♬ Work it; make it; do it; makes us.
Harder, better, faster, stronger.
More than, hour, our, never.
Ever, after, work is, over…♬

Lyrics and Music by: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Edwin Birdsong, recorded by Daft Punk.

SlawTips is now live!   Of course you all know Slaw.ca, the multiple award-winning Canadian legal blog on all things legal.  Slaw has now created SlawTips – a separate blog that whose mandate is to publish useful tips three times each week — on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. These tips are for lawyers and those working with the law. Since I am one of the contributors, I can stated that our aim is to keep them short and sweet: tips you can put to work without a lot of fuss and bother.

We publish tips in three broad areas: technology, practice, and research.

The editor for the technology tips is my friend and colleague Dan Pinnington. As the Director of practicePRO at the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO), Dan helps lawyers avoid malpractice claims. He is passionate about legal technology and wrote the just-published Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success: Essential Tips to Power Your Practice.

Laura Calloway and I are the joint editors of the practice tips. Laura is a lawyer and the Program Director of the Alabama State Bar Practice Management Assistance Program. Laura is a member of the American Bar Association, and has served on the Law Practice Management Section’s governing council since September of 2006. She was a member of the planning board of ABA TECHSHOW® 2006, 2007 and 2008, and served as Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2009. In September of 2009 she was inducted into the College of Law Practice Management. Her blog on issues of interest to members of the Alabama State Bar can be found at The Last Word.

Of course, I am a lawyer and Practice Management Consultant and advisor for The Law Society of British Columbia. My area of expertise is enhancing a law firm’s profitability, developing strategic business planning and applying technology to the practice of law. My mission in life is to empower lawyers to apply practice management concepts to the practice of law in innovative ways that provide service excellence. I am also the founder and current Chair of the Pacific Legal Technology Conference.

Tips on research are edited by Shaunna Mireau. Shaunna is the Director of Knowledge Management and Libraries at Field Law, a firm with offices in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta as well as Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She manages the firm libraries, legal research, and the mentoring of students; as well, she coordinates knowledge management projects, and collaborates closely with the firm’s technology team and practice groups. Shaunna blogs at Shaunna Mireau on Canadian Legal Research.

SlawTips is an initiative of Slaw, where Shaunna, Laura, Dan and others are all regular contributors. Of course, behind the scenes is Simon Fodden, Professor Emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, ON, founder of Slaw.ca and part of the brain trust of Slaw!

All of us are going to be pulling out all the stops to find tips that will help you work harder, better, faster, stronger – hour after hour!