Schedule and Education


Legal Trends & Law Office Operations Modules

Explore the current trends in the legal industry and learn how external factors affect you and your firm. Examine the multiple and interdependent facets of law office management, including the principal administrator’s role in managing and leading the legal enterprise. Discussions will address legal and administrative structures, law firm culture, ethics, succession planning, risk management, professional development, marketing and business development.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify current law firm trends and determine their impact on your position and your firm.
  • Define and articulate the key responsibilities of a legal manager.
  • Examine administrative staffing structures, and interdependencies of functions, roles and departments.
  • Review relationship of law firm structures, leadership, culture and ethics.
  • Identify the components and steps of successful strategic management and succession planning.
  • Assess critical areas of risk management including cyber-security.
  • Evaluate the benefits of various marketing, business development and client service strategies.

Financial Management Module

Description: Law firms are home to unique financial and budgeting considerations. Examine the fundamental accounting and financial management concepts essential to the legal profession, including firm business concepts and terminology applicable to professional service firms. Learn the fundamentals of law firm financial statements, cash management, trust accounts and client costs. Get more information on management and profit center reporting and alternative/appropriate fee arrangements. 

Objectives:

  • Define the core concepts associated with accounting conventions and terminology.
  • Examine and articulate financial statement information.
  • List the critical rules related to client trust account controls.
  • Analyze ways to improve revenue and control expenses in an effort to improve profitability.      
  • Describe key methodologies for partners’ compensation.
  • Discuss alternative business entity philosophies.
  • Determine how to more effectively align value to price, and how to adopt pricing options.
  • Discuss the need for implementing legal process improvements and legal project management.


Human Resources Management Module

Description: The human resources function is a dynamic and influential role within a law firm. Firms, both large and small, must have a solid understanding of human resources and how each area has an effect the firm’s overall strategic plan and bottom line. In this section, we will touch on five core areas of human resources:

  1. The Legal Landscape
  2. Employee Lifecycle
  3. Total Rewards
  4. Talent Management
  5. Handbook Essentials

The overall goal of this section is to provide a solid understanding of human resources in a law firm and provide the keys new administrators will need to become a strategic partner in their firm. The lecture and accompanying exercises will assist in reinforcing the important aspects of human resources and provide learners with tangible takeaways which can be used in their firms immediately.

Objectives:

  • Discover the employment laws and beyond in the legal landscape. 
  • Devise a plan for recruiting during the employee lifecycle. 
  • Identify employee total rewards including strategic benefits and compensation.
  • Recognize how to manage employee performance through motivation.
  • Interpret handbook essentials with 30 policies in 30 minutes.

Leadership Module

Description: Legal administrators are faced with leadership challenges every day. You manage up and down the reporting line — managing partners and executive committees on the up, staff on the down — in a business that is being reshaped by economic pressures and technology. Though it is sometimes a difficult position to be in, it also means that everyone benefits when you improve your leadership skills. In addition, research shows that skills most valuable in today’s leaders include self-awareness, adaptability and collaboration.

Objectives:

  • Recognize Goleman’s leadership styles and emotional intelligence elements.
  • Explain levels of leadership, management, and ways you can work with others most effectively.
  • Apply knowledge of self to improve relationships and business outcomes in the law firm you manage.