In areas in which the law tends to share a common structure across multiple jurisdictions, we like to put authorities for different jurisdictions together.  Take a look, for example, at the evidence law rule in some jurisdictions that there is a social worker-client privilege and, on the other hand, the rule of some other jurisdictions that there is no such privilege.  (You have to sign in first to see what I’m talking about.)

This makes it easy for researchers in the law of one jurisdiction to see how courts in other jurisdictions have addressed the same issues.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been enhancing the public profile, accessed by clicking on a contributor’s name.   We now show all the branches and authorities created or edited by the contributor, as well as all of his comments.   The quick profile, which you see when you click on a contributor’s name, indicates the number of contributions, and the full profile will show all the contributions in reverse chronological order.

We consider this one step in building out a contributor’s reputation on the site.   You can use this to keep track of your own contributions, as well as  look up someone else’s.

Will lawyers really reveal what they know about the law if they can’t send somebody a bill for it—possibly for every tenth of an hour of it? It’s a fair question that reasonably occurs to some people when they hear about Spindle Law. When you look more closely, though, you realize that, in a project full of experiments, this is one place where we aren’t breaking new ground.

Lawyers have a long and varied tradition of sharing analysis of the law in public ways for reasons other than a paycheck. A fairly new instance is the proliferation of law blogs we write for—our own blogs, other people’s blogs, blogs run by law firms, by private companies, by non-profits, you name it. Older examples include writing for print bar publications, teaching and making presentations for legal associations, and many others.

Why do lawyers give away their expert knowledge? Because they get more out of it that way, professionally and personally, than they would by reserving every insight for paying customers. Demonstrating expertise helps lawyers generate business through referrals and makes them more attractive to potential employers, for example. Many also find it intellectually satisfying or enjoy the interaction with those learning from them.

At Spindle Law we’re hard at work to create an environment that rewards contributors richly in many ways. It’s a brand new kind of environment, but if we get it right, lawyers will contribute for all the same old reasons they always have.