The Time Blawg – Two Years On (Part 2: Blawging)

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On 1 January 2011, The Time Blawg materialised.

One year ago I looked back at the first year of The Time Blawg – One Year On.

Two days ago I looked back at what went on during the second year of The Time Blawg with specific reference to Social Media and give my thoughts on what 2013 has in store for social media and lawyers: The Time Blawg – Two years On (Part 1: Social Media). Today I will do the same but with specific reference to Blawging. Part 3 will follow on the topic of Legal Technology and Part 4 on what might be left.

Very early in 2012 Flawging lawyers came out of their Chambers. I had blogged a lot about flawging in 2011 but there seems to have been less commotion around this subject in 2012. Perhaps it has been well and truly flawged 😉

In February I highlighted What Blawgers can learn from Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The bottom line is if you want clients to read your blawg don’t be boring, turgid and bombastic like Sherlock Holmes but produce great content which is of interest to potential clients as Dr Watson does.

In May I decided to start a new project on The Time Blawg: Travels through the Blawgosphere: A New Series Materialises. The idea was to have an occasional review of blawg posts that had taken my interest. I started with Travels through the Blawgosphere #1 (Innovation in Law). So far #2 has not materialised but hopefully it will in 2013!

In that first review I looked at a few blog posts on Innovation in Law including one on Stephen Allen’s LexFuturus Blawg. This had fast become one of my favourite blawgs of 2012 with regular incisive posts on the state of legal practice laced with a good dose of wit. But, unfortunately, on 1 July Stephen decided to call it a day. Taking a look at The Big Picture Stephen realised that time is better spent with those he loves. It would, however, still be nice to see the occasional blawg post from Stephen. A blawg/life balance may be difficult at times to find especially if you do blawg daily or several times a week. The key is to do it when it takes your fancy and you have the time to do it. You don’t have to blawg daily anymore than you have to tweet daily. My comments on Why lawyers can take breaks from Twitter apply equally to taking breaks from blawging.

In February Scott Greenfield, another prolific Blawger, appeared to call it a day after 5 Years of blawging at Simple Justice. An uproar in the blawgosphere ensued. I don’t think that made Scott return but I reckon he simply liked blawging too much and missed it. After a short break he was back blawging as often as he used to. The blawgosphere is much richer as  a result.

Another Blawg that started in 2012 that caught my eye was Base Drones by Malcolm Combe. This blawg is of particular interest to me as it looks at Rural Land Law in Scotland and includes crofting law posts (not many blawgs out there that do that!).

Two years ago I predicted that UK blawging was just about to mushroom. Last year I accepted that it had not mushroomed as such:-

Some new blawgs may have arrived but on the whole the old stalwarts kept law blogging going in 2011.

The same was probably true of 2012. Mentioning old stalwarts brings Charon QC to mind. He is keeping blawging alive and kicking by taking it around the country with his UK law tour (in a jag rouge). I am looking forward to his arrival in Scotland in 2013.

In May 2012 Charon QC did a bumper UK Blawg RoundUp in 4 parts. The latest (Christmas) edition of UK Blawg RoundUp is by Michelle Hynes: UKBlawg Roundup 12 – Christmas Edition: There once was a Lady who lived in a Shoe. Do keep an eye out for the quarterly UK Blawg RoundUps (initiated and curated by Michael Scutt) as they are a great resource on UK law blogs.

The Future of Blawging

So what does 2013 have in store for Blawging? I predict nothing major. There will be no blawging mushroom. Scott Greenfield and Charon QC will still be at their posts (but with Charon QC touring in his Jag). New blawgers will come and go. Some old stalwarts may retire and some slightly younger ones will step into their shoes.

Law firms that get into blawging in 2013 will, I predict, on the whole produce fairly uninspired material. Content but not necessarily Valuable Content. For law firms in need of inspiration I would point them, as I normally do, in the direction of a couple of other blawging stalwarts: Tessa Shepperson and Paul Hajek both of whom know what works when it comes to blawging and business development. Check out the Landlord Law Blog and the Clutton Cox Blogs.