nolo’s Law in Plain English podcasts
[pre-launch status, as we search for a shlep team — can you contribute?]
Self-help law pioneer Nolo Press began broadcasting Nolo Presents the Law in Plain English on January 2, 2006, and added its 42nd podcast over the weekend — When Can You ‘Stand Your Ground’?, an interview with criminal law expert Paul Bergman, author of “The Criminal Law Handbook,” (Nolo). The podcast focuses on “stand your ground” laws — statutes that permit citizens to defend themselves with deadly force.
Nolo’s podcast series “offers interviews and lectures with authors and other legal experts. Topics include estate planning, wills, trusts, divorces, contracts, hiring a lawyer, copyrights, trademarks, patents, personal injury, bankruptcy and similar topics.” Many of the broadcasts are by lawyers who have written Nolo self-help “best sellers,” such as David Pressman, Stephen Elias, Katherine Stoner, Mary Randolph, Richard Stim and Lisa Guerin. The series already includes a broad array of topics — with issues relating to individual family and financial problems (like Understanding Special Education Laws, Divorce Without Court, The New Bankruptcy Law, and Dog Law), landlords and tenants (Screening Tenants Legally), and starting a new business or marketing an idea or invention (What Licenses and Permits are Needed to Start a New Business?, Corporations and LLCs). Check the entire list, because there is much more.
shlep suggests Do You Need a Lawyer?, an interview with Nolo founder Jake Warner, author of “Everybody’s Guide to Small Claims Court” (Nolo), which gives Jake’s perspective on when a nonlawyer can handle a legal matter and discusses the current state of the legal self-help movement.
Even though I’m a self-proclaimed podriah, I’m going to check back to the Nolo podcast page often to see what’s new. [update Oct. 16, 2006: we have belatedly discovered that you can find transcripts of all their podcast at the Nolo Podcast weblog.] We hope that other webloggers with expertise in areas covered will critique the broadcasts (at that site, and at their own weblogs). For example, it would be interesting to hear what Marty Schwimmer at The Trademark Blog, Doug Sorocco at Phosita and Rethink/IP, or Stephen Albainy-Jenei of Patent Baristas think of Richard Stims’ Secrets of Profitable Licensing Deals; or Inventors and Patents: Part One , and Part Two, with David Pressman). Legal experts might also contact Nolo about joining their podcast roster.
shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress » Blog Archive » thanks, nolo: podcast transcripts
October 15, 2006 @ 9:51 am
[…] david giacalone – October 15, 2006 @ 9:50 am · Resources-Consumer I was quite pleased to discover and post about Nolo.com’s Law in Plain English podcasts last month (see our prior post). Nonetheless, my usual problem with podcasts still nagged me — as noted in the f/k/a piece podriahs — blissfully outside the pod-caste system: A primary advantage of weblogs is the information management that it gives us, including the easy ability to decide if a post is worth perusal, to quote a passage in assent or dissent, or to find it quickly at a later time. Podcasting might nurture a bit of camaraderie, but facilitating the use and organization of information are not its forte. For me, information is far better processed and preserved through written text. Well, it was silly of me to have so little faith in the legal self-help pioneers at Nolo.com, who clearly know how to make information effective and accessible. You see, since January 2006, Nolo has made transcripts available for each of its Plain English podcasts, at the dedicated Nolo Podcast transcript weblog — usually on the same day a podcast is originally released (or the next business day). Belated, but heartfelt thanks, Nolo! So, although yesterday’s new Nolo.com podcast, “Is it Harder to Sell a Retail or a Service Business?,” sounds quite interesting, I’m going to check with the Nolo Podcast weblog tomorow, to see if this interview with Fred Steingold has been posted for eyeball consumption. […]