During the discussion of whether there is a New/Old Guard in the blawging world, one of the tangential issues that arose related to the nature of the Blawger.  As Mark Bennett astutely picked up, the old world was largely populated by academics.  He described the new world of blogging as the Practical Blawgosphere.

Mark’s point (besides Mark’s having a real knack at a pithy phrase) is very well taken.  In the early days, most of the blawgers were law school professors, who were apparently more inclined to venture into the as yet unknown world of blogging, and had the time to do so.  For most of us, it wasn’t even a twinkle in our eye.

There were exceptions of course.  Notably, people like Norm Pattis at Crime and Federalism and Gideon at A Public Defender.  But the universe was largely populated by LawProfs and CrimProfs and whateverProfs.  Publish or perish.

But the issue remained.  Who were they writing for, and who wanted to read it.  Some profs were quite taken with the importance of being a law professor, operating under the belief that academic credentials gave them an intellectual cache that allowed them to opine to the masses.  Personally, they do have a lot to offer, as practicing lawyers often forget that theory and nuanced discussion provides a context to shape our thought and focus.

On the other hand, few law professors have the experience of finding their stomach in their throat when a witness drops a bomb in the middle of questioning that blows your client’s story out of the water.  Their time is spend in thought, not in the trenches.  The real world of the courtroom is rarely as sanitary as an ivory tower.

As lawyers, ever swift on the uptake, discover the world of blogs, discussions, issues, and most importantly, a resource to answer the conundrums that they will face during their cross-examination of a witness today, turn to the web, the finely honed approach of the law profs, with their 50 year review of reversed precedent leading to the conclusion that you lose, offers little.  But the Practical Blawgosphere is another matter.  The law in courtrooms rarely matches the law in school.

Mark has nailed this.  The Practical Blawgosphere is the working man’s web.  It’s for folks who get their hands dirty.  It’s for lawyers who hold responsiblity for real people.  It doesn’t fit into a neat little box, but expresses the daily concerns of people who live the daily grind.  Maybe the reason that the old timers haven’t noticed its emergence is that we offer nothing for them.  Maybe that’s only right and fair. 

But from the comments I get here, and the community that has developed out of nowhere in the Practical Blawgosphere, real lawyers want and need a place to discuss, learn and chill with others who share their understanding of the world.  So the blawgosphere is dynamic, at least the practical one.