Happy anniversary First Impressions

IL reporter Rebecca Berfanger wrote this post.

Two years ago today, Indiana Lawyer announced the blog was in session.

First Impressions was started and continues to offer legal news of interest to our readers, whether it’s an event, an achievement  of a bar association, an observation from a reporting assignment, or some other information that we found interesting even though it didn’t quite fit into the editorial mix of the IL daily or printed edition newspaper.

When I looked at the statistics of the blog since the first post on June 2, 2008, the highest ranked entries have been about disciplinary actions – whether that’s specifically named attorneys or firms, or attorneys who didn’t complete required CLE or didn’t pay their registration fees.

Posts about law firm mergers, hiring updates,  and departures are also pretty popular. (Note: We don’t report rumors, so if it is in Indiana Lawyer as a blog, online or print story, it was verified by a reliable source before we posted or published it).

We’ve also had blogs and other articles linked to readers’ Facebook pages, and our Facebook page posts a link to the blog every time it is updated.

We haven’t had many comments in response to blogs – unless the blog has a very positive or very negative message to share, or if the commenter had a personal connection to the story and wanted to chime in. But we do read the comments and respond when it’s appropriate.

But we’d like our readers to know that if they don’t want to comment directly to the blog, they can still e-mail or call the editorial staff with their comments on a specific blog post – or any other article we publish online or in print. Our e-mails are linked to every story we write. And if you’re not sure who to contact, we’re a small enough staff that if you e-mail one of us your message will be directed to the right person.

If there’s anything you think this blog is missing, we are open to ideas from readers. In fact, some of our blogs have started out as an e-mail or call from a firm or bar association, or a link to an article in a newspaper that we may have missed without a reader’s input.

While we’ve yet to receive a lengthy e-mail exchange between a potential employer and employee, like the one my former employer’s blog recently posted as a lesson in civility, we wouldn’t be entirely opposed to it if there was something everyone could learn from it and would give both sides a chance to respond.

What do you think of First Impressions? Any suggestions? Criticisms? Compliments?