Interspersed with actual information, occasional news and perhaps even a rant, comes something reflective and self-serving this time of year.  The  ABA Journal has changed it’s “Lawyer of the Year” theme to “Newsmakers of the Year,” thus making everybody a little more comfortable with highlighting Alberto Gonzalez and Mike Nifong, not to mention some of the other usual suspects.

But if you stopped reading too early (like I did, until I learned about it from Kevin), you would miss a little noticed piece that included an unusual mention in their round-up:  The Lawyer-Blogger. 

These days anybody with a penchant for the word can get on the Web and grouse. And we’ve re­served a spot here for those who do just that because 2007 was the year lawyer-bloggers—some call them blawgers—came into their own.

Sure, law blog superstars like David Lat and Tom Goldstein have been churning out content for a while now, but the last year saw a plethora of law blogs begin to insert themselves into the most significant daily news and legal issues debates alongside their counterparts in journalism and academe.

From the Duke lacrosse team fiasco in North Carolina to the high-profile “Family Secrets” Mob trial in Chi­­cago, bloggers made their presence known with a flourish, sometimes to the chagrin of the judges and lawyers involved. But the influence of the lawyer-blogger goes beyond that.

Whether by a single practitioner who wants to share his or her problems and experiences opening an office, or a BigLaw associate who wants to dish the dirt about the practice, the lawyer-bloggers are finding an audience for their work, and we salute them.

I guess I’m in there somewhere, falling below the superstars and closer to the single practitioner with a penchant to “grouse”.  It begs the question, is all this blogging going anywhere?

With the recent  Q&A for Lexblog, some thoughts have been floating around about whether blawging will have any lasting contribution, or just be an avenue for intellectual masturbation.  Sure, we have some great discussions, and even better debates (not perfect, but better than we would have without blawging). 

But it’s unclear whether blawging (I don’t think Kevin likes this word, and prefers “lawyer blogging”) is a fad or an influence, and if the latter, if it influences only the blawgosphere, lawyers or the real world.  It seems way too presumptuous and pretentious to believe that blawging has much clout as yet.  But will it someday?

The mainstream media isn’t too worried that we will steal their thunder.   Bill Keller from the New York Times says we’re a fly on their very large but callipygian buttocks.  But given the frequent lack of understanding of what they are covering, and their inability to ramp up their knowledge-base quickly enough to produce news coverage that accurately reflects its significance, we have something that old line media like the Times can’t provide.  We understand what news means relative to its context.  They rarely do, and are usually wrong. 

You would think that mainstream media would recognize the utility of blawgs to supplement their understanding of what they are reporting, but they don’t, for the most part.  My guess is that to do so would be a tacit admission that their buttocks is neither as big, nor as callipygian, as they think.  They would hate to admit that we know something that they don’t.  But we do.  Often.  And we share it for free.

It sometimes seems that we are having a conversation amongst ourselves.  Sure, others come and read our posts, as we know from the site statistics and “metrics” that blawging programs provide, but how often, why and to what end is unclear.  It could be nothing more than a way to kill an hour, or a way to find an answer to a nagging question.  Some blawgs offer far more of substance than others.  Some, like that wag Lat, offer the legal version of the Tattler, including photos, which tells you where its readers’ heads are at.

It’s really not up to the blawgers to say where any of this goes.  It’s up to the readers.  Is 2007 the Year of the Blawger (sorry Kevin, but I like the word)?  The ABA Journal says so.  But then again, the Pet Rock had its year as well. 

If reading a lawyer blog has contributed to your work, your understanding, or even just entertained you enough to come back for more, let the blawger know by leaving a comment.  While every post may not be a stroke of brilliance, and some may be downright useless, many really do add something to the broader conversation.  And it’s something you’re not going to find anywhere else other than the blawgosphere.  I bet Kevin hates that word too.  Tough.