Law X.0

Announcing Two New Blogs

1. Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer     

    

"This blog will cover topics about the defense of criminal charges, mostly relating to Texas State Court criminal charges.  That focus will also include the need to talk about general principles of criminal law, and how they apply to the Texas Penal Code." (from "General" page)

    

2. Consumer Law and Policy Blog 

    

"Consumer Law and Policy Blog is a large group blog, with 13 regular contributors. The contributors include both law professors and practicing lawyers. The blog focuses on consumer law and class actions." (paraphrase of email)

When Jurors Blog

It is becoming more common for jurors to blog about jury duty, according to this ABA e-Report entitled Blogger’s Posts Don’t Equal Juror Misconduct:

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a rapist, rejecting his claims that he was denied a fair trial because his jury foreman turned out to be a blogger who complained about having to show up for jury duty to deal with the local "riffraff."

       

The case may serve as a cautionary tale for trial lawyers in New Hampshire and elsewhere as grumbling about jury service from local barbershops and coffeehouses moves to the Internet.

      

Indeed, prospective jurors and active jurors are already blogging about their past experiences, and at least on one occasion, directly from the courthouse during service.

Hat tip: Carolyn Elefant at Legal Blog Watch.

End of The Airport Lawyer?

Sheryl Schelin has ended her blogging at The Airport Lawyer, and she is looking for someone to take it over. This is a topic worth consideration: what is involved in transferring a blog from one person to a successor? If anyone knows of a case where this has occurred, please leave a comment.

    

Here are the final posts from The Airport Lawyer:

• Thank You for Flying with TAL
• Announcement: Now Departing – I Mean REALLY Departing
• TAL’s Got a New Home Hub

Sheryl has also started her own practice, with two new blogs:

• The SC Consumer and Bankruptcy Blog
• The SC Employment Law Blog

Best of luck to her!

SCOTUS Blogger Discusses the Court

Tom Goldstein of the highly-regarded SCOTUSBlog recently visited Harvard, giving advice to law students and discussing the Supreme Court’s previous term. Highlights of his talk are here: Tom Goldstein on Life and the New Supreme Court. He was hosted by the American Constitution Society, which has its own blog here.

Blog Post Leads to Murder Suspect

This story is from last year but is still worthy of mention. The identity of a double-murderer was discovered because one of the victims wrote about the murderer on his blog, immediately before the crime took place. The New York Daily News has the story here: Victim’s E-Journal Led to Slay Suspect (originally published May 17, 2005). It is more than a bit haunting to read the victim’s final blog entry, which is still online here.

      

Legal aspects of this case are discussed in the comments to this post at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Blawg Review in the UK

Justin Patten has become the first British blogger to host the weekly Blawg Review. I’ve been keeping up with the Reviews for a long time, and Justin’s     “# 78” is one of the best. Check it out here.

      

If you haven’t seen them already, David Maister's Blawg Review #76 and Patent Barrista’s Blawg Review # 77 are also well worth the visit. As are the ones before them, actually.

      

If you have time today to explore a wealth of fascinating material, go to the Blawg Review main page and visit the previous hosts on the right hand margin.

New Blog for Law Students Interested in Judicial Clerkships

All law students interested in applying for a judicial clerkship should definitely visit The Clerkship Notification Blog. Each circuit, state, and district is listed as a blog post, and readers can view or add information in the comments. It’s an excellent idea, and was quite successful last year.

    

From the introduction: 

Welcome to The Clerkship Notification Blog for the hunting season of 2006. The goal of this blog is to provide a forum for law clerk applicants to share information regarding their clerkship applications. By using the "comments" function applicants can easily find and share information as to which judges have started calling applicants, which judges have started making offers, and which judges have completed their hiring. Posting is entirely anonymous (though you are, of course, free to sign your name). 

The blog comes courtesy of Katherine McDaniel, who recently graduated from Yale Law School and has also started a new IP/tech blog called KatSCAN.