the Zealous

Redline has emerged from beta and is now live, with private guilds, an enhanced member experience, and more. Watch the trailer Lawyers with Mojo or click here to learn more.

It is the rare lawyer that takes a keen interest in a topic to the point of research and publication. Even rarer is the lawyer who courts criticism and reaction. By teaching, and accepting challenge, such a lawyer becomes an arena lawyer, willing to put herself out there.

The arena lawyer becomes an expert, and in doing so, adds to the collective knowledge of our trade.

And experts—even lawyers—are experts first, and competitors second. Law firms large and small go to great lengths to source original content, as a means of demonstrating expertise. This expertise can be easily appropriated by the competition, and yet the freely shared legal content flow never ceases.

On the origins of "Esquire" (or "Esq.") as an honorific for lawyers:

The word itself derives from Old French, and in turn from Latin, where it means something like “shield-holder.” In the 1200s and 1300s in England, a variety of languages were used, so such figures might be referred to as the … French escuier, which became “esquire.” These terms all refer to roughly similar people. This role was generally considered moderately prestigious for young men of some wealth, but at its core it was a service job. You carry a knight’s stuff, tend to his horses, that kind of thing. “Esquire” and “squire” were names for the same gig for a few hundred years.