Recently, we asked our friends and colleagues in the legal profession - lawyers, consultants, service providers, marketers - to jot down a thought or two, reflecting back on 2010 and ahead to the new year. As we said in our email request, JD Supra is a community-fueled enterprise, as good as the legal voices publishing their work on the site. In that spirit, we think the best type of "Year In Review" post, the kind we'd like to read, offers a diverse collection of insights and observations not from us but from members of the profession itself.

We asked two questions: 1. what surprised you in 2010? and 2. what should lawyers expect to see in the new years? And we said: "Feel free to hold forth on anything this audience would appreciate: law practice, legal marketing, tech issues, business development, and the myriad other concerns related to these big topics…"

Social media emerged as a dominant theme - hardly a surprise - but, as you'll see, not everyone agrees on what it all means, or how law firms are participating.

Among other answers, we also heard from lawyers about changes and surprises in their particular fields of practice. We'd love to hear more of these - send us a note if you care to be added to the mix.

See our blog for highlights: http://bit.ly/fqu6og

And see below for a complete record of responses - and best wishes for the new year from all of us at JD Supra...