Schedule of Events

Legal managers are faced with leadership challenges every day. You manage up and down the reporting line — managing partners and executive committees on the up, staff on the down — in a business that has been reshaped by a pandemic, hybrid working environments and rapid change. Though it is sometimes a difficult position to be in, it also means that everyone benefits when you improve your leadership skills. In addition, research shows that skills most valuable in today’s leaders include self-awareness, adaptability and collaboration. This module will help you understand your own communication and conflict styles and apply that learning to identify strategies for solving problems in inclusive ways.

Objectives:

• Identify and apply your communication and conflict style using the CoreStrengths assessment (which will be required prework in an online assessment).
• Employ strategies to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Explain levels of leadership, management and ways you can work with others most effectively.
• Apply knowledge of self to improve relationships and business outcomes in the law firm you manage.
• Recognize when to manage and when to lead.
• Differentiate EQ, IQ and SQ.
• Practice new skills with a case study.

Judith A. Hissong, CLM, PCC President Nesso Strategies

Law firms are home to unique financial and budgeting considerations. Examine the fundamental accounting and financial management concepts essential to the legal profession, including firm business concepts and terminology applicable to professional service firms; the fundamentals of law firm financial statements; cash management; trust accounts and client costs; ownership compensation models; alternative/appropriate fee arrangements; and legal process/legal project management.

In part one of this module, we’ll discuss the following topics in detail:

• Accounting 101
• A breakdown of typical law firm accounting positions
• An explanation of accounts receivable and accounts payable
• What is a general ledger?
• An explanation of basic accounting account types and of modified cash versus accrual accounting
• Fixed asset management
• Trust Accounting:
• Trust accounting rules
• Trust vs. operating accounts: What’s the difference?
• ABA model rules and individual state requirements
• Examples of what not to do — ever.
• Budgeting:
• Why prepare a budget?
• Types of budgeting
• Fee budgeting with realization
• Expense budgeting: What’s the plan and how do we stick to it?

Objectives:

• Define the core concepts associated with law firm accounting conventions and terminology.
• List the critical rules related to client trust account controls.
• Analyze ways to improve revenue and control expenses in an effort to improve profitability.
• Recognize how to effectively align value to price and how to adopt pricing options.
• Discuss the need for implementing legal process improvements and project management.

Lisa A. Waligorski, CLM, PHRca, SPHR Executive Director Newmeyer & Dillion LLP

The human resources function is a dynamic and influential role within a law firm. Firms, both large and small, must have a solid understanding of human resources and how each area has an effect on the firm’s overall strategic plan and bottom line. In this section, we will touch on five core areas of human resources: the legal landscape, employee lifecycle, total rewards, talent management and handbook essentials.

The overall goal of this section is to provide a solid understanding of human resources in a law firm and provide the keys new administrators will need to become a strategic partner in their firm. The lecture and accompanying exercises will assist in reinforcing the important aspects of human resources and supply learners with tangible takeaways which can be used in their firms immediately.

In part one of this module, we’ll discuss the following topics in detail:

• Human resources in 2022
• Three roles of human resources in a law firm
• Employment laws that relate to your firm
• HR department essentials:
• Job Analysis
• Job Description
• Sourcing
• Application
• New Hire Paperwork
• Personnel File
• Benefit File
• Employment Verification Binder
• Documentation File

Objectives:

• Discover the employment laws and beyond in the legal landscape. 
• Devise a plan for recruiting during the employee lifecycle. 
• Identify employee total rewards including strategic benefits and compensation.
• Recognize how to manage employee performance through motivation.
• Interpret handbook essentials with 30 policies in 30 minutes.

John M. Jakovenko, CLM, SPHR Firm Administrator Sparks Law, LLC

Despite a long history of being known as slow adopters, the pandemic forced law firms into making significant changes at a rapid pace. Whether your firm is designing a permanent hybrid workforce model, getting comfortable in the cloud or handling pressure to become social media content creators, the rate of change is not slowing down. In this module, we’ll explore trends across the industry, consider how these trends impact your firm and examine how you can shape your firm’s future.

Operations management is often used as a catch-all to describe facilities, technology, marketing, records, information governance, business continuity, process improvements — the list goes on and on. We’ll examine the different facets of law firm operations, explore how they intersect and discuss the administrator’s role in effectively managing the various functions.

We’ll discuss how innovation translates in all areas of your firm — business, finance, technology, people and marketing. We’ll discuss topics including:

• What it means to run the business of law and how the trends impact your overall operational strategy
• How to embrace client expectations to increase revenue
• Legal process outsourcing
• Automation
• E-discovery
• Alternative-fee arrangements
• Well-being at your firm
• Embedding diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility into your culture
• Hybrid work environments and space management
• Modernizing your firm’s website

Objectives:

• Identify current law firm trends and determine their impact on your position and your firm.
• Define the role and key responsibilities of the legal administrator.
• Discuss change management strategies to use within your firm.
• Identify the components of operations management and review key considerations of each function.
• Assess critical areas of risk management including cybersecurity.

Allison E. Worley, CLM, MBA Executive Director Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C

Operations management is often used as a catch-all to describe facilities, technology, marketing, records, information governance, business continuity, process improvements — the list goes on and on. We’ll examine the different facets of law firm operations, explore how they intersect and discuss the administrator’s role in effectively managing the various functions.

In part two of this module, we’ll dive into the areas that keep your firm functioning, such as:

• Information technology
• Facilities and safety
• Office services
• Records and information governance
• Marketing
• Process improvement and workflow
• Budgeting

We’ll also discuss how to navigate so many different areas, while being a leader for positive change within your firm.

Objectives:

• Identify current law firm trends and determine their impact on your position and your firm.
• Define the role and key responsibilities of the legal administrator.
• Discuss change management strategies to use within your firm.
• Identify the components of operations management and review key considerations of each function.
• Assess critical areas of risk management including cybersecurity.

Allison E. Worley, CLM, MBA Executive Director Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C

Law firms are home to unique financial and budgeting considerations. Examine the fundamental accounting and financial management concepts essential to the legal professional, including firm business concepts and terminology applicable to professional service firms; the fundamentals of law firm financial statements; cash management; trust accounts and client costs; ownership compensation models; alternative/appropriate fee arrangements; and legal process/legal project management.

In part two of this module, we’ll discuss the following topics in detail:

• Alternative-fee arrangements (AFAs)
• What are AFAs?
• What are the mutual benefits of having AFAs?
• Types of AFAs
• Which types of matters are best suited for AFAs
• Legal process improvements
• The essence of lean — adding value and eliminating waste
• Eight areas of legal waste
• Define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) process improvement strategy
• Examples of process improvements that made a huge difference
• Building a process improvement together

Objectives:

• Define the core concepts associated with law firm accounting conventions and terminology.
• List the critical rules related to client trust account controls.
• Analyze ways to improve revenue and control expenses in an effort to improve profitability.
• Recognize how to effectively align value to price and how to adopt pricing options.
• Discuss the need for implementing legal process improvements and project management.

Lisa A. Waligorski, CLM, PHRca, SPHR Executive Director Newmeyer & Dillion LLP

The human resources function is a dynamic and influential role within a law firm. Firms, both large and small, must have a solid understanding of human resources and how each area has an effect on the firm’s overall strategic plan and bottom line. In this section, we will touch on five core areas of human resources: the legal landscape, employee lifecycle, total rewards, talent management and handbook essentials.

The overall goal of this section is to provide a solid understanding of human resources in a law firm and provide the keys new administrators will need to become a strategic partner in their firm. The lecture and accompanying exercises will assist in reinforcing the important aspects of human resources and supply learners with tangible takeaways which can be used in their firms immediately.

In part two of this module, we’ll discuss the following topics in detail:

• The 30 most important policies to have in your handbook
• An administrator’s role in performance management in terms of motivation and performance appraisals.
• Total rewards and using strategic benefits to attract and retain talent
• The role of human resources in your firm’s strategic plan

Objectives:

• Discover the employment laws and beyond in the legal landscape. 
• Devise a plan for recruiting during the employee lifecycle. 
• Identify employee total rewards including strategic benefits and compensation.
• Recognize how to manage employee performance through motivation.
• Interpret handbook essentials with 30 policies in 30 minutes.

John M. Jakovenko, CLM, SPHR Firm Administrator Sparks Law, LLC

Legal managers are faced with leadership challenges every day. You manage up and down the reporting line — managing partners and executive committees on the up, staff on the down — in a business that has been reshaped by a pandemic, hybrid working environments and rapid change. Though it is sometimes a difficult position to be in, it also means that everyone benefits when you improve your leadership skills. In addition, research shows that skills most valuable in today’s leaders include self-awareness, adaptability and collaboration. This module will help you understand your own communication and conflict styles and apply that learning to identify strategies for solving problems in inclusive ways.

In part two of this module, we will compare and contrast leaders and managers, giving consideration to the appropriate ratio these hold in the day-to-day roles of legal managers. Then, we will leverage the knowledge you have gained over the modules to work through a case study.

Objectives:

• Identify and apply your communication and conflict style using the CoreStrengths assessment (which will be required prework in an online assessment).
• Employ strategies to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Explain levels of leadership, management and ways you can work with others most effectively.
• Apply knowledge of self to improve relationships and business outcomes in the law firm you manage.
• Recognize when to manage and when to lead.
• Differentiate EQ, IQ and SQ.
• Practice new skills with a case study.

Judith A. Hissong, CLM, PCC President Nesso Strategies