If you’re interested in the subject of diversity (and I don’t know anyone in the dispute resolution field who isn’t), visit Law Firm Diversity: A Rational Discussion, a new blog which launched earlier this month.

According to its author, Mister Thorne, Law Firm Diversity

…is intended to promote a rational discussion about what’s called the business case for diversity: the creativity and problem-solving ability of a group is a function of diversity.

Thorne asks, “Is there any rational justification for the claim, or is it hyperbole? And if it’s hype, why does most every Am Law 200 firm make the claim? Who’s in the audience for it?”

This blog, in addition to the usual “About This Blog” and “About Me” pages, also features an “About You” page which urges readers to join the conversation:

What I do know is this — in order for this blog to achieve the goal of being The Place for a rational discussion of law firm diversity, you need to participate. You need to share your thoughts and ideas. Go ahead and discuss a delicate topic of interest.And if you’re uncomfortable with the idea of being too closely associated with your own thoughts, feel free to post your comments anonymously.

Intrigued? You can participate here.

(Thanks to Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites for the link.)

Those of you who are on the alert for depictions of attorneys in popular culture should take a look at this pizza ad campaign for Donatos Pizza, which hilariously lampoons ambulance-chaser web sites.

(Via the Duct Tape Marketing Blog.)

Technorati tags: Culture and Society, Lawyers

Yesterday Americans observed Memorial Day, a federal holiday here in the U.S., originally established to honor Union soldiers who perished during the American Civil War, which now serves as a national day of remembrance for all Americans who died providing military service to their country.

This week the anonymous editor of Blawg Review hosts a moving special edition commemorating the wartime dead, which in the words of one law blogger, “literally made me weep this morning”.

Blawg Review #59 includes a link to The Memory Hole, a web site posting photos of flag-draped military coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base containing the bodies of those killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The site’s publisher, Russ Kick, obtained the release of these photos from the U.S. government under the Freedom of Information Act despite a Pentagon directive forbidding the distribution of such images.

Blawg Review #59 also folds in this touching haiku from law blogger and poet David Giacalone:

vietnam memorial –
a tear in
the old protestor’s eye

This edition of Blawg Review ends with the following observation from 60 Minutes news correspondent Andy Rooney:

Remembering doesn’t do the remembered any good, of course. It’s for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don’t find some new way — some new religion maybe — that takes war out of our lives. That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating.