Category — 2007 Rodneys

Public defenders are generally a much maligned lot. We’re called pretenders; people constantly ask us how we can represent criminals and no one really thinks we’re competent. Much of this is reflected in the titles of the blogs that public defenders write. Here we ask you to choose the best one. Which blog title best reflects what it is to be a public defender.

• Fight ‘Em ‘Til We Can’t
• Indignant Indigent
• I Defend The Accused
• Doubtslinger
• ???

Note: There are several other blogs that would make this list but for the fact that they haven’t posted in months: Defending Those People, Gideon’s Guardians, Kindness and Justice, Public Pretender.

There are several different kinds of blogs: classic weblogs with mostly links, blogs with a smattering of links and short posts, blogs with just short posts and blogs with few but long posts. Most public defender blogs fall into the last two categories, so this award is for those that take the time out of their busy schedules to write about their work and their lives. Here are some to peruse while you consider whom to nominate:

• Woman of the Law: Last year’s runner-up, her posts are always descriptive, informative and evocative.
• Scoplaw: His posts are often long, but very entertaining - and since he is a poet - well written.
• Public Defender Dude: He doesn’t write often (but two posts this week! Keep those fingers crossed), but when he does, watch out! His posts are practically a tour de force.
• The Imbroglio: This is yet another public defender who has a way with words, entertainingly describing not only his job, but the books he reads and the movies he watches.
• Woman in Black: I’ll let TI describe her - “Her posts are almost always both entertaining and informative, w/a good mix of personal and professional content that keeps readers interested and also gives them lots to think about for their own lives and practice. She has a sort of bits and pieces style such that one post tends to cover 3 to 4 or more disparate topics. It’s a little stream of consciousness, a little bit diary, and a lot of good. Highly recommended!”

Nominate away!

On the flip side, we have the pd blogs that are devoted to the discussion of the job and the law. These too, deserve recognition. Here are some of the nominees in this category:

• Arbitrary and Capricious: needs no introduction
• Capital Defense Weekly: same as above
• Malum In Se: a new entrant in this category, but almost all of his posts are about work, written in a very thoughtful and informative manner.
• ???
• ???

So many other choices that I couldn’t narrow down. A category like this needs input from readers. Which do you think is the best blog that deals with the law? If it isn’t on the list already, nominate it!

While there is a long list of pd blogs in the blog guide, there is an equally long list of blogs authored by pds that do not deal with their job. Despite that, since the authors are fellow public defenders, we here at PD Stuff feel that they too deserve some recognition. So here are some of the nominees for Best Blog by a PD that has nothing to do with the job:

• The Rural Bus Route is written by Jay, a public defender in Dickinson, North Dakota. The blog features a lot of photographs and the first post was February 15, 2006.
• Seth Abramson publishes The Suburban Ecstacies. Seth describes himself as “A fourth-year attorney with the New Hampshire Public Defender, one-time political analyst for Air America Radio, and the co-founder/poetry editor of The New Hampshire Review.” A lot of the posts are about poetry and music, with doses of law and politics thrown in on occasion, and all of the links on the sidebar are poets, books and music. Seth’s first post was May 20, 2005 and is called A Brief History of the Ecstatic.
• Swan Lake Samba Girl is written by Tonya Plank, an appellate PD in New York City. Tonya has a lot of information about herself in “My Biography” and even has an excerpt from her novel Swallow. She rifts on a variety of cultural and other issues and occasionally writes about the job, but describes the blog as “Tonya’s dance blog.”
• Dream Antilles is the blog of part-time public defender David Seth Michaels. The title of the blog is also the title of his book by the same name, which he describes as a “magical, utopian novel.”
• ???

Add your nominees in the comments!

If you’re a public defender blogger and want to show your love for The Rodneys, here’s a little badge that you can proudly display on your blog. Just right click and save the image.

If you want it to link back to the awards page, just use this HTML code:

(a href=”http://pdstuff.apublicdefender.com/the-rodneys-2007/”)(img src=”whatever the link is to the image depending on where you upload it, insert that link here” ALT=”logo for Rodneys” ALIGN=center)(/a)

Also, change the ( ) to < > respectively.

Now on to the weaker sex! Just as there were some fantastic blogs written by female pds, there are some great blogs out there written by male pds. Some are new and some are old. Here I’ve nominated a few, the rest is up to you!

• Arbitrary and Capricious: The granddaddy of public defender blogs, Skelly was last year’s winner in this category (and others!). Will he sweep again or is there someone to unseat him?
• Scoplaw: He’s a poet and a public defender. Ever since passing the bar and joining the FL pd’s office, he’s been writing consistently about his work and his wins.
• Capital Defense Weekly: Perhaps the oldest public defender blog out there, Karl has been plugging away at getting the death penalty abolished in every single state (or at least keeping us informed on the latest in capital punishment throughout the country).
• Infinity Ranch: Written by JDB, a federal public defender who covers not only criminal law issues, but also politics and anything else that strikes his fancy. Exceedingly well written and informative.
• ???

C’mon folks, we need nominations! Who is your favorite? Who do you think should be included in this list?

Here are some of the blogs written by female public defenders (descriptions taken from the PD Blog Guide). Nominate your own in the comments:

• Woman of the Law is a “fast-talkin’ hell-raisin’ son-of-a-bitch” who writes about the job, current issues and her life. The blog began in May 2004, while WOTL was in law school, and includes her experiences from the first week on the job in October 2005 to the present. The blog contains many observations about providing indigent defense, first through the eyes of an intern, then of a PD.
• Woman in Black is a written by a not “young, young, young” pd who is a fountain of wisdom. Her posts have a healthy mix of the job, pop culture and her life. A perfect example is this latest post titled “It’s been a long, long, long - nevermind“. (She’s big on repeating things three times.)
• Ipse Dixit blogs from Southern California with a combination of celebrity news, football (she’s a big 49ers fan) and occasional posts about the job.
• audacity doesn’t have any biographical information, but it’s safe to say she is a University of Georgia football fan. The blog often looks at current issues, especially those in Georgia.

Here at PD Stuff, we keep track of all the public defender blogs (well, as many as we are aware of) and try to keep on top of public defender related news from across the country. So it always heartens us to see public defenders join our ranks by starting blogs. This past year, there were a few new public defender blogs and this award will go to the best pd blog which was started within the last calendar year and has maintained some regularity in posting (say 2-3 posts a month). There must be a post within the last month for a blog to qualify.

I will open the nomination with the four following blogs, make your nominations in the comments to this thread. Remember this is not to vote for the winner, but just to get the nominees. As more are nominated, I will update this post. All the nominees can be accessed from this page.

Malum In Se

Curia Advisari Vult

Woman in Black

I Defend The Accused

With less than two weeks left until the end of the year and an updated logo, The 2007 Public Defender Blogger Awards are here!

Over the next week, you will see posts here on each of the categories and the nomination process will be underway.

The categories will remain essentially the same as last year (which you can see here).

I’ll start off the nominations with a few names in each thread and add your own to the comments. Starting early next week, the voting process will begin and the results will be announced after the new year (and just before PD Stuff hosts Blawg Review again - who’ve announced their own year end awards. Maybe this year they’ll have a PD category!)

So spread the word, stay tuned and start nominating!