CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — The Association of Legal Administrators’ (ALA) 2017 Specialty Conferences were held October 5-7 in Chicago. The three-day event hosted nearly 400 attendees, speakers and legal industry experts discussing the challenges facing human resources, intellectual property and finance and law practice management legal professionals. In total, the conferences included nearly 72 hours of education and 34.25 opportunities for recertification credits for CLM, CLE, MCLE, CPE, HRCI and/or SHRM. The Exhibit Hall hosted more than 30 business partners who were on hand to discuss HR, IP and finance-related solutions.
On Wednesday, October 5, attendees from all three conferences joined opening keynote speaker Laura Goodrich as she discussed, “Creating a Mindset for Change.” Goodrich is an internationally recognized expert in change and the future of work. Her global perspectives on workplace dynamics and change have earned her a reputation as someone who can create positive outcomes in even the most challenging workplace dynamics.
Following the keynote session, breakout education focused on each specialty area; depending on which conference attendees signed up to attend, there was a specific education path unique to them. The IP conference took place over two days and featured sessions on outside counsel training, solving client intake issues and practical and ethical issues with handling of funds in an IP practice.
The Finance and Legal Project Management Conference featured sessions on law firm accounting, collaborative process improvement and measuring ROI in practice management. The Human Resources conference featured sessions on driving growth, managing diversity and inclusion and the evolution of HR. The Finance and the HR conferences spanned all three days and shared a closing session titled, “Seeing the People Power Nobody Sees” with Andy Fujimoto.
“ALA’s membership is diverse in its makeup of professional specialties. While we have many members working in roles where they handle all aspects of law firm management, others work in niche areas such as finance, human resources, and intellectual property,” says ALA President Gary T. Swisher II, CLM. “These specialty conferences were created specifically for them so they can get the specific education to keep abreast of the latest in their respective areas.”
The conferences featured a comprehensive Exhibit Hall with business partners to suit every specialty and multiple networking events for connecting with business partners, colleagues and subject matter experts.
Building on the success from its Specialty Conferences, ALA will be offering additional noteworthy HR, IP and Finance education at its second Regional Legal Management Conference – East taking place in Nashville. ALA’s Regional Legal Management Conference is open to all legal management professionals. For details, visit alanet.org/regionals.
About the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA)
ALA is focused on the delivery of cutting-edge management and leadership products and services to the global legal community. The Association identifies and provides solutions to the most critical strategic and operational challenges its members and customers face today, and it prepares them for the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow. For more information on ALA, visit alanet.org.
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