Every year, the American Bar Association Journal ranks the top legal blogs in America, including a category called “For Fun.” Although “fun lawyers” might sound like an oxymoron, this year’s list includes a bunch of truly giggle-worthy blogs. I’m honored that this blog was again included in the group; you should check out the others if you haven’t seen them before. After the nominations were announced, the 2012 “For Fun” bloggers decided to interview each other. Here, for your amusement, is the resulting group interview.
1. What is your blog about?
Law and The Multiverse (by James Daily and Ryan Davidson): Examining comic book characters and stories from a legal perspective. Or alternatively, an excuse to be huge comic book nerds while hopefully teaching people something about the law.
Lowering the Bar (by Kevin Underhill): The human condition (which currently remains at Threat Level Orange). Actually, I guess it’s about whatever strikes me as funny, provided I can come up with some connection to the legal system, however remote. Also, the first letter of each post spells out an important message to future generations, crafted in a complex code of my own devising. This is its true purpose.
The Namby Pamby: Typically it is the day to day happenings in my law practice. Sometimes I branch out and talk about my favorite sports teams or some topic of the day, but mainly it is me relaying my missteps. And attempting to make them laugh while doing so.
Josh Warren zombie self portrait
Supreme Court Haiku Reporter (by Keith Jaasma): I take the most important legal issues of the day and completely trivialize them through bad poetry.
Allison Leotta: I recap and reality-check Law & Order: SVU for what the show gets right and wrong, from my perspective as a former sex-crimes prosecutor.
ZombieLaw (by Joshua Warren): blogs about “zombies” in law and politics (from a cognitive linguistic perspective).
2. What drew you to writing your blog? (The big money, right?)
Lowering the Bar: I don’t think I was drawn so much as compelled.
Allison Leotta: Blogging about TV shows’ errors is way more constructive than throwing slippers at the TV. Also, when my first novel, Law of Attraction, was published, Simon & Schuster told me I “needed a platform.”
S.Ct. Haiku: I had written several law review articles of 40 pages or more and was excited that 300 people downloaded them in a year. So I thought “what’s the fewest number of words I could write and still call it writing.” Haiku!
Law and the Multiverse: James started it on a lark after the idea was suggested by a friend over dinner. Ryan came on board after James posted it to MetaFilter.com.
Namby Pamby: I started writing during my first year of law school eight years ago as a time waster and as an attempt to make people laugh. I still try to uphold these founding principles in my posts.
ZombieLaw: I was in an academic group studying “creativity” as regards occupy wall street and #anonymous. Zombies sort of grew out of that.
3. The ABA says you are “Fun.” And yet you are a lawyer. Explain.
Law and The Multiverse: We make the law fun by heavily diluting it with comic books and pop culture. It’s like how gin (kind of gross) and tonic water (definitely gross) combine to make delicious gin & tonic.
ZombieLaw: Irony.
Allison Leotta: Airbrushing.
Lowering the Bar: I think I wrote last year that I was proud of the honor despite the contention that being called the “most fun legal blog” was sort of like saying Moe was the smartest Stooge. I guess I would stand by that with the understanding that, just like the other Stooges were smarter than they looked on film (probably), lawyers are actually more “fun” than pop culture would suggest. Or at least there are a lot more lawyers who are in fact fun than non-lawyers might expect.
Namby Pamby: The law is a lot of fun because of the crazy people that make up the practice. Judges, court personnel, clients, opposing counsel and coworkers all provide great fodder. I try not to take whatever I am doing too seriously, it’s not like I am doctor or something important.
S.Ct. Haiku: Even the ABA makes mistakes. [Read more…]