Michael Ferguson

A reporter with a state legal publication asked me what I would say to someone who questioned the legitimacy of law bloggers as journalists as they are not beholden to the ethics of journalism and the objectivity that is the hallmark of journalism (or supposed be). A law bloggers first-hand knowledge could include biased views. The reporter agreed with me that blogging lawyers are providing the best legal information out there. But are lawyer bloggers constrained by ethics rules, credibility, reputation? I am not a traditional journalist, I was handed a printing press and distribution channel when the Internet and, particularly, blogs, arrived. My take is that  journalism, like everything, changes and oftentimes dramatic change comes when we realize greater value from innovation. Think of Amazon for books, Uber for rides to the airport and much more.  When our oldest graduated from journalism school a decade ago, the dean, in addressing the graduating class, said the...

Jeffery Zeldman , one one of the country’s leading web designers, wrote this morning about continuing to learn, and in the process nailed what I see blogging as all about. When I shared what I was learning, by writing about it—when I  learned what I was learning  by teaching it—I felt euphoric. We were at the dawn of a new kind of information age: one that came from the people, and to which anyone could contribute merely by learning a few simple HTML elements.  It was going to be great.  And democratic. And empowering. Our tech would uplift the whole suffering world. Zeldman’s been blogging, in various formats, about tech and development for decades. Yet the concept of blogging Zeldman speaks of is the same for legal professionals. Blogging may just be the best way to learn you have at your disposal. After all, many of the the better legal bloggers are not blogging to show off intellect, intellect being more of a commodity than legal professionals believe. They’...

LexBlog, with its aggregation of law blog posts, worldwide, and blogger profiles has been described as a legal blogging community. The Illinois State Bar Association’s  Illinois Lawyer Now , launched this week to publish an aggregation of member blog posts and blogger profiles has been described as a community of Illinois legal bloggers – at least those of whom are members of the Illinois State Bar Association.  But the legal blogging community has always been there – whether LexBlog or Illinois Lawyer Now came about or not. Law bloggers are just a subset of the legal professional. The best of whom, as measured by their blogging, are the unedited voice of a person reporting and offering their insight and commentary. They engage other bloggers, at least part of the time, by referencing what other law bloggers are writing – usually by particular areas of the law. Law bloggers know they’re unique creatures by the fact that the vast majority of their peers do not blog – wheth...

Big kudos to the Illinois State Bar Association for shining a light on their state’s blogging lawyers with the launch this week of Illinois Lawyer Now .  Illinois Lawyer Now aggregates all of the posts on blogs published by members of the Illinois Bar and curates the posts into a constantly updated legal news and commentary publication, which also includes original articles from the Bar and contributors. Each blog, blogging lawyer and law firm with contributing blogs is profiled in individual pages on the site.  From the Bar in announcing the site:  By aggregating members’ legal blogs on a single website, the ISBA aims to shine a brighter light on the excellent writing its members are doing every day. While the average blog on a firm’s website is seen by only those who visit the firm’s site, inclusion on Illinois Lawyer Now will amplify the content’s exposure and result in many more readers. Lawyers benefit from Illinois Lawyer Now in growing the readership of ...