A number of new additions to the Canadian legal blogosphere of late – which means even more contenders for the 2009 CLawBies. Since our update in November 2008, we’ve added 14 new Canadian law blogs to the ever-growing list at LawBlogs.ca. In no particular order, they are:

• Rants & Raves (Patrick McKenna)
• Off the Shelf (Osgoode Hall Law School Library)
• E-legal Ideas … for Practicing Law (NetLegal)
• RSS Canadian Immigration News (Robinson Sheppard Shapiro)
• Law Angst in Vancouver
• Tim Baikie’s Capital Markets Update
• PSW Law
• Ontario Condo Law Blog
• Canadian IP Perspectives (Josh MacFadden)
• Rights & Remedies (Shannon Salter)
• LEAP Blog: Law Enforcement Accountability Project (University of Windsor)
• DivorceOnline
• Miskin Law Blog (Murray Miskin)

Know of a blog we’re still missing? Drop me a line and we’ll add it to the list.

2009 is off to a great start for Stem clients, and here’s our monthly roundup of their successes, news, and achievements to prove it!

• Our law practice management SaaS client, Clio was highlighted in a recent edition of the Texas Bar Journal.  D. Todd Smith praised Clio for its document management functionality and unlimited document storage. Themis Solutions, which owns Clio, also gave a presentation at the Nevada Bar’s Ethics and Practice Management Institute. You can view the slides of their presentation, “Ethics and Practice Management“, and read more about on the GoClio blog.
• Legal document sharing service JD Supra’s big news this month was their new partnership with News(tex), a premier provider of real-time news across numerous legal, business, and media channels.  More syndication channels means better distribution of law firm content. Hence the slogan: “Give content. Get noticed.”
• Contingent fee litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey scored a big victory recently in the decision Havenstrite v. Hartford. In this case, the judge found that employees whose lives were insured by their employer’s secret corporate-owned life insurance policies had a valid claim against the insurer for misusing their identities and personal information.
• Jonathan Rosenfeld, a nursing home abuse lawyer based in Chicago, was interviewed for both the Mr. Eldercare radio show and Lawyers USA magazine.  Jonathan also renamed and relaunched his Nursing Homes Abuse blog in January, which we covered in a post about the process.
• Stem launched the Lawyer Addiction Blog, which is sponsored by our Arizona client The Meadows Addiction Treatment Center. The blog highlights the work of lawyer assistance programs across the US and Canada, and we’re excited to forge relationships with these organizations and help them extent the reach of their content.
• Lawyers at BC law firm Clark Wilson LLP celebrated a huge Supreme Court of Canada success in Shafron v. KRG Insurance (Western). The case deals with restrictive covenants in employment agreements and you can read all about it in the latest edition of Workplace Post. The firm also has a new Twitter feed that combines content feeds from all the firm’s online sources: practice group newsletters, posts from the Canadian Trademark Blog and Megawatt: BC Renewable Energy Blog, and feature articles from BCRELinks.com.
• Phoenix DUI attorney Lawrence Koplow points us to an interesting post that discusses the “source code issue“: the ongoing fight between criminal lawyers and breath tester manufacturers, who refuse to disclose the source code used in the machines, and the current Florida litigation over this issue.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz LLP has a new linkblog, Drug Recall Watch, where they post news items on FDA drug, medical device, and general product warning and recalls. Some recent topics include the peanut butter recall and Digitek manufacturer Actavis’ plant shutdown.
• Intellectual property lawyers at China law firm King & Wood recently wrote about a PRC Supreme Court study on judicial protection of IP rights. The post, on the firm’s China Law Insight blog, covers potential policy development for 2009.
• Florida Lawyer Blog Watch, the site we created with West Palm Beach attorney Ron Chapman, had a major update earlier in January. The site now aggregates 85 blogs from Florida legal blogger, including Ron’s blog, West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog. Ron blogs about federal crimes, criminal records, and other related topics.
• New Jersey criminal lawyer John Marshall, who blogs at the New Jersey Criminal Defense & DWI Blog, recently wrote about two notable DWI cases. State v. Rastogi deals with the issue of DWI plea bargains; State v. Spell addresses breath test refusal.

Many thanks to all of Stem’s clients for keeping us energized with great work. And not to foreshadow too much, but February is only going to be short on days, not projects! :)

A big Stem pat on the back to Jonathan Rosenfeld, our Chicago client with a passion for blogging about some of society’s most vulnerable members: seniors in nursing homes. As we noted on Stem’s news page, Jonathan Rosenfeld’s Nursing Homes Abuse Blog has been re-launched with a new title, and a new look.

Formerly the Chicago Nursing Home Law Blog, the revised title is now a better representation of Jonathan’s specialized practise. While there are times & situations when a lawyer would want to align their blog name with a geographic region, we didn’t think this was it.  Jonathan’s reputation & requests for speaking engagements are both in growth mode, and coming from all over.  Neither objective seemed to benefit from having Chicago embedded within the blog name.

This was also a situation where we wanted to draw more focus to the individual; hence the addition of a lawyer photo into the blog design.  Jonathan’s expertise is in nursing home injuries, and his passion for standards of care, and interest in regulatory reforms make for excellent, in-depth blog commentary. He is also an enthusiastic writer, who is pretty good at adding a personal touch to his posts. Those qualities meant a closer connection to the blog author was required. By adding a photo, we are simply trying to put a face to the voice, and to make potential contact more inviting.

The topic categories of the blog went pretty much untouched, including: bedsores, infections, medication errors, and staff behavior. There are also categories for FAQs, a glossary of common terms, and an opportunity to answers readers’ questions via the blog.  There’s always a risk content-wise, and especially with PI work, for lawyer blogs to come off as contrived and unnatural. In this case however, we avoided any recommendations to Jonathan’s writing routine or style. There are times to be factual, and times to inject opinion, and he does both in a natural way.

By way of background, Jonathan practises with the firm Strellis & Field in Chicago and, perhaps not surprisingly, is a popular speaker with seniors’ groups.  Blogging has also helped land him interviews with the radio program “Ask Mr. Eldercare” and with Lawyers USA Magazine. Which brings up another extremely important point for lawyers who blog.  When your writing style is authoritative and helpful, you are not only building credibility with potential clients, but you generate these types of one-off profile building opportunities.

Was this a complete overhaul to Jonathan’s blogging presence? Not at all. But we would like to thank the gang at Lexblog for putting up with our injection of change requests. :)

Stem has completed another update of the Florida Lawyer Blog Watch website.  When we set out to do our review, we expected to find a handful of new blogs. Surprisingly, we discovered that since our last update, 37 new (to us…) Florida legal blogs had cropped up -  a huge jump from 48 last August.

This brings the new total up to 85 Florida law blogs – which, when aggregated at FLBWatch.com, offer a unique snapshot of that current local commentary.

Also interesting, where we were capturing about 4 days worth of blog commentary prior, the new additions have sliced our time line down to 2 days of current posts.

Some of the more novel additions included The 13th Juror (devoted to social justice issues such as poverty and homelessness), Florida Animal Law, and a Cyber Crime Lawyer Blog.

According to the ABA Blawg Directory, Florida is second only to California in number of law blogs (Justia’s Blawg Search concurs)… which is again interesting when you consider that according to ABA market research, Illinois, Texas, and New York all have more active lawyers than Florida.

Stem Legal continues to partner on the Florida Lawyer Blog Watch with our client Ron Chapman, a West Palm Beach attorney, and of course, blogger.  If you know of a Florida law blog not on our list, please be sure to drop us a line.

No tears at this awards ceremony… only surprise and thanks! Here are some of the responses from the winners and runners up of the 2008 CLawBies:

• Jordan Furlong (Law21)
• Canadian Trademark Blog
• Dan Michaluk (All about Information)
• Michael Fitzgibbon (Thoughts from a Management Lawyer)
• Donna Seale (Human Rights in the Workplace)
• Law is Cool
• Doug Cornelius (KM Space)
• Charon QC
• Dave Bilinski (Thoughtful Legal Management)
• Edmonton Law Libraries Association Blog
• Ian Doorey (Doorey’s Workplace Law Blog)
• Ontario Condo Law Blog
• Laurie Mapp (Halo Secretarial Services)

More reactions are in the comments of the post announcing the winners. Congratulations to all!

If you were among the finalists or winners for 2009, badges are available within the sidebar (on the right-hand side) of the CLawBies.ca website.

Again, it was great to see so many bloggers participate in the nomination process. Can’t wait to see what nominations 2009 will bring!

As noted over on the Stem company news, we’ve just announced our latest client, The Meadows Addiction Treatment Center.

You’re probably thinking, “That’s a strange name for a law firm”, and of course, they’re not a legal service provider, as the rest of our clients are. The Meadows approached us because they wanted our help in promoting services to a segment of the population affected by addiction almost 50% more than the general population: lawyers.

The opportunity to work with The Meadows was an interesting possibility to me; and let me tell you why. Volunteer efforts have always been a part of personal life, but not really part of my web world. I’m not big on new year’s resolutions, but I have been questioning … how might this company give back to the industry in which it works? The solution, or at least as I see it, is to align business goals and see if the end product can result in some kind of altruistic behaviour or product.

As such, our first project is called the Lawyer Addiction Blog, which The Meadows will sponsor, and was launched yesterday. The intent of this blog is to draw attention to the work of lawyer assistance programs (LAPs) across the US, Canada and beyond; and to highlight the corresponding content, activities and services.

Company-wise, we’re keen on this project because: (1) it does give something back, and (2) does so in an appropriate way to our skills. Stem’s core skills (there are now 3 of us, which I’ll blog more about soon) are strong in content collections, marketing and web publishing. So while we aren’t sharing any advice on this new blog, we believe we are in an excellent position to contribute by tracking large numbers of content sources, and to showcase that content in an appropriate and factual way.

In our research stage for the Lawyer Addiction Blog, we discovered that there is a wealth of support for lawyers faced with alcoholism, substance abuse, and other addictions. Virtually every US state and provincial bar or law society has a lawyer assistance program, frequently offering untapped resources for those in crisis. And yet, addiction is an issue that seemed to receive limited coverage within the legal blogosphere. This may not be the first blog in this space, but we couldn’t find another.

The Lawyer Addiction Blog’s tagline is “Information Supporting Recovery“, and we think there is a role to play in supporting the flow and presence of this content. We hope the information presented will:

• Increase awareness about the problem of addiction within the legal profession;
• Get the word out about the help that’s available to those in need; and
• Provide a platform for LAPs to promote their functions and activities, while learning about what fellow organizations are doing.

It’s our goal that the Lawyer Addiction Blog will ultimately evolve into a valuable resource for the legal profession as well as the volunteers and staff who run the programs themselves.

Lastly, I’d love to hear from LAP volunteers and staff who might be interested in becoming involved with the Lawyer Addiction Blog. Drop me a line with your ideas, feedback, or just to introduce yourself. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Our monthly roundup of client news for December is running a bit late.  With the combination of holidays, the new year, and getting the Clawbies out… somthing had to give, and I’m afraid it was me. :)

In the better late than never category, here is our monthly sampling of achievements, blog posts, and other newsworthy items from Stem clients for December. We can’t wait to see what 2009 has in store!

• December is an appropriate month to call attention to the 11 awards that China law firm King & Wood won in 2008. With numerous honours for their finance, labour, securities, dispute resolution, and intellectual property work in China, we’re proud to be working with one of the PRC’s top firms!
• Jonathan Marshall blogs regularly on a variety of criminal law topics for New Jersey. One of his recent posts discusses whether we should expect more domestic violence, as the slumping economy is preventing divorced couples from being able to separate their households. John also wrote about about the consolidation of New Jersey juvenile detention centers, and another on whether New Jersey will legalize medical marijuana.
• Jonathan Rosenfeld, a lawyer specializing in nursing home abuse claims, is a frequent blogger on elder abuse and care home issues. Reading his Nursing Homes Abuse Blog, you really get a sense of how passionate he is about his work, and why he is glad the newly-instituted nursing home rating system (Nursing Home Compare) is finally in place. In a pair of posts, Jonathan describes how the ratings work, why he welcomes the system, and how families can use it to help make choices about nursing home care for their loved ones.
• Lawyers at Vancouver firm Clark Wilson are frequently quoted in the news. December was no exception with Gwendoline Allison being interviewed in Business in Vancouver on BlackBerrys in the workplace. Gwendoline also penned an excellent guide to developing workplace BlackBerry policies for a recent issue of Work Place Post, the firm’s Labour & Employment newsletter.
• Also with Clark Wilson, I’d like to congratulate superstar Peter Tolensky for being named one of Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40! BIV still hides their articles behind a subscription wall, which is really too bad. That picture of Peter in his business suit and on skis would be better served in the public domain. ;) Ah, just kidding. Go Peter!
• Legal practice management software Clio picked up a pair of favourable reviews in December from Canadian Lawyer and Law.com. Praising fast technical support from Themis, compatibility with Macs, and universal accessibility, Clio’s happy clients continue to spread the word. Visit the Clio Blog for info on both reviews.
• What exactly is a “Ponzi Scheme”? Over at the Arizona Criminal Lawyer Blog, Lawrence Koplow of Koplow & Patane has shared a short video that answers this question and differentiates between a Ponzi scheme and a pyramid scheme.  Over on his Arizona DUI Defense Blog, Lawrence ponders whether Wonder Bread is “like kryptonite to an Intoxilizer” and posts a couple of videos that demonstrate how eating white bread can result in a false blood alcohol concentration reading.
• Stem client Hissey Kientz LLP launched two new service lines: one related to the FDA recall of ReliOn insulin syringes by Covidien Ltd., and a second related to the diet drug combination Fen-Phen and its link to primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH).
• Mike Myers at business litigation firm McClanahan Myers & Espey writes that financial institutions that were successful in 2008 appear to also have increased reported holdings of bank-owned life insurance (BOLI).  Myers was also quoted in the December Investment News story, “Policies offer small businesses a lifeline”, on the importance of having the insured’s consent when taking out a corporate-owned life insurance policy.
• Ronald Chapman, a West Palm Beach attorney, wrote a trio of posts related to self-defense in Florida; including its association to the right to bear arms, standards for dismissal, and when it is not a defense.
• And finally, legal document sharing service JD Supra ended their year with a huge ‘thank-you’ post to its contributing members. The post also highlighted the 2008 launches of document widgets and their Legal Docs Facebook application – both of which have gone on to become huge hits!

We wish all our Stem clients a very happy and successful new year!