Big Steve Feed

New Courthouse Libraries BC Website

Steve Matthews — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:47:00 -0800

Exciting news! As of this afternoon, the new Courthouse Libraries BC website is launched and ready to start offering a customizable approach to BC legal information.

Announced by Virtual Libraries Manager, Mandy Ostick on the CLBC's new blog - The Stream:

We are delighted to launch the new Courthouse Libraries BC website.
As well as greatly improved usability and use of graphics, some of the new features on our new site include:

website accounts for faster orders, viewing your order history and saving your searches - create your web account today
easy to use website search with powerful options for refining your searches
relevancy ranked search results
practice portals that provide starting points and the latest legal research news on practice areas such as personal injury and family law.

What's striking about the new design is how the CLBC has chosen to fine tune their delivery based on 1) individual user need, and 2) stakeholder groups. I really like the additions of bullets #1 & #4 above (in bold, my notation). This is an important evolution for delivering online services, moving from the 'one size fits all' approach, to a customized delivery approach. First, at the user level, which by adding account logins, allows for a host of custom delivery options. And second, by creating filtered portals for their biggest user groups. Those practice portals could be the start of something big; helping both in terms of creating a community-driven approach & in service delivery.

Also noteworthy, IMO, is the aforementioned blog - The Stream. Many of us in the BC market have tracked the CLBC's 'what's new' blog, which will now carry forward under 'New & Notable'. But in addition to those news-y items, it looks like we'll now have some opinion-based commentary coming from my colleagues at Courthouse Libraries BC.

Congratulations to Mandy Ostick and everyone involved at the CLBC! This site launch is a big step forward.

Seven Deadly Sins of the Innovator

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:52:24 -0800

For those with trouble prioritizing which of their next great ideas to undertake, there’s a fun column in the Oct. 20th edition of Business Week: The Seven Deadly Sins of the Innovator:

Lust: Innovating in a space you have no business being in.
Gluttony: Trying to create too many initiatives with too few resources. Innovation takes emotional and financial capital and focus.
Greed: Taking short-term profits at the expense of long-term growth.
Sloth: Taking short cuts—not doing the hard work, not following the proven process.
Wrath: Being so focused on your competition that you miss the same opportunities your rivals are missing. You can’t read the label when you are sitting inside the jar.
Envy: In the context of innovation, envy means launching a “me too” product instead of finding a space you can own.
Pride: You won’t give up on your favorite idea—even when the numbers prove you’re wrong.

I’m sure I have a hex on my head with #2. Anyone else care to confess? :)

Quickscribe Manual Update for October '09

Steve Matthews — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:11:00 -0800

Just one Quickscribe manual update to report for October: the BC Environment Legislation Manual.

Don't forget, daily updates to British Columbia statutes and regulations are available for free at BCLegislation.ca.

Stem Client Roundup for October ‘09

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:53:10 -0700

Stem’s clients were busy again in October, publishing thoughtful commentary, appearing in the media, and launching new sites and services. Here are this month’s highlights:

Law practice management software tool Clio announced its new “Clio Sync for Outlook” tool today, to the joy of Sam Glover at Lawyerist.
Nursing home abuse lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld wants us to know that good nursing homes do exist, and describes how to find a good one in your area.
Medical malpractice attorney Angelo Patane of Koplow & Patane officially launched his Arizona Birth Injury Lawyer Blog, where he discusses cerebral palsy and other birth injuries and defects.
Federal crimes attorney Ron Chapman describes changes to Florida drug laws that provide additional ways to avoid prison.
The Mesothelioma lawyers group at Hissey Kientz LLP warn navy and merchant marine veterans that they may be at risk for developing asbestos-related illnesses as a result of exposure to the chemical during their military service.
Corporate owned life insurance attorney Mike Myers appeared in the documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story” and on ABC’s Good Morning America to discuss dead peasant insurance policies.
Vancouver law firm Clark Wilson’s insurance lawyers Nigel Kent and Krista Prockiw published an in-depth paper on proposed changes to BC’s Insurance Act.
New Jersey drug crimes attorney John Marshall writes about how heroin distribution and possession are on the rise in New Jersey.
The Meadows Addiction Treatment Center is offering an extensive list of upcoming free lectures on topics ranging from addiction, anxiety, eating disorders, and trauma recovery.

We’ll be back next month with more new and noteworthy projects.

OnPoint to Host Legal Research Course

Steve Matthews — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:49:00 -0700

The research group at OnPoint Law are hosting a full-day training session on Thursday, November 19th. The course is titled Legal Research: From Problems to Solutions 2009, and includes 6 CPD credits for local BC lawyers.

Also of note, one of my VALL colleagues will be presenting. Susan Caird, Reference Services Manager at Courthouse Libraries BC will facilitate the session on legislative research.

For more details, please see the brochure PDF. The session cost will be $495, with a discount rate of $295 for Students.

Law Firm Social Media Blocking

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:09:19 -0700

My latest Web Law Connected column is up at Slaw. The article is titled Social Media & Business Productivity, and addresses the current trend of law firms using proxy servers to block in-house access to social media websites.

Perhaps unexpected, I really sit on the fence on this issue; and didn’t take the anti-blocking stance. There are a number of ‘middle-ground’ alternatives which few firms have explored to date – including time based restrictions, and role-based (ie. based on business need) blocking.

The opinions and solutions on this issue are, unfortunately, extremely polarized. I think it’s also worth noting that neither extreme position (global blocking or unfettered access) actually aligns with the business goals of most law firms.

For a more detailed review, please link on over… I think the article does a reasonable job of describing my thoughts on the debate.

Writing for the Web: Redux

Steve Matthews — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:04:00 -0700

Adrian Lurssen has a great piece up on vision for web-based content creation. His post titled, Writing for the Web: Two Basic Rules, neatly addresses the fundamental issue of balance.

In the first part, he describes what he calls The Rule of Three, advising that we make both text and hypertext links work together, and separately. The reader should be able to get 'full value' from any online publication regardless of whether they choose to:

read just the text;
scan the text and link out to external sources; or
read the text AND the contextual links.

Adrian goes on to address the concept of writing for the search engines, and highlights a position that we strongly advocate at Stem - write descriptively, especially when it comes to titles. The caveat being, it looks spammy if you write exclusively for search rankings. You also run the risk not connecting with your reader, which trumps all other objectives, including traffic (IMO). ... This is not, however, and either-or situation. Traffic, reader engagement, and relationship conversion can all happen in unison.

Web writers are far better off sticking to descriptive titles, avoiding 'the smart' title (eg: quoting a common phrase or poem), and mildly using target phrases within the text of their content. After that, one's approach to drafting should be all about connecting with the audience.

We should never be forced to make a choice between writing for the engines & writing for people. Again, balance. If you title descriptively, use a Content Management System (CMS) that automates on-page SEO (for page titles, etc.), AND address your topic with passion ... you will put yourself in 'the game' for search traffic.

The link popularity portion of the search algorithms then takes over. Which does have some connection to writing - ie. great content attracts links - but you'd be naive to think your online network with other web publishers didn't also play an important role.

Descriptive writing plus personal networks have always been a great tandem. In a multitude of ways...

CanLII 2008 Annual Report

Steve Matthews — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:51:00 -0700

CanLII's 2008 annual report is now available.

BC Ombudsman on Slaw

Steve Matthews — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:02:00 -0700

Kim Carter, Ombudsman for the Province of British Columbia (soon Ombudsperson?), is blogging this week on Slaw. Her article posted today is titled Administrative Justice in British Columbia – The Road Less Travelled.

Carter is one of five provincial Ombudsmen who are on Slaw this week as part of our firm guest blogging series. The other participating provinces are Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Saskatchewan.

PLTC 2009: Web 2.0 Social Networking Slides

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:29:58 -0700

I spoke at the Pacific Legal Technology conference this past Friday with Susan Van Dyke. The topic, as perhaps expected, was web 2.0 tools for lawyers, with a slant toward business development.

The PPT slides are now available via slideshare, and embedded below.

View more presentations from Steve Matthews.

Happy Birthday Clio!

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:23:50 -0700

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:

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)
New and Improved Reports (Client Ledger, Productivity by Lawyer, Work in Progress (WIP), Accounts Receivable (A/R), and more)
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!

Stem Client Roundup for September ‘09

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:38:44 -0700

Fall is in full swing for Stem’s clients — here’s a quick peek at what everyone’s been up to since our last update:

Mike Myers, a corporate owned life insurance lawyer at McClanahan Myers Espey, launched a new website, Dead Peasants Insurance Frequently Asked Questions, at DeadPeasantInsurance.com.
Clark Wilson LLP labour & employment lawyer Valerie Dixon authored an article for Canadian Insurance magazine entitled “Competition is Fierce— Restrictive Covenants in the Shafron Case“.
NJ criminal defense lawyer John Marshall revealed that extradition is on the rise in New Jersey and theorized that renewed interest in extradition may be related to the economy.
Products injury firm Hissey Kientz put together a linkblog for mesothelioma and asbestos news.
Florida federal crimes attorney Ron Chapman wrote about judges’ rulings related to expunction of criminal records on FloridaCriminalRecordsFAQ.com.
New York brain injury lawyer John Hochfelder wrote about brain injury damages verdicts for lead paint poisoning in children and construction workers.
Gregg Strellis, an attorney with Chicago injury firm Strellis & Field launched his new blog, Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog.
Arizona medical malpractice law firm Koplow & Patane rolled out their new firm website, azinjuryfirm.com.
The Meadows of Wickenburg introduced its Soldiers & Military PTSD Treatment Program, which helps troops affected by service-related stressors.
Legal case management SaaS provider Clio was featured in a case study in North Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly. The case study profiled Place & Hanley, a law firm that found Clio to be a good fit for their geographically distributed firm.

We’ll be back next month with another look at our clients’ achievements and successes.

101 Law Firm Taglines – 2009 Edition

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:01:40 -0700

Taglines as branding devices have been a subject of interest for some time now. Jeanine Magsitza compiled a list of 100 law firm taglines in 2002; Nathan Burke analysed AmLaw 200 firm’s use of taglines on their websites in 2005; and a few months ago, Carolyn Elefant advised on how to write a good tagline.

Curious to see whether taglines have changed much since 2002, we decided to update the list and see if we could find more. We compiled the list by scoping out hundreds of US, Canadian, and international law firm websites, starting with the AmLaw 100 2009 and Lexpert’s 30 Largest Canadian Law Firms and Magsitza’s big list from 2002. If we could quickly discern a tagline, we made note of it here. We left out generic-type taglines that really only refer to a state or city, or simply to the number of years the firm’s been around.

Taglines follow a variety of formats and styles; repetitive pairs, patterns, puns, and wordplay all figure prominently, and all with the goal of describing the firm’s philosophy succinctly and (hopefully) memorably. (For more discussion of tagline formats, see this report from InterAct Marketing.)

Do they accomplish those goals? You be the judge!

101 Law Firm Taglines – 2009 Edition

AmLaw 100 2009:

Akin Gump: Power of Collaboration
Alston & Bird: Leadership. Creativity. Results.
Baker Botts : Deeper Understanding. Better Solutions.
Baker & Hostetler: Counsel to Market Leaders
Bingham McCutchen: Legal Insight. Business Instinct.
Bryan Cave: A Broader Perspective (SM)
Crowell & Moring: Experience. Creativity. Results.
Dickstein Shapiro: Experience Innovation
DLA Piper: Everything Matters
Faegre & Benson: More together.
Greenberg Traurig: We’re Built for Change (SM)
Haynes Boone: Setting Precedent (SM)
Holland & Knight: Industry focused. Relationship driven.
Howrey: The Advantage of Focus (SM)
Jenner & Block: When it’s a Matter of Importance. (SM)
Jones Day: One Firm Worldwide
Kilpatrick Stockton: Traditions of Innovation
Locke Lord: Practical wisdom, trusted advice (SM)
McGuireWoods: Relationships that Drive Results
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius: We’re In This Together. Your Team and Ours.
O’Melveny & Myers: Connecting Communities, Clients, and People
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker: One Vision. One Firm.
Perkins Coie: Legal Counsel to Great Companies (SM)
Reed Smith: The Business of Relationships
Shearman & Sterling: Aligned for Excellence
Shepard Mullin: Our Mission is Your Success
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal: Partnering for Progress
Steptoe & Johnson: When Experience Matters (SM)
Womble Carlyle: Innovators at Law

Other US law firms:

Adams & Reese: Out in Front
Andrews Kurth: Straight Talk is Good Business
Arnall Golden Gregory: Not If, But How (SM)
Barnes & Thornburg: Enduring Values
Bernstein: A Business Approach to Legal Service (SM)
Boyle Fredrickson: You’ve got ideas. We protect them.
Burr & Forman: Results Matter
Compatore Law: Legally Speaking
Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz: IP Smart. Business Savvy. Client Connected. (SM)
Cozen O’Connor: The confidence to proceed.
Davis Wright Tremaine: Defining Success Together
Dickinson Wright: Great Lawyers. Great Law Firm.
Ervin Cohen & Jessup: It’s Not a Common Practice. (SM)
Foster Townsend Graham: Damn Fine Litigators.
Fox Rothschild: Let Our Experience be Your Guide (SM)
Fredrickson & Byron: Where Law and Business Meet
Gardere: Legal Knowledge. Human Wisdom.
Goulston & Storrs: thinkresults
Greenebaum: Breakthrough Law (SM)
Grodsky & Olecki: What makes us different makes us better.
Halloran & Sage: Your solutions start here. (SM)
Harris Beach: Lawyers you’ll swear by. Not at. (SM)
Holland & Hart: The Law Out West
Holme Roberts & Owen: Experience Listens. Be Heard. (SM)
Jackson Lewis: All We Do is Work (SM)
The Law Firm for Non-Profits: Helping Good People Do Good Things^®
Leonard Street & Deinard: Uncommon Wisdom. Common Sense. (SM)
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith: Client Focused. Results Driven. (SM)
Miller & Chevalier: Discern the Difference (SM)
Morse Barnes-Brown Pendleton: The Law Firm Built for Business (SM)
Munsch Hardt: Right Firm. Right Now. (SM)
Murthy: We Know Immigration Matters (SM)
Phillips Nizer: Resourceful Representation (SM)
Quarles & Brady: Common Ground. Uncommon Vision.(SM)
RMKB: A Better Legal System (SM)
Rose Law Firm: A Heritage of Results
Sheehy Ware & Pappas: Experience you need. Results you want.
Snell & Wilmer: Character Comes Through (SM)
Strellis & Field: Experienced. Driven. Effective.
Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald: Building Solutions (SM)
Wells Jaworski & Liebman: Effective. Efficient. Expeditious.

UK law firms:

Berrymans Lace Mawer: Clear Concise Advice
Bond Pearce: Clients First
Browne Jacobson: Law, less ordinary.
Charles Russell: Understanding Relationships
Clifford Chance : Committed to Helping Our Clients Succeed
Holman Fenwick Willan: Lawyers for International Commerce
Irwin Mitchell: Towards a Positive Future
Lawrence Graham: Lawyers. Just Different.
Linklaters: Globally Minded
Mischon: Not just any law firm.

Canadian law firms:

Aikins, Macaulay & Thorvaldson: Legal Expertise with You in Mind
BCF LLP : …Making it Possible
Blake Cassels & Graydon: Business is our Signature
Borden Ladner Gervais: It Begins with Service
Brazeau Seller: Business people. Business law.
Clark Wilson: BC’s Law Firm for Business
Cox & Palmer: The Difference is a Great Relationship
Crease Harman: We Mean Business.
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin: Beyond Results (TM)
Field Law: Our Practice is Your Solution
Fillmore Riley: Practicing Excellence
Fraser Milner Casgrain: Your Future is Our Business
Gowling Lafleur Henderson: A Tradition of Excellence
Lang Michener: High Performance (R)
Langlois Kronstrom Desjardins: A large firm with a human touch
Macleod Dixon: Local Expertise, International Depth
McMillan: Take the Lead
Robinson Sheppard Shapiro: Our Independence Makes the Difference
Siskinds: Leaders in their Field
Stewart McKelvey: When Results Count.
Zvulony & Co: A Small Firm That Acts Big. (TM)

Reader-contributed taglines:

Harrison Pensa: In any case.
Boughton Law Corporation: Built on relationships (TM)
Harris & Moure: The International Law Firm for Business
Dolden Wallace Folick: Insurance Law Expertise…It’s Our Policy
Hull & Hull LLP: Trust Experience (TM)
Hoyt & Bryan: Partners in Planning, Friends for Life
Bernson & Burnham, PLLC: “We look at the law differently.”
Davis LLP: Nationally Established. Internationally Recognized.

Did we miss your firm? or get it wrong entirely? Drop us a note in the comments, or an email in the coming days, and we’ll revise accordingly.

And finally, a huge thanks to Emma Durand-Wood (who now has a profile on the Stem website). Emma was responsible for pulling this idea from one of our brainstorming sessions, researching and then compiling the list! A great project, with valuable results!

New Canadian Law Blogs at LawBlogs.ca

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:37:55 -0700

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

Canadian Business Law Blog (Shane McLean)
Disability Denied (Mark Yazdani)
Les chroniques de droit criminel (Eric Bernier)
IP, Innovation and Culture (James Gannon)
B-Law-G (Auger Hollingsworth)
Blogosarus Lex (Legal Resource Centre of Alberta)
Fired Without Cause
Nova Scotia Car Accident Law Blog (David Brannen)
Heritage Law Blog
Morton’s Musings
Aboriginal Law Blog (Davis LLP)
Rehan Khalil

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!

Local Law Librarians Making a Difference

Steve Matthews — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 05:29:00 -0700

It was so nice to see this story in today's Vancouver Sun: Raising the bar: Here's one library that's giving back.

Local law librarians Kathy Barry and Wilma Macfarlane are featured describing their Fiction Friday program, and how they've raised money for charities such as the Raise-a-Reader literacy program, the United Way & the Union Gospel Mission.

Congratulations to you both! Story photo captured below for posterity.

Pacific Legal Tech '09 - Deadline Today!

Steve Matthews — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:30:00 -0700

Reminder: If you were intending to register for this year's Pacific Legal Technology Conference, the deadline for the early bird price reduction is today!

Lambert & Gediman on Reevaluating BigLaw Library Services

Steve Matthews — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:35:00 -0700

If you work in a law firm library, do yourself a favour and go read 3 Geeks and a Law Blog: Reevaluating BigLaw Library Services - Two Views. Great insight from Greg Lambert and Mark Gediman.

Reminds me of an old post I wrote in Mar./05: The Law Firm Library - Customers & Consumers.

Here we are four years later, and still walking that tightrope. Once budget pressures start, anyone who doesn't use the library (including most admin/operations mtg) will have little understanding of (or empathy for) the Library's role in providing legal services. The natural tendency is, unfortunately, to marginalize.

Subject specialists (both research lawyers and librarians) are at times the lifeblood of practice groups; but without vocal lawyer support, almost invisible to administration. I enjoyed Mark's comments on making the Library indispensable, and see this as critical to the survival of the profession.

We often talk about embedded librarianship, but this is where theory meets practice - especially for law firms. I say, put a tech-savvy librarian and an info-savvy technologist into a practice group for six months. Let them work directly with the lawyers - creating practice specific automations, document automations, cultivate precedent collections, research and KM organization. ... Generally optimize everything about routine business engagements at a matter level.

Want a Susskind-ian vision for the future of Law Librarians? This would be a start. Breaking down a few silos. ... Lawyers with billable targets don't have the time for this type of introspective approach. A 'swat team' of others just might.

New BC Bill Tracking Service from Quickscribe

Steve Matthews — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:21:00 -0700

Tracking and monitoring legislation is one of the law library's most critical tasks. Many librarians live in fear of missing or catching an important development too late.

For BC researchers, Quickscribe Online is launching an alert service that may help, their new Bill Tracker.

Developed over the past several months with significant input from various members of VALL, the beta RSS-based Bill Tracker lets researchers track new laws and amendments to existing ones.

"Quickscribe’s new Bill Tracker (beta) uses RSS feeds to notify you when new legislation and proposed amendments are first introduced (1st reading) and again when (and if) the Bill achieves 3rd reading. Once notified, you will be provided with a direct link to the Bill so you can read the proposed amendments. If a Bill has undergone any changes from 1st to 3rd reading you will be able to easily compare the two versions side by side with the changes highlighted in colour.

The Bill Tracker can also be used as an effective tool for catching consequential amendments that can easily get overlooked."

Here's a screenshot:

The Bill tracker feed is now available for QS Online subscribers, and for those that sign up for Quickscribe's free trial.

Quickscribe CEO Mike Pasta notes that the service is "especially useful for tracking consequential amendments and for viewing any changes that occur from 1st to 3rd reading."

Stem Client Roundup for August ‘09

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:25:24 -0700

Summer was no reason for Stem clients to slow down. Here’s a quick list of what they were up to in the month of August:

In his second post about legal in-sourcing, McClanahan Myers Espey LLP attorney Randy McClanahan called for an end to the billable hour and encouraged companies to consider retaining outside counsel by contingency fee or other performance-based fee structures.
New York personal injury lawyer John Hochfelder guest-blogged at Point of Law, covering a variety of topics such as golf ball injuries and wrongful death pain and suffering awards. While most law blog readers wouldn’t see John as a tort reform kinda guy, he seemed to fit in quite well. Walter Olson recognized him as ‘POL’s first plaintiff’s side guest blogger‘, along with a little recognition from fellow New York PI lawyer, Eric Turkewitz.
And speaking of Mr. Hochfelder, his (critical) post about a skydiver’s parachute failing to open, and the woman suing her ‘life saving’ instructor was a viral marketing hit last week. Over a 48-hour period, the post logged more than 22,000 unique visitors!
Clark Wilson LLP’s Corporate Finance and Securities Chair Bernard Pinsky wrote an article for Lawyers Weekly entitled “Raising capital across borders: Why we need an international agreement on securities regulation“.
On his Nursing Homes Abuse Lawyer blog, Chicago elder law attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld wondered whether nursing home chains intentionally attempt to deceive the public about true corporate ownership.
Product injury law firm Hissey Kientz LLP launched a new practice page for Fleet phospho-soda, as well as a new microsite, HerbalFenPhenLawyers.com.
Phoenix criminal attorney Lawrence Koplow answered seven frequently-asked questions about Arizona search and asset seizure.
West Palm Beach lawyer Ronald Chapman discussed a little-known law: that it is illegal for a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to possess a firearm.
Themis Solutions, the makers of legal case management software Clio, described why they take a “less is more” approach to software design, usability, and purpose.
Our only non-legal client, The Meadows Addiction Center launched a new FAQ website at AddictionandFamily.com.
And finally, NJ criminal attorney John Marshall wrote a post describing an increase in identify theft and credit card fraud cases in New Jersey.

And, we’ll be back next month with more client news to share.

LegalResearch.org Re-Launches

Steve Matthews — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:28:00 -0700

Just received an email from Catherine Best announcing the revision & relaunch of her website Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research.

First of all, I'd like to voice a thank-you to Catherine Best for updating a website that has taught so many of us about legal research, especially digital legal research. It was one of the first websites (or at least a generation of websites, from the mid to late '90s) to have a significant amount of Canadian legal content.

Feeling nostalgic, I was trying to recall how long legalresearch.org may have been online. It certainly felt like more than 10 years... Sure enough, a whois search shows the site was first registered in September 1998. Talk about longevity!

In terms of the Canadian legal web, that qualifies as 'pioneer' status. Or at least it should... remember, this is before content management software, before blogs, and everything was hand coded. Not too many Canadian lawyers were web publishing in the late '90s. Catherine Best was.

Oh, and the re-design & updated tutorials? Now ready for a whole new generation to enjoy! Please head on over...

CNW Report on Social Media & Canadian Law Firms

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:47:07 -0700

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.

Lawyer and non-Lawyer Cooperation

Steve Matthews — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:27:00 -0700

Mike McBride has a good post up about the cooperation between Lawyers & IT experts as equal parts of a firm's in-house EDD team.

It's an interesting read for both sides; and I must say, Mike nails in-house culture and the difficulties of being a non-lawyer. Here's a taste:

For example, go to your local bar association's CLE seminars on EDD, how many IT people are speaking? How many non-lawyers are ever invited to speak about forensics, searching, deduplication, storage technology, etc.? If these topics are covered, it's typically one of those 100 or 200 attorneys. When was the last time they offered a CLE in data storage, or understanding the basic types of email storage, and how to effectively search an email store? Wouldn't it be great to have someone who knows this stuff talk to your IT people, whether it be from your legal department or outside firm? Sure would keep those IT folks from rolling their eyes as often as they do. (And they do, I've been on that side of the fence. It's not pretty.)

But instead, the legal industry keeps insisting that attorneys are the end all and be all of legal knowledge, when EDD requires a different approach completely. This survey shows it fairly obviously to me. Your clients are crying out for someone who really "gets" the technology involved with EDD, and you keep sending them lawyers who can recite the FRCP, all while keeping your technical staff far away from view, never getting the credit they deserve.

There are obvious consistencies with the other 'support' areas within the law firm environment, wouldn't you say? Marketing, technology, libraries, finance, KM, facilities ... just about any function of the firm where non-lawyers (yet degreed professionals) are retained to help manage operations, but can then be second-guessed because of inequities of the power structure.

What's interesting to me is the collaborative approach Mike is advocating. The best projects I've been involved with over the years were always collaborative. Non-lawyers in firms accept the final decision making power is not in their hands. That's rarely at issue. But as business owners (and hopefully leaders), it all starts with the lawyer/manager's ability to create a collaborative solution and share in the final credit. Even if that means holding out non-lawyers as experts in their field to clients, or a more difficult pill, to the general public.

The thing is, the majority of lawyers are able to let go. There just happen to be a few that can't; similar to the many business owners who won't remove themselves from micro-managing. And hey, I'll even admit to fighting that demon. :)

The bigger problem, as I see it, are the systemic elements that trickle down into firms. The CLE that educates with only Lawyers as faculty is a great example; or the bar association that doesn't integrate other professions. Isn't it interesting that in Canada, where Law Societies are the professional regulatory body, that the CBA doesn't allow non-lawyers an associate membership level as the ABA does? or the US non-lawyer counterpart the ALA does?

If I'm an in-firm lawyer and tasked with leading & managing one of these areas? ... I'm probably a tad frustrated with the rate of change right now. This us-vs-them mentality, pitting lawyer vs non-lawyer, is no longer productive for anyone.

No one would disagree that Lawyers should (absolutely) manage their own profession; but that's not the same as the goal of supporting legal businesses, ie. 'the legal industry', which must be an integrated environment of professions, and accessible to all.

Stem Client Roundup for July ‘09

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:44:48 -0700

Here’s our quick look at what Stem clients have been busy with over the past month:

Web-based practice management solution Clio picked up three recommendations from TechnoLawyer’s recent post SmallLaw: A Law Practice Survival Guide for the Involuntarily Solo.
Florida criminal attorney Ron Chapman addressed the issue of false accusations of domestic violence and explains what police are not allowed to testify about when a case turns on whether a person was acting in self defense.
Nursing home attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld was interviewed by Ottawa, Illinois-based newspaper The Times, where he gave tips on how to detect nursing home abuse.
A new feature article entitled “Green Buildings: Moving to the Mainstream” has just been published on BCRELinks.com, which is published by Clark Wilson’s commercial real estate group.
Texas contingent fee litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey blogged about a recent US Court of Appeals decision that labeled STOLI translations “insurance fraud”.
Arizona criminal defense lawyer Lawrence Koplow blogged about how to make your criminal record almost go away, addressing issues related to DUI convictions, wrongful arrests, criminal records, and expungement. Lawrence also just published a post on Super Extreme DUI convictions.
New York injury attorney John Hochfelder launched a new site, Brain Injury Lawyer FAQ, where he answers questions about traumatic brain injury lawsuits and related topics.
Addiction treatment center The Meadows was pleased to see that The Intimacy Factor, co-written by Meadows Senior Clinical Advisor Pia Mellody, was highly recommended by Dr. Drew Pinsky in Newsweek.
At the New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog, attorney John Marshall discussed some of the factors that can affect your blood alcohol content and showed how quickly one can become intoxicated.
Products injury law firm Hissey Kientz LLP is gearing up to launch a microsite to support its new Herbal Fen-Phen practice group.

We’ll be back next month with more news and achievements.

Happy System Administrator Appreciation Day!

Steve Matthews — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:26:00 -0700

Did you know that July 31st is System Administrator Appreciation Day? Yeah ok, either did I until about 5 minutes ago. ;)

In the honour of the day then, see: Mordac The Preventer of Information Services.

And the requisite light bulb joke:

Q: How many system administrators does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None, they just keep everyone out of the room.

No Blog Comments & Connecting with Readers

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:32:41 -0700

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:

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.
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.

10 People Who Shouldn’t Write About Twitter

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:13:12 -0700

About an hour ago, Kelly Phillips Erb, aka TaxGirl, put an entry on Twitter that I think most regular users of the service would agree with:

Some people obviously see value to twitter, and some think it’s a waste of time. Everyone has a right to critique, so that’s not (entirely) at issue. But when it comes to writing about the nuances of Twitter (or any web tool for that matter) – those ‘how to become a success‘ type stories – having a little experience should be a prerequisite. No? Frankly, there are a few ‘personas’ out there that I think most of us wish would stop before they start.

Here are my ‘top-10 tests’ to figure out if you should stay away from that fashionable Twitter article:

You don’t have an account.
You have an account, but have six tweets to your name.
You followed six hundred people with no tweets in your account, and can’t figure out why no one returned the favour.
You’ve been on (but mostly off) the service for less than three months.
You’re a journalist and your editor told you to start an account.
You’re a journalist who’s opened an account expressly to write a story about twitter.
You’re evaluating the ROI of twitter as a business development tool.
You’re a marketing consultant and you think “it’s about time” to write about this twitter thing.
You’re intentionally set to write a Twitter critique article purely for the backlash & media exposure.
You’re David Letterman. (ok, funny filler. enjoy!)

BC Pro Bono Advice-a-thon!

Steve Matthews — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:15:00 -0700

Pro Bono Law of BC is looking for lawyers to volunteers in Vancouver, Kelowna and and Victoria for Pro Bono Going Public 2009, a free outdoor legal advice-a-thon to raise awareness and funds for the provision of pro bono legal services in British Columbia.

The events are slated for September 11 (Vancouver), September 15 (Kelowna) and September 18 (Victoria), and PBLBC hopes that more than 50 volunteer lawyers will participate.

In each free legal advice-a-thon location, volunteer lawyers will work in one or two hour shifts throughout the day to advise individual clients in an open-air setting. Clients will be low- and modest-income individuals, including homeless people who may otherwise have limited access to traditional free legal advice clinics. Some clients will have pre-scheduled appointments, while others will simply drop in for free advice on a wide range of legal issues.

The event is in need of Vancouver, Kelowna and Victoria lawyers to volunteer for one or two hours at the free legal advice-a-thon. PBLBC also needs friends, family, co-workers and members of the public to pledge financial support for the participating lawyers. The hope is that each volunteer lawyer will raise an amount equal to or above their billable hour rate. The ultimate goals are to serve the public, spread awareness around lawyers’ efforts to increase access to justice, and raise $20,000 or more for BC’s pro bono programs.

For more information, to volunteer, or offer financial support, please visit: www.advice-a-thon.ca.

Legal Blog Software Showdown

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:13:14 -0700

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!

Highlights from SLA 2009: Competitive Intelligence for Law Firms

Emma Wood — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:55:00 -0700

I saved the best for last at SLA 2009. "Incorporating CI into Your Services: Real Life Examples from Legal Info Pros" was my favourite type of session: fast-paced and full of practical, concrete examples.

Tim McAllister, Greg Lambert, and J.O. Wallace are all law librarians at BigLaw firms in the US and for an hour and a half, they shared with us their experiences in providing competitive intelligence (CI) to the powers that be. In short, CI is absolutely critical in protecting a firm's bottom line and reputation.

Coming from the relatively small Canadian legal market, I was fascinated to hear about the competitive nature of major law firms in United States. I described it afterwards to a friend as it almost being like the rivalry between McDonalds and Burger King. I knew that the American legal industry was bigger and different from ours, but I didn't realise just how fierce the competition between major law firms is.

Tim McAllister was up first, and discussed the process of creating a weekly CI newsletter for his firm. CI was always being done on a some level, but it was disorganized and disjointed. Administration had asked him to do some collecting, filtering, and distilling of the information to make it more streamlined. He emphasized that "When we do our jobs well, we give people the mental space to do their jobs well", and this seemed to be the guiding principle each step along the way of the newsletter's development.

McAllister created a newsletter that captures information in seven categories: mergers & acquisitions; office openings/closings; lawyer moves; law firm management trends; finances, fees, bonuses, salaries; the firm in the news; and special reports such as AmLaw 100, etc.

He then described the evolution of the newsletter: what works (3 pages, bullet points, facts, numbers, a BlackBerry-friendly format) and what doesn't (anything more than 3 pages, blocks of text or commentary, anything BlackBerry-unfriendly) and what methods he uses for collecting all the data.

The newsletter was very well received and the distribution list has grown from just the senior staff in the beginning, to include several other departments - sounds like a success to me!

Greg Lambert was up next, and he began his section of the session in remarking on the interesting position that CI finds itself in: CI is overhead, and yet CI is necessary to grow revenue. He he described his fascinating and novel experiences in crowdsourcing routine CI tasks using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Lambert talked about the testing, trial and error, and ethical considerations of this sort of outsourcing. It remains to be seen if this set-up will work for Lambert, but I am impressed with his innovative attitude!

J.O. Wallace spoke last, and showed us screen captures of several CI initiatives he's worked on. He helped to develop a sort of "bidding system" for defense work opportunities. Basically, his team works to swiftly assemble and deliver a snapshot of a potential case, which includes information on the firm's current relationship with the potential client, biographies of the client's directors and officers, a client profile, and conflict check information. Wallace also showed us exactly how he formats a CI newsletter that he distributes several times a week.

The presentation left me with the impression that BigLaw's fast-paced, cut-throat environment isn't just a reality for lawyers; info pros also deal with it day in, day out. It seems exciting and glamourous, even - but I think this just McAllister, Lambert, and Wallace's enthusiasm for their work shining through. And while I've not been asked (yet) to do CI in my own work, I feel like I'd have a good starting point if the need arose. An excellent session overall, and I hope to see more of this type at future SLA conferences.

That's it for recaps from me for this year - hopefully I'll be back next year with tales from SLA 2010 in New Orleans!

Highlights of SLA 2009: Painless Negotiation

Emma Wood — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:55:00 -0700

It's no secret that Mary Ellen Bates is a must-see speaker for me - it's impossible to go to one of her presentations and not come out of it feeling energized and excited about our profession. This year I opted to go to one of her more general sessions, entitled Painless (no, really!) Negotiating.

Bates described how she was one ultra-averse to negotiating, but told us to remember that "negotiation is a moment of discomfort to get a larger payoff". Here's a quick summary of her tips:

Keep an internal locus of control - do not allow the external world to control you
First ID your best outcome (not how you will get there)
ID the other person's best outcome
Look at all the alternatives.
Negotiate from a place of interest, not position
Shift from worst-case to best-case thinking
Always make a high first offer. If you offer what you'll settle for, you've got nowhere to go but down
You don't have to be dissatisfied to ask for more
It's business, not personal

Bates reminded us that in even in a situation that you see as have only two options, "there's yes, and there's no. And then there's apples" - meaning, there may be things you haven't thought of, or that only the other person can offer.

A final, but very important, point: language is important. As with all communication, "I" statements are key. And when you're negotiating, say "I want". Don't say things like "I deserve" (because "we all deserve more than we get") or even "I would like". These are conversation stoppers and won't get you very far.

For anyone in the library field, there are many instances where good negotiating skills come in handy. Salary and benefits discussions and vendor contract negotiations come to mind immediately, but if Bates is right when she says "everything is negotiable", then those are just the tip of the iceberg. Virtually every aspect of life can be improved with solid and confident negotiation skills.

Slides for Painless (no really!) Negotiation along with Bates' other two presentations are available at her website.

Announcing Google OS! Kinda…

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:33:01 -0700

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! :)

New BC Court Rules Include Court Fee Reductions

Steve Matthews — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:44:00 -0700

The BC Government announced yesterday a number of changes that should help reduce Court costs in this province, including:

the Province picking up the tab for "up to three days of trial time before litigants are required to pay court fees";
"court fees for filing or responding to a legal claim will be eliminated for parties that engage in mediation prior to commencing a civil action"; and,
a new fast track process to simplify procedures for disputes of less than $100K.

The new rules were initiated by the Justice Review Task Force, and come into force on July 1, 2010.

The rationale behind these changes and an overview of the goals involved are also nicely explained in this Civil Rules Fact Sheet.

Highlights of SLA 2009: Critical Thinking

Emma Wood — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:56:00 -0700

One of the best sessions I attended at the SLA annual conference was "Critical Thinking", presented by Rebecca Jones and Jane Dysart of Dysart & Jones and Deb Wallace of the Harvard Business School Baker Library. With such a short and plain title, this session might have been easy to miss in the program, but I'm extremely glad I decided to attend. I'll share here a little of what I learned.

Critical thinking is an intellectually disciplined process that requires skillful action. It's a way of thinking that requires constant acknowledgment of certain biases and traps that may impact your decisions. It is recognizing that you can't make decisions alone or in a vacuum. According to the presenters, it's hard, and it's worth it.

Critical thinking requires constant mindfulness not to fall into decision traps. The four biggest traps we we fall into are framing, status quo, anchoring, and sunk cost fallacy.

Framing is the idea that you already have about a situation and the way you approach it. The types of questions you ask will determine the types of answers you'll get. Reframing will take you from "How do we cut 10% of our budget" to "We have X dollars. How will we spend it best?". To avoid the trap of framing, don't accept the first frame or question. Look at it from different perspectives.
Whether we like something, we have a tendency to stick with what we know. Breaking status quo is psychologically risky because you open yourself up to criticism. Sticking with the status quo is not action, it's comfort. To avoid this trap, identify what IS the status quo, and ask how it is helping reach a goal. Evaluate the status quo against all other options in terms of the future.
Anchoring seems to be a bit like framing. The first things we hear or see determine our subsequent thinking - you have to take into account your past experiences and the order you learned about them. Awareness and using different starting points can help to prevent anchoring. When explaining a situation, give as little info as possible to begin.
The Sunk Cost fallacy revolves around people's tendency to want to justify past decisions no matter how the present and future are affected by that decision. It's thinking like, "We've already spent so much money on this. Why stop now?" To avoid it, consciously set aside past investments. Remember that a rational decision is one based on current assets and future consequences. Stop sinking costs into sunk ones. It's important to reward new ideas.

We were encouraged to remember that a little disagreement is necessary, and that disagreement does not equate to disloyalty. Essential characteristics for critical thinking are:

good listening skills
a keen sense of self-awareness (what is your conflict style?) and acceptance of that style
curiosity and interest
the ability to admit when you don't understand or feel you are missing important information
a willingness to assess and evaluate the issues at hand for their current value

Immediately, I began to notice the power of reframing: that is, changing the way you look at a given circumstance. I saw this sort of thinking displayed in a recent article in AALL Spectrum, Manhattan BigLaw Libraries with a Smaller Footprint: The analyses and processes of physically downsizing the law library/information center. In the article, one library director described the proactive approach he took to downsizing, whereby he negotiated a loss of space in exchange for an increased electronic resources budget:

“The second you find there is a potential reduction, be forthcoming. Be proactive if you have to reduce the library space,” says Cohan. “Think of ways you can save money. I gave up one half of the space and picked up a huge amount for my electronic resources. View it as an opportunity—not a take-away from the library.”

It's this sort of thinking ("View it as an opportunity") that Dysart, Jones, and Wallace encouraged us to try to develop. I think critical thinking skills are going to become more and more valuable for the library field, as we find ourselves facing change at an ever-quickening pace.

You can see more of Jones' thoughts on critical thinking on the Dysart & Jones blog. Interestingly, she submits that critical thinking comes more easily to Gen Xers and Yers because we were taught to ask "why?" in school. (That may be giving us too much credit, but it's worth considering.) The slides of the presentation are also available at the Dysart & Jones website.

SLA 2009: Alignment Project and a New Name for SLA

Emma Wood — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:16:00 -0700

Alignment was a more formal theme at SLA 2009, and took the form of SLA's Alignment Project:

"This alignment project will not only help refine our current positioning in the marketplace, but provide a framework for discussing the inherent value in the profession and the Association in a clear, compelling and cohesive voice."

In a nutshell, SLA's working with international PR firm Fleishman-Hillard, futurist Andy Hines, and information analytics firm Outsell, Inc to get a realistic picture of how our profession is viewed by business leaders and decision makers, and to develop strategies to improve our image and raise our profile.

With the Alignment Project comes the very real likelihood of a name change. According to SLA CEO Janice Lachance, "As SLA enters its second century, it is clear that we are burdened with a name that not only causes confusion but also fails to capture the aspirations of our members."

Research done for the Alignment Project shows that the word "special" is vague and doesn't accurately communicate the value of a librarian. SLA members have been told to expect a vote on a new name sometime over the next year. The Knowledge and Information Specialist Society (KISS), Specialized Librarians and Information Professionals (SLIP), and Global Association of Library and Information Professionals (GALIP) are just a few of the names people are proposing. You can see many of the suggestions at the SLA Alignment wiki.

Personally, I'm all in favour of considering a new name. SLA founder John Cotton Dana himself said that the organization's name "was chosen with some hesitation, and rather in default of a better." I think we can find a name that better represents what we do, and I'm excited to be a part of choosing that name.

The 2009 conference was a great one, and SLA's centennial gave us all the more reason to celebrate our organization's achievements. It's mind-boggling to try to predict what sorts of topics and themes will dominate the annual conference agenda 10 years from now, let alone another 100 - but it's sure neat to imagine.

Stay tuned for summaries of my favourite sessions over the next few days!

What’s Your Tweetable Elevator Pitch?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:04:08 -0700

A fun idea germinating from a discussion with Jordan Furlong… Is it possible to reduce a company’s elevator pitch down to the 140 character limit of a twitter entry? Brevity never being an easy task, it seemed like a challenging & hopefully productive exercise. So, I’m in. I’ll queue the entry below up on my own account in a few minutes.

If anyone reading would like to also take part, please include a #TEPitch hashtag. And for those of you not on twitter, here’s what I came up with:

Stem does leg work to help law firms get noticed: in search engines & social web + build grass roots brands, trans 2 profile & MSM #TEPitch

Fitting everything into an entry like this is near impossible, so getting down to the company’s core services was essential. Obviously, our phone rings here at Stem because we are a lawyer SEO company. That’s a foundation, so I’m putting it right up front. We also stick to working within the legal industry. I think that’s decipherable from the company name, but important for the message. Our development of new ideas, fleshing out of web brands, and the ‘trickle up’ effect on media coverage round out the last few words.

While we deliver a fair bit of consulting, both informally within our retainer service and via written reports, I always like to say that Stem executes projects on behalf of clients, and that our opinions come along for the ride. The word consulting is also a tough term to differentiate, so while ‘doing the leg work‘ may be too casual for some, at least for me, it’s a more expressive way of putting it.

I’m also overlooking some of the web development work we do, but again (& like any elevator pitch) something had to give. I consider web development a ‘value add’ element we bring to client relationships, and (at least for now) not directly why we get hired.

So there you have it. My tweetable elevator pitch for Stem. If you’d like to try the same for your company or organization (or blog, or ???), please do. The more the merrier!

And… Happy July 4th to all our friends & clients down south!

Cheers,
Steve

SLA 2009: ROI for Special Libraries

Emma Wood — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:15:00 -0700

In addition to embedded librarianship, another high-profile theme at SLA 2009 was return on investment.

There seemed to be more focus than usual this year on ROI; this is not surprising considering the economy. Post-session Q&A almost always yielded at least one question about ROI: how to measure it, how to report on it, how to prove it, etc. Obviously, it's a topic that's on everyone's minds.

But what was different this year was a more straightforward, ruthless attitude towards it. I heard several speakers mention that they review their services regularly - not yearly, but every 90 days. If the service is not being used or aligned with the organization's goals, it's cut. No hemming and hawing - just cut it and move on. Attendees were also encouraged to be mindful of the discrepancy between what's important to us and what's important to the end user - there's often a big difference between the two.

During one session on critical thinking, the speakers emphasized how important it is not to get caught in the sunk cost fallacy. In other words, if a service or activity isn't worth pursuing, don't let the fact that you've invested a lot of time and effort and money into it prevent you from axing it. Just write it off as a sunk cost and get on it with. This sort of blunt, no-nonsense strategy was prevalent.

I don't expect that ROI will become any less important in coming years, and it'll be interesting to hear the innovative ways that info pros track and convey this important measure.

Up next: The Alignment Project and a New Name for SLA

FriendFeed Live Search

Steve Matthews — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:09:00 -0700

Testing friendfeed's new live search. If this works, a widget will be embedded below for a live search of my name.

Update: added a boolean 'or' to include my twitter user name.

SLA 2009: Embedded Librarianship

Emma Wood — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:53:00 -0700

At its annual conference from June 14-17, the Special Libraries Association celebrated its first 100 years. (Today, July 2nd, is SLA's official 100th birthday!) As usual, the conference offered many top-notch opportunities for learning and networking, and of course, the chance to explore beautiful, cosmopolitan Washington, DC. Over the next week or so, I'll share my thoughts and notes on some of my favourite sessions.

My first few posts will cover some of formal and informal themes that were evident at the conference. First up...

Embedded Librarianship

While it's been gaining momentum over the last few years, embedded librarianship was definitely one of the more popular topics at this year's conference (I also heard it described as portfolio librarianship and outreach librarianship).

It has no official definition, but the idea is to recognize that librarians can exist outside of, and even without, libraries. Typically, embedded-type librarians are assigned and dedicated to a particular practice group, division, or department. One good description is that they are "members of teams, groups, units — organizations — indistinguishable in status or value to the group from any other members, except for the fact that they bring a unique awareness of the importance of information and knowledge, and skill in applying information and knowledge to improve group performance" (see "What's in a name? Or, is an embedded librarian still a librarian?").

Library folks seem to be excited about embedded librarianship because it offers us a chance to really become a part of a team, and through this, anticipate and identify a team's information needs before, or as, they arise. Personally, I can see this being a much more rewarding way to provide research and reference services - instead of being separate and often overlooked as a resource, you'd be in the thick of things.

How often have we done piles of work on a file (or little bits of work on many files), but never found out what the outcome was? The nature of legal work is so fast-paced that it's impossible to follow up on every piece of research we complete. We all know that feeling of satisfaction when a lawyer tells us that work we did helped to win a case or seal the deal... imagine always knowing exactly how your work contributed to the end product.

It seems to me that a model of embedded librarianship could make work so much more meaningful, and I'm pleased to see it becoming a reality for so many of my colleagues.

Up next: ROI for Special Libraries

Emma Wood to Recap SLA 2009

Steve Matthews — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:59:00 -0700

I didn't get to attend SLA 2009, but fortunate for VLLB readers, our friend & stemployee Emma Wood did!

And... as any evil employer (got the laugh down, working on the costume...) would, I've had her slaving over her thoughts for a series of blog posts. Those will be delivered here on the VLLB over the next week.

Watch out for the first post later today!

Quickscribe Manual Updates for June '09

Steve Matthews — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:05:00 -0700

The following Quickscribe Manuals were updated in June:

Changes to legislation in British Columbia are regularly posted at BCLegislation.ca.

iPhone 3G S Coming to Canada

Steve Matthews — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:55:00 -0700

Lots of iPhone announcements coming out today. See:

iPhone 3G S coming to Canada June 19th - no immediate word on upgrade path & cost for current customers.
Two days earlier on June 17th, the new 3.0 firmware will be available for download for existing phones.
Keith McArthur, a Rogers rep is tweeting the announcements as they come out, which led to this gem...
Unlike one US carrier, it seems Rogers is 'ok' with the use of the new tethering technology built into th new 3.0 OS. The one caveat is that you must have a data plan over 1 GB per month, which I do.
And for the non-geeks out there who didn't disconnect at the word iPhone in the post title, tethering lets your iPhone work as a wireless modem, so you can surf on your laptop. Very cool feature.

We won't know about the hardware upgrade possibilities until Rogers says 'if' and 'how much', but both the copy/paste functionality and tethering will push me upgrade to the 3.0 OS in short order. Probably a few days after it goes live.