Tuesday 5 May 2009

The Blawgosphere Lives On

blawgosphere lives on

<N.B. THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED IN LIGHT OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BLAWGOSPHERE. /THE MICHAEL - DECEMBER 2009>

Since my ‘Best of the Blawgs’ review in February 2008, there had been a distinct lack of new blawgs gracing the blawgosphere with their presence, a fact I documented in my post last December - Blawging: the burst bubble. That post painted a rather pessimistic picture of the health of the ‘sphere and I prophesised that the death of the rich, diverse ecosystem of blawgs as we knew it was rapidly approaching. Happily, I’ve been proven wrong as in recent weeks a bevy of new blawgs have sprung up and brought the blawgosphere’s numbers back up to healthy levels while injecting some much-needed diversity and vitality into the ‘sphere too.

What follows is a list of newly discovered UK blawgs which I regard as entrants to the ‘inner sanctum’ and which you too might want to check out and add to your blogrolls. (If you haven’t already, that is - good news travels quickly between bloggers!) Naturally, I’ve added my take on their rich contributions to the blawgging world. All are highly recommended.

In no particular order:

Poonam: A light-hearted look at mostly non-legal material, Poonam’s blog is a breath of fresh air - you can have too much law after all! An ex-LPCer, Poonam certainly isn’t afraid of going off-piste in her postings and typically covers topical matters of interest, the UK Apprentice (if you like that kind of thing) and loads more. While her ‘Daily Hotness’ series might not be to everyone’s taste, her irreverent style and wacky posting topics should be welcomed for their novelty. I did suggest to Pooni that she could ‘law it up a bit’ by basing a ‘Daily Hotness’ series on the more prepossessing members of the judiciary. Sadly, she didn’t seem keen but she might come around!

A Law Student’s Ringbinder: A novel blawg with a wholly fresh approach, LSRB is written by a current LPC student who’s the Miss Motivator of the Organisational World. A self-professed techie, LSRB lists a vast array of organisational tips and suggestions, as well as documenting the trials and tribulations she experiences on the LPC. It’s hugely refreshing to have a female techie frequent blawgosphere and remain true to her geekiness without reserve; she’s such a techie in fact, that she probably listens to TWiT religiously, hangs out daily in the iPhone app store and has Cali Lewis on speed dial! LSRB is a frequent-poster whose content is always thoughtful, well-written and above all – useful. Although the blog has been going for a while, it’s remained sadly unknown to the UK inner sanctum of blawgers. I discovered LSRB via Twitter and thankfully, her existence is a secret no longer.  While this blawg is no longer updated, it remains online.  However, Travis has started a new blawg which can be found here.

Scots Law Student: Another blog that has escaped detection for way too long, I discovered Scotslaw student via comments left on Law Actually. Focussing heavily on technology related matters, Scots Law Student is a blawg well worth checking out if your interests extend to the techno-world. That said, SLS is certainly not afraid to go off piste and covers topics as broad ranging as vintage typewriters to student food. I see a lot of parallels between SLS and Law Actually and unsurprisingly, I’m a big fan. Definitely worth checking out.

The Wanderings of a Law Student: Another blawg that seems to have popped up and settled into the inner sanctum as if a long-lost relative. (Word of warning: I think I said the same about Legal Seagull and look what happened there). Wanderings of a law student is a new-born blawg and but was straight away Pupillage Portal-bashing like a seasoned pro. The author, Odysseus, is currently at a ‘northern’ university and seems hell-bent on a career at the bar in criminal law.

Obiter: A BVC graduate and newbie blogger who has hit the ground running. Well written, interesting posts, focussed predominantly on his tireless quest for pupillage and gripes over Pupillage Portal related stuff.  Missing in Action/AWOL.

The Aimless Wanderer – A current LPCer and would-be solicitor, AW has returned to blogging after a recent bereavement. Like Curious Black Cat, AW is a law student also plagued by the traumas of romance – in AW’s case it’s a law school tutor who she’s developed an ‘itsy-bitsy crush’ on. Stay tuned for more.

Curious Black Cat: Thoughtful and insightful, CBC is a law student extraordinaire with a broken heart. Despite pining after her true love – mysteriously labelled ‘Leo’ – CBC leads the reader on a curious journey of legal tidbits, personal insights and wacky news stories. As the name suggests, CBC is a is a feline-lover and the colour scheme and writing style means that this blog takes on a dreamy nature which is as refreshing as it is welcome. And, perhaps most importantly, there’s not a mention of the Pupillage Portal in sight.

So there you have it. Prior to the last few weeks, not only was there a dearth of new blawgs entering the fray, but I felt the topics on which most were blogging had converged considerably. If it were not for these new blogs entering the mix, the blawgosphere might have been in danger of degenerating entirely into a bevy of frustrated moans and screams directed at chambers for not offering enough pupillages or threats of bodily harm to the code monkeys who made such a hash of designing the Pupillage Portal. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve nothing against distinguished members of the blawgosphere bemoaning such things but a bit of diversity might be just the shot in the arm that the blawgosphere was looking for. It is reckoned to be the spice of life after all. Long may it continue!

14 comments:

  1. Thank you SO much :D I shall be posting that on my blog :D

    p.s. I really don't think I can find any hot looking legal people, except me of course :P

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  2. Thanks for the mention Michael - very kind words - certainly no hiding my personality from you :P

    Also - great new reads to go check out now. :) (illness is allowing an evening in bed catching up on my reading).

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  3. Michael,

    The crush is slowly becoming one of epic proportions...

    It took all a lot of will power to stay away. I haven't called, emailed or otherwise found an excuse to go and see him for a whole week. I wanted to keep it up for another week... but I gave up today and went to see him about something quite trivial. :)

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  4. How nice to see new bloggers in the Ether - and even nicer to see a considerable number of LPC Students who's actvities in the Ethher, until now, have been as rare as chicken's teeth! Welcome one and al!!

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  5. Thank you very much for the mention Michael. Lovely summary of my self-confessed oddities. :-)

    CBC

    xx

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  6. I apologise, normally my manners aren't so bad... Thanks for the mention!

    AW

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  7. Thanks for the kind mention! Very generous words; I'll try to keep on track!

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  8. Maybe the difference between LPCers and BVCers is related to chances of success. Now that TC's are harder to obtain, thanks to the many deferrals firms are putting in place, LPCeres see the need to vent too.

    OTOH, sites such as rollonfriday have a huge number of LPCers talking about training contracts, so it may well be that where we blog, they blow off steam there.

    Or, that aspiring barristers tend to be less bothered by being labelled 'geeky' and so go ahead and blog anyway.

    Who knows?!

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  9. I'm pleased everyone approved of the review, though I was only calling it as I saw it. But I'm surprised I've not been lambasted by Mr Pineapples again:
    "Oh Bleedin' Hell....talk about lathering everyone's ego. What is this?Some sort of hippy love in for Blawgers[?]"He's a trooper, bless him. :p But enough of that.

    Miss Middle: I think you might have a point there about LPCers suddenly being thrust into much the same situation as BVCers and have thus turned to blawging to vent frustrations, pass the time and all the rest of it. If your theory holds true, we should see a continued surge in new entrants to the blawgosphere.

    Here's to hoping! :-)

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  10. As an LPCer in response to your why LPC students don't blog i'd like to offer my opinion.

    I agree with miss middle of manchester in that LPCers appear to have less to vent about. But ROF is a great source of chat and information for LPC students - particularly if you're in London. Less time consuming and straight to the point without blogging.

    I always thinks it takes a certain kind of person to blog - you've got to want to - to give up the time etc. The time you give up to write a blog is time you're not spending enjoying free time (which is scarce. I feel that LPCers because there is few out there blogging, means that less will take the time to blog cos there isn't as strong community of LPC students as BVC. And is much as the PP rants are interesting and a great source of blogging entertainment - an LPC student cannot join in with the same hatred and frustration.

    But of course people's experience of the LPC is valuable information for those considering the course, and I think it would be great if more people spoke up about it - I used to follow old LPC blogs (that now cease to exist) whilst they were being updated and they were great - so its only right that new students should continue to do the same. (one of the reasons I decided to started my blog).

    That being said - with deferrals and cuts in TCs - I would predict that more LPCers will take to blogging when they get bored of their new found "freedom".

    (oops long comment, sorry).

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  11. Good comment. I’ve long been interested in the marked disparity between the low number of solicitors and would-be solicitors who blog versus the relatively high number of barristers and would-be barristers. I’ve heard and read a lot of interesting theories, some which include:

    - Solicitors are less creative

    -Barristers have a greater flair for writing

    - Solicitors are too busy.

    - Barristers need to develop a far more effective ‘hunter-gatherer’ instincts and need to engage in far more self-promotion than solicitors. The proponent of this theory didn’t seem to have an answer for the high number of barrister or would-be barristers who blog in relative anonymity, though, a fact which doesn’t exactly sit well with his idea. But it’s an interesting theory and arguably true to some extent.

    - Perhaps most controversially, that the LPC is more time consuming and demanding than the BVC. Ooohh – hope I haven’t opened a nasty can of worms here!

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  12. Yeah I've heard those to.

    Creativity - believe me I don't think of some of my colleagues as creative - my college background is in textiles and journalism actually; with a good mix of biochemistry - and then I chose law. A lot of friends have always WANTED to be a lawyer - which I sometimes feel cuts out a desire to expand horizons. That said there is always a few that surprise you with their skills and the most unexpected moment.

    Barristers generally have a greater flair - and yes that is reflected in their writing. Solicitors are seen as more stodgy and boring - couldn't imagine why someone would want to know the minute detail of my life - barristers do it so much more interestingly - although they probably say the same - "why would someone actually want to know what I am doing?"

    Self promotion thing is true - even if it is anonymous - just learning how others think and picking up tips is beneficial - but I do think that this could equally apply to LPC and BVC students. But maybe rammed down a BVC student's throat much more.

    and finally time consuming? I'm not saying one or the other is more time consuming (all about time management - I've a friend who commutes, has a job, goes to the gym everyday, goes out on a regular basis, goes out on all the group outings, and still has time to do amazingly well) but I don't think a lot of it is the question "is this time well spent?" I don't think LPCers consider blogging time well spent. None of my group even regularly read law news/blogs etc - but that obviously isn't the same for everyone, just my experience with fellow students.

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  13. Good to see new student blogs, thanks for sharing, Michael.

    I also wondered why's there more BVC/pupillage blogs. Could it be because there are fewer barristers about and this career choice can be seen as exotic (therefore worth sharing)? :D

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  14. That's certainly a fanciful idea, Andro as to why there are more barrister/BVC blogs about. Not sure I'm wholly convinced, but still.

    Perhaps you're all just a bit more moany! :p

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