American Lawyer on Law Professor Blogs

Interesting series of articles in the June issue of The American Lawyer on law professor blogs:

• The Law Professor as Public Intellectual, by Cynthia Cotts:

Law professors who blog are “changing the legal landscape,” says Paul Caron, a University of Cincinnati Law School professor who presides over lawprofessorblogs.com. Although the Internet offers academics unprecedented opportunities for instant discourse with their peers (and for commenting on subjects outside the law), Caron doesn’t expect blogs to replace traditional scholarship. “If you are too lazy to be a good scholar,” he says, “you’re probably too lazy to be a good blogger.” Herewith, a sampling of popular legal blogs.

• Blawgs on a Roll ; Legal Reporting Is Sometimes Decried as Boring and Inaccurate. But a Band of Savvy Law Professors Have Changed All That, by Dahlia Lithwick:

"Blawgs" - for the uninitiated - are legal blogs, and if you haven't incorporated them into your daily reading, you are missing out. The most compelling, cutting-edge, honest legal writing being produced in this country today is happening on the Internet, and the crop improves daily. From the fistful of judges (including Richard Posner) who maintain regular blogs, to the vast and growing number of law professors and law students who find the time to post daily, it's clear that the real bones and guts and sinew of the national conversation is happening online, and not in print.

To be sure, legal bloggers are still working through their growing pains. Debate rages among them about whether law review articles are relevant anymore, whether blogging counts as real scholarship, whether junior faculty should avoid blogging until they gain tenure, why women tend to eschew legal blogs, what counts as a legal blog, and so on. Opinions are all over the map. But the conversation is almost always precise, thoughtful, respectful, and responsive: a respite from the screaming and fist-shaking that goes on in the rest of the blogosphere. And no one is charging a dime for it.