Thomas Withers of Federal Criminal Defense Blog: LexBlog Q&A
One way to tackle the common issue of making time for blogging is to attack it from two sides — that is, with two lawyers blogging.
That's what Georgia criminal defense attorneys Tom Withers and Anthony Lake do at the Federal Criminal Defense Blog. The duo blogs almost every day, and sometimes multiple times a day, like today's three blog posts.
"There's two of us, so that makes it easier," Tom says. "Days when I'm out of the office or busy, Anthony can post, and vice versa. We try and coordinate it. But there's no magic to it. I enjoy it, frankly, and I think Anthony does as well."
Both attorneys enjoy following other blogs — Tom calls it "part of my daily existence" — so coming up with blog post topics is rarely a struggle.
We reached out to Tom for this LexBlog Q&A to discuss his tandem blogging approach and the feedback he's received from other attorneys on the blog.
See our e-mail exchange with Tom (after the jump).
Lisa Kennelly: Why did you decide to start a blog?
Tom Withers: I was spending an awful lot of time reading blogs and my good friend, David Markus, from Miami had his own blog related to the Southern District of Florida, so I decided to give it a try.
Lisa Kennelly: What is most rewarding about blogging?
Tom Withers: Bringing news to the people and the readers that I think has a pretty sophisticated view of the legal issues related to federal criminal defense. Being a criminal defense attorney can be a challenging and difficult job, so bringing a view of cases and some sample pleadings to the regular practitioner gives me some hope that we can make that difficult job easier and more rewarding.
Lisa Kennelly: What is most challenging?
Tom Withers: Again, this is a challenging and difficult profession. Being able to bring some assistance to those in the front lines of the everyday practice of criminal defense gives a glimmer of hope to blogging.
Lisa Kennelly: What has been the response to your blog from clients, other lawyers, bloggers, or anyone else?
Tom Withers: I’ve had several attorneys comment that they enjoy reading our blog and that gives me great satisfaction.
I recently did a post on [Miami trial attorney] Roy Black and asked him questions about the Helio Castroneves case. I got a lot of positive feedback from that, he liked the way we had practice tips in our blog. That was nice to hear from an attorney of that caliber.
Lisa Kennelly: What do you do when you get "writer's block" and how do you get inspired for your blog posts?
Tom Withers: I don’t know about writer’s block – the biggest impediment to blogging, quite frankly, is the crush of the everyday practice of law. I enjoy reading other blog posts, it is now part of my daily existence, so I simply read newspapers and other blog posts to get my “creative” ideas for blogging.
Lisa Kennelly: How do you coordinate blog posts when you have a co-blogger and what are the benefits and challenges of having multiple authors on a blog?
Tom Withers: My co-blogger is Anthony Lake, my law partner, who is an exceptionally skilled blogger and an extremely nice person. We simply coordinate daily on who is going to post what. We both enjoy the blogosphere.
There's two of us, so that makes it easier. Days when I'm out of the office or busy, Anthony can post, and vice versa. We try and coordinate it. But there's no magic to it. I enjoy it, frankly, and I think Anthony does as well.
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