En Banc, the LACBA blog, is looking for your experience, knowledge, and insight on legal developments. News services already report the news, including the legal news, and En Banc is not equipped to compete with news services. Instead, your blog post should offer your personal legal analysis and insight concerning the news item.
For example, if you were to write a post on gay marriage, expect the readers to be interested in your lawyer's knowledge and understanding, not a repeat of the news story. An analysis or opinion regarding why each justice wrote or voted the way he or she did may be welcome, for example.
The key words for a blog post are: short and to the point. Please don't construct a long argument that gets to the point at the end. Put your punch in the first sentence. For example, don't write a 500-word argument that lists the reasons justifying a death sentence and then conclude with: "For these reasons, I think Karen Johnson should be executed for the murder of her husband and children." Instead, as your first sentence, write: "Karen Johnson should be executed for the murder of her husband and children."
Use hyperlinks the way you use endnotes—to offer more information on who Karen Johnson is, what her crime was, and so on. Then, in another sentence or two, offer the legal reasoning. Blog posts are ephemeral; they address the concerns of today. Another post can address tomorrow's point of view on the Karen Johnson story, and it can link to yesterday's blog post. Blogs are constructed over time, not published all at once. As such, blog posts are not definitive. Resist the temptation to address an issue with a long "once and for all" pronouncement.
Blog posts are also eternal. What you publish will be preserved forever. For this reason, always be civil, be accurate (and acknowledge and correct errors), and resist the urge to "win" an argument. Ignore trolls. Your identity is not a secret, and you are creating blog posts so that you will become known as a well-informed attorney with good judgment.
Entries can be in the 150-200 word range or shorter. Images, including charts, are always welcome.
Please resist the temptation to advertise yourself or your product in your blog posts. That is, don't write a post that says "Hire me! I know all about this topic." Please also make it clear if you are involved in a controversy, for example that you represent or represented one of the parties in a suit you mention in a post. Contributors should also be aware that their posts will be edited, including for length, clarity, and style. Posts that engage in self-promotion, are largely similar to previously published work, or that are not in accordance with En Banc's Terms of Service will not be published.
You can send the administrator an e-mail letting him or her know that a post is ready to publish. If you have any questions or wish to discuss an idea, feel free to call Eric Howard at 213.896.6456 or send an e-mail to [email protected].
