For four years Blawg Review has given a rotating cast of legal bloggers the chance to examine the prior week in blogging as they saw it. The results have beeen mixed, but generally interesting. Of course, in my view, there have been times when the secretive editor of BR has committed errors in judgment. (In fact, I'm not even sure that Anon. Ed. has been the same person all four years.) It was not that long ago I swore never to read or even mention Blawg Review ever again due to Ed's bad judgment.

But it is amazing what a difference a true professional can make. Jordan Furlong is a professional writer and editor. His coverage of the blogosphere in Blawg Review #207 in his homage-to-newspaper style shows there is still life in the Blawg Review concept, even after four years. Blawg Review no long holds the place it once did as the keeper of the legal blogosphere. But Jordan Furlong does this week in law-related blogging proud on his Law21 blog. If you looked hard and worked at it, there was a huge amount of law-related blogging activity to be chronicled. Some American readers may not appreciate everything this Canadian journalist features and says. But you won't be able to read Blawg Review #207 without pausing to think — and click on some of the featured links to read the full posts. Great job, Jordan.

Twitter use was very evident at the recent ABA TECHSHOW. Tne Oklahoma Bar Association is now using Twitter. A lot of lawyers are using Twitter and a lot of lawyers are wondering if they should try Twitter.

So  we decided to do a pair of web-only special feature articles for the OBA. Mine is called Twitter: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and our new OBA Web Services Coordinator Morgan W. Estes wrote The OBA’s on Twitter!

Read our articles at this link. And please consider passing the link on to someone you know who could use an explanation of Twitter with some links to explore.

Richard Susskind's keynote address at ABA TECHSHOW 2009 was fabulous. I'm sure many who live blogged or live Tweeting during it agreed, but I wanted to pass along my thoughts before reading theirs. As any of you know, Susskind has written several books about the legal profession, including the most recent, The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services. (More details on book here.) I understand that the video of this presentation will be posted to the TECHSHOW website in a few days or weeks and I'll note it here when it is.

His observations were very insightful and interesting. For example, he notes that business clients feel their lawyers are quite good at reacting to situations. But the clients wish there was more in the way of proactive legal services. Prevailing in litigation is good, but avoiding it is even better. Or, as Susskind put it, they would rather have a fence at the top of the cliff than great ambulance service at the bottom. (Of course, we all know that clients are more prone to contact their law firms when an ambulance is required rather than fence bulding.)

Even after the world economy rights itself, he believes there will be continued pressure of clients wanting more legal services for less money. One of his long-held beliefs is the huge impact that emerging technologies will have on the legal profession. Technology advances can be sustaining or disruptive. Many lawyers seem to think that the technology changes have peaked, and business will go on as before. Most of us attending ABA TECHSHOW this week agree with Susskind that there is more disruption ahead.

As Allison Shields and I were discussing after his speech, many have criticized his book without reading it. I'd encourage you to buy the book and read it. Of course, if you are prone to worry, reading it before bedtime might not be the right idea.

UPDATED to include Dennis Kennedy's live blogging notes from the program.

Hat's off to the ABA for posting its Economic Recovery Resources page. This is especially timely as I was reading on a blog yesterday a claim that the ABA wasn't doing much to help lawyers in troubled times. It has features on job searching, career transitioning, professional development, stress management and more. Considering my area of interest, I urge you to check out the practice management section. There are links to many really good articles on practice management. It is like the greatest hits on practice management culled from several ABA publications. Regular readers of my blog have seen several of these. But whether you are experiencing the downturn directly or not, an hour spent reading these articles will give you a lot of great ideas to improve your practice.

"Can I put that on your card?" is the title of the first edition of my new column in Lawyers USA. I believe that most law firms that do not accept credit cards should take steps to do so and I hope this column makes that case. I also include a few ideas about how law firms can benefit from using pre-authorization agreements. Don't look for this column every month, however. We are working on a quarterly schedule for the present.

I try to bring you lots of different tips to allow you to practice law better. But it is rare that I get to pass along so many tips at one time. That is because the March 2009 edition of Law Practice Magazine is once again a technology tips theme issue.LPM Tech Tips Cover 

The idea is to promote ABA TECHSHOW. The result is a great collection of tips on everything from e-discovery to paperless practice to expanding your web presence to easy online collaboration.

You really don't want to miss this issue of Law Practice Magazine. To make sure you don't miss future useful issues, you can either join the ABA Law Practice Management Section if you are an ABA member or subscribe to Law Practice magazine if you are not.

Meanwhile, enjoy the great content in the online version of  the magazine.

There is a lot of buzz about the latest Google offering, Google Voice. I was pretty excited when I heard that it was going to offer free transcription of voicemail into text. How many times are you in a situation where you can't take a call or listen to a voice mail, but you could surreptitiously look at a text message or e-mail on the phone? Maybe you could even text instructions to your staff like "Call Mr. Smith. Calm him down. Tell him I am in depo and get # where he will be at 6 pm for me to call."

But then I read David Pogue's New York Times column, One Number to Ring Them All.  I hadn't subscribed to GrandCentral before Google bought it and closed it off for new sign-ups. Pogue gives us the history of GrandCentral and weaves it together with the features of the new GoogleVoice to make the case that this could be the new phone service "killer app." Not only is there voicemail to text, but it includes free conference calls, cheap international calls and organization and retention of text messages. (More places for lawyers to look for Electronically Stored Information [ESI].) I know there are some tense and serious meetings this week at other companies that are offering service in this space. I also know some privacy advocates won't be happy with this development. But, for me, I'm just waiting for the folks at Google to do final beta tweaking with the Grand Central users and open Google Voice up to the rest of us.

Larry Bodine is well-known in the legal marketing field. His blog is a great source of marketing information. Just scroll down and see his posts on the Yellow Pages, Twitter, controversial Internet marketing and a guest post on marketing a small firm on a shoestring budget. If you have never visited the blog before, check out the past posts in the archives section. Marketing is an activity that must continue on a regular, consistent basis. It is always good to pick up pointers. So check out the Larry Bodine LawMarketing Blog, this week's Website of the Week.