I am doing a rough survey of international law blogs to assess what’s out there in legal blogs outside the United States. I am just scratching the surface.
My quick take is that legal blogging represents a powerful form of legal publishing, internationally. By country, by the position of the publisher/blogger and by area of the law.
Here’s some early observations as to the blogs:
- Blogs appear to be more scholarly in nature than in the States
- Blogs are collegial in nature with an openness towards advancing the law versus demonstrating the expertise of publishers/contributors
- Blogs are not taking on the form of content marketing, written by hired guns, for search engine performance, their focus is true information and commentary on the law from authorities
- Blogs can have a large number of contributors, even up to a 100
- Blogs actively solicit contributions from authorities not associated with the publisher organization
- Blogs are highly prevalent among law schools
- I have not searched specific countries, but blogs appear to be worldwide
- Many list other relevant blogs, making it a point to provide/aggregate the best legal blogs on the subject/locale
From a legal publishing and business opportunity, international legal blogs represent an opportunity that could well exceed the opportunity in the United States. I have yet to look by country, area of the law, associations, law firm etc.
By legal publishing opportunity I am referencing the aggregation/listing of all of the blogs, with the relevant meta-data, and curating the blogs/contributors/publishers for users in various ways. Much the way LexBlog is currently doing so and will do so in the future.
The business model comes from the licensing of LexBlog’s blog publishing solutions. Though not as direct as the aggregation and curation, relationships are at the heart of business development. By providing greater visibility, via LexBlog and elsewhere, we have the opportunity to help contributors and their publishers.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ll be providing greater access to the law, legal information and legal insight (via blogs) to consumers, businesses, legal professionals, academics, students and the courts.
Not just from what currently exists in legal blogs, but from the legal blogging that will ensue by shining a light on the good work that is being done today.
Aggregating and curating international legal blogs is not a short term project.
It will take years, an understanding of international cultural and legal issues, partnerships, working across multiple languages and, I am sure, much more.