One of the best ways to make sure your firm can withstand economic headwinds is having enough cash on hand. But given the many things you have to spend money on, it can be hard to make sure reserves are plentiful. Business finance expert M.C. Laubscher joins the show to talk about the best ways to make your firm resilient during turbulent economic times and offers some creative ways to ensure positive cash flow and profitability.

 

This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Innovative Computing Systems' Chief Operating Officer Eric Hoffmaster joins the program to discuss how creating layers to your organization's cybersecurity is one of the most effective ways to prevent an attack. Plus, he explains which layers may be necessary to qualify for cyber insurance and how bad actors are using AI to make their attacks even more complex.

 

Amid the current political and social climate, several organizations have begun to roll back their diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs. Ann Thomas, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Stinson LLP, joins the program to discuss the state of DEIA today, how firms of different sizes should approach their DEIA initiatives, and how clients are still looking for their firms to show progress on diversity and inclusion.

Customer service may seem like a lost art nowadays, but for your legal organization, that means it's more important than ever to get it right. In this episode, Richard Culberson, Chief Executive Officer of Moneypenny and Voice Nation, North America, discusses how to ensure your intake process makes a great first impression on potential clients and how to adapt it to the market you're in.

 

Amid everything your firm does on a daily basis, digital marketing may not seem like a top priority, but it can be one of the most important ways to grow your business and find new clients. Join Bo Royal, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pareto Legal, as he shares his insights on how you can use marketing to cut through the online noise and get a large return on your investment.

A robust mentorship program can be an important recruiting and retention tool for your firm, but it also requires commitment from everyone involved. In this episode, Elise Powers, Founder of Eleview Consulting, talks about how to structure a mentorship program and convince partners to dedicate time to supporting the next generation of senior attorneys. She also gives a preview of her presentation at ALA's 2024 Annual Conference titled, "How to Reenergize Your Firm's Mentorship Program."

For more information or to register for Annual Conference, visit alaannualconf.org.

Recognizing the need for succession plans at your firm is a good first step, but what does that plan look like in practice? In this episode, David Wood, a former trial attorney and Principal of David Wood Consulting, talks about the plan he created and used to successfully transition his clients to the next generation of attorneys. He also discusses the role firm administrators play in ensuring a succession plan runs smoothly.

 

Why is change such a tough thing to manage in firms (well, for people in general)? Catherine Alman MacDonagh, JD, the Founder of Legal Lean Sigma Institute and a member of ALA’s Professional Development Advisory Committee, discusses steps for managing change, the importance of creating small change “wins,” how to avoid change burnout and more. Plus, we leave on a positive note about how to feel hopeful about changes. 

 

In Part 2 of our conversation with Kriti Sharma, Chief Product Officer of Legal Tech at Thomson Reuters, we talk about the questions you should ask when choosing AI software to use at your firm, what the regulation landscape looks like and how AI will change the future of talent recruitment.

No attorney wants to think about what happens when they stop practicing, but it’s crucial to have those conversations now. Debbie Foster, Partner at Affinity Consulting, joined Legal Management Talk to discuss how to bring up those difficult conversations and why it’s important to not only your firm, but your clients, to have a solid plan in place in case a lawyer retires or has to stop working.

2023 has been an exciting year for LMT, and we wanted to celebrate by compiling some of our favorite moments from the year’s episodes. Check out snippets from our conversations that covered legal ops, mental wellness, AI and much more. If you want to hear more from these episodes and others, be sure to go to alanet.org/podcast, ALA’s Youtube channel, or download episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for watching and listening! Have a Happy New Year, and stay tuned for all new episodes in 2024!

In this episode, we talk about the parts of leadership that can impact an employee’s connection and experience at your firm. Christine Wilbur, MBA, Associate Executive Director, Orange County Bar Association and a member of PDAC, discusses what prospective or existing employees really need. We cover how to get your staff showing up as their best selves each day so they can feel connected to their work and see how it fits into the firm’s overall purpose.

Are we in a recession? Yes? No? Maybe so? The fact is, the threat of an economic downfall shouldn’t be what spurs you into taking action. We talked with Dan McCormack, CLM, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Dan McCormack & Associates LLC and a member of ALA’s Professional Development Advisory Committee. He has 18 years of experience in finance, which made him the perfect guest to offer advice on what firms should be doing throughout the year to sew up their financial outlook.

What does it mean to build a meaningful Pride campaign at your firm? We sat down to discuss this topic with Laurence Winters, Chief Community Officer, SurePoint Technologies, and Chair, ALA’s Committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility. Through a vulnerable and honest account of his own struggles growing up as a gay man, Winters puts a face to why supporting the LGBTQ+ community in your legal organization is critical all year long.

Resources mentioned in the podcast:

• www.alanet.org/legal-management/2023/may/features/how-to-build-a-meaningful-pride-campaign-and-why-its-important
• www.alanet.org/deia 

ChatGPT exploded into the artificial intelligence (AI) scene in November 2022 and quickly became the most downloaded app in history. We sat down with Matthew Sullivan — a member of ALA’s Professional Development Advisory Committee (PDAC) — to discuss how this fast-moving AI is impacting legal. We talk about how ChatGPT and other forms of generative AI can improve efficiencies at firms as well as ways legal administrators can use this tech now.

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. 

In this episode, Ben Schmidt of Mattern & Associates talks about the labor challenges the legal industry is facing and how outsourced labor can help address those concerns. Tune in to learn about the innovative ways to make up for staffing shortfalls, such as by moving tasks off-site and hiring employees who can perform multiple roles.  

In this episode, Kevin Gallagher of AbacusNext discusses the newest trends in payment processing and how the legal industry is adapting to those changes. In addition, learn about how to keep client data safe and whether firms are really starting to accept cryptocurrency as payment.

 

This episode features Eric Wangler of BigHand discussing his company's latest report on legal workflow trends for midsize firms. It’s based on data from a survey of hundreds of law firm operations, HR and support professionals in North America.

You can find the report, Legal Workflow Trends for Mid-Size Firms, on BigHand’s website.
 

In this episode, we discuss Phillip Perry's analysis of the trends found in ALA's 2021 Compensation and Benefits Survey and 2021 Large Firm Key Staff Compensation Survey.

 

In this episode, we discuss the effect of the pandemic-era virtual environment on everything from law firm culture and creative downtime to client billing and access to justice. Is the future virtual? Or will in-person activities return with a vengeance? For our guest, Etan Mark, hybrid is the best of both worlds for attorneys, staff and clients.

This episode discusses how legal organizations can create an inclusive workplace for transgender employees and potential recruits. The measures suggested in this episode by Ames Simmons (he/him) of the National Center for Transgender Equity will also foster a welcoming environment for clients and community members. 

The cover story of March's Legal Management is "Making Mental Health Matter," a candid account from Immediate Past President James L. Cornell III's recent struggles with mental well-being. This podcast episode features a source from that article, Bella Sterling, MS, MA. The mental health counselor explains why seeking therapy can be so hard and dispels a number of myths.

 

This episode of Legal Management Talk is brought to you by Jelly Marketing. Monique Mahler polled her fellow ALA members about what their firms are planning in the post-COVID-19 landscape, questioning them about everything from remote work policies to the future of their real estate footprint. Read more in the November/December Legal Management cover story, “Law Firm Life After COVID-19.” 

 

Monica Wofford, CSP, joined the podcast to walk us through the newest Legal Management continuing education course, “Where Are Your Markers?” She argues that re-evaluating how you mark your success can make you a more effective leader.

 

Diversity and inclusion consultant Michelle Silverthorn is a former columnist for ALA's Legal Management magazine and a speaker at past conferences, including the Brezina session at the 2019 Annual Conference & Expo. Now, with her own company and a brand-new book under her belt, she rejoins ALA to discuss the current state of diversity, inclusion and equity and whether a permanent shift is coming to the workplace.

 

In the September cover story of Legal Management, "Working Around Micromanagement," we learned how a tough employee-manager relationship can make work unbearable. Jill Maganza-Ruiz, a senior human resources and talent executive for the largest firm in the United States, joined Legal Management Talk to provide some additional advice for both managers and employees.

ALA member Krista Hart discusses how and why she established a wellness program for staff and attorneys at her firm, Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel. She also talks about how the program has had to adapt to the new normal of a remote workforce with many additional COVID-19-inflicted challenges.

 

ALA member John Jakovenko, CLM, SPHR, MBA, chats about the importance of continuing education in the professional development of staff in a law firm or legal department. After all, the lawyers do CLE, don't they?

 

GrowthPlay Consultant Brianna Leung returns to the podcast to discuss her recent Legal Management cover feature about change, which turned out to be a prescient topic as the COVID-19 pandemic alters our professional and personal lives. Read the article, "Leading Through Change."

 

Ross Fishman, JD, expands on his recent Legal Management column about avoiding slashing all marketing costs due to the COVID-19-related business downturn ("The Top 5 Budget Items Law Firms Will Try to Slash in Response to COVID-19"). Instead, he advocates for hustling for new business, emphasizing busy practice areas and focusing your spend where it counts in order to stay competitive.

 

Lance Breger joins us to talk about how to handle team-building, negative emotions and wellness as we deal with remote work and major stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Rob Mattern discusses information governance, outsourcing and back-office efficiency as they relate to his latest educational offerings for the ALA audience. Learn more from Rob through his column in the March issue of Legal Management, "The Efficiency of the Attorney Experience in Your Firm’s Back Office."

 

Rob Mattern and Nathan Curtis discuss Mattern, LLC's first-of-its-kind survey about law firm cost recovery for e-discovery and litigation support. Find the survey here. Learn more from Rob through his column in the March issue of Legal Management, "The Efficiency of the Attorney Experience in Your Firm’s Back Office."

 

Stephanie R. Hanna, Esq., the Founder of professional coaching firm The Other 85, discusses how to retain talented associates, teach them the ways of business and set them on a path toward rainmaker status.

 

We spoke with IT consultant Michael Kemps about managing the remote workplace and keeping IT systems afloat as law firms and legal departments revise work-from-home policies in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

He's a featured source in the Legal Management article "Surviving COVID-19: Tips for Managing a Healthy Workforce and Keeping Your Clients Informed."

 

Cynthia Thomas discusses how to protect your law firm's operations by succession planning not only for attorneys but also for administrators.

Brianna Leung of GrowthPlay talks about New Year's resolutions for the busy professional. She wrote “Resolve to Balance the Scales in 2020,” the Business Partner Perspective column for the January issue of Legal Management.

 

Staffing expert and recruiting consultant Jennifer Hill talks about the conclusions she reached and action items she detailed in her white paper for ALA, “The Changing Role of Law Firm Leadership.” You can also read her previous white paper, “The Changing Role of the Legal Secretary.”

 

ALA member Nadean Stone, CLM, MBA, describes what it’s like to publish her first book, titled No Stone Unturned: A Remarkable Journey to Identity. She talks about translating painful experiences into a memoir and how her professional background and network of legal management professionals inspire her to keep fighting for justice.

 

ALA members and Administrators Sarah Antonello, Danita Jones and Suzy Klepac have conceived a new way to support early career legal managers: the First Five . A part of ALA's Online Community, this members-only forum will provide a space for asking questions, sharing solutions and networking.

 

Lori Hughes talks about how she transitioned her own office to a paperless, cloud-based storage system.

 

Tim Corcoran talks with us about why law firms might need to change how they handle partner compensation.

Kathy Scourby of KNS Consulting joins us to talk disaster preparedness and business continuity plans.

 

Information, data and knowledge are important business assets, but most firms aren't managing them in a way that reflects their true value. That's why ALA is conducting a survey in partnership with James Price's company Experience Matters and the University of South Australia: to find industry benchmarks and recommendation for information assets management.

Mercer Principal Norma Sharara — who works closely with the ABA Retirement Funds Program, an ALA VIP sponsor — describes the current tax and regulatory picture for retirement plans.

 

As law firms continue to grow and merge, the question of office space and configuration is critical to legal management professionals tasked with operations. That's why First American Equipment Finance's Karen Leastman and Christina Floyd have joined us to talk about financing office renovations.

Michael Moore, JD, talks with us about law firm succession planning.

Corey Saban answers some of our questions about the promotional and engagement powers of web video.

Get the answers to your questions about background screening in today's law firm — domestically and internationally.

 

Ginger Brennan is here with us to talk about how to administer your firm’s retirement plan in a changing environment.

 

Today our guest is John Gilbert, senior vice president at nQueue and a recent contributor to ALA’s Legal Management magazine. His feature in the November/December issue was titled “The Paper Pyramid Scheme” and offered some surprising insights into how off-site storage can end up eating a major chunk of a firm’s budget.

 

Joining us on our podcast today is Link Christin, an expert on the particular struggles among attorneys regarding substance use. Today he’s speaking with us about the ethics and liability concerns surrounding this topic.

 

Today our guest is Al Marcella, here to discuss risk management and cybersecurity in the context of legal management.

 

Joining us today is Kristen Brown, speaker and founder of Happy Hour Effect. Her goal is to motivate audiences to strive for maximum impact in their work and personal lives by uncovering the unique characteristics that make them memorable and magnetic.

 

Ritu Bhasin explains how a more diverse workplace thrives on authenticity — embracing differences — versus minimization — ignoring and/or stifling them.

 

Have you ever had a question about diversity and inclusion, but didn’t know who to ask or how? Sarah Babineau, managing partner at Compass Metrics, LLC, offers a slew of practical tips on disability etiquette and inclusion in this episode. 

 

Jobst Elster joins the podcast to talk about his new column in Legal Management magazine on cloud technology and cyber security. "The cloud is a bit like social media in legal — no matter how hard we try to ignore it and dismiss its viability, it just won’t go away."

 

Ari Kaplan joins the podcast to discuss his upcoming Annual Conference & Expo session, "Recovery, Renewal and Reinvention: Navigating the Next Decade."

 

Steven Levy joins the podcast to discuss best practices in project management, particularly in law firms. His answer? Simplify.

 

Michael Moore, JD, joins the podcast to discuss some of the factors that are affecting law firms’ ability – or inability – to keep their best employees.