Hello everyone and season’s greetings from Dallas, Texas!  I would like to wish you all a terrific holiday season and all the best for 2025.  If you are looking for some fun in January (22-24), please join me and a host of others who will be presenting at Laura Frederick’s (of How to Contract fame) ContractsCon 2025!  I will be there discussing data privacy clauses, but the agenda is stuffed with lots of great speakers and topics. I hope to see you in person in Las Vegas in January (and please find me and say “hi”).

So, here we are in year 11 of the “Ten Things” blog.[1]  Like always, my last post of the year features all the other people you should be reading (or listening to) as part of your day-to-day in-house life. The hard part is choosing just ten to highlight for you.  And I have made it even harder on myself because, unlike past years, I have decided to weave in a few previous winners because they have consistently held up year after year and I want to make sure anyone reading this post is aware of them.  But, if you are interested in all of the past winners, you can start by reading last year’s edition of “Best Blogs (and Other Media) for In-House Lawyers.” I do, however, generally try to feature mostly new voices for you to check out and this year is no exception.  In case you were wondering, there is no particular order to my list (number ten is just as good as number one – I am just typing this up in whatever order I have jotted things down in my notebook or various scraps of paper lying around the “Ten Things” world headquarters).

I know you are excited to find out who made this year’s list so let’s get on with the 2024 edition of Best Blogs and Other Media for In-House Counsel!

1.  Contract Law Tips & Checklists (Brian Heller) – (newsletter).   Brian Heller burst on the scene in 2024 with a fantastic newsletter called Contract Law Tips and Checklists (it used to be a blog called “Contract Law by Numbers”).  Regardless, he had me at checklists!  Brian is an experienced in-house corporate attorney who writes about “cheat sheets and guides to reviewing and negotiating contracts, in plain English.”  Incredibly useful, practical, and easy-to-understand posts.  Some of my favorites so far are Indemnity and Limitation of Liability for Dummies and A to Z of Contract Tips & Checklists — How to Draft, Review & Negotiate, Many Types of Agreements or Clauses.  Damn!  Great stuff Brian!

2.  Justin Mecham (infographic master).  I don’t recall exactly when I first came across one of Justin Meacham’s infographics but they are AWESOME! Justin covers everything from time management to meetings to leadership to AI, all in one-page infographics that are jam-packed with useful, practical information. Stop reading this post right now and go subscribe to Justin’s newsletter.  You will find plenty to share with your teams or just keep handy for yourself.

3.  Morning Brew (daily newsletter). A free daily newsletter jammed with news, puzzles, quizzes, and other material. The Morning Brew is part of my start-the-morning rotation of things I read to get going.  They cover everything from Wall Street to sports, to culture, to fake news headlines.  Add this to your list of things to read every day.

4.  In-House Connect (webinars/online community).  A past winner, Shai Mehani continues building a terrific tool for in-house lawyers with In-House Connect. In-House Connect is an online, virtual community connecting in-house lawyers, outside counsel, and other legal vendors. Shai has started live events as well. But, most importantly, there are several free webinars each month from great speakers on great topics (Shai has an amazing network of all-star in-house luminaries who always bring their A-game to these webinars).  Membership is free (though you must subscribe for the on-demand content) and there is just an amazing amount of content and networking groups available.  A must-have for in-house lawyers

5.  One Useful Thing (blog).  Professor Ethan Mallick writes about practical uses for AI in business, education, and day-to-day life.  One Useful Thing takes one useful aspect of artificial intelligence and goes deep into how you can use it in your daily work or personal life.  Some great recent posts include 15 Times to Use AI, and 5 Not To and Doing Stuff with AI.  You can subscribe for free and you will find something useful in every post.

6.  Lifehacker (website). I love, love, love this website!  Lifehacker is the self-proclaimed “ultimate authority on optimizing every aspect of your life. Do everything better.”  And they ain’t kidding!  This site is full of “hacks” to do just about anything better, faster, and cheaper.  Articles cover the gamut of productivity hacks, to tech, food, health, deals, and more.  And there is a free newsletter delivered to your email inbox several times a week.  Here is one of my favorite recent articles, The Best Free Way to Get Around a Paywall to Read an Article (and a Few More Methods to Try).  Sign up and give it a try.  You will be glad you did.

7.  The Intelligence (website/blog). The Intelligence is a Swiss Army Knife for technology “cool tools” in a series of free newsletters you can subscribe to and covers Windows, Android, cool tools, and more! From the site:

But what if you want to really understand your devices? If you want to make sure that they work for you, exactly how you want them to?  We’re so glad you asked, because that is precisely where “The Intelligence” comes in.  “The Intelligence” isn’t like those other outlets. Our newsletters look beyond the tech, at how real people use their devices, and we want to help you reach a point at which you are empowered by your technology, instead of controlled by it.

I find something useful in every newsletter.  Worth signing up and trying it for a few months.

8.  Lexology (newsletter). Another past winner and another on my daily rotation to start the day. I will be blunt, if you are not subscribed to Lexology you are committing a crime against humanity (or at least a meaningful sin).  If you read this blog regularly, you know I am a huge fan of Lexology, a free daily newsfeed service providing access to hundreds of articles, blogs, law firm publications, and other materials covering a huge variety of legal issues – most aimed at in-house lawyers. When you subscribe to Lexology (it’s free) you set preferences regarding your geographic areas of interest (e.g., U.S., Europe, Asia, etc.), legal areas of interest (e.g., litigation, finance law, employment law, M&A, etc.) and you get a daily email chock-full of great content from leading law firms, blogs, and other sources.  Another must-have for in-house lawyers.

9.  Podcasts (podcasts).  I admire anyone with the patience to put on a podcast. The only thing I know for sure about podcasting is that I prefer to be a guest vs. a host!  That said, I love to listen to them.  Here are a few that focus on the needs of in-house lawyers:

All of these are worth listening to if you are an in-house lawyer.  Get them for your power walk, commute, or while eating lunch at your desk (again).

10.  LinkedIn (mix).  LinkedIn has a special place in my lawyer heart because it is (in my opinion) the last sane bastion of civil discourse in a world where we need more (and not more of whatever the hell is happening with the cesspool that is “X”). There is so much great content created by so many talented people on LinkedIn – all aimed at in-house lawyers. I cannot list them all, but here are just some of the folks I follow and think are worth your time.  Some are names you have seen here before, some are new.  But they are all worth checking out!

I know I am leaving some out, so apologies and I will try to do better next year!

*****

Well, that is it for my 2024 best blogs, pods, and other media edition.  I know you will find at least one or two things that will make your list to use or follow regularly.  And here comes 2025 and another year of writing “Ten Things.”  Somehow I still have plenty of topics on my list.  Thanks again for the encouragement and comments and for sharing the blog with new readers.  And for buying the books!  I will have another pretty full year of speaking (live and webinar) and I hope to see you at one of those events or next month in Las Vegas for ContractsCon 2025.  Otherwise, stay safe, keep reading, and wishing everyone all the best in 2025!

Sterling Miller

December 31, 2024

My latest book (number six), The Productive In-House Lawyer: Tips, Hacks, and the Art of Getting Things Done, is now available for sale.  The ABA says, “Sterling, you saved us from bankruptcy.  Please write another book soon!”  Wow.  Help out the ABA and buy a book!  You can buy your copy here: Buy The Book!

My fifth book, Showing the Value of the Legal Department: More Than Just a Cost Center is available now, including as an eBook!  You can buy a copy HERE.

Two of my books, Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel – Practical Advice and Successful Strategies and Ten (More) Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel – Practical Advice and Successful Strategies Volume 2, are on sale now at the ABA website (including as e-books).

I have published two other books: The Evolution of Professional Football, and The Slow-Cooker Savant (and cookbook number two on the schedule for 2025!).  I am also available for speaking engagements, webinars/CLEs, coaching, training, and consulting.

Connect with me on Twitter @10ThingsLegal and on LinkedIn where I post articles and stories of interest to in-house counsel frequently.  

“Ten Things” is not legal advice nor legal opinion and represents my views only.  It is intended to provide practical tips and references to the busy in-house practitioner and other readers.  If you have questions or comments, or ideas for a post, please contact me at sterling.miller@sbcglobal.net, or if you would like a CLE for your in-house legal team on this or any topic in the blog, contact me at smiller@hilgersgraben.com.

[1] I hope you noticed that the blog index on the right-hand side is now by year and not by month (so much shorter and easier to use)!

[2] Start posting again Foster!