Belly Up to the Bar V

Welcome to Belly Up to the Bar V. Based on the few submissions received for this week's edition, I'd say the legal field has a lot of ground to make up before we can compare ourselves to those medical guys and gals that are putting together one Grand Round after another.

Accordingly, why not follow a successful model. The following scope (as originally presented here) seems to have worked before:

Remember, the target audience here is NOT other [legal] bloggers, or people in the [legal] industry. It's the educated but [non-legal readers] coming from general-interest blogs. So write for that audience, if only for this one post (even if your blog is about [poultry law]). The idea is to introduce the wider world to the growing [legal] blogosphere -- the [lawyers, judges, paralegals, administrators, law students, and clients] who blog.

Personally speaking, the Grand Rounds have provided me an excellent introduction to the world of medical blogs. Hopefully, Belly Up to the Bar can grow into the same resource for the legal field and will serve as a tool for introducing the general public to the blawgosphere.

Despite the lack of a concerted effort, we are still generating a tremendous amount of writing that fulfills this objective. The following represents my effort at finding this week's crop.

Problems?? With the law!?
Musclehead started a great discussion when he theorized that "the legal profession has taken the notion of zealous representation to mean whatever the client wants," which, in turn, has led to mixed-up priorities for lawyers.

Notes from the (Legal) Underground responded with an opinion that over-the-top advertising has done more to harm the profession than over-zealous representation, drawing out Evan's old sparring partner--the blawger formerly known as the Ethical Esquire.

Based on this arithmetic from Yale Law School, it looks like new associates in BIG LAW don't have time to be concerned with things such as advertising and zealous representation. It's enough to turn The Prejudicial Effect and Preaching to the Perverted away from BIG LAW. Minor Wisdom noted the chart and his law partner, Bradley Parker, expanded the conversation to discuss law's dirty little secret.

Meanwhile, Scheherazade Fowler witnessed another path when she was in Miami last week.

Speaking of hip lawyers, Ernie the Attorney was profiled last week by JDBliss. And, speaking of bliss, JCA's dogged pursuit of law review was finally rewarded.

Apparently, considering rules to live by was prevalent last week, as noted by Lawtech Guru and Warren Buffett (admittedly not legally-related, but worth the time it takes to read it).

Getting Some Work Done
Back at the ranch, Structured Settlement started a Wikipedia entry on his specialty. The Wired GC was on a roll, first discussing BitTorrent and the Law and then 1-Click Lawyer Referrals (which was first noted by Kevin O'Keefe).

Tom Mighell promises some "highly scientific analysis of the blawg-o-sphere" and some statistics in the next week or two. And, finally, J. Matthew Buchanan has produced an excellent primer on patent reform.

If you are up to the task, take a shot at producing a post for submission in next week's Belly Up to the Bar. When it's done, send it here and I'll make sure it gets included in the next round.

Many thanks to Kevin at Tech Law Advisor for taking the initiative to get this started!

Title Insurance to the Rescue

Kitty Says blogs about her recent experience with "home non-ownership."

New-Blawg Announcement

Last weekend I made the last entry in Rain Man and launched a new blog, Rain Man 2, on TypePad. The topics will be the same: legal writing, music (mostly blues), web sightings, and anything else that's on my mind. Unlike the old blog, the new one features comments, trackbacks, and RSS feed (which should please Ernie).

Yankee Boy Bashes Louisiana Legal Traditions

Rufus T. Firefly, author of Running with Lawyers, has been bashing some of Louisiana's legal traditions lately. Last month, he decried Civil Code Article 2318 as an "abomination." I was going to let that one go (after all, as a defense lawyer, I don't want to go on record defending a strict-liability statute). But last week, he wanted to boot us out of the USA for putting our court filings on legal-size paper. And to think that as recently as July 1, he though our "Napoleonic Code" was "cool" (proving that everything he knows about Louisiana law he learned from Streetcar Named Desire). What's going to happen when he finds out about the Ursuline nuns?

Anyway, there it is. Louisiana lawyers, what do you think?

nola.com Weblog

nola.com, which provides news and classifieds from The Times-Picayune, has launched its own weblog, titled NOLA View. It it even has the obligatory blogroll. Impressive.

Welcome How Appealing Readers

Mr. Bashman has picked an excellent time to share a slice of the Louisiana life with his readership. Louisiana has made national headlines for its connection with the Washington-area snipers, a serial killer, hurricanes, West Nile Virus, LSU's hiring/firing of Steven Hatfill, and most recently, as the childhood home of the United States soldier accused of attacking his own. Not to be outdone by itself, however, one of our state representatives has just announced plans to file a bill in the upcoming legislative session that will revoke the invitation of French President Jacques Chirac to join in Louisiana's Bicentennial Celebration of the Louisiana Purchase later this year. Thankfully, some state officials recognize that international relations is not an area that our state legislature should wade into with such haste.

Although Louisiana has an innate ability to embarrass itself in front of the nation and the world, it is our home. Visitors will find warm welcomes, unmatched cuisine and a sportsman's paradise. It is an honor for Naked Ownership to provide a portal into a subset of Louisiana's most famous commodities - law and politics. Although the site is still under construction, we hope that you will find it interesting enough to look around and pass on to those that might have an interest in Louisiana's legal scene. And for those that have never had the opportunity to visit New Orleans, you might want to check out the Fifth Circuit Appellate Practice and Advocacy Seminar to be held in the Big Easy next month. Finally, please feel free to leave any questions or comments about the site, travel tips, or that crazy Louisiana Civil Code.

New LA Supreme Court Blawg

Louisiana Supreme Court Report, a service of La-Legal has launched. The blawg promises to "take the latest decisions, arrange them by category, summarize the decision, and post it with a link to see the full decision." Readers can also subscribe for e-mail updates. Excellent.

Hey Pocky Way

I'm pleased to be able to have a little cyberdesk here at Naked Ownership, and to work with the Editor-in-Chief: Al Robert. He has created a wonderful resource for Louisiana lawyers, and is working diligently to add more useful tools. Hopefully, I can help him in some measure.

Louisiana is fortunate to have its official statutory and codified laws available online, and these sources are even searchable. The user interface of our state's legal sources page leaves a bit to be desired. However, Al is coming up with a much better interface that will make it easier for people to search our state's laws.

He and I talked about some other embryonic ideas about how to make Naked Ownership a really indispensible resource for lawyers in the Bayou State. Hopefully, we can enlist the assistance of some other Louisiana lawyers and law students. If anyone out there wants to pitch in just shoot me an email. Thanks!

Welcome Sua Sponte and Bag and Baggage Readers

Bag and Baggage and Sua Sponte have graciously welcomed Naked Ownership as the 100th member of The Blawg Ring. For those that are not really interested in Louisiana law, you might enjoy my recent post on Internet research companion software. And for those that are interested in all things Louisiana, please be patient as the site gets up to speed. If the last two weeks are any indication, this is going to be a wild ride.

Bankston reapplies to Bar

The Times Picayune reports: "Former state Sen. Larry Bankston, who was disbarred for five years retroactively by the state's highest court in March after being convicted in a bribery-tainted video poker scandal in 1997, is applying to be reinstated as a lawyer."