At ALA News About ALA
What's Happening at Headquarters July/Aug 2020
There’s always a lot going on at ALA headquarters in Chicago. Here’s a snapshot of what’s in store for the coming weeks.
Update on ALA Fall Conferences
After much consideration and feedback from members, ALA’s Board of Directors has decided to postpone most of our regularly planned retreats and meetings for the rest of the year.
The Board did not make this decision lightly. ALA sent out a survey to members requesting feedback on the fall conferences. We wanted to gauge how people were feeling about traveling, if they could travel, and their willingness to attend in-person events. We thank you kindly for your participation, which helped informed the Board’s decision.
We are excited to be able to share that work has already started to redesign the Intellectual Property Conference for Legal Management Professionals as a virtual education event for 2020. Details including education and registration information will be coming soon. Stay tuned for news and information on other virtual events to come later this year.
View ALA Today: The Virtual Conference On-Demand
ALA Today: The Virtual Conference took place in late June, and it was a success! Now, anyone who registered for the conference — including those who couldn’t attend live — can access on-demand video recordings and handouts for each of the education sessions.
That’s a total of 14 recorded sessions spanning the five functional knowledge areas and providing legal management professionals with the information they need now to efficiently and effectively run their workplace amid the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread social unrest.
Recent ALA Program Enhancements
- ALA’s Legal Management Bookstore has been redesigned to improve the
browsing experience. Like the on-demand webinar page and the Legal Management Resource Hub before it, you can click on a logo for each of the five functional knowledge areas (plus the Summit Series) to be directed to the relevant books for that
category. For instance, hit the CM logo and you’ll find titles like Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Shoppers can also quickly access recent arrivals, ALA publications and Certified Legal Manager (CLM)® study resources.
- ALA’s webinar program has been revamped! Each webinar is now just $29 for members and $79 for nonmembers, helping you attend as much online education as you’re interested in. Also, the content calendar has been adjusted to better enable ALA’s professional development team to respond to hot topics in legal management and the overall industry.
Diversity and Inclusion Resources Available
ALA’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion is committed to providing information and action items for legal managers individually and to their firms, organizations and chapters. Their library already included digital resources and educational presentations. But recently, in response to the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, the committee joined with ALA headquarters to provide an open discussion forum for our community.
ALA and the committee have already hosted multiple virtual roundtables about the social unrest in America. View those recordings here. Check the website and the weekly BOLD Bites newsletter for information about new roundtables, whether they’re about diversity and inclusion or COVID-19 issues.