Best legal blogs of 2018
Canna Law Blog
HALL OF FAME: Canna Law Blog helped the Canna Law Group of Harris Bricken make a name for itself in this emerging practice area. “People might have laughed about the idea of cannabis law as a field, but there is no doubt it has become, in every sense, legitimate,” Wu says. “Here is a great resource for the curious as well as those interested in actually entering the specialty.”
Compelling Discovery
This blog by Michael Lowry, a partner at Wilson Elser in Las Vegas, discusses the discovery issues lawyers confront. “All of the articles on discovery are quite helpful,” writes Jeremy Thompson from Clark Hill in Las Vegas. “I am constantly returning to the website to review the articles about what is and what is not appropriate (as it relates to discovery).” Readers also wrote to us this year praising Lowry’s nine-part “One Night in November” series of posts, in which he deconstructed one of his cases.
Constitution Daily
HALL OF FAME: This National Constitution Center blog covers the U.S. Supreme Court, legal history and other constitutional news and debate. In the weekly We the People podcast, NCC President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen talks to leading experts on timely or historical constitutional topics. At the blog you can also find the NCC’s Interactive Constitution, where a pair of scholars—one selected by the Federalist Society, the other by the American Constitution Society—find common ground and write a joint statement about each provision of the constitution.
Lyle Denniston Law News
Lyle Denniston, who has covered the high court for 58 years, blogs about the Trump administration’s battles in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Empirical SCOTUS
Adam Feldman, a consultant on data-related legal challenges, analyzes the decisions of and oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the justices themselves and the attorneys who appear before them. He identifies trends and sometimes correctly predicts the future—he forecasted Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the court back in December 2017. “Some thought-provoking items; though sometimes the math mystifies me,” Walsh says.
The Faculty Lounge
Among posts about law school job openings and chapter proposals are posts by Florida lawyer David Frakt about “Dead, Dying and Zombie Law Schools,” as well as sinking bar passage rates. “Academia is its own world,” Wu says. “Here is a guide, with all the peculiarities good and bad—mostly bad—presented without shame.”
Faughnan on Ethics
NEW: Tennessee lawyer Brian Faughnan goes beyond recounting examples of lawyers behaving badly. His chatty, well-written posts unfold like short stories and explore the ethics issues that emerge in discipline cases.
Feminist Law Professors
This blog, run for years by University of New Hampshire School of Law prof Ann Bartow and Pace Law School prof Bridget Crawford, publicizes calls for papers and conferences of interest to feminist law profs; notes books and articles that feminist law profs publish; and (in case you are wondering who the feminist scholars are) the blog maintains a list of more than 600 law profs who self-identify as feminist.
The Girl’s Guide to Law School
Weekly posts from guest contributors tackle specific obstacles that might prevent a student (some posts are aimed at women, but not all) from winning at law school or in that first legal job—and life. How do you secure good recommendation letters? How do you switch to a nontraditional legal career? Do you say “I’m sorry” too much?
Howe on the Court
NEW: Full-time blogger Amy Howe—who has served as counsel in dozens of U.S. Supreme Court cases—covers news from the nine as it happens and advances important upcoming cases. She even reviewed tens of thousands of emails from Brett Kavanaugh’s time in the White House to blog in the run-up to his confirmation hearing.
In Custodia Legis
HALL OF FAME: At this blog, Law Library of Congress staffers write about the things that come up in their work at the world’s largest law library. “I love how this blog humanizes the legal side of government,” says Lisa Flowers, a public relations executive based in Springfield, Virginia. “Their staff interviews are always interesting. I also like how they highlight exhibits, summarizing key points that make me realize why I should go see the exhibit or share information about it.”
Jotwell
HALL OF FAME: Jotwell stands for Journal of Things We Like (Lots). It’s sponsored by the University of Miami School of Law, and its mission is to highlight the best legal scholarship from the vast sea of what’s available. “Jotwell is a great place to get reviews of new legally relevant works—articles or books by experts,” Tushnet says. “The reviews are critical in the sense of exploring and sometimes contesting the arguments, but the aim is to identify works that are worthy of more readers.”
The Law 21 Blog
With sharp logic and engaging writing, Canadian management consultant Jordan Furlong picks apart the failings of the law firm model post by post and offers suggestions for change.
The Law for Lawyers Today
“The blog centers around ethics and professional responsibility, but I particularly like the posts about social media issues,” says Emilie E. Forman, a paralegal at the Ohio State Bar Association. “They illuminate the troubles that a lawyer or judge could find themselves in if they don’t understand how to properly use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and the others.”
Sidebar
Blog judges
Ivy Grey is director of business strategy for WordRake, professional editing and proofreading software for Microsoft Word. She is the creator of American Legal Style for PerfectIt, which is a proofreading add-in for Microsoft Word.
Photo courtesy of Ivy Grey
Rebecca Tushnet is the inaugural Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard Law School. Her work focuses on copyright, trademark and advertising law. Tushnet’s 43(B)log is in the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 Hall of Fame.
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Tushnet
Mark Walsh is a contributing writer to Education Week. He also writes about the Supreme Court for the ABA Journal and is a regular contributor to SCOTUSblog.
Photo courtesy of Mark Walsh
Frank H. Wu is the William L. Prosser Distinguished Professor at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He blogged at HuffPost for five years, currently writes for the Daily Journal, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Film Inquiry, 35mmc and The Run Commuter.
Photo of Frank Wu by Jim Block
