South Carolina criminal defense lawyer Bobby G. Frederick has hit the ground running with his new criminal law blawg.  He’s been posting up a storm, and shows no fear about expressing an opinion. 

Bobby’s posts show a well-developed use of sources from many of the top blawgs around, putting together sound sources to provide good coverage of events and launch into his own views on the subjects.  While he has yet to take the initiative of coming up with his own posts, borrowing mostly from current events, I would expect that Bobby will soon start providing more personal insight.  And, I might add, he looks to be an excellent writer.

A few nits to pick, in the hope that Bobby breaks free of the yoke of his Justia-prepared blog.  First, there is no “about me” link, so we really don’t know much of anything about Bobby.  Even on his website, little information is given about him, leaving one to wonder why he doesn’t include how long he’s been practicing law, a glaring omission.

The blawg itself needs a few tweaks to eliminate the typical Justia.com smell of self-promotion which is belied by Bobby’s excellent posts.  Particularly, clean out the blogroll to remove all the garbage, links to purely promotional blogs that bring nothing to the table or blogs that he doesn’t personally care to promote.  It taints the purpose of the blawg, and Bobby’s content deserves better. 

For me, the blogroll is a quick way to assess the sort of things that the author finds important, and Bobby’s blogroll, which I assume to be prepackaged with other Justia blogs, screams self-promotion rather than content and expertise.  While most new bloggers have yet to find their way around the blawgosphere, Bobby’s liberal use of links to great blawgs tells me that he knows who to read.

Bobby Frederick’s blawg is one of the best new entries in the criminal law blawgosphere in a while.  I hope he keeps it going and finds his own voice.  I look forward to learning more about who he is and what he’s got to say.  Welcome to the neighborhood, Bobby.