Terra Extraneus

Part One
Part Two

Here at Terra Extraneus we are assembling what we hope will become an authoritative listing of Oklahoma law blogs. In two previous posts, we searched the 526 blogs listed on the Blog Oklahoma directory and found 7 blogs which meet the criteria (a table of those blogs is on our Okla Law Blogs page).

Now we expand our search, turning to the website of the Oklahoma Bar Association. Sadly, unlike the American Bar Association, the OBA does not maintain an online directory of Sooner law blogs. However, the OBA does have a blog of its own. Jim Calloway directs the OBA’s Management Assistance Program and writes the Law Practice Tips blog. Calloway lists a half-dozen “Oklahoma Blawggers” on his site, so I checked them out.

First, of course, there is Calloway’s own blog, Law Practice Tips. Calloway’s favorite area is technology, from software to online resources to the latest gadgets. He also occasionally writes reviews of other law blogs. I enjoy Calloway’s blog; it is an interesting blog and worth reading.

Calloway is a big proponent of law blogging. He wrote “Blawg: Marketing Your Practice with a Weblog” in the Aug. 2006 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Today. He also writes occasional articles on law blogging for the OBA website. Since Calloway is an enthusiastic advocate of law blogging, I am surprised that he only lists six Oklahoma blawgs on his Law Practice Tips blogroll. He lists only one of the seven blogs we have on our list, the excellent Phosita, which I mentioned in Part Two of this series.

Of the remaining five on Calloway’s list, one is actually a Pennsylvania blog: Benefits Blog, written by attorney B. Janell Grenier. Grenier is from Oklahoma, but left our Sooner State for Pennsylvania pastures several years ago.

Another blog on Calloway’s list is Res Ipsa Loquitur (a legal term which means, “the thing speaks for itself”). RIL is written by “Rita.” Rita describes herself as:

A middle-aged slightly right-wing conservative living in the People’s Republic of Fayetteville, Arkansas, with my husband, two dogs, and a cat. I work as a court-appointed children’s attorney for abused/neglected kids over in beautiful downtown Jay, Oklahoma.

Sounds like Rita is using the law to help others, which is a great thing. Unfortunately, Rita does not choose to blog about her practice or about any legal issues. I scanned through the 27 posts she has written in 2008 and not a one is law-related. I’m going to have to turn to our panel of judges for a ruling. No, sorry, a Fayetteville woman writing a blog about her personal and family life does not qualify as an Oklahoma law blog.

Happily, we do pick up three more bonifide Okie blawgs from Calloway’s blogroll to add to our list. Here they are:

• Consumer Law Updates: Written by Elaine Dowling, an OKC attorney. Dowling blogs once a month like clockwork about bankruptcy, debt relief and other consumer law issues.

• OK Blawg: the Oklahoma Law Blog: Apparently named by the department of redundancy department, OK Blawg: the Oklahoma Law Blog is written by James Dee Graves. Graves is or was an assistant district attorney in Garvin County and is also a law professor. Graves hasn’t posted since Nov. 2007, so we’ll see if he keeps OB:OLB active, but we’ll add him to the list for now.

• Direct Appeal: By OKC attorney Russ Wheeler. Wheeler posts 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decisions in criminal cases. No commentary added, just the decisions. Wheeler’s blog is no doubt a valuable asset to attorneys and those who want to stay ahead of the news. Wheeler has been blogging since December 2004, making his blog the oldest one on our list.

A similar blog is Opinions From Oklahoma and the Northern District. OOND is not on Calloway’s blogroll, but was referred to us by Michael Bates of Bateline in his response to this series (thanks again, Michael). The blog is written by Tulsa attorney Spencer Bryan. Bryan posted from June to December 2007, but hasn’t posted since, so his blog is teetering toward inactivity, but we will add him to the list.

So, we have doubled our list of Oklahoma law blogs to 12. Nine of the bloggers are in OKC, 2 in Tulsa and 1in Paul’s Valley. In the next part of this series we will search the American Bar Association directory for more blogs to add to the list. If you know of any Okie law blogs, please tell us about them in the comments section.

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Oklahoma has once again affirmed that offering less than the amount for which an insurance company evaluates the value of a claim could be bad faith conduct by an insurance company toward its insured. Miller v Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 2008 OK CIV APP 65 (Okla. Civ. App. 2008).

The other interesting aspect of the case is that the two year statute of limitations on bad faith was possibly tolled, at least it was a question of fact, because the “low ball” offer by the insurance company was not discovered for several years by the insured as being below the value set on the claim by the insurance company after its investigation of the claim.

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• Part One
• Part Three

It appears that nobody is doing the very important work of maintaining a directory of Oklahoma law blogs. Ever eager to serve the community by meeting a need that no one else even knew existed, we at Terra Extraneus are stepping forward to host and maintain such a list. We have begun that directory on this page: Oklahoma Law Blogs.

What constitutes an Oklahoma law blog? No need to define it too narrowly, but surely at least these three criteria are appropriate:

• The blog addresses issues related to the law and practice of law in a significant portion of its content.

• The blogger is based in Oklahoma or has some obvious connection to our state.

• The blog is active. If it has not been updated in six months, we may arch an eyebrow. If a year has gone by, we may employ the strikethrough tool (or worse).

I have gone out in search of blogs that meet the above description. I am startled at how few active Oklahoma law blogs there are. I detailed my search methodology in Part One of this series. In this post I will list and comment on the six active law blogs I found on the Blog Oklahoma directory.

(1) Phosita: Phosita is the blog of the intellectual property firm of Dunlap Codding & Rogers, OKC. Phosita is the most impressive Oklahoma law blog I’ve come across so far. Phosita is written mostly by Douglas Sorocco, a distinguished lawyer and blogger and a recipient of the Journal Record’s 2008 Leadership in Law award. Phosita is a well-designed and well-written blog that has been around for a while. By the way, PHOSITA stands for “person having ordinary skill in the art.” It’s a patent law thing.

(2) Oklahoma Family Law: Tulsa attorney Dan Nunley writes the OK Family Law blog. Nunley practices in and blogs about divorce and other family legal issues. Nunley is a pretty faithful blogger, posting at least once or twice a month since December 2006.

(3) JMBzine.com: James Matthew Branum (“JMB”) is a 30-something solo practitioner. Branum’s blog is “dedicated to non-violent revolutionary change for peace and justice in Oklahoma and the world.” Peace AND justice — quite a tall order. Branum is a Mennonite and therefore a pacifist. Branum is pretty intense, but he also has a sense of humor. His blog header proclaims: “When Jesus said love your enemies, he probably meant, ‘Don’t kill them.’”

Branum is a prolific blogger. He has blogged about every other day since September 2003! I think it is fair to say that JMBzine is only peripherally a law blog; most of Branum’s posts are about politics and religion.

Rod Heggy reviewed Branum’s blog in 2006. Rod didn’t agree with much, and titled his review: “A Blog to Disagree With.” I also disagree with the doctrine of Branum and his church that Jesus’s teachings preclude the military and military action. However, I have a lot of admiration for Branum, from what I can discern by reading his blog. I admire Branum for deriving his political views from his faith rather than from self-interest, and for trying to be a person who makes a difference, rather than just another person taking up space. And, of course, despite disagreements on secondary doctrines, we are brothers in Christ, and that counts for a lot to me, as I know it does to Mr. Heggy. I’m guessing Branum is a fascinating person to know, and I look forward to meeting him one of these days.

(4) Attorney at Blawg: We can’t forget our old friend Dave Walker, who segued a couple of years ago from teaching in a public school classroom to lawyering in an OKC law office. I reviewed and recommended Dave’s personal blog, DaveTown, in 2006. Dave still writes DaveTown and occasionally posts to Attorney at Blawg, too. Dave practices at Beets McNaughton & Walker.

(5) Satellite Sky: Satellite Sky is written by Fred Roper of OKC, a former bankruptcy attorney who is now in-house. He is also a chess champion. Roper has been blogging since 2006. His blog is a lot less active this year (14 posts during the first seven months of 2008), but he’s still active.

(6) Terra Extraneus: Last, hopefully not least, there is our own little blog, Terra Extraneus, written by OKC attorney Rod Heggy and myself.

Interesting to note that of the six active law blogs found on the Blog Oklahoma directory, five are based in OKC and one in Tulsa. Is there not a single law blogger in Lawton, Stillwater, Enid, Bartlesville or Muskogee? Is there only one in Tulsa? Only five in Oklahoma City? I continue to be amazed.

I will expand my search for Oklahoma law blogs in Part Three of this series.

* * * * *
Thanks to Michael Bates of BatesLine for linking to this post, and plugging our search for OK law blogs. Michael is one of Oklahoma’s premier bloggers, drawing more than 800 readers a day. I reviewed Michael’s excellent blog a couple of years ago here. His post should be a big help in tracking down more OK law bloggers.

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• Part Two
• Part Three

I decided to survey what’s happening among fellow Oklahoma law bloggers. Back in 2006, when Terra Extraneus was young, Rod Heggy and I surveyed several Oklahoma blogs, including some law blogs. I wanted to see if any new blog stars have emerged in the Sooner State legal community.

In my attempt to identify any Okie law blogs lurking out there, I employed the following strategy:

(1) I began with the Blog Oklahoma directory. Blog Oklahoma lists 526 member blogs. Only 7 of them are tagged “law.” To make sure I didn’t miss any, I also searched on the word “law,” and found a few more that way.

(2) I then checked the Oklahoma Bar Association website. Sadly, the OBA does not maintain a directory of blogs. However, the OBA does have a blog of its own. Jim Calloway directs the OBA’s Management Assistance Program, and writes the Law Practice Tips blog. Calloway lists some “Okahoma Blawggers” on his site, so I checked them out.

(3) I then moved on to the American Bar Association, which does maintain an extensive blog directory (and we are glad for it, because we get occasional visitors to our blog through our ABA listing). I surveyed the blogs ABA has listed under the Oklahoma heading.

(4) Then, I circled back to the law blogs I identified, to see if they linked to other Oklahoma law blogs on their blogrolls. I also did a Google search to see if I could shake any more grains out of the sack.

So I think the resulting list of Oklahoma law blogs is fairly comprehensive. I am surprised at what a short list it is, and that the list sure hasn’t grown much in the last two years. Here they are, presented in a series of posts. Let’s begin with law blogs found at Blog Oklahoma. I found about a dozen self-described law blogs on the Blog Oklahoma list. However, only half of them meet these simple criteria: active, Oklahoma-based, and writing on legal issues.

DEAD LINK
• One of them, Credit Wrench, is a dead link. I Googled Credit Wrench to see if the site had moved to a new URL. It hasn’t, but I learned that Credit Wrench was once written by Bill Bauer, who is apparently some kind of credit repair guru. Bauer got into a full-blown fuss with one debt collector, leading to a federal lawsuit or at least the threat of one. Maybe his website was collateral damage.

UPDATE 07/28/08: Credit Wrench lives! See Bill Bauer’s response in the comment field. Bauer is quick to say he is NOT a credit repair guru. Also, Credit Wrench is alive and well and online. The site is now located here: Credit Wrench. I see that Bauer’s blog goes back to Nov. 2005. Bill, we will be adding you to our Oklahoma Law Blogs roll.

INACTIVE
• New York State of Mind hasn’t posted since Sep 2007. Besides, what kind of name is that for an Oklahoma blog? The blog’s author, a self-described “female attorney,” is:

a Manhattan girl currently trapped in Oklahoma. It is T minus about two years before my reprieve. In the meantime I must vent my frustrations at the lack of Sephora, Tiffany, Brownstones, the subway system, and virtually everything else NYC.

Apparently NYSofM finally managed to escape our dreaded Sooner State. She can probably be found today, riding on a subway, humming a Billy Joel tune.

• Also inactive is Oklahoma Solo. OK Solo was written by Luke Anthony, a 30-something Stillwater attorney. Anthony blogged for 15 months in 2006 and 2007 about “the opening of an Oklahoma solo law firm.” Sure enough, Luke’s last post, on June 3, 2007, is titled: “Off and Running.”

Whew, Just wanted to let everyone know that just over a month ago I launched Anthony Law Firm, PLLC. My first month was fantastic. Dozens of new clients and just as many new legal issues. The small firm life suits me well. I get to meet with my clients and really get to know them. Just last week one of them actually gave me a hug.

Luke accomplished his goal, has left his blog online as a testament and tutorial, and apparently has otherwise abandoned the blogosphere.

ACTIVE
• Another blog, Sidebar: Law and Order, Okie Style, is written by non-lawyer Brian Bates. Bates’ blog is teetering toward inactivity, with no posts since January. Bates is rather famously known as the Video Vigilante, for capturing men on camera in the act of hiring prostitutes. That’s gotta keep a guy busy, which must explain why Brian hasn’t done any blogging lately.

• Still active, and far less flamboyant, is the OCU Law School blog. I scrolled through the blog’s recent posts, and all of them are announcements of law school activities. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not really a law blog. The posts are unsigned, and I imagine they are written by the school’s PR department.

ANY LEGITIMATE OKLAHOMA BLAWGERS?
So are there any active law bloggers in Oklahoma? There aren’t many, but there are a few. I found six legitimate Oklahoma law blogs on the Blog Oklahoma directory. I will list and describe them in the next post of this series.

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Investment News writer Darla Mercado reported that fixed and variable annuity sales by banks fells 4% in April and that for the third consecutive month, fixed annuities out sold variable. She quoted Jackson National Life Distributors, LLC as blaming the decline and the change in the mix of sales on “market volatility.”

It certainly could not be because consumers have figured out that for every nine well meaning and competent annuity sellers, there is one idiot, or fiend, on the loose using variable annuities to the detriment of their customers and attracted by commissions that are too high and consumers that are too gullible.

This is sad because variable annuities should be a good product. Why is it a poor product for the average consumer, especially consumers over 50?

Once the sale is made, banks, insurers and the financial services industry think they can turn their back on them. A variable annuity is like a car, it requires maintenance. The underlying funds and fund choices get out dated, hammered by the market or suffer from bad management, just like anything else. But, once sold, the only protection the consumer has from huge losses of principal is the selling agent. If the selling agent is an idiot, lacks worth ethic, or is perpetually on to the next big sale, the consumer is all alone with a product they do not have the tools to manage. Even some selling agents lack the tools to manage large numbers of these accounts and have to look at them manually in a disciplined manner.

I thought it was funny that Jackson National spoke out on the situation. I have a Jackson National product and it has lost 20% of principal and all earnings to date in the last quarter. This loss is purely market driven because I have one of the good agents and I litigate in this area for a living so I know something about it.

The other reason variable annuity products can be dangerous to older people is because the financial services industry uses terms that the consumer does not realize have meaning that will lead to unintended consequences. Everyone wants to be “moderate,” right? No one wants to be “speculating” or too “conservative” when it comes to financial risk. But, if the customer tells the securities industry that they are, indeed, a “moderate” investor, the customer is in reality telling the industry the customer is comfortable risking some principal loss, maybe as much as half.

Also, the term “growth” sounds like a good thing, right? Like “moderate,” to obtain growth means the acceptance of risk of principal. Most of the portfolios of elder customers I have reviewed, that is, persons well above retirement age, contained too much investment in “growth.” Most “growth” investments take at least five years to produce that “growth.” Most “growth” investments will fall at the same rate they rise. Very few “growth” investments are based on the stock issued by large corporate entities, but rather by the smaller and more vulnerable companies. But, too many customers move most of their principal into these products.
Fixed annuities on the other hand, too boring in good times, become more popular when the economics become uncertain.

It is amazing to me that organizations like AARP, the SEC, or the Congress, do not seem to recognize these defects. If the SEC would simply ban surrender charges or severely limit their use, variable annuities would not be the product of choice. If the SEC required an annual positions review in the variable account by the selling broker dealer, that might reduce the risk because supervisors would be forced to fill in the gaps left by the weaker members of their sales forces.

Market volatility should not be the only policeman on the street.

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I encourage you to take a look at our Top Ten page. On that page, Rod Heggy and I have listed our favorite blog posts, ten for each of us. I had not updated that page in two years, but it is updated now.

Rod and I have been writing Terra Extraneus since Dec. 23, 2005, more than 3-1/2 years ago. We have written more than 160 posts during that time. Actually, we have cranked out more than 300 posts between us, but in February 2007 we launched a second blog, Joshua One. Joshua One is about the Christian faith Rod and I share and about Joshua One Ministries, a non-profit organization we lead. We moved about half of our posts to the new blog and redefined TerraX as a law blog.

Rod is the attorney, so he has been doing the majority of writing on TerraX since then. I maintain and edit this blog and also contribute content from time to time. As a matter of fact, as of this date, I have authored 91 of the posts on TerraX, and Rod has authored 76, so I still hold the lead, although Rod is gaining on me fast. I might just surprise Rod and break into a trot to stay out in front. After all, this post is No. 92.

Bottom line: our best stuff in more than two years of blogging is on that Top Ten page. We hope you will take a look.

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