@BlawgWhisperer

Around the Blawgosphere: Blog Seeks Out Humor in Outrage, Smugness on Web After Health Care Ruling

“KHAAANNNN!” “Patrick” from the blog Popehat announced an informal contest on Thursday morning, before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act ruling came down and before U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder became the first member of a sitting president’s cabinet to be cited for contempt of Congress. The blog is…

Jun 29, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Crowdsourcing Performance Evaluations? Pros and Cons of ‘Client Contact’

Perfecting Performance Reviews At The Delaware Employment Law Blog, Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor associate Molly DiBianca noted an HBR Blog Network post by Globoforce CEO Eric Mosley suggesting that employees’ annual performance reviews be “crowdsourced” by staff, not just managers. “In other words, solicit regular feedback from everyone who…

Jun 22, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: How Law Schools Can Make It Easier for Firms to Hire Students as Clerks

Help Lawyers Help Students At Small Firm Innovation, Washington, D.C., solo Carolyn Elefant writes that she’d love to hire some local law students to clerk for her on a project basis. But posting an ad on Craigslist and sorting through sheaves of resumes is a tedious proposition, as is going…

Jun 8, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Nix ‘Here-and-There Words’; Has Blogging Changed Corporate Law Practice?

While Heretofore You May Have Used These Words—Really, You Should Stop Last year, U.S. Bank attorney Andy Mergendahl meditated on the work of Black’s Law Dictionary editor-in-chief Bryan Garner and took lawyers to task for their foolhardy uses of the word “shall” in contracts. This week, the Lawyerist contributor notes…

May 25, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Bloggers Weigh in on LegalZoom IPO Filing; Vote for Best Law Firm Website

The Other Big IPO Today, Facebook makes its historic market debut. But many lawyer-bloggers are talking about a different initial public offering: Last Friday, Web-based legal services provider LegalZoom filed for an IPO of up to $120 million to expand its services in the United States and around the world.…

May 18, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Why Can’t We Deduct Student Loan Interest from Taxes?; 10-Year Blawggers

Home? Schooling? Philadelphia lawyer Kelly Phillips Erb has already disclosed to her blawg’s readers that she has substantial student loan debt. This week at Taxgirl, she wonders why the government severely limits what student loan interest can be deducted from one’s personal income tax. “There are practically no restrictions on…

May 11, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Bloggers Sound Off on New 50-Hour Pro Bono Prerequisite for NY Law License

Lawyer-bloggers had a lot to say about New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s Law Day announcement that would-be lawyers will have to perform 50 hours of pro bono before they can get a law license—the general sentiment being that it is a plan that has flaws. Washington, D.C., solo Carolyn…

May 4, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Lawyer Runs Down Stolen Phone; Bankruptcy Judge Notes ‘Epic Fail’

The Force Was with Him Three teens swiping cellphones in San Francisco picked the wrong target last week. They also targeted the wrong device, solo David Newdorf told Legal Pad’s Ginny LaRoe. Newdorf was restrained by one teen while another took his “crappy two-year-old Motorola Droid” rather than his iPad…

Apr 20, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Suit Against Avvo Dismissed; Ex-Associate Starts Book on Cross-Country Walk

Was NYLS Suit Dismissal a Win for Law Schools? At Balkinization, Washington University law professor Brian Tamanaha (whose book Failing Law Schools comes out in July) wonders if the dismissal of a lawsuit against New York Law School by nine of its graduates is really a victory. Tamanaha said that…

Mar 30, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Prof Crunches Law Schools’ Employment Numbers; Do Web Startups Offer Value?

Rank Misrepresentations At The Faculty Lounge, University of North Carolina law school professor Bernie Burk decided to seek out information on law school websites to see what percentage of graduates are holding temporary positions funded by the law school at graduation. He promises to mine more schools’ data and post…

Mar 23, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Favorite Android Apps for Lawyers; How One Law Blogger Remembered Pi Digits

Android’s Turn Attorney at Work’s Joan Feldman knows that despite all the hoopla surrounding the launch of the latest Apple, some lawyers prefer Android-powered devices. She asked some notable android users—including tech bloggers—about their favorite go-to apps. Nerino Petro, who blogs at Compujurist, cites the Flex T9 Text Input app.”It…

Mar 16, 2012 4:33 PM CDT

Around the Blawgosphere: Blogger Running for Texas High Court; The New iPad; ‘The Solo Tax’

Judge Not Houston criminal defense lawyer Mark Bennett announced Sunday at Defending People that he is running for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7 on the Libertarian ticket. “When I learned that the Libertarian Party of Texas needed a candidate for one statewide office to have a full ticket,…

Mar 9, 2012 3:03 PM CST

Around the Blawgosphere: Pinterest Business Card Fishbowl; Legal Foundation of ‘Downton Abbey’

Pin and Win Carolyn Elefant—Washington, D.C., solo and Pinterest member—has invited My Shingle readers to ” ‘drop’ your business card into the MyShingle Online Fishbowl at Pinterest.” Those who participate by Thursday, March 15, will be entered into a raffle for one of two Amazon gift cards. Several of those…

Mar 2, 2012 2:30 PM CST

Around the Blawgosphere: A Stephen Colbert Hypo; Bloggers Pay Last Respects to One of Their Own

A Key Employee Chicago lawyer Jeff Nowak used Stephen Colbert’s recent absence from taping his Comedy Central program, The Colbert Report, to explain “a little-used, often forgotten rule under the Family and Medical Leave Act” at his blog, FMLA Insights. It has been widely reported that Colbert canceled those two…

Feb 24, 2012 3:01 PM CST

Around the Blawgosphere: Scott Greenfield Pulls the Plug on His Law Blog, Simple Justice

There’s a spot available in next year’s Blawg 100: Early Monday morning, New York City criminal defense lawyer Scott Greenfield put a post up on Simple Justice that he said would be his last. Greenfield reported it was his 4,744th post, and exactly five years after his blog’s first post.…

Feb 17, 2012 2:30 PM CST