Adjunct Law Prof Blog

Defamation, Blogs and The Internet

Findlaw's Julie Hilden wrote another interesting story on July 23, 2008 entitled Defamation and the Internet: How the Law Effectively Allows Bloggers to Take Risks Big Media Companies Can't, and How Companies Can Work to Level the Playing Field.The article notes the competition faced by newspapers from bloggers and even goes so far to state that there may come a day without newspapers.

Hilden also believes that the legal landscape favors bloggers. She views bloggers as essentially judgement proof because they are not large corporations with deep pockets. As a result, bloggers are able to get news out faster since they do not have to run there stories by scores of lawyers or editors.  She does believe, however, that news organizations have options.

Hilden asserts that news organizations should hire independent contractors as opposed to employees and asserts that there may not even be a need for news rooms any more. I think that she is wrong-very wrong.

Even if one accepts her assumption, that a news organization is not liable for actions of independent contractors, if a news organization truely hires independent contractors, they are no longer under the control of the organization. Pardon the pun, but they are independent. The New York Times would not be the New York Times if the pubished stories were by a series of independent journalists.

I read Hilden's work regularly. However, I believe she is way off base here.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein   

Famed Attorney Gerry Spence Launches Blog

Famed attorney Gerry Spence has his own blog, called Gerry Spence's Blog, what else?  He wrote a July 28, 2008 article entitled Defrauding our nation’s lawyers which accuses our nations law schools of fraud. Why? Because law schools do not teach lawyers to be trial lawyers. As Gerry states:

I could teach an eighth-grader in twenty minutes how to brief a case. Yet for all three years in most law schools the casebook method of learning the law is still in.  The matriculating young lawyer is as qualified to represent a client with the education he has suffered through as a doctor who has never seen a patient, who has never held a scalpel in his hand and who learns surgery by having read text books about it and becomes skilled in surgery, if ever, after having stacked up piles of corpses who represent his pathetic learning process.

Gerry you miss the point of law school. First, not everyone wants to be a trial lawyer.  The skills of an appellate lawyer, a corporate lawyer and a labor lawyer are often different than that of a trial lawyer. To borrow your doctor analogy, heart surgeons are different than family doctors.

Second, law school is not a trade school. It is not intended to magically transform students into lawyers in three years. Pardon the pun, by law school is about learning how to think, learning how to research and learning how to write in a legal manner.

And, by the way, I would like to see you teach an 8th grader brief a case!

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Blog: Supreme Court Overlooks Military Law

In today's New York Times, Linda Greenhouse reports on an oversight in Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in Kennedy v. Louisiana (No. 07-343), released last last month.

Justice Kennedy, writing for a 5-4 majority, noted that only six state jurisdictions provide that a person convicted of raping a child faces the death penalty, while neither the other 30 states that have the death penalty nor the federal government so provide.

Greenhouse states in her article that contrary to the opinion's assertion, the federal government amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice in 2006 to include child rape as a crime eligible for the death penalty.

Col. Dwight Sullivan, a Marine Corps reservist who blogs at CAAFlog, caught and first reported the mistake in a post on his blog titled "The Supremes Dis the Military Justice System".

Greenhouse adds that none of the briefs filed in the case mentioned the recent UCMJ amendment.  She reports that the Office of the Solicitor General did not file a brief in the case, "evidently having concluded that the federal government had no stake in whether Louisiana’s death penalty for child rape was constitutional." 

The blog post has led to quite a stir on the blogosphere today and in the traditional media outlets.    I first caught the story at Douglas A. Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy.  There, Professor Berman observes that while we are used to a typical narrative where ineffective assistance leads to bad outcomes for defendants, this case may be one where "poor lawyers by the prosecutors in part may explain why a death sentence was found unconstitutional," since attorneys for the state failed to note the amendment.  He goes on to add parenthetically that he doubts this fact would change any minds on the Court.   Parties before the Supreme Court have 25 days after an judgment is entered to file a motion for rehearing.   Sup. Ct. R.  44(1).  The Court entered judgment in this case on June  25, 2008.

Hat tip also to Jonathan Adler at Volokh Conspiracy  and Carrissa Hessick at Concurring Opinions (who includes a nice observation that one attorney's "explanation of how his appellate team found an older [applicable UCMJ] provision but not [the 2006 amendment] reads like an ad for Shepards.").

Craig Estlinbaum

Who Is Responsible For Blogging Comments??

Professors Sunstein and Volokh had an interesting video debate about who owns comments posted on blogs. That is an important issue and is likely to become more important as the use of blogs continues to increase. There debate can be viewed here.

Professor Leiter, who runs multiple blogs and who discussed this on his Law School Report Report Blog,  offers a simple solution to limit liablity. Limit who could post and pick and choose which comments are  actually posted on your blog.(For example, Brian has rejected a number of my comments in the past). That is exactly the problem, however. With respect to Professor Leiter, if a blog editor moderates what could be posted he or she is making a value judgement that later may be challenged.

One thing blog editors could do would be to include a disclaimer on their blog. I have one on mine which readers of this posting are authorized to copy if they would like. I am frankly stunned that most law professors do not include such disclaimers. I would even go a step further and recommend that Network owners include disclaimers. I have mentioned this to several well known professor bloggers, but no one seems to be listening. Perhaps, the Sunstein/Volokh debate may open up some professor's eyes.

In any event, this is also an excellent issue that is ripe for law review commentary.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

ACLU Blog of Rights

They say everyone is blogging these days and everyone is. Now comes word that the ACLU has a blog, the Blog of Rights. The left hand side of the blog is divided into categories such as capital punishment, privacy which researchers may find helpful.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Blogging Federal Judge

Off the bench, judge blogs her mind is an interesting May 27, 2008 Boston Globe Newspaper article.  It is about US District Court Judge Nancy Gertner (D. Mass) who is an adjunct law professor at Yale Law School and who also is a blogger. She blogs over at Slate's new blog called Convictions. The Judge see's blogs as a new form of media, but not everyone likes the idea of judical blogging. As the article states:

Bruce M. Selya, a senior judge on the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which reviews cases from Gertner's court, said he respects her and is sure she has thought out the potential ramifications of blogging. But he would never do it.

"I think it would be a great strain on me to be careful not to say anything that could come back and make it seem like I prejudged a matter when it actually came before me," said Selya, who usually sits in Providence.

By her own admission, Gertner is limited in what she can write, unlike the law professors and writers who make up the blog's other contributors. The Judicial Code of Conduct says a judge cannot make public statements that "might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome or impair the fairness" of cases pending in any federal court. She also avoids expressing views that could prompt litigants to ask her to disqualify herself, she said

I strongly believe in blogging. It is an extension of education. Who better than Judges can educate the public about legal issues. We trust our judges with important cases. I think that we can trust that they will not blog about pending cases or cases likely to arise before them.

Keep up the good work Judge!

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Real Judges Read Blogs

Greg May over at the California Blog of Appeal ran an interesting story on May 16, 2008 entitled Judges Read Blogs. Greg notes that a Texas blogger recently ran into a judge that read his blog. Greg is going to conduct a poll to see how many his readers are judges and how many are not.

I think that is a great idea. If you regularly read this blog and care to identify yourself, please leave a comment (one comment only as comments must be approved to be posted)on this posting and let me know if your a judge, a lawyer, a professor, a student or just a member of the public.

Note, of course Judges read blogs. Greg collects some Judge blogs. They are just like everyone else. Guess what, there clerks, who often write the decisions, also read blogs.   

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

 

Large Law Firm Blogs

The American Lawyer ran an interesting article on May 2, 2008 entitled Cutting a Winning Edge in Law Firm Blogs which is about law firm blogging-particularly large law firm blogging. A survey showed 26% of the American Lawyer Top 200 law firms have blogs. The article questions why blogging has not caught on more. It cites concerns that blogging will cut into the all important "billable hour" and the fact that something might be posted that a client disagrees with. The article also questions how much business blogs really generate, but then goes on to cite a firm which attracts up to 10% of its business from its employment law blog. As the article states:

   Here's the first thing firms need to know about blogs: If you want to get rich off the Internet, marry a Google shareholder. Yes, there have been lawyers -- and firms -- that have gotten work when someone read a post and liked what they saw, but it's not an everyday occurance. Daniel Schwartz, a partner at Bridgeport, Connecticut's Pullman & Comley who started his Connecticut Employment Law Blog last year when he was a partner at New York's Epstein Becker & Green, estimates that 5 to 10 percent of his practice is due to his blog, which gets about 300 visits a day. And he'll regularly get several calls each week from prospective clients who read his posts. But the vast majority of those calls -- perhaps 95 percent -- are dead ends, matters that fall outside his practice. In fact, most law bloggers say that the bulk of the correspondence they get, typically in the form of comments that readers post on the blog or e-mails sent to them, is spam -- people looking to sell something or tout their own blogs.

The real payoff is indirect. "I can't tell you of any new cases we've brought in directly as a result of the blog, but there have been intangible benefits," says Carlton Fields's Allen. "We're providing a service for our clients, doing summaries of recent class-action decisions and arbitrations. They don't have to pay for it, and they love that. It enhances our reputation as a go-to firm for class actions."

Because a blog needs to be updated constantly (or readers will stop coming back), it forces lawyers to stay up-to-date on current developments in their area. Blogs also often lead to media inquiries. They're an easy way for reporters to find experts on a topic, which increases the lawyer's visibility, as well as the firm's.

I have a good friend who is partner at a so call "premier" large NYC management side labor law firm. He has told me several times that he would have serious problems with any of his associates writing an article or a blog posting without it first being vented through the firm partners. They do not want anything said that may hurt a client.

Because of this, I have lost a lot of respect for attorney law review articles and blogs. Today, I have much more confidence in reading something from a law school professor because they are less likely to presented a slanted view.

Having said that, I too am a practing lawyer. I try to be objective and that is one of the major reasons this blog is on the law professor blog network.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Blawgs” 101: Incorporating Legal Blogs into Your Practice

Attorney Greg May over at the California Blog of Appeal recently presented a seminar on “Blawgs” 101: Incorporating Legal Blogs into Your Practice to the Business Litigation Section of the Ventura County Bar Association. You can read about it on Greg's blog. Greg also provides a PDF copy of a rather large Resource List which provides links to blog directories, business litigation blogs, blog aggregators, legal research blogs, podcasts and information about starting blogs.

If you have a law firm and do not have a blog, you may want to start thinking about starting one. This blog posting provides an excellent starting point. 

Mitchell H. Rubinstein 

Autism Blogger Subpoenaed

Neodiversity blog which discusses Autism, including the controversary over the use of certain vaccines. According to the legal papers filed in opposition, the subpoena was issued  a few hours after she discussed Vaccine Injury Compensation Program cases in which Mr. Shoemaker served as petitioners’ counsel. Shoemaker apparently issued the subpoena seeking information about the bog site for which the owner receives a small commission based upon Amazon.com sale referrals. In moving to quash this subpoena the claim is that it was not issued in good faith.

Overlawyered comments about the issuance of the subpoena as follows:

Seidel has responded with a self-drafted motion to quash the subpoena, and expresses confidence that a judge will rule in her favor, and perhaps go so far as to agree with her contention that it constitutes sanctionable abuse. Should the subpoena somehow be upheld and its onerous demands enforced, it could signal chilly legal times ahead for bloggers who expose lawyers and their litigation to critical scrutiny (& welcome Instapundit, Pure Pedantry, P.Z. Myers, I Speak of Dreams, Law and More, Open Records, Matt Johnston readers. And Orac/Respectful Insolence, with what he terms an "important rant". More reactions here).

Neodiversity seems like a good blog to watch for those interested in developments involving Autism.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Hat Tip: Overlawyered    

Political Blog Wins An Award For Reporting

The Feb. 28, 2008 New York Times in an artice entitled "Blogger, Sans Pajamas, Rakes Muck and a Prize" discusses the fact that a blog, Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com), is the first Internet-only news operation to receive the Polk award for legal reporting. As the article states:

On Tuesday, it was announced that he had won a George Polk Award for legal reporting for coverage of the firing of eight United States attorneys, critics charged under political circumstances. The “tenacious investigative reporting sparked interest by the traditional news media and led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,” the citation read.

Also last week, the Justice Department put him back on its mailing list for reporters with credentials after removing him last year.

Mr. Marshall does not belong to any traditional news organization. Instead, he is creating his own. His Web site, Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com), is the first Internet-only news operation to receive the Polk (though in 2003, an award for Internet reporting was given to the Center for Public Integrity), and certainly one of the most influential political blogs in the country.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Two New LII Blog's From Cornell Law School

Cornell Law School runs a wonderful service called LII where you can sign up for free emails that preview and summarize Supreme Court cases. They just started a blog called LII Announce   which appears designed to announce recent important legal developments. This blog is worth watching.

They also have a blog which is nameless It currently has a posting about Jeremy Bentham  birthday.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Bench Blogging

While considering whether or not to participate as guest blogger here, I reviewed the applicable ethical issues in the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.  As part of my research, I came across this very helpful article by Heather Singer, Communications Specialist for the National Judicial College.  The article, Bench Blogging: Where Should Judges, Lawyers and Court Personnel Draw the Line, appeared in the Spring/Summer 2007 issue of Case in Point, the NJC magazine.  The article provides several dos and don'ts for blogging judges and attorneys to consider, and also includes websites to several legal blogs.

Craig Estlinbaum

How Do You Use Legal Blogs?

Greg May over at the California Blog of Appeal is running an interesting posting entitled How Do You Use Legal Blogs? Greg is preparing for a presentation at a local California bar association.

Personally, I do not separate internet research using Google from blog research. I typically enter my search terms in Google and both blogs and web sites come up. I use Google to research other lawyers, other parties and yes, information about my client. Have they been involved in similar cases? 

I use blogs in particular for academic research purposes. Specifically, I regularly visit certain blogs to look for an idea to write an article about. Additionally, since I often teach paper courses, I often steer students to these same blogs to help them find a paper topic.

If an interesting case was just decided or an important new regulation just came out, I may type that in Google to see what others have said.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein         

The Assimilation of Blogs into the Structure of Legal Literature

Joe Hodnicki over at Law Librarian Blog wrote a wonderful Feb. 5, 2008 posting entitled Some Evidence for the Assimilation of Blogs into the Structure of Legal Literature which documents the increased blog citations in both law reviews and courts. Joe also answers the question why cite to blogs in a side bar which is reproduced below.

Why Cite to Blogs?

There are a number of reasons to cite to blogs. Ones usually identified are factual assertions, crediting/criticizing ideas, and using a blog post as supporting authority but one largely overlooked reason is the role blogs play as informal repositories of downloadable documents.

Joe did an empirical of citations using Lexis/Nexis data base and documented his findings in a blog posting that took up about one page. Before blogs, this type of study would have been the subject of a lengthly law review article that many would not even read. More than anything this fact demonstrates the utility of blogs.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein   

Blogging Lessons Learned

Blogging Lessons Learned is an interesting Jan. 10, 2008, New York Law Journal article by Jones Day Partner Mark Herrmann. He basically argues that blogs are great legal tools.He gives statistics where he book which was ranked 47,000 on Amazon.com shot up to number 434 after it was discussed on wallstree journal  law blog. He also argues that a blog can make you an expert. As Herrmann states:

Finally, the spoils: Blogging pays off.

It pays off in part by being a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whether or not you know anything about drug and device products liability law, you appear to be an expert in that field as of the day you launch the "Drug and Device Law Blog." Impressed by your expertise, and hoping that you'll mention them online, complete strangers begin sending you e-mails containing unpublished decisions, creative ideas and endless other tidbits relating to drug and device law. Eventually, your blog becomes a clearinghouse for information about the subject it covers. By staking a claim to some online turf, you gradually come to dominate that turf and to become an insider on events in that field.

Hosting a blog also raises your own personal profile. The print and broadcast media search the blogosphere for experts who can provide insights into current legal issues. If you want to be found, you must exist in the relevant world: Establish an online presence. My co-host and I have been interviewed in our year of blogging by the Wall Street Journal, The National Law Journal and countless papers in between.

I find myself in agreement with this  author. Blogging is good for lawyer business and its good for law professors as  it seeks  to educate the general public. Of course, it pays to get noticed by the Wall Street Journal Blog.

Mitchell H.  Rubinstein

Seven lawyers who started the blawg revolution

Seven lawyers who started the blawg revolution is a December 2007 posting from ABA Blog which previews 7 lawyers who started the blogging revolution (I prefer that spelling). They are:

DENISE HOWELL Bag and Baggage, Lawgarithms, Between Lawyers

THOMAS C. GOLDSTEIN SCOTUSblog

DAVID LAT Above the Law, editor-in-chief

EUGENE VOLOKH • The Volokh Conspiracy • UCLA School of Law, Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law

RICHARD A. POSNER • The Becker-Posner Blog • 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago

HOWARD BASHMAN • How Appealing •

GLENN GREENWALD • Unclaimed Territory • Salon Magazine columnist, New York City

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Blog Leads To Demise of State Judge

Judges Feel Legal Blogs' Glare is a very interesting November 28, 2007 National Law Journal article by Julie Kay. The article discusses how a blog run by the criminal defense bar in Florida lead to a Judge in Florida resigning from the bench. As the article states:

In May, Dale Ross, chief judge for the Florida circuit court in Broward County for 16 years, stepped down following a year of embarrassing scandals, gaffes and bad behavior by his judges.

Although pressure was building for Ross to resign for years, many legal observers say it would not have happened if not for the new Broward courthouse blog, JAA Blog.

That blog hammered Ross on a daily basis and reported on such incidents as a judge arrested for smoking pot in a park, another judge making an off-color sexual remark and another judge allegedly taking a loan from a defense lawyer appearing before him.

The JAA Blog was started in August 2006 by a group of criminal defense lawyers fed up with the way things were being run in the Broward courthouse. They believed that it operated like a "good ol' boys network" rather than the second-largest county court in Florida.

This article points out the power of blogging. I would expect more scrutiny of public officials in this manner as blogs become even more popular.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

The Dark Side of Blogging and Law Professor Writings

Leonard Link run by NY Law School Professor Arthur Leonard has an excellent November 17, 2007 story entitled entitled "Personal Diary: The Pains and Perils of Journalism and the Internet" which is about a painful phone call Professor Leonard received who was a party to a case he wrote about.  Professor Leonard wrote about his case 5 years ago and but for the internet, only lawyers may have discovered it. Now, if you Google this persons name you can find out that he sued his employer for sex discrimination by claiming that he was illegally fired because he was gay. As Professor Leonard explains:

    I just experienced a painful phone call that derives entirely from the recently developed phenomenon of what I call "auto-googling."  Most people with an internet presence will google their own names from time to time, mainly out of curiosity to see where they are being mentioned.  As access to the internet has become more and more widespread, this phenomenon increases... And it has, I suspect, become as much of a pain to others who have practiced journalism on-line as it has become to me.

Before the advent of the internet and blogs much of what we write about would only be accessible by legal researchers and law professors. It is easy to forget that there are real people and real lives behind what we write about. Prudent lawyers should inform their clients that if they go to court, there story is going to be public. In this day and age, that means that there story may get out.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein 

Defamation Suit Against Anonymous Blogger Dismissed

In a little noticed, but critically important Internet blogging law suit, a New York lower court recently dismissed a defamation action brought against an anonymous blogger on Google's Blog Spot. The Blogger called a School Board member a "bigot". That statement was found to be protected as opinion. Much more important, however, was the court's treatment of the anonymous blogger. As the court explained:   

The appellate courts of this State have not articulated the standards that should govern applications for the disclosure of the identities of anonymous Internet speakers. Courts elsewhere have repeatedly recognized that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in online forums anonymously or under a pseudonym, and that anonymous speech can foster the free and diverse exchange of ideas. (See e.g. Sony Music Entertainment Inc. v Does, 326 F Supp 2d 556 [US Dist Ct, SD NY 2004]; Best Western Intl., Inc. v Doe, 2006 US Dist Lexis 56014 [US Dist Ct, Ariz 2006].) The cases also recognize, however, that the right of anonymous speech is not absolute and cannot shield tortious acts such as defamation. In determining applications for the disclosure of the identities of anonymous Internet speakers, the courts therefore perform a balancing test between the interest of the plaintiff in seeking redress for grievances (in the case of defamation, protection of the plaintiff's reputation) and the First Amendment interest of the speaker in anonymity. (See e.g. Columbia Ins. Co. v Seescandy.com, 185 FRD 573, 578 [ND Cal 1999]), Dendrite Intl., Inc. v Doe, 342 NJ Super 134 [App Div 2001] ["Dendrite"]; Matter of Baxter, 2001 US Dist Lexis 26001 [WD La 2001].)

Intervenor urges that this court follow Dendrite in deciding Greenbaum's disclosure request. Dendrite requires that the anonymous Internet speakers be given notice of the application for discovery of their identities and an opportunity to be heard in opposition, and that the plaintiff specify the particular statements that are alleged to be defamatory. (342 NJ Super at 141). The court agrees with these requirements and has followed them here. Dendrite also conditions disclosure of the speakers' identities on an evidentiary showing of the merits of the plaintiff's proposed defamation cause of action. While Dendrite is persuasive authority, the court need not reach the issue of the quantum of proof that should be required on the merits because, here, the statements on which petitioner seeks to base her defamation claim are plainly inactionable as a matter of law.

The case is Matter of Greenbaum v. Google, ___Misc. 3d___ (N.Y. Co. Oct. 23, 2007).

In-House Job Blog

The dream of every overworked law firm associate is to get a job in-house. Now, there is actually a blog that lists in-house jobs. Several interesting jobs throughout the country are listed. If your in the market, it is worth checking out. The Blog is called, guess what, The In-House Blog.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein 

SCOTUS WIKI

SCOTUS, which is perhaps the best overall blog on the Net, has just launched a Wiki called SCOTUS Wiki.

However, only certain users will have permission to post. The Wiki plans to have a case index, list Supreme Court stats and Cert. Petitions to Watch.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

3rd Circuit Decides Critically Important Case Concerning Tort Liability of Bloggers And Web Site Owners

Dimeo II v. Tucker Max, No. 06-3171(3rd Cir. Sep't. 19, 2007)(n.o.r.), is an important case concerning tort liablity of web site owners and bloggers for items they do not post on their web site or blog. In this case, plaintiff sued Tucker Max who maintained a web site, www.tuckermax for comments that others made on his web site.

The 3rd Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the case under 47 U.S.C. Sec. 230, reasoning:

We agree with the District Court that DiMeo’s defamation claim is barred by 47 U.S.C. § 230. Section 230 provides, in relevant part, that “[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1) (emphases added). “No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section.” 47 U.S.C. § 230(e)(3); see also Green v. America Online, 318 F.3d 465, 471 (3d Cir. 2003) (stating that § 230 “‘precludes courts from entertaining claims that would place a computer service provider in a publisher’s role,’ and therefore bars ‘lawsuits seeking to hold a service provider liable for its exercise of a publisher’s traditional editorial functions–such as deciding whether to publish, withdraw, postpone, or alter content.’” (quoting Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327, 330 (4th Cir. 1997)).See 47 U.S.C. § 230(f)(2) (defining “interactive computer service” as “any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions”). DiMeo’s complaint alleges that Max is a publisher of the comments on the website.

Max’s website is an interactive computer service because it enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server.

Under this statute, bloggers are immune from defamation based upon postings that others have made. By extension, this should apply to statements that a co-blogger may make on the same blog-but that issue is far from clear.  I would say that in this day and age, this is an important decision. Remarkably, the Third Circuit indicated that this decision is non-precedential. Therefore, it is likely that this case will not be officially reported.

Mitchell H.Rubinstein

Checkout Brand New Workplace Separation, Discharge and Termination Law Blog

A  brand new Workplace Law Blog has just been established by New York Attorney Bryan Glass whom I know quite well. Check out his blog. I am sure it will contain helpful information. Workplace Separation, Discharge, and Termination Blog

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Top 5 Most Popular Legal Blogs This Month Ranked By Justia

New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library Blog [feed]

News and information gateway to web based services provided by the New York State Supreme Court Criminal Term Library in New York County.

Last Updated: August 10, 2007 - Rank This Month: 1

http://www.bloglines.com/blog/PLL

Above the Law [feed]

A legal tabloid that provides news and gossip about the profession's colorful personalities and powerful institutions, as well as original commentary on breaking legal developments.

Last Updated: August 11, 2007 - Rank This Month: 2

http://www.abovethelaw.com/

The Indiana Law Blog [feed]

Covers Indiana law, as well as interesting developments in law and government. By Marcia Oddi.

Last Updated: August 11, 2007 - Rank This Month: 3

http://indianalawblog.com/

Law Blog [feed]

Covers law and business and the business of law. By the Wall Street Journal.

Last Updated: August 9, 2007 - Rank This Month: 4

http://blogs.wsj.com/law

Class Action Defense Blog [feed]

Covers CAFA, class certification, employment law, FCRA, FDCPA and multidistrict litigation. Published by Michael Hassen of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP.

Last Updated: August 11, 2007 - Rank This Month: 5

http://classactiondefense.jmbm.com/

BlawgWorld 2007 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide: Free eBook

The TechnoLawyer Blog is making available for a free download a PDF file of a free e-book. The book is entitled "BlawgWorld 2007 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide " They describe their book as follows:

BlawgWorld 2007 is the best way to explore and discover legal blogs (blawgs). It features 77 remarkable essays from 77 of the most influential blawgs. Each blogger handpicked their best essay of the year for inclusion in the eBook.

The 2007 TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is a revolutionary new way to find Solutions to Problems your law firm is experiencing. Specifically, it contains 185 Problems and corresponding Solutions.

Each Problem is written in the form of a question from the point of view of a law firm and organized by topic. Topics include case management, depositions, discovery, document management, legal research, time-billing, and many more — 58 topics in all.

I do not really see the need for such a book because everything that is included can be searched for on the Internet. However, it may have some value to the paper and pencil types who still do not use computers.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Court Citation of Blogs: Updated 2007 Study

Concurring Opinions has an excellent posting about their 2007 citation study of blogs. An intern followed up on a 2006 citation study from Ian Best, formerly of this Network's Law Blog Metrics blog.  Concurring Opinions concluded that blogs were cited 16 different times in court opinions. Those blogs, together with the number of cites in court opinions, are as follows: 

Total Citations
Sentencing Law 7
Bainbridge 3
Ribstein 2
Prawfs 1
Chiappinelli 1
Federal Defenders 1
Crime and Federalism 1

As blogging continues to increase, one can expect that courts and law review commentators will cite to them in increasing numbers.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Law (Professor) Blog Ranking

Concurring Opinions just completed a ranking study of the top 40 law professor blogs by traffic. There top law professor blogs are as follows:

Blog	Hits	Rank
Volokh Conspiracy	23,084	18
Althouse	12,204	153
Sentencing Law and Policy	4,066	2,164
Balkinization	3,727	781
Tax Prof Blog	3,619	3,298
Concurring Opinions	2,737	2,708
Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports	1,826	9,823
Prawfsblawg	1,785	2,799
Professor Bainbridge	1,683	94
Sports Law Blog	1,107	5,548
Discourse.net	1,062	2,875
White Collar Crime Prof	1,013	9,034
Conglomerate	871	3,268
Opinio Juris	839	16,066
Is That Legal?	699	2,770
WorkPlace Prof	673	9,972
Chicago Law Faculty Blog	619	5,991
The Right Coast	565	10,784
IdeoBlog	534	6,552
CrimProf Blog	512	8,857
ImmigrationProf Blog	453	8,142
Wills, Trusts, and Estates Prof	445	25,058
Election Law	389	4,586
MoneyLaw	351	12,955
Jurisdynamics	349	12,943
Ratio Juris	348	33,169
Empirical Legal Studies Blog	323	2,224
Religion Clause	298	10,274
Contracts Prof	294	20,849
Family Law Prof	294	28,835
Legal History Blog	271	16,579
Legal Profession Blog	233	17,391
Int’l Law and Economics Policy Blog	200	24,350
Sex Crimes	199	12,459
Truth on the Market	192	10,114
CrimLaw	159	6,155
PropertyProf	148	23,140
Madisonian	143	9,969
Antitrust Review	131	19,096
Mauled Again

Perhaps one day, Adjunct Law Prof Blog will appear on this list.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Keeping Abreast of New Developments

When I was a young associate at a large NYC law firm I was taught that it was important to keep current by reading advance sheets. Today, the internet and certain web blogs provide an excellent opportunity for the attorney/law professor to remain current. The problem is the controlling the amount of information and choosing which sites to regularly visit. Which sites you regularly visit (and we hope ours will be one of them) very much depends upon your practice area and which state you practice in. I hail from New York, practice labor, employment and education law so my favorite web sites and blogs are going to lean in that direction. For professors and students looking for law review topics, these sites are also excellent reference material. My favorites are:

1. Cornell Law School LiiBulletin (sends out email summarizing all Supreme Court cases)

2. Workplace Prof Blog (regularly reports on new scholarship and important cases in field of labor, employment and employee benefits law)

3. New York Personnel Law Blog (summarizes important New York public sector employment law cases as federal employment cases)

4. New York Law Journal (Official Newspaper which reports on important New York cases)

5. New York Slip Opinion Service (Provides full text copies of all appellate and selected trial level court decisions in New York)

6. Law Blog Metrics (Provides a long taxonomy of legal blogs arranged by category)

7. Special Education Law Blog (provides summary of important developments in field of special education)

8. Professor Ross Runkel's Law Memo (provides summary of important cases in labor and employment law and summarizes all pending U.S. Supreme Court cases and provides links to Court briefs)

I can go on, but it defeats the purpose to provide too many.

Mitch Rubinstein