It is with some trepidation that I am launching this blog. I've had friends and colleagues ask me in the past why I didn't have a blog. I understand why they ask. I enjoy writing on topics at the intersection of law and technology and I occasionally contribute to on-line media, such as the Technolawyer Community. My response generally has been: (1) how would I find the time and (2) what do I have to say that is sufficiently new and useful to bother spending the time if I had it?
My job requires much more than a full-time committment and any time spent on a professional blog feels like I'm stealing time from my family. But I am lucky in that I have quite a bit of control over my schedule. Also, there are other activities that I can cut back on if I really want to work on a blog without decreasing quality family time (attending fewer vendor webinars comes to mind). So, has really kept me from jumping on the blogging bandwagon is that I didn't feel there was a topic on which I could contribute novel and useful content to an audience of legal, paralegal, and litigation support professionals. For me, the only reason to jump into the time sink that is blogging is to discuss something that matters in my life and hopefully attract people with expertise or interest in the topic, so we can share information, float new ideas, and grow from the exchange. At various times over the past few years I have considered starting a blog focused on either electronic discovery or legal outsourcing.
Legal outsourcing was a more promising option. There are only a handful of blogs on the topic with quality content and many of those are vendor blogs. But confidentiality issues and common sense prevent me from blogging about my work. Therefore, any blog that I would write on legal outsourcing would become little more than a regurgitation of other people's content or my spin-doctored take on the latest research and news related to legal outsourcing. That sounds about as enjoyable as writing press releases. No thanks. If I felt that a company blog were necessary, I'd hire a PR professional to write it.
Another topic that I've spent a lot of time thinking about over the last few years, which touches upon the two mentioned above, is "legal project management." I give trainings on the subject and oversee a group of project managers; primarily for large, international discovery projects. There is very little information on project management that is targeted to lawyers, paralegals, and litigation support professionals. The legal industry is conspicuous in its absence from most research, writing, and discussion related to project management. The Project Management Institute doesn't have a specific interest group for law or litigation. Similarly, while the ABA and other bar organization may have practice management sections, most lawyers have little to no training in project management.
I started a Linked In group to help fill that void, but participation has been dissapointing. I think most people find it easier to react to material than to generate it themselves. It is often easier to jump-start discussions if you tie them to a specific topic or opinion piece. My hope is that the opinions, tips, and links shared on this blog will help generate much-needed discussion on the role of project management in law firms, corporate legal departments, and the vendors who service them.
My job requires much more than a full-time committment and any time spent on a professional blog feels like I'm stealing time from my family. But I am lucky in that I have quite a bit of control over my schedule. Also, there are other activities that I can cut back on if I really want to work on a blog without decreasing quality family time (attending fewer vendor webinars comes to mind). So, has really kept me from jumping on the blogging bandwagon is that I didn't feel there was a topic on which I could contribute novel and useful content to an audience of legal, paralegal, and litigation support professionals. For me, the only reason to jump into the time sink that is blogging is to discuss something that matters in my life and hopefully attract people with expertise or interest in the topic, so we can share information, float new ideas, and grow from the exchange. At various times over the past few years I have considered starting a blog focused on either electronic discovery or legal outsourcing.
Electronic discovery is an over crowded field in the blogosphere. There are a number of high quality blogs on the topic. I currently subscribe to 20 of them (on top of e-mail alerts and treatise updates). I don't see that there is much more I can add to the content created or aggregated by such wonderful blogs as Ralph Losey's "E-Discovery Team," K & L Gates' "Electronic Discovery Law," and Gabe Acevedo's "Gabe's Guide to the E-Discovery Universe," to name but a few. My experiences managing document collections and reviews in India, Taiwan, and China might provide a new twist, but how many blog posts can one write on the problems caused by legacy CJK character encodings and the difficulties explaining the concept of "electronic discovery" to Taiwanese and Chinese lawyers. (Answer: two.)
Legal outsourcing was a more promising option. There are only a handful of blogs on the topic with quality content and many of those are vendor blogs. But confidentiality issues and common sense prevent me from blogging about my work. Therefore, any blog that I would write on legal outsourcing would become little more than a regurgitation of other people's content or my spin-doctored take on the latest research and news related to legal outsourcing. That sounds about as enjoyable as writing press releases. No thanks. If I felt that a company blog were necessary, I'd hire a PR professional to write it.
Another topic that I've spent a lot of time thinking about over the last few years, which touches upon the two mentioned above, is "legal project management." I give trainings on the subject and oversee a group of project managers; primarily for large, international discovery projects. There is very little information on project management that is targeted to lawyers, paralegals, and litigation support professionals. The legal industry is conspicuous in its absence from most research, writing, and discussion related to project management. The Project Management Institute doesn't have a specific interest group for law or litigation. Similarly, while the ABA and other bar organization may have practice management sections, most lawyers have little to no training in project management.
I started a Linked In group to help fill that void, but participation has been dissapointing. I think most people find it easier to react to material than to generate it themselves. It is often easier to jump-start discussions if you tie them to a specific topic or opinion piece. My hope is that the opinions, tips, and links shared on this blog will help generate much-needed discussion on the role of project management in law firms, corporate legal departments, and the vendors who service them.
If nothing else, it will help me collect and develop my thoughts and notes on the subject.
Leave a comment