Becoming an Expert in the Internet Era

It used to be you had to go to school to learn stuff. Why? Because they had the books and the experts which could teach you the things you wanted to know. If you wanted to become an expert on trademark law, you had to go to law school, work your way through the system until you were able to take electives for intellectual property, buy the book which contained the principles in the cases and listen to the expert professor walk you through each doctrine.

In the Internet era, all you need to become an expert in any particular area of law is an RSS feed. You simply subscribe to the expert lawyers who are blogging about your niche practice area every single day. Over time, you will become a participant in expert discussions concerning the most pressing legal issues of the day within your niche practice area. Add a Google search and a Google blog search to your learning experience and you’ll have access to more information than you could ever get at law school or from a law book.

And if you really want to learn about an area of practice, start blogging about that area of practice yourself. Simply use your Lexis or Westlaw alert features to obtain the latest cases coming down within your niche practice area; blog a summary about those cases as they come down. The only better way to learn about an area of law than reading what the experts have to say is analyzing cases yourself and taking the time to write it down. We live in a new era where information and expertise is available to everyone. Lifelong learning is an opportunity which anyone can take advantage of. For those who realize that the Internet is more than about web pages and email, they will become thought leaders within their chosen area of expertise.