Comprehensive new blawg looks very promising

It has come to my attention (unoriginal use of passive voice to avoid disclosing source) that Walter Olson of Overlawyered.com is involved in a new blawg, PointofLaw.com, that describes itself as "a web magazine sponsored by the Manhattan Institute that brings together information and opinion on the U.S. litigation system."

PointofLaw looks to be a place for mutual cross-linking with this blawg. Walter and I have previously exchanged some emails; the new blawg has a sub-blawg for employment law, the latest post of which references my recent posts on the Suder case. Somewhat incestuous perhaps, all this cross-linking, but it helps get the word out on the most interesting developments, as I'm sure we have different audiences.

I recommend Walter's book, The Excuse Factory, as a look at the worst of modern employment law.

Check out the new blawg's "masthead" for the very distinguished list of contributors.

I'm highly honored to have a place on their blogroll -- especially since I'm a mere practicing attorney toiling in near-anonymity -- and hope to earn a continued place there.

The new blawg has wise words on a number of other subjects. Since we've been whining just a bit about class actions lately on the occasion of the Wal-Mart news, you may wish to read this concise little commentary on what is wrong with class actions, by James R. Copland. My favorite tidbit comes at the end:

The expense of litigating the claim-and the high verdict expected in the unlikely event of loss-gave the plaintiffs' attorneys a very strong hand despite their weak legal position. In such a context did a Florida judge reject a securities class action settlement last year by comparing the lawyers in that case to " 'squeegee boys' who . . . run up to a stopped car, splash soapy water on its perfectly clean windshield and expect payment for the uninvited service of wiping it off."

A system that permits the combination of many claims with little attorney oversight, to be litigated in the friendliest of jurisdictions in the nation, is obviously a system that needs some reform. Because class action litigation remains necessary for the reasons described at the outset, the project of responsible reform is to maintain some ability to aggregate and resolve multiple small claims while ameliorating the abuses inherent in the process. Read more

Amen to that!