September has flown by, and Stem clients are once again in high gear. Here’s a look at what they’ve been up to over the last month:

• Our newest client,  Themis Solutions, Inc.  is preparing to officially launch its flagship product, a web-based practice management tool Clio.  Delegates at the ABA Solo and Small Firm Convention in Santa Fe, NM will be among the first to get a glimpse at the legal Software-as-a-Service solution on October 1st (yep, that’s tomorrow!). In the meantime, you can sign up for a trial beta account and for a special launch discount at www.goclio.com.
• In a pair of blog posts, West Palm Beach lawyer Ronald Chapman has been pondering the issues of Taser use, excessive use of force, and what happens when police brutality is caught on tape.
• McClanahan Myers Espey LLP commercial litigation lawyer Mike Myers will appear on the Rick Gillis Employment Radio show on Saturday, October 4th from 9-10am CDT. You can listen live as Mike discusses corporate- and bank-owned life insurance (COLI and BOLI) by streaming live radio from The Ticket 97.5 FM. We’re also very happy to see everyone at MME is safely back in their Houston offices after Hurricane Ike!
• Angelo Patane, a Phoenix injury lawyer with Koplow & Patane PLLC, wonders whether the current damages cap of $200 million will be challenged in light of the recent rail accident that killed 26 in California. Check out his commentary on the Arizona Personal Injury and Insurance Bad Faith Blog.
• Products injury firm Hissey Kientz LLP launched a website dedicated to their Digitek law group, called Digitek Recall Help. The site gives consumers the low-down on Digitek (a heart medication known generically as digoxin), why the recall was issued, side effects and toxicity, and current news on lawsuits.
• In the wake of upheaval in the US financial industry, JD Scoop has been collecting reliable, authoritative commentary on the proposed bailout plan. Aviva Cuyler has been updating this “reading list” as new material is posted to JD Supra.
• Mindful of the fact that Canada is never unaffected by the US financial climate, Shauna Towriss of the BC business law firm Clark Wilson wrote an article that’s been republished by BAR-eX. “Slowing Economy Presents Opportunities and Challenges” discusses buying and selling financially distressed businesses.

Another very busy month, but you can’t complain when you have fantastic projects like these to be involved with. Thanks everyone!

- Steve

I was very fortunate to be involved in a webex session this morning with the crew over at Lexblog. The topic was predictably … legal seo.

Lexblog, as most readers will know, are one of the biggest builders of law blogs within our industry.  And the purpose of the session was simply to convey the basics, and to provide a few DIY tasks that lawyers can apply to their own web presence.

If you’re interested hearing what was said, Kevin will likely be posting a link to the archived session later today (or very soon…). However, in the mean time, Lexblog’s Rob LaGatta did some amazing live tweeting covering the session over on twitter. Click on that preceding link to see a recap of over 5 screens of Rob’s notes during the session.

Many thanks to Lexblog for having me this morning. If there are follow-up questions, please feel free to send them along to steve@stemlegal.com. I’ll do my best to respond in a timely manner.

Every lawyer and legal marketer alike should read this post by Jordan Furlong, titled We Are All Solos. Some of the key points include:

• Personal lawyer brands are having a dramatic impact on our industry;
• Law Firm loyalty isn’t what it used to be, we’re fast becoming a free agent nation;
• Lateral hires are driving an already transient lawyer-firm relationship;
• Solos are the model to watch;
• and most important, that each lawyer has “both the responsibility and the requirement to take full control of their career and personal brand”.

I spoke to a younger lawyer friend a few weeks back and this is exactly the advice I gave him. You can’t wait for the firm to build your personal brand for you. They don’t have the resources to do it for every lawyer. Especially in larger firms, and and especially for Associates. Heck, few Partners get help on this kind of stuff, and even their welcome can be worn out these days.

I also loved his point on Solos being the ones to watch. I couldn’t agree more. Solos are a stripped down model of legal practice - especially when it comes to marketing & brand building - that have very favourable characteristics: they’re nimble, they can make mistakes, they can take risks, and they can innovate.

A fantastic & important post Jordan. Well done!

Yesterday morning, Adrian Lurssen (aka @jdtwitt), Communications Director at legal document sharing website JD Supra, blogged a list of 145 lawyers and legal professionals he’s following on Twitter, with the goal of encouraging a some legal community matchmaking.

Thanks to a short description he provides for almost every person on the list, I’m willing to bet the legal Twitter-sphere is a friendlier, better-connected place today! The proof? Within hours, the list had grown from 145 to 180, and will probably grow more.

If you’re still not getting this Twitter stuff, please check out my introductory post on the lawyer marketing value of twitter; and if you’re simply on the fence on whether to join? Preview some of the legal community’s exchanges over at Stem’s legalvoices.com - which has had a bit of a renaisance since Adrian’s list went live. And do remember that the twitter conversation is much more casual than the legal blogosphere…

So what are you waiting for? Drop by, find some folks to follow, and enjoy making new Twitter connections!

Thanks Adrian, for the LV mention and shout-out to @legalvoices too.  My inbox is also full now, and I spent a fair bit of time yesterday adding legal industry types to my @stevematthews account. It’s fantastic to see the legal Twitter community grow like this. This was a wonderful initiative!

Summer is usually a slow(er) time for the legal industry. But Stem’s clients continue to be busy with all sorts of great endeavours. Here’s our monthly peek into some of our Stem clients news:

• Adrian Lurrsen (if you’re on Twitter, he’s a gem to watch @JDTwitt ) has been blogging up a storm over at JD Scoop - the companion blog for free legal document sharing site JD Supra. Post topics included the top searches for July, JD Supra’s new email digests offering, and a practical example of driving profile with content. He even had time to join me today in the 5 blogs meme. JD Supra founder Aviva Cuyler also chimed in with her welcome of the latest contributors.
• West Palm Beach attorney Ron Chapman, who specializes in defending both Florida State and Federal Crimes, recently wrote a pair of helpful FAQ-style posts on sealing criminal records in Florida ( Part 1, Part 2). The FAQs deal with out-of-state criminal records, sealed vs. expunged criminal records, eligibility, and pardons, among other related topics.
• The Technology & IP group at Canadian law firm Clark Wilson LLP were among the first to publish considered and in-depth commentary on Bill C-61, the copyright reform bill introduced in June 2008. You can read all about that plus other IP news in the August edition of the group’s newsletter, Knowledge Bytes.  Clark Wilson is also excited to be a Silver Partner in sponsorship of the 2008 Women’s Leadership Forum in its inaugural Vancouver event, “Shine: Radiate your Leadership”.
• As we hinted at in our last roundup, the lawyers of McClanahan Myers Espey LLP are now blogging! The Contingent Fee Business Litgation blog features discussion on topics such as corporate-owned life insurance (dead peasant) policies, patents disputes, and contingent fee litigation. Intrigued? Check out Mike Myers’ recent post, “How ‘Dead Peasant’ Insurance Got Its Name”.
• Stem’s newest client, Houston-based product injury firm Hissey Kientz LLP, has published a news section on their website dedicated to tracking the Digitek recall and related lawsuits.
• Lawrence Koplow, a Phoenix DUI attorney with Koplow Patane PLLC, has been working on spreading the word about the DUI Lawyer Blog Watch. His efforts are paying off: we’ve added a couple new DUI/DWI blogs to the mix since its inception in late July 2008. Keep those blog submissions coming—the more the merrier!

Great work, everyone! We’re working at getting this kind of news roundup onto a monthly schedule. So with any luck, you can expect to hear more of our clients’ projects and achievements next month!

I’m making a note here for personal history, and because I’m not sure the next time I’ll get quoted on CNN Money & Dow Jones. The story relates to my recent post on the controversial Findlaw link sales program.

I would also add, this was probably one of the best experiences I’ve had with a Journalist. The writer, Nat Worden, seemed interested in a complete picture of the story from all sides. I think the final story reflects well on his unbiased approach. He also seemed to understand my limits, and didn’t push when I wasn’t willing to pass along client emails. In turn, I think he was quite happy when I relayed the google cache for pages before the link & PageRank alterations.

This was the type of information exchange I’ve always envisioned when thinking about bloggers and journalists (for some interesting related commentary see this post over at Slaw). Bloggers often know their niche market intimately and can gauge when to do a little more digging; and Journalists know how to flesh out a full & fair picture of what’s going on.

Modern news coverage sure seems to have more to offer when these two sides work together. An interesting glimpse into the future perhaps?

I have a new article on Slaw this morning for my Web Law Connected column. It’s titled SEO for Law Firms: Why Adwords is Not the Solution.

The article reflects some of my core critiques of Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, and why I believe firms should question the value returned on this type of marketing investment.

Please drop by and have a look.  I actually think it’s one of my better efforts. :)

Just confirmed by Google’s Matt Cutts, you should be able to download the brand new Google browser Chrome as of tomorrow morning. (link will go live when Google launches the site)

Given that Stem is almost entirely run on web applications like Google Apps and Freshbooks, I probably owe it to myself to take this one for a run. That said, I’m also a big fan of Firefox so my loyalties are definitely going be tested.

And speaking of Firefox, it will be interesting to see where Google stands on its support for the Mozilla Project (see comment #1 on Matt’s post) after the announcement. All I can say is, browser standards & interoperability had better adhered to. Web design could take a serious step backwards otherwise; especially when adding what could soon prove to be a major player in the browser market.

On the plus side, Google is billing it as an open-source product. So fingers crossed.

(Update) One bold prediction: If Google gets any kind traction, Chrome will be the jumping off point for a future Google Operating System. The first requirement needed to compete with the likes Microsoft & Windows in the OS market is a user base willing to install application software. Other than the Google Toolbar, this might be their best opportunity yet.