Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground

MONDAY MEANS BLAWG REVIEW . . . This week's edition--Blawg Review #68, if you're counting--was put together by Jeremy Blachman, with a little help from the Anonymous Lawyer. Recommended.

THE WEEKLY LAW SCHOOL ROUNDUP . . . The Weekly Law School Roundup alternates between Legal Underground and divine angst, where Kristine has posted this week's Weekly Law School Roundup #29. The next installment will appear here next Sunday, so be sure to check back.

GADGET UPDATE: The Sonaki America Vitamin C Shower Head . . . Are you a lawyer who starts getting itchy after a long day of depositions? Then perhaps you need this--

It's the Sonaki American Vitamin C Shower Head. While the itchiness you're feeling might simply mean you're allergic to opposing counsel, it could also mean your skin is drying out due to lack of Vitamin C. That's where the shower head comes in. By means of a space-age tube inserted directly into the device, it delivers a wallop of "pharmaceutical-grade" Vitamin C each time you take a shower. In just minutes, your skin will be refreshed for another round of depositions, as well as any hanky-panky that might ensue afterwards. Only $99.

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBLOG . . . "One More About the Paperless Law Office."

I'M WAITING TO HEAR MORE . . . Last month, Elizabeth Spiers of DealBreaker.com announced a new legal weblog "edited by 'Underneath Their Robes' blogger and ex-Wonkette editor David Lat." David Lat confirmed the news here.

It sounds interesting, doesn't it--a legal gossip weblog by David Lat? I'm waiting to hear more about the weblog, while hoping never to be mentioned in its pages.

I'm also wondering why it's taking so long to get it started. It's been a month since the announcement. Aren't people always saying that weblogs are easy?

I suppose it's different for big-name, professional bloggers like Lat, the Jeffrey Toobin of the legal blogosphere. Rather than practicing law while doing a bit a blogging on the side, he gets to "develop" a weblog as "project" that will eventually "take shape." And he gets paid to do it, too.

Where did the rest of us go wrong?

HOW ARE WEBLOGS AFFECTING THE LEGAL WORLD? . . . Law-related weblogs are the topic of a new issue of Nexus: a Journal of Opinion. The following articles are all available online:

• Editor's Note: The Times They Are a Changing, by Hugh Hewitt
• The Information Age, Again, by Timothy Sandefur
• Legal Blogs: The Search for Legitimacy, by Lyle Denniston
• Lessons from the Clash Between Campaign Finance Laws and the Blogosphere, by Richard L.Hasen
• Employee Blogs and Trade Secrets: Legal Response to Technological Change, by Vincent Chiappetta
• “Or of the [Blog]," by Paul Horwitz
• Blog You, by Denise M. Howell
• The Impact of Blogging on the Practice of Law: Hit the Snooze Button, by Tom W. Bell
• Legal Blogs and the Supreme Court Confirmation Process, by Tung Yin
• Humanizing the Profession: Lawyers Find Their Public Voices Through Blogging, by Colin Samuels
• The Blogosphere and The New Pamphleteers, by Donald J. Kochan
• Late Night Thoughts on Blogging While Reading Duncan Kennedy’s Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy in an Arkansas Motel Room, by Franklin G. Snyder
• Blogs and the First Amendment, by David L. Hudson, Jr.

There looks to be some interesting stuff here. Thanks to Donald Kochan for the heads up.

TWO YEARS AGO AT LEGAL UNDERGROUND . . . "Advice to Young Lawyers #13" (turkey calls and writer's block).

BLOGROLLING LEGAL UNDERGROUND . . . Thanks to the following weblogs and websites that have recently added permanent links to this one via their blogrolls*--

• There's No Competition in Law School
• The Bankruptcy Litigation Blog
• Statute of Frogs
• South Carolina Family Law Blog
• Drug Injury Watch
• Dot Connections
• Law and Mommyhood
• Top Law Student
  

*Blogroll (1) n. A list of weblogs, typically found in a column on another weblog; (2) v. To add a weblog to a blogroll.

AT MY TRIAL PRACTICE WEBSITE . . . "Gearing Up for the New Federal Discovery Rules."

NO MORE "SUPER LAWYERS" IN NEW JERSEY . . . It's news that's apparently causing a firestorm in New Jersey--

A New Jersey Supreme Court ethics panel knocked "SuperLawyers" and "Best Lawyers in America" out of the business of ranking New Jersey lawyers on July 19 by prohibiting attorneys from advertising their inclusion and taking part in the selection process.

The Committee on Attorney Advertising says in Opinion 39 that ads trumpeting a lawyer's inclusion in the two rankings violate the rule of professional conduct against suggestions that one lawyer is better than another.

Here's one question that leaps to mind: what about the Martindale-Hubbell rankings? Will those also be verboten in New Jersey? Apparently, the answer is no: the opinion by the New Jersey ethics panel makes a distinction between Martindale-Hubbell, which is primarily marketed to lawyers, and Superlawyers and Best Lawyers in America, which are often marketed to consumers. In addition, Martindale-Hubbell's AV, BC, and CV-type rankings don't mean much to the public, according to the panel.

This is all according to the linked article, "Ethics Crusaders Crush 'SuperLawyers'," by Henry Gottlieb. Apparently, most other state bars allow the offending publications. Although I'm admittedly no expert in lawyer-ranking services, Superlawyers and the Best Lawyers in America don't seem to me to do much harm: sure they might be a something of a big-firm popularity contest, featuring not only the best but often the most expensive lawyers in America, but at least it's impossible for sub-par lawyers to buy their way in.

That's my understanding of the process, anyway. If I'm wrong, please set me straight.