RSS Feed2009 Student Blawger of the Year
We’re pleased to announce the 2008 Student Blawger of the Year.
The LawIsCool team selects an individual who has made a unique contribution for the past academic year worthy of recognition.
This year’s award goes to Devin Johnston, political blogger and director of the LawIsCool podcast.
A short biography of Devin Johnston is included in the end of this post.
The LawIsCool Podcast
Despite tremendous growth in popularity since their humble beginnings in 2004, podcasts remain on the leading edge of online communication. There are currently over 100,000 podcasts available for download through iTunes; however, most of these shows are the online versions of radio and television programs. For most bloggers, podcasting remains a time- resource- and technology-prohibitive activity.
Devin Johnston broadcast his first podcast, a panel discussion concerning Stephane Dion’s Green Shift policy proposal, on 5 July 2008. Within two months, he had joined the LawIsCool team as the director of the LawIsCool Podcast.
Without having access to the same resources as radio stations or other traditional broadcasters, directing the LawIs CoolPodcast takes a wide range of skills. Once the material for a show has been recorded, the director’s job involves mixing, editing, selecting music, and compiling the show. A typical 20-minute episode involves several hours of post-production, all of which is done using free and open-source software. Once the episode is ready to be published, the director will write a summary of the show for the website and upload the MP3 files to the web server. The behind-the-scenes labour required to compile a podcast is far more intensive than that of researching and writing a blog post of similar content.
The LawIsCool Podcast has featured a range of topics as diverse as the blog itself over the past year. From a detailed examination of the constitutionality of Canada’s polygamy laws to fixed federal election dates to copyright reform, the podcast reflects both legal and political issues of general interest to law students. With its emphasis on topical (and sometimes controversial) issues, the podcast has sparked several lively discussions in the comment threads.
In addition to directing the LawIsCool Podcast, Devin has his own blog where we writes primarily about politics, technology, and Blue Jays baseball. In the past year, his most notable blog contributions include his coverage of the 2008 federal election (and subsequent constitutional crisis), a detailed critique of Stephane Dion’s “Green Shift” carbon tax proposal, and his prediction of the death of Facebook’s popularity by 2012. In January 2009, Devin’s blog was listed as one of the Top 25 Political Blogs in Canada.
Devin is also an active “micro-blogger” on Twitter, Facebook, and several other social networks. Posting links to law- and politics-related websites as well as offering commentary on current events, Devin has posted over 2,500 updates to Twitter since joining the site last year.
Biography
Devin Johnston is a third year law student at Robson Hall in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His law school studies have focused on human rights, poverty, and administrative law. Last year, he won the Yude M. Henteleff Award for Human Rights and Civil Liberties.
Prior to entering law school, Devin studied at York University and the University of Western Ontario. He received an Honours Specialization degree in Philosophy from the latter where his courses emphasized ethics and political philosophy.
During his time as an undergraduate student at Western, Devin became involved in both federal and provincial politics. As President of the UWO NDP, he helped guide one of the most active student political groups in the country. During that time, the group took on an active and vocal role in such issues as tuition fees, the security certificate program, and climate change. Devin also served as Director of Communications for the Ontario New Democratic Youth and worked on the campaign to elect Irene Mathyssen, the first ever woman to represent the federal riding of London-Fanshawe.
A political blogger since 2004, Devin appeared on CBC’s “The National” during the 2008 election to discuss the emerging role of blogs and social media in Canadian politics. It is around this time that he began audio and video podcasts on his website as well as for LawIsCool.com. Devin was nominated for a 2008 Canadian Blog Award in the “Best Podcaster/Vlogger” category.
Currently, Devin resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba where he will begin articling in the public sector in summer 2010.
Law Students Can Network with Lawyrs
Devin Johnston, a second-year law student at the University of Manitoba, predicts the death of Facebook within three years.
A major reason is alternative social media platforms that will compete with it more effectively.
I’ve already mentioned Jurafide as one alternative for lawyers seeking American clients, and Jordan Furlong has mentioned LawLink just over a year ago. At that time, LawLink was restricted to American attorneys. It has since opened up to include lawyers from the UK, Canada, and Australia.
However, they still have a statement under the “threat of perjury” that the registrant is a practicing attorney in those countries. It was effective enough to deter this law student from registration.
I’m trying out Lawyrs instead, a platform specifically intended for lawyers and law students, with no geographic constraints, and more importantly, no threats of legal prosecution.
The ability to dialogue and network with legal professionals from 128 countries (although mostly American and British) is fascinating. They obviously have groups like other social networks, often comprised of alumni or interests, and a legal news page. But without RSS for the news, I’m unlikely to check in regularly on the site for updates.
There’s also a page for law firms, and if the view stats are any indication they appear to be used with some frequency. Firms can provide news stories as well, and this might be an inexpensive alternative for law firms to send their releases.
Finally, Lawyrs has a publications page, which might be useful if you’re looking for a legal scholar in a specific area. Publications give a lawyer credibility. But it’s also a useful outlet for publicizing your publications, instead of remaining unread by anyone other than the editors of the law journal. I’m trying out different platforms to share some of my own recent publications in hopes of getting the material to people who might be interested in it.
A drawback of the site is the inabilty to import contacts like other social network platforms. Nobody with a sizable addressbook would attempt to manually invite all the lawyers in their (virtual) rolodex. I have no idea if anyone else I know is using the site, or really how useful it’s going to be in the long-term. If you do sign up though, please do add me as a contact so I can see what you’re up to.
One thing is for sure, we will continue to see more and more law-focused social networks. Eventually one, or several, will emerge as dominant, depending on the purpose they are being used. It’s also possible that none of them will thrive, and the lawyers will instead flock to whatever networks everyone else is using. We’re surrounded by lawyers every day, all day, and keeping in touch with all the other people in our lives is important.
It’s also worth noting that a social network exclusively for lawyers doesn’t allow lawyers to interact with past, present or future clients. More importantly, those potential clients can’t find you, no matter how many news stories or publications you upload.
Cross-posted from Slaw.
Law is Cool Makes CBC News
We’ve been covered in local papers before, and frequently cited in other blogs. But Law is Cool just made CBC News.
You can see the link to here from Ormiston Online’s page on bloggers. Check out the site for more election related coverage.
Omar Ha-Redeye and Devin Johnston were interviewed for the CBC on web tools related to the upcoming Federal election. The footage has already been used from coast-to-coast, and emphasizes the increasingly important role of technology in politics.
Law is Cool – Podcast #13
In this episode, Omar Ha-Redeye interviewed Caitlin Rose, a summering student with Fasken Martineau. A recent graduate of the McGill Faculty of Law, Caitlin was a co-founding Executive Editor of the McGill Journal of Law and Health (formerly the McGill Health Law Publication).
Following that interview, I discussed climate change policies in the context of the upcoming federal election campaign with Miranda Hussey and Jim Johnston. Miranda is a blogger from A View From The Left and the President of the Oak Ridges-Markham Young Liberals. Jim is the candidate of record for the Green Party of Canada in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
This podcast is cross-posted at devinjohnston.ca.
Interview with Caitlin Rose
Caitlin began by introducing herself. Caitlin studied law at McGill and worked for one summer in-house with Pfizer during her time there. Subsequently she joined Fasken Martineau as a summer student where she spent one month on secondment at Cirque du Soleil.
Omar asked Caitlin about the McGill Journal of Law and Health. The journal’s name was recently changed from the McGill Health Law Publication to reflect that it is an academic peer-reviewed journal. Caitlin was involved in founding the journal through her involvement in the McGill Health Law Club. She served as an Executive Editor of the journal in its first year of existence. Caitlin commented that the Dean and Faculty at McGill were supportive in helping to get the journal off the ground.
Caitlin also noted that the journal was intended from the beginning to be multi-disciplinary and bilingual. She discussed the broad range of contributors to the first issue including a Law Professor, an MPP, and members of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, as well as an afterword from the Honourable Mr. Justice Jean-Louis Baudouin.
Omar and Caitlin discussed some of the challenges associated with publishing a peer-reviewed journal, including the struggle to publish the journal on a regular schedule.
Finally, Caitlin commented on her experience interviewing for summering positions. She commented that it is important to have a diverse background that is not merely academic in nature. She found that her experience with the journal was an asset when looking for a job, but also warned that some interviewers may be concerned about whether the candidate wants to practice or pursue an academic career.
Climate Change and the Federal Election
The discussion began with some analysis of the news that Blair Wilson has joined the Green Party, becoming the Greens’ first ever MP. Jim noted that this news adds legitimacy to the Green Party. Miranda argued that Green Party leader Elizabeth May should be included in the leaders’ debate, adding that having a Green MP in Parliament may help the Liberals in the election because of increased attention on the climate change issue.
The panelists discussed the Liberal Party’s Green Shift proposal and similar policies advocated by the Greens. Jim noted that the object of tax shift policies is to reduce taxes on things the goverment wants to encourage and increase the cost of things the government wants to discourage.
The panel also discussed how social media will play a role in the campaign. Jim noted that he learned of his daughter’s engagement via Facebook to demonstrate the changing nature of communications technology. Miranda argued that effective use of technology is essential for political parties in order to engage youth in politics. In light of the prominence of the climate change issue, Jim stated that he believes Elizabeth May stands a good chance being elected in Peter MacKay’s riding of Central Nova.
Miranda and Jim concluded by agreeing that the upcoming election is difficult to predict at this point and much will depend on the weeks to come.
Social Media When Time = Money
Lawyers are notorious for efficient use of their time, more so than any other professional, because with the billable hour their time really is money.
The American Bar Association revealed in the Septmeber 2008 issue of the ABA Journal that the majority of lawyers are still reluctant to adopt new web technology.
The survey, based on responses from approximately 850 lawyers nationwide, shows that websites and e-mail newsletters are still the digital way that most attorneys stay current with the news. A small minority reports reading blogs; but actually creating a blog is something the geeky lawyer down the hall—or, more likely, across town—is into.
Sam Glover of Lawyerist demonstrates that social media does not necessarily need to take more time than other networking techniques.
Networking takes time, whether that networking takes the form of a bar association event, a happy hour with colleagues, or online social networking. Just like “regular,” offline networking, time spent networking online is up to the person doing the networking online. Networking online is “real” marketing. It should be a necessary part of your job, not just frivolous web surfing.
He looks at Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, claims that once you set yourself up you need only 10-15 min. a day for maintenance.
Well here’s a tip to reduce that time even further.
With Ping.fm, you can simultaneously update several networks, including social media sites and blogs.
If you install plug-ins, you can further disseminate your information by either distributing your blog posts across your network, or collect your web content like status updates and transform them into blog entries using their custom url feature.
Essentially you have set up several mirrors on over a dozen sites that are already optimized. Keep your privacy settings on the lowest level for the best effect.
The trick here is to use social media as a push medium, and not spend hours daydreaming looking at all your associates’ vacation photos.
Using this technique for several months consistently will increase the likelihood that personal content you are interested in placing on the web will take top ranking. You will be able to stay in touch with family, friends, and potential clients with minimal effort.
Best of all, you’ll come across as a social media pro, and nobody will know how little effort it really took.
h/t Devin Johnston of Robson Hall for the heads up on ping.fm
Cross-Posted from Social Media Mafia.
New Podcast Director for the New School Year
With the move of Omar Ha-Redeye to Slaw earlier this month, admin responsiblities have been shifted to others on the team.
Devin Johnston, a new recruit to our site who is entering his second year at Robson Hall in Winnipeg, Man, will be taking over the podcasts. Devin will focus on a number of legal and political issues of interest to him.
Devin is a nominee for the Kick Ass Bloggers Award, and joins our site with enormous social media and blogging expertise. He will be a great asset to the site.
Omar will still help out, but interested parties can contact Devin directly about scheduling an interview.
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