The Weekly Law School Roundup #28: How I Write the Weekly Law School Roundup

Since we’re still without power here in St. Louis (Day 5 since last Wednesday’s big storm), it’s been impossible to read the necessary quota of law-student weblogs--or any others, for that matter--in order to compose the usual roundup. Although I do have a little Internet connectivity at home, it’s a very slow dial-up connection. The cable modem requires power, as will my laptop once its battery runs out. 

For these reasons, it seemed a good time to skip the usual roundup and substitute a post I’ve been meaning to do for awhile, in which I’ll answer a question I sometimes get via email: How do I put together the Weekly Law School Roundup? Such inquiries usually come from law students who wonder why I don’t seem to know about their weblogs. In some cases, I don’t. Read on to learn why.

The first thing to keep in mind is that I do the Weekly Law School Roundup only every other week. On alternating weeks, you’ll find it at divine angst. There, Kristine has her own process for creating the roundup. If I’m correct, she often relies on email recommendations. It’s at divine angst where you’ll find next week’s Weekly Law School Roundup—a more normal one, I presume.

As for me, composing the Weekly Law School Roundup is a simple four-step process. I keep it simple so that it doesn’t take too long to complete. I don’t mind spending a couple hours on it, though, for two reasons: first, I like to read law-student weblogs, which I think are often more creative and entertaining that the typical law-related weblogs by real-life lawyers; and second, I like to help expose law-student weblogs to a wider audience of readers.

The four steps, in brief:

1. On Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, I begin reading law student weblogs ten or fifteen at a time by opening them up in Firefox tabs, working from the blogroll on this weblog titled “Law Students—Aspiring, Current, or Just Finished.” Once opened in a tab, I quickly scan each weblog to see if there are any new posts from the past week. If not, I close the weblog. It seems that in any particular week, only half of the weblogs I look at have new posts.

2. Of the weblogs that have new posts, I read through them quickly, slowing down only when some post title or phrase catches my eye. When I see a post I like, I consider whether it fits whatever theme I’ve come up with for the week. The week’s theme is something else I don’t put too much thought into, as you probably know already if you read the roundup very often.

3. If I like a post, I add it to a draft version of the roundup by composing a headline-style link of the sort that doesn’t give away too much of the post I’m linking to. It’s a linking style I stole from the Ana-Marie-Cox-era Wonkette. By being a little ambiguous, I force readers to follow the link, in keeping with my goal of getting readers to move from my weblog to those of the law students in the roundup. The abbreviated-linking style also makes it quicker for me to write the post than if I chose to summarize the content of each post I link to. 

4. Once I’m through the weblogs that are in the blogroll on this site, I usually read some other law student weblogs by looking at the list at myHQ blawgs (maintained by the editor of Blawg Review). Although I like to find to find new weblogs that I haven’t included before, I sometimes skip this step if the post is taking too long or if I’m short on time.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve noticed that in putting together the roundup, I focus on those law-student weblogs that are included in my own blogroll. How did those weblogs get there? That’s simple: those are the weblogs that include Legal Underground in their own blogrolls. When I learn about them, usually through technorati, I add a reciprocal link at Legal Underground, which guarantees that they’ll be read when I do the roundup.

This answers the question that I’m asked most often about roundup: How can I be included? The easiest way to guarantee I’ll read your law-student weblog is to add Legal Underground to your blogroll and send me an email to make sure I see it. In return, I’ll include your weblog on my blogroll.

That concludes the behind-the-scenes look at the Weekly Law School Roundup. You can find some recent roundups in the "At the Law Schools 2" category, as well as sixty or so older roundups from 2004-2005 here. You will also find Weekly Law School Roundups at divine angst, as well as at the weblog of my previous co-presenter, Energy Spatula of Will Work for Favorable Dicta.

Finally, If you’re interested in my blogging philosophy in general, I invite you to read my Blawg Review #38, which was based on a presentation I gave at BlawgThink 2005 in Chicago: "Writing Weblog Posts to Engage Readers and Build an Audience: The Secrets of Legal Underground, Revealed." While Weekly Law School Roundup breaks some of the rules I presented there, that’s part of the fun of weblogs—breaking the rules, even ones you've set for yourself.

Comments

[kristine]

Oh, Evan, I *would* rely on email recommendations, if I ever got any. (I've received one, ever.) My process is much like yours, but I use Bloglines to facilitate it (via its nify "clip" feature). But because I use Bloglines, if a blogger isn't in my blogroll (which is managed via Bloglines), he or she likely won't make it into the Roundup. So, law student bloggers, if you want on my blogroll, you can drop me a line or a comment--quick ways to get me to at least LOOK at your blog. It's nice to have a reciprocal link, too.

[LvL]

So Evan, if I have a link to Legal Underground, read your blog every day, and even comment occasionally, and you still don't have a link to my blog, should I take it personally? Just kidding...kind of...but you're still my very favorite.

[Evan]

LvL: I added a link. No system is perfect!

[Calculating Bitch]

Thanks for the shoutouts the last few weeks without the reciprocal links.

Sorry, I've been a little behind in reviewing all of our stat tracking data, but now that I know where readers have been coming from, I want to thank you and Kristine for both taking the time to read our law student blog. Our content is rarely deep, meaninful or thought-provoking, but it's not meant to be. The purpose of our blog is to give us a distraction from class and/or summer work. If we're able to entertain anyone else besides ourselves, well, that's just a bonus.

I've added both Legal Underground and Divine Angst to our blogroll. We'd love if you'd be willing to give us a permalink.

[G]

You have to watch this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfZpsGTg2G4

(Crimlaw Vid at a law school)