Labor & Employment Law

Blogging - As American As Apple Pie?

I read this post by Kevin O'keefe recently that challenges lawyers to blog.  Normally, I would have simply agreed and moved on with the next item on my list to do.  However, my brother was in China recently, and we spoke over the phone at one point and  I told him that he should check out a personal blog post I wrote about a trip my son and I took to see the Red Bull Air Race in San Diego.  My brother told me that he would have to wait until he made it back to the U.S. to read it - the Chinese government won't allow its citizens to read blogs.

This really took me back.  To me, this was an indicator of how much people are relying upon blogs for news and information - and of course the China government wants to control this information in order to control its people.  Then, reading Kevin's post that blogging lawyers are educating and opening the legal system up to citizens -  it hit me - blogging lawyers are giving Internet readers a lot of power.

Blogs allow clients looking for a lawyer to actually read the analysis and thoughts of the lawyer they are considering to hire.  Also, through blogs, the entire legal process is now becoming truly open to the public - citizens can obtain details about how cases proceed through the legal system, learn about the particular judge their case has been assigned to, read differing views of new court decisions, and, fundamentally, come to a more fuller understanding of their legal rights.  All of this without leaving their home - and this is why the Chinese government does not allow blogs.

Full post as published by California Labor & Employment Defense Blog on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).