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One way to disclose potential bias and conflicts to readers is to note, whenever I'm writing about someone or some publication, what my connection is to them. But I quickly realized that LawBeat would become a disclaimer-riddled mess, since my quarter-century of legal reporting has given me -- if nothing else -- a large circle of friends, acquaintances, and employers past and present.
Whenever I have an active job pending with a subject of a LawBeat post -- part of my livelihood, in effect, depends on that publication's good graces -- I will disclose that in the body of the post. Otherwise, this note serves as a blanket disclaimer that I know many, if not most, of the journalists whose work I'm commenting on. Some I like, some I don't. Some like me, some undoubtedly don't. With some I've had a financial relationship -- where I controlled all or some of their livelihood, or they mine -- and or we have talked about, or granted, each other favors of one sort or another (introductions to sources of freelance work, serving as guest speakers, or serving as a job reference). I occasionally do freelance work for magazines or newspapers, and I hope to do more. If I'm writing about a national publication, print or online, chances are I wouldn't mind taking some of its money one day.
In short, I am hopelessly entangled in this world, but not so financially dependent on it (thanks, Syracuse University!) that I would do or say anything.
A final word about the largest legal journalism company, which I can't ignore if I'm commenting on legal journalism. I worked for 17 years at what is now American Lawyer Media. I left voluntarily in 2004, under good circumstances. I worked at Texas Lawyer, Counsel Connect (later Law News Network, which morphed into Law.com), and The American Lawyer. The magazine is justly famous as a training ground for many of our most prominent legal and business writers and editors -- the very folks I'm now commenting on oftentimes on my blog. When I write about the company, or its alumni, I don't feel conflicted. But I'll let you be the judge of that.
For more on my bio and recent work go here and here. And drop me a note if you think my disclosure here is inadequate.
--Mark Obbie
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