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The Stream - Courthouse Libraries BC Blog

Welcome to the Stream.

Stay current with the latest news and views from Courthouse Libraries BC.  

Start Blogging with Courthouse Libraries BC

At Courthouse Libraries BC we are updating our blog, “The Stream”, and expanding it to collaborate with BC lawyers interested in regular guest blogging opportunities on www.courthouselibrary.ca. Regular Guest Bloggers prepare short legal articles (400-1,200 words long) that are practice-oriented, timely and relevant to their preferred practice area. No previous blogging or technical experience is necessary.

Promoting Quality Legal Information Online

Featuring regular guest posts is a new initiative for Courthouse Libraries BC in line with one of our core purposes as a non-profit society: to promote the development of improved sources of legal information. We do not generate legal information ourselves, our role is to make it available and easy to use for others. BC lawyers who collaborate with us are the ones who share their expertise and knowledge with the profession.

We seek BC lawyers interested in producing blog content in the following practice areas:

1. Civil Litigation
2. Family Law
3. Personal Injury
4. Wills and Estates
5. Practice Management and Technology

Regular guest posts will appear as part of The Stream on www.courthouselibrary.ca, and be featured in “Practice Portals” which correspond to the above-listed practice areas. There are presently five Practice Portals, with more to follow. [Please note that the look and feel of Practice Portals will be different from what they are now, with the changes planned for late summer 2011.]

Benefits of being a Regular Guest Blogger

Online Exposure:  Few lawyer or law firm websites are legal information destination points. Because of this, some law firms pay third party websites (like www.lexology.com, for example) to syndicate their blog content. By comparison, www.courthouselibrary.ca is entirely dedicated to legal information in BC, and receives over 13,500 visits monthly from people who regard it as a trusted and independent source for legal information.

Better Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”): As part of determining which websites appear higher in an Internet search, Google looks at the PageRank of websites—essentially a score based on the number of links to a website from the Internet at large. More weight is given to links from established and credible websites like www.courthouselibrary.ca. Regular Guest Bloggers (whose profile pages on The Stream link back to their professional website) will likely improve their own website’s ranking for BC law related keyword searches. 

FAQs

Who can be a Regular Guest Blogger?
Practicing BC lawyers with strong writing skills and an interest in sharing their knowledge in one of the supported practice areas are welcome to contact Nate Russell at nrussell@courthouselibrary.ca for information about becoming a contributor. Courthouse Libraries BC would like to encourage regional representation in The Stream. Interested lawyers from smaller communities in BC are encouraged to contact us. Regular Guest Bloggers should be able to commit to at least one post every other month..

I’m not technically gifted, what do I need to do?
We welcome all levels of computer skill and no web expertise is required. So long as you can provide an email with the contents of your blog, we will work with you to put it online and format it.  At a bare minimum, you need only submit your short article (400 – 1,000 words) by email, and we will do the rest. You may use images (assuming proper permissions are secured), link to other content online, and suggest formatting preferences, and we will see to the layout.

Who will see the regular guest posts?
www.courthouselibrary.ca gets over 13,500 visitors per month, and serves information to both the public and the legal profession. New regular guest posts will appear on the homepage along with other The Stream posts and be featured in relevant Practice Portals.

What is “The Stream”?
The Stream is the blog of www.courthouselibrary.ca and has been used in the past by Courthouse Library BC staff primarily to post blogs relating to finding and using legal information. The expansion of The Stream to accommodate regular guest posts from BC lawyers according to practice area is part of a new initiative to promote the development of improved sources of legal information online.

What are “Practice Portals”?
Practice Portals are mini-websites within the www.courthouselibrary.ca domain. They have traditionally organized legal information resources, links, news, recommended books, etc. by legal practice area and are evolving to feature regular guest posts and select social media sources. Practice Portals are a logical hub for lawyers to start exploring specific areas, and to connect with relevant online content. Presently there are five Practice Portals (Civil Litigation, Family Law, Personal Injury, Wills & Estates , and Practice Management and Technology).

Can I claim CPD credit for writing a blog?
At this time blogging is not an accredited CPD activity. 

Please email nrussell@courthouselibrary.ca to discuss Regular Guest Blogging opportunities.

Requirements for Regular Guest Blogs

Practice-Oriented Content:
We seek concise blogs (between 400 and 1,200 words) that offer high quality, practice-oriented legal information.

Informed Commentary:
We are hoping to attract lawyers who are active in their preferred area of practice, and confident in their legal knowledge and writing skills. Written tone may be conversational, but content should be practice-oriented, explain important trends, and provide context or analysis for practitioners interested in this area of practice.

Timely Subjects:
The value of a blog lies less in its comprehensiveness, and more in its selectiveness. Blogs are brief and lack the encyclopedic scope of a practice manual, for example, but they can draw attention to new developments in the law, and trace emerging legal issues quickly. Blogs supplement conventional information sources, fill in the gaps, and highlight recent key cases and legislation.

Regular Commitment:
The demands of a busy practice will dictate what “regular” means in each case. However, a minimum commitment of a blog post once every two months is requested. Those who think they may want to become a Regular Guest Blogger should commit to writing at least three posts on a trial basis. 

Minimal Marketing or Self-Promotional Content: 
Courthouse Libraries BC operates for the benefit of all BC lawyers equally, and must avoid the impression that it promotes the services of certain lawyers over others. Our core objective with the regular guest posts is to promote the development of improved sources of legal information, and we ask that guest bloggers refrain from overt promotion. Authors are free to discuss themselves and their firms, list contact information, post a profile photo, and link to websites or social media profiles (LinkedIn , Twitter, Google profiles etc.) in their profile page on The Stream.

Interested?

If you want to become a Regular Guest Blogger, please do as follows:

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