Experience

LexBlog, Inc.

• United States
• Technology, Information and Media
• 1 - 100 Employee

• CEO and Founder

  • Nov 2003 - Present

  Greater Seattle Area As Founder and CEO of LexBlog, my mission is twofold: to empower lawyers to build their reputations through blogging and increase access to legal information. Beginning in my garage, LexBlog now serves 40,000 legal professionals. Our AI-assisted blogging platform goes beyond publishing; it's a catalyst for reputation-building and public legal education. Recognized by the American Bar Association and industry leaders, LexBlog now provides the world's largest curated network of legal insight and… Show more As Founder and CEO of LexBlog, my mission is twofold: to empower lawyers to build their reputations through blogging and increase access to legal information. Beginning in my garage, LexBlog now serves 40,000 legal professionals. Our AI-assisted blogging platform goes beyond publishing; it's a catalyst for reputation-building and public legal education. Recognized by the American Bar Association and industry leaders, LexBlog now provides the world's largest curated network of legal insight and news, providing a valuable resource for both lawyers and the public alike. Show less



LexisNexis

• IT Services and IT Consulting
• 700 & Above Employee

• Vice President Business Development

  • Jan 2001 - Nov 2002

  Greater New York City Area After selling Prairielaw.com to Reed Elsevier's LexisNexis, I joined Martindale-Hubbell, a division of LexisNexis, to work on the integration of Prairielaw.com into Martindale's consumer and small business law flagship website, lawyers.com. Much of what users and lawyers see at lawyers.com in the form of content, message boards, ask-a-lawyer, listservs, and chats originated with Prairielaw.com.



Prairielaw.com

• President & Founder

  • Sep 1998 - Jan 2001

  Greater Seattle Area Prairielaw.com was a virtual law community of people helping people, lawyers and lay people alike. Think AOL on the law - self-help legal articles for consumers and small business people; ask-a-lawyer; message boards; and lawyer directory. By helping consumers and small business people on Prairielaw.com, lawyers showcased their skill, passion, and care as a means of tastefully marketing their services. Started in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I moved Prairielaw.com to Seattle so as to harness the… Show more Prairielaw.com was a virtual law community of people helping people, lawyers and lay people alike. Think AOL on the law - self-help legal articles for consumers and small business people; ask-a-lawyer; message boards; and lawyer directory. By helping consumers and small business people on Prairielaw.com, lawyers showcased their skill, passion, and care as a means of tastefully marketing their services. Started in La Crosse, Wisconsin, I moved Prairielaw.com to Seattle so as to harness the venture capital and technology know-how that was not available outside the technology centers of the 1990's. Show less



Prairie Group Trial Lawyers

• Principal and Founder

  • Feb 1996 - May 1999

  La Crosse, Wisconsin Area With an excellent team (young lawyer associate, three paralegals, executive assistant, and client services director) we started our own trial law firm committed to serving injured people and their family members. It was with and through this team that I discovered the power of the Internet to help people and accelerate relationships and enhance one's word of mouth reputation for business development. Though we looked at the Internet as way to serve others, USAToday said if we didn’t stop doing… Show more With an excellent team (young lawyer associate, three paralegals, executive assistant, and client services director) we started our own trial law firm committed to serving injured people and their family members. It was with and through this team that I discovered the power of the Internet to help people and accelerate relationships and enhance one's word of mouth reputation for business development. Though we looked at the Internet as way to serve others, USAToday said if we didn’t stop doing what we were doing, we’d give lawyers a good name and The Saint Paul Pioneer Press identified our firm as one of the most Internet-savvy law firms in the country. Show less



Wisconsin Association for Justice

• Board Member

  • 1990 - 1999

  Madison, Wisconsin Area Serving on the board allowed me to learn from and associate with the best trial lawyers in my state as well as support the organization's objectives to promote continuing legal education for the betterment of the trial bar profession and to preserve Wisconsin's civil justice system by working with the state legislature and other governmental bodies, as an advocate for the legal rights of all Wisconsin citizens.



O'Flaherty Heim Birnbaum Kirchner & Curtis, Ltd.

• United States
• Law Practice
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Trial Lawyer and Partner

  • Sep 1983 - Feb 1996

  Joined firm which then had two lawyers. Together we grew the firm to 15 lawyers and about 30 employees. Based on a commitment to hard work and immediate responsiveness to clients, Parke O'Flaherty Ltd., as the firm was called then, earned a reputation as a leading law firm in Western Wisconsin. I left to start my own trial law firm.



Bank of Stoddard

• Member, Board of Directors

  • 1988 - 1992

  La Crosse, Wisconsin Area Serving on a bank's board of directors at age 32 provided me an incredible opportunity to learn how a small town bank impacts a community's economy, the makings of a good loan, the impact of government regulation on a business, and the interplay between the board of directors and the officers of an organization.



Ferryville State Bank

• Member, Board of Directors

  • 1988 - 1991

  La Crosse, Wisconsin Area I joined the board of this bank within a year of becoming a member of the board for the Bank of Stoddard. This community bank, also state chartered, was located 20 miles down the Mississippi River in the same county. Serving on the board at this bank exposed me to the plight of small business people and farmers at a time of high interest rates and a struggling local economy and how a small bank needs to respond.



Ignatius Houlihan & Sons

• Clerk in Solictors Office in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland

  • Aug 1982 - Jun 1983

  Ireland Getting my first job as a lawyer in a solicitor's firm in rural Ireland was more than a kid could dream of. I served as a clerk for this firm located on the West Coast of Ireland as part of my internship in international law which began in Salzburg, Austria. The firm, which was heavy into plaintiff's trial work, gave me my first taste of representing injury victims versus insurers and corporations. Doing so in conjunction with barristers was an experience I will never forget.