Resources

A Directory To Help You Be A Better Lawyer

 

Welcome to the Associate’s Mind Resources section, a curated list of the tools and websites I strongly recommend for lawyers who are looking to improve and grow. It is the largest and most comprehensive legal resource directory online.

I have reviewed every resource on this page. I, and many others, have relied on the resources listed here to improve their careers.

Court System

Criminal Law

Defense Bar

  • Abnormal Use – Nominally about products liability, but tends to cover broader areas of practice, from a defense perspective.
  • ADTL – Association of Defense Trial Attorneys.
  • Jeremy W Richter – Alabama Insurance Defense Blog.
  • DRI – The voice of the defense bar.
  • NACDL – National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Legal Industry News

  • ABA Journal – Broadly covers trends in the legal industry and generally perceived as one of the central voices for lawyers in the mainstream media.
  • Above The Law – Preeminent legal blog, covering most of today’s legal news. Topics range from the inner workings of the largest law firms in the world to guidance for solo practitioners and law school rankings.
  • Bloomberg Big Law – Covering the business of “Big Law.”
  • How Appealing – An AboveTheLaw network site, focused on appellate cases.
  • Instapundit – Government & legal news from Glenn Reynolds, Law Professor, USA Today columnist.
  • Jurist – Legal news and real-time legal research service powered by volunteer law faculty & students.
  • NPR – Covers legal topics on a regular basis. Broad coverage from around the country.
  • Overlawyered – One of the oldest running law blogs. Covers the legal system as a whole.
  • Pinhawk – Daily newsletters on variety of legal topics, Big Law focused.
  • Reuters – General legal news coverage.
  • SCOTUSblog – Discussion of recent developments in U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence.
  • TaxProf Blog – Nominally covering tax news, but also provides general news on legal education.

Legal Research

MyShingle

Carolyn Elefant is the online Godmother of solos & small firms everywhere. She’s been blogging for over 10 years and has never slowed down. Over the years she has built up enormous amounts of free resources worthy of their own mention.

Resources Continue Below

Directories

Family Law

Free Speech, Other Online Censorious Behavior

Health/Humor/Lifestyle

Intellectual Property Law

International/Security Law

Practice Management

Podcasts

Professional Development

  • Associate’s Mind – Yep, you’re still here.
  • Code Academy – Learn to code.
  • DuoLingo – Learn another language.
  • Khan Academy – You can learn anything.
  • Lawyers Advising Lawyers – Service for FL Bar members to get advice/mentoring from other lawyers.
  • Ten Minute Mentor – The Texas State Bar developed this for their young lawyer section, but it is freely available online. Around 100 ten minute videos that offer brief overviews of a wide variety of topics (Immigration, Trial, Probate, etc).
  • TYL – The ABA’s The Young Lawyer online presence. Touches on a variety of young lawyer issues once a month.
  • Listen Like A Lawyer – Emory law prof Jennifer Romig on exploring effective listening practices for lawyers, law students, and all legal professionals.

Reddit

  • Dumpster Phoenix – Get out of student loan debt guide. 
  • Law – Covering current developments in law and legal news.
  • Law School – Chit chat about law school and meme threads.
  • Law Firm – Discussion, issues, best practices, and support for lawyers practicing either solo or in a small firm.
  • Lawyers – Private community, invite only. Must be a lawyer to become a member. Law students and general public not allowed.
  • LegalAdvice – Hahaha! Included for humor purposes only. If you’re a lawyer, only go here if you have a desire to cause yourself physical pain.
  • LSAT – Some people still want to go to law school I guess?
  • SCOTUS – Coverage of The Nine.

Tax Law

If you want to blog, podcast, use social media, or build a website – you need media assets. Pictures, clip art, video, audio, & more. And because you’re a lawyer, you (hopefully) know better than to just start using whatever you find online from a Google search. Start here instead

Job Hunt

Law As Business

Law School

Technology

  • ABATechShow – The ABA’s annual conference.
  • Duke Law Tech Lab – Duke’s legaltech accelerator.
  • Droid Lawyer – Oklahoma City attorney, Jeffrey Taylor on using Android devices in practice.
  • Future Lawyer – Long running legal/tech blog by Richard Georges.
  • iPhone JD – New Orleans attorney Jeff Richardson on using iOS devices in practice.
  • Law Sites – Robert Ambrogi’s blog, covers software & tech for use in law firms.
  • Law Technology Today – The ABA’s law/tech site.
  • Legal Loop – Niki Black on trends in legal tech.
  • Strategic Technology Law Blog – Lawyer turned consultant Ron Friedmann on legal tech & practice management.

Writing

  • Adams’ Drafting – Ken Adams’ crusade for the use of plain language in transactional work.
  • CopyBlogger —Developing marketing copy that leads to conversions. Translation: Writing so well and persuasively that the incessantly-clicking, ADHD, driven-to-distraction masses will actually purchase something. If you want to see high quality persuasive writing, look no further.
  • Georgetown Law – Resource of documents, articles, and guides on effective legal writing for scholars, students, and lawyers.
  • LawProse — Bryan Garner’s blog. Provides daily usage tips for words and phrases. For aspiring snoots.
  • Legal Skills Prof Blog  — Often about general legal skills and news related to the profession, but features writing specific posts regularly.
  • Legal Writing Prof Blog  — General tips on writing from a law professor perspective. Often links to Law Review articles on writing.
  • LegalWritingPro — Ross Guberman, George Washington University Law Prof, author of Point Made. Regular articles on writing.
  • LegalWriting.net  — Wayne Scheiss, Texas School of Law professor and author of four books on legal writing. Posts sporadically, but always good reading.
  • The (new) Legal Writer  — Raymond Ward, Louisiana appellate lawyer. Posts infrequently, but always good advice.
  • Supreme Court Briefs – Courtesy of the DoJ, briefs from all SCOTUS cases. Text searchable from 1985 onwards.

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