Tony(c) Award for Best Criminal Law Blog for 2008 and an Honor: Professor Doug Berman Sentencing Law and Policy Blog

Thinking of words and phrases to describe out Tony(c) award winning Best Criminal Law Blog is easy: Informative, cutting edge, authoritative, well written, incisive, thought-provoking. The one I like the most is consistant.

The 2008 Tony(c)Award for Best Criminal Law Blog is Professor Doug Berman's Sentencing Law and Policy Blog. The reason for the award? This blog is consistantly the best place to go to begin to research the latest issues in Federal sentencing. Professor Berman is not only a blogger extrodinaire but his blog is cited to on a regular basis by courts and in briefs at the highest (read SCOTUS) levels of advocacy.

Doug is also a real giver. In addition to writing a blog that is a readers delight he also often authors briefs and amicus briefs on behalf of positions he believes in dealing with Sentencing law. Doug is generous with his time and is a frequent lecturer on all thing USSG and USSC. His insights have helped me over and over again in getting fair sentences for my clients. If a young practioner (or an old one for that matter) wants to learn the ins and outs of the USSG, get a copy of the USSG and then start reading the archives of Sentencing Law and Policy Blog.

An extra honor from me to Doug and his great Blog: This Tony(c)Award is being named for its winner. Hereinafter the Tony(c) Award for Best Criminal Law Blog will hereinafter be known as the "Prof. Doug Berman Memorial Tony(c)Award for Best Criminal Law Blog"

Thank you Professor for all you do.

Happy New Years to all of my readers.
TLD.

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Tony(c) Award for Best PD Blog :Gideon at A Public Defender

Being a Public Defender (and in that I am also including members of the Legal Aid Society) is difficult work. Usually thankless work they get the hardest of the cases & clients. Public Defenders have the worst working conditions, carrying big case loads and the pay is... well modest would probably be a pay raise for most. Given those realities, that someone takes the time to blog is in and of itself a wonder. That a PD takes the time to put together a blog as well done as the one I honor is amazing.

Although I don't always agree with Gideon, He is without a doubt the best PD Blogger I have read this year. Gideon can be biting, is usually witty, and often controversial. In addition, he is unabashedly pro public defense and more importantly pro public defender. In fact he chooses to honor his colleagues in two ways. One he has named his blog "A Public Defender" two is that he remains anonymous. His name is not attached to the blog. Any PD could be authoring this blog, at least any Connecticut Attorney

Now earlier this year we had a disagreement over how I value PD work. I do not wish to rehash the argument. I do think however that if all lawyers much less PD's brought Gideon's attitude to the office, there would be far less unhappy clients in the world.

It is my pleasure to award a Tony(c) Award to "A Public Defender" and its author, the anonymous Gideon.

Tony(c) Award For Best NY Blawgger: JaneAnne Murray for NY Federal Criminal Practice Blog

The Tony(c) Award for the "Best NY Blawgger" (that is a writer who blogs about legal topics in NY) goes to JaneAnne Murray for her blog "NY Federal Criminal Practice Blog." JaneAnne's writing is crisp and understandable. The Blog reads like a law schoolstudent's recitation brief on a casebook case. Her analysis of the cases is clear and understandable. It is also a great niche blog.

I loved the way JaneAnne Murray covered Judge Weinstein's decision in US v. Polizzi which I covered in a post yesterday. She took a complex, 288 page, tome on sentencing and other issues, and whittled it down to a few paragraphs laid out brief style. The facts, holdings, and synthesis is clear to any attorney having to work with this case.

The fact that the blog is a little light on links and analysis on some of the bigger cases leaves room to improve. Covering the large amount of decisions she covers in the circuit (a circuit that has 2 of the most cited US District Courts and one of the top 3 cited US Circuit Courts of Appeal) Ms. Murray has a lot of cases to comb through and brief. Additionally, unlike most state court decisions(which generally run a few pages) these decisions are long and often tedious. I think her blog is a useful tool for research, and a definite worth-while read if one is just trying to keep up with criminal practice in one of the busiest US Circuits in the country.

Thus The Tony(c) Award for the Best NY Centric Legal Blog goes to NY Federal Criminal Practice Blog. Congratulations.

Tony(c) Award for Best Legal Technology Blog: Dennis Kennedy & His Blog Get an Award and an Honor

From this day forward, the Tony(c)Award for Legal Technology Blogging is going to be named for its First recipient: Dennis Kennedy. Dennis is the author of the Dennis Kennedy.Blog

Dennis is responsible for starting me on blogging. It was an article he wrote for the Law Practice Management magazine, which talked about things that would be hot in 2004 that got me thinking about starting a blog of my own. Dennis was right about all of the things he said would be hot. Blogging was a great way for me to get my name out there and for others to think of me as an expert on the things I blogged about.

Over the years, Dennis became a friend. He encouraged my blog and my work. He continues to inform our profession about ideas, gadgets and processes to make our forays into the tech side of things easier. He makes technology fun for us non-techno geeks. He remains on the cutting edge of technology (see his twitter feed and his microblog) and he is a prolific author. He was actually holding tweet-ups before there was a Twitter by hosting blogger cocktail parties at the big tech shows.

Now I will be the first to admit, I don't always understand what Dennis is talking about. If you send him an e-mail however, he is always willing to help, which is actually a really good addition to a blog.

Finally, Dennis is a champion of bloggers. He started me on the idea of handing out an award for bloggers I file. His awards are called The Blawggies. That is what I mean, he has always championed the work of other bloggers. That is very cool, and generous.

I owe a lot to Dennis, and one of the ways I want to thank him for the difference he has made to my life, is to name an award after him, to honor his mentoring of me. So, from here on in, the Tony(c) award for Legal Technology Blogging is named the Dennis Kennedy Memorial Tony(c) Award for Legal Technology Blogging.

Tony(c) Award for Best Relationship and Sex Blog: Sex, Lies and Dating in the City

I had such a huge boost in readers after announcing that The Agitator was my favorite News Blog. If you are still reading me after visiting from Radley's blog welcome. Stay around and let me know what you think.

Today I am announcing my Favorite Relationship and Sex blog.
Now this is a very difficult category to choose because each blogger is really telling their own story. There is the heartbreaking story that is Rebecca Deos outing as a sex worker and how she and her family are being attacked in her small home town.

Then there is the very compelling story of the Debauched Domestic Diva telling the story of her going from seemingly happy housewife to an affair with another blogger that almost tore her marriage apart. Diva's journey to understand her marriage, her needs and her world are riveting. It read like a novel. Read it from its first post.

There are actually dozens of these personal glimpses that are well written and cover the gamut from sex worker to people learning about their own sexuality or relationships.

Some of the writers I read are friends from work. I know them from the clubs I represent or from e-mails they have sent to me seeking legal advice about their work. Others I haven't met but have befriended on Twitter or through their blogs or from my support for Sex Workers rights. In fact the blog supporting the NYC SexBloggers 2008 Calendar is one of my favorites. These additional ties make this a very tough decision.

In the end though, I chose to honor with a Tony(c)Award Sex Lies and Dating in the City.

If there is anything a man wants to know, it is what is in the mind of a woman. How do they see us? What are they feeling?? Why do they freak out when we check our e-mail on the dating site we met them on???

Well while the answers are not spoon fed to us, SINgleGIRL (the anonymous blogger who writes the blog) speaks her feelings and her truths about dating and life as a cosmopolitan single girl. It should be required reading for all young men. Old men (like me) can learn a thing or two about women too.

SLD is a well written blog that exposes the writers disappointments excitement and realizations about the dating scene. As her name says, she is not too shy about sharing the SIN in SINGLE either. Now she has added the HNT (Half Naked Thursday) posts we see that in addition to being smart and witty, she is also quite pretty. (Don't worry, while provocative, they are SFW.)

SINgleGIRL is beginning a new relationship. Mr. Potential seems to be making some good moves although the bozo better stop checking out his dating site e-mails. Now is probably as good a time as any to check out this blog.

SINgleGIRL. you are the Winner of the Tony(c) Award for Relationship and Sex blog for your blog Sex Lies and Dating in the City.

Announcing The Tony(c) Awards : That Lawyer Dude Honors His Favorite Blogs and Podcasts. Today We Honor The Agitator Blog

Over the course of the next 21 days I will be slowly, tantalizingly rolling out the Tony(c) Awards. Instead of one big post on all my favorites, I do it the way the Nobel Committee does it, over the course of a few days. Why?
1. It gives me a lot of posts and one never knows when I will announce another so maybe I will coerce a few potential winners into reading and commenting on the blog over the last few weeks of the year, and
2. It is my award and I can

Now, less anybody here believe that the (c) is a copyright or that I am laying claim to the Awards that honor Broadway's greatest shows (which btw is a far better show than the Oscars and Grammy's and all the other garbage award shows put together) I am not. It is just that as many of our readership knows I sign off on most of my e-mails with the end TonyC. and since that is my name and my sign off, I thought it would be apt to name these awards that way.

In case anyone is wondering why I of all people should have an award named after me, or better why anyone should care who I think blogged best this year, I will point you to this post by one of my Blogging mentors Dennis Kennedy who each year gives out his Blawggies. (Find it in the 12-26-04 post at the end.)

Now if you don't want to read the blogs I read, or if you think this is a bad idea, or a good idea, give out your own awards and give a link to a deserving blog or blogger.

For my First Tony(c) Award 2008, I am going to give a big Shout out to:(Cue the drum roll please)
The Agitator which is my favorite blog about Politics. If you aren't reading Radley Balko you ought to be. He is intelligent, conservative, and he is controversial without being shrill (Malkin you listening??). Most importantly he is funny. Funny is a good thing. I like a blog that can make me laugh and think at the same time.

So the very First Tony(c) award goes to Cato Institute and Reason Magazine's favorite bad boy The Agitator,and its real life voice Radley Balko.

PS. Help Radley to keep blogging buy the button/magnet shown on the top of this post by clicking here and following the instructions. It only costs a couple of dollars. Come on the kid needs to eat.