LawFont.com

Legal blogs get a mention in today’s Australian Financial Review Legal Affairs section (sorry, registration/subscription required) in the intriguingly titled ‘Superhotties and divas: the blogs rule‘. LawFont gets a specific mention (yay!).

Oh, and we here at LawFont are not the ‘superhotties’ nor the ‘divas’ referred to; nor are the bloggers on the other sites mentioned: Quantum Meruit, and Inchoate (sorry, guys!). Rather, that headline refers to Justice Kirby (‘superhottie of the first order’) and Justice Crennan (‘diva’) (quoting judgments from the famous, or infamous law blog in the US, ‘Underneath their Robes’).

It’s a shame, though, that the only focus of the article is on the ‘gossip’ aspect of legal blogs (or blawgs). The focus of the story told is those legal blogs that are that little bit gossipy or outrageous (like Underneath Their Robes).

But that’s only a small proportion of blawgs, and not the ones that I read most of the time, which are the ones focusing on legal commentary, update, and analysis (though of course with personality, I hope!). There’s less of them in Australia (though LawFont is one, and my alter ego blog Weatherall’s Law is another). But if you look at my ‘regular read’ list, what you’ll find is a whole lot of blogs that talk, in an informed way, about cases and other legal developments. Think IPKat, Michael Geist, Patently-O, the Trademark Blog. The benefit of these blogs I think is that they provide up to date news and analysis – which can be particularly important in fast-moving areas. Academic journals and even bulletins (not to mention texts) are inevitably slower (though of course, more considered).

There’s a lot more, in other words, to blogging, or blawging, than the AFR article would suggest. Still, it is Friday. I guess we’re allowed to be frivolous.