Publisher's Notebook

Here’s a hat tip to our former colleague, Alan Cooper, who reports that he is enjoying his retirement and spends much of his time biking and hiking. Maybe he should start the Virginia Trail Lawyers Association.

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Alan Cooper was honored at the recent meeting of the Virginia State Bar Council for his contributions as a journalist and a lawyer.

At its Feb. 25 gathering in Richmond, the council adopted a resolution that noted Cooper had served on several VSB committees, including the VSB Special Committee on Communications, in which he is currently a member.

Cooper, who joined the bar in 1977, “ably assisted the profession, the courts, and the public as a journalist of eminent regard” during his career, the resolution noted. He was a reporter at the Richmond News Leader and Richmond Times-Dispatch before joining Virginia Lawyers Weekly as News Editor in 2005. He retired last September.

“In each of these roles,” the resolution continued, Cooper exhibited “the highest degree of competence, integrity, dedication, and professionalism.”

The council concluded by thanking him “for his years as a volunteer in the Virginia State Bar, as a journalist covering the Virginia State Bar and legal issues with fairness and integrity and as a Virginia lawyer.”

Take a look at the ad at the bottom of this post, a relic unearthed from our archives.

Who’s that dashing young chap in the picture?

Well, that would be me, circa 1990.

Back then, the home office in Boston strongly “encouraged” all the publishers at Lawyers Weekly Publications Inc. (there were only a handful of us) to create personality promo ads about ourselves and to provide an editorial statement of purpose for our newspapers.

I remember thinking the “Silent Partner” riff worked pretty well (i.e., like your law partner, only working in the background). At the time, though, I was only five years out of law school. Frankly, not too many law firms would have made me a partner.

My “perspective” from 1990, laid out in the ad, is still accurate: “Having a subscription to Lawyers Weekly is like having a research attorney on staff who scours the advance sheets and cases for 50 or 60 extra hours a week.”

A quick historical note is in order. Attorneys who were in practice back in the 1980s will remember the “advance sheets.” They were compilations of court decisions bound into a paperback in advance of the next Virginia Reports volume. Until Virginia Lawyers Weekly came along, it was the best way to stay on top of the latest cases.

More from 1990 Me: A subscription to our paper is “the most efficient, most cost effective tool an attorney in the commonwealth can have. I’ve had many, many lawyers tell me, ‘I don’t know what we did until Lawyers Weekly came along.”

That last part wasn’t just puffing – we heard that statement at bar shows and other meetings for years, until lawyers realized we were here to stay and part of the legal landscape.

I’d like to think we’d do a much better job now on a comparable promo ad – this one is awfully gray and text-heavy. But that was 1990.

I found this ad as I was going through our archives and photo files in preparation for this week’s 25th Anniversary feature – a retrospective of the Virginia State Bar Annual Meeting. Check out the photo spread on the home page for a trip in the Wayback Machine.

And, as it turns out, this week’s issue – the paper of June 13, 2011 – is our 25th birthday edition. The born-on date for Virginia Lawyers Weekly was June 9, 1986 – the second Monday in June, 25 years ago.

I’ve been here for most of that 25 years. I joined the paper in May 1988 directly from law practice. I’ve been here since Day Two; my colleague, Executive Editor Deborah Elkins, has been here since Day One.

We have had many changes to our business. Virginia Lawyers Weekly has remained our flagship product, but we’ve published books, directories and other special publications as well.

Our company was on the Internet very early, with the launch of our website, www.valawyersweekly.com, in 1996. With that development, a subscription to Virginia Lawyers Weekly became twice as valuable. You got a two-fer – the weekly print product, plus 24-7 access to the website, the searchable Archives and the site’s many other benefits.

We began publishing the popular Daily Alert in 2000, giving you a morning dollop of the latest caselaw and legal headlines from our paper and other news outlets across Virginia.

We were acquired by Dolan Media Company (now The Dolan Company) in 2004, and became part of a bigger, stronger operation. We added business-to-business events to our repertoire in 2006, with our first company awards program, Leaders in the Law; we added a second program, Influential Women of Virginia, in 2009. We began our Business and Law Breakfast event series this past April.

Law practice has had many changes as well. Recall the “laptop” computer that came in a small suitcase or the cell phone that looked like a shoe in a bag. Think of the room in the office that was once full of books…you’ll likely now find that same information on the firm’s server or off in a cloud. And dealing with the guy or gal on the other side of a case – it’s likely most of your dealings today are handled over email. Short, choppy and direct. For better or worse, that’s the current interaction of choice.

Two snapshots I found in the VLW photo archives give you an idea of how much has changed.

From 1992, there is a picture of our booth at the VSB confab, announcing the debut of a grand innovation at the time, our auto-fax system (“Opinions by Fax INSTANTLY”).

Juxtapose that image with a picture from 2010: Web Editor Sarah Rodriguez, live-tweeting the proceedings at the annual meeting.

Our mission for 25 years, regardless of the means of delivery, has remained the same: To bring you the vital information that helps you practice law better, more efficiently and more profitably. Providing you that service has been a privilege. So I say “Thank you” for letting us continue to work as your silent partners.

Thank you for subscribing (and renewing).

Thank you for advertising.

Thank you for the many cases, Verdicts & Settlements and story tips you’ve sent in.

Thank you for your support and encouragement.

1990 Me had a big goal: “I want Lawyers Weekly to be the newspaper for every lawyer in the state from the attorney in the big firms in Richmond, Northern Virginia, Tidewater and Roanoke to the solo practitioner in Grundy, Emporia or Front Royal. I won’t be satisfied until we reach every practicing lawyer in the state.”

That’s still true, after all these years.

At this newspaper, we’re always looking for more information to present to you, and for better ways to present it.

The opinion digests that we publish each week give you a heads-up on the latest cases decided by Virginia’s state and federal judges.

We’ve got a new way for you to stay up to date.

On our home page, you’ll find a new section entitled, “The Latest Opinions.” Here, you’ll find the most current opinion digests, presented on our site as soon as we receive them and get them digested. They are published first on the website, then we compile the full week’s complement and publish them in the printed newspaper that should arrive in Monday morning’s mail.

On the website, the digests are fed to the home page and appear in six different categories:
• Business Law
• Criminal Law
• Employment Law
• Family Law
• Personal Injury
• Real Estate

These six categories cover a substantial number of the subject headings we’ve used for years, and the groupings are logical and easy to follow. For example, under “Employment Law,” you’ll find cases on employment, employment discrimination and workers’ comp. “Personal Injury Law” covers negligence, tort law, products liability and insurance, among others.

You’ll find the latest digests for cases involving the few subject areas that don’t fit into these six categories in the opinion archives. Just use those words (i.e., “Administrative” or “Municipal”) as search terms in the search box on the home page.

Here’s one more way to remember to take a quick look at the latest opinions: Follow the link on the Daily Alert.

Each morning’s Alert features a significant case or two, along with a link to its digest. At the bottom of the Alert, there is a statement, “See more of the Latest Opinions.” Click on that and you’ll go right to “The Latest Opinions” on the bottom of the home page. That way, you can check if there is a new case that impacts your clients or the files you’re working on.

Here’s hoping that this new, faster way to get the latest law into your hands proves helpful to you. As always, we’d welcome any suggestions for improving our site and our services.