We’re now approaching the final week of October, and the LexBlog community gave us plenty of great posts to choose from over the past week. Alec and Michelle from LexBlog’s Publishing Team are back with their selections. This week we have posts that illustrate the importance of knowing your client’s needs, discuss options for musical instrument insurance and the EPA’s plan to manage the risk of a certain group of chemicals.
Michelle’s Picks
A New Lawyer’s Perspective on Practicing Appellate Litigation
Sharing your own experiences—especially in a blog post—can be very beneficial for your audience. It helps build authenticity and trustworthiness. Austen Smith shares this very well-written blog post detailing his personal observations practicing appellate litigation. Newer attorneys are sure to find this post useful and it would be great to see other attorneys sharing their experiences in their respective fields as Smith does here. Available at State Bar of Texas’s Texas Bar Blog.
Music to my ears: Coverage considerations for musical instrument insurance (Part I of II)
I think it’s a great idea to separate a blog post idea into two parts when necessary in order to avoid a piece that’s too lengthy. Even better to tell your readers right off the bat that more information on this topic is coming and what it will entail. Adrienne Kitchen and John Vishneski execute this perfectly with their post on insurance coverage for musical instruments.It’s broken up well with headers and clearly organized. Can’t wait for part II—which will be available at Reed Smith’s The Policyholder Perspective.
FTC Updates – October 2021
We’ve talked in length about week in review posts, but monthly series have their place as well. Tiffany Aguiar and Cheryl Falvey demonstrate how to write these types of posts in an organized manner. They use dates to separate the piece and make use of bullets to sum up what happened. It’s a very visually appealing post and it’s easy to identify whatever kind of information you’re looking for. Available at Crowell & Moring’s Retail & Consumer Products Law Observer.
Alec’s Picks
Employers – Do Not Ignore Confederate Flag Sightings in the Workplace!
In this post Veronica Yu Welsh dives headfirst into a recent case involving the display of a confederate flag at a workplace. This post is an illustrative example of how to structure a blog post around a case. Yu Welsh doesn’t get bogged down in the minutiae of the case or give us a prolonged summary of it. Instead, she writes in succinct and apparent language, highlighting just the most interesting aspects of it. Despite the brevity with which she writes, Yu Welsh covers this case better than many writers would in twice as many words. She gets right to the heart of what makes the case so interesting, draws connections to both past cases and current events and finally concludes with insights useful to her readers. Available at Shawe Rosenthal’s Labor & Employment Report.
Updating 10-K Risk Factors in Your 10-Q: 5 Things to Consider
Keeping in touch with the needs of your clients is key for any attorney. So when you start to notice a trend in those needs, why not write a blog post about it? Jason Day clearly has his finger on the pulse of Perkins Coie’s clients—many who are preparing their Form 10-Qs. Day recognized an uptick in questions relating to risk factors on Form 10-K and to help out those clients and others who are wondering the same things, wrote a very helpful post. Using a simple numbered list, Day effectively demonstrates that he and the firm have the expertise to answer these client’s questions and offer them practical advice. If I had 10-K questions, I certainly know who I would call after reading this post. Available at Public Chatter.
EPA Releases PFAS Strategic Roadmap
PFAS are a class of chemical that have come under increasing scrutiny by the EPA and the public—even comedian and political commentator John Oliver covered them on his show earlier this month. Luckily Jon Schaefer is here to give us a look ahead at what the EPA plans to do in the coming years to deal with this issue. Schaefer impressively distills a 26 page EPA document into a brief bulleted list. This post is far more useful to readers than the EPA’s document. And in case readers of the blog do want the additional details, Schaefer helpfully links to the EPA document as well as two upcoming webinars on this subject. Available at Robinson+Cole’s Environmental Law +.