Eugene Volokh of The Volokh Conspiracy [LexBlog Q & A]
A mid-week LexBlog Q&A today features a special guest of notable prominence in the legal blogging community: Eugene Volokh, the UCLA School of Law professor who founded the successful blog The Volokh Conspiracy. He currently also blogs at The Huffington Post.
Though briefer than our usual posts, the e-mail interview below offers a glimpse into the mind of a man who has helped bring legal blogs to the mainstream.
1. Rob La Gatta: The Volokh Conspiracy now has almost 20 authors, making it one of the most heavily staffed legal blogs. Do you maintain some sort of editorial control over the other authors, or do you give them free reign to publish as they see fit?
Eugene Volokh: I give them free rein – it’s easier for everyone.
2. Rob La Gatta: For a while now, you’ve been blogging over at the Huffington Post, which Kevin has described as a prime example of new media legal publishing. Do you believe that legal publishing will continue to evolve following a Huffington-like model, or will it take some other path?
Eugene Volokh: I’m not sure what “a Huffington-like model” is, and what exactly “legal publishing” is supposed to cover. But group blogs are a good model for readers who like a steady stream of interesting comments on a wide range of issues.
3. Rob La Gatta: The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has called you “one of the undisputed kings of the blawgosphere.” At what point in your blogging career did you realize you had achieved such a prestigious title, and what do you think was the most important factor in getting you there?
Eugene Volokh: I can’t say we merit the title, but I am happy that we’ve got a lot of readers, and tend to get a good many links. Why? My guess: We’ve been around for a long time; we have people who are expert on interesting topics; we post a good deal of stuff on those topics; and most of our posts are accessible and interesting to laypeople as well as lawyers.
4. Rob La Gatta: On top of all the other stuff you’ve got going on in your life, how do you find time to blog? Do you set aside a certain amount of time per week, or is it just whenever you’ve got a free minute?
Eugene Volokh: I blog whenever I have time plus the inclination. If I have enough of an inclination, I make time. I see blogging as part of my mission as a professor, much like other professors might see writing op-eds or newspaper columns as part of their mission. It’s just that blogging is more flexible, more fun, and less scutwork than op-eds or columns.
5. Rob La Gatta: If you were to offer one important bit of blogging advice to a lawyer just starting his or her first blog, what would you tell them and why?
Eugene Volokh: Find something on which you are really expert, and which no-one else is covering. Then post frequently about it – enlist cobloggers if you need to – and when you write a post that you think some of the high-traffic bloggers (e.g., InstaPundit) might find interesting, e-mail them messages containing both the permalink to the post and the full text of the post, so they can quickly skim it and see whether it’s worth linking to.
Interested in hearing more? Recent LexBlog Q & A posts:
- Dan Clement [1.22.08]
- Eric Goldman [1.17.08]
- Tom Kane [1.16.08]
- Shel Israel [1.15.08]
- Cliff Mintz [1.14.08]
Or, see our full list of legal blog interviews.