“Does it make sense for a legal department to have an external blog?”

Brad Smith, a columnist for InsideCounsel who in his spare time helps out Microsoft as its general counsel, asks this question in InsideCounsel, May 2008 at 8. He notes that in his company more than 1,500 employees maintain blogs [how does Smith know that ?] but he doesn’t out any of his lawyers who blog.

True, as Smith points out, this is a “media-and Internet-dominated age.” And needless to say I have a soft spot in my heart for blawgs. If anyone would love to see a legal department host a blog, I would, but as a consultant on legal department management, I think I would counsel a would-be pioneer department to let that idea lapse.