Web logs ("blogs") are transforming much of American society, including government, politics, journalism, and business. In the past few years, blogs have begun to affect the delivery of legal education, the production and dissemination of legal scholarship, and the practice of law. We are delighted that over twenty of the nation’s leading law professor bloggers have agreed to join with us for the first scholarly conference on the impact of blogs on the legal academy.

This symposium is free and open to the public.

The conference's papers are available via the Social Science Research Network by visiting their special page for the bloggership conference.

Podcasts from the event are available for download at AudioBerkman.

Session 1: Law Blogs as Legal Scholarship

Session 2: The Role of the Law Professor Blogger

Session 3: Law Blogs and the First Amendment

Session 4: The Many Faces of Law Professor Blogs

Symposium events will take place in:

Ames Courtroom
Austin Hall
Harvard Law School
1515 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138

Map of the Harvard Law School campus
Directions to Harvard Law School

The Bloggership symposium is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Microsoft Corporation.

Bloggership:
How Blogs Are Transforming Legal Scholarship

April 28, 2006

8:30 - 8:40 a.m.: Welcome: John Palfrey
(Executive Director, The Berkman Center for Internet & Society)


8:40 - 9:00 a.m.: Introduction: Paul Caron
(Cincinnati; Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Law Professor Blogs Network)


9:00 - 10:30 a.m.: Law Blogs as Legal Scholarship

Papers

• Doug Berman (Ohio State; Sentencing Law and Policy): Scholarship in Action: The Power, Possibilities, and Pitfalls for Law Professor Blogs
• Larry Solum (Illinois; Legal Theory Blog): Blogging and the Transformation of Legal Scholarship
• Kate Litvak (Texas): Blog as a Bugged Water Cooler
  

• Paul Butler (George Washington; BlackProf)
• Jim Lindgren (Northwestern; The Volokh Conspiracy)
• Ellen Podgor (Stetson; White Collar Crime Prof Blog)

11:00 - 12:30 p.m.: The Role of the Law Professor Blogger

Papers

• Gail Heriot (San Diego; The Right Coast): Are Modern Bloggers Following in the Footsteps of Publius? (And Other Musings on Blogging by Legal Scholars...)
• Orin Kerr (George Washington; The Volokh Conspiracy): Blogs and the Legal Academy 
• Gordon Smith (Wisconsin; Conglomerate): Bit By Bit: A Case Study of Bloggership

Commentators

• Randy Barnett (Boston University; The Volokh Conspiracy)
• Michael Froomkin (Miami; Discourse.net)

12:30 - 2:00 p.m.: Lunch


2:00 - 3:30 p.m.: Law Blogs and the First Amendment

Papers

• Glenn Reynolds (Tennessee; InstaPundit): Libel in the Blogosphere: Some Preliminary Thoughts
• Eugene Volokh (UCLA; The Volokh Conspiracy): Extraconstitutional Speech Protections: Is Blogging Covered? 
• Eric Goldman (Marquette; Technology & Marketing Law Blog): Joint and Guest Blogger Arrangements

Commentators

• Betsy Malloy (Cincinnati; Health Law Prof Blog)
• Dan Solove (George Washington; Concurring Opinions)

3:45 - 5:15 p.m.: The Many Faces of Law Professor Blogs

Papers

• Larry Ribstein (Illinois; Ideoblog): The Public Face of Scholarship 
• Ann Althouse (Wisconsin; Althouse): Why a Narrowly Defined Legal Scholarship Blog Is Not What I Want: An Argument in Pseudo-Blog Form 
• Christine Hurt (Illinois; Conglomerate) & Tung Yin (Iowa; The Yin Blog): Blogging While Untenured and Other Extreme Sports

Commentators

• Howard Bashman (How Appealing)
• Peter Lattman (Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog)