Just a quick post to say my latest Web Law Connected column is up this week on Slaw.ca.  This month’s article discusses some of the different issues many firms consider with respect to domain names.

For Canadian firms, I share my thoughts on the .ca vs .com debate. Other issues include: when and how many domains to keep in a firm’s portfolio, the use of branded-domains -vs- keyword-driven domains, and how I decipher when a domain has enough value to purchase from a third party.

Please drop by and take a look.

Just wanted to post a quick note about my trip to Calgary yesterday to speak with the Calgary Legal Marketers.  Our presentation topic was building an effective web presence in the legal industry, and the issues covered included:

• some recent trends & adoption rates;
• the basics of lawyer SEO and link building tactics; and
• how lawyers & firms can participate strategically.

I had a wonderful time, and even caught an early flight back to the west coast! (gotta like it when that happens…) Many thanks to everyone who attended;  and especially to Karen Parucha and Caroline Baynes at Gowlings Calgary offices for inviting me & graciously hosting the session.

My PPT deck is embedded below:

A big pat on the back for Stem client Themis Solutions, makers of law practice software Clio, on the occasion of its first birthday!

It’s been a tremendous first year for Clio since it launched one year ago today. Since then, the company has added has hundreds of users globally, who collectively manage (pulled from an upcoming press release): 150,000 contacts, 20,000 matters, and 25,000 documents.  Looking at their buzz page, there’s no shortage of enthusiasm.

The following quote is from Themis Solutions President Jack Newton on the company’s success,

“In our first year we’ve made great strides to enhance and refine Clio’s feature set, while ensuring it remains easy-to-use and accessible to all lawyers. This has been a terrific year and we see an exciting road ahead.  All success aside, we will keep our focus where it has always been: to provide an excellent product and superior customer support experience to our subscribers.”

If I had to pick my own moment from the first year, it would be this article from Kira Fonteneau. You don’t get a better endorsement than a client writing a hands-on article like that. … Launch day last year would be a close second. :)

In honour of birthday #1, the company announced three major new features today:

1. Outlook Synchronization (two-way synchronization of Outlook contacts, calendar items and tasks – items entered or updated in Outlook will appear in Clio and vice versa)
2. New and Improved Reports  (Client Ledger, Productivity by Lawyer, Work in Progress (WIP), Accounts Receivable (A/R), and more)
3. QuickBooks Integration

Also noteworthy, to celebrate the milestone, new users get a $25 discount on their first month’s subscription by entering the discount code “HAPPYBIRTHDAY” during checkout.

Congratulations to founders Jack Newton & Rian Gauvreau, and everyone at Clio. Many happy returns of the day…and year!

For someone who does the vast majority of their work online, including using Google Apps quite extensively here at Stem, I was pretty excited to see this announcement about the new Google Chrome Operating System.  That is, until I hit the second paragraph:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

Maybe it’s just me, but when you “Introduce” a new product line (See post title: “Introducing Google Chrome OS”), shouldn’t you have something to show now? And not in 16-18 months.

Awfully kind of you to introduce me to the new OS, Google.  Hey! I know, let me return the favour with my own introduction. … See you in 2011! :)

As I get set to fly to Chicago for this year’s ABA Techshow, I am happy to write that I’ll also be participating in Canada’s Legal IT 3 conference just a couple weeks later, April 20th & 21st in Montreal.

I will be speaking with my friends Connie Crosby and Kevin O’Keefe in a session on building a better legal web presence; and on a second panel with Lexis frontman John Lipsey about online networking.

Expect a big Slaw presence, including conference founder & chair Dominic Jaar!

There will be 32 sessions (big jump from last year…) to choose from, so be sure to check out the entire program.

Date : April 20 and 21 2009
Time : 8:00 am to 5:30 pm, followed by cocktails
Location : Montreal (Centre Mont-Royal, Metro Peel)
Fees : from $400 to $667
Free sessions are also offered
Details and registration: www.legalit.ca

Between several website launches, new service pages, and interviews, March saw many completed projects and achievements for Stem’s clients. Here’s our monthly sampling:

• Chicago lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld, who specializes in nursing home abuse cases, was quoted in a Lawyers USA article on the increase in number of nursing home residents with mental disabilities, and the resulting rise of patient-on-patient assaults. Jonathan has written previously about how the growing number of middle-aged and young people with violent tendencies in nursing homes has grave implications for the vulnerable and elderly.
• The Law Offices of John Marshall recently launched service pages for Union County and Middlesex County. Marshall’s team is experienced in drug crimes defense, particularly marijuana possession charges, and frequently discuss these issues at the New Jersey Criminal Defense & DWI Blog.
• John Hochfelder, our New York injury attorney client, notes that several recent appellate court decisions have left lawyers and plaintiffs in the dark. In one case, the appeals court affirmed a large judgment, but gave no description of the actual injury that warranted the award. In another two cases,  damages for pain and suffering awards were reduced by at least $1,000,000 — with zero explanation or reason.
• Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz introduced a new website section dealing with Fentanyl, the drug released from the pain-relieving Duragesic patch. The new section includes information on the side effects of Fentanyl and answers some frequently-asked questions.
• Mike Myers of business litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey was quoted in Texas Lawyer magazine, describing a bank-owned life insurance case the firm is handling. In Irma Johnson v. Amegy Bank, a widow was inadvertently mailed a $1,579,399 cheque from an insurance company made out to her late husband’s employer. McClanahan Myers Espey represents clients with corporate-owned and bank-owned life insurance claims.
• West Palm Beach criminal attorney Ron Chapman launched a new website that answers FAQs about Florida criminal records, particularly questions regarding sealing and expungement.
• It was another busy month for lawyers at BC law firm Clark Wilson: over the last few weeks, they’ve been interviewed or quoted in the World Trademark Review, Construction Business, and Lawyers Weekly on the Netbook dispute, construction contracts, and social networking, respectively.
• Themis Solutions is headed to the ABA Techshow in Chicago, where they’ll give away a year of free Clio service as part of their prize draw. There have been some positive reviews of the web-based legal practice management tool lately, so if you’re at at Techshow, be sure to swing by the Clio booth (#305).
• At PRC law firm King & Wood‘s China Law Insight blog, FDI lawyer Mark Schaub has written a lengthy post on China’s new Food Safety Law, which comes into force on June 1, 2009. The piece describes the new regime, which includes improved regulation, enforcement, and monitoring, as well as concrete food recall procedures.
• The Meadows Addiction Treatment Center unveiled an online collection of information about drug rehab. DrugRehabFAQ.com uses the frequently asked questions format to address common concerns about residential addiction treatment.
• A pair of posts on the JD Scoop Blog explain how JD Supra extends the reach of its members’ shared legal documents. The first post lists all the places that JD Supra distributes content on behalf of members — including Newstex, NuWire Investor, LinkedIn, and Twitter, among others. The second post outlines the tools available to JD Supra members to share their own work, such as widgets, RSS feeds, the Facebook application, etc.

We’ll be back again next month to share more interesting projects and news!

I received the following email last week from an employee at LegalZoom:

Hey Steve,

I’ve been doing some research into legal issues and how they are represented online, specifically focusing on blogs. Your site has really grabbed my attention for the wealth of topical writing you have done and your involvement in the online legal community.  I currently work for a company that maintains a website that offers online legal document services. We are nationally recognized, and very unique in the comprehensive services we provide on the internet.

I’d like to see if you would be interested in working together.  My primary value to you would be in article writing. I have a small staff of writers who are eager to explore recent legal trends and are looking for a palette for their creativity. We are also very interested to see what other opportunities are available within the law blogosphere and would love to hear any other partnership ideas you can think of.

Thanks and keep up the great work,

Employee name
fname@legalzoom.com

The problem I have with this email is that I wasn’t the only one to receive it. This identical form letter-style email was blasted to a huge number of law bloggers. How do I know? Well, first of all I write a number of blogs. But an even more incredible concept… Guess what LegalZoom? Some of us actually know each other! I know, I know. It’s an incredible concept. Shhh. Don’t let our little secret get out.

Next time you want to spam someone, please leave me off your “blogger outreach” program.

This month’s Texas Bar Journal inlcudes a republication of my article, It’s Not the Tool, It’s You! Many thanks to the TBJ’s technology editor, John Sirman, for picking it up from Slaw‘s RSS feed.

It’s also worth noting from a web-marketing perspective. The next time someone says blogging & RSS aren’t valuable marketing tactics, consider routing them over to this post.  This is the fourth article I’ve had published by the Texas Bar Journal, and each was picked up via personal web publishing. The State of Texas has been extremely kind to Stem on the client front too, introducing us to both McClanahan Myers Espey LLP and Hissey Kientz LLP.  Two top quality firms we’re looking forward to working with in 2009!

My point being … I don’t just talk the talk. The vast majority of Stem’s own marketing efforts involve web-publishing and content marketing.  If I slow down on the content flow, especially when things get busy as they are now, then Stem pays the price. Email inquiries slow, and the phone stops ringing.  Conversely, when I jump back into the fray, good business things happen.

It’s not always that simple. But lesson learned: sometimes it is.

As noted on Clawbies.ca this afternoon, the 2008 Canadian Law Blog Awards will once again be announced on New Year’s Eve.

This will be the third year of the awards, with this year’s edition adding a couple of new changes to the nomination process. First, we have opened up email nominations so bloggers, and friends of bloggers, can tell us why their blogs should be considered. The second available method, and clearly more intriguing, is nomination option #2.  In option #2,  we’re asking blog owners to nominate three other Canadian law blogs that they are currently reading, and why they were important in 2008.

The added wrinkle here, is that we’ve asked bloggers show their humble Canadian outlook, and mention nothing about their own blog. And in doing so, we’ve promised due attention to the nominator’s blog, their recommended peers, and are forcing some audience sharing & link-based infrastructure between members of the Canadian law blog community. It’s a win-win for everyone, right? ;)

Many thanks to Jordan Furlong at Law 21 for getting the process rolling this afternoon!  If you write a law blog in Canada, or know someone who does, please consider taking part.

Long time legal management blogger Rees Morrison announced yesterday that he has left Hidebrandt to start his own independent practice as a legal department consultant.  His company will focus on working with in-house corporate counsel, advising on internal management issues, strategy and outside counsel relationships.

Contact information for Rees & his new company are located at ReesMorrison.com (new website is in the works…)

Congratulations Rees, and here’s to a prosperous new future!

Larry Bodine notes the release of a legal industry statistics summary on his Law marketing portal. The document was put together by Margaret Grisdela, president of Legal Expert Connections.

The survey covers everything from the number of lawyers licensed to practice in the U.S., to the number of firms, size of firms, etc. It’s a very quick read, and packs a lot of information in one short summary.