Starting a new blog is always tense – it’s a bit like jumping off a high board at the swimming pool, in that you know it’ll get easier afterwards, but you also know that if you get it wrong, it will hurt, and probably quite a lot.It’s like diving off a high board in another way too – you think everyone is watching you, when, generally, they're not.

For this, the first In Business blog entry, I’ll quickly set out what we hope to be able to offer readers of online In Business as we move forward.

We have a couple of law firm partners and other senior firm staff lined up to offer their advice and words of wisdom, and a few consultants who themselves spent time running firms either as lawyers or non-lawyers.

We’ll also try to corral the current issues and metrics from the world of legal news into some kind of regular analysis, and we hope to be able to reply to queries and comments posted here by bringing in expert opinion and advice.

Coming up in the more immediate future will be advice on risk management and compliance, analysis, some blow-by-blow coverage of our exclusive use of the latest e-book reader from iRex (we reviewed the last one in 2007, here), and a regular diet of carefully selected survey results that regularly flow through the Gazette’s In Business mailbox.

I hope there’ll also be comments from you that we can build on – after all, you help set the agenda now. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.