2008 Post-conference summary

Summary |	Management Team |	Exhibitors/Sponsors

The 2008 Law Firm Financial Management Conference and Exposition was held October 16-18, 2008, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center outside Chicago, and was, by all measures, a success.

Brian Robbins, CLM, CPA, Committee Chair, introducing Greg Schwem, the Keynote Speaker.

The Conference kicked off on Thursday, October 16, with a Keynote Address from Greg Schwem of Comedy with a Byte, Inc.  His humorous observations on "Observing Work Life with an Eye Toward Humor" were well received and got the day off to a great start. The morning continued with three concurrent sessions that focused on partner compensation plans, financial

Greg Schwem, Keynote Address: Comedy with a Byte: Observing Work Life with an Eye Toward Humor.

management 101, and insurance auditing.

Following lunch with ALA Insights by ALA President-Elect, Susan French Koran, the day continued with concurrent sessions on tax updates, HRAs and HSAs, library cost, law firm budgeting basics, the Pension Protection Act, and evaluating financial systems. Subsequent sessions focused on advanced budgeting, fraud and embezzlement vulnerability, and technology trends in 2008.

Keynote Address focuses on ALA

On Friday, October 17, attendees met in a General Session for "What Drives a Firm's Bottom Line?" Other sessions focused on increasing profits, A/R management, associate talent, IT solutions, vendor relationships,  evaluating merger opportunities, use of dashboards, and tips and techniques on Microsoft Excel® and Outlook® programs.

Saturday Roundtables discussed cost recovery, motivational techniques for multiple

Baytree Leasing Company, LLC, won a free 4-color ad in ALA News.

generations, the ALA Certified Legal Manager (CLM)^SM program, anti-trust issues, best practices, and e-billing.  Morning sessions continued with modern trends in banking, real estate, performance measurement, succession planning, and sustainability. The closing General Session dealt with "Leading from the Middle: Breathing Life into Lessons You've Just Learned."