Steve Matthews

Steve’s work with law firm websites dates back more than twenty five years, including twelve years in-house.  During that period, Steve has conceived, managed, coded and marketed firm websites, blogs, intranets, portals and extranets.

He is long recognized as one of the leading authorities on legal web technology, including search marketing (SEO) and publishing strategies for lawyers and law firms.

An advocate for web innovation, Steve’s name is often associated with Canadian lawyers publishing freely on the web. He founded the Canadian Law Blog Awards (a.k.a the Clawbies), Stem’s annual project that highlights the best in Canadian legal web content.

Steve is the Publisher and Editor of Slaw.ca, one of Canada’s largest legal publications. One of Slaw’s four founding members, Steve now acts as the key facilitator for the writing contributions of nearly sixty bi-monthly columnists.

Steve has also served as an editorial board member for the ABA’s Law Practice magazine; and in 2011, Steve was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management.

Prior to founding Stem Legal, Steve was the Knowledge Services Director for a mid-sized Canadian law firm. In this role, he was the driving force behind the firm’s web strategy, including concept development, design, coding, and search strategies. He was a member of the firm’s technology committee, and initiated one of the earliest law firm Knowledge Management (KM) programs.

Steve’s educational background includes a Master of Library & Information Science from the University of Western Ontario. His academic training has included various aspects of retrieval languages, database design, cognitive science, marketing, technology and business management.

Notable

• Publisher and Editor, Slaw.ca (2014 to present)
• Publisher, Canadian Law Blog Awards, Clawbies.ca (2006 to present)
• Awards Committee member, Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing (2022)
• Fellow (2011), College of Law Practice Management (COLPM)
• Speaker, American Bar Association (“ABA”) TECHSHOW (2009, 2011, 2012)
• Advisory board, Attorney at Work
• Member, Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL)
• Former Advisory board and Speaker, Pacific Legal Technology Conference
• Former Editorial Board Member, ABA Law Practice Magazine
• Past President, Vancouver Association of Law Libraries (VALL)
• IntellAction Working Group, Canadian Centre for Court Technology (CCCT)
• Former Chair, BC Legal Management Association, KM Subsection (BCLMA)
• Former Member, International Legal Technology Association (ILTA)