It’s that time of year again. The Canadian Law Blog Awards (the Clawbies), are awarded once a year to recognize outstanding Canadian legal blogs. The nomination process involves peer endorsement and from there a select number of blogs are chosen for recognition.
The decision makers include Steve Matthews, author of the Law Firm Web Strategy Blog who, if he keeps up the good work, may just give law firm marketers a good name. Jordan Furlong of Law 21, who has no shortage of wisdom for lawyers reminding us that we must provide our services in a competitive and beneficial way otherwise learn that we may not be as irreplaceable as we may think. And last but not least, Simon Fodden who is the godfather of the most successful Canadian legal blog, Slaw.
My first nomination is not a blog. So much for following directions. Eugene Meehan’s Supreme Court of Canada newsletter is the source to follow for keeping appraised of all developments at the Supreme Court of Canada. You can find it and subscribe to it here. I figure it being a newsletter instead of a blog is a mere formality the powers that be should overlook.
Next, sticking in my neck of the woods, I’d like to nominate Dye and Durhams’ BC Law Watch for providing current, useful information on all things law related in BC.
Lastly David Bilinsky, the man who brought me into the world of Blawgging deserves yet another nod. It would be a shame if his streak of 5 consecutive years of Clawbies recognition came to an end.
OK, lastly for a second time, another shout out to the always outspoken Antonin Pribetic for not only his comprehensive posts but for never being shy of picking a fight in his Trial Warrior Blog and advancing clear and authoritative positions in a sometimes bland ‘happysphere‘.
The Canadian Law Blog Awards (the Clawbies), are awarded once a year to recognize outstanding Canadian legal blogs. The nomination process involves peer endorsement and from there a select number of blogs are chosen for recognition.
In 2009 I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Clawbie for best Canadian Practitioner’s Blog. Last year I was proud to make the finalists short list and am thankful to all those who have nominated this Blog.
Before making my nominations I’d like to point out that that although Steve Matthews’ Law Firm Web Strategy Blog and Jordan Furlong’s Law 21 are not eligible for a nomination due to their affiliation with Stem Legal, both are worth mentioning for their influence in the Canadian Legal blogging landscape. Also the juggernaut of the Canadian Blawgosphere (Slaw) has now been retired from eligibility giving the rest of us humble bloggers a fighting chance to win the recently minted “Fodden Award for Best Canadian Law Blog“.
With those courtesies out of the way here are my 2011 Clawbie Endorsements:
First I’d like to once again nominate David Bilinsky whose Legal Management Blog keeps an eye on all things tech and ethics and provides helpful practice management tips for legal professionals. David is one of the first Canadian lawyers to Blog and he has maintained a quality publication year after year. In addition to this I can cite him as a key influence responsible for this blog being created in the first place.
Next I’d like to give another nod to Antonin Pribetic who is undoubtedly Canada’s most outspoken legal blogger (the Trial Warrior Blog). His blog goes hand in hand with his Twitter profile where he candidly shares his views on all things legal and proudly spews venom at the self-coined “flawgosphere”.
Lastly I’d like to nominate Dan Michaluk’s “All About Information” for keeping the rest of us current on information and privacy legal developments across Canada. This year Dan made a seamless transition transforming the blog from an individual endeavor to a group effort without compromising the quality of the publication.
There are many other worthwhile Canadian legal blogs worth mentioning (and you can click here check out Steve Matthews ever growing list of these) but in keeping with the rules I’m keeping my nominations down to the cap of three.
The Canadian Law Blog Awards (the Clawbies), are awarded once a year to recognize outstanding Canadian legal blogs.
The nomination process involves peer endorsement and from these a select number of blogs are chosen for recognition. The Clawbies “started back in 2006 with the sole intention of creating exposure for the great blogs published by the Canadian legal industry. The results will again be released on New Year’s Eve, but as we strongly state each year, the “true value” of these awards is found in the nomination process.” Last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Clawbie for best Canadian Practioner’s Blog. This year I’m proud to have been nominated again.
I usually make my endorsements via twitter but thought I would repeat these in this short post. This year the following great Blogs deserve consideration:
1) Best Canadian Law Blog (or Blogger) Award: Last year’s winner deserves consideration for a repeat. The sheer number of quality contributors and posts on Slaw make this Canadian legal blog stand out nationally and internationally.
2) Best Practitioner Blog – Since the folks behind the Clawbies aren’t opposed to recognizing multiple winners I’m going to make multiple nominations for this competitive category. Three blogs get my nod this year. Antonin Pribetic’s The Trial Warrior Blog stands out not only for his bold views but also because he demonstrates that a legal blog can, in fact, be interesting. Dan Michaluk’s All About Information is timely and authoritative and Donna Seale does a great job discussing human rights issues in the Canadian workplace.
3) Legal Culture and Non-Legal Audience Awards –Garry Wise’s Wise Law Blog is one of the first and best Canadian legal blogs. He shares views that go well beyond his practice areas and caters to a wide national and international audience. For these reasons Garry should be considered for an award in these two categories.
4) Friend of the North Awards – This award is intended to recognize US bloggers that look north of the border to network and exchange ideas. While Eric Turkewitz’s New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog does not necessarily contain much (if any) Canadian content, he hands down authors one of the best personal injury blogs in the US and (to steal a line from the formidable Kevin O’Keefe) if he keeps it up much longer he may just give personal injury lawyers a good name.
6) EuroCan Connection Awards – This award recognizes European law blog friends who highlight and link to Canadian law blogs. Last year’s winner Mike Semple Piggot keeps ahead of the competition and deserves yet another nod from his friends in the Great White North.
7) Practice Management and Best Legal Technology Award: Although these are two separate categories I thought I’d combine them and nominate both Jordan Furlong and David Bilinsky. Lawyers young and old would be wise to pay attention to Jordan’s views as he, more than most any other Canadian, has his finger on the pulse of change in the legal profession. David gets credit for being one of the forces inspiring this blog to get off the ground and has kept BC lawyers well appraised of all things legal tech.
8) Law Librarian Blog Award – Both Connie Crosbie and BC’s own The Stream deserve recognition here. (full disclosure, I am an occasional guest blogger at The Stream, however, the blog stands on it’s own two feet quite well absent my contributions)
10) Best New Law Blog Award – There are no shortage of great new Canadian legal blogs thanks in large part to efforts of people like Steve Matthews. I’ll leave it to others to make nominations in this competitive category.
11) Law Professor Blog Award – Two great professors get the nod here, first Michael Geist, who is a regular blogger and probably Canada’s foremost authority on Copyright issues. A newcomer to the blogging world (and the first Canadian law school Dean I’m aware of blogging) is Lorne Sossin who has gotten off to a strong start on behalf of the Osgoode Hall Faculty of Law.
There are many others like Doug Jasinksi who deserve recognition for their contributions to the Canadian legal blogging landscape and I look forward to others nominations for the 2010 Canadian Law Blog Awards.
