Bloomberg Law: In-Focus Content

What is it?
In-Focus pages are intended to be a one-stop-shop for issues that are currently in the headlines.  They have everything from introductory materials, to links to statutes, to news alerts.  They are a curated in-depth analysis so that an attorney could feel competent dealing with a complicated or technical issue.

Think of them like a Wikipedia page on steroids…. but for legal professionals.

Who makes them?
Bloomberg hires prominent attorneys in the subject fields to collect these materials – people who have extensive knowledge of the subject matter and can anticipate what an attorney would want to know.

For example, Laura Jehl, who has years of experience in securities, privacy, and cybersecurity has drafted the In-Focus: Blockchain (she even advises the DOJ and FBI on these issues).

But what is in them?
Let’s take a closer look at the In-Focus: Blockchain page that I’ve linked above.  Here’s a video to lead you through the process of navigating there.

I won’t cover everything but I’ll give you some highlights.  Top Right (1) you can see that they have a few different Primers (of different depths and scopes).  Dead center (2) they have Bloomberg Law Trackers – these are machine algorithms that go out into the web and scrape data related to the topic.  Just below that (3) they have Bloomberg Analysis, which is generally a deeper look at contemporary topics by legal professionals (like a news article but written by an attorney instead of a journalist).  Further down and on the right sidebar (4) they have links to Dockets and Court Opinions about blockchain – you can see the most recent litigation or search within this subject-specific database.  Wayyyyy down at the bottom (5), they have a map that shows how each state is dealing with regulation (you can click-through to see the actual legislation).

What other topics are covered?
They add new topics as trends emerge.  Here’s a random sampling:

Sean Harrington, Reference/Electronic Resources Librarian