A recent WordPress theme update forced me to do a massive manual update of the 2,000+ posts on this blog.
Although layout and coding changes always threaten to mangle the appearance of my old posts, the bulk of the content remains, thankfully.
My semi-annual dive into my archives was sobering, with all of the usual angst regarding whether my best years are behind me.
I also noticed that many of the blogs that I used to read have gone silent or disappeared altogether.
I’m not going to rewrite Frank Chimero’s seminal Homesteading Blog, but I will state the obvious – personal blogs, particular law blogs, tend to have a very short lifespan.
There are always the usual concerns about a potential employer (or opposing counsel) finding your blog, but there is something else at work here – Facebook.
I somehow feel the need to write this post once a season, usually after a lawyer messages me regarding a bikini picture on this site.
My full post about branding and this blog is here, but I can be concise, I hope…
Most blog readers are familiar with mommy bloggers like Heather Armstrong, Ree Drummond, and Maggie Mason, but for some reason the legal and advertising industries are uncomfortable with real personal blogs written by law students and marketers.
Professionals expect law student blogs to either be poorly disguised resumes or anonymous blogspot accounts that strictly focus on the law school experience.
Blogs by advertisers are supposed to regurgitate Mashable’s biggest stories with the occasional foodie or knitting post. These bloggers need to appear hip, techy, and yuppie… in an urban outfitters outlet sort of way…
Dress appropriately – first impressions are important
Check the hormones – this isn’t a Maury episode.
Check the ego – it’s likely that you’re not the smartest cookie in the room anymore.
Don’t overshare – you’re not on Dr. Phil
Hold the hooch – this is professional school, not a Pitbull video.
And some advice for the new law school blawgers1 out there:
5 ways to stay out of trouble:
1. Use nicknames and composites
Give your professors and peers some privacy or Google’s cache will come back to haunt you.
We don’t really need to know that your Torts professor is named Professor Palsgraff. Professor Palsgraff is probably a nice person, but your impression of him and his teaching style may change during the semester, and your blog will still pop up under a search for “Professor Palsgraff” long after you’ve edited your entries or even after the entire blog is deleted.
There’s also a difference between writing “Professor Tort’s class is boring” and “Professor Palsgraff’s class is boring.” One statement is your opinion about a class, whereas the other statement can be viewed as your opinion about a professor – and although everyone from your school will know that “Professor Torts” is “Professor Palsgraff,” the difference is the level of respect and professionalism you show by omitting his name.
This goes double for peers. Your classmates are more likely to read your blog than your professors2 and more likely to stir up controversy. A simple way to avoid drammy is to pick 2-3 random names to use for composite characters.
This way you are writing about what happened without writing about a specific person. This avoids anyone from getting their feelings hurt and achieves the privacy and respect essential for maintaining a blawg while still passing the character fitness test for the bar.
Remember that a law student blogging about other law students and professors is really a future attorney writing about other future attorneys and actual attorneys. The less often you offend your peers, the easier your professional life is going to be.
You will have at least one annoying person in your section. I promise. You will be amazed how such a smart person can say and do such incredibly obnoxious things.
You will be offended, bitter, tired, and cranky at least once during your 1L year. I promise this as well. This the day when The Annoying will pop up and do something to really grill your cheese. And you will be upset, but that doesn’t mean you should blog about it.
The way to deal with The Annoying is to ignore them. An annoying person is sort of like a fart: it’s disruptive, embarrassing, and unpleasant, but no amount of bitching is going to make the smell go away any faster.
Bitching about someone in a blog post or to a law school friend is not going to make the situation any better and will only prolong your negative state.
So when someone is annoying: smile, ignore it, and let it go.
Example—Last year I wrote about the crazy section that I had Criminal law with. (At my school we have double-section classes).
And let me be clear: that section was filled with loons.
But towards the end of the school year the blog got an unexpected bit of publicity, and some people from that section read about my section’sless-than-stellar opinion about them. Random students from the other section then plotted to purposefully piss me off just so I would blog about them.
Now, their plans were foiled because they discovered my blog on the last day of school, but it would have been a rough semester if they caught on earlier.
The point: Ignore The Annoying, and avoid the drama in advance.
3. Bitch not about thy burden.
One of the rare times that I hung out with my section-mates last year was one day in between classes.
Several of us had to finish the reading for the upcoming class, but we couldn’t get any reading done because one of our section-mates sat at the table for 40 minutes and whined about how much he hated the class, the professor, and life.
The nice thing about law school is that your peers are going through a similar experience. Sure, there’s always going to be the rich kid with a job offer and the ivy league law school prep courses, but the majority of law students are going through the same stresses and pressures as you.4
You are not alone.
But just because you’re not alone does not mean that your peers or blog readers will indulge your whining.
I think what separates those who enjoy their first year and those who are miserable is attitude. You can choose to get things done, or to wallow and waste time. Sure, some people will suffer mental health issues and need help, but others will simply worry themselves in an unnecessary and counterproductive way.
Walking around offended – by your peers, workload, lack of sleep, or Lindsay Lohan – is not going to do anything for you besides increase your stress and ruin your health.
And trust me, the self-pitying blog posts, tweets, facebook status updates, and in-person bitching is not going to help you feel better because it is hard to feel good when you’re dwelling on how much things suck.
Don’t let your blog become place that reinforces negativity. Try to write critical rather than negative posts. Instead of vague complaints, think about what you’re really trying to say, and ask yourself if it’s worth posting.
4. Think Kylie, not Gaga.
There are multiple ways of delivering the same message. You can be fun and provocative without being vulgar.
Most law schools and employers will understand that a personal blog is a non-professional thing (as opposed to unprofessional) but that doesn’t mean you can unleash the crazy.
The litmus test: Would you be mortified if your law school’s dean read your post?
Note, the test is not “would you email this to the dean?” – I wouldn’t send an email about my dog’s bowel problems to anyone – but I also wouldn’t care if people read it. That’s the difference.
5. Keep it real.
Law students aren’t stupid. While no one wants to read posts that are negative or angst filled, we also don’t care to read sugar-coated posts written with an eye towards employers.
The “I love everyone, always” bit comes across as real and graceful as answer from Ms. Teen South Carolina:
If you are fake, then the best case scenario is that your classmates will think you are dull. The worst case scenario is that they’ll suspect you are insincere and well, stupid.5
And remember to blog about your experience. Orientation can be a blur, and it’s definitely something you’ll want to remember. If you are worried about your peers or finding time to spell check, simply write your post in outline format and save it as a draft. The point is to preserve the memories, not the published post itself.
You can clean it up and publish it later if you want.
1 Who I have been impressed with by the way. 2 And professors will read too by the way… 3 Chris Rocker also has a variation on the theme: “Keep it cute or put it on mute.” 4 There are law students who excel in law school while raising families. And although they possess super-powers, I guarantee you they spend more time being productive than stewing in their own misery 5 At least the US Americans…
The best part of having a blog is the journaling effect. My blog is a type of scrapbook/diary. I blog about what happens to me so I can remember these stories later and share them with others (ie the big semester reviews here and here.) Journaling is a cumulative thing – what seems inane today might turn out to be an important part of a bigger story.
I learned this in undergrad when I became a Resident Assistant for a freshman floor.
I wrote:
I seriously have the coolest guys on my floor. I think I lucked out. I’m really proud of them and so grateful that I got the best guys in Hecht. Everyone is interesting, they get along with each other, they are wild but not in a bad way, we don’t have that many serious writeups, and I think they’ve realized that I’m not an asshole.
A few weeks later there was a huge football game and I wrote up over half of the guys on the floor for drinking. That started a year-long feud with some of the freshmen that culminated in them throwing a mixture of poop, urine, and beer down the hallway towards my dorm room. The best part about that was that the floors in the dormitory were not level, so all of the nast flowed into the room next to mine.1
Fail bratty freshmen…fail.
But at one point I really felt that I had the coolest residents in the world and you couldn’t have told me anything different. If I didn’t record those feelings I certainly wouldn’t have remembered them. That’s the journal effect, and I think it’s important.
2. Actually “Keeping in touch”
When I tell someone that I will “keep in touch” I mean it. My blog allows me to keep in touch with relatives, friends, and former classmates. People don’t feel like I “disappeared off to law school” and I don’t have to have those epic catch-up phone calls anymore. The blog lets people read up on me on their own time, and allows acquaintances to stay in contact without that awkward stalking-feeling that comes with looking at someone’s facebook wall…
3. Connecting with Classmates
The blog is a convenient way to get to know my classmates, especially those from other sections. What usually happens is that a classmate stumbles across the blog, reads it for a while, and then starts commenting or strikes up a conversation2 at school. Some of my classmates vicariously experience the journaling benefits of the blog because they are reminded about all the funny stuff that happens to us at school, like The Crash or When Jill Became “That Girl.”
4. Managing my Web Presence
Managing your own web presence is crucial. Maintaining a blog helps check rumors and misperceptions and allows people to have a reliable source of information about you. Sure, some of my professors are mortified that I post about going to gay clubs, getting shot, and my run-ins with the neighborhood druggies. I hear this all the time: Professor: “Your blog! Gasp, what if a prestigious employer read these things? You’re ruining your career!”
Am I? My theory is that any employer (professor, classmate, etc.) will quickly realize that I’m the drug-free, designated driver type who mostly blogs about school and his dog. There’s a difference between writing about the remmidemmi and being a part of it. Besides, if an employer is completely scandalized by this meek little blog then I probably wouldn’t be a good fit at that firm anyway.
5. The Community
Yes, there’s an amazing community of law school bloggers. I have a good chunk of them linked on the page. It’s always interesting to read about people going through the experience at different schools. I think it informs and enriches the law school experience to read student blogs. As a single male, I definitely think about all the female law students raising children (such as her, her, her, her, and more…) before I ever dare bitch about being busy in law school. I’m sure that I wouldn’t have this perspective but for blogging. And remember your community is not limited to law students: cool undergrads, reporters, political columnists, and yes even amazing local bands all have blogs.
Those are my reasons for blogging. I think it’s time more people join in on the conversation, and start blogging.
1 I’m not starting the “the dorms at UMiami are unruly chaos” rant but lets just say it’s hard to get punished for anything really… 2 Sure, there are people from other sections that read the blog and never comment, but I prefer people to know more about me than
There is a very interesting bit of legal investigative journalism over at Karasma Media.
The gist: There’s a very active twitter account called hklaw that is actually part of an online smear campaign1 against the Chicago-based law firm, Holland & Knight.
Hklaw has followed my twitter account, and I suspect it adds all of the lawyers and law students it can find.
The Hklaw twitter account and associated blawgs dominate the online conversation about Holland & Knight, and it’s all negative. Kara Smith has hopefully put a stop to this by emailing the marketing department at Holland & Knight.
But I wonder if it’s too late. If the H&K marketing department was unaware of this then they probably are too technologically behind to fix it.
Hklaw was my first exposure to the law firm. I wonder if that’s true for others.
Kara Smith drives the point home:
“Legal marketers, if you are not at the forefront of your online conversation someone else is going to be. I can not stress this enough. Obviously, now is not the time to be cutting back on your firm’s social media budget and be caught with your guard down. Law firms, if you’ve been skeptically sitting back on your heels waiting for evidence to prove social media’s viability for the legal industry, the jury’s verdict has just come in.”
Read Smith’s full post here.
So, besides getting horribly lost while driving… Momversation is the procrastination tool of choice today.
No, I’m not expecting a baby or anything. It’s just the entertainment that is Dooce & friends.
One of the topics discussed is ‘real friends vs. online friends.’ I think it’s fairly pertinent to the blawg world, especially since I’m now facebook friends with several blawgers.
Here are some of the old posts by law student bloggers that I’ve found amusing and/or helpful. I’ve probably missed a lot of great posts – please link me to some of your favorite oldies.
Update: Here are the submissions:
Take up smoking. If you’re already a smoker, take up heroin. If you’re already addicted to heroin, just freebase the UCC. – Tort of Cockblocking: Advice for 1L’s
A Brief Taxonomy of Classroom Participation Strategies: Playing Possum – For gunners finding it particularly hard to get called on, feigned distraction and boredom can often provoke the desired response. Pretend to be asleep, or obsessed with your navel, or masturbating in class, and more often than not the professor will call on you, thinking you easy prey. Make him regret it. – Buffalo Wings & Vodka
I know that warm, musky space between professors’ ass cheeks is your natural habitat, but the class is blind graded; you’re not doing yourself any favors by kissing up, you’re just pissing off your classmates.- Law Bitches: Tips for 2L’s
Prof. Son of a Bitch: “If a Jehovah’s Witness comes to my door, do I infringe his free speech rights if I say ‘get the hell off my property, I don’t need to go to heaven’?” – The War Against All: Professor Son of A Bitch
Law school is no harder than any other school. The thing that makes law school worse than other school (note: NOT harder) is that it requires you to be one hundred times more organized if you want to keep your head above water. While some things in law school are relatively easy to bullshit, you can’t bullshit your exam. And to be able to NOT bullshit your exams, you have to be organized all semester. – Divine Angst: things I wished I’d known LAST YEAR
Law school is bullshit. It’s like being back in high school, only with a lot bigger egos and a lot more alcohol involved. The Barristers Ball? It’s fucking prom. If I have to listen to one more bitch describe her damn dress to me, I’m chopping her up into pieces and stuffing her in my locker. Bar Review? No one fucking goes. It’s not that law students don’t drink. It’s just that we are all closet alcoholics. Apparently it is not socially acceptable to be drinking from a flask in the middle of Con Law. Nor is it socially acceptable to go to bar review, order a pitcher of beer and then drink it all – directly from the pitcher. At least I’m getting smarter: everyone that sits around me just thinks I drink a lot of coffee, no one knows that it is just straight gin in my travel coffee mug every morning. – Law Bitches: Diary of a 1L
Torts prof: There is a limit to what the human liver can process. I think its like 200 times your body weight in alcohol…
1L: Fortunately, the more you drink, the more you weigh so…
Torts prof: Yeah, but there comes a point where it has to yell out: I’m your liver. I quit. Butterflyfish
On Anonymous Blogging: 1. It doesn’t work anyway. As I said, most professional (or school) bloggers move within a world circumscribed by a very limited number of real-world walls. This means your anonymity is inversely proportional to the actual value of figuring out who you are. 3 years of hell
Too chicken shit to bring this directly to me, little boy? Are you all so frightened by my words that you cower in your little blogs and pretend to be all powerful? Boy in Suit: Drama
Ok. I just got ass raped. That’s right, raped, right up the ass. Who raped me, you ask? Why none other than the college bookstore. Naked Drinking Coffee