SEO for Law Firms: Improving web presence for business & brand awareness

January 21, 2012 Law firm website design

With law firms expecting a brighter year in 2012, it is important for firms and their lawyers to keep up-to-date with their marketing and business development practices. One such practice involves optimising web presence, which is otherwise termed “Search Engine Optimisation” or “SEO”. Yesterday, I joined US lawyer and cold case blogger Vidster and his [...]

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The UK Blawg Roundup #9 is out! via @ShireenSmith

January 16, 2012 Blawg

Excusing the paper.li-like appearance of the title of this post, it’s great to see the UK Blawg Roundup #9 being published by Shireen Smith. In traditional blawg review form, Shireen takes a very comprehensive look at the blawging landscape in the UK at the moment, with a particular focus on the Legal Services Act and [...]

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#TweetingLegals 17 January 2012 Tweetup Tomorrow

January 16, 2012 Tweetup Pics

The January #TweetingLegals Tweetup in London takes place tomorrow, following on from some great legal tweetups in 2011. I thought it would be useful to share some links to articles on those tweetups. These are listed below:- Brian Inkster on The Time Blawg: #Lex2011Tweetup: When Virtual became IRL (In Real Life) Shireen Smith » Thank [...]

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WardBlawg’s New Year’s Blawging Resolutions 2012

January 6, 2012 Blawg

Here are my five blawging resolutions for 2012:- 1. Be more focussed with blawging. In addition to my tips for blawging written last year, I think it’s more important than ever before to have continued focus with blawging and to some extent that’s what helped ScotsLawBlog win an award last year. Last year I also [...]

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Who owns a Twitter follower?: Noah Kravitz sued by PhoneDog for $340,000

December 28, 2011 Social Media

A US mobile phone news company is suing its former employee in respect of the ownership of his Twitter account. Noah Kravitz worked for the company, PhoneDog, between 2006 and 2010 as a product reviewer and video blogger. During this time, his Twitter account with former username @PhoneDog_Noah gained over 17,000 followers. According to the [...]

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Top 10 most read blog posts on WardblawG this year: 2011

December 20, 2011 General Legal

As we approach the end of another year, I thought it would be useful to announce the top 10 posts on wardblawg.com in terms of traffic according to Google Analytics. They are as follows:- 1. Top 10 Linkedin Tips for Young Lawyers My top ten tips for young lawyers looking to maximise their use of [...]

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Samarenko: Failure to pay a deposit on time under contract for sale of land and termination

December 8, 2011 Contract

Samarenko v Dawn Hill House Ltd [2011] EWCA civ 1445 (01 December 2011) WardblawG is pleased to welcome secured lending litigation solicitor and partner Mr Anis Waiz of Mohindra Maini LLP as he continues his critical review of current case law. This article regarding the Samarenko case was first published on leading case law resource, [...]

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WardblawG is now on Google+. Circle our Page

December 3, 2011 Social Media

WardblawG now has its own Google+ page. Please do circle it today. For commentary on Google Plus for law firms and professional service firms, please see my Google Plus post on the Moore Legal Technology blog.

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WardblawG’s ScotsLawBlog: Top 25 International & Foreign Law Blogs of 2011

November 17, 2011 Blawg

I am delighted to announce that ScotsLawBlog has been named as one of LexisNexis’ Top 25 International & Foreign Law Blogs of 2011. For those other keen bloggers or for those considering blogging for the first time, it may be surprising to learn that ScotsLawBlog has only recently marked its 1 year anniversary. Such is the power [...]

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10 Useful Tips for Better Blogging

November 14, 2011 Social Media

Last Friday (11 November 2011), I was invited by Vidster of Defrosting Cold Cases to join a live chat discussion on Twitter about blogging. The tweets from the discussion were collated under the hashtag #cclivechat and reproduced in full in this recap by Vidster shortly afterwards. As noted on Friday, not all topics were covered [...]

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Social Media ROI: Glasgow West Business Club Presentation

October 31, 2011 Social Media

I spoke recently in my capacity as Search and Social Media Marketing Manager at Moore Legal Technology on Tuesday 30 October 2011 at the Glasgow West Business Club. My presentation considered how professional services organisations can achieve greater results from social media marketing, including enhanced brand loyalty, increased website traffic, greater online presence and, ultimately, the generation of more, [...]

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Social Media ROI for Law Firms: Inverness Presentation

October 31, 2011 Social Media

I spoke recently in my capacity as Search and Social Media Marketing Manager at Moore Legal Technology on Wednesday in Inverness on the subject of the return on investment for law firms in optimising their use of social media marketing and online presence. I introduced the subject by explaining the various components of return on investment [...]

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Ranking Law Firms on Twitter by Klout: When will it end?

October 3, 2011 Social Media

Another list of law firms on Twitter ranked by influence according to Klout has been published. The list was produced using Klout by I-Com. This list of influential Scottish law firms on Twitter follows I-Com’s publication of a list of English law firms on Twitter. These lists aim to expand on the poor efforts of [...]

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Social Media Marketing & ROI at Social Media Week | Gavin Ward

October 1, 2011 Social Media

Gavin Ward was speaking at Social Media Week at the Business Banter on the subject of “Social Media Marketing & ROI: Generating Business Online” The following topics were discussed in further detail, with examples of successes both personal and for client law firms, through use of social media:- The various facets of “return on investment” [...]

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Book Review: Law & Peace from The BabyBarista Files

September 17, 2011 Book Reviews

I blogged back in April about the launch of Tim Kevan’s latest book from the BabyBarista files, Law & Peace, and noted that I had picked up promising signs having read the first couple of chapters. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case for me, my reading early in the summer consisted mostly of work-related books [...]

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Upcoming Events: Social Media Week in Glasgow welcomes Business Banter

September 17, 2011 Social Media

Over the course of Social Media Week Glasgow (week c.19 September), the Business Banter team have organised an exciting programme of early morning events. Various speakers will be presenting on how social media has benefited either their business or that of their clients. Some of these presentations will be of particular interest to the legal [...]

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5 Reasons to Guest Blog / Blawg

September 5, 2011 Blawg

A key component of blogging, guest blogging is, as the term suggests, where a blogger writes as a guest on another blogger’s blog. While this may be obvious, it may not be apparent to some why guest blogging can be useful. Here are 5 reasons why you may wish to increase your own or your [...]

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Use of freelance paralegals is an emerging trend that is catching on fire

July 18, 2011 Law Practice

Use of free paralegals is an emerging trend that is catching on fire

Economic reasons: The economic reality of our times is causing more and more attorneys to rethink their expenses and restructure their practices accordingly, with one of the major changes being the use of a freelance, or contract paralegal, rather than a full-time employee. Many firms have ebb and flow business. Obviously, it is more cost-effective to pay for a paralegal’s services only when the work flow is too heavy for the attorney to handle on his/her own.

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Top 10 Linkedin Tips for Young Lawyers

July 11, 2011 Linkedin Tips

Looking towards 2012, many young lawyers and trainee solicitors should no longer be looking merely to survive, but instead to thrive and advance their careers. Aside from the most important approach of getting the head down and doing the legal work, utilising social media, through blogging, Twitter and Linkedin, can produce some powerful results.

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Scottish Young Lawyers’ Association Annual Conference 2011

June 30, 2011 Lawyers Who Tweet

The Scottish Young Lawyers’ Association (SYLA) held their annual conference on 24 June 2011 at The Corinthian Hotel in Glasgow. The conference featured speakers expert in many areas of the legal profession.

I was invited, alongside Philip Knight of Biggart Baillie and Brian Inkster of Inksters, to speak on social media and how it can help young lawyers advance their careers. Unfortunately I missed the morning’s speakers, the reason being that I had a conflicting meeting to attend that morning with a lawyer, which meeting was coincidentally brought about because of Twitter.

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Top 5 Reasons for Young Lawyers and Barristers to Get Blogging

June 10, 2011 Blawg

This week I am really pleased to have been published by The Pupillage Blog with a guest blog post entitled the ‘Top 5 Reasons for Young Lawyers and Barristers to Get Blogging’. A synopsis is below. For the full article head over to The Pupillage Blog.

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TwegalsTweetUp London 7 June 2011

June 7, 2011 Social Media

Tonight (7 June 2011) is the TwegalsTweetUp in London, as organised by Shireen Smith (@Azrights) and Steve Williams (@MotoringLawyer).

For further information, see the Azrights Blog Post on the Tweetup

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Social Media, SEO and Business Development: Growing Connections

May 26, 2011 Blawg

Further to my experiences over the past 8 months with LawCloud as SEO and social media consultant and given my new role as Search and Social Media Manager with Moore Legal Technology Limited, I thought it would be useful to share some insights on the correlation between social media, SEO and business development. The bulk of the ideas below have already been posted on my guest blog post for Connectegrity, although, I have expanded upon some of the reasons why search marketing remains an important weapon in the arsenal of every marketing department in every law firm across the world.

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British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Caught for Plagiarism

April 15, 2011 General Legal

A judge in the British Columbia Supreme Court has had his $5-million judgment thrown out, apparently due to plagiarism.

Justice Joel Groves gave his ruling after an expensive 30-day trial about a brain-damaged baby. As the Vancouver Sun reports, it is “only” the fourth time in Canadian history a judge has substantially reproduced all of the submissions of a participating party in a lawsuit as reasons for judgment.

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Sponsored Post: Ask Legal Questions Through Online Websites

April 14, 2011 General Legal

With the concept of alternative business structures (ABS) featuring more in discussions at boardroom meetings of law firms and with law becoming generally more accessible, for instance with Quality Solicitors announcing the placement of a solicitor in WH Smith branches across the UK, it is worthwhile considering alternative web-based legal advice models. One such model is that of JustAnswer.com, where users get a chance to ask a lawyer legal questions but equally where solicitors can display their expert knowledge and gain a reputation as a specialist in a certain area while receiving some remuneration.

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