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Good impending news on NYT legal beat

By Mark Obbie

This morning's reappearance of Adam Liptak's Sidebar column prompted me to wonder anew whether the Times will ever replace Liptak on the national legal-affairs beat. Good news: deputy national editor David Firestone predicts an announced hire is just days away. The new legal reporter will alternate with Liptak in a weekly Sidebar.I've been fretting or grousing about the vacancy since Liptak was named to the Supreme Court beat in May. Back in July, Times bosses made reassuring sounds about filling the void. But so much time elapsed, and the business environment is in such a swoon, that my heart sank this morning when I saw the announcement that Liptak's Sidebar would now be biweekly and focused on the Supreme Court. If the paper now expected its SCOTUS reporter to cover broader issues than just what's on the Court's docket, and if there were no law beat reporter who could focus exclusively on issues and trends, we readers would suffer a net loss. So the Times' commitment to the beat -- "we would never abolish the legal beat, which plays a central role in our national report," Firestone wrote in an e-mail -- is cause for celebration by anyone who cares whether this kind of coverage will have at least one forum -- and a forum in our most important and ambitious newspaper. It's also good news on the SCOTUS front, because it means two things: Liptak's coverage won't be diluted by an overly broad mandate, and his columnist voice will make regular appearances in the paper. Here's what he wrote in an e-mail when I asked how he distinguishes column fodder from ordinary beat stories: He shouldn't be alone if today's piece is any indication. It's a folo from the Exxon Valdez decision in June, about a controversial footnote that raises important questions about the role of academic research in appellate litigation. Sounds dreadful, I know, but give it that Liptakian touch -- smart writing, based on original and deep reporting -- and a dry and technical topic becomes accessible to the educated lay reader.Obviously I'm all lovey-dovey on the Times today. Give it its due. Though it's a tempting target for critical barbs now and then -- simply because it's the biggest target -- on days like this, after months of relentlessly bad news about the business, the Times makes me grateful for its investment in quality.

Full post as published by Lawbeat on November 25, 2008 (boomark / email).