• Inspired by his experience in litigating cerebral palsy cases, elder and child injuries lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld launched a new microsite, Cerebral Palsy Lawyers FAQ, which contains a vast number of Q&As, reading lists, and helpful websites and organizations.
• Clio, our law practice management SaaS client, made big news when they announced they’d raised $6 million in Series B funding. Congratulations!
• Gowlings produced a new edition of their guide to Doing Business in Canada, and firm lawyer Gary Graham was the recipient of the 2011 Royal Bank Hamilton Distinguished Citizen of the Year.
• Florida attorney Ron Chapman launched a new firm website for his West Palm Beach criminal defense practice. Ron continues to write his blog at www.justiceflorida.com, where lately he’s covered legally resisting arrest, and a recent juvenile disorderly conduct case.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz launched a site devoted to Propecia side effects, and continued to publish on mesothelioma lawsuits and news, and birth defect cases related to Zoloft and Depakote.
• Jonathan Marshall, who writes the New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog, is now offering criminal defense legal services in Mercer County, Passaic County, and Morris County.
• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham continued to share helpful information via its Industry News listings and through BC Law Watch – most recently reminding clients that new rules on telephone appearances on foreclosure applications (PD 33) are now in effect.
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association live-tweeted from its Master Class for General Counsel event, at which legal futurist Richard Susskind spoke to a group of 50 in-house counsel.
• At the BC Injury Lawyers Blog, Waterstone Law Group lawyer Kim Briscoe wrote about the recent BCCA decision in Fan v. Chana, which examined the test for whether disbursements for expert reports should be allowed.
• Oshawa divorce lawyer Russell Alexander posted videos to his FamilyLLB blog, including an intro to child support in Ontario, answers to common questions about child support, and collaborative practice divorce in Ontario.
• David Canton, who practises at London, Ontario law firm Harrison Pensa, wrote about the province’s new invasion of privacy tort, and described recent caselaw and legislative developments that support or go against privacy.
• Vancouver and Toronto-based tax lawyers Thorsteinssons LLP were named 2012 Corporate Tax Law Firm of the Year by Corporate INTL Magazine, and two of the firm’s lawyers presented a webinar to CGAs on taxation of trusts.
• Mike Myers, a corporate-owned life insurance lawyer at McClanahan Myers Espey, was quoted in an article on The Street, “Why Your Company May Want You Dead“.
• On Pushor Mitchell‘s Canadian Tax Dispute Blog, Kelowna tax lawyer Matthew Kraemer wrote about section 160(1) assessments, and how taxpayers can be held liable for others’ tax debt.

We’ll be back next month with more interesting client news to share.

This is a major deal, and not just for Clio, which will use the funding to extend its product leadership, develop new functions, and support and expand its customer base beyond the United States. This is a powerful vote of confidence for the entire cloud-based legal services area, from law practice management providers like Clio to the growing number of virtual law practices and online legal collaborators. It demonstrates the seriousness with which outside investors view the extraordinary potential of this burgeoning field.

Boris Wertz, Acton Capital’s Vancouver-based Venture Partner, makes a telling point in Clio’s press release announcing the investment. “The legal space is ripe for disruption,” he says, adding that although the legal industry has been more a laggard than a leader when it comes to the adoption of technological innovations, that’s now changing. Clio’s cloud computing success is just one illustration, albeit an important one, of that emerging reality.

If you’re interested in learning more about this announcement, check out Clio’s blog today for the latest news. On behalf of everyone here at Stem, our sincere congratulations to Clio on this breakthrough funding announcement!

The purpose of the Greenhouse is to discuss Stem’s internal projects and experiments, as well as talk about new technologies, and share code experiments that we’ve done on our own, or for various clients. It’s also an opportunity to share the creative stuff we do with our 20% time. WordPress Wednesdays will continue there as a weekly feature.

The Law Firm Web Strategy Blog will continue to be focused on web topics, such as social media, marketing and strategy, that are of immediate interest to those in the legal field.

If you’ve been enjoying the WordPress Wednesdays posts, and would like to be plugged in to the other interesting, nerdy things we’re finding online, please check out the Greenhouse, or subscribe to its RSS feed.

• Canadian Legal History Blog,
• ClickLaw,
• Legal Feeds,
• Legal Post,
• Slater Vecchio Connected,
• Doorey’s Workplace Law Blog,
• Legal Frontiers: McGill’s Blog on International Law,
• The Court,
• Entertainment and Media Law Signal,
• Wise Law Blog,
• B.C. Injury Law Blog,
• 3 Geeks and a Law Blog,
• First Reference,
• James Gannon’s IP Blog,
• Youth and Work,
• Catherine Morrisette Avocate
• Henry J. Chang’s Canada-US Immigration Blog,
• Le Droit Au Silence,
• Rule of Law,
• Small City Law Firm Tech,
• Canadian Cloud Law Blog
• Above and Beyond KM,
• John Flood’s Random Academic Thoughts,
• The Intelligent Challenge,
• Canadian Securities Law,
• Strategic Legal Technology,
• The Wired GC,
• Charon Q.C.,
• Edilex Blog Juridique,
• Le Droit au Silence,
• Lee Akazaki,
• B.C. Distance Family Mediation Blog,
• Social Media For Law Firms,
• Thoughtful Legal Management,
• Avoid A Claim,
• Blogue du CRL,
• Library Boy,
• Finding Legal Information,
• Chaire en droit de la sécurité et des affaires électroniques

Full details on this year’s winners can be found on the Clawbies.ca website.  And to see our record number of nominations, please head over to my Vancouver Law Librarian Blog for the 2011 nominations list.  (If you notice a missing nominations post, I’ll be more than happy to add it.)

Happy New Year from all of us here at Stem Legal, and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2012!

• Gowlings announced that two top restructuring & insolvency lawyers, Derrick Tay and Jennifer Stam, will join the firm in January, and securities lawyer Kelley McKinnon was featured on CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange.
• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham released its January litigation calendar, which is full of helpful dates and deadlines.
• Warren Mitchell, Q.C. of Thorsteinssons Tax Lawyers was named in the 2011 Lexpert® Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada.
• In Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell’s latest newsletter, Paul Mitchell, Q.C., discussed massage therapy as an ICBC no-fault benefit and Blair Forrest wrote about expanded securities registration rules. Congratulations are also in order to Pushor Mitchell for raising over $11,000 for the United Way!
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association released the Winter 2011 issue of CCCA Magazine.  Feature stories cover anti-bribery laws and solicitor-client privilege in corporations; there’s also an interview with Jim Landress, GC for the Canadian Wheat Board.
• Ronald Chapman, who practices criminal defense in West Palm Beach  FL, published a couple new articles on Florida Criminal Records: one on Florida’s Clemency Law, and a second on the limited discretion Judges have with respect to expunging criminal records.
• Elder abuse lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld discussed whether nursing home lawsuits are due to isolated incidents or representative of overall poor care. He also compiled a list of tips on making the most of holiday visits to dementia sufferers.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz continued to advise on birth defect cases, adding information on Paxil in the first and third trimesters; newborn heart problems related to Zoloft; and spina bifida and anencephaly related to Depakote.
• Clio, our cloud-based legal practice management client, posted a review of the company’s activities in 2011 – kudos to Clio for their innovative #goneClio podcasts and 2nd annual Apple in Law Firms Survey.
• Fraser Valley law firm Waterstone Law Group welcomed family lawyer Janette Kovacs to its Langley office.
• David Canton of the London, Ontario law firm Harrison Pensa wrote about a new Canadian law regarding mandatory reporting of child pornography by anyone who provides internet access, including those to provide open wi-fi to the public, such as coffee shops and municipalities.
• Oshawa divorce lawyer Russell Alexander announced he’ll be speaking at the 2012 ABA Techshow on the topic of paperless law firms.
• New Jersey criminal attorney Jonathan Marshall discussed cases involving drug DUIs (driving under the influence of prescription or illicit drugs).

Best wishes from Stem Legal for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

We spent our two days together planning, sharing, and brainstorming, with breaks here and there for fresh air (our excursion to Westminster Abbey, with its spectacular lookout over the Fraser Valley, was a highlight for us all), good food, and lively conversation. Here are my highlights of the retreat:

Face Time
Stem Legal opened for business in 2007, and since then, the company has grown at a slow but steady pace to five team members. As a virtual company, we’d all met Steve but many of the rest of us had never met in person. Our retreat was the first time all five of us were in one room together – no small feat considering we live in four different cities across three provinces. It was an absolute pleasure to finally meet Jordan Furlong, whose name I knew long before I worked for Stem, as well as Corry Balachsan, who keeps our company running, our paycheques coming in, and Steve from going too crazy (and who really needs a profile on the website)! And I’ve known Laurel Fulford for ages, but it had been almost two years since we last saw each other. There’s really no substitute for spending time together in person, and to me, this aspect of our retreat was the most valuable.

The Big Picture
One of our goals for the retreat was to look at the big picture – what direction do we want to take Stem, and how will we do that? To that end, Jordan led us in an strategic planning session where we imagined what our company will look like in three years – sky’s the limit. We took a few minutes to individually jot down our ideas and then shared them with each other. After everyone had shared their vision of Stem, it was encouraging to hear Jordan remark that we’re extremely typical in terms of where we’re at, for a company of this size and age, but also remarkably aligned in our aspirations for Stem’s growth and positioning within the legal web industry.

We also discussed some new ideas for blogging (WordPress Wednesdays is one such idea – see Laurel’s first post here). We identified skills we’d like to learn or improve upon, and discovered that many of us want to spend some of our working hours on creative projects of personal interest – sort of like Google’s 20% time (in short, we want to have a little more fun!). And we talked at length about a revamp of the company website — that’s one project we’re really excited to be working on over the coming months.

Bridging the Distance
As I mentioned earlier, two thirds of our company works independently from home. Because of that, I sometimes feel a bit disconnected from my colleagues, and often miss the social aspect of working in a physical office, so I led a discussion on the challenges of working from home. We all agreed that working from home has many benefits (especially for introverts, which many of us claim to be!) but that we could do better in the connectedness and team spirit departments. We decided to start a habit of sending weekly emails to each other, detailing what we’ve done during the past week, what we’ll be working on in the coming week, and one or two interesting or notable things we’ve learned. Even after the first round of these emails, the difference was remarkable: I had a much better sense of what my colleagues are up to, what I might able to help them out with, and what their priorites are.

All in all, we felt like our first corporate retreat was a success, and we’re already looking forward to next year’s get-together. We’ve got some ideas for what activities we’d repeat and how we’d tweak our format. Do you have tips on what makes a great corporate retreat? Or ways that virtual companies can be more connected? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear your ideas. Cheers!

• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham won “Large Business of the Year” at the Celebration of Business Excellence Awards, presented by the New Westminster, BC Chamber of Commerce. Congratulations!
• Kudos also to go out to Canadian law firm Gowlings, who took home two big honours this month: the firm was named one of the best employers in the Greater Toronto Area for the second consecutive year, and Thomson Reuters named Gowlings one of the top five law firms for Canadian M&A.
• Stem’s newest client, Thorsteinssons LLP Tax Lawyers, were recognized by Report on Business, Who’s Who Legal, the Chambers Global Guide, and DealMakers Monthly.
• Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell launched a microsite, Canadian Tax Dispute Help and accompanying blog. The site contains consumer-oriented information on tax issues such as audits, reassessments, and appeals.
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association announced some interesting CLE opportunities, including a 3-hour workshop entitled “Paying the Right Price for External Legal Services”, which will be held in Montreal, Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver throughout December.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz launched a microsite for Crestor side effects, and the firm continues to work on Depakote birth defects lawsuits and defective DuPuy hip replacement matters.
• Our cloud-based law practice management software client Clio announced its new #goneclio podcast; and CEO Jack Newton spoke at both the Macs in Law Offices conference and the North Carolina Solo/Small Firm Conference.
• On their BC Injury Lawyers Blog, Waterstone Law lawyers wrote about the importance of maintaining a pain journal after a car accident, and the responsibility of drivers towards young passengers, in light of the recent decision in Vedan v. Stevens.
• At London, Ontario law firm Harrison Pensa, IP & technology lawyer David Canton wrote an article on establishing workplace social media policies for the London Free Press.
• On his FamilyLLB blog, Oshawa divorce lawyer Russell Alexander finished off a three-part series on Facebook as evidence in family law. His firm’s charitable giving fund also gave $5,000 to the local minor hockey association.
• New Jersey DWI attorney Jonathan Marshall blogged about a new study from the CDC that found males are more likely to be arrested than females for driving while impaired.
• Chicago personal injury lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld settled an injured client’s uninsured motorist case at the policy limit, and also blogged a list of 10 helpful elder care web resources.

We’ll be back next month with a look at how our clients wrapped up the year in 2011.

• Former cabinet minister Lawrence Cannon joined Gowlings as a strategic adviser and chairman of its government affairs group. The firm also opened an office in Beijing, China, bringing its number of overseas offices to three (the other two are in London and Moscow).
• David Sliman of the Fraser Valley law firm Waterstone Law moderated the Chilliwack City Council Election all-candidates debate on October 21st.
• West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney Ron Chapman blogged about drug dogs, mandatory minimum sentences for firearms charges, and self-defense in a case of aggravated battery.
• Clio, our cloud-based law practice management software client, was on location at three conferences this month, including ABA GPSolo. They also shared some tips for using their mobile platform, and released another #Gone Clio user case study.
• Child injury lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld shared his recommended child safety blogs, and wondered whether c-sections are helping or hindering the health of mothers and infants.
• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham announced an upcoming complimentary webinar dealing with the new land titles mandatory eFiling system in BC.
• David Canton of Harrison Pensa blogged about an array of technology topics: Twitter handles, website terms of use & click-wrap agreements, and mobile commerce.
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association released the Fall 2011 of CCCA Magazine. Highlights include articles on better board meetings, measuring value, IFRS, and a bio of the CCCA’s new chair, Geoffrey Creighton.
• New Jersey criminal attorney Jonathan Marshall reports that while across the US, drunk driving incidents are slowly decreasing, New Jersey arrests are holding steady.
• In their October 2011 newsletter, Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell wrote about non-competition covenants in employment termination cases, registering and using a corporate name in BC, and just for fun, the top 3 Halloween lawsuits of all time.
• Divorce lawyer Russell Alexander highlighted five interesting lottery cases in family law, discussed whether affairs must be disclosed when negotiating separation agreements, and wrote about how far back child support from a delinquent father should go.
• Products injury law firm Hissey Kientz introduced new practice pages for Stevens Johnson Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis resulting from ibuprofen use, diabetes and heart-related side effects of Crestor, and sexual side effects of Propecia.

We’ll back next month with more noteworthy client news.

A little about the College:

“The COLPM is an honorary organization, unassociated with any bar association, which formally recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the law practice management profession over a period of not less than ten years. Currently, there are just over 200 Fellows from all around the world.”

The College also sponsors the InnovAction Awards, which recognizes innovation in the legal profession, and is chaired by my colleague Jordan Furlong.

Each year, the college inducts 10 new fellows, and I’m in excellent company. The nine other new Fellows are Mark Beese, Leadership for Lawyers; Terri Pepper Gavulic, Fisher & Phillips LLP; Sean Larkan, Edge International; Jennifer Manton, Loeb & Loeb LLP; Kingsley Martin, KIIAC Inc.; Lorri Salyards, Doerner, Saunders, Daniel & Anderson, LLP; Gerry Riskin, Edge International; Teddy Snyder, Ringler Associates; and Pamela Woldow, Edge International.

Needless to say, I am extremely honoured and flattered to be included among these folks, and am very much looking forward to meeting (and congratulating!) them in person in Chicago.

And finally, my special appreciation to Dan Pinnington and Simon Chester, who led my nomination and sponsored my induction into the College. Dan and Simon are two of the College’s 12 Canadian Fellows; it’s an honour and privilege to become lucky number 13!

• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham will be part of a pilot project that allows them to file Court of Appeal documents via ETray. Dye & Durham also announced an upcoming webinar on Court of Appeal Procedures & E-Filing, Tools and Rules on October 12th.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz launched new microsites for lawsuits related to the migraine and epilepsy drug Depakote (neural tube defects) and the antidepressant Zoloft (PPHN,ventricular outflow tract obstruction, and septal defects).
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association has been sharing a steady stream of helpful tweets of interest to in-house counsel, including  industry news, practice management tips, and client relations.
• Thanks to an Affinity Partnership, members of the New York State Bar are eligible for a 10% discount on web-based practice management service Clio, making the subscription $44/month for lawyers and $22/month for support staff.
• Gowlings announced the winners of its 8th annual Biotech Essay Contest, and Kelley McKinnon, head of the firm’s securities litigation group, spoke on BNN about the Ontario Securities Commission’s decision to extend its cease trade order on Sino-Forest (see the interview here).
• Chicago lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld has expanded the material available on his website. It now includes information on neurological injuries related to Humira, bowel disease related to Accutane, birth defects related to Topomax, and the recall of DuPuy hip replacement systems.
• Harrison Pensa lawyer David Canton published a piece ion the London Free Press entitled “A Domain Name is Property“, which discuses a recent Ontario decision on ownership of internet domains.
• New Jersey criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Marshall wrote about the key steps in a typical DWI case, what defines impairment in a drunken driving case, and social media sobriety roadblock alerts.
• In their September newsletter, Pushor Mitchell announced partner Alf Kempf’s appointment to the Okanagan College Foundation Board. The firm is also offering a wide range of complimentary legal information sessions.
• On his Family LLB blog, Oshawa family lawyer Russell Alexander wrote about Ontario’s new hybrid family/criminal court, the Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) Court. He also welcomed new associate Abi Adeusi to the firm’s family law practice.

We’ll be back next month with more news and accomplishments to share.

In the interests of fairness (and because you can never really be 100% objective about yourself), Warren and I excluded ourselves from the survey. Nonetheless, friends of Stem Legal will no doubt have noticed that the list of 24 included our very own Steve Matthews, who happens to be a colleague of one of the article’s authors. I did think about taking Steve’s name out of contention, too, but in the end we concluded that wouldn’t be fair to him: his tremendous influence through social media was clear from both the statistical and anecdotal perspectives. In the interests of full disclosure, though, I thought that was worth noting here.

So, your turn: did we overlook anyone on our list of 24? Any other observations about the list or the column in general?

• Chicago nursing home lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld was the “Talk of the Lexblog Network“- check out the interview to see how blogging has transformed his law practice.
• Dye & Durham‘s president, Connie Fenyo, was the author of a feature article in BCLMA Topics. Connie described Dye & Durham’s tried, tested and true disaster recovery and business continuity plan.
• Assisted by counsel at Harrison Pensa, the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations signed a historic agreement with Ontario and Ontario Power Generation. Carol Godby heads the firm’s Aboriginal practice group.
• Over at the Clio blog, a new initiative lets you hear first-hand why law firms are choosing Clio for their law practice management needs. In the first #goneclio case study, Chad Burton of Burton Law LLC gives Clio a glowing review.
• The Hon. Patrick LeSage, counsel with Gowlings, was named one of Canada’s 25 most influential lawyers by Canadian Lawyer Magazine.
• On the BC Injury Lawyers Blog, Daniel Sorensen gives detailed advice on what to do after a car accident. Waterstone Law also welcomed their newest associate, Magda Grala.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz launched a microsite for its Actos practice group. The first lawsuit against Actos (which has an updated FDA warning) was launched earlier this month by a woman who developed bladder cancer after taking the diabetes drug. It’s expected that many more lawsuits will follow.
• On his West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog, Ron Chapman wrote about a case involving doctor shopping, and whether the related police investigation was unlawful. He also wrote about a recent case that ruled against one of Florida’s drug laws.
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association named its chair for 2011-2012: Geoffrey Creighton of IGM Financial Inc.
• New Jersey criminal attorney Jonathan Marshall wrote about an state legislator who wants to reverse a law that allows convicted DWI offenders to sue restaurants for their injuries.
• In their latest newsletter, Pushor Mitchell has a helpful list of the top 7 things you need to know about medical malpractice cases in BC, and also an update to power of attorney legislation in BC. The firm is also a proud sponsor of the 31st annual Terry Fox Run in Kelowna.
• A big win for McClanahan Myers Espey: the firm settled a corporate-owned life insurance class action case against Wal-Mart for more than $2  million.
• Oshawa family lawyer Russell Alexander wrote about his top 5 misconceptions about divorce; and also how his firm has used social media to raise funds for the new Humane Society of Kawartha Lakes shelter project.

We’ll be back to share more news and highlights next month.

• July saw a new website for the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, which also joined Twitter. CCCA will be sharing industry and association news via @CCCA_News.
• Markham family lawyer Russell Alexander wrote about some recent cases involving partners inheriting child support obligations. Mr. Alexander, who also practises family law in Oshawa, covered the landmark Schreyer case as well.
• Online legal practice management solution Clio announced its partnership with Carbonite for data backup: Clio users can get a free 30-day trial. If they buy after that, they’ll get a bonus 2 months free.
• FP Legal Post reported that Gowlings partner David Lefebvre will advice CNOOC on its US$2.1-billion  acquisition of OPTI Canada Inc. Lefebvre is a member of the firm’s Corporate Finance and M&A Practice Group.
• Florida criminal attorney Ron Chapman wrote about how RICO prosecutions require a pattern of racketeering.
• Nursing home abuse lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld described a host of updates on his Bed Sore FAQ website, including tips, studies, news items and reports related to pressure sores.  Also related, Mr. Rosenfeld added a significant expansion to the pressure sore injuries section of his website.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz wrote that the number of lawsuits filed against DePuy hip replacements has grown to 1000.
• Wills and estates lawyer Ed Kaye of Waterstone Law was reappointed as President of the Chilliwack Hospice Society for the 2011/2012 year.
• David Canton of Harrison Pensa was interviewed about the concept of digital law by TBK Creative. Mr. Canton discussed legal ramifications of the digital age on brands.
• New Jersey criminal defense attorney Jonathan Marshall wrote about boating under the influence (BUI) and how police have ramped up their anti-BUI patrols.
• Legal support services provider Dye & Durham released its August litigation calendar and reminders for various registries and ETray services.
• And finally, Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell have appointed Mark Baron as the firm’s new managing partner. Congratulations!

We’ll be back at the end of  August with another round of updates.

• Owen Jones, an insurance lawyer with Gowlings  LLP, was interviewed for an article about business losses arising from the recent Vancouver riots.
• Gowlings also welcomed Russia patent lawyer Alexander Sobolev to their Moscow office, which focuses primarily on intellectual property law in Russia & the CIS.
• David Silman, an injury lawyer with the Fraser Valley’s Waterstone Law Group, took issue with the recently upheld decision of Hussack v. Chilliwack School District No. 33, which involved a grass hockey injury and a teacher’s standard of care.
• Federal crimes defense attorney Ron Chapman wrote about why the distinction between a person and an enterprise is so important in RICO prosecutions.
• Clio published a series of training tips for using its web-based legal practice management software. The tips include changing a matter number, synching with Outlook, and seeing when a client has accessed an item within the client portal.
• In an article for the London Free Press, David Canton, a business lawyer with Harrison Pensa LLP, discusses the concept of “privacy by design” but encourages users of technology to be responsible and exercise their own privacy rights.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz launched a microsite, www.zoloftbirthdefectslawyers.com,  for its Zoloft birth defects practice group. The site describes the link between the antidepressant and serious birth defects, including heart defects, and has sections on news, lawsuits,  and FAQs about taking Zoloft during pregnancy.
• Jonathan Rosenfeld, whose practice focuses on child and elder law, highlighted new legislation that will protect the vulnerable in Illinois and Georgia. (See Rosenfeld’s collection of nursing home laws across the US at www.nursinghomeinjurylaws.com)
• Markham, ON family lawyer Russell Alexander wrote about Ontario’s new pension division and valuation laws in a recent post on his FamilyLLB blog, saying the changes are meant to the family justice system more affordable, faster, simpler and less confrontational.
• Catherine Cummings was named Executive Director of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association.
• New Jersey criminal attorney John Marshall reminds summertime revelers not to let fun result in a criminal record. He cites property crime, traffic violations, noise complaints, fake ID offenses, lewdness and criminal mischief as frequent summer legal issues, and warns that they can all lead to heavy fines and permanent criminal records.
• On a related note, in their newest monthly newsletter, Kelowna, BC law firm Pushor Mitchell includes legal tips on a few other summertime topics: travel medical insurance and pool accidents and safety.  Pushor Mitchell also welcomed Injury lawyer Keri Grenier this month.
• Congratulations are also in order to James Patterson of Pushor Mitchell, who was appointed to the Board of Directors of the United Way of the Central and South Okanagan/ Similkameen.
• Legal support services provider Dye & Durham issued a notice regarding updated BC court order interest rates. Clients were advised to update their Dye & Durham Court Order Interest Calculator with the new rates.

That’s all for now… we’ll be back next month with more news and highlights.

• Criminal attorney Lawrence Koplow blogged about the new Arizona DUI rules, including changes to interlock requirements, mandatory jail time, home detention and driver’s license suspensions.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz added a page about the antiseizure medication Depakote. The new page includes information on taking the drug during pregnancy and the increased risk of birth defects, and Depakote lawsuits.
• Kelowna, BC law firm Pushor Mitchell published its monthly newsletter, Legal Alert #147. This month’s edition includes articles on social media as as jury selection tool, a new installment of 10 mistakes that could screw up your ICBC claim, and litigation against strata corporations.
• Pushor Mitchell was also the recipient of the 2011 Green Business Award in the large business category. Congratulations!
  
• Richard Dearden, a partner in Gowlings’ Ottawa office and leader of the Firm’s Defamation & Media Group, commented in a Ottawa Citizen story on the cellblock video case hearing.
• Clio published a free white paper entitled “Comparing the Costs: Analyzing the total cost of ownership of Clio vs. traditional desktop practice management solutions“, which compares the costs of Clio to Time Matters, PC Law and Amicus Attorney.
• Florida criminal attorney Ron Chapman wrote about being adjudicated guilty and getting your record sealed, also discussed on his Florida Criminal Records FAQ site.
• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham held a webinar on BC Supreme Court Civil Rules which included tips on practice directions, administrative notices, and filing requirements.
• David Canton at London, Ontario’s Harrison Pensa LLP posted on his blog eLegal Canton about his recent experience with the new iPad2.
• New Jersey criminal defense attorney John Marshall wrote about the controversy over DWI sobriety checkpoint apps for smart phones, and an increasing number of female DWI arrests in New Jersey.
• Elder law attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld wrote an excellent post about coping with mixed emotions when visiting a loved one in a nursing home, giving his own insights and pointing to some further resources.
• At Waterstone Law’s BC Injury Lawyers Blog, Daniel Sorensen discussed using Facebook profiles as evidence against injured persons at trial, and being mindful of using social media during a personal injury case.
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association released its Summer 2011 issue of CCCA Magazine. This issue includes articles on whistleblowing, law firm branding, and Wall Street’s short memory.
• And Stem’s newest client Markham, Ontario family lawyer Russell Alexander wrote a number of pieces on his FamilyLLB blog; taking on issues such as Access to Children, Adultery and Divorce in Ontario, and offering recommended web resources for helping children through a divorce.

Watch for more updates from Stem clients next month.