HUMAN LAW MEDIATION

Many companies are still terrified of the idea of blogging

Another article on blogging appears in the Times today dealing with blogging in a corporate sense. It includes an interview with Mark Rogers, Chief Executive of Market Sentinel.

"......Many companies are still terrified by the idea of blogging. The interactive nature of blogs means customers can say what they want about a company and ask awkward questions.

Companies also fear what their employees might say and that corporate blogs will attract special-interest groups keen to attack a corporation.

“Corporations being corporations there is a lot of fear about doing something for the first time,” said Mark Rogers, chief executive of Market Sentinel, a company specialising in corporate reputations on the web. “This has led to a weird situation where companies are not punching their weight online.”"

In defence of blogging

As often happens, there has been an exchange of views between two well known figures on the issue of blogging, namely between Malcolm Gladwell and Chris Anderson.

Shane Richmond of the Telegraph writes "Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker journalist, wrote earlier this week that blogging is essentially a derivative medium. "Without the New York Times," he argued, "what would there be for bloggers to blog about?"Gladwell was reiterating a view that had earned him a rebuke from Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail - the source of the internet's latest buzz phrase. Anderson accused him of media elitism."

Shane Richmond goes on to make  a critique of Gladwell - "The problem is, I'm not sure that Gladwell really understands the role that many bloggers play. Or, if he does, he shows no sign of it in his argument...He says: "But newspapers continue to perform an incredibly important function as informational gatekeepers - a function, as far as I can tell, that grows more important with time, not less."

As Richmond writes, "In this statement, he is fundamentally wrong about the shape of media and about where it is going." and he provides examples of where bloggers have taken a different agenda to the mainstream media."The resignation of Trent Lott was, according to Professor Larry Lessig, the result of bloggers refusing to let a story drop from the news agenda.

Likewise, the Downing Street memo, which was first published in The Times, was overlooked by American media for a full two weeks while bloggers discussed and dissected it and eventually forced it onto the agenda.

Then there's the resignation of newscaster Dan Rather, which was the direct result of his story about Bush's service record being demolished by the blogosphere."

It is quite heartening to see that the Telegraph journalist, Richmond, has an understanding of the power of blogging. The article is recommended.

Lawyer traits lead to a struggle in media communication

An interesting article within last week's Law Society Gazette by Sue Stapely highlights some of the issues relating to PR communication and the danger of a firm losing its reputation very quickly.

She highlights some of the fundamental problems which lawyers face with media communication with words like:

“Lawyers’ risk-averse nature means firms are full of ostriches that prefer to go to ground when uncomfortable issues surface…..”

and

“The approach of reputation management specialists and lawyers is often diametrically opposed. Good communication involves speaking up fast, filling the information vacuum, taking ownership of the issue and, if necessary, apologising......This is essential if the situation is to be contained and the organisation under scrutiny is to recover. Most lawyers – media-averse, detail-oriented and cautious ever to admit liability – find this approach counter-cultural.....Dangerously, many lawyers also believe that if they are able advocates and successful practitioners their skills will transfer seamlessly to media interviews and areas of law in which they have no real expertise.”

Sue Stapely does not refer to the blogosphere but clearly the issues covered by her are relevant there.

Human Law features in Blawg Review again!

Blawg Review is the blog carnival for everyone interested in the law. The blogger that puts together the Blawg Review carnival each week is called the "host".

I would like to thank the current host of Blawg Review, Antitrust Review for mentioning a post of mine that I wrote regarding the unfortunate events surrounding Denise Howell. It means that this blog has featured in Blawg Review for 3 weeks in a row now. Maybe I should quit blogging whilst I am ahead - or - before my ego explodes.

I am due to host Blawg Review on 9th October.

Human Law to provide 2 workshops on blogging & social media in autumn

I am pleased to tell you that I will be providing two more events on the topic of blogging and social media in the autumn.

Workshop 1 called "The Beginners Guide To Blogging" will take place on Tuesday 7th November and will be at an introductory level and is tailored for all professionals. It will cost £199 plus Vat and will cover the following areas:

• What is blogging and why it can benefit you and your firm?
• How do you set up a weblog?
• What are the risks of blogging and how do you minimise them?
• Which blogging software should you use? 
• What is podcasting and how do you do it?
• A brief consideration of  video blogging 

Workshop 2 is called "The Complete Guide To Blogging" and will take place on Tuesday 5th December. It will include all of the above and lasts a whole day. The fee is £350 plus Vat and the additional areas covered are:

• Detailed consideration of the law
• What should be within a blogging policy?
• Case studies of successful blogs
• More detail on podcasting and videocasting
• Wikis
• How organisations can resist an online attack on the blogosphere

The workshop is being held at the Lansdowne Club, Green Park, London, W1J 5JD.

If you are not satisfied with the event, you are entitled to a full refund. Attendees will receive a CD Rom containing slides and notes. The events will finish at 4.30 to help you beat the rush hour. Workshops are interactive and you are welcome to ask as many questions as you want throughout the event.

The event qualifies for the non-accredited element of the CPD requirement.

To book a place, please e-mail me at [email protected] with your name, address and a contact telephone number.

Congratulations to Naked Law

Congratulations to Naked Law which has just celebrated its 1st birthday as  a blog.

Naked Law is part of Mills & Reeve  and the firm remains the only large UK law organisation who has managed to embrace the medium of blogging.

Peter Wainman (whom I have spoken to on the phone and e-mailed to on a number of occasions) has just done a post stating that "the team is looking for suggestions about what the future should hold for Naked Law.  On a simple level, we're looking for a new logo - we like the simplicity of the text on the page and don't want to clutter it with pictures, but we would like something a little bolder than the heading we currently use.  And we would be grateful for feedback from readers (by email or as a comment) about our content - are we talking about the right subjects?  Are we giving enough detail (or too much)?"

I am sure that some feedback will come in - Irrespective of this, the firm deserves a great deal of credit for embracing the medium in such an effective way.   

America is a debtor nation but should you care?

One of the benefits of being a blogger is that sometimes you get the opportunity to review books.

I am grateful to Dottie DeHart of Rocks-De Hart Public Relations who was kind enough to send me two interesting books to review, the first of which is "Empire of Debt" by Bill Bonner with Addison Wiggin. The book is available on Amazon and other book sellers.

The issue is relevant to a Brit like me with the level of debt within my country. I will be completing a more thorough review later. In the meantime....

Some revealing statistics which got my attention was that in America the average house went up 44% in real terms between 1995 & 2005. The increase was even greater in Britain and Australia. Equity withdrawal(borrowing against the increased price of the house)  rose to 6% of personal disposable income in the United States, 8% in Britain.

Another thing that got my attention for the balance of power in the world was the reference to a Goldman Sachs report that the 4 largest emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India and China could within 40 years become larger than the G6 - America, Japan, Germany, Britain, France & Italy.

The book has got some interesting material.   

More evidence of the crisis of the special relationship

Further to my previous post regarding the problems of the special relationship between the USA & UK, there is an article in today's Guardian on the issue.

As the Guardian writes " Britain should take a much more robust and independent approach to the United States, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today, which finds strong public opposition to Tony Blair's close working relationship with President Bush. ...The wide-ranging survey of British attitudes to international affairs - the first since the conflict between Lebanon and Israel started- shows that a large majority of voters think Mr Blair has made the special relationship too special."

Should lawyers be technology pioneers?

I am grateful to this post from Adam Smith Esq. who explores the work of David Maister, Richard Susskind & Kieran Flat. The issue of the day is to do with investment in IT and whether it leads to growth and profit for law firms.

I will focus exclusively on what Susskind has to say.

As Susskind asks - "Should lawyers be technology pioneers? When they hear, say, about the great promise of wikis and blogs, or of the likely impact of e-learning and automated document assembly, should legal practitioners reach enthusiastically for their cheque books or more reflectively for a stiff, single malt?"

Some of us do not need such an excuse for a single malt.

I think Susskind is right when he observes "Client-facing pioneering is not sufficient to sustain advantage. The trick here is not just to deploy the first workable system but to make it impossible or unattractive for competitors to imitate, and inconvenient or undesirable for clients to switch allegiance."

One observation - With ever increasing competition, is it feasible to have a system which others cannot imitate?

And then as Susskind concludes:

" This is a lesson for firms thinking about online communities for clients — internet-based, collaborative facilities that focus on particular specialities. These sites will be rich resources, full of source materials and commentary, of gossip and analysis; and will encourage active participation, through wikis, blogs, chat rooms, and more. Once clients are drawn into these communities and contribute themselves, it will be hard to entice them away. Here, therefore, is where firms should pioneer."

My view is that it will be the importance of content and the people doing the writing which will keep the clients within the community. The people are important than the technology!

English secretary blogger launches employment law claim in France

A story attracting some interest in the mainstream press relates to an English secretary who is bringing a test case under French law for being sacked after writing her blog. Please read the initial story in the Telegraph and the blogger herself's contribution to the Guardian's Comment is free for more detail.

As the lady herself Catherine S, relates "Once upon a time there was a blog, born in July 2004, under the nom de souris of Petite Anglaise. At first, it consisted of light-hearted entries showing a Brit's-eye view of Parisian life, writing of familiar expat gripes such as the quantity of dog excrement on the city's pavements. Over time the subject matter evolved and became more personal, examining subjects like my adoption, the breakdown of my relationship with my child's father, a budding new relationship and single motherhood. "

Unfortunately the partners of the leading British accountancy firm Dixon Wilson allege that she made herself and therefore the firm identifiable by including her own photograph on the weblog and that she made some references to firm business which brought the firm into disrepute.

The firm also complain that she used office time to work on the blog.

Aside from the merits of the case which I do not feel qualified to comment on, my view is that such a case was bound to happen and with the exponential growth of blogging and increased improvement of search engines, this is just one of the first of many such cases which is going to take place.