The CLawBies have become an institution in the Canadian blogging community, one which recognizes established and new legal blogs in our corner of the Internet.  But it also recognizes that we very much are a community, and that even though we live in the second largest country in the world many of us have gotten to know each other quite well through blogs and social media.  For example, I am able to introduce myself to Nicole Garton-Jones on the west coast and David T.S. Fraser from the east, and we instantly know all kinds of things about each other and have an affinity for one another.

Community building, in any community, is an arduous process.  The low barrier of entry for blogging means the community is inherently fluid, but also characteristically democratic.  There cannot be any formal hierarchies or official leadership for the Canadian blogging community.  But there can be leaders, and those behind the CLawBies such as Steve Matthews, Jordan Furlong, and Simon Fodden, have certainly have positioned themselves as some of those.

Group psychology and organization behaviour, some of my passions I carry over from my management background, are just as relevant when applied to social media in the legal community.  One of the more memorable quotes which reflects this principle was expressed by Brian Solis,

“Social Media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” – Brain Solis #socialmedia #quote

— Allison_1001 (@Allison_1001) December 19, 2011

Despite being spread out from coast to coast, those of us in Toronto have tried to organize gatherings and meetups to get to know each other better in person.  We’ve met regularly, almost every month now, for quite some time.  Our gatherings have ranged from 4-5 people all the way to over 30, and almost always of varied composition.  In fact I think I can say that we have never had a blawger meetup with exactly the same people there twice, with people like Simon Fodden, Barry S. Sookman, and Dan Pinnington all making respective appearances.

One of the more permanent hallmarks of these gatherings has been Garry Wise, another clear leader whose involvement has been absolutely essential in rallying both novice and experienced blawgers around the table.  People attend to share expert tips, war stories, or just talk about current events, while other arrive with a curiousity about whether they should start blawgging at all.  Our newest addition is Sara Cohen’s Fertility Law Blog, with a single post to date, launched earlier this month as a result of a discussion between Garry and her at our last meetup.

For those of us who love social media, it’s the exchange of well thought-out substantive legal ideas that challenge us on a personal level in a respectful manner which keeps us coming back for more.  The addition of new members to this dialogue can only be a good thing.

Supporting the cultural norms and celebrating positive additions to the blawging community are the themes of my 2011 nominations:

1.  SQP jeunes avocats | virtual mentor for new lawyers by Lee Akazaki

I got to know Lee primarily through is previous role as Ontario Bar Association (OBA) President.  He executed his duties in that office amazingly, and was a huge support to younger members of the bar.  He has continued his mentorship with a new blog focusing on mentoring.   And he’s doing it in both official languages.  Although the site was just launched in mid-November, I again reference the criteria listed on the CLawBies website:

newer, unlisted blogs may be eligible if they demonstrate all the critical elements of a great blog: decent post frequency, audience engagement, topic originality, and blog-to-blog references or citations.

Lee’s posts are coming through at least weekly (sometimes daily), and is expressly intended to be interactive,

This Blog has to be interactive

This is more than a website.  There is a real live senior lawyer behind this wall, who in turn has a large network of lawyers to draw on for expertise.  The function of this blog is to be interactive, to provide new lawyers with help and value for your time in reading.  Please consider leaving a comment to any blog post you have read.  Provided they are constructive, comments will be approved for the benefit of all readers.  If you have a question or situation which you wish to share with the readership, send it to me and it will be considered for a future article.  If you have a question you wish to ask on a confidential basis, contact me directly.  Click on the ‘about lee / contact’ tab above and get in touch with me.

This is a great idea, and one which I feel the need to support through an endorsement with a CLawBie.  See also Chris Jaglowtiz’s nomination of this site.

 2.  Social Media for Law Firms by Samantha Collier

The vast majority of lawyers I encounter are interested in social media primarily as a business development tool.  My passion for it primarily stems from the ability to connect with other, exchange ideas, and build relationships that eventually grow into communities.  But there is nothing wrong with  lawyers who enter our space out of an interest to make themselves more visible to the public, and people like Samantha can help them do it in a classy way.  Professional marketing advice doesn’t cheapen the profession, it enhances it, especially when done properly.

Most of Samantha’s technical content is probably introductory for many online veterans, but as I note above there are a lot of lawyers who are consider entering the field.  Her site provides a form of mentoring on how to use social media, in the same way that Lee uses social media to discuss mentoring.  She was also listed in the Top 24 Social Media Influencers in Canada this year, a list with many familiar faces and names which includes some very important non-lawyers who have helped build this community (special mention for Connie Crosby, for example).

3.  Blawg Review by Ed. (Anonymous)

A 2010 CLawBie winner for Friends of the North, Blawg Review is an example of what the Canadian law blogging community could do for ourselves on a more regular basis.  Blawg Review is truly an astronomical project that rotates to different sites every week and compiles a roundup of law blogs around the world.  I would love to see Canadian blawgers comment more in a constructive manner on other blawgs, and for us to have an ongoing conversation about legal issues and cases.

Crowdsourcing complex legal questions discussing legal philosophy in a respectful and open exchange is a best case scenario for me because it would foster the greatest forms of creativity and collaboration, something we already see happening in the tech, communications and business sectors.  Unfortunately law schools and most legal practices don’t properly teach interpersonal skills or the importance of collaboration, which in my opinion is a lost opportunity for potential development.  Those of us who have tried to work more closely with each other have developed some rather revolutionary projects, including LawTechCamp (Monica Goyal, Sapna Mahboobani and Mitch Kowalski) and our sessions at the Law Society of Upper Canada (Mitch Kowalski, Bob Tarantino, Garry Wise and myself).  You can read more about our sessions on Garry’s CLawBies nomination page.  The materials not only reached over 5,000 lawyers in our jurisdiction, but have travelled far beyond and are already being used by lawyers in other provinces and countries.  If there was any question about how social media can bring the legal community together in a positive way, this program has demonstrated how it can happen.

We don’t necessarily have to have our own blogging carnival for lawyers out here in Canada.  But we could learn a lot about the spirit and attitude that makes Blawg Review work to help develop our own community.  And yes, even the anonymous editor of Blawg Review has attended our blawger meetups in Toronto.  It already has that kind of international pull.  How many “Friends of the North” can claim that?  If blawgers in other Canadian cities start hosting their own meetups we would see this community move forward to another level, and I can promise that at some point in the future I’ll make make the effort to attend them all myself – in person.

Jordan Furlong and Warren Smith named Omar Ha-Redeye as one of the top 12 social media influencers practicing law in Canada in the September 23, 2011 issue of The Lawyers Weekly.

The other influential lawyers included:

John Boscariol, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Toronto. Twitter: @tradelawyer

David Canton, Harrison Pensa LLP, London Ont. Twitter: @davidcanton

Caroline Clapham, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver. Twitter: @carolineclapham

Michael Fitzgibbon, Watershed LLP, Oakville, Ont. Twitter: @managementlaw

David Fraser, McInnes Cooper LLP, Halifax. Twitter: @privacylawyer

Nicole Garton-Jones, Heritage Law Group, Vancouver. Twitter: @ngartonjones

Rob Hyndman, Hyndman Law, Toronto. Twitter: @rhh

Erik Magraken, MacIssac & Co., Victoria. Twitter: @erikmagraken

Stuart Rudner, Miller Thomson, Toronto. Twitter: @CanadianHRLaw

Barry Sookman, McCarthy Tétrault, Toronto. Twitter: @bsookman

Garry Wise, Wise Law Group, Toronto. Twitter: @wiselaw

Furlong and Smith also provided a list of a dozen non-practicing legal professionals who led the pack in social media influence:

David Bilinksy, Law Society of B.C., Vancouver. Twitter: @David_Bilinsky

Colin Cameron, Profits for Partners Management Consulting, Vancouver. Twitter: @colincameron

Samantha Collier, MBM Intellectual Property Law, Vancouver. Twitter: @samtaracollier

Connie Crosby, Crosby Group Consulting, Oakville, Ont. Twitter: @crosbygroup

David Eby, B.C. Civil Liberties Association, Vancouver. Twitter: @Dave_Eby

Simon Fodden, Slaw.ca, Toronto. Twitter: @fodden

Michael Geist, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Ottawa. Twitter: @mgeist

Dominic Jaar, KPMG, Montreal. Twitter: @dominicjaar

Steve Matthews, Stem Legal Web Enterprises, Vancouver. Twitter: @stevematthews

Shaunna Mireau, Field LLP, Edmonton. Twitter: @smireau

Dan Pinnington, LawPRO, Toronto. Twitter: @danpinnington

David Whelan, Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto.Twitter: @davidpwhelan

Canada’s Top Social Media Influencers

See a summary on Slaw, or read the complete article in the CBA’s National magazine.
The Best in Digital Marketing

(Back, From Left: Andrew Feldstein, Omar Ha-Redeye, Bob Tarantino, Chris Jaglowitz, Lorraine Fleck, Connie Crosby, Syed Ali Ahmed (Front, From Left): Antonin Pribetic, Dan Pinnington, Monica Goyal, Michael Carabash, Garry Wise, Joel Welch, Adam Goodman

Roll call:

• Andrew Feldstein of Feldstein & Associates
• Bob Tarantino of Heenan Blaikie at Entertainment and Media Law Signal
• Chris Jaglowitz of Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP at Ontario Condo Law Blog
• Lorraine Fleck of Hoffer Adler LLP at IP Address Blog
• Connie Crosby of Crosby Group Consulting at Slaw
• Syed Ali Ahmed of Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP at Ontario Condo Law Blog
• Antonin Pribetic of Steinberg Morton Hope & Israel at The Trial Warrior
• Dan Pinnington of Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO) at Slaw
• Monica Goyal at My Legal Briefcase
• Michael Carabash of Dynamic Lawyers
• Garry Wise of Wise Law Blog
• Joel Welch of Law is Cool
• Adam Goodman at Adam’s Law Blog

]]> http://www.omarha-redeye.com/blog/blogstravaganza-1/feed/ 0 http://www.omarha-redeye.com/blog/podcasts-way-to-develop-strong-bonds/ http://www.omarha-redeye.com/blog/podcasts-way-to-develop-strong-bonds/#comments Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:44:22 +0000 Toronto Lawyer http://www.omarha-redeye.com/blog/?p=2677 In the October 29, 2010 issue of The Lawyers Weekly, Luigi Benetton interviews Omar Ha-Redeye on his podcasting experiences on Law is Cool.

	Interview with Omar Ha-Redeye
PODCASTS for lawyers, law firms to develop ‘strong bonds’

Podcasts way for lawyers to develop strong bonds with listeners

A web copy of the article is available here and here.

Results from the 2009 Canadian Law Blog Awards (CLawBies) are in, and Law is Cool and Slaw are both winners:

1) Best Canadian Law Blog (or Blogger) Award: Slaw – As most readers will already know, Slaw is not only a huge presence on the Canadian law blog scene, but it’s also a testament to the innovative and creative vision of Simon Fodden. It’s often hard to see how Slaw could get better, but it did in 2009. Want proof? See this year’s guest blogging initiatives, which included major law firms, provincial ombudsmen from across Canada, plus five Justices from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Add a DK Blawggies recognition, and we have a winner!  Runner ups: Canadian Privacy Law Blog, Wise Law Blog

…

3) Legal Culture Award – Law is Cool – Two of the fastest rising stars in Canadian legal blogging just happen to be law students. Lawrence Gridin and Omar Ha-Redeye lead an impressive group of contributors at Law is Cool, and are seeding the queue with more law student bloggers for the future. Bravo! Culture doesn’t happen without a little sweat equity.  Runner ups: Precedent, Dynamic Lawyers Parody Videos

A special thanks to those who gave a special mention to me (although I freely lend my authority to the other sites I’m affiliated with instead):

Antonin Pribetic – My Nominees for the 2009 Canadian Law Blog Awards (the “CLawBies”)

Omar Ha-Redeye Blog: http://www.omarha-redeye.com/): Omar Ha-Redeye is a J.D. candidate at the University of Western Law School and a leading light in the Canadian blawging community.  His publications include scientific journals, trade magazines, and contributions to university textbooks. Ha-Redeye has served as a Senior Administrator for a tsunami relief team that operated in rural Aceh, Indonesia and consulted NGO’s and businesses on crisis communications. He has taken the lead in the field of reputation management law. A frequent contributor to Slaw.ca and Law Is Cool, I admire Omar’s dedication to law, justice and human rights.

Donna Seale – My Picks for the 2009 CLawBies

3. My last pick is Slaw.  Slaw is a co-operative weblog covering pretty much anything that has a connection to Canadian law and it does that in spades.  Since I started following this blog a few years ago it has grown leaps and bounds and now has so many contributors I’ve lost count.  In fact, it has grown so much that I sometimes find it hard to keep up with the blog’s multitude of posts, but I always find something in my feedreader from Slaw that is of interest and use to me.  I do have to admit, though, that because of the sheer volume of content coming from Slaw I have taken to scouting out posts from particular Slaw contributers — David Bilinsky, Dan Michaluk, Steve Matthews, Jordan Furlong, Omar Ha-Redeye always top my list because they produce content I find personally relevant.

Connie Crosby - My nominations for the Clawbies

Like almost everyone else who have blogged their picks, I can’t help but mention others who are well deserving and should be included in any “top Canadian law blogs list” – Library Boy by Michel-Adrien Sheppard, Law is Cool by an ever-growing slate of law students, created by the inimitable Omar Ha-Redeye,  Thoughtful Legal Management by David Bilinsky, Canadian Privacy Law Blog by David Fraser, Michael Geist’s blog which has a reach far, far outside the legal community in Canada,  and Halo Secretarial blog by Laurie Mapp who is a legal virtual assistant (or legal VA) and helps me stay on track in my day to day work. And so many others!

Blawger of the Year – Omar Ha-Redeye

This year Steve Matthews is asking that we nominate blogs that we read.

1. Without question my top pick would be Jordan Furlong‘s Law21.  Jordan has years of experience in the field, and provides unique insights and perspectives that can’t find anywhere else online.  He’s also been an incredible support for us law students starting out, sending us notes and updates on a number of issues.
2. My next pick would be Garry Wise, of the Wise Law Blog.  His site is updated with amazing frequency for a guy who runs his own practice.  He’s also been instrumental in trying out some new initiatives like a video series (featuring me), and the Wise Law Reader.  Innovation is always great in a conservative field like law, and early adopters will always catch my attention.
3. One of my more recent top picks would be David Canton’s e-legal, a lawyer here in London that I have yet to meet in person (we have to change that David).  He regularly publishes articles in newspapers on tech related issues, and his site is a great way to keep track of what he’s up to.

Donna Seale also mentioned some of the difficulties of just picking three, so I’ll note some honourable mentions, including her site:  Connie Crosby, The Court, Rob Hyndman, Michael Geist, Legal Post, Stem Legal, UofA Faculty (despite their politics)

Steve also mentions that through the nomination process we automatically submit our own site.  Please don’t consider this site at all, it’s used for personal use only.  Do consider Slaw and Law Is Cool though, and I will disclose that Jordan and David are contributors at Slaw, and The Court has contributors at Law Is Cool.  It’s really tough avoiding conflict of interests here.

Another interview from the last Podcaster Meetup in Toronto just went live.  NinjaRadio of Hot Fossils and Rebel Matter Show has an interview with Omar Ha-Redeye, Connie Crosby (Community Divas) and Shadow and James.

Strangely, the conversation turns to Omar’s voice, but also podcasting and podcamps, Twitter and of course a touch of  politics considering the time of year.

There’s also a really neat picture that just had to be reproduced here.

It was only a matter of time before people started taking out their podcasting equipment, and before you knew it there were impromptu shows all over the place.

One of the hot topics of discussion was the upcoming Podcamp in Toronto in February 2009.  Omar attended a previous Podcamp in 2007.

Attendees included Connie Crosby of the Crosby Consulting Group, Jim Miles and Kristina Lively of the Shadow and James Show, Brent Morris of the Closet Geek Show, Jay Moonah of Online Music Marketing,  Steve Saylor - “the Albino podcaster,” Sean McGaughey – “the Duct Tape guy,” Rob Lee of Unconventional Wisdom and Daniele Rossie of Stuttering is Cool.

Links to interviews will be posted as they become available.

When mistakes happen, conflict resolution can produce apologies and reconciliation. Yet fear of civil litigation can stand in the way of disclosure and apology — although movements across a number of fields are pushing to change that. Slaw reports on “New Proposed Apology Legislation in Ontario” designed to promote accountability and patient safety, together with the speedy resolution of civil disputes, among other goals. With apologies for mistakes in mind, Richard Webb at the Health Care ADR Blog muses, “Do Doctors Confess Errors Only When Caught?”

Levin then offered her own apologies,

[Important update:To my embarrassment, I have discovered that I inadvertently overlooked the fact that today is Canadian Thanksgiving Day. I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies to my friends to the north. To correct this unfortunate oversight, I'm adding to this presentation of Blawg Review the following posts from these excellent Canadian law blogs: According to Michael Geist, "ISP Tax May Be The Next Big Culture Funding Fight". David Fraser, who publishes Canadian Privacy Law Blog, reports on "Calculating the cost of reading online privacy policies". Law is Cool, a law school blog and podcast, announces the good news that "Canada Has Its Own Voice on the International Scene". The Vancouver Law Librarian Blog considers "Legal In-sourcing", while Connie Crosby writing for Slaw.ca lets you know that "Your Seat is Waiting! New Business Conferences Starting Online Now". Finally, The Court has some thoughts on a provocative topic: "Privacy and investigative dumpster diving: R. v. Patrick". Happy Thanksgiving Day, Canada!]

In an unrelated entry in the same post, she also covers an interesting cognitive test:

Cognitive Daily, a cognitive psychology blog, shares the results of a recent survey it conducted about a popular illusion that depicts a dancer spinning. The illusion, created by Nobuyuki Kayahara, does not, contrary to popular belief, prove whether you’re right-brained or left-brained. What makes it so fascinating is that some people perceive her to spin clockwise, some counter-clockwise, and some are able to reverse the direction in which they see her spin. I find optical illusions useful in teaching negotiation or conflict resolution skills, since they remind us of the unreliability of our senses, and that it is always possible to see things differently, even when you and I find ourselves looking at precisely the same thing.

The illusion appears on your right — which way do you see her spin?

Even though nations share common goals of mutual prosperity, stability and peace, they way they see things are often different.  Understanding this, and mediating those differences by working with them, is probably the best approach to international politics.