Legal blogging group highlights for September 24 – 30, 2010

The Legal Blogging Group is now 4,472 members strong. Here are the highlights from the past week.

A London-based legal marketer asked: Laptop or iPad? Perhaps legal bloggers are just early adopters: the iPad received overwhelming– yet fair– support.

A Barcelona-based attorney replied, "for a Lawyer, as me, I think the iPad just is useful to take the place of the paper files in a trial."

A San Antonio, TX attorney shared her experience. "I just got an iPad 2 weeks ago. I used it at a 3day CLE conference instead of my laptop – loved it! I’ll never lug my laptop to a conference again. The 1 downside: conference materials were handed out on a flash drive – I had to email these to my acct and open on my iPad."

A San Francisco Business Litigation Attorney gave his thoughts:

With iPad you can: research cases with FastCase, pick a jury with iJuror, link to your desktop with LogMeIn, print wirelessly with Print n Share, among other things, with more style and less bulk than laptop.

I am linked to my office Microsoft PC (Vista) via LogMeIn. I have used the iPad while in trial and get a full day’s use (and then re-charge each night). Use is extremely intuitive, mouse-free environment.

However, the group allowed that iPad is not without drawbacks. As a legal IT worker noted, "The one missing piece I see today is document comparison/black line/red line, etc." Another attorney worried about the learning curve switching from Windows to Mac, while the Business Litigation Attorney mentioned above said that "the less than full size "virtual" keyboard probably slows down typing input, if you are a skilled touch typist."

Before you run to the nearest Apple store to pick up one of these touted tablets, you might want to consider the following: according to one technology consultant, "There is a Blackberry pad coming out shortly. It does seem to have some interesting functionality… Assuming it is priced competitively it may fit in to your existing infrastructure better than the iPad."

Moving on. Those of us who read attorney bios on a daily basis (as my colleagues at Lexblog and I do) know that adding a bit of personal information sets a bio apart from its peers. The Great Jakes Blog asks, How personal is too personal? The author notes that "in the Facebook age — as more business is done long distance — relationships will be built online;" therefore, a well-crafted bio on a blog or website becomes essential. A Christchurch, New Zealand attorney shares a professional way to humanize a bio:

…one area where law firms can and should emphasise the personal is their work in the local community, both on a firm wide level and an individual level. Whether individual lawyers or law firms work pro bono, help in literacy programmes or help the homeless, a low key celebration of that fact helps to convey to the public that lawyers are not all solely money focused.

Finally, a legal marketer (and prolific blogger) lists the steps he takes when writing a post. He asks, "What’s your positing process?" and I hope members will take the opportunity to comment.

Want to share your thoughts? Join the conversation at LinkedIn.