A Law Actually Interview with… Ramblings of a Scottish Student

Next up to be interviewed is Alistair, over at Ramblings of a Scottish Student.

You recently broke cover and revealed your true identity to the 'sphere. How do you feel that has gone?  Any regrets?  Do you recommend it?
In all honesty not much has changed.  I do need to be a lot more careful about what I say now as everything can be attributed to me and that could cause problems.  To date though I have no regrets and I think it has gone okay personally.  As for whether I recommend it or not, I feel that it is a matter for the individual blawger. 

How do you balance law and other topics when posting?
No real science to it to be honest, I blog about what I want when I feel like it.

You're one of the few UK blawgers who have extended their reach into the 'sphere beyond conventional posting with your foray into podcasting.  Will they be making a reappearance at some point?  Do you see the conventional written blawg becoming less and less relevant (and popular) over time?
I'd like to go back to podcasting, but at the moment I don't have sufficient time.  This may change when I return to University in September, 

The second part of your questions is very interesting.  Social Media has changed drastically even in the last 18 months since I became involved in it.  Twitter and such like were only really beginning to take shape and spread.  I don't think that the conventional written blawg will become irrelevant, it's useful for exploring more complex issues and other platforms such as Twitter don't always give you sufficient room to express what you want to say.  The conventional blawg will still be around for the foreseeable future, but I suspect that it will be joined by other forms of social media.  There are exciting things happening within social media in the legal world. 

I expect that over the next few years we'll see social media being embraced more and more within the legal profession.  The current students and those who will be undertaking their LLB in the future will be more used to using social media and the latest technology and I don't think the profession will be able to resist its integration.

I know you had a run-in with a legal publication on your blawg last year, which resulted in them asking you to take certain content down.  Has that changed your approach to blawging at all?
My run in was actually with a very senior lawyer, rather than the publication.  They too were on the receiving end of this lawyer’s threats of legal action.  Blogging is dangerous, we are still accountable under the Law like another type of written publication, and as such defamation/libel laws still apply.  I'm slightly more cautious about what I write and more pro-active about contacting people for statements when blogging about potentially controversial issues.

Finally, how do you explore and consume content within the 'sphere?  (an RSS reader - if so, which one - or just through browsing around?)
I don’t use an RSS reader.  I have a list of blogs that I like to read (both legal and non-legal) saved in a favourites list and as and when I get the time I pay them a visit.  I discover new ones through those blogs and through Twitter.