Blawg Review #134

(The New York Personal Injury Law Blog presents Blawg Review, a round-up of legal blogs, or “blawgs.” It is hosted each week at a different site.)

The World’s Longest Urinal holds a special place in my heart,” Marty told me. “It’s not that I’m a fan of urinals,” my friend said, “but that trough is symbolic of the massive scale of the New York City Marathon, and the complexity of moving so many people across the landscape of this city.”

Walking among the anxious runners in the staging area for the race at Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, sitting in the shadow of the Verazanno-Narrows Bridge, Marty and I found the anonymous Editor of Blawg Review. It wasn’t too difficult, despite the record 39,085 runners that were assembling there, since he was dressed as Gumby and had painted his face green. He was the gathering point for dozens of law bloggers who had answered his call to meet and run together. With two million spectators and 26.2 miles of roadway ahead of us, toeing the line for the awe inspiring charge across the city would be a once in a lifetime fantasy for many. It would also give us ample time to meet each other, which the Editor was trying to encourage. The video invitation he emailed, seen at left, had been met with an unexpectedly high response.

We had a couple of hours to wait in the cold morning air for the canon that would start the race — no pip-squeak starter’s pistol for this collection — so I eased over to the Jewish services being held. It’s the only minyan on earth where congregants might be found sporting disposable clothing and trash bag ponchos for warmth while wearing promotional Sponge Bob painter’s hats for yarmulkes. I met Peter Lattman and Sarah Waldeck at the close of the service, and the two of them struck up a conversation regarding the Oregon Supreme Court considering the legal issues of circumcision for a 12-year-old boy.

Ambling through Fort Wadsworth, which protected New York for almost 200 years, it was hard not to think of soldiers and war as we waited, especially given Veterans Day. Michael Stevens talked of some that gave their all, and all that gave some, with the Editor in agreement, lest we forget. Deven Desai joined in, bringing the discussion back to its post WWI origins, the munitions and bodies still being dug up in France, the apparently oxymoronic law of war, and the continuing efforts regarding land mines.

We couldn’t talk of past wars, of course, without discussing the present circumstances. Distracting himself from the race he was about to undertake, Devon Chaffee joined us to chat about his trip to Guantanamo Bay and the difficulty tracking military commissions, while Peter Spiro wondered if amending the War Powers Resolution was in the works due to the situation in Iran. Alexandra Lahav sidled up to join the shifting conversation with news of a class action suit against a military contractor for abuse that was allowed to move forward.

As we crossed the grounds of the fort to the bridge our anxiety mounted, as we passed vast quantities of discarded outer clothing. Our own runners joined others in protecting feet, thighs, arms and nipples to prevent damage during the race, with various bits of tape, jelly or clothing. We continued to drink. There were countless discarded water bottles, food refuse, newspapers and blankets, while folks downed coffee and pre-race energy gels.

Out on to the plaza of the Verrazano we finally went with the throngs, 15 minutes before the start. Helicopters circled above in the clear, blue sky looking down on the madness of the mass endeavor. And all I could think, despite the 15-20 mile training runs I had done in preparation for this moment, was “What the hell am I doing here?”

More warm-up clothes were shed, flying this way and that toward the edges of a crowd so massive, it would take half an hour for everyone to clear the start. As the clock ticked down, former BigLaw partner and now New York Road Runners CEO and Race Director Mary Wittenberg presided over the gathering from a small stage. The colors flew, the national anthem was sung, a few words from Wittenberg, and then…

The canon erupted with a deep thud, the voice of Frank Sinatra followed in the air, the crowd surged forward toward the very heart of New York, and the race was afoot. Ascending the roadway of what was once the world‘s longest suspension bridge, we felt it bounce beneath the stampede as photographers in the air and on the giant towers sought to capture one of the planet’s most spectacular movements of humanity.

Nicole Black caught up with me as we crested the Verrazano at the one-mile mark after a 150 foot climb, and we watched fire boats spewing celebratory streams into the air over New York Harbor. Ahead of us and to the left, we looked toward the downtown skyline of Manhattan, and the gaping hole that still exists. The queen of New York blawgers told me that when she ran this race on the first Sunday in November 2001 the ground was still burning. Black went on to tell me of her present homeland security concerns, from the vantage point of an overreaching government. She had done an investigative report on what may be a government trying to profile our kids at a young age and indoctrinate them into accepting governmentally defined ethics.

On the down slope of the bridge, we passed dozens of men who stopped to relieve themselves because they had failed to take aim at the famous half-pipe of piss in the staging area. Feminist Law Prof Ralph Stein pulled up to me to tell me had seen the long lines that stretched for the women at the hundreds of less-than-ideal portable toilets. Many women, he reported, put societal conventions aside to pop a squat near a fence, reminding him of some of the changing societal norms he discussed in A Tale of Two Books.

Marty, who had left my side in the athlete’s village, reappeared to whisper, “Are you sure you want to go down this route, with a feminist law blog and semi-public urination? Mightn’t you be taking a risk?”

Ignoring Marty, I went on to tell Stein how legendary nine-time winner Grete Waitz dispensed with modesty while dealing with mid-race intestinal upset in 1984 to claim a shit-kicking victory here in full view of a national television audience. Said Waitz in her 1997 book On The Run, “When you are running a major race and in the lead, you don’t stop to go to the bathroom.” Since I couldn’t find the quote online, I scanned the pages from her book: Waitz-Book.pdf.

Copyright guru William Patry glided up to me, having just seen me scan and publish here pages of a book, as we came off the bridge and under an overpass. Passing the first cheering spectators yelling for names that so many of us had written on our shirts, he talked to me about issues of potential copyright infringement and the concept of fair use. Interestingly enough, he told me, Sean “Diddy” Combs — who finished this marathon in 2003 while raising $2M for charity — may be a copyright bad boy. Patry had “Not Diddy” scrawled on his shirt to avoid confusion.

Marty slipped back in to quickly chide me, a pattern that would recur throughout the day. “How can you talk copyright when this is not within your area of expertise and you are ignorant of intellectual property issues?”

Into the heart of Brooklyn we went, quickly passing another legend of this race: Zoe Koplowitz and her purple-painted crutches. She went on to finish the race dead last. As she always does. My hero.

Then out on to Fourth Avenue! Long, glorious Fourth Avenue, packed with huddled masses from around the globe breathing free within the magnificent tapestry of New York. We saw signs in languages too numerous to mention, fire truck’s from New York’s Bravest parked on side streets with ladders extended high out over the course, and thousands upon thousands of screaming children stretching out their hands to be slapped by passing runners. Immigration Prof Kevin Johnson moved swiftly through the extraordinary diversity of this crowd that lined both sides of the road, and took the opportunity to let me know that anti-immigration alarmists didn’t fare well this week in elections. “This is a city of a thousand cities,” he said looking out in wonderment. “And this is a nation of a thousand nations. And it’s stretching before our eyes.”

Marty glided up to me again, unseen by others, trying hard to contain himself: “Warning! Warning! Stay away from politics! That’s not a Blawg Review!”

Seeing all the cops on Fourth Avenue, not just supplying security and crowd control, but actively cheering us on, had taken Mark Bennett by surprise. Bennett, who is now live-blogging a Texas murder trial he is defending and seems pretty fast on his feet, was completely unaccustomed to having cops on his side. He told me that, as a matter or practice, he refuses to represent a snitch and help the government. In a heartbeat, other criminal defense lawyers drew near to weigh in on the subject, including Norm Pattis, who couldn’t comprehend that cooperation with the government is wrong, and Scott Greenfield who said he has a position between the two of them.

Coming up to seven miles, Steve Bainbridge and I squeezed down energy gels followed by water and Gatorade chasers handed us by some of the many thousands of volunteers helping out. Marvelling at the landmark Williamsburg Bank tower that had come into view, Brooklyn’s tallest building with a magnificent clock tower, he turned our gathering group to a favorite subject: The marriage of business and law. And with that, he went on to discuss the fifth anniversary of Sarbanes–Oxley, passed in response to corporate and accounting scandals, and the excerpts from his book on the subject he made available. Leon Gettler was listening, and stopped Bainbridge to note that the number of corporate fraud investigations was plummeting. He too had marvelled at the Williamsburg Bank tower, which had started this conversation, and which we were fast approaching. (I didn’t have the heart to tell them the building had gone condo.)

The tower stands at the eight mile mark, and we made a sharp right turn onto the tight confines of Lafayette Street, passing the Brooklyn Academy of Music where mid-race marriages have been known to take place. Then past a high school band playing the tune from Rocky. Like they do every year. Conversation stopped while runners stretched their vocal chords and pumped their hands high, a scene that was repeated again and again for many of the 120 bands that lined the route.

Then on through Bedford-Stuyvesant and into Williamsburg at 10 miles, where the late, legendary Fred Lebow used to scream in Yiddish from the pace vehicle at the black-hatted Hasidim for more enthusiasm, as they looked curiously at the throngs passing through their enclave. His efforts here can still be felt.

In to Greenpoint we went, passing Polish immigrants and gentrifying hipsters that help make Brooklyn one of the great melting pots of the world. As we did, a sweet, smoky and unmistakable smell wafted our way, leading James Peters, who flew here with many other California bloggers to run with us, to pull up by my shoulder. “It’s been a while since I thought about smoking that,” he told me, “But it really isn’t compatible with training for a marathon.” He went on to talk of the case currently before his high court, regarding an employees’ medical marijuana use and the collision of three different laws. Vikram Amar, flashing across the New York blacktop to catch up, gave us an even more extensive view on the medical marijuana issue.

Our band of running attorneys had grown significantly, for the difficulty finding us in the crowd was greatly eased by the Editor’s Gumby costume. Anne Reed turned serious to wonder about another group of attorneys, with far more on their minds than our frivolity — the mass of lawyers that have taken to the streets in Pakistan after the Supreme Court was fired by Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Bob Ambrogi, now joining our group, had no doubt those lawyers are heroes, as did Michael Dorf and Barry Barnett (who wrote an open letter to our own top politicians). Scott Greenfield, who still followed close after the snitch discussion and with boundless energy to discuss more,was reminded of Dick the Butcher’s idea of how to seize power: First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. Since lawyers will never agree on everything, however, David Giacalone took on Greenfield’s interpretation of the (in)famous Shakespearean line. But Giacalaone no doubt endorses the rally planned by New York attorneys in support of our Pakistani brethren of the bar. Jamie Spencer openly wondered how American lawyers would react under such circumstances, but rallies by American lawyers,George Wallace piped in, was not something he expected.

The subject of Pakistan’s attorneys followed us to the halfway mark at the Pulaski Bridge. That bridge led us up and over Newton Creek, the most polluted and noxious waterway in the United States as we crossed from Brooklyn to Queens. This environmental disaster brought Mike Millikin to my side (while testing some new running shoes) to talk of changing times, and discussed the suit Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger brought this week against the Environmental Protection Agency to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

While law and politics occupied much of the running commentary, we psychologically prepared for the 59th Street Bridge that would shortly take us from Queens to Manhattan. Then David Lat sidled up to the group looking for dirt for his legal tabloid. Running in a discreet costume so that he might hopefully sneak a peek under some judicial robes, he was looking for tablawg gossip on a judge that may have played a role in changing his kid’s bar exam grade from fail to pass.

It was also in Queens that a very excited Bill Marler caught up as I grabbed orange slices from bystanders. Marler, a well-travelled expert in food contamination cases, told me how Queens is now home to some of the most exotic restaurants in the city given its huge Asian population. Queens has its own Chinatown, Koreatown and Little India, and the 7 train that runs through the borough is known locally as The Orient Express. We talked of fueling up for the race and our pre-race meals (peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip sandwich for me). But what he really wanted to know as we turned back to the subject of law, and couldn’t yet figure out, was why there was such an upsurge in eColi contamination in the beef industry this year.

We hit the 59th Street bridge just past 15 miles, and talk around us slowed. We heard the sounds of our feet hitting the asphalt and our labored breathing as we climbed the structure, and little else. Except that due to the absence of crowds here, I could overhear newlywed Peter Lattman, now riding in the press truck with his colleague Amir Efrati because he’s too tuckered to run, talking about the marathon running prosecutor of Olympic track start Marion Jones. While watching us huff and puff up the bridge, he comfortably went on to discuss a different marathon: The run by Miami defense lawyer and sole practitioner Rick Diaz from the local courthouse to Washington to argue before the Supreme Court on a high-profile Internet pornography case, holding on to it despite the efforts of some in BigLaw to snatch it away. But a little guy doesn’t make it to the big leagues without criticism. Indefatigable Eugene Volokh was able to carry on the conversation notwithstanding the hill, and told us he was less than enthused about Diaz’s brief. Carolyn Elefant, while not keen on talking through the climb, wanted to make sure we heard her own thoughts on a fellow solo heading to the Supremes and Volokh’s criticisms.

Lyle Denniston, who did a post-race analysis of Diaz’s case, caught his breath as we hit the bridge summit and gazed out at the midtown Manhattan skyline spread before us. He wanted to talk to me about security, and as a veteran of this race, he knew this spot would be the last quiet one for many miles. Each of us knew that despite the best efforts of the city for this annual stampede, the race is really unsecurable. This concern turned to guns and brought up a Second Amendment case that the Supreme Court considered this week, taking on a subject it had not broached in seven decades: Is the right to bear arms a personal right, or a collective one belonging only to a well organized militia? The ramifications, in terms of the number of guns on the street, are enormous.

Coming down the other side of the bridge we started to hear the buzz. Louder and louder. Then down off the ramp it turned into a roar!

Into the teeth of a thundering crowd stacked 5-10 deep we ran, swooping through a 270 degree turn that took us under the bridge and out onto the broad expanse we call First Avenue. It has been described as the greatest thrill any recreational athlete will ever experience.

Now who could think of law at a time like this? Not with the voices of a million people screaming, bouncing off the canyon-like wall of condos and co-ops that line the boulevard. But it was even better than you might imagine, for the leaders were long gone. The crowd wasn’t there for them, but for us. Their friends. Their neighbors. And complete strangers.

Elite athletes have been known to burn out on this 3+ mile strip due to the crowds, exhausting themselves well before the finish, across this great stage that one writer called a magnificent piece of urban theatre. Conversation with other bloggers was virtually impossible as we scanned the delirious multitudes waving signs, shouting encouragement, hanging from balconies and open windows, or comfortably quaffing beer at open air cafes.

David Giacalone found me again in the crowd, this to time to remind me that themed blawg reviews tend to be “annoying, strained and distracting.” “Too late,” I shouted back. “I’m having way too much fun, and besides, I’m on a roll.”

The roll sloweda bit though, as we entered Spanish Harlem at mile 19 on the upper reaches of First Avenue. Moving through the barrio, Colin Samuels excitedly told me of the Stars Wars storm trooper he passed, snapping the picture at left on the camera he carried during the race. “I can’t believe it!” he shouted at me. “I just blogged about him in that famous Star Wars bar scene in, How is open software different from the Mos Eisley cantina?” I confessed it was a question I never asked myself, though the more technologically inclined may wonder, as I waved to a group of nuns cheering us on.

The Willis Avenue Bridge leading in to the Bronx is the 20 mile mark. The Wall. That special point in time where the body starts to ask blunt and impolite questions about what, exactly, the brain is asking it to do. Marty returned to tell me that the conversation turned ugly.

“You didn’t think I would miss this, did you?” It was Howard Wasserman from the Sports Law Blog, and he was looking a lot better than I felt as we crossed over the electronic mats at 20 that were monitoring our race. With each runner having a radio frequency ID tag tied to their shoes, Wasserman told me as he continued the technology discussion, we were not only being tracked every few miles, but our times were being posted live on the web and emailed to spectators looking for particular runners. “And most importantly,” he said, “it makes it vastly more difficult for a cheater like Rose Ruiz to skip part of the race.” But once on the subject of sports cheating, he would not let go, and we turned to football and the potential for the currently undefeated New England Patriots having an asterisk next to their names after being busted for cheating.

“Back in the day Rosie cheated, the business of sports wasn’t nearly as big as today.” Mark, from the SportsBiz blog had joined us, but he wanted to talk horse racing, not human, as we moved through the south Bronx. As I squished another gel down the pipe, hoping to fend off bonking, Mark went on to describe how Curlin, winner of the 2007 Preakness and Breaders Cup Classic, found his way into a scandal involving lawyers, drugs and money that may put him into an extraordinary public auction.

And then, to no one’s surprise, we saw Monica Bay in the Bronx, sign in one hand, beer in the other, ball cap on head and sitting in seats she dragged to the course, hooting and hollering. Seeing our group, she lept up to discuss the excitement of the race and to offer much-needed encouragement, running a short distance with us (without spilling) to contrast our race to the bland, bland, bland book she just reviewed from the high-profile president of Hearst magazines. Before heading back to her cozy seats she lied like hell and told us we looked great, and that the finish was near.

Up and over the Madison Avenue Bridge we headed back into Manhatten and Harlem as we hit the 21 mile mark. First we heard and then we saw the sounds of gospel, with a robed church choir singing and swinging on church steps, inspiring us forward against the growing revolt in our legs. Harlem brought thoughts of civil rights battles of years gone by. Kia Franklin didn’t want to talk of the past though, but of the present, and the compromises just made in Congress with respect to civil rights for gays and lesbians in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Brooklyn Representative Yvette Clarke, running with us now, voted no on the controversial and deeply emotional measure and told us why. Quizlaw’s Dustin then appeared and wondered if this was a good time to discuss Out Magazine’s poll that Bill O’Reilly was the gayest ever. (Note to Dustin: Work on your timing.)

Racing down Fifth, and at this point “racing” is a somewhat flexible word, we passed the 22 mile mark hitting Museum Mile, with its remarkable collection of nine different institutions. We passed Mount Sinai Hospital where my kids were born, and where I stopped briefly for a kiss from my wife. She had been watching the race and talking with Evan Schaeffer as he reminisced about Norman Mailer, who had just passed away inside Mount Sinai. Passing the hospital was just the excuse that blogging newcomer Bob Wachter needed to pull up next to me to discuss medical errors becoming a crime.

And the talk of medicine also brought up the $4.85B settlement with Merck regarding Vioxx with payments estimated at $150K – 200K per person. Byron Stier, a mass tort expert, who by the look on his face at the time was clearly going to be needing his own painkillers the next day, thought the tort system worked fairly well for the Vioxx litigation. He ran with his fellow mass tort proffessor Howard Erichson, who analyzed for me the benefits of the settlement to all of the parties.

Walter Olson and Ted Frank were now in the thick of it, dressed together in matching black suits, hats, sideburns and sunglasses, doing their best to deal with the crowds from the running explosion. “We’re on a mission to blawg,” Frank explained, and he launched into his own analysis of the Vioxx settlement, calling it extortionate. My own unanswered question is whether those with the biggest claims and the strongest liability will agree to settle and are included in that $4.85B, or will they continue on to verdict.

“We’re on a mission to blawg?!?” Dustin was still with me. “Did Ted Frank really say that? “Now hugging,” he said, “that can be funny.” Kevin Underhill, not to be outclowned by the likes of Dustin, slipped in between runners to catch my ear and go for the comedy kill with a lawsuit about a dancing dentist that drilled his way into trouble. Jerry Buchmeyer, with a racing bib pinned to his judicial robes, called each of the above amateurs. “Read this excerpt from a will,” he said, “and get back to me.” And then (out of nowhere!) Deepak Gupta from Public Citizen comes racing up to present a video of Stephen Colbert lifting the veil on a faux-consumer rights advocate that is actually a front for industry. “Now that’s my idea of funny,” he said as he ran though a water stop grabbing fluids, but getting a third up his nose.

Our exhaustion is met with some welcome relief when we find the Hash House Hariers on Fifth Avenue. The hashers, a drinking club with a running problem, insist we stop for a beer. Who could refuse? But when some in our group didn’t drink fast enough, they started singing, in words that made the parents of small children shudder.

Now gently numbed, we headed into Central Park where the road twisted and turned through the rolling hills and changing leaves of Olmstead and Vaux’s masterful park creation. The shade of the trees, the super oxygenated air of the park, the shortening course and the tight roadway that brought the crowd in close, inspired us (along with the beer) against the growing pain in the quads that we tried to fend off. We caught our second wind in the park, with the help of a sign in the crowd.

Eyeballing that sign, Michael Dorf pulled up beside me to discuss the First Amendment issues of public signs, not in the fun context of a marathon, but in the harsh context of vile protests at a funeral and an historic jury verdict. Eugene Volokh joined us again, this time to discuss the First Amendment coming into conflict with the act of intentionally inflicting emotional distress.

“Damn the Queen!” The voice of Brit Tim Kevan caught me by surprise as we hit the 25 mile mark. He explained that the marathon was lengthened from 24.85 miles (40,000 meters) at the 1896 Olympics in Greece to 26.2 miles in London in 1908 so that the race could finish for the royal family in front of their viewing box. If not for them, he said, we would now be sipping tea. Having caught my ear, he gives me a wrap up of recent British lawsuits.

Hearing a discussion of the original length of the race as we headed south past the Central Park Zoo, academics David Strauss and Jack Balkin started debating originalism in the constitution. I, on the other hand, barely able to do simple math to time my splits and badly overheating, grabbed water to toss over my head, only to find I had stupidly dumped Gatorade.

“How the hell do those guys do that?” Marty was back. “And why aren’t those two wiped out by now?”

“How the hell do you guys do that?” I demanded. “I’m wiped.” Strauss and Balkin looked sheepish, but confided they had just jumped into the race a mile back. They were heading to the final quarter-mile where they will act, as they do each year, as volunteer bandit-catchers to pull rogue runners off the course. “I just hope I don’t have to tackle anyone this year,” Balkin remarked.

Leaving the park near the Plaza Hotel we turned west on Central Park South, bracing ourselves for an almost demonic fact that few discuss: The road that stretched to Columbus Circle past the grand hotels on the park’s southern border is a long, subtle uphill in the 26th mile that can be a misery. It was for Jonathan Adler, who came to New York running on a dream, but who was now running on empty, and in an almost psychedelic state of mind from dehydration unable to tell heaven from hell or blue skies from pain.

Pushing up toward the new Time Warner Center and Columbus Circle — past the spot where Mexico’s “Wrong Way” Silva inadvertently turned off the course in 1994 a half-mile from the finish, then recovered to win by two seconds — the course turned sharply right back into Central Park.

Our last turn! The course here is but a single lane through a tunnel of trees. And from that tunnel we emerged into the park and the waiting crowds, in our own minds like Olympians entering the stadium.

And out onto West Drive! The final approach. The distance now marked in yards … 300 … 200 … 100. The finish line bleachers packed. A banner over the finish line. A last blast of crowds screaming its exhortations, for a final uphill surge to the clock.

Before crossing we tossed a salute to Fred Lebow, who ran this race in 1992 while his brain cancer was in remission. He was standing by the finish waiting for us, as if frozen in bronze.

Exhaustion and exhultation. Euphoria and pain. Undisguised raw emotions. Runners poured across the line into the finishing chute.

In the finish area, our pace now a shuffle, Jacob Goldstein of the WSJ Health Blog discussed with Jake Young his interview with the medical director of the race, as he volunteeed his services in part of the largest medical team ever assembled for an athletic event. Young listened while watching finishers stream across the line. He talked of the tragedy of Olympic hopeful Ryan Shay the day before, and the 5.5 mile memorial run just set up in his honor with cardiologist Dr. Wes, who had his own thoughts on the athlete’s sudden death.

The crinkling sound of heat shields. The ringing sound of finishers’ medals. The sound of discarded water bottles kicked and rolling. Food. Our hands quickly filled with essential items geared toward health and recovery.

Walking toward the baggage claim area, Dan Solove approached to talk about the fictions in this post. “You know,” he said, “there are some who might think your recitation of today’s events actually held some morsels of truth.” Having started his book, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, I told him I understood the problem of false statements on the web and their lingering effects, but that even lawyers have a sense of humor. Or at least I hoped so. And besides, I told him, not all of it was fiction. (Nevertheless, the issues of rumor and gossip were a good enough reason to edit out his hockin’ a loogie at mile 21 that hit my shoes.)

The Editor was the only one left with me as we baby-stepped the road north through the park into the world’s largest locker room, which stretched almost two miles in order to hold the moving swell of humanity. His face was smeared with Gumby green paint that ran and mixed both with sticky lime green Gatorade and with his own accumulated body salts, a nightmarish look that was lit up by the sun’s reflection off his heat shield. But his eyes were electric and ecstatic and shone through the gloppy mess, giving the volunteering medical staff all the information they really needed about his health. He was delighted not only with the run, but because so many law bloggers were able to meet in person.

As we stripped out of sweat-soaked running gear into dry clothes and headed out to Central Park West, where family reunions take place, he was curious as to how I would put together this week’s review of the best of the blawgosphere. He wanted to know if I would devote the review to personal injury law. My mind was a blur given all I had seen and heard during the day, but I was clear that my review theme would be different: If newcomers wanted to know what I usually write about, they could peruse some of the popular posts from the last year at the New York Personal Injury Blog.

Just before parting ways I noted an odd grin on his face, not quite evil but certainly mysterious. “You know,” he told me, “I emailed that inspirational video you used at the top of this review to get people to show up. But if they saw this other one on the left, they might not have shown up.” I told him I would check it out tomorrow.

Marty was back again, not to chastise me thank goodness, but to reassure as I looked for my wife in the reunion area. He helped as I tried to figure out how to put the review together. “You’re a trial lawyer,” he whispered. “You should know how to tell a story.”

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(Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.)

(Eric Turkewitz is a personal injury attorney in New York)

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posted by [email protected] (Rush Nigut) @ February 17, 2008 11:35 PM

 

out and about
it’s been an interesting week for the editor of blawg review, who, like many bloggers, doesn’t get away from the computer and out into the real world as often as he should. invited by alm’s jill windwer, david snow, and john bringardner …

posted by Editor @ February 08, 2008 7:45 PM

 

mailbag #080122
21803632 just sent february ltn to bed, now dealin’ with the flurry of activity before legaltech new york, but want to play catch-up with da ol’ in-box: • kudos to susman godfrey, one of four law firms selected by the national law …

posted by Monica Bay @ January 23, 2008 4:35 PM

 

blawg review themes
blawg review #143 is a special presentation on public defender stuff for martin luther king, jr. day. it’s always interesting when our hosts are inspired to do something special for blawg review. if anyone’s interested in hosting a …

posted by Editor @ January 21, 2008 12:20 AM

 

thank-you notes
thank_you_304120801_850b75239b_m if you’re not quick with thank-you notes, they start to stack up. so i can’t delay any further in thanking: 1. blawg review’s wonderful ed. — for letting me host blawg review last year at all, …

posted by Anne Reed @ January 16, 2008 11:09 PM

 

blawg review of the year
following the inferno-themed blawg review #35, named blawg review of the year 2005, and purgatorio-themed blawg review #86 that was blawg review of the year 2006, the divine comedy’s third cantica, paradiso, provided the theme for blawg …

posted by Editor @ January 15, 2008 5:16 AM

 

Blawg Review Nominations
As today was my first time ever hosting Blawg Review, I didn’t realize I was eligible to vote until the illustrious Ed. (editor) said I was. Given how much time I put into Blawg Review #142 I can now appreciate that which I didn’t fully …

posted by Susan Cartier Liebel, Esq. @ January 14, 2008 9:08 PM

 

blawg review of the year nominations
having had the pleasure of hosting an edition of blawg review, i have been invited by the mysterious and anonymous editor of blawg review to nominate my own choices for blawg review of the year 2007. i enjoy reading blawg reviews and …

posted by charonqc @ January 14, 2008 6:19 AM

 

blawg review of the year nominations and blawg review #141
i enjoyed my first opportunity to host blawg review (a weekly review of the best of the legal blog world hosted by a different blog each week) — click here for my injunction-themed review. having hosted a 2007 review gives me the …

posted by [email protected] (R. David Donoghue) @ January 07, 2008 10:22 AM

 

blawg review nominations
offered in response to the anonymous editor’s call for nominations, the following five posts are, in my humble opinion, the best of the best in what was an outstanding year of blawg reviews: #89 (blawg review) and #127 (deliberations) …

posted by Colin Samuels @ January 04, 2008 11:45 AM

 

blawg review nominations
shirley_and_walt_and_oscars. shirley temple: golly gee, mr. disney! what are all these little statues for? walt disney: well first, shirley, i need to ask you politely to take your dimpled mitts off of that large statue, because that …

posted by George Wallace @ December 31, 2007 12:17 PM

 

ed’s blawg review nominations
it’s that time of year when law bloggers wonder which issue of blawg review will receive the honor of being named blawg review of the year. and, this year, who gets this recognition will be determined not by the editor but by the …

posted by Editor @ December 31, 2007 12:49 AM

 

blawg review nominations
what is a blawg review? every week the editor of blawg review selects one blogger “host” to cull thorough all of the week’s law blog shark jawing. the host then selects the most interesting posts and, hopefully, links to them, …

posted by Brett Trout @ December 30, 2007 3:07 PM

 

wac?’s blawg review nominations
for blawg review of the year, they are #’s 94, 102, 116, 127, 134, 137. in a short time, blawg review has emerged as a progressive, straight-up phenom. bravo to all hosts–getting better and better–and to that hard-working ed. guy, …

posted by JD Hull @ December 30, 2007 1:09 PM

 

blawg review nominations
blawg review nominations 2007 blawg review, acknowledged recently by the american bar association as one of the top 100 law blogs, is unique among blogs. hosted each week by a different legal blog, no better source exists for current …

posted by Diane Levin @ December 29, 2007 3:41 PM

 

blawg review nominations
blawg review nominations 2007 blawg review, acknowledged recently by the american bar association as one of the top 100 law blogs, is unique among blogs. hosted each week by a different legal blog, no better source exists for current …

posted by Diane Levin @ December 29, 2007 3:41 PM

 

Blawg Review Award Nomination Recommendations Announced in Second Life
On behalf of the anonymous editor of Blawg Review, I am pleased to pass along the following 2007 Blawg Review Award nomination recommendations. These nomination recommendations (all of which are sites that hosted Blawg Review at some …

posted by Benjamin Duranske @ December 27, 2007 11:28 PM

 

mailbag #112007
21147622 we open the inbox and find a variety of items: • the ever-prolific mark reichenbach blogs in on the mark about the georgetown ediscovery institute sessions. a highlight of the meetings, he says, was the closing roundtable: …

posted by Monica Bay @ November 20, 2007 2:57 PM

 

marathon edition of blawg review a winner
marathon edition of blawg review runners and running have inspired poetry and literature, art and film. this week it serves as the inspiration for the magnificently marathon-themed blawg review #134, hosted by eric turkewitz at new york …

posted by Diane Levin @ November 15, 2007 3:31 PM

 

this week’s business reading list
we have several blog roundups to point you to this week: dawn rivers baker hosts this week’s carnival of small business issues: the microbusiness edition. dawn is an excellent commentator on microbusiness issues and every one of the …

posted by Anita Campbell @ November 14, 2007 3:07 AM

 

you won’t want to rosie ruiz this one
i was glad to have the holiday yesterday to peruse this week’s blawg review #134 at leisure. hosted by eric turkewitz, this edition is an instant classic. turkewitz’ theme — the new york city marathon — is as well-integrated into the …

posted by Colin Samuels @ November 13, 2007 11:30 AM

 

november 13 roundup
ethical questions for vioxx lawyers [wsj law blog] and who’s going to make what? [same; more from ted at pol]. american lawyers shouldn’t get all self-congratulatory about the courage shown by their pakistani counterparts [giacalone; …

posted by @ November 13, 2007 12:26 AM

 

band advocates on the run
you run 26 miles, and what do you get? you get eric turkewitz and his epic marathon-themed take on blawg review #134, at new york personal injury law blog. stock up on fluids, set aside the necessary time for training and recovery, …

posted by George Wallace @ November 12, 2007 11:46 AM

 

blawg review #134…
…is a real marathon, and it’s up at the new york personal injury law blog.

posted by Holden Oliver @ November 12, 2007 8:44 AM

 

an entertaining blawg review . . . blawg review #134 is the …
an entertaining blawg review . . . blawg review #134 is the creation of eric turkewitz at the new york personal injury law blog. as another weblogger commented, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

posted by Evan Schaeffer @ November 12, 2007 8:11 AM

 

blawg review #134
blawg review #134 is now available at the new york personal injury law blog.

posted by David Fischer @ November 12, 2007 7:09 AM

 

blawg review marathon
blawg review #134 is being run this week by eric turkewitz at the new york personal injury law blog. you won’t want to miss this one — it’s a marathon, not a sprint. eric turkewitz tells me that the inspiration for his new york …

posted by Editor @ November 12, 2007 1:56 AM

 

veterans day: memory, gratitude, responsibility
blawg review has posted its customary remembrance of veterans day (”lest we forget,” nov. 11, 2007) — “to thank those who served and honor those who gave so much on our behalf.” (and see, “americans gather to mark veterans day,” npr, …

posted by David Giacalone @ November 11, 2007 11:49 PM