Big Steve Feed

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

DOJ Spends Over 24M in 2008

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:16:18 -0700

Thanks to a couple of well placed FOI requests & investigative journalism by Robert Todd over at the Law Times, we now know that the DOJ spent over 24 million on outside counsel in 2008.

Below is a graphic clipped from the story showing those top-10 firms:

A couple of observations here. First, even if we acknowledge that this is only a list of the top-10, it’s hard not to notice a non-Canadian firm is was way out in front with 35% of the work delivered. And second, it seems odd that both Quebec and East Coast firms are missing from the list entirely. That may be reflected in the National firm numbers, but many regional Firm names are certainly absent.

In any event, I believe this is the first time I’ve seen a list like this assembled. It may open a can of worms, but certainly adds to Government transparency. A well deserved hat tip to the Law Times! Good journalism.

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!

10 Things Every Lawyer Should Know About Legal SaaS

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:24:15 -0700

For the past couple weeks, Stem client Themis Solutions, which offers the legal case management software Clio, has been running a series of blog posts aimed at demystifying Software as a Solution, or in its more common abbreviated form ‘SaaS‘.

Here’s a quick run-down of Clio’s 10 key aspects for legal SaaS:

For more details, link on over and read the entire posts within the series. See: “10 Things Every Lawyer Should Know About Legal SaaS“.

Stem Client Roundup for June ‘09

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:39:44 -0700

Here’s what Stem clients have been up to throughout the month of June:

Mike Myers, Bob Espey and Randy McClanahan of McClanahan Myers Espey were each honoured by H-Texas magazine. Myers and Espey were named two of Houston’s top lawyers for civil litigation; McClanahan was named a top lawyer for business litigation.
BC law firm Clark Wilson LLP was busy guest blogging at Slaw.ca, where established Megawatt and Canadian Trademark Blog writers join forces with new bloggers to produce 10 outstanding posts throughout the week.
New Jersey criminal defense firm The Law Offices of John Marshall rolled out a new website for its NJ shoplifting defense practice.
Product injury firm Hissey Kientz introduced a new practice page on herbal fen phen, which contains the chemical ephedra and has been linked to serious side effects.
At his Nursing Home Abuse Blog, injury attorney Jonathan Rosenfeld took a look at a frequent underlying cause of nursing home falls: hypostatic blood pressure.
New York injury lawyer John Hochfelder summarized a number of recent injury cases on his blog, including brain injury pain & suffering, stroke victim’s past pain & suffering, and construction site catastrophic injuries. He also looked at finger amputation cases.
Florida criminal attorney Ron Chapman explored the question of whether Florida’s new DNA law is constitutional or not. The law allows police to take a DNA sample from anyone arrested for a felony offense.
Addiction treatment center The Meadows, who graciously support Stem’s Lawyer Addiction blog, published the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of their alumni magazine, MeadowLark.
Web-based case management software Clio just wrapped up a 10-part series on what lawyers should know about SaaS, starting with the basics: What is Software as a Service?
At the Arizona DUI Defense Blog, Phoenix criminal lawyer Lawrence Koplow wondered: what do field sobriety tests prove? Koplow explores the history and development of this type of blood alcohol testing.
Legal document sharing service JD Supra rounded up its latest contributors, who range from mid-size firms to law students to sole practitioners.

Here’s to a productive second half of 2009!

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.

Clark Wilson LLP Guest Blogs at Slaw.ca

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:04:45 -0700

I’ve been waiting all week to see the final breakdown of posts from Slaw’s second law firm guest blogger: Clark Wilson LLP.

For those that might not know, Clark Wilson is both my former firm and one of our first clients here at Stem. But beyond that, the lawyers who participated (many who are long time friends) simply did an outstanding job. Thanks to some fine internal quarterbacking by Jeffrey Vicq, the firm had an ample number of Partners involved, including a few practice group leaders, and a nice representation of practice areas.

Here’s a quick roundup of what CW lawyers posted over the course of the week:

From Bernard Pinsky, who is chairs the firm’s Corporate Finance/Securities and United States Law groups:

From Nicole Byres, who practices with the firm’s Labour & Employment and Energy & Natural Resources groups.

Focus on Employees: The Hidden Costs of Restructuring a Business

From Larry Munn, who chairs the firm’s Privacy Law Group and blogs at Canadian Trademark Blog:

Canada’s Lawful Access Legislation: Civil Rights and Privacy Concerns

From John Fiddick, who’s a member of Clark Wilson’s Business Litigation and Insolvency & Restructuring Law groups:

Stuck at the Border: New Challenges to the Registration of Judgments

From Warren Brazier, who chairs the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Group (and also blogs at Megawatt: BC Renewable Energy Law Blog):

British Columbia – Becoming a Renewable Energy Powerhouse

From Sarah Jones who’s a member of the firm’s Commercial Real Estate, Municipal Law, and Environmental Law groups:

Suddenly …Nothing Happened! Despite Media Hysteria, Outs for Pre-Sale Condo Purchasers Remain the Same

From Neil Melliship,who chairs Clark Wilson’s Technology & Intellectual Property practice group and contributes to the Canadian Trademark Blog:

Maybe the Jury Didn’t Like the Songs

From Brent Clark, who practices with the firm’s Commercial Lending and Insolvency & Restructuring groups:

A Risky Business for BC Lenders

From Michael Jaworski, who’s a member of the firm Construction, P3 law, and Corporate groups, and edits the firm’s construction industry newsletter, Legal Framework:

The Emerging Climate Consciousness – Public Company Disclosure and Beyond

Congratulations, everyone, on a very successful weeks’ blogging!

Latest additions to LawBlogs.ca

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:36:16 -0700

It’s been a couple months since our last lawblogs.ca update. Here’s a list of the latest additions:

Magali Lepage, LL.B
James Hatton on Licensing
Nimonik – Environmental Regulations Simplified
Res Ipsa Loquitur (Pamela Pengelley)
Environmental, Energy, and Resources Law (Davis LLP)
Family Law (Davis LLP)
Democracy Law Blog (Clayton Whitman)
The Litigator Live (Affleck Greene McMurtry)
Legal Nurses of Canada
Canadian HR Reporter (Jeffrey R. Smith)
Canada Law Blog
Trade Lawyers Blog
Donna Neff’s Law Blog (Neff Law Office Professional Corporation)
Toronto Trial Lawyer’s Blog (Allan Rouben)

A total of 14 new Canadian law blogs since our April update. Congratulations to all, and as always, let us know of any that are missing, and we’ll get them added ASAP.

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.

2009 CALL Conference Presentations Now Online

Steve Matthews — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:00:00 -0700

PPT decks from the 2009 CALL conference in Halifax are now available.

LinkedIn Lawyers Hit 840K

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:54:34 -0700

In an ongoing effort here at Stem, we’ve been tracking the growth of the “Law Practice Industry” category on LinkedIn. For a bit more than a year now, we’ve run periodic searches on Google to see how many profile pages are indexed which include the industry class ‘law practice industry’.

Predictably, but still impressively, that number continues to grow. June’s number now shows 840,000 people within the law practice industry. In reviewing these profiles, we see a very high percentage of those people are lawyers; although it is an industry class and not professional.

With all factors consistent on each dated sample, here’s how things have stacked up:

April 2008: 118,000
June 2008: 216,000
December 2008: 406,000
March 2009: 563,000
June 2009: 840,000

In graph form, that looks like:

In March 2008, LinkedIn was celebrating 20 million users. A year and a bit later, in May 2009, that number had doubled to 40 million users. By way of comparison, in June 2009, the number of members with the “law practice industry” in their profile is almost four times what it was a year ago. The legal industry clearly sees value!

So what’s new in the world of lawyers on LinkedIn? A couple of observations:

Groups: From legal marketing and technology to practice-specific groups for almost any area of law you can think of, lawyers on LinkedIn are getting more value out of their network by engaging in discussion. Groups are being used for Job postings, vendor recommendations, general questions, and sharing articles and links.
Applications: Applications are basically widgets; tools that allow you to add external data into your LinkedIn profile. Two popular amongst lawyers are the Slideshare Presentations app, which lets you share presentations; and the RSS feed display, where you can post the feed from your blog, JD Supra documents, or any other content you like.
Company pages: Just as important as individual profiles are company pages within LinkedIn. For instance, Clark Wilson’s profile includes a description of the firm’s services, a snapshot of current and former employees, location and contact details, and interesting auto-generated statistics such as median age, gender split, and top schools. Savvy law firms and other companies in the industry recognize this as a valuable opportunity to sculpt their online image.

Want a quasi brave prediction? That 840K number is going to be well over a million profiles by September 1st.

And thank-you to Larry Bodine for his email request to update the numbers!

Quickscribe Manual Updates for May '09

Steve Matthews — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:49:00 -0700

May saw four Quickscribe Manual updates:

Remember...daily updates to British Columbia legislation are available at BCLegislation.ca.

Stem Client Roundup for May ‘09

Fri, 29 May 2009 15:33:53 -0700

May is almost over, so we’re due for our usual roundup of Stem client news and achievements. Here’s a look a what everyone’s been up to since our last update:

West Palm Beach Criminal Lawyer Blog author Ron Chapman explains the process of administrative expunction at length at his Florida Criminal Records FAQ website.
Bernard Pinsky, Chair of Clark Wilson LLP’s Corporate Finance / Securities Group, has authored a chapter in a new book, Securities Regulatory Compliance in Canada. The book addresses the similarities and differences between Canadian and U.S. securities regulation, and discusses strategies for cross-border compliance.
Houston-based contigency fee litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey LLP is celebrating partner Randy McClanahan, who was recently elected President of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists.
The Meadows Addiction Treatment Center was pleased to announce the opening of The Meadows Texas, a new 8-person treatment facility in the Sam Houston National Forest, Montgomery Township.
Hissey Kientz LLP rolled out its completely revamped products injury firm website, hkllp.com. The site has a fresh new look and includes more multimedia and practice pages, including one for Raptiva.
At their new blog, New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog, The Law Offices of John Marshall recently discussed tougher drunk driving penalties proposed by the State Senate of New Jersey.
As noted on JD Scoop and many other places, JD Supra launched Law Centers: categories of shared legal documents organized by subjects. These new information centers maximize exposure for contributors and make it easier for visitors to JD Supra to find timely, relevant commentary and precedents on a wide variety of topics.
Chicago nursing home lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld has spun off a new FAQ website based on the bed sores category on his blog. The site features information, photos, and resources on this unfortunate condition, which is also known as pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers.
On their China Law Insight blog, King & Wood’s PRC lawyers discuss a new Interpretation from the Supreme People’s Court, which explains what constitutes a “famous” trademark in China.
New York injury attorney John Hochfelder has republished his series of Hochfelder Reports: these reports give in-depth explanations of damages for various injuries in New York state, including back injuries, arm fractures, and traumatic brain injuries.
And finally, our practice management software client Clio happily shared the results of an ABA Legal Technology survey that shows 22% of sole practitioners use an SaaS solution, along with more of the survey’s findings on lawyers’ use of technology.

We’ll be back again next month with more interesting projects and accomplishments.

Manitoba Replicates ELLA's Head Start

Steve Matthews — Fri, 29 May 2009 02:23:00 -0700

If you haven't read it already, please drop by Slaw and check out the play-by-play commentary from Karen Sawatzky on Manitoba's new Legal Research Bootcamp.

Patterned after ELLA's Head Start program, Karen describes the whole process.

Later in the comments, Melanie Bueckert chimed in with links to their promotional brochure, and a registration form for the event.

Congrats to everyone involved!

LexisNexis says TCO for SaaS 22% Less

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:14:53 -0700

In a press release that came out in early March, LexisNexis released their CRM product Interaction into the legal SaaS marketplace. Perhaps a sign that web-based software has finally “arrived”, the release itself was quite telling on a number of fronts.

First, the quote from Bill Wilshire, Lexis VP of CRM/Analytics:

“We estimate that the streamlined efficiencies of InterAction onDemand hosted software will enable a firm with 100 attorneys to realize average cost savings of about 22 percent over three years as a result of less hardware, staffing and licenses.”

This is a great statistic for web-software companies out there, including our own legal web software client, who can now point to a direct comparison (desktop application to SaaS) and show cost savings. Take that number, and identify the higher technology overhead (per lawyer) with smaller firms, and the sales proposition improves.

Second, the release shows that the legal web software market isn’t just for solos & small firms. Interaction is an enterprise CRM solution, and if Lexis can offer it to a firm of 100-lawyers, then the tipping point to a firm of thousands isn’t far off. I don’t think that’s a prediction, that’s the future.

And lastly, I’m wondering if the web may be a merger point between all those software co. acquisitions and the Wexus duopoly of legal publishing products. Content is valuable when it hits eyeballs. In the current firm model, that means application software. Tomorrow? Let’s just say it wouldn’t be surprising to see legal publishers hedging their bets; and perhaps using the web to deliver a unifying online product.

More New Projects at Stem

Steve Matthews — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:50:00 -0700

We've got some great projects going on over at Stem right now, so rather than just commenting on trends and events from others, I'd like to offer a brief roundup on a couple pieces of my own work as of late.

JD Supra Law Centers: Yesterday on the Stem blog, we noted the launch of JD Supra's law centers. I won't re-hash what's in that post, but for librarians and information seekers generally, these community-driven pages are great topical filters, and really deliver a browsable solution to JD Supra's growing content collections.

Bed Sores FAQ: Another of our clients Jonathan Rosenfeld has compiled questions and answers from his Bed Sores blog category into a new FAQ website. The site breaks down issues related to prevention, treatment, and the liability aspects for hospitals & nursing homes.

For Stem though, this site represents a few things. First of all, we're using wordpress as a CMS and building our custom set of WP plugins to make these sites really effective. And strategy wise, we're taking a really old & traditional form of legal web content, FAQs, and making them very web 2.o & search friendly. ... This launch also comes on the heels of the Florida Criminal Records FAQ site we did for Ron Chapman in late March.

Congratulations to Randy McClanahan: Ok admittedly this one isnt' a project, but I do want to offer my congratulations to Randy McClanahan who was recently elected president of the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists.

Finally I'd like to recognize my Stem team, aka Stemployees, aka our Winnipeg offices. :) Laurel & Emma are long overdue for a place on the Stem website, but for the interim I'd like to highlight their labour of love - a blog dedicated to moving from the West Coast to Winnipeg. See: Winnipeg O' My Heart, read their profiles, and expect more from our evolving creativity & collaboration. :)

Law Centers Make JD Supra Browsable

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:09:03 -0700

An item just posted on the Stem news page: JD Supra announced its new law centers this morning; a feature that should add both context & browsablity to their community-driven collections.

The law centers are broken down into four core divisions: personal law, business law, government law, and law practice management; with each major area then divided into related sub-centers.

What I like generally about this addition, is that JD Supra seems much easier for the casual visitor. If you’re trying to track down an employment lawyer or personal injury lawyer, there’s now a single location I can point people to (or bookmark) that shows the latest postings, and who are leading contributors.

I also like the top-5 contributor list on each page’s sidebar, which is based on the publishing track record within the category. The top-10 contributor list on the homepage is great for larger groups or big contributors, but these top-5 lists are a great way to stand out with 20 to 50 documents.

And if I put my SEO hat on for a moment, the practice centers also offer a host of new landing page opportunities for topical searches from the search engines. Making legal content more accessibile is JD Supra’s goal, and the additional search exposure adds to that offering. I expect the link value from the practice centers will distribute evenly across the site, and more importantly, into each of the content items. Both the contributor profile pages and the content pages should see an ongoing benefit.

But probably the biggest difference for me, is the balance JD Supra now has between search and browse. As many of my fellow law librarians can tell you, information seekers often vary in terms of their search-vs-browse orientation. Not everyone is the same in that regard. What JD Supra had been lacking, was the functionality to support the browsing style. The practice centers, in my view, fill that gap and create a more complete service.

Congratulations to everyone at JD Supra!

Lawford Award Goes to Slaw.ca!

Steve Matthews — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:04:00 -0700

I obviously picked the wrong year to not attend the CALL conference.

Congratulations to each of my fellow contributors at Slaw. We all have a little sweat equity in this one! ... Wow. :)

WisBlawg Turns Five

Steve Matthews — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:08:00 -0700

Bonnie Shucha, a true pioneer of librarian blogging, shares that WisBlawg turned five this week!

Congratulations from the Vancouver Law Librarian Blog! Just one of the 185 law librarian bloggers who followed in Bonnie's footsteps.

Email Tip: Filter Social Media Notices

Fri, 22 May 2009 14:14:34 -0700

Project work has been plentiful here at Stem recently (which I’m blaming for my lack of blog posts). And like so many of you whose inboxes are constantly running out of control, I found myself needing to take additional action this week.

On Wednesday, notifications for twitter follows and friendfeed alone peaked at 45 emails, so I decided to route them around my inbox. We use Google apps for business, but the same thing can be done with Outlook or exchange. I simply created a filter for all incoming email from the two services, sending these messages into their own folder, and archiving them out of my inbox.

So here’s my new routine: I’ll scan these ever day or so, and will delete or follow back on Fridays.

Is this novel or innovative? Not at all. Lots of friends have recommended this to me for some time. If the volume had been a little lower, I’d probably have put up with it… But setting the bar a little lower isn’t always a bad thing, and inbox management helps everyone. So I’m passing it along.

Law Firms to Blog on Slaw

Steve Matthews — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:34:00 -0700

As was just posted by Simon Fodden over on Slaw, we're starting an experiment to help entice more law firms to blog.

Starting next week, and on the last week of each month following, we'll have five daily blog posts from a featured law firm. We have a number of firms signed on already, but will definitely be looking for more.

If your firm has ever considered entering the blawgosphere, this might be the ideal opportunity to test the waters. Let us know and we'll be happy to add your firm to the list!

Quickscribe Manual Updates for April '09

Steve Matthews — Fri, 01 May 2009 05:24:00 -0700

There were three updates for Quickscribe manuals in April:

And as always, daily updates to British Columbia statutes and regulations are available at BCLegislation.com.

Stem Client Roundup for April ‘09

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:52:31 -0700

April has flown by, but the news & projects continue to come for Stem clients. Here’s our monthly roundup of client successes:

New York injury lawyer John Hochfelder hosted Blawg Review #209, and dedicated the legal blogging roundup to his late father. The Blawg Review was enormously well-received, and mentioned by at least a dozen other bloggers, who praised John’s creative and touching approach.
Clio co-founder Jack Newton spoke at the LegalIT 3.0 conference in Montreal earlier this month, delivering a presentation called “10 Things Every Lawyer Should Know about Software-as-a-Service“. And TechnoLawyer dubbed Clio a “Best in Show” at this year’s ABA TechShow 2009.
Contingency fee litigation firm McClanahan Myers Espey was pleased to announce that the firm’s client, Clear Correct, Inc., resolved its patent infringement dispute against competitor Align Technology.
Nursing home lawyer Jonathan Rosenfeld wrote an article for Long Term Living Magazine on the Federal Trade Commission’s “Red Flag Rule” and how it will enhance privacy in nursing homes.
Hissey Kientz LLP, a product injury law firm, re-launched its firm website. With a fresh, clean look, the new site features expanded multimedia, news, and detailed information about the drugs, devices, and injuries the firm specializes in.
At China Law Insight, King & Wood PRC lawyers wrote recently about changes to insurance law in China, as well as the country’s efforts to adapt to the changing global auto industry.
Lyall Knott, Q.C., a senior partner at BC law firm Clark Wilson, was appointed to the International Joint Commission (IJC) as a Canadian commissioner. The IJC is an independent, binational body that helps prevent and resolve water-related disputes along the Canada-US boundary.
Our New Jersey criminal attorney client, The Law Offices of John Marshall, unveiled both a new website (New Jersey Marijuana Lawyer) and new blog (New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog). The firm also added a service page for animal and dog bites to its personal injury website.
The Meadows Addiction Treatment Center announced a new program called Integrated Evaluation, which combines the expertise of medical and mental health professionals and offers clients a comprehensive, thorough evaluation.
West Palm Beach criminal lawyer Ron Chapman wrote about when a judge can increase a bond amount, and what constitutes “good cause” in order to do so.
At JD Scoop, there’s a great post with practical ideas on “What Documents Should I Post on JD Supra“? Adrien Lurssen explains six main types of documents and they benefits and value associated with each.

We’ll be back next month to share more!

Pricing Wrong for Black's Law Dictionary on iPhone

Steve Matthews — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:29:00 -0700

If you work in the legal industry and you're an iPhone user, you've probably picked up on the fact that Black's Law Dictionary is now available for the iPhone or iPod touch. You may also be aware that West released the new application at a price of $49.99.

This post is not intended as a feature review. For that, I suggest you link on over to Jeff Richardson's iPhone JD blog for his comments which went up this morning.

What I'm curious about is the price point chosen. I think it's too high, and not because West doesn't deserve to make a profit. In fact, I think they've missed profitability equation on this new product entirely. Let me explain why.

As Connie Crosby points out in the comments on this Slaw post, a firm that spends a couple hundred dollars on legal dictionaries isn’t going to increase their budget to thousands just because we are now able to tether a digital copy to a smart phone. If you price the print edition and iPhone edition the same, you are inevitably asking for comparisons to be made. It forces an either-or decision.

That's not what West wants (or at least not what I think West wants...). The goal should be to avoid media format competition at all costs; especially when the possibility exists of selling their IP twice, once in each format.

West could have skipped the whole ‘firm budget’ equation and moved this purchase into being a personal expense just by lowering the price point below $30. Had they lowered the price to a discretionary level, many lawyers would skip the firm paying altogether and picked up the bill themselves.

The key, I think, is to create new non-competing markets. West is far better off, both short and long term, with $25 apps on every lawyer’s smart phone, over shared copies of print products. Any firm out there, even a two-lawyer operation, will logically make the decision to resource share when possible - thus reducing the number of purchased copies. This part's simple math - create the demand for a lower-cost personal edition, and you create a larger & more lucrative market. Moving shared product purchases to personal product purchases is just good business for West.

But equally important to the profit equation is to not let digital content - iPhone apps included - exist only for business consumption. Lawyers are also consumers, and individual purchases made outside of work will be a growing market for legal publishers - but only if they are priced low enough. Price it too high, and the personal copy becomes a questionable decision.

Additionally, if law firms aren’t picking up the tab, they will still see value (for the short term) in keeping a few print copies around. For West, that means an opportunity to sell the same content in multiple formats. It also means the original print market isn't disrupted by forcing it to compete for the same purchase dollars.

My apologies to my fellow law librarians. I had my machevelian hat on in writing today's post. There's a fallout to this type of content pricing for libraries, both positive & negative, but that's better left for another day, another post... and unfortunately, it kinda brings back memories of the print/CD-Rom days, ie. potentially paying twice for modest amounts of innovation. Group subscription pricing models will inevitably come along, but when is difficult to say. Until that time comes, however, legal pubishers like West are simply missing out on a window of business opportunity.

New BC PLE Portal: Clicklaw

Steve Matthews — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:56:00 -0700

While I've been admittedly abscent in the past couple weeks, I was very happy to see the launch of the new BC Public Legal Education portal called Clicklaw.

Led by friends over at Courthouse Libraries BC, this new project gathers information and resources from no less than 24 participating BC organizations. If there's an existing guide or helpful publication located on one of those websites, it's probably now profiled on Clicklaw.

The site is still in beta, but looks to have the framework to evolve into a true portal for BC legal content. And given the audience, which is clearly defined as the general public, I thought the work done on the site's navigation was excellent. There's a good mix of iconic and textual navigation elements, and the language used is equally clear.

Clicklaw also has a page dedicated to their future plans, which include more common questions to BC legal topics, non-English language translations, a Google maps integration, and embeddable widgets.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

Better Twitter Practices

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:33:02 -0700

My latest Web Law Connected column is now posted on Slaw and on JD Supra. The article is titled Lawyer Twitter Practices: 29 Do’s and Don’ts and offers an intemized list of ways lawyers are currently using Twitter. As the title alludes, some of those practices are helping to support the user’s professional reputation, and some are not.

If this is a topic that you’re looking to explore further, I have two additional recommendations. First, take the time to work through the comments at the bottom of the Slaw article. There were a number of great suggestions made there. And second, drop over to Jordan Furlong’s Law21 and read his thoughts on Twitter. There wasn’t much duplication between the two articles, and Jordan’s post addresses a number of issues I didn’t get to.

Blawg Review Still Going Strong

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:58:55 -0700

Stem client John Hochfelder is the host of this week’s blawg review, which comes with an interesting personal touch – the review is both dedicated to, and the theme guided by, the life of his late father. The publication date was also timed nicely for today, his father’s birthday.

And before anyone guesses wrong, the theme idea and craftsmanship was all John – So full credit to him! And really, you don’t contrive a story like this.

What I would like to write about, web strategy wise, is the opportunity Blawg Review provides for legal bloggers looking to establish themselves. Around since its first edition in April 2005, Blawg Review is one of the oldest and can certainly now be described as one of the strongest rotating blog carnivals. Each week someone new hosts the review on their blog, offering a personalized round-up of commentary (in this case, legal blogs) from the previous week.

Hosting a blog carnival has always been a solid web-marketing tactic, but like most things that work well in the online space, isn’t always easy to pinpoint why.

Two of the big issues I see with many new bloggers is that they are often: link-poor and (web) relationship deprived. Getting past those barriers, while difficult, requires: 1) writing commentary that is substantive & genuine in tone and 2) having the personal web-network of relationships that can help increase exposure. Gaining attention in the blogosphere, simply put, requires both ‘the steak’ and ‘the sizzle’.

So how does hosting a carnival like Blawg Review help? A couple of ways. First, there’s a benefit on the link front – the host blog usually receives its fair share of quality incoming links. Links, I might add, that are based on substance (not schemes) and links that are strong on subject relevance.

And second, the host blog puts itself on the radar of the legal blogging community. At a number likely over 5000 now, that’s not always an easy task.

Now let me make my confession (’cause Ed’s waiting for it) – I’ve never actually hosted Blawg Review. So now that I’ve told you what a great idea hosting is, let me remedy my cobbler’s kids routine and say that I’m signed on to host while the Olympics are on in Vancouver (as is the Canadian Trademark Blog).

This is something I regret not giving priority to when I first started Stem, and probably a lesson to be learned by others who are looking to raise their own blogging profile.

LexConference Interview

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:40:44 -0700

A self-acknowledged vanity item: I was one of the video interviewees (embedded below) on the newly launched LexConference website that was covering ABA Techshow.

ABA TECHSHOW 2009 Interviews: Steve Matthews of Stem Legal from LexConference on Vimeo.

Vancouver Law Day 2009

Steve Matthews — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 06:06:00 -0700

Saturday, April 25th is Vancouver Law Day, the local incarnation of an event that's been held nationally for more than twenty-five years. Law Day celebrates the signing of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and its goal is to provide the public with opportunities to "learn about the law, the legal profession and the legal institutions that form the cornerstones of our Canadian democracy".

The theme of this year's Law Day is "Access to Justice: Public Confidence in the Justice System".

In Vancouver, a full schedule of events is planned, including a citizenship ceremony, a mock trial, free law classes, and a public forum moderated by favourite Ian Hanomansing. (Keynote speaker from VALL's 20 Anniversary back in November )

Law Day is the one day within Law Week 2009 in which activities are held in 12 cities around the province. Dial-a-Lawyer, essay and speech competitions, courthouse tours, and a fun run are just some of the events planned. Displays and presentations will be given by dozens of groups ranging from the BC CBA to CLE to the VPD (their "The Real CSI" is sure to be a popular demonstration).

According to Law Week 2009 volunteer Vickie Hsieh, Law Day is "an excellent way for the public to learn about the role that lawyers and the judiciary serve in guaranteeing an independent and unbiased judicial system".

More info about Vancouver Law Day & Law Week are available at www.bclawweek.org.

(Incidentally, Law Day in Ontario has some cool events planned too, especially for students: "So You Think You Can Sue" looks like a lot of fun!)

Quickscribe Manual Updates for March

Steve Matthews — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:33:00 -0700

There were two Quickscribe manual updates in March:

Provincial Court Family Legislation
BC Family Legislation

Don't forget: daily updates to BC statutes and regulations are available at BCLegislation.ca.

Law Society of British Columbia Chooses an Open-Source ILS

Steve Matthews — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:12:00 -0700

According to a press release on the Equinox Software website, the Law Society of British Columbia has chosen Evergreen, an open source ILS (Integrated Library System) product.

From the release:

The Law Society of British Columbia has gone live with Evergreen, the consortial-quality open-source library automation software. Jeremy Buhler, a graduate student from SLAIS at UBS, did most of the work developing the main page and migrating data. Buhler has recently begun working with British Columbia SITKA as a trainer/help desk specialist. The Law Society of British Columbia is the governing body of the legal profession in BC. The LSBC Resource Centre is a legal research collection serving Law Society and staff with around 1400 bibliographic records in their database.

According to Christine Gergich, Records Analyst for the Law Society, "The switch to Evergreen has significantly improved access to and administration of our collection." Gergich added, "We are delighted to be part of a growing number of Evergreen users in British Columbia." "The ability of libraries such as the Law Society to 'go it alone' with Evergreen only proves the openness and ease of use of this software," said Brad LaJeunesse, Equinox company president. "The Law Society joins a growing stream of libraries moving toward Evergreen for its features, flexibility, and forward-looking development path."

Sounds like a great project! ... Even if poor Jeremy Buhler has to receive his Masters degree from "UBS"; and the Law Society is listed on the Evergreen website as: "Law Society of British Columbia is an Evergreen library in Ontario".

We can take a couple on the chin for the sake of innovation. :)

Survey on the McGill Guide

Steve Matthews — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:09:00 -0700

Lots of surveys being done lately. The latest is about the upcoming 7th edition of the "McGuide Guide" (as posted to CALL-L):

Dear Friends of the McGill Law Journal,

It is with excitement that we announce the upcoming 7th Edition of the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation. This edition will feature vital changes to make it more comprehensive and user friendly. As we are in the initial stages of this endeavour, we welcome and encourage your valued input in suggesting changes that will help the Guide to better serve your needs.

Please take a few moments to complete the online survey provided in the links below. Don't forget to press "SUBMIT" at the end of the survey. We greatly appreciate your time and continued support. In order to ensure that everyone’s opinion is recorded, please circulate this email to fellow users of the Guide.

Thank you.

Click here for the survey in English.

The survey asks, among other things, about:

the layout and organization of the Guide,
whether you would use an online version if it were available,
and what's important to you to see in the new edition.

This has been a hot button topic over at Slaw for a few years now. It only takes a couple minutes to complete, so here's your chance to have your say!