Very nice post. As one of the few remaining independent legal publishers in the U.S., we’ve already seen the drop off with Big Law. Troubling yes, but not insurmountable. I think Simon Chester’s point is interesting, but it mustn’t be blown out of proportion. There are answers to questions we will never find in blawg posts because of (current) search limitations, comprehensiveness, trustworthiness, or simply data persistence. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever find a post discussing whether I can issue a California subpoena on a nonresident custodian of records for documents located in California. I’ll need to look it up online or in a book (which may eventually be free, who knows).

While I think it is great for the profession to have attorneys like Peter Faris, I know how difficult and time consuming (and costly!) it is to write a comprehensive analytical treatise because that’s what our business does; we actually write everything we publish (we’re all former practitioners) and consult with practitioners and judges on the finer points of the law.

I’m not arguing the legal publishing industry is safe because there is a great deal of advancement going on with online legal scholarship. But there is room for both, and the winner will find out how to incorporate the two.