Though this weblog will be about many things, it will almost always be about this: technology changes constantly, and technology changes everything. It changes the way humans in society interact with each other and the world around them. It changes the way they entertain and educate themselves. It changes the way they love, the way they fight, and the way they attempt to govern. The law does its best to keep up, but while technology changes rapidly, the law and its institutions move at a what some would call a more measured — and others would dub simply a snail's — pace.

The legal field increasingly finds itself at the intersection of modern life and the often ill-fitting or conflicting precedents that might determine the outcome of a particular dispute. Lawyers are trained to spot and analyze these sorts of issues, and to help clients, courts, and legislatures attempt to work through them. But historically, the thought processes behind our lawmaking have been largely invisible. Legal discourse has been readily accessible only to a closed loop of professionals, academics, jurists, and politicians. Even within the profession itself, "knowledge sharing" remains a somewhat novel concept. Unless you're helping generate billable hours or paying handsomely for them, until quite recently odds are your exposure to timely commentary on topical legal issues has been limited to media sound bites.

Weblogs by those across the legal field are changing this, and Between Lawyers is an effort to keep accelerating that change. Its contributors are five lawyers with disparate backgrounds who live with and strive to understand the impact of technology on our world. They are all bloggers with a track record of being able to explain complex legal issues in ways that others can understand. They find their backchannel conversations about technology, the law, their profession, and society pretty interesting, and they hope that by having these discussions in public — and inviting your participation — everyone concerned can learn a thing or two more than they otherwise would.

So, whether you're already well represented or Between Lawyers right now, we're glad you're reading and hope you'll do so often.