Things Lawyers Learned from Jury Service

The ABA Journal’s eReport asked lawyers "What was the most surprising thing you learned from serving on a jury?" You can read some of the editors’ favorite answers in Answers of the Week. Thanks to WisBlawg for the link.

Making the Team

Unlike real-life litigation projects, law school and summer associate assignments tend to be self-contained and limited in length. So how can new associates make themselves indispensable members of the firm’s litigation team? Steven C. Bennett, a litigation partner and member of the firm's training committee at Jones Day, explains ten proven ways for a young litigation associate to thrive in Your Time of Trial from Law.com. Thanks to The Virtual Chase’s Research News for the link.

Library Announcement: Added Research Guides

We have added a number of basic research guides, originally prepared for our Lawyering Skills classes, to the Research and How-to Guides on the SIU Law Library web site.

More Reasons to Read and Write Blogs

Why write for a blog? Evan Schaeffer writes at least two law-related weblogs, Illinois Trial Practice Weblog and Notes from the (Legal) Underground. Now he also has a contract to write a book about an element of trial practice. In this posting, he attributes the publisher’s offering him a book deal to the visibility his weblogs have given his publications.

Why read blogs? We are bombarded with press releases and other sales material from legal publishers. If this press release about a new de-duplication feature for Westlaw News search results had not been featured in the Library Stuff weblog, I might have missed it.

Using Bloglines to Manage Your Blogs and News Feeds

Many news sites and blogs have RSS or XML feeds that can be compiled by a feed reader or aggregator. Using a reader or aggregator can make it easier for you to stay current on legal news and developments without visiting each individual blog or news site to see if it has been updated. For more information, read the RSS Tutorial, Part 1 at LawLibTech.

Bloglines is a free online service that allows you to aggregate and read blogs and news feeds, as well as search, subscribe, create, and share news feeds, blogs, and other web content. Because it is a web-based service, there is no software to download or install, and you can use it from any computer connected to the internet. Here are some step-by-step instructions to help you get started:

To register for a Bloglines account:

1. Go to http://www.bloglines.com/ and click on the Register link in the upper right corner.
2. Fill in your email address, create a password, and click on the Register button.
3. Within a short while you will receive an email from Bloglines Validation.
4. Click on the link in the email, and your Bloglines membership will be confirmed.

To subscribe to a blog or news feed with Bloglines:

1. Go to http://www.bloglines.com/ and click on the “Log In” link in the upper right corner.
2. Fill in the email address and password with which you registered and click on the “Log In” button.
3. Open another instance of your browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Firefox) and go to the blog or news site to which you wish to subscribe.
4. Look for a link called XML, RSS, ATOM, Feed, Subscribe, or Syndicate. These links are frequently marked with small, colorful rectangles.
5. Right click on the link and choose “Copy Shortcut” or “Copy Link Location” from the pop-up menu.
6. Switch back to the Bloglines page.
7. At the top of the right frame, click the down arrow to the right of “Search All Blogs” and choose “Subscribe to URL” from the list that drops down.
8. Right click in the box to the right and choose Paste from the pop-up menu.
9. Click on the blue arrow button to the right.
10. In the form that comes up, choose from the Bloglines options or leave the defaults. Use the Folder option to organize your subscriptions into folders you have already created or to create a New Folder.
11. Click on the Submit button.

To read the blog and news feeds to which you subscribed with Bloglines:

1. Go to http://www.bloglines.com/ and click on the “Log In” link in the upper right corner.
2. Fill in the email address and password with which you registered and click on the “Log In” button.
3. Click on the “My Feeds” tab in the upper left corner.
4. The feeds to which you have subscribed are listed in the left frame.
5. Click on the feed you want to read.
6. New postings to the blog or news site will appear in the right frame.
7. To go to a specific entry, click on the title of the entry. To go to the blog or news page, click on its name at the top of the frame.

To keep Bloglines entries in the main display:

1. Click on the “Keep New” box in the lower right corner of each posting you want to keep in the main display.
   • The entry will remain in the right frame until the box is unclicked.
2. OR, to keep all entries of the blog or news site in the main display, click on the “mark all new” button at the top of the right frame.
   • The entries will remain in the right frame until you click again on that feed in the left column.

To save Bloglines entries in a separate folder:

1. Highlight the text you want to save.
2. Click on the “Clip/Blog This” link at the bottom of each entry.
3. Click the “Save To” button on the pop-up window.
4. To retrieve the saved entry, click on the “Clippings” tab at the top of the left frame.

To organize or reorganize your Bloglines subscriptions into folders:

1. Click on the “My Feeds” tab at the top of the left frame.
2. Click on the Edit link just below the tabs.
3. If your subscriptions are organized into folders, you may need to click on the “+” to the left of the folder.
4. In the left frame, click on the box to the left of each blog or news site you wish to move into a folder or from one folder to another.
5. From the “Choose Action” drop-down menu at the top or bottom of the left frame, choose the name of the folder you have already created or “Move to: New Folder” to create a new folder.
6. Click the Submit button.
7. Click the Finished link at the top of the left frame.

To delete feeds to which you have subscribed with Bloglines:

1. Click on the “My Feeds” tab at the top of the left frame.
2. Click on the Edit link just below the tabs.
3. If your subscriptions are organized into folders, you may need to click on the “+” to the left of the folder.
4. In the left frame, click on the box to the left of each blog or news site from which you wish to unsubscribe.
5. From the “Choose Action” drop-down menu at the top or bottom of the left frame, choose Remove.
6. Click the Submit button.
7. Click the Finished link at the top of the left frame.

Finding Good Blawgs

As the number of blawgs (law-related weblogs) has grown, so has the number of ways to find good blawgs in your areas of interest. Here are some of the sites you can use to discover these helpful sites:

Blawg Republic is a new search engine, directory, and aggregator for blawgs, which collects and displays in summary form postings from legal blogs. You can read Top News Stories, a compilation of summaries of all blawgs in the BR index, or choose from one of more than 30 categories. The Blawg Directory categorizes each blawg feed into its 30+ categories. Each category has an XML feed to which you can subscribe for updates from all blawgs in that category. Use the search engine at the top of most pages to search all blawgs in the Blawg Republic and create an XML feed to which you can subscribe for the keyword search.

The Blawg Channel is a group weblog or “blog” with contributions from several prominent legal bloggers. Currently you can sample postings from Dennis Kennedy, DennisKennedy.blog; Ernest Svenson, Ernie the Attorney; Marty Schwimmer, The Trademark Blog; Tom Mighell, Inter Alia; Denise Howell, Bag and Baggage; Rick Klau, Rick Klau's weblog; and Kevin Heller, Tech Law Advisor.

The EDDix 50, a list of fifty favorite bLAWgs from EDD Information Exchange.

Blawg.org "Your Source for Law & Legal Related Weblogs."

Legal Alerts and Current Awareness Services from The Virtual Chase.

A Promising New Way to Find and Follow Blawgs

Blawg Republic is a new search engine, directory, and aggregator for blawgs. It collects and displays in summary form postings from legal blogs. You can read Top News Stories, a compilation of summaries of all blawgs in the BR index, or choose from one of more than 30 categories.

The Blawg Directory categorizes each blawg feed into its 30+ categories. Each category has an XML feed to which you can subscribe for updates from all blawgs in that category.

Use the search engine at the top of most pages to search all blawgs in the Blawg Republic and create an XML feed to which you can subscribe for the keyword search.