Legal Management Talk Podcasts

How are paper straws related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) efforts? Find out in the second of two Annual Conference-themed episodes, featuring David Sarnoff, Esq., ACC, and Joy Stephens, MBA, of Loeb Leadership. They preview their presentation, “Performative vs. Authentic Allyship,” and we discuss what it means to be a DEIA ally, as well as how DEIA initiatives have faltered as we get further removed from the social justice movement of 2020.  

Don’t miss Sarnoff’s and Stephens’ presentation at ALA’s 2023 Annual Conference & Expo in Seattle, Washington, on Tuesday, May 9, at 11:15 a.m. Pacific. There’s still time to register! Visit alanet.org/conf23 to learn more. 

Speaker Bios 

David B. Sarnoff, Esq., ACC, is an International Coaching Federation-certified Executive Coach and leadership trainer with Loeb Leadership. As a former attorney, experienced executive search consultant, business owner and former board of education president, Sarnoff understands the mindset, demands and challenges of attorneys, directors, corporate executives, managers and individual contributors. 

Joy Stephens, MBA, brings a unique and varied collection of work experiences to the table. She has dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, as well as a Masters of Business Administration. Stephens spent her more than 20 years in corporate America with companies like Proctor & Gamble and Kimberly Clark. She believes that empathy and compassion are the keys to better leadership, better communication and stronger working relationships. She imbues all her workshop facilitation with the goal of recognizing the humanity in each other. 

In this episode, Leadership Trainer Julie Holunga, MBA, PCC, and Margee Fawley, Chief Talent Officer at Davis, Graham & Stubbs, LLP, sit down with Legal Management Talk to preview their presentation — “Mastering the Art of Influencing Difficult Conversations” — at ALA’s upcoming Annual Conference. Hear their take on how remote work has affected the ability to talk about serious topics with your employees and how to address the professional development gap that has taken hold among partners and associates. We also talk about recent TikTok trends, such as quiet quitting and “bare-minimum Mondays,” and what they mean for office productivity. 

Be sure to attend Holunga’s and Fawley’s presentation at ALA’s 2023 Annual Conference & Expo in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday, May 10, at 1:30 p.m. Pacific. If you haven’t registered for Annual Conference yet, there’s still time! Visit alanet.org/conf23 to learn more.  

Speaker Bios 

Julie Holunga, MBA, PCC, is a Leadership Trainer and Executive Coach with Chinook Executive Solutions, which guides professional service firm leaders to elevate their influence and authority. She is a Global Master Trainer with Emergenetics®, facilitating teams to create a more engaging culture, stronger collaboration and meaningful communication. Holunga’s work with Harvard Business School, Fortune 500 companies and top professional service firms gives her a unique perspective for the future of female leadership. 

Margee Fawley is the Chief Talent Officer at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP. She has more than 20 years of experience championing law firm attorney talent management strategies, especially as they relate to professional development and DEI initiatives. She works closely with her firm’s leadership to design and direct processes to maximize culture and collaboration. Fawley ensures alignment of the firm’s commitment fostering a more diverse, inclusive, equitable profession and community. Her efforts have helped secure Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP’s national recognition for advancing gender parity. 

Speaker Bio 

Matthew Sullivan is the Chief Operating Officer of Sullivan Law & Associates and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of legal consulting firm Unravel. He currently serves as a member of ALA’s Professional Development Advisory Committee. 

If you’re feeling stressed amid the transition to hybrid work, you’re not alone. Fortunately, executive coach Laura Terrell joined Legal Management Talk to discuss ways to adjust your mindset so that you can be prepared to take on the challenges ahead. Learn about how best to communicate with your employees to ensure everyone is on the same page and how to balance in-person events with remote work so the whole office stays included and connected.  

Check out the Harvard Business Review article mentioned in this episode, “When Your Feelings Conflict with Your Leadership Role.” 

Speaker Bio 

Laura Terrell is an executive coach with over 25 years of experience as a legal and business leader. She offers an insider’s perspective for business, legal and corporate professionals, working to help her clients to improve and achieve success in their work lives. Prior to coaching, she was a Special Assistant to the President at the White House, a senior level appointee at the U.S. Department of Justice, an equity partner in two large, global law firms, and in-house counsel at a publicly traded company. Laura has also led and managed teams of people across multiple countries, serving as a top advisor to many Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies. Partnering with her clients, she enjoys helping them reach their goals and build confidence in their careers. Learn more about Laura and follow her blog at www.lauraterrell.com.

Client demands are always changing, which means you and your firm have to keep up. In this episode, Andre Wouansi of Accurate Legal Billing, Inc. discusses how client guidelines have changed in recent years and how it behooves your firm to comply with them. Plus, learn about how new technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can help you manage complex billing and timekeeping requirements, along with what factors you should be tracking to ensure your firm is providing the best possible service. 

Speaker Bio 

Andre Wouansi is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Accurate Legal Billing, Inc. He is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in legal spend management, enterprise legal management, legal invoice auditing, building applications using Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), accounting, and international taxation. 

Wouansi spent nearly two decades auditing legal invoices from law firms across 55 countries. Using each client’s outside counsel billing guidelines, Wouansi reduced legal invoices by $1.5 billion dollars. In 2018, he switched sides and devoted his time to building legal billing software applications that help law firms comply with their client’s billing guidelines and drastically reduce legal e-billing reductions while saving firms time formerly spent on the legal invoice appeal process. 

Business development is often overlooked amid the day-to-day bustle of law firm management. In this episode, David Freeman, JD, Founder of Lawyer BookBuilder, talks about how important business development is to the success of your firm and why now — during economic uncertainty — is the best time to ramp up those efforts. Plus, don’t miss Freeman’s advice on how to best measure your and your lawyers’ progress in growing your firm’s reach and profitability. 

To read Freeman’s February 2023 Legal Management cover story, “5 Essentials for Your Business Development Toolkit,” click here.  

Speaker Bio 

David H. Freeman, JD, is a member of the National Law Journal Hall of Fame for being voted the top law firm business development coach and consultant in the United States for several consecutive years. He is a two-time best-selling author who has written and co-authored 14 books on law firm leadership and business development and has trained and coached over 10,000 lawyers and leaders in hundreds of firms worldwide. Additionally, he is the creator of Lawyer BookBuilder®, an online, self-study program that shows lawyers how to transform themselves into major rainmakers.   

Are your attorneys frustrated by the time it takes to access a client’s medical records? In this episode, Jared Vishney of Arctrieval discusses upcoming changes to HIPAA regulations that will make the records retrieval process easier. The new rule, scheduled to take effect later in 2023, imposes limitations on health service providers regarding how long they can take to respond and what fees they can charge. Tune in to see how your firm can take advantage of these changes. 

Speaker Bio 

Jared Vishney is an entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ domestic and international experience with Fortune 500 enterprises and small-to-medium sized companies. He holds a dual Economics and Business degree from UCLA. His involvement in the healthcare and legal industry began 13 years ago when he founded Arctrieval, a business providing health information management services to hospitals and doctor’s offices. Using knowledge and experience gained from delivering records, he built Arctrieval Legal to solve medical record challenges for legal professionals. 

In this episode, Rita Nielsen, CLM, PHR, SHRM-CP, Office Administrator at Locke Lord LLP and ALA Chicago’s CLM Director, talks about what ALA’s Certified Legal Manager (CLM)^® program is, the benefits it offers and what the process is to achieve it. Nielsen also offers suggestions on how best to study for the exam, including joining chapter study groups. Tune in if you’re looking to start your CLM journey! 

For more on the CLM, visit alanet.org/clm. 

Speaker Bio: 

Rita Nielsen, CLM, PHR, SHRM-CP, is the Office Administrator for Locke Lord’s Chicago office. Nielsen has been a member of ALA since 1997. She is an active member who has volunteered in numerous local activities, including holding ALA Chicago Board positions as the Professional Development Director, HR advisor and her current role as CLM Director. At the national level, Nielsen has served on the Certification Committee, the Annual Conference Committee, the Association Nominating Committee, has chaired Region 3's Nominating Committee and has served as co-host of HR Roundtable sessions at annual conferences.   

In this episode, Heidi Gardner, PhD, Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School, talks about what qualities make a good leader in the post-pandemic era. She also discusses how collaboration can help managers work through many of the issues law firms face today, as well as how a compassionate approach toward your employees can boost productivity. 

Speaker Bio 

Heidi K. Gardner, PhD, is a sought-after advisor, keynote speaker and facilitator for organizations across a wide range of industries globally. Named by Thinkers50 as a Next Generation Business Guru, she is a Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School and former professor at Harvard Business School. She is currently the faculty chair and instructor in multiple executive education programs at both institutions.  

Gardner works extensively with her team at Gardner & Co., partnering with boards, executive teams and other senior leaders to boost performance by embedding the principles and practices of smarter, agile, cross-silo collaboration within those groups and across the broader organization and ecosystem —resulting in concrete, quantifiable performance improvements. Altogether, Gardner has authored (or co-authored) more than 100 books, chapters, case studies and articles, including her most recent book, Smarter Collaboration: A New Approach to Breaking Down Barriers and Transforming Work. 

In this episode, Dan Atcheson of Jenkins Wilson Taylor and Hunt, PA, discusses the growing use of the metaverse in the legal industry. Learn about how some firms are already renting space in the virtual world to meet with clients and how the metaverse is becoming more conducive for firm operations. Atcheson also offers his thoughts on how government regulation will be required to prevent crimes such as assault and battery from occurring in the metaverse. (Yes, it can happen there, too!) 

Speaker Bio: 

Dan Atcheson has held various roles in his 20-year legal management career and is currently the Firm Administrator at Jenkins Wilson Taylor & Hunt, P.A., a boutique intellectual property firm located in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. He is currently the Chair of ALA’s Professional Development Advisory Committee and is also an active member of the Raleigh-Durham Chapter. Atcheson has a bachelor’s degree from East Carolina University and a law degree from the University of Maryland.   

In this special episode, hear from Eryn Carter, CAE — ALA’s new Executive Director — about her impressions of ALA so far, her vision for the future of the Association and what she’s most looking forward to heading into 2023 and beyond. And just in time for the holidays, we discuss Carter’s favorite Thanksgiving food and her favorite gift she’s ever received. 

Speaker Bio: 

Eryn Carter, CAE, joined the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) in October 2022 to serve in the role of Executive Director. Carter has more than 25 years of Association leadership experience — most recently as the Senior Director of Global Markets for the Million Dollar Roundtable, which has approximately 85,000 members in 80 countries. Carter is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology, and she has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 2010. She is also a member of Association Forum of Chicagoland and is a founding member of Chief Chicago, which is a think tank and network for women executives. 

In this episode, Michael Cohen of Duane Morris discusses how firms are promoting mental health awareness and how the legal industry can do more to make sure its employees are sufficiently supported. Cohen also talks about managers’ responsibilities when it comes to handling implicit bias, microaggressions and workplace harassment. Plus, if you’re a sports fan, you won’t want to miss Cohen’s description of Gritty, the mascot for his hometown Philadelphia Flyers. 

To read the Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being, click here. 

Speaker Bio: 

Michael S. Cohen is a Partner at Duane Morris in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and concentrates his practice in the areas of employment law training and counseling. Cohen has trained and counseled employers throughout the country on subjects including harassment prevention; workplace diversity; discipline and discharge; hiring and recruiting practices; performance evaluations; FMLA, ADA and FLSA compliance; leave of absence policies; performance management; workplace privacy; sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace; substance abuse testing; workplace violence; records retention; conducting background checks; teens in the workplace; and managing attendance problems. Cohen has also conducted investigations into claims of harassment and discrimination and has drafted employee handbooks, employment agreements, noncompete agreements and post-termination agreements.  

In this episode, Allison Worley of Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal previews her upcoming presentation at ALA’s Legal Management Fundamentals Conference, where she will teach early-career administrators about legal trends and operations management. Plus, Worley reminisces about her time attending the LMF Conference and offers advice to new administrators about how to keep up with all the knowledge they need to do their jobs. 

Speaker Bio: 

Allison Worley, CLM, MBA, is the Executive Director at Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal in St. Louis, Missouri. She started her career in legal as a file clerk more than 20 years ago. In her leadership role, she has led her firm through construction projects, technology infrastructure re-designs and the pandemic. In 2021, she was selected for the Susan L. French Emerging Leader Fellowship through the Foundation of ALA. 

In this episode, Cynthia Thomas — owner of the legal management consulting firm PLMC & Associates — answers all your pressing questions about hybrid and remote work, including how to craft a hybrid plan that will get buy-in from your employees and how to best communicate those changes. Plus, Thomas offers her insights on how hybrid work has affected the manager-employee dynamic — such as the advent of “quiet quitting” — and urges administrators to have a plan in place since hybrid work is here to stay. 

Speaker Bio: 

Cynthia Thomas is Legal Accounts Receivable Department Manager at Frontline Managed Services, and the owner of PLMC & Associates, a law firm management consulting company. With over 30 years’ experience in law firm management, Thomas’ employment has included Firm Administrator, Law Firm Administrative Director, and Chief Financial Officer and Operations Manager. 

In this episode, Heather Oden of Ball Janik LLP and Amalia Mohr of LRS Architects discuss Ball Janik’s recent decision to redesign their office space to adapt to a hybrid-work world and promote their employees’ health and wellness.  Watch Mohr and Oden describe how the elements they incorporated into the design — such as a lot of wood and glass — have impacted the firm, and don’t miss the pictures showing off some of the sleek new office! 

Click here to read or listen to the Legal Management print issue article, “Walking the Well-Being Walk.” And click here to read the September Legal Management cover story, "Destination: Office."

In this episode, we talk with Eric Webber of Caron Treatment Centers about the effects of alcohol and other substances on the legal industry and what administrators and employees can do to limit alcohol dependence at their firms. Don’t miss Webber’s tips for creating an effective strategy to help employees who may be struggling and how to plan events that don’t revolve around alcohol. Spoiler alert: Childhood games such as “Duck Duck Goose” can provide nostalgia and drink-free fun.  

Check out the Legal Management article, “An Honest Conversation About Alcohol and Legal,” to learn more about how firms are trying to reduce the prevalence of alcohol at their organizations. Click here to listen to the article or download the PDF. 

Speaker Bio 

Benjamin Schmidt is a consultant at Mattern & Associates. Schmidt received his JD from Villanova and has expertise both as a practicing law firm attorney, in-house counsel as well as on the vendor side at Canon Business Services. Schmidt leads clients in the analysis and negotiating stages of their engagements, leveraging his comprehensive and holistic understanding of the legal marketplace to gain the most strategic understanding of their needs and the most advantageous outcomes.