is there a future for free legal content?

[duncan drennan]

I posted this to Paul's blog. As Dave said - take a look at the full blog post.

(Seen as it is licensed under the creative common license I decided it might be worth while to post the full blog article here - I'd edited my first post)

Just to add to what has already been said:

I think one of the keys to understanding the issue is to separate knowledge and skill. In my mind the internet is the great knowledge leveller - as Dave said it is all out there if you're prepared to search hard enough. We could probably say that the internet has commoditised knowledge.

What the internet can't deliver is skill, and that is where the key lies. Again to quote Dave, "separating the wheat from the chaffe" is the hard part. You could probably go and download just about all the knowledge that I picked up studying 6 years of engineering, but the skills imparted via lecturers, practical training, self-learning, project work etc. etc. can't be downloaded (unless you go all Matrix-ey or something).

So I could go and download a contract, but not be sure whether that is suitable for my business - who am I going to ask? The person who is handing out free knowledge in an interesting and insightful way.

You know that I've contacted you about certain things (for which you've referred me to the relevant expert) - that has all come about through contact with you on the internet through your blog and forums.

I like your blog and think you've got a good understanding of where the balance lies in all of this.

You might find that you'll end up doing less work, but I'm sure that it will be more interesting and higher paying - giving you more time to blog and play with the puppies