10 favorite law blogs (at least for now)

My friend Brad Parker tagged me with naming my 10 favorite law blogs. If your blog is named below, the rules charge you with posting your own top-10 list.

In making my list, I’m going to try to avoid blogs that have already been mentioned on others’ top-10 lists. After all, we don’t want this thing to get too incestuous, and the idea is to include folks who deserve recognition but maybe have not yet been recognized. So here goes:

Say What?!, a legal-humor blog by Judge Jerry Buchmeyer. My favorite post is this bit from an actual transcript:

From Jeffrey J. Brookner of Morristown, N.J. (Riker, Danzing, Scherer, et. al.), this exchange following the attorney’s question concerning “why the witness closed the special-finance department at his car dealership.”

A. It was a pain. The department was a pain. It was different from what we're used to, not our kind of business necessarily.

Q. Okay. When you say it was a pain, can you be more specific?

A. A pain in the ass.

Drug & Device Law, by Mark Herrmann (not the former Purdue QB) and Jim Beck. This is everything a law blog should be: focused, individual, well written.

How Appealing, by Howard Bashman. Your one-stop shop for all news remotely related to legal things.

Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, Evan Schaeffer’s other blog. It’s full of practical advice for JD’s who work for a living.

Mirror of Justice, a blog dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.

Abstract Appeal, by Matt Conigliaro, covering Florida and the 11th Circuit. If you’re thinking about writing a blog focused on one jurisdiction or region, this is your model.

Appetites, musings about food and eating, by Robert D. Peyton, a lawyer with good taste.

Adams Drafting, by Ken Adams. This highly focused blog concentrates on legal drafting, a subset of legal writing concerned with contractual language.

Party of the First Part, Adam Freedman’s adventures in legalese.

Ernie the Attorney. I’m sure Ernie has been mentioned on other people’s lists. He gets mentioned here because, a few years ago, he encouraged me to give this blogging thing a try.