Lawyers blogging from courtrooms

If Montana lawmakers can blog from their laptops during House and Senate sessions, why not American lawyers from courtrooms.

I was a trial lawyer for 17 years. You would be amazed by how much time is wasted by lawyers waiting for hearings. It can be hours at a time.

What could you blog about?

• Issues being heard in court – great legal education for the public and demonstration of your expertise. This would work especially well for courts that have a motion or status calendar by area of the law, i.e., criminal, family law, or probate calendar. Blog about the issues being addressed and how the judge is ruling.
• Matters you are working on. Not in the sense of breaching confidences or blowing strategy. Share the issue that brings you to court and the import that has for a client in that situation. Blog about other issues you’ve been working on and how they are addressed.
• If you’re already blogging, use the time for blogging on topics you already blog about. Mention that you’re in court. This makes you an expert in the eyes of the public – you walk the talk.

Think I’m nuts? I could see Jamie Spencer or Grant Griffiths doing this in a heartbeat. They’d only become more of source for the local media and get more clients as a result of their blogs than they already do.

And imagine Scoble being a lawyer (sure that’s tough). Think he’d be making idle talk waiting for an hour in the back of the courtroom. Heck, he’d probably have a video camera rolling.