Legal Management

November/December 2009
Volume 28, Number 9

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

COVER STORY
Creating a Great Law Firm
Administrators can play key roles in boosting their employees’ skills, performance and morale, encouraging them to rise to their full potential and, in turn, ensuring their firms’ long-term successes.
By PHILLIP M. PERRY

If You Build It, They Will Come … and Hopefully Stay 
Law firms that create comprehensive mentoring programs will develop successful lawyers who have great careers and drive overall profitability and success.
BY SHARON MEIT ABRAHAMS

Bringing Equal Benefits to All
Led by legal administrators, more law firms are modifying their benefits programs to recognize and increase protections for same-sex couples.
By PHILLIP M. PERRY

Want An Extraordinary Law Firm? Listen to a Kindergartner
Your firm could be extraordinary. And it’s not that difficult. Treat people fairly, regardless of their sexual orientation.
BY MICHAEL COHEN

Addressing Addiction
Lawyer Assistance Programs (LAPs) provide professionals trained and qualified to help attorneys and other legal professionals deal with the challenges presented by substance abuse, depression, and other issues.
BY GEORGE C. HETTRICK

Challenges to the Extraordinary Workplace
Firms must eschew typical approaches to the business of law and employ creative tactics, approaches and initiatives to make the organizations great places to work, and not simply revenue-generating enterprises.
By TARA JONES

SPECIAL SECTION: 2009 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: ABA Retirement Funds, Smead, Hyatt Resorts, IP-Central LLC and PerfectLaw

Columns and Departments

To the Point
Wanna Get Away?
BY JOHN DELAVAN

Up Front
Practical News & Perspectives

Think Tank
Contemplating Comp Time: Administrators Discuss Granting Time Off in Lieu of Overtime Pay

Best Practices
Integrating Laterals: What to Expect When You’re Expecting That New Lawyer 
BY DEREK ANDERSEN

LawBiz Coach®
Achieving Inclusiveness: Change, Transformation and the “Us” Dynamic in Today’s Law Firm
BY ED POLL

Big Ideas
A Significant Role: Law Firm Executive Directors Provide Wisdom, Guidance and Leadership 
BY JOHN J. MICHALIK

Off the Shelf
New Products for Law Firms

ALA Update
News from Your Association

Quick Connect
Legal Management Advertiser Information 

Final Thoughts
The Pursuit of Employee Happiness
By AMY DVORAK

The articles posted here and throughout www.alanet.org are for reference only and are copyrighted 2009, 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.