After spending nearly 30 years in the government, Lee Beck found his niche as a writer without turning into just another law blogger.
“Many blogs cover politics or federal agencies with a political angle. I try to cover how the agencies and courts regulate, and look at the regulator process as it self,” said Beck about his blog, Federal Regulations Advisor.
Beck acknowledges that he writes towards a narrow audience and subject matter, but for him, it works.
“Blogging can be very informative and helpful. It sort of all fell into place,” he said. “A lot of people are very pleased and they think I fill a niche. The readership appreciate the gap that I fill for them.”
He began writing an internal blog while serving as senior counsel for the Department of Justice to better share information within the agency. He decided to continue blogging even after he left in 2011 because he saw a disconnect between federal agencies and what people outside the government know about the rulemaking process.
“Unfortunately, most federal regulations are not well written or explained, are not based on sound research, often are economically counterproductive, and sometimes are just plain stupid,” Beck wrote in his inaugural blog post in 2012.
His aim is to offer a straightforward perspective on current federal agency decisions. While he writes about everything from the IRS taxing bitcoin to the Department of Justice’s stance on marijuana banking, A particular favorite topic of his to write about is the Federal Communications Commission and net neutrality. Instead of focusing on the arguments against net neutrality or how it might shape the future of the Internet, he finds the FCC’s decision making process “intriguing because it demonstrates the need for a paradigm shift of how regulations are done.”
“The FCC is so bogged down in its own regulator structure even as the Internet is changing so rapidly,” he said.
What sets the Federal Regulations Advisor apart from other blogs that specialize in one area of the law – like telecommunications – is that there isn’t a lot of back-and-forth debate in the comments. The mission of his blog isn’t to hash out the arguments behind controversial government decisions.
“It’s a guidepost for lawyers and agencies,” explained Beck, who writes to add depth to the news. “The blog is incident-oriented, and that’s hardly a complete understanding of the regulatory process.”
The blog is meant to align with Beck’s practice, which is guiding other lawyers and their clients on complying with government regulations.
“I’d often wondered if the blog is free legal advice. I don’t worry about that,” said Beck with a laugh. Taking into consideration all of the years he spent in the government, he added that the blog only gives away about 10 percent of what he knows about the regulatory process.
There are some things that Beck won’t write about because “it doesn’t add to the real world understanding of the process.” He has a wealth of knowledge on what he calls “inside baseball,” which is some of the back-and-forth procedural discussions before regulations are published but has no real influence over final regulations.
There’s also privileged government information that he’s not allowed to discuss or write about, but after being out of the government for more than two years “they are of less and less importance.”
Beck would rather stick to what’s going on in the news and suggests that lawyers who blog to do the same:
“The key to blogging is keeping up with the law that drives your practice. Writing requires daily intelligence scrounge, and it’s something that lawyers need to do to stay current whether they think about it affirmatively or not.”