Tessa has just said some nice things about this blog in a post on current housing/L&T blogs and it reminded me both that she has been a friend of this blog since the beginning and that a bit of appreciation of her work wouldn’t go amiss. Tessa writes the blog alongside her business site – her practice is based online – but rather than simply being a promotional device, the blog is always an interesting and useful read, which is both generous and, in my view, shows an astute understanding of web 2.0 marketing…

But, if I wondered how the time was actually spent, the stats tell their own story. That three years is is 651 posts worth (which is one post every 1.6 days). Not that everyone else didn’t chip in – there have been 2,349 comments as well.

And it has been quite a trip. For instance, in June 2007, the blog had 3,462 page views. In May 2008, 9,744. In May 2009, you all dropped by 19,129 times. I don’t have figures for the first month of the blog – June 2006, but as I recall, I was amazed that it was a couple of hundred hits or so.

Of course, back at the start, I was a paralegal and the only one writing. Now, I’m a solicitor and, more importantly for the blog, there are another four people also writing.

This seems like a good point to express my profound thanks to my co-bloggers, who have not only kept the blog going when I couldn’t possibly have managed it alone, but have brought a depth and breadth of knowledge that is far beyond my frolicking in the foothills of housing law. They do it for free, for the love of it, and without seeking other reward, and for this they have my deep and frankly amazed gratitude.

What happens next? Who knows… But we have been recognised. Nearly Legal has been referred to in the Solicitors Journal, Journal of Housing Law and, right on cue for our anniversary, in Legal Action (thanks to Robert Latham). There also are stories of NL posts and comments on Doherty being used in County Courts (granted this was by what must have been a rather hapless LA solicitor) and NL’s report of a case being cited in a petition to the Lords as the only existing public mention. We have put up reports of cases which are not available elsewhere and been the venue for heated specialist debate. All of this astonishes me.

It goes without saying that this is all far more than I even imagined when I first started posting in June 2006. None of it was planned, so as to what happens next, let us wait and see. Some things are afoot…

Thanks, of course, to all readers, those who send in news and cases, and commentors – without wishing to sound unduly schmaltzy, you are why we keep on doing this.

1. Nearly Legal stops updating and the archive just sits here. Not a good option – I find the blog useful and interesting and I hope others do.

2. Things totter onwards at a much reduced rate. This would be difficult to keep up and means missing out useful content.

3. Nearly Legal becomes a collaborative project. After all there is no requirement that this be a one person project. Although I do receive information and updates from a number of people both on the blog and behind the scenes (thanks – you know who you are), I wouldn’t have thought of this a year ago, or even a few months ago. But I have been assured in various recent off-blog conversations that Nearly Legal now has quite a widespread readership in the housing law sector – solicitors, barristers, advice workers, and local authorities. This is immensely gratifying and I hope means that people find the blog of use and interest. Of course, unless people comment or email, I have no idea at all who is reading, just the numbers. But the numbers have gone up quite dramatically over the last few months as well. The blog as a whole now regularly gets over 12,000 separate page views and something like 6,000 unique visitors each month. (Of course that 6K includes repeat visits, but not by me. That would add another 1000 or so). For an extremely specialist blog, those aren’t bad figures at all, I think.

With a couple of months to go before the likely deadline, I would like to get people’s – your – views on two proposals for new developments at Nearly Legal. Please let me know what you think, either in the comments or via email – the address is on the ‘about’ page.

Proposal 1. What I am considering is a group of regular contributors. Not guest posts, although that could also be fine, but regulars able to take on a proportion of the updates (whether chosen by rota or by subject, I’m not sure). I intend to keep on posting in part and to serve as editor otherwise.

I have been and will likely remain anonymous, at least in the short term. But this would not be a requirement. Contributors would chose their attribution, anything from anonymity to full attribution, including firm or chambers. So firms, barristers and chambers could view contributing as helping to add value to the brand – hint, hint. Contributors would retain their copyright in their posts, subject only to a licence for posts to be used in relation to the blog, obviously.

I’ve not seen any multi-contributor law blogs other than those produced by a particular firm. I think that a ‘sector’ based blog would be a very interesting proposition. I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t quite some effort involved in turning out posts, so potential contributors need to be aware of that.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone and everyone who would consider becoming a regular contributor – no commitment at this stage, honest.

Proposal 2. This follows on from thinking about a ‘sector’ blog. I’ve been struck by the way in which some posts here have ended up with comment threads that took discussion and information far beyond the original post. But, because of the structure of a blog it is currently only me that gets to post and so to start a topic.

Given that a fairly large part of the sector now read Nearly Legal (I just love saying that) and quite a few of those comment or pass on information, I was wondering whether an online forum, in addition to the blog, would be a useful thing.

It would need to be members-only for posting, to avoid a mountain of spam, although anyone could join and reading would be open to all. The idea is that anyone could post news, information, practice issues, questions and answers on just about anything sector related.

I want to hear from as many people as possible on whether or not this is a good idea – whether a forum would be used. A lively forum could be of great value to people, but there is nothing more depressing than a forum without responses, as the tumbleweed blows through.

These are my modest proposals for a great leap forwards. Something will have to change, as unfortunately Nearly Legal has taken off in an exciting way just at the point that I won’t be able to sustain it alone. The possibility is there that the blog will just peter out. On the other hand, I think there is also the possibility that Nearly Legal (we may have to change the name) can turn into something rather more than a one person blog, something quite new in terms of involvement and value.

What do you think? Or are you all on holiday?

I do feel that there are still far too few substantive law blogs existing in the UK, certainly outside those dealing with IP law. Those that do exist should be celebrated, not least because it is hard work to keep one going. When they are done with clarity and elegance, it is worthy of note. I would therefore like to commend Usefully Employed to you as a first rate law blog.

(Disclaimer – I am not an employment lawyer, so make of that what you will, and we both share a fondness for the WordPress K2 theme. Oh and UE has left a pleasant comment on this blog on occasion. No money has changed hands).

Nearly Legal has an assistant solicitor post in a damn good housing department in a good firm now sorted out for post-qualification in October. No, I’m not telling you where, nor am I casting aside anonymity. Not now anyway.

Nearly Legal is also off on holiday for the next 10 days or so. I’m not going near the internet, so anything that comes up in the meantime will have to wait for my return.

It has been quite a trip. I can safely say that I didn’t plan what Nearly Legal has turned into at all, nor did I expect what was always going to be a very niche blog to get the range of readers and calibre of commentors that it has. For all who comment and email, my thanks. It is, quite honestly, what keeps the blog going.

It isn’t just this blog that has changed, the surrounding world of UK law blogs is also very different. When I started, all the UK blawgs could comfortably fit on my blogroll link list, without it looking particularly lengthy. That is thankfully no longer so. There have been departures, some lamented, but also a lot of newcomers and, much to my delight, increasing numbers of very good specialist blogs have appeared.

There has also been an increasing amount of fun to be had with page scrapers, RSS and aggregators over the years, which has hopefully made Nearly Legal more of a resource than just a blog.

When I started Nearly Legal, I was a paralegal in search of a traineeship. Thankfully that has changed too. I’ll be qualified in a short while, of which more in a few days.

Like all anniversaries, though, this has brought on a minor bout of navel gazing. Whether Nearly Legal sees another anniversary, or even six months, depends on what will be dramatically changing circumstances, none of which I can safely predict. Where I want to take it, assuming it does keep going, is also not certain at the moment. It has been a lot of fun, but also a lot of effort, over and above my full time work. In the meantime, though, normal service will be maintained as far as possible…

A warm welcome to ‘The snail in that legal bottle‘, by Ethan, a ‘housing sector legal person’.

Unfortunately, by way of greeting I popped over late last night and left an inadvertently pompous hatchet job in a comment to a post. I was under the initial, but brief, impression I was doing friendly discussion. Well done me.

I believe Geeklawyer is due to be the next British host, so anyone whose business is dependent on cross-atlantic relations would be wise to sell up now.

Nick’s blawgs of note included Family Lore, Charon QC and Impact. And who in their right mind could argue with that?

In paper based media, Nearly Legal has now featured in or written for, in chronological order, The Specialist Paralegal, the Solicitors Journal and the Legal Executive Journal. Sweet and Maxwell or indeed Rupert Murdoch where are you? I may need a job in a few months time…

Meanwhile, James Stark of Garden Court North has put up a briefing note on the rejection of Payne v Cooper in Porter v Shepherds Bush (he is not happy). Hat tip to Tony Fearnley.

And if you are in search of further housing goodness, a new blog has just started up. Housed is by the person who has been commenting here as ‘housinganger’, a CLS housing caseworker at a CAB. Housed is still unpacking the box marked ‘kitchen’ in search of the kettle, but should be good. I am delighted to be able to welcome another housing blog to the UK law blog scene

At this rate of increase, by the end of 2009, the world will be ours (laughs maniacally). Assuming, that is, that William Flack manages to get his blog working again and finds the time to post something…(hint hint).