Stare Deep Into The Abyss Of My Navel

A message from the new Executive Editor of Above the Law.

From where I sit, there seem to be two models for media companies that want to survive in the 21st Century:

Model A: “Let’s tell our readers what they are supposed to know, so they can virtue signal on Facebook by re-posting an article they didn’t read.”

Model B: “Let’s lie to our readers and tell them what they want to hear so they can virtue signal on Facebook by re-posting an article they didn’t read.”

Above the Law has always sat comfortably as a third kind of option: We’re a brand that is led by our readers, that doesn’t need or deign to pander to them. It’s a neat space, and a space that we intend to maintain as ATL transitions into new leadership.

Above the Law has been and will always be as good (or not good), as our readers want it to be. Our readers are our sources, our readers are our assigning editors, our readers are our “brand ambassadors.” We cover what our readers tell us to cover, not in an Orwellian “our double-secret cookie embed tells us Jacob wants a story on the DOJ hiring freeze” way. We cover what our readers tell us to cover in a literal “hey guys, WRITE ABOUT THE HIRING FREEZE, Kthnxbye — Jacob” way.

Of course, there are many stories that show up in our inbox as “OMG, can you believe this is happening,” that end up on the website as “Totally Normal Thing Happens, To Surprise of Idiots.” The law is a combative, argumentative field, and Above the Law reflects the fact that you can’t put five lawyers in a room (there are five of us, full time, on this side of the screen) and have them agree on anything, not even lunch. Our readers are part of that process too. We can’t tell our readers how they should think, even if we wanted to. All we can do is make our best case and let our highly educated audience use or disregard the news as they see fit.

Above the Law works best when there is interaction between the lawyers who go out there and “do” law, and the lawyers who sit in their bathrobes and write about it. Unfortunately, in 2017, “online interaction” has become code for “toxic/flame/hate/troll/shame/threat/you-should-kill-yourself speech.”

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But it doesn’t have to be this way. Lawyers are trained to make passionate arguments about matters that might literally involve life or death, and then have a whiskey with their adversary later. If we can’t figure out how to do this, what hope does the non-confrontational rest of the country have?

One of our main goals going forward will be to find new ways to interact with our readers, online or in-camera, in spaces that don’t devolve into me having to ask the F.B.I. if I’ve received a “true threat.” We’re going to do more on social media, in groups where it will be hopefully be easy to spot the toxic trolls and block them. We’re going to do more to try to interact with you on the device of your choice, in the medium of your choice, so you can “retort” in the time, place, and manner of your choosing.

Doing this right and doing this better is as important now as ever before. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to note that media consumption has become somewhat… polarized. Everybody has their own channels, blogs, followers, and they’d rather be stomped by the giant marshmallow than cross the streams.

Luckily, “the law” defies the neat political buckets the rest of the world seems eager to self-segregate into. You show me the Supreme Court justice you hate the most, and I’ll show you an opinion of his or hers that you think is right and important.

Our laws are the result of arguments; you can’t cover the law accurately without getting into the argument. The important thing is that all arguments are made. And so we want to be able to facilitate the fighting and the consensus building, wherever its happening in the legal community.

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Thanks for reading Above the Law. Thanks for your advocacy. We’re going to continue trying to give you places to make your case.

Earlier: A Changing Of The Guard At Above The Law


Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.