The rise and rise of Law 2.0 leads to a name change for the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers (press release)

• There are more than 130 UK law blogs by firms and individual solicitors, barristers, academics, lawtech experts, trainees, pupils and students.

• There are many examples of in-house wiki projects for knowledge sharing and document creation, one of the best publicised being at Allen & Overy.

• Serious attempts are being made to fulfill Richard Susskind's public law wiki dream with the creation of law wikis in specific areas of law such as WikiCrimeLine, Wiki Mental Health and the prospective IP Law Wiki.

• Social networking on Facebook and other networks is seen as a time waster by many firms, yet others are encouraging its use by establishing workplace networks, including Linklaters (with 895 members), Allen & Overy (846), Baker & McKenzie (669) and DLA Piper (623).

• Virtual worlds are places to do real business and real legal problems will arise. Field Fisher Waterhouse established the first virtual UK law firm on Second Life earlier this year.

• DivorceOnline recently became the first firm to market its services with an advert placed on the video sharing website YouTube.

These are just some of the Law 2.0 developments already described and discussed in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers, which is both a traditional print publication and an online Web 2.0 site.

Delia Venables, who started the Newsletter in 2000 and soon won both BIALL's and In Brief magazine's Best Legal Journal awards, believes the need for the Newsletter is as strong as ever:

"Initially, people subscribed to the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers because they wanted to know more about the workings of the internet and in particular what email and the web could do for them. Everyone now accepts that these are part of normal practice and perhaps some people now think that they have 'done' the internet. Yet the pace of change is as fast as ever and Law 2.0 is already transforming legal practice. The Newsletter seeks to explain these developments and the surrounding issues to readers so that they can stay with, and move ahead of, the game."

As well as featuring Law 2.0 articles, the Newsletter will continue to cover all the important and ever-growing legal resources available on the internet, the opportunities for firms and chambers to use the internet to benefit their own practices and the IT developments involved in all these topics.

Notes for editors

The Internet Newsletter for Lawyers & Law 2.0 costs £45+VAT p.a. for six bi-monthly print issues plus full online access. See the Newsletter website here.

Or contact delia@venables.co.uk (01273 472424) or nickholmes@infolaw.co.uk (020 8878 3033).

References:

• The infolaw Lawfinder Blogs catalogue
• Allen & Overy and Web 2.0 press coverage
• WikiCrimeline
• Wiki Mental Health
• IP Law Wiki project

Delia Venables
10 Southway
Lewes
East Sussex BN7 1LU Telephone 01273 472424