• Phoenix criminal defense attorney Lawrence Koplow joined the innovative new non-profit educational law firm ASU Alumni Law Group, and published an in-depth guide to blood alcohol testing in Arizona.
• California product injury firm Cutter Law continued to blog on their Knee Complications and Metal Hip Implant Lawyer microsites, covering topics such as the Wright Conserve MDL underway in Georgia and the recently doubled rate of knee replacements in the US.
• On their Canadian Trade Law Blog, international and trade law firm Woods, LaFortune analysed a recent CITT decision (ContainerWest Manufacturing) and discussed economic sanctions and Syrian and Iranian business immigration.
• At Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell, a team of the firm’s lawyers participated in Pro Bono Going Public 2015, an outdoor free legal advice-a-thon, and Sandra Hakanson was the keynote speaker at UBC Okanagan’s Immigration Symposium, discussing the laws and challenges surrounding immigration.
• Southern Ontario personal injury lawyer Frank Van Dyke blogged about whether Ontario car accident victims are better off now than they were 5 years ago, and what your options are if you lose your job after being injured in a car accident.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz shared news about controversial drugs such as Xarelto and Zofran: more than 30 birth defect lawsuits have been filed against Zofran’s manufacturer, and an increase in Xarelto sales may be thanks to a doctor with financial ties to Bayer Health.
• Canadian tax law firm Thorsteinssons reported on the federal government’s posted $1.9 billion budgetary surplus, and highlighted a decision of the Tax Court of Canada that says a dissolved corporation cannot carry on a tax appeal.
• Rhode Island elder law attorney Mark Heffner highlighted a statewide seniors expo taking place in Warwick, which focuses on seniors’ issues advocacy, well-being, volunteering, and support for caregivers.
• At his FamilyLLB blog, Ontario divorce Russell Alexander shared a video that explains how base child support is calculated, and discussed whether you can stop paying spousal support if your ex starts living with someone else.

Enjoy the start of scarf and sweater season, and we’ll be back again next month with more news to share.

Many such recitals start with the firm’s founding in the 19th or 20th centuries and provide biographies of various name partners. Then they dive into unaccountably detailed genealogies that cover various name changes, the retirement/death/judicial appointment of original partners, several periods of expansion, and long-ago achievements like drafting community property legislation in 1947 or developing rate-fixing expertise in 1958. One firm’s history runs twice as long as its “Client Service” page. Another tells the firm’s history through a series of videos. Quite a few identify the local address or street corners where the firm originally practised, or the nearby men’s clothing store, or the partner’s father-in-law who ran the local bank. It’s not quite “I had an onion on my belt,” but it can come pretty close.

I’m not suggesting these pages should be removed. There’s value to highlighting the firm’s longevity to underline its reliability: a firm founded in 1889 can reasonably present itself as a trustworthy institution. (Query the value of a firm history that dates back to 2006). And if a firm wants to emphasize its local community roots for marketing purposes, there’s no harm in playing up its sepia-toned memories. But there’s a self-seriousness about most law firm histories that invites a certain degree of mockery, whether it’s the bulletin-style historical flashpoints (“1947: John Smith retires. The firm is now called Jones and Robinson”) to the intricate recitation of letterhead changes “(Jones and Robinson merges with Peterson & Williams. The new firm is called Jones & Peterson until 1956, when Al Richards joins the partnership.”) It’s like being stuck on the couch next to that uncle who mapped out the family tree five generations back.

My biggest problem with “Our History” pages on law firm websites is that they illustrate the huge gap between what lawyers think is important and what clients think is important. Most lawyers are proud of their law firm’s history, especially when they or their ancestors are prominently featured. Most clients will glance at the year the firm was founded and read no farther, because they don’t care what the firm was called in 1963, they care about what the firm can do for them by next Tuesday. They want to know what the firm does, who it does those things for, what results the firm has achieved, how much the firm’s services cost, and how they can connect with someone at the firm right now. Law firms should make comprehensive and reliable answers to those queries conveniently available before spending any more time on their “Our History” page.

Here’s my challenge to law firms: If you have an “Our History” page on your website, keep it there. But start developing another web page, called “Your Future.” This page tells visitors, in the same loving and painstaking detail with which you relate your genealogy, exactly how your firm meets its clients’ needs in ways other firms don’t. Be specific: don’t just say that you’ll “solve their problems” and provide “excellent service,” because everyone else says that. Explain precisely how your customer service is demonstrably better, exactly how your client experience has been engineered for maximum convenience, and specifically how your prices are reliable and come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee to serve the client’s interests and help achieve its goals. If your firm doesn’t have these kinds of service guarantees and protocols in place, I suggest you start developing them now.

Start thinking about a “Your Futures” page to both complement and supersede your firm’s “Our History” page. Show visitors to your website how their tomorrow is more important to you than your yesterday.

• For the 10th straight year, Okanagan law firm Pushor Mitchell was pleased to be the title sponsor of the 33rd annual Kelowna Apple Triathlon, a 3-day event that draws people from around the world to participate in a variety of competitive and recreational races.
• Southern Ontario personal injury firm Van Dyke Law launched a brand-new website and blog, where topics such as distracted driving and when to call the police/911 after a car accident have been addressed.
• Sacramento personal injury firm Cutter Law launched kneecomplications.com, a new microsite and blog for people affected by failed knee replacements such as the Zimmer NexGen and Persona, and the DePuy LCS.
• Ontario construction law firm Robson Carpenter blogged about the importance of abutting land searches in the land titles system and continued their series on changes to the Ontario’s condominium legislation, describing additional provisions in the declaration.
• Dangerous drug law firm Hissey Kientz added news to its Zofran Lawsuit Help microsite, highlighting an article in Parenting magazine that describes studies linking the drug to an increased risk of serious birth defects among children born to women who use Zofran during pregnancy.
• Rhode Island elder law attorney Mark Heffner shared details of a unique art exhibit underway in Providence. Interstice: Memory, Mind and Alzheimer’s Disease features the work of local artists affected by Alzheimer’s.
• Mike Myers of contingency fee litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey was quoted in a Bloomberg Business article on digital transmissions, and a digital patents case (in which MME is representing ClearCorrect) was discussed in the Wall Street Journal.
• Ontario family law firm Russell Alexander is hiring an associate for their divorce practice serving the areas in and around Whitby, Markham and Kawartha Lakes. The firm also blogged thoughts on infidelity website Ashley Madison’s data leak and posted a video describing 10 ways to get information about family law matters.
• Canadian tax law firm Thorsteinssons blogged about the new HST/GST tax exemption for naturopathic and acupuncturist services, and Alexander Demner was quoted in a Bloomberg BNA article on the FCC’s impending ruling on the legality of Canada’s legislation to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
• Fraser Valley firm Waterstone Law Group welcomed a new personal injury law associate, Julie Gagnon, to their Langley office. The firm was also involved in organizing and sponsoring the inaugural Power Ride in support of the BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund.

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

Here’s a look at some of the latest blogs to be added to lawblogs.ca — could one or more of them be a 10th annual Clawbies award winner? We’re excited to see!

• Hassell Arbitration Blog
  
• Alberta Construction Law Blog (McLennan Ross)
• Trial Counsel Blog (Michael Hassell)
• Accident & Injury Blog (Warnett Hallen)
• Spergel Debt Blog
• Lawsome (Kathryn Marshall)
• Trademark Help Blog (Pushor Mitchell)
• Kabuk Law
• Women’s Legal Mentorship Program
• Alcohol & Advocacy (Dan Coles)
• Alberta Employer Advisor (McCarthy Tétrault)

As always, if you’ve got a blog that meets our submission guidelines, please let us know!

Today I want to share a little secret that it seems very few people are in on. And that is as a business owner (or someone authorized to manage a business listing), you can get phone support from Google My Business, and it’s actually very helpful. All you need to do is make sure you call during their operating hours of 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.

Here’s how:

Go to Google My Business’s Help page at https://support.google.com/business.

Click on the “Contact Us” link in the top right corner. A pop-up will appear; the first option is “Request a call”. Click that.

You’ll get a form with the header “Talk to a Specialist “. Fill out the fields and click “Next”.

Fill out your contact details and click “Call me”. Voila — you’ll get a call from Google My Business shortly.

Here are a couple extra tips on GMB phone support from Greg Gifford at Search Engine Land:

Top Secret GMB Phone Support Pro Tip #1

GMB Phone Support has been available since 2013, but it seems that Google has recently outsourced some of its support staff. The outsourced staff is still incredibly helpful, but they’re more likely to follow a help script. If you’re lucky enough to catch someone in the California or Michigan call center, and it’s clear that you know what you’re doing, they’ll skip any script and you’ll solve your problem even faster.

In our experience, you’re more likely to get the U.S. call centers if you call between noon and 5pm Pacific Time (emphasis added). If you’re in the UK or Europe, you’re better off waiting until the evening to call, so that you’re calling during that magic window.

Top Secret GMB Phone Support Pro Tip #2

GMB Phone Support can help with almost anything related to your Google My Business listing. While you’re on the phone with a support agent, ask them if there are any duplicate listings. If any exist, they’ll be able to shut them down immediately. If you’re working with a business that set up a personal Google Plus page for their business, Phone Support can help you get it converted to a GMB listing.

You’ve got Google on the phone, and they’re willing to help — take advantage of the opportunity!

Technology is great, but often problems get solved far quicker when talking to a real person. So the next time an issue pops up with your GMB listing, don’t be afraid to trigger a call.

• Fraser Valley firm Waterstone Law Group generously sponsored the 6th season of Bard in the Valley.  Love’s Labour Lost was staged outdoors at three venues, including against the backdrop of historic Fort Langley.
• Congratulations to Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell on the launch of their new microsite, Canadian Trademark Help. Maintained by the firm’s IP team, the site includes a blog along with a guide to the trademark system in Canada.
• Kudos are also in order to Mike Myers of Texas contigency fee-based litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey, who was named one of Houston’s top civil lawyers by H-Texas magazine.
• Catherine Walsh, a Canadian trade lawyer with Ottawa international law boutique Woods, LaFortune LLP released an online webinar on Exporting to Canada: Opportunities and Key Trends.
• Product liability firm Hissey Kientz shared news related to Zofran birth defects: four studies have linked the drug ondansetron to an increased risk of birth defects, and Zofran’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline now faces a dozen lawsuits related to birth defects in babies born to mothers prescribed the drug for morning sickness.
• Russell Alexander Family Lawyers shared a video about how custody decisions are made in Ontario and blogged about whether spousal support payors should have a say in how the money is spent.
• Greg DelBigio of Canadian tax law firm Thorsteinssons blogged about the potentially far-reaching effects of an appellant’s unsuccessful attempt to have the court strike GAAR from the Minister’s pleadings.
• Sacramento product injury firm Cutter Law is assisting dental patients who have suffered side effects from Lava Ultimate Crown products. 3M issued a recall of several dental restoratives after reports of crowns debonding. Side effects of this debonding can include infection, persistent sensitivity, tooth loss or the need for a root canal.
• Ontario construction law boutique Robson Carpenter wrote about changes to the Ontario Condominium Act, and partner Adam Zasada blogged about how construction deficiencies at a gas station resulted in criminal charges against the vendor.
• Elder care attorney Mark Heffner shared the resources he recommended during the Q&A after a recent presentation on the legal and financial aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Stay cool and enjoy a little downtime — we’ll be back next month with more client news to share.

Specifically, I’ve now come across the following six terms so frequently, in articles written for, about, and by lawyers, that I’m finally compelled to write this post and ask everyone to please stop using them, and to explain why. Here they are:

1. “Let me explain.” Superfluous. Maybe the most pointless three words in regular use among writers. Take them out of any article in which they appear and re-read the piece: there’s no difference. You’ve lost nothing except the subtle insult you’ve been delivering to your reader: “Let me explain” = “You probably didn’t understand the complex and clever thing I just said, so let me restate it in terms you’re likelier to understand.” Remove this phrase and give the reader back three seconds of her life that she can put to better use, e.g., humming the first four notes of the theme to “The A-Team.”

2. “In other words.” A red flag for poor communication. Set your word processor to search for this phrase and scan the article you’ve just written. If you find “in other words,” go to the sentence directly previous, and either rewrite it completely or remove it altogether. “In other words” = “I don’t think the phrase I just used was very effective. I’m now going to restate it more clearly.” Take out the previous sentence and the “In other words,” and pick up the paragraph at the new phrasing: It gets across what you’re actually trying to say more clearly. (Unless that rephrasing is itself followed by “Put differently.”)

3. “Put differently.” See #2.

4. “Forget X; Y is what matters now.” This is more of a headline problem, but with the advent of Twitter and the drive for brevity above all, it’s become a text problem, too. This phrase undermines what might otherwise be a legitimate point with ludicrous overstatement. Did X somehow become irrelevant overnight? Has it disappeared, leaving us bereft and wandering the streets, forlornly seeking the comforts of Y? Unless you’re discussing Beta and VHS, and I really hope you’re not, the better approach is to say something like “In addition to X, we now need to consider Y,” or “Y has joined X as issues of concern.” In this vein, see also: “X is dead, so Y.” Unless X is “Babe Ruth” and Y is “throw strikes,” stop saying this.

5. “X, and Y, and Z, oh my!” I literally clench things (jaw, fists, rosaries) when I read this phrase. The original source is a movie released 76 years ago, so it’s maybe time to find a slightly more current pop-culture reference. This is the lazy standby for the headline or opening sentence of an article that talks about three separate phenomena related in some way not readily evident to the writer. What frequently makes it worse is the failure to even pretend we care about scan: “E-discovery and artificial intelligence and unauthorized practice of law rules, oh my!” Make it stop, please.

6. “Very.” I’ll leave this one, not to Mark Twain (to whom it’s often wrongly misattributed), but to its true originator, William Allen White: “Never use the word ‘very.’ It is the weakest word in the English language; it doesn’t mean anything. If you feel the urge of ‘very’ coming on, just write the word ‘damn’ in the place of ‘very.’ The editor will strike out the word ‘damn,’ and you will have a good sentence.”

• Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell welcome three new associates: Elise Everest, Joel Wonnacott, and Leneigh Bosdet. The firm also announced the winner of its $10,000 Gold Medal Leadership Award: Yasha Pushak is a BSc double honours computer science and mathematics student at the University of BC Okanagan campus.
• Sacramento product injury firm Cutter Law has started representing patients injured by the Olympus scope, a device used in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures, common in cases of pancreatic or colon cancer, and in diagnosing diseases of the liver, bile ducts, and pancreas.  Lawsuits allege that improperly cleaned Olympus duodenoscopes led to patients contracting the CRE antibiotic-resistant superbug.
• Southern Ontario personal injury lawyer Frank Van Dyke joined CanLII Connects, sharing case comments related to credibility and medical reports and intrusive defense medical examinations.
• Rhode Island elder lawyer Mark Heffner‘s firm shared some tips from the Alzheimer’s Association in honour of Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and highlighted events happening in that state.
• Phoenix criminal defense attorney Lawrence Koplow published a primer on what to do if you or someone you care about has been charged with DUI in Arizona. His comprehensive “Start here” guide talks about how you might be feeling; explains the different types of charges related to drugs, alcohol, and driving; and reminds us that these cases are never black and white.
• Ontario divorce lawyer Russell Alexander shared some legal marketing tips that he presented at the LSUC’s 2015 Solo Conference; blogged about judge-shopping; and shared videos on who pays child support in Ontario and child support and access rights in Ontario.
• Canadian tax law firm Thorsteinssons issued several tax alerts, including one dealing with the updated CRA Income Tax Folio on Related Persons and Arm’s Length; a federal court decision on  the CRA requesting tax accrual papers during an audit; and a tax court decision on valuing foreign option contracts on a mark to market basis.
• Canadian trade law firm Woods, LaFortune LLP  posted an update on COOL, announced that Michael Woods has been re-elected to the board of the Forum for International Trade Training, and continued a series on non-violation complaints, discussing WTO and good faith and equitable relief.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz pointed us to a lawyer’s heartbreaking first-hand experience with birth defects caused by Zofran, and shared that lawsuits related to the anti-nausea drug continue to rise.
• Ontario condo and construction law boutique firm Robson Carpenter blogged about the lien legislation reviews underway in both Ontario and BC; a recent case that illustrates why buyers should never rely on oral representations about property zoning compliance; and another that deals with consumer protections in the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act.

We’ll be back at the end of July with more news to share, and hope your summer is off to a terrific start.

• We welcomed our newest client, Van Dyke Law Office. Principal lawyer Frank Van Dyke represents clients in and around Ottawa, Kingston, and Belleville, Ontario with injury compensation, employment issues, insurance matters, and other litigation.
• Congratulations to Phoenix criminal attorney Lawrence Koplow , who was named “Lawyer Of The Year For Outstanding Contribution To DUI Defense” by the Arizona Attorneys For Criminal Justice. And writing at the Arizona DUI Defense Blog, Lawrence discussed how tiny errors can have huge consequences in DUI cases, because of the way that blood is tested and the results are generated.
• Elder law attorney Mark Heffner testified in front of the Finance Committee of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, voicing his opposition to certain provisions in the Reinventing Medicaid Act of 2015.
• Cloud practice management software company Clio was nominated for the 2015 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in the Outstanding Workplace category, hosted a webinar on mindfulness for lawyers, and shared an infographic on cybersecurity in law firms.
• Sacramento drug injury firm Cutter Law has added a new page for their Benicar practice. The blood pressure medication has been linked to serious intestinal problems that mimic Celiac disease. The firm also continued to post on their Metal Hip Law Blog, on a $2.5 million metal poisoning jury verdict and the Zimmer Durom Cup trials that began in New Jersey and California this month.
• Cutter Law also began a practice related to the Zimmer Persona knee replacement, an implant device that was removed from the market in January of 2015.
• Fraser Valley firm Waterstone Law Group is seeking a general litigation lawyer for their Chilliwack office. The ideal candidate is someone interested in establishing their own civil or commercial litigation niche.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz shared a steady stream of news related to the drugs that have injured their clients, including Zofran,  Xarelto, and Viagra; the firm also reported on Russia and India’s plan to block the UN’s proposed ban on asbestos exports (asbestos causes a deadly form of cancer called mesothelioma).
• Okanagan law firm Pushor Mitchell shared helpful information on what homeowners with waterfront docks should know about liability, and announced an upcoming presentation for family doctors on medical-legal reports and ICBC forms.
• International trade law boutique Woods LaFortune blogged about non-violation claims and whether they’re a contradiction in terms or a reflection of the spirit of free trade, using the example of UHT milk. They also discussed how Greece is threatening to reject the CETA unless their country gets exclusive dibs on the term “feta”.
• Ontario condo and construction law firm Robson Carpenter blogged about due diligence and the Land Titles Registry, and about which relatives on a house’s title can qualify for the HST homebuyer’s rebate.
• Ontario family law firm Russell Alexander added some new FAQs to their Ontario Divorce Help microsite and blogged on the consequences of a divorcing spouse snooping in the other’s email. The firm was also pleased to support local cyclist Bayley Simpson, who will travel across the world to represent Canada in the 2015 Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Kazakhstan.
• Canadian tax lawyers at Thorsteinssons were a busy bunch with speaking engagements. Brandon Wiener spoke on structuring sales of family businesses at the Tax Effective Succession Planning for the Owner-Manager conference and Paul Gibney presented on non-resident trusts and offshore investment fund properties at the CBA’s 2015 Tax Law for Lawyers conference.

As always, we’ll be back next month with more news to share.

• Campbell, Renaud Trial Lawyers Blog
• Democracy Law Blog  (Clayton Whitman)
• Work it Out Mediation (Allan Revich)
• Condo Adviser (Rod Escayola – Gowlings)
• National Self-Represented Litigants Project Blog
• Indigenous Law Blog (Nelligan O’Brien Payne LLP)
• Disability Blog  (Aaron Waxman & Associates)
• The Resource: BLG Energy Law Blog
• Sharelawyers
• PLExchange
• The Personal Blog of Nathaniel J. Hartney

As always, if you have a blog that meets our submission guidelines, please let us know!

This is often easier said than done, however. These client periodicals are swamped with submissions from lawyers, so they can afford to be choosy and might take greater editorial licence with the text than most lawyers would like. There are other barriers, too. One of the most noteworthy belongs to the ACC Docket, the highly regarded magazine of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

You can probably imagine the number of BigLaw partners who’d love to display their written know-how to more than 20,000 in-house counsel. The ACC Docket stems this tide effectively with a simple publishing rule: every submitted article must be authored or co-authored by a corporate counsel. It’s an editorial policy masterstroke, ensuring that (a) ACC members have the opportunity to promote themselves to their colleagues, (b) content is always relevant and on-point to in-house readers, and (c) law firm lawyers who want access to this audience must have the strong relationships with their in-house clients necessary to make such collaboration possible.

What I’d like to suggest here is that every lawyer, including those in smaller law firms, could take a lesson from the ACC Docket‘s policy. Why not make this your firm’s content publishing policy, too?

Make it a requirement that one or more articles in your firm’s newsletter or on your firm’s blog be at least co-authored by one of your clients. This is possible across almost every type of law practice, from family law to wrongful dismissal to bankruptcy to trademark litigation to M&A: get the client to tell his or her story as part of a practical guide to navigating similar matters in future. Base it on an actual legal experience by the client, or have the client share his or her first-hand perspective on a commonly occurring law-related matter.

This would have all sorts of benefits for your publishing program. The clients and potential clients who read your firm’s content would respond positively to stories “just like theirs” related by people “just like them.” They would identify more closely with the familiar co-protagonist of these articles than they would to a faceless stranger in some case comment from the Court of Appeal.

The articles themselves would be heavy on personal narratives, actual facts, real challenges and practical solutions (although of course, sensitive or confidential information would be omitted or anonymized). Accordingly, they would also be lighter on the jurisprudential detail in which lawyer-authored articles frequently get bogged down. These two changes alone would improve the quality and readability of most articles prepared by law firms for their clients.

Best of all, this policy would strengthen the relationship between the lawyer and the client. Even setting aside the positive feelings engendered for clients asked to tell their stories to the firm’s clientele, co-authoring any written work requires close collaboration, frequent conversation, and the friendly (when carefully administered) give-and-take of drafts and revisions between the writers. The lawyer will often learn things about the client’s interests and experiences that didn’t emerge during the actual matter itself; the client will get first-hand exposure to the lawyer’s expertise and experience in similar matters.

This wouldn’t have to be a permanent policy: there could be a special issue of the newsletter or month of blog posts featuring clients as co-authors, just to try it out. We’ve seen what lawyer-authored content looks like, and most people would agree it’s not usually Pulitzer material. Think about turning to your clients for an injection of first-hand experience and real-world relevance to your law firm’s publishing efforts.

• Kelowna law firm Pushor Mitchell continued publishing their video series on immigrating to Canada through family sponsorship (so far, the series has discussed eligibility, the process, and how long it takes). The firm is also gearing up for the Pushor Mitchell Okanagan Conference on Brain Injury on May 8 – this is the 22nd year the conference has been held in support of BrainTrust Canada!
• Cloud practice management software provider Clio announced five new integration partners at ABA TECHSHOW: LawToolBox.com, CaseMail, Capture.it, Thread KM, and AgileLaw. They also introduced a new line of connected court fashion including wireless horsehair wigs (just in time for April Fool’s, of course).
• Canadian trade law firm Woods, LaFortune announced it will be co-sponsoring a highly anticipated event called  “The Power of Networking: Women in Technology and Defence” in Ottawa on May 6. Michael Woods was quoted in a Globe & Mail article on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and Catherine Walsh gave a presentation on exporting to Canada from the United States.
• Product injury firm Hissey Kientz shared an update from the DePuy metal-on-metal hip replacement class action underway in Australia, and noted that more than 2300 Stryker Rejuvenate lawsuits are pending in the multi-district litigation underway in the US.
• Canadian tax law firm Thorsteinssons published several tax alerts discussing the TFSA annual contribution limit increase announced as part of the 2015 federal budget; the elimination of the Ontario Resource Tax Credit as part of that provincial budget; and the 2014 tax filing deadline extension.
• BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham was busy attending and sponsoring conferences, including one by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board and the TLABC’s Family Law Conference. D&D staffers were also published in the Journal of Commerce and publications from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Land Administration, and the Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C.  Their $125 Google+ contest continues through to May 31.
• Sacramento product injury firm Cutter Law launched new practices for the diabetes drug Onglyza, which has been linked to pancreas and heart problems, and the permanent birth control device Essure, which can cause perforation of the fallopian tube or uterine wall (find more on the firm’s Essure Facebook community). Cutter Law also continued to blog on the metal-on-metal hip replacement crisis on their Metal Hip Law Blog.
• Phoenix criminal defense attorney Lawrence Koplow shared his analysis of the Arizona Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Scottsdale Crime Lab scandal case, along with an overview of two recent decisions on the use of medical marijuana while on probation.
• Fraser Valley law firm Waterstone Law Group is looking for an intermediate litigation assistant to join the personal injury department in their Chilliwack office. The permanent position involves challenging work, direct supervision from senior paralegals, and long-term career potential.

That’s it for this month’s roundup, but we’ll be back at the end of May with more news.

I offered an analysis of this report, as well as a critique of law firm brand indices in general, in this article at Bloomberg Business of Law. Here at Law Firm Web Strategy, however, I’d like to talk more generally about the idea of a law firm’s “brand,” and to suggest that lawyers who spend time and money pursuing strong brand recognition for their firms might be hamstrung by an unseen but critical flaw in their firms’ service delivery model.

You can find many definitions of “brand” in the legal context, most portraying brand as a complex amalgam of myriad interconnecting factors. For myself, I tend towards a simpler definition: a brand is what it’s like to deal with someone. How your customers or clients feel following one or more interactions with your business, the impression they’ve gained and the likelihood that they’ll want to deal with you again, is your brand. It has little to do with tag lines, advertisements, or the colour scheme on your website. It has to do with the user experience of your firm.

This, at first blush, is not an encouraging thought for law firms: most clients experience a law firm through its lawyers, and many lawyers do not rank stratospherically high on measures like emotional intelligence and customer service. But even in firms whose lawyers are natural communicators (or who are carefully trained to appear that way), there’s a larger challenge: the inconsistency of the user experience across multiple points of contact. Clients’ experience with a law firm frequently varies according to the person, and especially the lawyer, with whom they’re dealing.

Now, if a client only ever deals with a single lawyer at the firm, then this isn’t much of a problem. But in that situation, it isn’t really the firm that the client is experiencing, but the lawyer: we’re really talking about an individual lawyer brand. A firm brand comes into play when many different people interact with a client, a far more likely occurrence for an institutional client or a complex matter. In those situations, the client is much more likely to experience a range of personalities, behaviours, and procedures, to such an extent that the client may sometimes wonder whether she’s really dealing with a single firm. When asked to describe the law firm brand she’s experienced, she might well respond, “Which one?”

Very few law firms train their personnel to deliver a consistent client experience, and few of those that do could claim great success in enforcing such consistency, especially among their lawyers. Never mind consistency of work quality and client communication: today, in some of the most esteemed law firms in the country, you could find two partners who don’t even bill their work to the same client the same way. To add to the challenge, law firms undergo an unusual amount of churn, through entrenched associate attrition and growing partner mobility, such that the lawyer who served you today might be gone tomorrow — and might even be calling you to see if you’d like to follow him to his new place of business.

This is why I think that in the near future, the brand champions among law firms will be those that can ensure a high degree of consistency in the client experience. And what will set those firms apart will be the degree to which they rely heavily on automated systems, predictable processes, and dedicated client liaisons to deliver their services more so than on lawyers. These firms will figure out that decision trees don’t bolt the firm for greener pastures, that intelligent systems deliver the same experience regardless of practice group and billing rate, and that client protocols don’t vary according to how many hours they’ve docketed so far this month.

If a firm’s brand is fundamentally rooted in its clients’ experience with the firm, then every unnecessary variance in that experience is going to shake clients’ confidence in and undermine the brand itself. Lawyers are, by nature, deeply resistant to conformist behaviour: if they’re the ones delivering your front-line service, you can count on your clients receiving mixed messages (and on remembering the negative ones far more than the positives). To improve your brand, start thinking about ways to solidify and upgrade the client experience — and to what extent your lawyers should or can play a critical role therein.

• Okanagan law firm Pushor Mitchell was excited to announce its new video series, available on their website and YouTube channel. Topics addressed so far include gifting schemes in tax law, charitable donations, and why immigration applications fail.
• Thorsteinssons tax lawyer Brandon Wiener spoke at the 2015 RBC Wealth Management Services Conference, and Rosemary Anderson and Noah Sarna wrote about BC’s expanded PST registration and collection requirements.
• Michael Woods of Canadian trade law firm Woods, LaFortune was invited to speak to law students at the University of Ottawa on his career experiences as an international trade lawyer. The firm also worked with Allam Advisory Group to host a #CanadaBizGoGlobal Seminar on doing business in Turkey.
• Cloud-based practice management gurus Clio announced a new (free) webinar, “Cybersecurity for Law Firms”, coming up on April 14th (sign up here).  They also offered a peek into the Clio meetups they regularly host across North America, and hosted meetups in Portland and Columbus.
• On his Arizona Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog, Phoenix attorney Lawrence Koplow wrote about the growing problem of “eve of trial evidence“, noting, “You can’t get a fair trial when you find out about exculpatory evidence on the eve of trial.”
• The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association is busy gearing up for its annual National Conference (#CCCA15), which takes place in Toronto in just a couple weeks. The theme of this year’s conference is “The Business of Law: Black Letter and Beyond”. Learn more about the keynotes, workshops, and other conference events in the program.
• Ontario divorce lawyer Russell Alexander wrote about a new federal program to help families going through divorce or separation and blogged on cases that looked at whether the court should stop a parent from posting photos of his child on Facebook, and what happens to spousal support obligations when a supported spouse remarries?
• On the Ontario Condo Development Blog, Robson Carpenter lawyer William Thompson wrote about “a regulation with respect to billing tenants for electricity consumption that every rental property owner or developer needs to know”.
• Sacramento firm Cutter Law, which represents consumers hurt by dangerous drugs and defective medical devices, has been developing their Zofran practice. The anti-nausea drug has been linked to birth defects after off-label prescription use during pregnancy.
• Always looking for ways to team-build and support the community, BC legal support services provider Dye & Durham participated in Get Pink’d, a fundraiser for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and hosted their annual St. Patrick’s Day employee breakfast. Until May 31st, if you review Dye & Durham on Google+, you’ll be entered to win $125!
• Rhode Island elder attorney Mark Heffner spoke at the Caregiver’s Journey Conference, a special event for those who support people with Alzheimer’s Disease, and posted about Rhode Island’s plan to reinvent Medicaid.
• Products injury firm Hissey Kientz has had a busy month within their Xarelto, Viagra, and metal-on-metal hip replacement (Stryker, Biomet, DePuy) practices.

We’ll be back next month with more client news to share. (And with any luck, the slush will be completely gone by then!)

Before we get into this, however, let’s outline what we know:

• Google has been tinkering with giving mobile friendly websites an advantage in the search results since last fall. You may even have seen a “mobile friendly” tag next to your own site in recent months. (This notation only appears in mobile search results; you won’t see it during a desktop or tablet search.)
• When we say “mobile”, we’re talking about mobile phones. Google is very clear about treating iPads & tablets as separate devices.
• According to everything released, the search ranking impact will only be felt on mobile phone driven traffic. The warning letter that Google is sending out to webmasters even states: “These pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search, and will therefore be displayed and ranked appropriately for smartphone users.”  (emphasis added)
• The amount of smartphone traffic received by each firm varies. Subsequently, the impact of this algorithm change will also vary “firm-to-firm”.
• Having a fully responsive design is not required to be “mobile friendly”. (more discussion below)

Here’s a quick guide to assessing your site’s mobile-friendliness and what to do if it doesn’t meet Google’s mobile-friendly criteria. And don’t worry, it’s actually pretty easy to update your site, especially if you’re on WordPress.

Take the test

Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ and plunk in your site’s URL. After a quick analysis, you’ll get your results. If your site is mobile-friendly, you’re golden.

Identify your needs

If not, visit the “Getting started” section of Google’s Mobile guide. It’s likely that you just want to learn how to tweak your site yourself; if this is the case, click “Customize your website software for mobile users”. (There are also options for getting technical or working with a developer).

The Customize Your Website Software guide gives a rundown of all the major website software: WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, Blogger, Tumbler, and others. Choose the software you’re using. For this post, we’re going to use the example of WordPress since it’s the most popular (and the CMS choice we recommend to all our clients).

A note: if you’re using wordpress.com (i.e., you have a URL such as mylawblog.wordpress.com), you’re in luck – these sites are automatically mobile-friendly.

Make the required changes

There are different steps to follow depending on what your situation is. They might be:

• Updating your version of WordPress
• Updating your theme to its newest version
• Choosing a different theme that is mobile friendly (look for one with the tag “responsive layout“)
• Implementing an additional plugin to add mobile-friendly functionality to an existing theme
• Doing custom edits to make your theme mobile-friendly

The WordPress section of the Google Webmaster’s Mobile Guide helps you figure out what steps you need to take, and points you to the resources you need.

Some troubleshooting advice

Let’s say your firm has a custom theme. Maybe you laboured over it, or you paid someone to make it for you. Either way, you made an investment and you’d like to keep using it, but it’s not passing the mobile-friendly test. What to do?

In this case, installing a plugin is probably the easiest way to fix the mobile-unfriendly problem. We’re fans of the WPTouch plugin (other Google-approved plugin options are Jetpack and WP Mobile Detector). From the WPTouch description:

WPtouch is a mobile plugin for WordPress that automatically enables a simple and elegant mobile theme for mobile visitors of your WordPress website.

The administration panel allows you to customize many aspects of its appearance, and deliver a fast, user-friendly and stylish version of your site to your mobile visitors, without modifying a single bit of code (or affecting) your regular desktop theme.

The theme also includes the ability for visitors to switch between the theme on your mobile WordPress website and your website’s regular theme.

Once you’ve installed WPTouch, you’ll see it appear as its own item in the left-hand menu in WordPress. Go into Core Settings and confirm the default settings. At the bottom of the screen, you can click “Preview theme” to see what your site will look like on a mobile device. Click “Save Changes” and voila – your site is mobile-friendly.

After you’ve made your changes, run your URL through the Mobile-Friendly Test again, just to confirm Google registers your improvements.

And now you’re set for Mobilegeddon!