Legal Management Talk

Kim Cannon, David Miceli and Teresa Walker — go over the details of the 2019 Large Firm Principal Administrators Retreat, including some important changes to the format. This year, the annual event will focus less on classroom-style instruction and more on idea exchange among attendees. The retreat is happening in Nashville, Tennessee, August 1-3, and eligible legal management professionals are encouraged to register now! Sign up by June 27 to get the discounted early bird rate. Kim Cannon is the Chief Operations Officer at Bass Berry & Sims PLC in Nashville, Tennessee. She serves as Chair of the 2019 Large Firm Retreat Planning Committee. David Miceli is the Executive Director of Balch & Bingham, LLP, in Birmingham, Alabama. He serves as the Chair of the Large Firm Administrators Caucus Steering Committee and thus functions as a liaison to the 2019 Large Firm Retreat Planning Committee. Teresa Walker is the Senior Adviser and Chief Operating Officer, Emeritus, at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis

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. Nadean Stone, CLM, MBA, is the author of No Stone Unturned: A Remarkable Journey to Identity as well as a legal management consultant. She is a member of the South Florida Chapter of ALA and divides her time between South Florida and Vermont.

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 Community. A part of ALA's Online Community, this members-only forum will provide a space for asking questions, sharing solutions and networking. As mentioned in the episode, the Legal Management article about the Capital Chapter president can be found here. Speaker Bios Sarah Antonello is the Office Administrator of Husch Blackwell LLP in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a member of the Nebraska Chapter. Danita Jones is the Legal Administrator at Chubbuck Duncan & Robey, PC, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is the Treasurer of the Oklahoma City Chapter. Suzy Klepac is the Office Administrator at Kirk & Chaney in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She is the President-Elect of the Oklahoma City Chapter.

Lori Hughes, a panelist for a session at September's Intellectual Property Conference for Legal Management Professionals, talks about how she transitioned her own office to a paperless, cloud-based storage system. Speaker Bio Lori Hughes is a member of the ALA Board of Directors as the Region 5 Director and has been an ALA member since 2002. Hughes has been with Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP in Portland, Oregon, for 26 years and is the Lead Operations and Information Security Officer. She managed the firm’s “less-paper” initiative and move to its first electronic records system — updated to a cloud solution for records in the past two years — and continues to manage the Records Department as part of her current responsibilities. 

Consultant Tim Corcoran, who's speaking at 2018's Advanced Financial Administration workshops and Regional Legal Management Conferences, talks about why law firms might need to change how they handle partner compensation. Speaker Bio Timothy B. Corcoran is a Principal with the Corcoran Consulting Group and a Past President of the Legal Marketing Association. In his practice, he advises law firm leaders, in-house counsel and legal service providers on how to profit during a time of great change. This includes assisting law firm leaders with business strategy, primarily in the areas of operational excellence and business growth, and assisting in-house counsel with managing preferred provider programs. 

Wondering what you missed at ALA's 2018 Annual Conference & Expo? This audio exploration will help you get a partial experience — from speakers like John Quiñones and Vernice Armour to valuable education sessions. Interested in attending a future conference? Visit alanet.org/events to learn about our fall conferences, including Regionals and the specialty events, as well as information about the 2019 Annual Conference as it's announced.

Kathy Scourby of KNS Consulting joins us to talk disaster preparedness and business continuity plans. She'll be a presenter at ALA's Annual Conference & Expo in May 2018, and you can find her insights in the April 2018 issue of Legal Management. Speaker Bio Kathryn Scourby is the Principal of KNS Consulting, LLC. She works with professional service firms to achieve their goals in the areas of business continuity, disaster preparedness, risk management and compliance. Scourby trains management professionals and all levels of staff at private service firms and facilitates tabletop exercises in these focus areas. Additionally, she served on ALA's Board of Directors (2004–2008), was a trustee for the Foundation of the Association of Legal Administrators (2010–2013), and currently serves on ALA's International Relations Committee.

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 Experience Matters (James's company) and the University of South Australia: to find industry benchmarks and recommendation for information assets management. Speaker Bio James Price is the Managing Director of Experience Matters. He has more than 30 years' experience in the information industry in a career that has included working for a global hardware manufacturer, a software developer and a systems integrator. During his career James realised that, in and of itself, hardware and software adds no value – it’s the information that the infrastructure delivers that’s valuable. So he formed Experience Matters, a firm that advises on how to manage vital data, information and knowledge as a business asset. He formed Experience Matters to address the problem that, while Information Assets are vitally important to orga

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.  Norma Sharara is a Principal in Mercer’s Washington Resource Group, focusing on tax-qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, including ERISA fiduciary rules, state-run retirement initiatives and federal retirement policy. Sharara has more than 25 years of experience with retirement plan issues. Before joining Mercer in 2015, she practiced law in Washington, D.C., and has been a frequent speaker and author on retirement plan topics. The ABA Retirement Funds Program has been supplying retirement plans exclusively to the legal community for over 50 years. Mercer Trust Company is the ABA Retirement Funds Program’s investment fiduciary, investment manager, and trustee and custodian. Mercer has responsibility for development of the investment policy for the program, subject to acceptance by the ABA Retirement Funds; for implemen

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. You can hear them in full at their 2018 Annual Conference & Expo presentation. Karen Leastman is the Vice President of First American Equipment Finance and has more than a decade of equipment-leasing knowledge and dedicated experience working with the law firm industry. Since joining First American in 2003, Leastman has been a key contributor in building First American's law firm division, which now serves more than 200 law firms across the United States, including AmLaw 100 and 200 firms. As a Certified Lease and Finance Professional (CLFP), she's a leader in the equipment leasing industry. Christina Floyd is the Vice President of First American Legal Finance and is a Certified Lease and Finance Professional (

Michael Moore, a speaker at ALA's 2018 Annual Conference & Expo, talks with us about law-firm succession planning. Michael Moore, JD, is the Founder of Moore's Law, LLC, and helps both lawyers and law firms create professional success. Moore specializes in individual marketing, client development, and leadership coaching and advises law firms on strategic planning, growth initiatives and resource optimization. A frequent speaker at ALA events across the country, his current topics have included mentoring, leadership, financial management and strategic planning.

Corey Saban, a 2018 Annual Conference speaker, answers some of our questions about the promotional and engagement powers of web video. Corey Saban is a Cofounder and Vice President of TheLaw.TV, a platform that helps lawyers effectively reach prospective clients and communicate their stories through video. He started his media career as a TV journalist, interviewing respectable and recognizable figures and scoring Emmy nominations and AP Awards along the way. An accomplished speaker and 15-year news veteran, Saban is now on the other side of the industry, consulting for law firms on media and content strategies. 

Get the answers to your questions about background screening in today's law firm - domestically and internationally. Kevin P. Prendergast is the President & General Counsel at Research Associates, Inc., a corporate investigative firm serving clients since 1953.  RAI serves the investigative needs for professional service firms and works with law firms throughout the world for pre-employment background investigations, due diligence in transactional work and litigation support investigations. Kevin oversees the compliance program at RAI and works with clients and their counsel in developing legally compliant background screening programs.  Mr. Prendergast graduated from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law and has been licensed to practice law in Ohio since 1987.  He is a member of the American Bar Association, Ohio State Bar Association and the Society for Human Resource Management. 

Ginger Brennan is here with us today to talk about how to administer your firm’s retirement plan in a changing environment. She will also be a speaker on this topic at ALA's Annual Conference & Expo, April 2-5 in Denver, Colorado. Speaker Bio Ginger Brennan, FINRA Series 6, 7, 24, 26, 63, and Certified Employee Benefits Specialist, is the Senior Vice President and National Director of Sales for the ABA Retirement Funds Program. Brennan is responsible for setting and driving the sales strategy for the program and oversees all of the sales efforts and training for the entire program sales team across the United States. A veteran to retirement plan sales, Brennan brings more than 30 years of experience in sales and sales management.

Eric Wangler is president of the North American business unit for BigHand. With over 15 years of experience in the legal industry, Eric previously served as vice president of Ricoh’s legal vertical segment. Since joining BigHand, Eric has grown the North American business and the BigHand customer base significantly. In addition, Eric led the acquisition of Esquire Innovations (Now BigHand Office) in Temecula, California, a leading provider of Microsoft Office integrated practice management software, services and applications for the legal market. The acquisition has enabled BigHand to broaden its suite of product offerings and continue its mission of providing innovative workflow efficiency software that streamlines processes and empowers attorneys and law firm support staff to deliver their best work wherever and whenever needed.  Check out Eric's article in the upcoming April issue of Legal Management magazine, at legalmanagement.org.

Marc Adler is the Vice President of Sales for PerfectLaw Software, a developer of billing, accounting, financial and case, calendar and document management software for the mid to large size legal industry. He is also a committed member of the ALA Business Partner Relations Committee as well as the LegalTech Advisory board. After a few years of managing implementations for some of the leading law firms in the country, Marc moved into sales at PerfectLaw and has worked the last 20 years bringing the leading All-in-One solution to the legal community at more than 200 ALA events over the years.   Marc be available to chat in ALA's Exhibit Hall the Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado, coming up April 2-5. Stop by to say hello! www.alanet.org/conf17 

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. Learn more from John Gilbert in April at ALA’s Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado. www.alanet.org/conf17  Speaker Bio John Gilbert is the Senior Vice President of nQueue and has more than 30 years of experience in selling to and supporting law firms throughout the United States. Gilbert helped pioneer the methodology used to customize Microsoft Word for the legal environment — including the awareness and removal of metadata in documents — and has been published in Law Technology News, Peer to Peer, Legal Management and National Law Journal.

Joining us on our podcast today is Link Christin, an expert on the particular struggles among attorneys regarding substance abuse. Today he’s speaking with us about the ethics and liability concerns surrounding this topic. Hear more from Christin at ALA's Annual Conference & Expo, April 2-5 in Denver, Colorado: alanet.org/conf17  Speaker Bio Link Christin is the Executive Director of the Legal Professionals Program at Caron Treatment Centers. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Heightened Performance LLC, a behavioral health consulting firm. After decades of practice as an attorney followed by a second career of treating impaired attorneys in a residential setting, he founded Heightened Performance in order to bring his experience to the law firm and lawyer, the corporation and the law school. Prior to creating Heightened Performance, he founded and directed the Hazelden Legal Professionals Program, the first track of its kind at a major treatment center.

Today our guest is Al Marcella, here to discuss risk management and cybersecurity in the context of legal management. Al will be in Denver, Colorado, this April to speak at ALA’s Annual Conference & Expo. Speaker Bio Al Marcella is an internationally recognized public speaker, researcher, workshop and seminar leader with 36 years of experience in IT audit, security and assessing internal controls. He's authored numerous articles and 28 books on cyber extortion, workplace violence, personal privacy, electronic stored information (ESI), privacy risks in multifunctional devices (MFDs), cyber forensics, disaster and incident management planning, ethics and more.

Hear more from Kristen at ALA's Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado. Speaker Bio Kristen Brown is an international keynote speaker and facilitator who motivates audiences to strive for maximum impact in their work and personal lives by uncovering the unique characteristics that make you memorable and magnetic. She spent 15 years in sales and marketing leadership roles before starting her own award-winning company and Happy Hour Effect movement. She has worked with Fortune 500 teams across industries to drive sales and market share including companies like Target, Kraft, Bare Minerals, Cargill, Regis, Walmart, Mayo Health, and more.