Archive for Law Blogs

Canadian Law Blogs List Now Over 200!

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Since our last batch of updates, there have been 11 additions to LawBlogs.ca:

These latest additions mean that lawblogs.ca now lists more than 200 Canadian blogs from lawyers, profs, students, law librarians, and legal marketers.  Cresting over the 200 mark is a noteworthy achievement in the Canadian market.  In fact, compared to just 11 months ago, we’ve observed 71 new law blogs – almost one-third of the directory!

Also noteworthy, we’re currently in the middle of a “weeding project”: dropping all the dead and abandoned blogs. Once we pull those (the list hits 235 prior to culling), we’re still solidly over the 200 mark for active law bloggers in Canada!

If you know of one we’re missing, please – drop us a line!

New Canadian Law Blogs on LawBlogs.ca

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When we posted our last round of new additions to LawBlogs.ca, we wondered whether there was a future Clawbies winner among them. Well, as it turns out, there were three of them! Avoid a Claim, The Trial Warrior, and The Stream were all winners or finalists in the 2009 Clawbies, and each was less than six months old. How’s that for an auspicious start?

Here’s the newest batch of Canadian law blogs at LawBlogs.ca:

We wish all of these new bloggers as much success as their blogging forefathers… may there be Clawbies in their futures!

2009 Clawbies Acceptance Speeches

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2009 CLawBies

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Nominations Open for the 2009 Clawbies

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Canadian Law Blog Awards

As we  just announced on Clawbies.ca, the nomination period is now open for the 2009 Canadian Law Blog Awards, with the awards list set to be released on New Year’s Eve.

This is the fourth year we’ve held the awards, and similar to last year, we’re bringing back the social nomination to let everyone share their favourite Canadian law blogs!  You can read more about he nomination process on Clawbies.ca, but here’s a quick rundown on the 2009 rules:

  1. You can tweet your nomination on Twitter, but please include the hashtag text: #clawbies2009. We’ll be monitoring!
  2. You can also email in your favourite blog, along with a sample post or two, or any other notable highlights to Steve Matthews at steve@stemlegal.com. It’s not a public nomination, but still perfectly acceptable.
  3. And perhaps the most influential method, write a blog post about three other Canadian law blogs you currently read and tell us why those blogs are important to you.
  4. If you are nominating via your blog, remember to act like a humble Canadian and tell us NOTHING about your own blog.  In return, we promise the nominator’s blog will receive a thorough review, as will your suggested peers, PLUS you get a chance to plug a fellow Canadian blogger!
  5. Don’t include or suggest categories. We’ll figure out that part.
  6. You don’t have to be a Canadian to make a nomination.
  7. Don’t bother nominating Jordan Furlong.  Feel free to say nice things about him, but he’s kinda conflicted now. :)
  8. And finally, we’re on the look out for sleeper picks! That fantastic blog flying under the radar!

Vote early and vote often! (pretend that volume counts, even if it doesn’t…)  And have fun promoting the Canadian legal blogosphere.

Cheers!
Steve

What’s new at LawBlogs.ca?

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As mentioned in our last update, we’ve been busy working on a re-vamped design for LawBlogs.ca.  The new site will have a bunch of new ways to browse our ever-expanding list of Canadian law blogs, including categorization by province and by practice area. We’re really pleased with how it’s coming along, and hope to do the re-launch before the end of the year.

And speaking of year’s end, it’s time to start thinking about who you’ll nominate for the 2009 Clawbies.  We’re continuing with the “blogged nominations” system again this year, and will be welcoming tweeted nominations, too.  Full details will be posted in the first week of December, with the Awards announced at the end of the month.

Below is the latest batch of additions to LawBlogs.ca, a total of 18 new law blogs since September. Who knows? Maybe there’s a future Clawbies winner among them!

Conference Paper on Web Based Referral Marketing

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I’m about a week late with this post, but it’s always a good time to plug ABA Techshow! Right?

The paper I wrote with Reid Trautz last year, titled Supercharge Your Referrals With Technology, has been released as part the Best of ABA Techshow series. It’s the full version of the paper that was given out to attendees, in PDF format & around 15 pages.  I just re-read some of it, and was reminded of some of the great ideas we covered.

You can download more presentation papers from ABA Techshow, which runs again March 25-27th, by clicking over to the newly created section on the conference website.

And speaking of Mr. Trautz … Every year Reid publishes his guide on holiday shopping for lawyers. Reiding Reading his blog a few minutes ago, I notice the 2009 Gift Guide went up a couple days ago. It’s great fun, as usual!   Where else would I find an online store for a gas-powered blender! (seriously, near the end…)

New Canadian Law Blogs at LawBlogs.ca

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Since our last update in June, we’ve added 12 new blogs to LawBlogs.ca:

LawBlogs.ca now lists approximately 175 blogs from Canadian lawyers, law students, legal researchers, marketers, and practice advisors. Pretty impressive!

We’re planning some big changes on LawBlogs.ca — hopefully this fall — jurisdiction and practice area categorizations are two improvements we’ve got in the works.  Be sure to let us know of any blogs we’re missing.  Your suggestions keep our list current!

CNW Report on Social Media & Canadian Law Firms

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Heather Morrison of the CNW Group, formerly Canada News Wire, released a 11-pg report yesterday titled Canadian Law Firms and their Use of Social Media. I am quoted in it, so please excuse the vanity reference.

The report itself offers a nice overview of the benefits of social media investment. That’s important, but the part I appreciated most was the focus on relationship building. Great relationships are a key driver of success for any law firm (or lawyer’s) search strategy. The reason? Relationships not only improve our network of contacts, which alone is a worthy goal, but they form the basis of the link network behind most firm websites.

Links, remember, are ultimately a form of online currency and a driver of what many people refer to as ‘google juice’ – a measure of trust, and better search rankings.

At one point in the paper, I’m also quoted saying that firms ‘not skip steps‘. Let me explain that further. Broken down, I often consider these three components:

  • content – eg. blogs, papers, newsletters;
  • distribution channels – eg. twitter, email, RSS, JD Supra; and
  • relationships - either mirroring & codifying one’s existing relationships with links, or driving new relationships with social media;

Most firms (not all) have content at least partially covered. They may be sending out paper or email newsletters (distribution) and connecting with existing clients. In the past, that’s what firms had to work with. Could they now have more forms of content? or distribute via more channels? Absolutely, but it’s hard to argue that having those basic pieces functioning (think: 80:20 rule, existing clients…) didn’t create some success.

But this 2/3 element scenario, also created a huge gap in search marketing. Without relationships driving links, firms weren’t creating any kind of an ‘after effect‘; where their published content continues to rank well in the search engines, and continues to drive new readers creating exposure. But with Social Media participation (I include blogger-to-blogger relationships here), and creating new relationships with the associated links, firms are often able to make their publishing work harder & longer. In the cases of extremely popular content, years after the date of publication.

As the years pass, and a firm’s volume of substantive publishing increases, so too does this ‘after effect‘.  And the driver in all this is pretty consistent. Having a solid network of ‘web friends’, who are also web publishers, is one tough combination.

There are lots of other benefits to social media usage, which are covered in the report. But that’s my take on the why SM participation reflects positively on search marketing.

No Blog Comments & Connecting with Readers

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If a blog post doesn’t receive any comments, does that mean you struck out?

Actually, it’s quite common for blog posts not to receive comments. In the legal industry, and especially with lawyer blogs, we see it all the time.  The truth is the majority of online readers are lurkers. It’s called the 90-9-1 Rule, where 90% of your readers won’t respond in any way, 9% will contribute and participate once in a while, and 1% will do the vast majority of digital interaction.

This can be a difficult phenomenon to explain, but it hardly means that you haven’t connected with your intended audience.  Remember: the more focused the subject, the smaller the target audience. Apply the  90-9-1 rule to most lawyer blog audiences, and it’s a recipe for a comment-free wasteland.  I also think it’s quite unfair to compare a lawyer’s blog comment numbers to the more news-y blogs out there. You can’t compare a lawyer’s substantive commentary to ATL or ABA Journal.

Two important points:

  1. Some blog posts just don’t warrant a comment — case in point, see my last post on the sudden abundance of twitter experts our there. It’s received zero comments, but 41 retweets and 1500+ visitors. The post was a fun lark, but clearly not worth commenting on.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t strike a chord or find an audience.
  2. There’s always a chance for commentary to connect with readers in the future — Another example: back in 2006 I wrote the Top 10 Uses of RSS in Law Firms.   Three weeks passed and it might have had 30 readers. It subsequently got picked up by Dave Winer, and took on a life of its own.  To this day, that post drives more visitors to my personal blog than anything I’ve written there since. … Side comment: This story is also one of the reasons I still believe in search marketing and the power of positioning content in front of audiences. Blog commentary & search exposure combined continue to have a long-term impact on my own content marketing.

Bottom line: Are comments nice?  Of course they are, but you have to see the big picture.  As most experienced bloggers will tell you, comments are only one form of feedback. Don’t forget to also watch:  site traffic (both post specific, and general trends),  social media mentions, email feedback, mentions on other blogs, and general increases in your profile (eg. offers for speaking engagements) & your personal network (eg. more industry-based friends & contacts).  You need to consider all the available metrics as a group.  Micro-measuring comment counts (or even counting interactions post-by-post…) isn’t going to cut it in face of the 90-9-1 rule.

Legal Blog Software Showdown

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Avvo’s Marketing Manager Conrad Saam recently produced a feature comparison table for the various legal blogging platforms. Unfortunately, the list included a number of inaccuracies, prompting responses from Kevin O’Keefe (for Lexblog), Rick Klau (for Blogger), and a number of others. The list was also a pretty short, and seemed to be crafted to showcase Avvo’s new entry into the market.

Ok, fair enough. That’s Avvo’s prerogative on their own blog, and Rick & Kevin did a fine job standing up for their services. But beyond the controversy, the post did raise a couple of very common questions: 1) which blog software & vendors are out there?, and 2) how should lawyers make their decision on a provider?

Let’s start with the second question. Picking a blog software is all about finding a good fit. It’s a balance between your budget, your skills (and the skills of those you employ), the control you require over the software, and the amount of ‘hand holding’ necessary from your provider. Broken down further:

  • Budget:  This one should be easy, but is often not. If you’re spending dollars in this space, you quickly find out that your money is not going to software. Blog software is cheap, no matter who provides it. The cost comes from the added extras: a professional design, custom coding, functionality changes, software upgrades, training, backups, security, etc.  Do you want someone to pick up the phone when things go wrong?
  • Skills:  The less money you spend, the more you need to be comfortable with the out-of-the-box (OOTB) product. And free, often equals OOTB plus your time (or the time of people you pay).  This is a balance, however, and many people can create & manage a blog themselves, with the time committed varying case-by-case.  The best advice I have to give to lawyers is: a) to value your time invested in extra blog management tasks, and b), to know the limits of your resources. 95% of the time, blogging is a simple painless process. But if you lose  a couple of weeks each year tinkering, you need to consider whether this is a hobby or a business investment.
  • Control: Many of the hosted solutions restrict the design options and custom coding, so you need to be content with the product they are delivering.  If you require complete control of the design and functionality of your blog, that can have a big influence on your decision. Wordpress, for example, has both a free hosted version, and an open source free download that may be installed on your own servers (the former being a self-managed solution, and the later offering the most control). Feature wise, blog software are often very similar. So how do you differentiate? For me, the big factor is design flexibility. Either pick a provider that delivers that professional looking design, or choose a  software with complete custom coding capability.
  • Hand holding: Being a novice at anything is tough, and blogs are no exception. Most lawyers are good writers, but few are coders. Many seasoned bloggers often forget how many hours they’ve invested in learning this stuff. Personally, I think most new blogging lawyers would benefit from focusing on their transition to the first-person opinion-driven blog writing style. If you think you need training & advice, don’t choose software. Choose a service provider.

Now for Part 2. Here’s a list of some of the viable options out there. These are solutions, companies or software, that we have personal experience with. Depending on the circumstances, any of them may be a good fit to build or host a legal blog.

  • Hosted Wordpress – Located at wordpress.com (not  .org).  While it lacks in full control over the design and ability to modify code, the platform is very solid. You can apply your own domain name (recommended if you want to move your blog later); and if you’re a CSS whiz, you can pay to apply your own custom template. Good choice for: the somewhat tech savvy &  budget conscious. Comparable to Google’s Blogger.
  • Self-hosted Wordpress – Located at wordpress.org (not .com), where you download the software and install yourself.  This is what we use for our own blogs here at Stem. In my view, it offers the most control, but also requires the biggest investment. If you see Wordpress design themes for sale, or freelancers offering Wordpress design, it’s more than likely for the self-hosted version.  Good choice for: the most tech savvy, OR, a lawyer outsourcing development and wanting full control over the layout, design & functionality.
  • Lexblog – Ignoring the colourful personality of the CEO, Lexblog remains the industry leader. We have a number of co-clients with them, and I do recommend Lexblog as a ‘turn key’ solution. As described in the budget item above, you don’t hire Lexblog for their software. They’re hired to execute my laundry list of added extras, and to answer the phone when you need help. Good choice for: the time conscious, less tech savvy, new bloggers.
  • Justia – Probably the second name out of most peoples’ mouths when they think lawyer blogs (and perhaps the first for websites). Tim Stanley & Co. have an excellent industry reputation, and their blogs are prominent in many markets.  Good choice for: same crowd as Lexblog, but for those that like Justia’s blog designs better.
  • Google’s Blogger – This was my first blog software, and where I continue to host my personal blog. For me, Blogger remains the simplest solution available, free or paid. I would strongly advise putting a domain name to your blog ($10/yr) before you start, so you have a migration path later. But short of some widget functionality (which can be hand coded into the templates), I have few complaints. Good choice for:  those lacking tech skills, little to no budget, but want get going. Comparable to Hosted Wordpress.
  • G2 Web Media – Long time legal blogger Grant Griffiths, who also has a bootcamp introduction for new blogging lawyers, is a frequently missed alternative. G2 Web Media has some nice designs, and works as an intermediary using the self-hosted Wordpress solution. Good choice for: the lawyer who wants a unique blog design, custom functionality, but needs to outsource design & support.
  • Skunkworks – Our local friends up here in Canada, Skunkworks are another reliable developer option. Doug Jasinski and company have a combined background in both traditional media and advertising, along with some solid multi-platform blog designers. Good choice for: the lawyer that wants their blog to match firm branding efforts.
  • Drupal - Drupal is one of most flexible CMS products I’ve worked with, but I’m hesitant to recommend it as a blog platform for individual lawyers. Especially for the less tech savvy. Where Drupal does fit in nicely is for community driven websites – a collaborative blog for a legal association perhaps. I put Joomla in this class too. Good CMS, but you’ll be tinkering if you want to use it for blogging.
  • Movable Type & Typepad – Comparable to WP self-hosted and WP hosted, respectively.  Movable Type is the core platform Lexblog uses, without LB’s configuration bells & whistles. Typepad tends to be underrepresented in the legal market, and we don’t currently host any clients there; but some colleagues do, and sing their praises.

There are undoubtedly others; especially more companies that build blogs for lawyers. But I can only work from personal experience here (so please don’t email asking to be listed). Also understand that your decision is not carved in stone. As long as you put your blog on a domain that you own … did I say that enough times in this post? ;) …  you can migrate to another platform in the future.

Good luck with your new blog!

Clark Wilson LLP Guest Blogs at Slaw.ca

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I’ve been waiting all week to see the final breakdown of posts from Slaw’s second law firm guest blogger: Clark Wilson LLP.

cw_banner

For those that might not know, Clark Wilson is both my former firm and one of our first clients here at Stem.  But beyond that, the lawyers who participated (many who are long time friends) simply did an outstanding job.  Thanks to some fine internal quarterbacking by Jeffrey Vicq, the firm had an ample number of Partners involved, including a few practice group leaders, and a nice representation of practice areas.

Here’s a quick roundup of what CW lawyers posted over the course of the week:

From Bernard Pinsky, who is chairs the firm’s Corporate Finance/Securities and United States Law groups:

From Nicole Byres, who practices with the firm’s Labour & Employment and Energy & Natural Resources groups.

From Larry Munn, who chairs the firm’s Privacy Law Group and blogs at Canadian Trademark Blog:

From John Fiddick, who’s a member of Clark Wilson’s Business Litigation and Insolvency & Restructuring Law groups:

From Warren Brazier, who chairs the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Group (and also blogs at Megawatt: BC Renewable Energy Law Blog):

From Sarah Jones who’s a member of the firm’s Commercial Real Estate, Municipal Law, and Environmental Law groups:

From Neil Melliship,who chairs Clark Wilson’s Technology & Intellectual Property practice group and contributes to the Canadian Trademark Blog:

From Brent Clark, who practices with the firm’s Commercial Lending and Insolvency & Restructuring groups:

From Michael Jaworski, who’s a member of the firm Construction, P3 law, and Corporate groups, and edits the firm’s construction industry newsletter, Legal Framework:

Congratulations, everyone, on a very successful weeks’ blogging!

Latest additions to LawBlogs.ca

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It’s been a couple months since our last lawblogs.ca update. Here’s a list of the latest additions:

A total of 14 new Canadian law blogs since our April update. Congratulations to all, and as always, let us know of any that are missing, and we’ll get them added ASAP.

Blawg Review Still Going Strong

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Stem client John Hochfelder is the host of this week’s blawg review, which comes with an interesting personal touch – the review is both dedicated to, and the theme guided by, the life of his late father.  The publication date was also timed nicely for today, his father’s birthday.

And before anyone guesses wrong, the theme idea and craftsmanship was all John – So full credit to him!  And really, you don’t contrive a story like this.

What I would like to write about, web strategy wise, is the opportunity Blawg Review provides for legal bloggers looking to establish themselves.  Around since its first edition in April 2005, Blawg Review is one of the oldest and can certainly now be described as one of the strongest rotating blog carnivals. Each week someone new hosts the review on their blog, offering a personalized round-up of commentary (in this case, legal blogs) from the previous week.

Hosting a blog carnival has always been a solid web-marketing tactic, but like most things that work well in the online space, isn’t always easy to pinpoint why.

Two of the big issues I see with many new bloggers is that they are often: link-poor and (web) relationship deprived. Getting past those barriers, while difficult, requires: 1) writing commentary that is substantive & genuine in tone and 2) having the personal web-network of relationships that can help increase exposure.  Gaining attention in the blogosphere, simply put, requires both ‘the steak’ and ‘the sizzle’.

So how does hosting a carnival like Blawg Review help? A couple of ways. First, there’s a benefit on the link front – the host blog usually receives its fair share of quality incoming links. Links, I might add, that are based on substance (not schemes) and links that are strong on subject relevance.

And second, the host blog puts itself on the radar of the legal blogging community.  At a number likely over 5000 now, that’s not always an easy task.

Now let me make my confession (’cause Ed’s waiting for it) – I’ve never actually hosted Blawg Review.  So now that I’ve told you what a great idea hosting is, let me remedy my cobbler’s kids routine and say that I’m signed on to host while the Olympics are on in Vancouver (as is the Canadian Trademark Blog).

This is something I regret not giving priority to when I first started Stem, and probably a lesson to be learned by others who are looking to raise their own blogging profile.

New additions to LawBlogs.ca

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It’s time for another roundup of new Canadian law blogs — here are the latest additions to LawBlogs.ca:

That’s 13 new blogs since the site’s January update.  Know of one I’m still missing? Drop us a line and we’ll get it added ASAP.