Recently, I took part in an interview with LexBlog, the company responsible for creating this and many other legal blogs.  Today’s "Sensible Interview" includes three of my favorite questions from the LexBlog interview.  If you would like to read the full interview, go here. 

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Lisa Kennelly: Is the blog helping you become a better lawyer?

Chris Cheatham: Yes. I write about green building law, which is really an emerging legal practice. As a result, I have to point out where the legal issues are going to arise. I don’t have case law to rely on. Having to point out potential green building law issues has helped me recognize issues and problems that my clients may face down the road.

Lisa Kennelly: Is the blog helping further enhance your reputation from a client development standpoint?

Chris Cheatham: Most definitely. A perfect example occurred in a client conference call a few months ago. Before the conference call began, we were all exchanging greetings. Out of nowhere, our client’s general counsel says, "Chris, I have really enjoyed reading your green building blog." I was stunned for a minute and finally stammered out a thank you. Other clients and prospects have invited me in to do green building presentations. The client interaction created by the blog is great.

Lisa Kennelly: What’s been most rewarding about blogging?

Chris Cheatham: The most rewarding part of blogging is seeing something happen that you have been talking about. I can think of a couple examples. In December, the DC City Council announced that they were going to revise a component of their green building act that was problematic for the surety industry. One of my first posts, and many subsequent posts, discussed the problems with the specific component of the act. That was very rewarding, to think that I contributed to the change in the act (even if I didn’t!).

The other example was actually the emergence of the first instance of green building litigation. The general premise of my blog is that the green building industry is going to have legal issues that need to be resolved. In one of my first posts, I predicted the emergence of significant green building litigation very soon. Low and behold, a few months later, I learned of the first example of green building litigation. I like to think that I am helping my readers avoid this type of litigation as they get involved in green building projects.

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