for my blog. There's a lot of content there. My one criticism is that the posts tend to be a little long.

11. Best Legal Blogging Trend - Bloggers Making Money from Blogging

Need I say more, other than to say that we all hope that this is a much bigger trend in 2006.

And there you have it - the 2005 Blawggie Awards. (Applause.)

I'd like to take a moment to say a special "thank you" to my partner in LexThink!, Matt Homann, for hundreds of great ideas in Matt Homann's Nonbillable Hour blog, for putting together the BlawgThink conference and for proving everyday that the most powerful technology in blogging is the telephone.

As I said, these awards reflect my perspective on the Blawgosphere today. I welcome your feedback, but really invite you to post your own awards as a way of saying "thank you" to the blogs and bloggers that matter most to you.(Applause and Blawggie theme music playing.)

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[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

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Posted by dmk at 08:16 PM | Comments (4)