Law-related Blogs

I decided to wrap up my blog by suggesting other blogs that may be of interest to paralegal students. I’ve grouped them according to topic /audience and included a brief description of each blog’s purpose. I hope that you’ll find some of them of informative and even helpful in your legal careers. Be sure to read all the disclaimers though, and do some fact-checking when necessary.

Humor – because we all need to laugh.

Fail blog (http://failblog.org/): Not really law related but this site, but certainly good for a chuckle.

Litination (http://www.litination.com/2008/07/disclaimer.html): The disclaimer says it all.

Above the Law (http://abovethelaw.com/): A legal tabloid.

Lowering the Bar (http://www.loweringthebar.net/). I especially enjoyed the one on Comical Case Names.

By and for Experts or Teachers.

Law Professor (http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com/): Created to assist law professors in their teachings and includes everything from administrative law to immigration law to white collar crime.

The Volokh Conspiracy (http://volokh.com/): A group blog with postings mostly from law professors.

Adams Drafting (http://www.adamsdrafting.com/): Ken Adams has expertise in contract drafting.

Ralph Losey (http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com/): A lawyer since 1990 and named a Superlawyer in the field of IT, Mr. Losey writes about the issues of electronic discovery and the law. Other blogs and information on this subject can be found at http://www.discoveryresources.org/.

Acrobat for Legal Professionals (http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/): This one is of special interest for those using Adobe Acrobat. Its author, Rick Borstein, specializes in the Acrobat-Legal Market for Adobe Systems Incorporated.

The Librarian at Law (http://librarianatlaw.blogspot.com/): The author of this blog is the Head of Reference Services, at the University of Connecticut School of Law Library.

Set in Style (http://misterthorne.org/set_in_style): Although this blog is a resource for law firm publishing, there is some good information that all legal professionals can use, such as how your writing skills can advance your career and how to produce documents that leave a favorable impression.

Paralegal specific.

Paralegal Mentor: Vicki Voisin offers up some advice for paralegals under http://www.paralegalmentor.com/ and also has a blog you can find on her website.

Practical Paralegalism by Lynn Devenny (who at times teams up with Vicki) has a great site that offers tips and “cautionary tales.” Here’s Ten Tips all new paralegals may be interested in: http://www.practicalparalegalism.com/2009/06/top-10-tips-for-brand-new-paralegals.html

Lexis Paralegal Community (http://law.lexisnexis.com/communityportal/default.aspx?g=QfsTyLJ1USs=): Offers tutorials, research information and tips and includes a discussion forum.

Paralegal Gateway (www.paralegalgateway.com): This site has an immense amount of information relating to and of interest to paralegals. Their weblog (http://paralegalgateway.typepad.com/) is designed to promote paralegals around the world.

Finding Your Strengths

I was recently was asked by a friend to help her prepare for a job interview. She specifically wanted to know how to respond to that standard question about strengths and weaknesses. How can you play up your strengths if you aren’t sure what they are? And how can you downplay your weaknesses with a comparable strength? There are many programs and books available to deal with this subject, but I just happened to have a Strengths Finder 2.0 book. The basis of this book is that “Talent (a natural way of thinking, feeling and behaving) multiplied by Investment (time spent practicing, developing your skills, and building your knowledge base) equals Strength (the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance).” Rath, Tom, Strength Finders 2.0, Gallup Press, 2007, p 20.

Purchase of the book gives you access to a program that, after completing a questionnaire, identifies the top 5 areas where you have the greatest potential to develop strengths. (He categorizes 34 areas of strengths referring to them as themes.) Not only does the author give an overview each theme, but he provides examples and Ideas for Action.

The examples are especially useful to gain insight into what motivates someone with a particular strength. For example, I am not very competitive. The book states that those who are competitive are “rooted in comparison” and that, over time, this type of person will “avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.” When you find yourself having to work with someone who is competitive, the author’s advice is to connect with this person by speaking her language, such as referring to the work goal as the “ultimate prize.” You should also find areas within the project or work environment where this person can win. If this person does suffer a loss, it’s best to let the person mourn for a bit, but then quickly move on.

We all have strengths and once we know what they are, building upon such strengths may make our weaknesses less prominent. However, an interviewer will most likely want to know that you’ve identified some of your weaknesses and how you cope with them. Using the above example, a competitive person may admit that she sometimes has difficulty completing ordinary tasks, but add that she's recognized this about herself and learned to pay special attention to those mundane tasks by turning them into achievable goals.

Quick and Dirty Tips

Some days we can use all the help and tips that are available to us. I found a site that may be of interest – Quick and Dirty Tips™. I personally download the podcasts for Nutrition Diva, Grammar Gal, House Call Doctor and that all important Legal Lad.

There’s quite a few more quick tips covering a wide range of topics. Each podcast is about 5 minutes long, includes a sponsor mention and answers a specific question relevant to the type of podcast. The podcasts are quick, somewhat entertaining, definitely informative and best of all (especially the Legal Lad podcast), easy to understand.

So whether you’re interested in tips for parenting, investing, public speaking, marketing, or even dog training you’ll want to take a quick moment to check out this site.