The Canadian Law Blog Awards, or Clawbies, have opened for 2018! What? You’re not familiar with a Clawbie? How can that be? They’ve been around for 13 years! 

The Clawbies are an opportunity to celebrate law-related publications. While focussed on the written word, they also include podcasts and other forms of media. If there’s something you listen or read regularly that you think should be recognized, be sure to tweet about it with the hashtag #clawbie2018. 

My legal information sources have definitely dwindled lately. Whether it’s an abundance of great content or a lack of time to absorb it, I’ve restricted myself to the tried and true this year. I love The Docket with Michael Spratt and Emilie Taman, for thoughtful opinions from the criminal defence bar (plus they make me laugh a lot). I’ve started listening to Stereo Decisis (always important to come up with a great name first!) with Robert Danay, Oliver Pulleyblank and Hilary Young. I think this qualifies as the only podcast with a regular cast from both coasts.  They seem willing to talk about just about anything (witness the episode “The Beverley Bralette Edition”). 

The two blogs I regularly read were both Clawbie winners last year. Legal Sourcery, from the Law Society of Saskatchewan Library, is an amazing source of ideas on everything from how to improve access to justice to what’s going on in legal news in Saskatchewan. We try to emulate their productivity but they have way more resources than we have! O’Faolain, which I suspect is an Irish word meaning something profound (or maybe profane), David Whelan’s personal blog, offers opinions on legal technology, knowledge management and planning for law libraries. Sometimes I feel like he’s a mind reader, as I’ll be thinking about a particular topic and then I’ll discover he’s just written something on it. 

While I’m sticking with my old favourites, I’m sure other #clawbie2018 nominators will suggest some new titles to spruce up my stream for next year. 

The library will be closed on Good Friday, March 29.
The courthouse will be closed on Monday, April 1 but the library will be open for remote requests.