Legal Management

December 2008/January 2009-BONUS ISSUE
Volume 27, Number 7

THIS ISSUE'S THEME:

Make Your Law Firm an
EXTRAORDINARY
Place to Work

To read any of the articles featured in this issue of ALA’s journal, Legal Management, simply click on the hyperlinked headline for a downloadable PDF.

Table of Contents

Feature Articles

Taking Extraordinary Action 
BY JOHN MICHALIK

COVER STORY
What an Extraordinary Employee Means to Your Firm 
Understanding psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” pyramid concept will help you to motivate your firm’s key stakeholders – including staff, lawyers, and management – to achieve key organizational goals and objectives.
BY PATRICIA CHILDERS

Revenue-Focused Leadership
Administrators can play key roles in getting their practice group leaders to cultivate effective leadership styles and cultures, making their firms more revenue-oriented and more satisfying places in which to work.
BY DAVID H. FREEMAN, J.D.

Integrating Laterals
Administrators play a critical role in implementation and enabling harmonious integration that supports the firm’s growth plans and makes it an extraordinary place to work.
BY PHYLLIS WEISS HASEROT

Building Better Relationships
Developing strong professional relationships with colleagues will ultimately increase legal administrators’ success, advance their careers, and drive profitability for their firms.
BY LINDA L. HARDENSTEIN

Conversations@Work
Discover 10 ways to revolutionize your legal organization, one conversation at a time.
BY JAMIE SHOWKEIR AND MAREN SHOWKEIR

Getting Connected
A law firm newsletter represents an outstanding way to communicate news to colleagues and to market your organization internally.
BY DONNA M. FISHER

SPECIAL SECTION
2008 Legal Management Vendor Spotlight 
Take a closer look at five companies whose products and services help legal administrators and attorneys do their jobs more easily and make their firms better places to work.

Leadership Beyond Lawyers: What Law Firms Need 
Legal administrators must understand the differences between management skills and leadership skills and how aspiring to leadership represents a unique opportunity to serve their organizations.
BY JEFFREY LAWRENCE

Mastering Motivation
Legal administrators can follow four key steps to motivate their attorneys and staffs and drive business success.
BY JOE TAKASH

It’s Not Just “The Blues”
Legal administrators should be aware of the symptoms of depression and the impacts that colleagues suffering from it can have within their organizations.
BY ERIC HIPPLE

Work/Life Balance: Satisfaction or Satisfiction? 
Cultivating strong senses of accomplishment and fulfillment will put you at your best at your firm and at home. 
BY PAUL BURTON

Back to the Future 
Effective decision making requires learning from the past to have a better impact on the future. You’ll solve more problems than you create – making you a better leader and driving overall success for your firm.
By MIKE JAY

Required Reading 
Review articles from past themed issues of Legal Management to learn even more about how to make your legal organization an extraordinary place to work

Dare to Dream 
Inspired to make your legal organization a truly extraordinary place to work? Take your efforts to the next level by attending ALA’s 2009 Extraordinary Law Firm Conference in Carefree, Arizona, February 19-21.
BY SUE POWERS

The articles posted here and throughout www.alanet.org are for reference only and are copyrighted 2008, All Rights Reserved, by the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA). Reuse or redistribution of articles without ALA’s permission is strictly prohibited. Request Permission to reprint or redistribute content from this publication.