Law X.0

New Law Blogs

Several new law blogs have come to our attention.

• Phillips & Webster's Blog (Insurance defense. By the law firm of Phillips & Webster)
• The Pseudo-Intellectual Property Blog (By Jonathan Purow, a 3L at Cardozo)
• InfoBlawg (By Fernando J. Fernández Acevedo, Spanish IP law)
• The South Carolina Construction Law Blog (By Ryan McCabe)
• Law and the Environment (By Scott D. Deatherage, Thompson & Knight L.L.P., Dallas)
• The New Carbon Cycle: Carbon Trading and Climate Change (By Scott D. Deatherage, Thompson & Knight L.L.P., Dallas)
• Pelud & Carson, LLC (Covers immigration law. By the law firm of Pelud & Carson LLC)
• Karel's Legal Blog (Emphasis on Netherlands Antilles and Aruba corporate and tax law. By Karel Frielink)

If you have a new law blog, please email a link and a brief description so we can feature it in a post. [JH]

Wikipedia and the Future of the Past

In Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past, Roy Rosenzweig notes the following about the professional practice of history:

• "History is a deeply individualistic craft. The singly authored work is the standard for the profession"; and
• "Historical scholarship is also characterized by possessive individualism. Good professional practice (and avoiding charges of plagiarism) requires us to attribute ideas and words to specific historians."

These characteristics lead to the following observation:

"A historical work without owners and with multiple, anonymous authors is thus almost unimaginable in our professional culture. Yet, quite remarkably, that describes ... Wikipedia. ... History is probably the category encompassing the largest number of articles."

Can History be Open Source? Are Wikipedians good historians?
Rosenzweig's article seeks to answer some basic questions about history on Wikipedia. How did it develop? How does it work? How good is the historical writing? What are the potential implications for our practice as scholars, teachers, and purveyors of the past to the general public? Can history be open source? Are Wikipedians good historians?

Rosenzweig's evaluation of the athority of Wikipedia is one of the very best I've read. Strongly recommended.

Cross-posted on Law Librarian Blog. Hat tip to Ron Jones. [JH]

New Law Blogs

Several new law blogs have come to our attention.

• The Briefcase (commentary and analysis on Ohio Law by Russ Bensing)
• Life at the Bar ("It's about life and the law ... And living as a lawyer." By Julie Fleming Brown)
• Legal PR Blawg (By Robert H. Bork, Jr., a consultant on litigation communication)
• New York Personal Injury Law Blog (A law blog written to discuss the civil justice system, cases of interest, New York personal injury law and medical malpractice by Eric Turkewitz)

Change of Address

• Harmful Error (A blog dedicated to discussing the Nevada Supreme Court & criminal law in Nevada by JoNell Thomas. Formerly located at  nevadacriminallaw.blogspot.com)

If you have a new law blog, please email a link and a brief description so we can feature it in a post. [JH]

Denver Law Faculty and Students to Blog the Nacchio Trial

Denver Law Prof Jay Brown is taking collaborative faculty-student blogging to new heights by providing daily coverage of the criminal trial of Joe Nacchio, the former CEO of Qwest Communications International at Race to the Bottom. Professor Brown writes that the Nacchio trial is "really the end of an era, the last big trial from the Enron days."

The trial is scheduled to begin today and is expected to last approximately 8 weeks. Students and faculty will rotate through each day of the trial with the expectation that there will be at least two posts a day. Take the RSS feed! [JH]