A while back, Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions raised the question of whether the blawgosphere was stagnant.  As a new-comer to the Blawg Nation, I responded that there was an old guard and a new.  This was taken up by Mark Bennett, who coined the phrase “practical blawgosphere.”  Mark really does have a knack for phrases.

Live and learn.  When blogs turned to blawgs (the mix of law to blogs, since the mix of web and log into blog wasn’t good enough), the population largely consisted of law professors and politically financed pundits.  This was to be expected, as this was cutting edge stuff and practicing lawyers, while called many things, are rarely cutting edge.  Over time, these pioneers grew into powerhouses of the blawgosphere., with tons of readers, some with advertising and groups that developed to keep the content flowing.  It’s not easy to put finger to keyboard on a daily basis.  And for a long period of time, the blawgosphere was theirs.  If you googled a topic, you found your way to one of these blawgs.  And the blawgers themselves formed their loose coalitions, friendships developed and cross-referencing was a must.  It created a synergy that benefited all, and elevated the blawgosphere to a real world populated by known entities.

There were a handful of practicing lawyers who joined the ranks early, and were welcomed by the professors.  After all, the more people providing daily fodder from which each could work off, the easier it was to maintain daily content.   More importantly, ideas were flowing back and forth, and ideas were the coin of the realm. 

Over time, blawgs developed real personalities.  Some were very politically charged, while others simply had a certain tone that either pleased or inflamed others.  The law professors tended to right deeper, and sometimes more obtuse, pieces.  The politically motivated tended to go with juicier stuff, short and provocative.  Each would find its voice, and an audience would emerge from nowhere. And then one day, they were real.  People were listening.  People were reading.  They had an influence on thought.  This was a glorious thing.

And then the blawgosphere trickle down effect began.  Practicing lawyers began blawging their respective niches, offering up to the minute caselaw, news and analysis.  This is perhaps best described as the second wave of blawging, and the upstarts had to show a reason for their existence.  It was no longer enough to simply start a blawg the way the Little Rascals would put on a play. 

Simple Justice came into existence late in the second wave.  It’s about to enter its sixth month of existence, which would make it a huge success if it was a restaurant.  How it’s faring as a blawg remains a matter of time.  So far, it’s doing extremely well, doubling readership almost monthly.

When I started Simple Justice, I had no idea if anyone would come.  My purpose was clear to me; I’ve been writing for others for years, including op-ed pieces and letters for various Associations, to which others would put their name.  I’ve been fairly widely published, and there are a lot of “officials” who will owe their New York Times obits to me as a result.  My strength is my ability to crank out quality content quickly, not that everything I write is quality but I try.  When a day’s news required an op-ed in tomorrow’s paper, I had the wherewithal to make it happen no matter how many hours I spent in court that day.  There’s something to be said for that.

Keeping up with the news, with issues and with the penumbras of issues was a passion, I decided to try to put it to better use in a blawg.  The question that remained was whether anyone would bother to read it.  There is a certain amount of validation that we need to wake up every day and write something new. 

When I started, however, I had some great help that most newbie blawgers do not.  Andrew Lavoott Bluestone of New York Attorney Malpractice Blog, Eric Turkewitz of New York Personal Injury Blog and Nicole Black of Sui Generis were all instrumental in getting Simple Justice out there in the blawgosphere.  I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their help. These guys started the second wave of the blawgosphere, and without them I doubt there would be any Simple Justice.

Just as the old guard of the blawgosphere recognized their mutual dependence and synergy, so has the second.  Unfortunately, the same has not necessarily been true of the old and new guards.  The old guard has been slow to recognize and accept the newcomers.  In many instances, they have totally ignored their existence, and will often do stories that a new guard blawg did weeks before without any recognition or credit.  It’s kinda like being against immigration, as if the anglos weren’t the new kids on the block at one time.

I doubt that this reflects any “us against them” bias in the blawgosphere.  Frankly, I think it’s just a matter of time.  As natural selection weeds out blawgs that serve no purpose, or that people just don’t care to read, they will fall by the wayside.  Also, the amount of time and effort needed to keep up a daily blawg may force some blawgers to call it a day when their blawging gets in the way of their professional responsibilities. 

The problem is for the old guard is finding the time to locate, read and digest all the new content that finds its way to the internet.  There are only so many hours in the day, and a lot of them are already used up keeping your own blawg alive.  Time to pay attention to new ones is understandably hard to come by.  So once blawgs have some time to establish whether they will continue to exist, have something to add to the dialogue and are just worthy of the time, they will be noticed and accepted. 

Whether Simple Justice is part of this select group is up to you.  If you find it worth your time (whether you love it or hate it), come back every day and see what’s here.  If it provokes thought, leave a comment.  Become a subscriber and get your daily feed.  But one way or the other, let me know you are out there and I’m not in some big, empty room talking to myself.   And to those of you who have made it this far in this story (both of you?), thanks for reading Simple Justice.  I hope you come back and bring your friends.