Thanks to John Hawkins for picking Overlawyered as that today.

PoliticsHome.com offers “minute by minute coverage of campaign ‘08 — all on a single screen”; it’s the developing U.S. branch of an innovative British site launched earlier this year. Among its features is an “Online 100″ poll (see right-hand column)

The PoliticsHome Online 100 Panel consists of the 100 leading online voices in the United States. Each day until November 4th, the ‘Online100′ panel will answer 5 strategic questions anonymously and the results will be posted on PoliticsHome. Find out how the blogosphere is calling the election on PoliticsHome.

The panel includes Arianna Huffington, Karl Rove, Joe Klein, Joe Trippi, Mike Allen, Mark Halperin, Mark Blumenthal, Dana Milbank, Jonah Goldberg, John Fund, Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd, Marc Ambinder and Andrew Sullivan.

I’m not nearly as well known as many of the above names, but they’ve included me in the Online100 as well, and we’ve been answering questions about various campaign issues (the consensus is that Obama’s response to Palin was his worst strategic mistake lately; as for predictions of who’s going to win, the two candidates are locked in a dead heat at the moment.) Especially if you’re a politics junkie, check it out today.

I’m on the panel of bloggers polled by National Journal in its “Convention Daily” feature. Other familiar names include Betsy Newmark of Betsy’s Page, Patrick Frey of Patterico, and Jonathan Adler of Volokh Conspiracy. It’s a secret ballot, so I’m not going to say how I voted.

Also, thanks to the U.K.’s The Lawyer for their kind words on our recent ninth anniversary (Jul. 7); they describe us as the “grand old dame presiding over the world of legal blogs”, which I’m afraid tends to conjure up Dame Edna. And a blog item by Ed Mendel at the San Diego Union-Tribune (Jun. 26) gave a mention to our brief Bill Lerach rebuttal item in Portfolio, for which thanks too.

A couple of other mentions in recent months: Jane Daniel quoted me in Publisher’s Weekly in an article on litigation against small publishers (”So (Don’t) Sue Me: A small press faces the wrath of an unhappy author”, May 12). And Keithius of CoreDump writes (Jul. 21) that he is “reading Overlawyered again. I stopped reading for a while because it just depressed me.” Let’s all try to cheer him up.

Selling a dozen or two t-shirts and onesies with that slogan was enough to get Alaska artist Barbara Holmes a cease and desist letter from the milk marketing people (the supermarket cow kind of milk). Holmes explains that the commodities underlying the two slogans are unlikely to be confused with each other in the marketplace: “They’re two different kind of jugs.” (Elefant, Legal Blog Watch, Jul. 25; Roger Shuy, Language Log, Jul. 28). More: David Giacalone, who also has some very kind words for us toward the end.

• Another compilation of the hundred best law blogs, with a familiar name among the nine “general” picks, so thanks for that ["Criminal Justice Degrees Guide" via ABA Journal]
• Europe has a transnational association of personal injury lawyers, funded by the EU, but with no wheeler-dealer, masters-of-the-universe vibe in evidence [PoL]
• Delta wasn’t liable in Kentucky Comair crash, but some plaintiffs sued it anyway in what their lawyer describes as an “abundance of caution” — that’s a diplomatic way to put it [Aero-News Net; link fixed now]
• U.K.: Mom told she’d need to pass criminal record check before being allowed to take her own son to school [Telegraph]
• Regular coverage of the litigious exploits of delusional inmate Jonathan Lee Riches, if you’ve got the stomach for them [Dreadnaught blog]
• Federal Circuit reverses $85 million infringement verdict won by Raymond Niro, blasted by critics as original “patent troll” [AmLaw Daily]
• “Determined to defeat lawsuits over addiction, the casino industry is funding research at a Harvard-affiliated lab.” [Salon]
• Hired through nepotism by in-laws, then fired after divorce, sues on grounds of “marital status discrimination” [eight years ago on Overlawyered]

• Texas probate and estate lawyers seldom prosecuted when they steal funds, clients told they should just sue to get it back [Austin American-Statesman investigation]
• About a third of the way down the center strip, then just a bit to the right, you’ll find us on this much-linked map of the campaign season’s most influential websites [Presidential Watch '08]
• Given the enormous liability exposure, would a doctor rationally want a major celebrity as a client? [Scalpel or Sword via KevinMD]
• The loser-pays difference: Canadian franchisees pursue failed class-action claim against sandwich shop Quiznos, judge orders them to pay costs of more than C$200,000 [BizOp via ClassActionBlawg]
• Annals of extreme incivility: judge condemns “heartless attack” at deposition on opposing lawyer’s pin honoring son killed in Iraq [Fulton County Daily Report]
• You keep an open wi-fi connection at home and your neighbor uses it to download music improperly. Are you an infringer too? [Doctorow via Coleman]
• As you’ve probably heard if you read blogs (but maybe not otherwise), one Canadian “human rights” tribunal has dropped action against Mark Steyn and Maclean’s; another still pursuing case [SteynOnline]
• Prison-overcrowding lawsuit could lead to early release of 27,000 California inmates [TalkLeft]
• “He absolutely would’ve gotten this DOJ job but for the anti-liberal bias … and he can’t land any other jobs?” [commenter KenVee on lawsuit over politicized Department of Justice Honors/Intern programs, Kerr @ Volokh, background]

Without our loyal audience we wouldn’t have made it through nine years — and wide acclaim as the oldest legal blog, as well as one of the most popular. In yesterday’s thread, reader Greg Dwyer says he has “read every single post on this site” (I’m impressed) while reader M.T. Glass discovered this blog (a word that didn’t exist then, if memory serves) when it was less than two months old.

Partly in consequence of our popular WordPress redesign we’ve also been setting new traffic records, regularly surpassing 9,000 and often hitting 10,000 unique daily visitors. Thanks for your support! (& welcome Above the Law, National Arbitration Forum, Law Crossing, Point of Law readers).

As Patterico reports, Cyrus Sanai is shopping around a CD that he claims consists of downloaded material from Judge Alex Kozinski’s web site server.

Continue Reading »

A grateful hat tip to Johnathan Pearce of the U.K. site Samizdata.net for those kind sentiments: “As ever, those interested in silly lawsuits should keep an eye on Overlawyered, an invaluable blog.” (May 2).

…for our 404 page (”17 brilliant 404 pages and why they are cool”, Royal Pingdom, Mar. 28).

Thank you, Patent Troll Tracker (Jan. 4).

The ABA Journal has named Overlawyered to its inaugural “Blawg 100″, one of thirteen sites labeled “Generally Speaking”, i.e., generalist law sites. In fact, you can vote for us here as best of category if you like. Note also that another of the thirteen is my and Ted’s other site, Point of Law. Howard Bashman’s ever-popular How Appealing at Law.com is currently leading in the balloting, but our sites are at present doing well in the competition, with Point of Law at #4 position and Overlawyered at #2 (cross-posted, in slightly altered form, from Point of Law).

P.S. Ernie the Attorney, as usual unfailingly generous, has some comments about the history of the blawg form, as well as the story of a New Orleans photo not taken.

And now we’re in the lead — even though, as another of our generous brethren states the case, “for every vote that QuizLaw gets, an angel is granted a demurrer”.

Attorney Garry J. Wise has some extremely kind things to say about us at his blog (Nov. 2). Thanks!

For identifying Overlawyered as one of the top ten legal blogs. We’re invited to name our ten favorite. I’d be remiss if I didn’t identify Point of Law, our sister blog, but that seems poor sport. Here’s my ten, though, of course, Walter’s may differ:

• Drug and Device Law Blog: Beck and Herrmann do such a good job covering pharmaceutical litigation in detail that I’ve virtually stopped posting on the subject. It’s one of two blogs where I’d link to every single post they made if it didn’t quickly become redundant to do so.
• Insurance Coverage Blog. David Rossmiller’s blog is the other one that has occupied the field: he covers insurance litigation so thoroughly that it feels redundant for me to post on the subject, and he affirmatively breaks stories in Katrina litigation and the Scruggs contempt hearing. We’re glad to have been able to add David to Point of Law.
• The Volokh Conspiracy: An obvious choice. Intelligent discussion of the law by some of the nation’s top law professors, while fairly acknowledging opposing arguments. Is it wrong that I aspire to being a Conspirator?
• How Appealing; WSJ Law Blog; and Above the Law. Three more obvious choices for breaking news, but I read them daily, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention them in my top ten.
• The 10b-5 Daily. Lyle Roberts provides excellent coverage of securities litigation issues.
• Ideoblog. I don’t always agree with Larry Ribstein (who also blogs at Point of Law) but his discussion and thoughts on corporate legal issues are always interesting.
• Legal Pad. That’s the Roger Parloff version; several blogs have similar names. One of my favorite legal journalists, and the original reporting done on this blog is top notch.
• Prettier Than Napoleon. My top ten has to have one non-obvious choice if it’s going to be at all interesting. Only a small portion of attorney Amber Taylor’s blog is about legal issues, but her daily posts are provocative, intriguing, and well-written, and the comments section community is surprisingly productive for a blog.

Update: My, this meme is widespread, we’re honored to also be selected by The Common Scold, What about clients?, and May it Please the Court. Eric Turkewitz also names us to his top ten, but I have to disagree with his characterization: Overlawyered is a pro-consumer blog, as excessive litigation hurts consumers. We criticize socially wasteful litigation whether it comes from big business or the traditional plaintiffs’ bar.

Update: more encomiums from Lowering the Bar; f/k/a; Lawbeat; and QuizLaw.

Thanks to Michelle Malkin at her #1 conservative blog for those kind words.

Nicole Black is throwing a contest; thanks to the readers who nominated us (and the one who dissented was awfully nice about it too). P.S. We’ve made the finals and readers can vote through Jun. 25 (& discussion at QuizLaw).

And thanks to the TimesOnline for naming us one of the top three business legal blogs worldwide as part of its list of the top fifty business blogs. Here’s a link to our coverage of UK issues, or read Walter’s posts about Walter Olson’s Times (UK) columns.

Belatedly noted: Reader’s Digest gives us another generous mention (latest in a long series of such) as part of a wider project cataloguing ideas and proposals that could make the country better (Sacha Zimmerman, Reader’s Digest, posted Sept. 14). For another generous mention from the Digest, see Jun. 12, linking to an article by reporter Michael Crowley. And we’ve also been slow to link another good piece from Digest reporter Crowley, on the problems introduced by jury consultants “paid to stack the deck” (Michael Crowley, “Jury Riggers”, Apr. 2006). Sample:

A recent guide published by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America warned lawyers about jurors who may show “personal responsibility bias.” These jurors, the guide said, feel that “people must be accountable for their conduct.” Now there’s a chilling outlook! The guide advises: “The only solution is to exclude them from the jury.” That is, get rid of anyone who might actually care about seeing justice done.

In AAJ; accolades; jury selection