The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

Should You Have a Weblog Too?

I've been a blogging evangelist for a long time.

In the early days of blogging, I wrote an article for the Illinois Bar Journal titled "What Weblogs Can Do for You." That article was published in mid-2004,a long time ago in Internet terms. Blogs were something new. You could even make the claim, as I did in another post, that "Generally speaking, lawyers don’t read weblogs."

The other post was titled "What's the Use of This Weblog," and listed some of the reasons I decided to keep blogging after trying it out for a year. In the ensuing five years, things have changed quite a bit. Now some of the same lawyers who would ask me, "Why are you wasting your time on the Internet?" have weblogs of their own--not to mention consultants who'll teach them how to use them.

Lately, I've noticed a couple of other "why should a lawyer blog"-type posts. If you're thinking about blogging yourself, you might want to take a look--

• "Seven Years of Jottings. Why?" from Jottings By An Employer's Lawyer;
• "Why Blog? 10.5 Good Reasons," from Pittsburgh Legal Back-Talk.

There's also a recent blogging article that's along the same lines: "A Blogging Guide for St. Louis (and Other) Lawyers (and Others)." The article is a sort of roundtable with some early blogging adopters, all from St. Louis, Dennis Kennedy, Matt Homann, George Lenard, and me.

Finally, for an interesting contrary view, see this post at Legal Blog Watch: "The Demise of the Legal Blogsophere." 

At the Blogs: Recommendations on Case Management Software, and More

Here are some notable recent posts from around the law-related blogosphere--

Case Management Software: "Update on Case Management Software" and "Trial Works Online Takes a Quantum Leap in Case Management," both from the South Carolina Trial Law Blog;

Learning to Use Tech: "New Episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report Podcast is Now Available," from Dennis Kennedy (the podcast is titled Learn to Use NEW Technology: 101);

Voir Dire, Etc.: "The New Jury Expert Is Out, and I'm In It," at Deliberations;

Contracts: "Keep This Stuff Out of Your Contracts," at AdamsDrafting;

Manners: "Lawyer Etiquette: Is Your Blackberry Use Hurting your Reputation" at A Georgia Lawyer; and

Twitter as a Tool: "Mining Twitter for IP Information & News," at The Invent Blog.

Happy reading!

Jury-Related Blogs and Feeds

From the weblog Deliberations ("law, news, and thoughts on juries and jury trials") comes the "2009 Guide To Jury Blogs And Feeds," a long list of weblogs and other sources.

There's plenty of good information here for trial lawyers, such as a site called "Jury Experiences," in which jurors can post anonymously about jury duty.

Don't forget to add Deliberations itself to the list of jury-related weblogs.

Other Good Weblogs: Two From the Defense Side

Earlier this week, I highlighted a good trial practice weblog written from a plaintiff's perspective: Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips.

To balance things out, I wanted to call attention to two other weblogs -- this time from the defense side -- whose authors work hard to write detailed, well-researched posts.

• Drug and Device Law. Written by lawyers Jim Beck and Mark Herrmann (of Dechert LLP and Jones Day), the weblog contains "personal views of various topics that arise in the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device product liability litigation." Representative recent post: "Wyeth v. Levine -- First Real Thoughts."
• Jackson on Consumer Class Actions & Mass Torts.Written by Russell Jackson of Skadden, this weblog strives to spark a "continuing conversation about consumer class actions and mass torts." Representative recent post: "First Circuit Clarifies CAFA Removal Standards."

That's right, two more weblogs for your RSS reader.

Another Trial Practice Weblog to Bookmark

Plaintiff Trial Lawyer Tips is written by Paul Luvera of The Luvera Law Firm.

There is a lot of information on Luvera's weblog. Some recent posts include:

• "Cross Examination of the Hired Defense Medical Examiner";
• "Focusing Your Ideas in Preparing a Case"; and
• "Deposition Report Form."

Even defense lawyers might find information of interest on the weblog. It's one to add to your RSS reader.

New Weblog with Practice Tips: the James Publishing Author's Blog

There's a new weblog by James Publishing, which publishes (often plaintiff-oriented) law-related works like my own Deposition Checklists and Strategies.

Called the James Publishing Author's Blog, the weblog will feature posts from James Publishing authors, who will highlight content from their books.

The weblog's first author is Dorothy Clay Sims, author of Exposing Deceptive Defense Doctors. So far, Sims has offered the following posts:

• Website for Basic Info on Doctors
• When Doctors Claim Malingering Based on a Test That Is Not a Malingering Test
• Junk Defense #2: “Something Is Wrong With Your Client, but It Was Not Caused by the Accident”
• Overcome Junk Defenses - #1: “There Is Nothing Psychiatrically Wrong With Your Client”

Plaintiff lawyers who like practical, hands-on tips should check in with this new weblog from time to time.

Trial Practice Tips from the Kentucky Law Review Weblog

You can find three-years of trial practice tips at Kentucky Law Review by Michael L. Stevens, including these--

• "Tip: Obtaining certified copies of past weather conditions from National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)"
• "Manual for Complex Litigation - FREE"
• "Use of Demonstrative and Technology in the Courtroom"
• "Closing Arguments"

The second two of the listed posts are notes that Stevens took at a CLE called "Kentucky Justice Association and Kentucky Defense Counsel on Trial Techniques & Strategies."

The notes are thorough, and there are other posts like this on the weblog. It's a good idea . . .

Two Litigation-Related Weblogs for Your RSS Reader

Check out these two weblogs, if you haven't already--

• The Complex Litigator--"A California-centric collection of comments and resources concerning the practice and procedures that make complex litigation and class actions uniquely challenging"
• Litigation & Trial--"The tales and tribulations of a Philadelphia lawyer" who works as a civil litigation and trial attorney.

I've added both to my sidebar, which I'm in the process of cleaning up.

A Bit of Housekeeping: A Minor Change in This Weblog's Name

Since most of the posts on this weblog are not Illinois-specific, I've taken "Illinois" out of the weblog's name.

What was once the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog is now The Trial Practice Tips Weblog.

You can reach the weblog as you've always done, using www.illinoistrialpractice.com. However, as of today, www.trialpracticetips.com works too.

Although I'll still write specifically about Illinois from time to time, the new name better reflects the actual content of this weblog. After five years of keeping the weblog regularly updated, I'm looking forward to year number six.

Navigating Illinois Trial Practice by Category

Since I started this weblog in January, 2004, I've written 689 posts. Most of these posts are assigned to one or more categories. You can get to these categories by clicking on the list that appears on the left side of the weblog. I've also listed the categories here, followed by the number of weblog posts that have been assigned to each:

Appeal 25
Books 15
Class Actions 21
Closing Argument 26
Courtroom Tech 29
Cross-Examination 31
Current Affairs 4
Damages 14
Depositions 107
Direct Examination 9
Discovery 68
Evidence 37
Experts 39
Instructions 8
Law Online 30
Legal Writing 37
Mediation/Arbitration 8
Miscellaneous 56
Motion Practice 33
Opening Statement 17
Pleadings 5
Requests for Admissions 8
Settlement 5
Trial Style 29
Voir Dire 33
Web/Tech 20
Weblogs 16

One other thing to point out: despite the title of this weblog, the majority of my posts aren't limited to Illinois. I probably should have called this the Trial Practice Weblog, but then the Illinois-specific posts wouldn't have been confusing. Consider the current weblog title a compromise of sorts.