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Co-develop solutions to common challenges by leveraging the shared experiences and collective knowledge of your industry peers. ALA’s Meeting of Minds (formerly known as Idea Exchanges) enables participants to network extensively, discuss, debate and dissect best practices and topical issues within legal administration.
Moderated by:
Regardless of the stage in your career, certification adds a valuable dimension to your professional development. ALA’s Certified Legal Manager (CLM)® program provides the opportunity to demonstrate you have mastered the knowledge, skills and abilities to operate at a high level of expertise in the field of legal management. If you want to learn more about the CLM exam, you won’t want to miss this session. Whether you are curious about the certification and want to know more or you have already applied to take the exam and not sure if you are ready yet, we can help. Please join us to learn what the certification can do for you, how to apply, the requirements for becoming and remaining certified, what courses to take during and after the conference, study groups available, how to meet others on the same journey, available resources such as the Study Guide for the CLMExam, and much more. This session has been designed to help you choose your Path to Certification.
Dr. Jen Welter draws from her trailblazing journey to deliver memorable insight on the far-reaching benefits of being an authentic leader, focusing on one’s goals, and cultivating a champion’s mindset. The first female coach in NFL history, Dr. Jen Welter serves as a powerful role model and an inspiring reminder that barriers are meant to be broken. With a career studded with a number of firsts, Dr. Welter made history when she coached the Arizona Cardinals’ inside linebackers for their 2015 training camp. Previously, she became the first woman to coach a men’s professional football league team, as linebacker and special teams coach for the Indoor Football League’s Texas Revolution. She was also the first woman to play running back in a men’s professional football season with the Revolution. In October 2017, her first book, “Play Big” will be released, in which she reveals the grit and determination that it took to be a trailblazer in one of the country’s toughest boys’ clubs. Dr. Welter holds a doctorate degree in psychology and a Master’s in sport psychology.
During this deep-dive workshop, participants will work together to evaluate the 50 most effective factors for law firm strategy across five key areas (client experience, employee experience, offerings, markets and differentiators). We will then roll up our sleeves and create solutions to issues critical to our firms’ success. This session will be tailored to engage strategic leaders, helping them elevate their firms and build a sustainable competitive advantage.
Objectives:
Despite your best intentions to complete everything on your to-do list, you, like many professionals, may feel unsatisfied and overwhelmed with your workload. You are interrupted throughout your workday by emails, client needs and tasks that leave you working into the late evening or finishing the day not feeling like you’ve accomplished anything. This session will help you get past the overwhelm and design your day with productive and intentional systems. You’ll walk away feeling a sense of relief and prepared to tackle the rest of the work week ahead of you.
Prior to COVID-19, the legal sector was changing at lightning speed in all aspects of business, financial and operational arenas. Now more than ever, these changes will continue at an even faster pace with the impact of the pandemic. In this session, we’ll discuss these changes and the return to the workplace, including anticipated workplace shifts, new design and hoteling concepts, the expanded use of technology and the overall streamlining of legal services and how it will impact real estate decision-making in the years ahead.
This session will discover and discuss best practices of legal project management, contact compliance, process mapping, data collection and reporting. We will examine and apply essential elements of a legal project planning framework, including project charter, work breakdown, project scheduling, talent placement and measuring success.
Join this interactive session for guidance on how leaders can enhance the sense of belonging in a firm by creating an open and welcoming environment in which employees can be their authentic selves. You’ll explore the economic and racial injustice crises from a diversity, equity and inclusion lens since the onset of COVID-19. You’ll consider implicit bias and how the sooner we’re able to recognize our biases and become more self-aware, the better we’ll be as leaders. You’ll also learn about imposter syndrome and how to recognize and address employees who feel as though they do not belong.
Legal organizations face unique financial and budgeting considerations. If you’ve never worked directly in law firm accounting or if you focus your energy on other areas of law firm management, this session will cover essential accounting and financial management concepts in the legal profession. You’ll learn to navigate the murky waters of the unique components of law firm accounting, while also gaining a better understanding of financial statements, the function of trust accounting, the importance of having a budget and how it compares to actual dollars spent, and the significance of alternative fee arrangements. You’ll also delve into the relevance of legal process improvements and legal project management in law firms today.
This has been a challenging time for firms of all sizes, and it may continue to be as we move forward, adjusting to our new normal. For some, this means delaying new technology purchases while they reassess both current and future requirements to support changing workflows. In the meantime, firm leaders must bridge the gaps between where they are and where they want to go. Learn how to make the most of what you have today, with reimplementations and training tailored to ensure staff are using the tools they have to their fullest capabilities. In this session, you’ll gain an understanding of how work gets done while focusing on meaningful change management. You’ll also leave with a plan for helping your firm get return on investment from current technology while navigating the path forward.
“Do I use who or whom?” “Infinitives: to split or not to split?” In this lighthearted yet usefully informative session, you will boost your writing confidence as we navigate the fascinating world of grammar. You will also learn tips for writing effective emails that will actually get read.
Discover how emotional marketing, empathy, well-being and corporate values have become our most important branding, business development and recruiting assets. The technology revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic moved us from slogans and selling to storytelling, self-expression and virtual connections and to empathizing with our audiences and humanizing our marketing. Join in a discussion of how 2020 not only changed the branding and marketing game but improved it by fostering an emotional connection with audiences and communities and creating caring cultures.
This interactive session focuses on the hot topics of social justice, race, equity and love. It offers you a new lens through which to see the world along with historic patterns and how they impact our connections to one another and within our communities today. You’re invited to uphold the highest goals and hope through community kinship. Don’t miss this opportunity to create and reimagine a world where zip codes do not determine outcomes.
Have you ever wondered what a client might focus on when a law firm is invited to participate in their RFP, or even why a client might think an RFP is important? In this session, you will receive a legal operations perspective to these questions, along with best practices, and do’s and don’ts when preparing your law firm’s responses to a client’s RFP. What exactly might your client be looking for through the RFP questionnaire and how might it impact the outcome as we look at technology, pro bono/community engagement, and last but not least, DE&I. Join the conversation and receive a few key takeaways.
Succession planning is not just for managing partners. However, in the legal industry, most succession plans unfortunately are developed and created for only the firm’s rainmaker and partners. This oversight neglects the fact that a great deal of law firm operations and management depends heavily on legal executives and senior law firm administrative management professionals. In this session, you’ll address the leadership qualities, management skills and other attributes you need to identify and develop as well as the policies and procedures that should be in place before your firm’s institutional knowledge walks out the door and business disruption results. Join in this exploration and discussion of leadership development tips and tricks along with best practices for developing a succession plan for your law firm administrators.
This session is designed and built on the Avoid, Deny, Defend (ADD) strategy developed by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT)™ Program at Texas State University. Since 2002, ALERRT has been used to train law enforcement officers across the nation in how to rapidly respond to dangerous active threat situations. Over the years we’ve seen response times shorten and the capabilities of law enforcement increase. As a result of increased public awareness, many citizens have asked what individuals can do to protect themselves and reduce the dangers faced during one of these events. Avoid | Deny |Defend has been developed as an easy to remember method for individuals to follow, as we’ve seen that hiding and hoping isn’t a very effective strategy. This course provides strategies, guidance and a proven plan for surviving an active shooter event. Topics include the history and prevalence of active shooter events, civilian response options, medical issues, and other considerations. The course will provide attendees with the tools to improve survivability in an active attack event at the workplace, school or other public areas. The core principles of AVOID, DENY and DEFEND have been researched by Texas State University and proven to save lives of innocent people who find themselves trapped in an active shooter/ attack event. The CRASE message of empowerment and situational awareness is powerful and proven. What you do matters!
This session will begin with a primer on litigation financing, including a description of its history, how litigation finance firms evaluate and conduct due diligence on potential investments, the types of matters in which funders invest, general types of investment agreements and recoveries, and funders’ involvement once the investment is made. Then, you’ll discuss how litigation financing is relevant to legal managers, including how it can improve the bottom line, bring liquidity to and de-risk case investments, and serve as a client development and marketing tool.
We’ve all said it: “I would write a book, but who would believe these stories are true?” And in this post-2020 environment, many of the tales are unfortunately far too real. Given the effects of all things 2020–including massive social unrest, the COVID-19 pandemic and the new realities of our law firm “workplaces”–the legal workspace has become far more complicated to manage. Designed for administrators and those with human resources responsibilities, this fast-paced session will focus on workplace issues and examine practical, business-focused solutions you can use immediately
Are your lawyers profitable? How do you know? And what if they aren’t? Whether you manage a large firm, or are a sole-practitioner, profitability is the most important measure of success. With clients making a wide array of demands on their lawyers, law firms have had to adapt and evolve their skillset and strategies with pricing. Learn from two seasoned pricing professionals, the current state of legal pricing and its ever-present focus on driving both revenue and profits for law firms. You'll walk away with practical knowledge on how you can help your firm improve profitability and increase your personal ROI for your firm.
Fast-growing cyber risks may be the greatest threat your firm faces today. Law firms must begin to think differently about cybersecurity, as it’s not just an IT problem to be solved—it’s a business risk that must be managed. Expect greater scrutiny from clients and regulators as well as higher cyber insurance premiums in the coming year. It’s more important than ever to have a comprehensive cyber risk management game plan led from the top down. In this session, you’ll learn about the latest data breach threats, what a common-sense cyber risk management plan looks like, and what you as an administrator can do to help protect your firm.
Rick Rigsby, PhD, challenges leaders to excel at enhancing skill sets required by a new generation of employees. He argues that dynamic and effective leadership today must expand its focus to include technological expansion, knowledge acquisition, diverse demographics and increased globalization. Rigsby will empower you to discover how a leader’s journey to superior performance is reserved for the leader who is intentional, strategic and above all willing to grow!
All great organizations wrestle with staff engagement and ownership, especially over time. Initiatives that were inspired to solve important problems later become policies and practices without context, bottlenecked further by company politics and legacy ways of doing business. This case study will illustrate how First Legal dramatically transformed its culture and shifted from small, familial and steeped in tribal knowledge, to an agile team of people united by a common vision and all rowing in the same direction. Learn how you can get underneath the hood of your organization’s culture to achieve alignment top-down and bottom-up, and take home tools that ensure accountability and sustained change over time.
This session carries from the previous “How-To” session by taking a deeper dive into considering and analyzing legal project management case studies from a project-planning perspective. As a project team, you will assess a variety of project-planning tools that can achieve the goals of each matter. We will dive into matter management that includes design and deliberating the following: project-planning documents, illustrated administrative processes, SaaS or open-source tools, and measuring project targets.
Many organizations have worked at diversifying their workforce to include LGBTQ employees, but few have shifted to true inclusion. The first step to inclusion is education about the components of our sexuality, so we have a common language and understanding from which more work can done. Another factor hindering the shift to true inclusion are conscious and unconscious biases that reinforce stereotypical gender roles and expectations that adversely impact both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ employees and the workplace environment. Find out how to be an inclusive firm that recognizes and embraces employees’ intersectional identities, knowing that a diverse workforce improves productivity and retention.
As firms emerge from the pandemic—and for many, a surprisingly profitable year—the interest in mergers is growing worldwide. Unlike organic growth and one-off lateral hires, the right merger can create instant market recognition and depth. The challenge is determining whether a merger is the right merger. In this session, you’ll focus on advanced financial analyses to assess whether a potential merger is a good match, and then learn how to plan to make it successful. This is not an accounting program; it is intended for managers and leaders helping a firm to assess and execute a merger.
There are myriad statistics documenting that we are losing far too many people in the United States to suicide. Couple that with the high rates of depression, the low rates of access to meaningful care and the exponential increase in stress level resulting from the pandemic, and the depth and breadth of the problem takes shape. But you can’t address a problem that no one talks about. Step one is to start the conversation. Hence, this presentation.
There has been a massive shift in the way we work and how we use space. In planning the return to office amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, law firms are trying to determine what role their office space will play in supporting their business goals as well as their culture. While already beginning to see the gap between the traditional office and the workplace of the future shrinking, the pandemic has only accelerated this evolution. Join us to discover the key trends that have become important in return to office based on the changing nature of the work environment.
The case for creating and sustaining a law firm culture of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI&B) is not only compelling in 2021 and beyond—it’s an absolute necessity. A diverse and inclusive workforce creates a more comfortable working environment, generates improved decision-making and problem-solving and has a positive impact on the performance of a firm. The greatest impediment to creating DEI&B at work is implicit bias, so an examination of the topic is crucial. Until and unless we realize that we all have implicit biases, the journey toward DEI&B cannot truly begin. This session will focus on the motivation for creating a DEI&B program and how to translate that motivation into action that will positively impact employee relationships as well as support your firm’s business objectives.
Consider this an introduction to all things online payments, from credit cards to wire transfers to e-checks. How does a wire transfer actually work? Can you recall it once it’s sent? How long does it take for a credit card payment to hit your account? What about an ACH transaction? Can you force the client to pay for your credit card processing fees? Usually, you don’t worry about the answers to these questions—until you have to. This session (part 1 of 2) will explore the mechanics of cashless payments and how they actually work in the daily life of a firm. You’ll also discuss the importance of processing these transactions correctly to avoid possible sanctions by your state bar or legislature—every year, attorneys lose their licenses to practice law due to IOLTA or trust account violations.
Part 2 will give you tips and tricks for online payments to help you maximize your firm’s profitability and decrease your stress level.
Pre-COVID-19, many lawyers believed that an elegant office downtown near the courthouse and populated by all lawyers and staff was a critical business need. Post-COVID, law firm leaders are questioning whether more flexible work locations, work schedules and staffing models can be just as effective. They’re asking: What would it take to operate differently? In this session, you’ll discuss the long-term impact of COVID-19 on law firm operations, with an emphasis on the changes that are likely to endure long past the end of the pandemic—and possibly permanently. You’ll review how these changes could improve law firm financials, operations, productivity, morale and competitive positioning of law firms. We’ll also discuss how law firm leaders are weighing the relative benefits of these new ways of doing business.
Law firms face increasing pressure from both clients and regulators to demonstrate compliance with cybersecurity and data privacy best practices. This can be a difficult and painful task without proper preparation and planning. Responding to cybersecurity audits and managing the firm’s risk and compliance efforts is not simply a function of IT, but an important executive management responsibility. In this session, you’ll see how administrators play a vital role in management oversight of the firm’s information security plan, including demonstration of compliance with federal, state and industry data security and privacy standards. You’ll leave knowing how to simplify and effectively manage your firm’s cybersecurity compliance and audit response.
“Did I catch all the typos?” “What is an Oxford comma, and why is it so important?” Don’t let these distressing questions keep you awake at night. In this session you learn the art of proofreading past simply checking for spelling errors, and how a misplaced comma could cost you $5 million. Literally!
Retirement planning is a critical topic today—and for good reason. Two-thirds of equity partners are projected to retire over the next decade, and other legal employers expect a similar exodus from their leadership ranks. Yet few firms feel prepared to address partner retirement, client transitions and leadership succession. And few partners feel prepared to face or plan for life post-career. This session will present design thinking as a creative approach to retirement planning. You’ll learn how to promote succession, transition and retirement planning in ways that will make the process more constructive, effective and satisfying for firms and lawyers alike.
Through the numerous amount of changes brought on in the last years, many firms have taken the opportunity to look for different ways that their firms can operate more effectively and efficiently in the delivery of legal services to the clients. This session will explore how different sized and managed law firms have taken advantage of and are driving change in their firms to adjust, retool and reinvent law firm’s traditional staffing models.
Panelists:
Organization development is a critical competency for legal support professionals. Human resource managers, learning and development managers, administrators and chief operating officers who coordinate the activities of the law firm’s functional departments are expected to drive firmwide effectiveness. We are in the new normal and the competencies of administrators need to include change management. In this session, we’ll learn how to lead change and improve processes and performance using the Action Research Model.
In this session, you’ll discuss strategies to stay on top of your receivables and create a more efficient office. You’ll leave with tips, tools and resources you can start implementing immediately in your office to get more money in your firm’s pocket. Topics we’ll address include: How can you get a problem client to pay their invoice? Is there a chance you can collect on your aged accounts receivable, or will you have to write if off at the end of the year? When should you follow up with clients about unpaid invoices? What should you say to them? Are there any unique ways you can help generate more revenue for the firm? What is a realization rate and why is this important to your firm? Can online payments make a positive impact on your bottom line?
With the help of technology, you can now do more with less time, resources and people. Having worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have experienced working remotely and how technology plays a key part in making remote work life efficient and collaborative. But there are many different applications and technology tools in the market to select from. Which ones are right for you and your firm? This session will provide you with an overview of the trending technology for law firms, actionable guidance in identifying where technology will help your legal operations the most, tips for identifying low-hanging fruit in updating your firm’s current applications, and a how-to guide on selecting the right technology for your firm.
In this session, we’ll review the brain chemistry of addiction and alcoholism and discuss the behavioral and health consequences of the disease. You’ll gain insight into the personality traits of attorneys and the qualities of the legal profession that combine to make lawyers significantly more susceptible to addiction–and more difficult to treat–than the general population. The session includes a case study of an addict attorney, as well as a selfdiagnosis exercise for attorneys concerned they may have a problem that needs to be addressed. You’ll take away both systemic and individual solutions to the problem, with references to specific strategies and resources available to attorneys. This serious topic will be addressed with humor and irony, while inviting legal management professionals to engage in a bit of sometimes much-needed self-reflection.
Co-develop solutions to common challenges by leveraging the shared experiences and collective knowledge of your industry peers.
ALA’s Meeting of Minds (formerly known as Idea Exchanges) enables participants to network extensively, discuss, debate and dissect best practices and topical issues within legal administration.
According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, the average person receives over 120 emails per day. Each email is communicating something to the recipient: an important project, a question or an urgent need. Leaving messages in your inbox, relying on “read and unread” or flags, is inefficient and leads to lost revenue, lost time and increased stress.
Email has transitioned from a communication tool into something that demands our constant attention. Through this BOLD Bites session, busy professionals learn an effective way to be in control of their email, organize their inbox and stop missing important communications.
Unless you are intentional and make space for meaningful feedback from both your clients and employees, you will never hear the things you need to make the changes necessary to evolve as a firm and be successful long-term. When you are truly focused on both client and employee experience (CX and EX), you will first ask, then listen and then act. However, you also need to listen for what is not being said. Join us to hear what the people you do business with, including your employees, are not saying and how to elicit the information you need to thrive.
We’re thrilled to share the findings of the Legal Workflow Management Survey 2021 ― the largest survey of its kind in the legal industry.
By gathering in-depth data from over 900 senior operations, HR and secretarial services professionals working at law firms around the globe, we can share unique insight into the latest back-office trends, including lawyer and support staff working practices, law firm plans for hybrid working, team structures and the allocation of legal work, and the impact of the pandemic on billable hours and staffing rates.
This not-to-be-missed session is recommended for anyone involved in legal operations, HR, administration, support services or resource management.
Have you ever wondered why a colleague, friend or family member seems to approach life so differently? They are either overly structured or not at all. Either way, the difference seems to get in the way — or does it? Learn about different problem-solving styles and what these differences mean for leadership, management and collaboration. You’ll learn about Michael J. Kirton's Adaption-Innovation Theory, where you fall on the Adaption-Innovation Continuum and what that means for meetings, solving problems and managing both up and down.
The world is changing so fast that we can barely make the changes needed before new ones are ushered in. The pandemic; generational changes including new values and work expectations; cultural and social issues like diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; costs; availability; and even new “shiny things” have all disrupted our status quo. How do you keep up and stay relevant?
This talk explores the hard truths about the new norms — where do you need to make changes to better serve your clients, your firms and your people; and attract more of each?
Gain quick tips on how to train and onboard new staff members in a hybrid/remote environment. We will be presented a variety of challenges as law firm managers as we enter the new normal of hybrid/remote working, recruiting and training new staff members. The basics, such as the transfer of knowledge and creating and maintaining a firm culture, will not be so elementary. Law firm managers will be expected to manage legal processes and the hybrid/remote team, as well as continued responsibility for financial, strategic and risk management operations.
Simple tasks to promote greater collaboration within a firm while improving firm operations and efficiencies must be revisited and more than likely redesigned. We will also review how to manage your legal team in a way that will nurture their talent and ensure they deliver.
Have you been thinking about a different kind of career, or a different position within your current firm? Would you like to explore the connection between the kind of work you want to do, with the skills you bring to that potential role? This is an involved session combining small segments of information followed by exercises to help you understand what you want to do and how to make it happen. This session is a focus on you. In Part 2, you will learn how to work with others who want to develop an encore career.
Many firms have LGBTQ employees and clients, but many don’t know how to create a culture that encourages allyship to the LGBTQ community. What does LGBTQ allyship look like? How can we progress in our allyship as employees and as firms? What do LGBTQ allies avoid doing? How can we update our firm policies with LGBTQ-inclusive language and learn to incorporate inclusive language in our workplaces? Get answers here.
This session will review some of the recent state changes permitting partnerships with non-lawyers, licensing of non-lawyer legal professionals and paying for referrals. Hear from a national legal ethics expert familiar with applying many of these changes at firms in this entertaining and engaging format.
Bill and Phil look at the state of technology heading into the decade of the ’20s and coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. So much has been promised with the booming technological revolution. Many promises have been kept, but others have proven to be elusive. This session showcases the latest technology trends for law firms that have proven to be revolutionary and practical. You’ll examine the role of the cloud and mobility in the ongoing transformation of the legal tech space and how the utility of the cloud has evolved over the past decade. You’ll discover how the cloud played a huge role in law firm survival during the pandemic. In addition, this session will unveil some of the latest gadgets and innovations that every legal professional will want.
The history of law firm talent strategies has been predominately focused on the hiring and retention of lawyers. In today’s competitive landscape, firms who build a holistic talent strategy that prioritizes the full scope of their business operators will experience a positive brand impact and succeed in attracting the best and brightest talent for their firms. The long-term impact of this strategy enables lawyers to realize greater success when the right business professionals help lead their firm, which is beneficial to the bottom line.
In this interactive session attendees will:
Despite tremendous changes in the last 10 years across the legal marketplace—which accelerated and expanded during the pandemic—most law firm par tner compensation plans haven’t been updated in a generation. However, law firm leaders who have modernized partner compensation plans stand to benefit financially, culturally and competitively. In this interactive and collaborative workshop, you’ll review the primary changes taking place in partner compensation design and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of different approaches. You’ll have the opportunity to work with these concepts by collaborating in small groups on a series of case studies.
As a registered attendee, you can shape the discussion by participating in a pre-workshop survey to identify your firm’s greatest compensation challenges and opportunities.
From where you sit, it is understandable if you feel that firm culture is something that happens to you, and not by you. Especially now, in the wake of the pandemic and increased racial awareness, firm cultures have shifted and there may not be a solid vision or set of norms around what it should be.
When you deconstruct culture and see that it is the compilation of the values, mindsets, decisions, habits, systems, conversations and actions of those who populate it, you realize those factors can be influenced. Invoking the spirit of Steve Jobs, we CAN bend reality, as long as we are clear on our vision and our toolkit.
In this interactive workshop, Judy Hissong, President of Nesso Strategies and Monique Mahler, Human Resources Manager at BakerHostetler will lead a process where you will 1) identify key cultural elements you have the power to influence, and 2) break into group discussions to find specific cultural levers you can immediately apply to move your firm toward a higher performing, higher revenue, higher satisfaction place to work.
Join this facilitated open-forum discussion to journey through the roadmap of considerations and best practices in creating a remote work policy. Whether you have a policy in place (and can share your experience) or are just embarking on this new endeavor, we’ll kick the tires on this topic, map out items to consider, and provide a template policy that will guide you to establishing an effective hybrid workforce.
You can help shape this discussion by participating in this survey click here.
Regardless of size, every lawyer and every firm asks the question: what does my firm really need to do in terms of a communications, marketing, and business development strategy? Applying decades of experience in legal marketing, this presentation will show that successful communications strategies have key components: starting with a financial analysis and marketplace research to uncover and confirm potential opportunities, combined with your passion, interest and creativity for wise, informed and focused choices about where to invest your resources. This program will provide a deep dive into winning case studies of innovative yet targeted communications campaigns defined by specific goals and measurable results. Objectives:
Law firms are notorious for places where people never retire. In this session you will learn how to help others think about and explore an encore career, to grow into a different role, or choose to leave the firm to pursue a new passion. This session will show how to work with others and give you specific tools you can immediately use to help others develop a new focus and move towards a new, exciting opportunity.
In 2020, a global pandemic changed the future of the work environment. In addition, many instances of injustice also brought about a cry for social reform in America, both at home and in the workplace. As a result, law firms now more than ever must realize that clients are no longer just talking about inclusion and diversity—they are putting their money where their mouths are. Both public and private clients are requiring that the attorneys and other team members assigned to their matters be more diverse. In this session, you’ll gain a new perspective on zero tolerance and how it results in the loss of both potentially long-standing clients as well as good and valuable employees.
This session covers all important aspects of securing business, retaining clients, securing financial operations, and the requirements of modern billing practices and collections. We’ll also discuss using technology to improve and secure income.
As we emerge from COVID-19, employers will continue to face new challenges in the workplace. Get updated in this session on the latest employment laws and human resources best practices as companies look to reopen and employees return to the workplace. You’ll explore the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, applicable federal government regulations, what to know about vaccines for employees and recent employment law court decisions.
Law firms today face difficult and diverse risks and dynamic professional liability and responsibility challenges. Aon, a global risk management consulting and insurance brokerage firm, recently completed a multiyear study of the lawyers’ professional liability claims experience of the company’s nearly 300 law firm clients. Join this session to discuss the results of the study, including an analysis of claims frequency and severity by practice area and law firm size, and the primary causes of claims against law firms. In sharing lessons learned from the claims data, the session will offer practical advice on good client intake, avoiding key conflicts of interest and preventing and mitigating mistakes by lawyers.
Has anyone ever totally misinterpreted one of your emails, texts, memoranda or letters? Or has an email ever emotionally triggered you? Have others completely missed your good intent? It happened to me, and so my quest began to determine where things went off the rails. Coaches, writers and colleagues shared the tips and techniques to help me on my recovery to write more effective and authentic communications.