Texas Agriculture Law Blog ranks in national ‘top 100’ list for second time
Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, 806-677-5600, tdowell@tamu.edu
AMARILLO – Texas Agriculture Law Blog by Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist in Amarillo, has once again been named one of the top 100 legal blogs in the nation, according to editors of the ABA Journal, the professional publication of the American Bar Association.
Dowell Lashmet created her blog shortly after she was hired with AgriLife Extension as an agricultural law specialist in July 2013.
When first recognized as being in the top 100 last year, her blog received an average of 7,000 views a month. It now receives an average of 23,000, she said, and can be found at http://agrilife.org/texasaglaw/.
Dowell Lashmet said readers can subscribe by following the instructions on the website to begin receiving each blog post by email.
It is the only agricultural law blog on the “Blawg 100” list, Dowell Lashmet said. The Blawg 100, selected from the more than 4,000 legal blogs in its directory, is what the ABA Journal terms “the best in blogs about lawyers and the law.”
The list of blogs can be found at http://bit.ly/1OcG3Av. The journal has been recognizing the blogs for the past seven years, according to the information provided.
When starting her blog, Dowell Lashmet said she wanted to come up with another way to reach people with current agricultural law news. She said she knew she could only reach so many people through meetings and presentations. She now has 950 subscribers.
Now Dowell Lashmet regularly speaks to other attorneys, producers, realtors and ag business people through her blog about issues such as the proposed “waters of the United States” rule, landowner liability and recently decided cases.
She also features a “Weekly Round Up” of ag law news each Friday and a series called “Questions from Tiffany’s Desk” where she takes questions she receives and answers them on the blog.
“Probably the most popular recent blog post was one I wrote to answer the question of how people can determine whether they hold the mineral rights to their land,” Dowell Lashmet said. “It received a great deal of attention.”
One online comment to that blog came from Bruce Liesman, who said, “I have been a title insurance underwriting attorney for 30 years and a Texas ranch landowner with mineral ownership in a very active zone. I congratulate you on the best and most complete answer to the determination of mineral ownership question that I have ever seen.”
Dowell Lashmet, who grew up on a family ranch in New Mexico, was previously an associate attorney with the law firm of Peifer, Hanson and Mullins in Albuquerque. She earned her law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law and bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from Oklahoma State University.
