Are you calendar-challenged? You are not alone. Yesterday, I spent the
entire day knowing it was January 30th, and believing today would be the first
day of February. As a self-help measure that I hope will be of assistance
to those similarly afflicted, I found a link today to a rock’n’roll version of
by Jack Hartman.
Like many others, Monica Bay, the Common Scold, was saddened
to learn of Wendy Wasserstein‘s death, at 55, from lymphonia. In
response, Monica wrote a truly moving appreciation, titled “Sweet
Dreams, Sweet Twin.” It concludes, “Yesterday, the lights of Broad-
way dimmed in your memory, but your light will remain fierce in our
hearts.“
Kenneth H. Bacon makes a very good recommendation to the U.S.,
as it starts a month at the head of the UN Security Council:
“The United States has a vexing and inconsistent record on
Sudan. Periods of engagement have been followed by longer,
and troubling, periods of inaction. Now, with a month to lead
the Security Council, the United States has a chance to
show the world that we can do more than just talk about
genocide.”
Ever striving to help lawyers provide Perfect Client Service,
Patrick Lamb reminds us that Speed [Is] The Essential Ingredient, when it
comes to answering client email or phone calls. Lamb says:
Clients call when they do for a reason. Its their reason and,
most of the time, it is an important reason. You are the
SERVICE PROVIDER. It is your job to honor their reasons.
Think minutes, not hours and certainly not days
a coyote call
goes unanswered
evening star
first blossoms
my cell phone
set to vibrate
winter hills—
what the truck’s insurance
doesn’t cover
“first blossoms” – Walking the Same Path; Heron’s Nest VI:4
“a coyote call” – Acorn No. 6 (Spring 2001)
“first blossoms” – Hermitage
January 31, 2006
potlawk (don’t you just love cute lawyer puns?)
a few more words on eschewing “blawg”
Here’s a quick summary of my position against calling law-oriented
weblogs “blawgs“. It now appears at the top of my original piece, the
full-length essay (with updates), “let’s make the term ‘blawg’ obsolete.”
Quick Summary: Lawyers don’t need a special word to
designate their weblogs. Weblog technology is not being
used in any special way at law sites. No other group or
profession has coined a special word for their category
of weblogs. By insisting on using the trivializing, confusing
and too-cute word “blawg,” lawyers appear to be elitist, clan-
nish, or childish (likely, all three). Those who agree can help
stop the terminology from becoming a generally-accepted
part of the English language (and spread worldwide), by not
using the term “blawg” and by declaring their choice publically.
Yes, there are many things I would prefer to be writing right now, and
that you would surely prefer to be reading about — so I hope I can
let the subject percolate on its own for awhile. Before leaving it,
though, I want to say that there was no need for Denise Howell (who
coined “blawg”) to print, and Dennis Kennedy to second, a not-very
veiled insult of anyone who cares about this topic. The insult was com-
pounded by not even bothering to link to the major posts raising the
issue — mine, and the earlier argument from Kevin O’Keefe, who is not
exactly a minor character on the legal weblog scene. Not linking, of
course, made it harder for their readers to encounter our arguments
and less likely that search engines would find them.
On the bright side, Evan Schaeffer was good enough to point to
Kevin O’Keefe’s post and this one (as well as the defense by the Editor
at Blawg Review (“Who let the blawgs out?“), and to risk being unpopular
by reiterating his position on the word “blawg:”
“Not only does the indiscriminate use of the word “blawg”
lead to obscurity, but it gives readers the unintended impres-
sion that the weblog writer is running a private club.”
He received quite a few dissenting Comments, including one from
the well-known Jargon Sheriff, Monica Bay, who stated:
“. . . i don’t mind blawg.
“Why: because it adds meaning to blog. It accurately
describes a specific thing. You see “blawg” and you
know that it is a law-related blog. It defines, it narrows,
and it doesn’t obfuscate.”
My response at Legal Underground was:
Monica, I don’t agree that “blawg” adds significant meaning.
If your audience already knows the proprietor is in the law
community or the topic is law, it adds nothing. If they don’t
know that, just tell them, rather than using a word that does
confuse the uninitiated, and can refer to anything from the
cultural musing of George Wallace’s “Fool in the Forest,” and
my punditry & poetry weblog, to How Appealing‘s small blurbs,
and the major essays of Judge Posner.
Judge Posner.
Of course, I should have added that “blawg” is also applied to both the
personal diaries of law students and the topical legal and political
commentary of well-known law professors and public intellectuals.
Come back to the fold, Dear Scold.
new words, nor trying to dictate what others should
do.
lot of the fun of being in a weblog community was lost
when Comments and Trackbacks are deleted because
the weblog owner disagrees with what was said. Today,
I’m waiting to see if Dennis Kennedy will ever post the
Comment I left at Between Lawyers two days ago, con-
cerning the use of the word “blawg” in Europe. or allow
the related Trackbacks.
update (11 PM, Jan. 31): Last Friday, Dennis Kennedy pointed to a
post by Edwin Jacobs, at his Law & Justice weblog, saying “Interest-
ingly, I noticed in the post that legal blogs are apparently being called
‘blawgs’ around the world.” I’m happy to see that Mr. Jacobs has
now clarified his own feelings about the word “blawg,” in Comments
at his own site and at Blawg Review #42. Here’s what Edwin had
to say:
“Indeed, I prefer to use the term “blawg” to explain it and when
it appears in the name of some site/blog I am citing. Otherwise,
I use “lawyer blogs” or “law-related blogs”. The reason is that it
better says what it really is, I think, i.e. a blog related to law or
made by a lawyer in his capacity of a lawyer, e.g. not about his
pet or hobby or whatever.
“I think it’s a simple matter of communication with the target
audience and I don’t make a big issue about it. I don’t care which
word is used, as long as it is clear what person A is communicating
to person B. But I think in communicating with non-lawyers, or with
non-tech savvy lawyers for that matter, it just makes more sense to
talk about a “law related website, lawblog, …” instead of “blawg”.
Frankly, even using the word “blog” is often complicating things.
So, use whatever you want, but “keep it simple” for your target
audience.”
heavy clouds
the snowplows’ rumble
drifts into town
snowmelt
he changes into play clothes
after school
a fat horse
gallops with the others
a bit behind
swaying branch
the warbler’s song
rises and falls
“heavy clouds” from HSA Members’ Anthology (2003)
“snowmelt” – from Walking the Same Path
NY’s Chief Judge wants a statewide public defender system
The New York Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense, established by Chief
Judge Judith S. Kaye, has unaminously recommended “a single, statewide, state-funded
system for the delivery of indigent defense services.” Judge Kaye will give the details of
her resulting proposals, in her State of the Judiciary address, next Monday, February 6,
2006. (Albany Times Union, Jan. 31, 2006) According to Ray Kelly, president of the state’s
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers:
“They are talking about setting up a statewide public defender office that would
be responsible for handling 60 percent of the state’s cases. They would then set
up a statewide system of assigned counsel to handle any conflicts.”
Last February, this weblog voiced the opinion that “indigent defendants are far more likely
to receive consistently competent representationin a system with fulltime public defenders
(with statewide monitoring and funding) than from situations that rely heavily on assigned
counsel. (And see, David Feige’s excellent Slate article “Public Offenders,” where he says
that onlya comprehensive public defender system, not one relying heavily on assigned counsel,
will provide adequate service. ) Gideon’s Broken Promise, the ABA 2005 report on indigent
defense, states that national standards for indigent defense favor fulltime public defenders,
whenever the population and caseload can support them.
The New York indigent defense “system” has been organized and funded on the county
level since Gideon v. Wainright. Many private attorneys count heavily on the assigned
counsel cases they received under this system and fought hard for a rate hike, finally
passed in 2004, that brought fees long stuck at $25 to $75 per hour to $60 to $95 dollars
per hour. It is somewhat ironic, but the impetus for this change is reaction of the sixty-two
counties to the rate hike. The TU reports that, without additional State funds to help pay
for the hike:
“emptypocketsS”
“They opted instead to set up in-house offices, which were not subject to the
higher rates, to save money. the state’s 62 counties have established more than
122 individualized programs to defend the poor, with no cohesion, unified standards
or consistent format, said Ray Kelly….”
Indeed, just last week, the Schenectady Gazette reported that “Eighteen months after it
began operations, the Schenectady County’s Conflict Defender Office has helped save
taxpayers more than $100,000 in outside attorney fees, a review shows. (Jan. 29, 2006,
p. B2).
Don’t be surprised if this trend spreads across the nation, as more and more assigned
counsel (who are in private practice) push for higher fees. The Bar Advocates in Mass-
achusetts are clearly afraid that the fee hikes they coerced from the Legislature last year
may result in the establishment of public defender offices that will take away work they
consider to be “theirs.” Thus, they adamantly oppose the hiring of more public defenders.
(see our prior post) Perhaps, like auto workers, their organized successes may prove to
be their undoing.
the mountain moon
gives the blossom thief
light
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