April 16, 2004

About the Indiana Law Blog - Today is The Day

Today is the Indiana Law Blog's One Year plus One Month Anniversary. As regular readers will recall, I forgot about the One Year Anniversary, so rescheduled for today. Plans for the future include:

  • Doing more of what we've been doing.
  • Adding all the entries from the old site (April 2003-Jan. 2004) to this new site, so that they are readily accessible and searchable
  • Doing more with Indiana decisions, including some formal sort of computer-facilitated organization via the subject headings I have been assigning.
  • A spell checker (it isn't that I can't spell, but that I can't type ...).
  • Several longer pieces I've been working on, including one on the transfer rule, Rule 58.
  • Working on getting our Wish List from the beginning of 2004 fulfilled (List available here and here).
Kudos from Readers. I've received several very nice notes. This one from Joshua Claybourn, at my alma mater, IU Law-Indianapolis:
You have MANY reader of the Indiana Law Blog. One such is all of the students at the IU – Indy law school. We have our own blog, too, by the way and it can be found here: Sapere aude. A number of student blogs are linked there too. *** I love [your site] and I know others do as well.
Joshua also posted this entry on Sapere aude:
Blog Highlight. In my humble opinion, there are two blogs that every practicing attorney or professor in Indiana should be reading. The first is How Appealing, a weblog written by Howard Bashman on appellate litigation. However this is a widely-known and widely-read blog. One that doesn't get much attention outside the state, but which is invaluable to Hoosier jurists, is The Indiana Law Blog. It just recently turned one year and one month old. Authored by Marcia Oddi, this site is the Hoosier equivalent of How Appealing. If you're a legal geek that can't get enough of the latest Indiana litigation and legislation, add this site to your bookmarks.
This lengthy and thoughtful review from Jon Bryant, an attorney with the City of Indianapolis:
Ms. Oddi, Do not despair: you have at least one loyal reader, and I've been spreading the news of your blawg as widely as practical. It is a valuable resource, and a useful way of keeping one's law horizons appropriately broadened.

I am impressed with the depth you are able to accomplish. Few other blawgs that I read offer the same depth. In fact, I have found your postings a pleasant mix of the breadth of How Appealing and the depth of The Legal Theory Blog. I am particularly appreciative of your efforts to--for lack of a better term--brief the opinions handed down by our courts. These entries, together with the subject headings (e.g., torts, criminal procedure) help me better evaluate which opinions I need to read more immediately than others. Also, probably owing to nothing other than that I'm a law geek, I enjoy perusing the weekly transfer list. And thank you for raising the profile of Indiana environmental issues.

I have not yet read your separations of powers paper, although I intend to, as I am increasingly an Indiana constitutional law geek--if it gives you any sense, part of my Valentine's Day gift this year was the 4-volume set of Constitution Making in Indiana. Incidentally, I'm all for the fifth installment, but I wonder whether it's appropriate to wait and see if anything comes of the movement to reform local government.

Of course, life would go on if the Indiana Law Blog would suddenly cease to exist, but either I would be much less informed, or I would have to work harder to stay informed.

So, for all that you have accomplished over the last baker's dozen's worth of months, congratulations; and, prospectively, please keep it up.

And this note from Allen Taylor of Dura Builders: "I appreciate everything that you do to make this site work. As a blogger myself (and old time BBS system administrator) I know what it takes to keep these things up."

Posted by Marcia Oddi at April 16, 2004 08:55 AM