Litigation

Trial Lawyer Listserves

Sometimes in life, we can make the diving catches but we miss the soft ground balls hit right at us. 

If you are reading this, chances want tools to make yourself a better lawyer.  And you are doing creative things to make yourself better.  But if you are not on your local listserv, you are missing one of those easy ground balls. Because I cannot think of a single personal injury lawyer who would not benefit by joining their state trial lawyer listserv.

Listserves are essentially e-mail groups catering to a specific topic or community. A host will maintain the registry of participants by determining what members to accept and decline, and will sometimes assist in regulating content to keep the discussions to fundamental purpose of the list. 

Many listserves useful to plaintiffs' lawyers are those maintained by the American Association for Justice (AAJ, formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, ATLA) and various state trial lawyers associations. AAJ has over 30 listserves based on practice area and member type (for example, auto accident,  products liability, medical malpractice, new lawyers, paralegal members), and more listserves based on 'litigation groups' featuring current litigation topics (for example gadolinium, pain pumps, Yaz, jury bias). State trial lawyers associations have their own topics that cater to the needs of their members. In order to access these listserves, you must be a member of the parent organization and, in some cases, a member of a particular section or group within the organization.  Our listerv in Maryland is absolutely fantastic.  There is no a single lawyer who participates that does not learn something. 

There are typically policies or 'rules of conduct' governing a user's right to participate in the listserve discussions. Frequently they include rules that topics must be relevant to the listserve's purpose, political discussions are forbidden, and listserve discussions are private and cannot be shared with non-members. 

Messages can typically be received in varying formats, including individual messages, a daily digest (one message each day including all messages sent that day) or a daily index (one message each day indicating the subjects of the day's postings). Listserve archives are typically searchable.  

Some people get turned off by lawyers on their listserv because (1) lawyers who are writing to hear themselves talk and (2) subject matter that is nonsensical/irrelevant or otherwise just plain silly.  This is a pandemic listserv problem.  My advice?  Just deal with it.  Because it is worth it.

These listserves allow members to provide information and ask questions to a group of like-minded attorneys in a particular area. It is an invaluable tool for advice and guidance. There is not a single lawyer in the country handling personal injury cases who would not be served by being on its state's trial lawyer association listserv.

Full post as published by Trial Lawyer Resource Center on October 05, 2009 (boomark / email).