Independence Blawg

Ed Still, a Washington D.C. lawyer with much experience in government affairs, yesterday declared his independence by starting a blog. Though Votelaw is just getting going, I have the feeling Ed's writing will be enlightening.

While in Washington, Ed was the Director of the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to providing legal services to address racial discrimination. He has represented minority citizens in more than 200 cases under the Voting Rights Act and has argued and briefed cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. Ed also knows much about campaign finance reform and the McCain-Feingold bill. Ed practiced for many years in Alabama, serving as general counsel to the Alabama Democratic Party, counsel for several Alabama cities in redistricting matters, and counsel for former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley in an election contest. He will be moving/returning to Birmingham, AL later this summer.

Ed tells me Rick Klau's recent article encouraged him to take the plunge. From here it appears dad and baby are recovering nicely.

The Eye-Brain Barrier

Anyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows how I feel about Bill Bedsworth, Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division Three, to wit: any qualms I have about human cloning or "eugenics" could be mostly allayed by assurances of worldwide propagation of the Bedworth gene. This month, Justice Bedsworth's column is about a proposed amendment to California criminal jury instructions, prompted by hippopotomus regulation and jailbreaks. It includes this arch aside about the county Beds and I call home: "I live, after all, in the epicenter of American Libertarianism. I'm in the process of formulating a theory that for every law enacted in California, there is an Orange County Register reader who is violating it-purely as a matter of principle." How I love the smell of amphibious African mammals in the morning. (The one in question resided closer to Chuck, and must have been giving Pongo fits.)

Program Next Week, Creative Commons Assistant Director Glenn Otis Brown on The Future Of Copyright In The 21st Century

I just learned from our head of professional development at the firm that we have a real treat coming up on our in-house MCLE (Mandatory Continuing Legal Education) schedule. Next Wednesday, July 10, Glenn Otis Brown, Assistant Director of Creative Commons, will be speaking from Noon to 1:00 p.m. in our San Francisco office about "The Future Of Copyright In The 21st Century." (This officially qualifies as V-for-Voluntary CLE, don't you think?) The program also will be video conferenced live in our Oakland, Los Angeles and Century City offices. Non-firm members are welcome but our conference rooms are only so big. So, if you are interested in attending the program in S.F., or one of the video conference sessions in our other offices, please email me and I'll sign folks up on a first come, first-served basis. (I'll be tuning in from L.A.; driving directions are available from the links above.) Of course, you can always read about it here next Wednesday afternoon. I'm told Glenn plans to discuss Creative Commons' efforts to cultivate the public domain, and also share his thoughts on Eldred v. Ashcroft (Eric Eldred is on the Creative Commons Board).

Crosby is an approved California MCLE provider, so if you join us and are a California lawyer you will earn an hour of general participatory credit. Plan on arriving early to clear building security.

Give This Lawyer A Blog - Oh, Got One

I was just thinking it had been a long while (ok - an Internet long while) since anyone had pointed me to another blawg, which I define broadly around the author rather than the content; if it's a weblog maintained by someone who calls some aspect of the legal field home, or did at one time and hasn't completely renounced it, it counts. Had the blog tool folks finally decided to bar the doors against the legal scourge? Seems not, Ernie has come to the rescue and found the superbly titled Unbillable Hours and TBP, Esq., a New Jersey lawyer with a great, direct voice, an affinity for Lincoln and Montaigne, and (for example) court hearings that rival The Spanish Inquisition. I look forward to reading and so should you. (Aside: I love Ernie's observation that because Rick Klau blogged it we get to read Rick's article before the print magazine even arrives, and I would add before the ABA has gotten around to posting the current edition of LPM Magazine on its Web site, which still features May/June at the moment.)

While saying hello to TBP, I also bid a bittersweet au revoir to Rebeca Delgado, and look forward to what she has in store for us down the road.
--Later: Two in one day? Law professor Jeff Cooper as well (thanks, Howard).

Momentum

Rick Klau writes, about weblogs and firm-wide knowledge management,

Whether you embrace weblogs for their individual benefits or the larger, institutional benefits, one thing is certain: weblogs will become a powerful tool for those in the legal profession that seek ways of more efficiently and intelligently managing their information.

His article appears in this month's ABA Law Practice Management Magazine.