Legal Management Talk

This episode of Legal Management Talk is brought to you by Jelly Marketing. Jelly's free Solutions Series webcast, What Can You Expect and What Should You Pay Your Marketing Vendors?, is happening Tuesday, December 1. Sign up here. 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."  Mahler's research project is for her master's thesis at the University of Denver Strum College of Law. A scholarship from the Foundation of the Association of Legal Administrators helped fund her studies. Speaker Bio Monique Mahler is the HR Manager for BakerHostetler’s Houston and Dallas offices. She is the first recipient of the Foundation of the Association of Legal Administrators’ Student Legal Career Scholarship. Mahler received a bachelor’s in sociology from the University of Houston – Downtown. She will obtain her master’s degree in legal administration from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law in May 2021.

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. Reading the article is enough to gain some insights, but if you complete a short assessment afterward, you can also earn a CE credit. Legal Management CE courses offer a quick and easy way to earn CE credits, particularly for hard-to-find topic areas like Ethics and Substance Abuse. As such, they’re particularly useful for Certified Legal Manager (CLM)® recertification. Whatever you use them for, it’s simply a matter of reading an article and completing a short assessment. Learn more here. Speaker Bio Monica Wofford is a leadership development coach, consultant and keynote speaker. As Chief Executive Officer of the training and consulting firm Contagious Companies, Inc., she and her team assist organizations and their management in developing powerful skills in leadership. She’s the author of Contagious Leadership and Make Difficult People Disappear. She has also been a frequent speaker at ALA’s national conferences and chapter events. Since March 2020, she has had the privilege of consulting as the Interim CEO of a two-county United Way nonprofit.

Speaker Kathy Gruver, PhD, is presenting two education sessions at the ALA Virtual Master Class: Critical Skills for Legal Management Success: CM10: Welcome and Opening Session: Conquer Your Stress: Go from Worrier to WarriorCM12: How to Get Anything Done with Anyone She joined the podcast to preview these sessions and discuss the importance of "soft skills," which are often devalued in favor of "hard skills." Register now for the virtual conference, happening on October 29! Speaker Bio Kathy Gruver, PhD, has graced stages on four continents — including two TEDx talks, three cruise ships and a handful of islands. She hosts a TV show based on her first book, The Alternative Medicine Cabinet, and has earned her PhD in natural health. Gruver is the 12-time award-winning author of seven books, including Conquer Your Stress, Workplace Wellness, Conquer Your Stress at Work and Journey of Healing. She has studied at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and has spent most of her life studying psychology and human behavior. Gruver has been featured as an expert in countless publications and has appeared on over 250 radio and TV shows. For fun and stress relief, Gruver does fly trapeze.

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. You can read an excerpt from Michelle's book, Authentic Diversity: How to Change the Workplace for Good, in the next issue of Legal Management, which is out on October 9. Visit her website to find out how to purchase the book,  Read past Legal Management columns by Michelle here. In this episode, she mentions the Nice White Parents podcast and the Mansfield Rule. Listen to that podcast here and read more about Mansfield Rule here. Speaker Bio Michelle Silverthorn is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Inclusion Nation, a diversity consulting firm that partners with forward-thinking organizations to design authentic, inclusive workplaces built for success. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School, she lives in Chicago with her husband and two daughters.

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. Speaker Bio Jill Maganza-Ruiz is a senior HR/Talent executive with more than 20 years' experience in the legal industry. She is currently the HR Director for Dentons US LLP and is based in the firm’s New York office. Jill has been a member of ALA since 2006. 

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. Look for Krista's "Tough Topics" column in the September 2020 issue of Legal Management. In the meantime, check out these existing ALA resources: Wellness Strategies During the Pandemic with Lance Breger (podcast) Keeping Your Head Above Water During COVID-19 (webinar) Zoom Fatigued? How to Stay Virtually Engaged Without Losing Our Minds (webinar) Wellness resources and roundtables featuring fellow legal management professionals (COVID-19 resources page) Speaker Bio Krista Hart is a Firm Administrator who is dedicated to assisting the Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel attorneys and staff with all their workplace needs. Motivated by the belief that employees are the No. 1 asset of a firm, Hart sees her role as crucial to maintaining Panitch Schwarze’s workplace culture. She currently serves as President-Elect of Association of Legal Administrators’ Philadelphia Chapter.

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? Jakovenko is the instructor for ALA's HR-themed web-based courses, which delve deep over six weeks into the knowledge needed for success as a legal management professional. You can register now for HR2: Performance Management and Compensation, which begins on September 17, 2020. Speaker Bio John Jakovenko, CLM, SPHR, MBA, is the Firm Administrator at Sparks Law, LLC, in Alpharetta, Georgia. His career spans two decades and includes leadership roles in human resource departments in law firms in Los Angeles and Atlanta. He is also an adjunct professor at Kennesaw State University, teaching courses on human resources.

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," and take a short exam if you'd like to earn a continuing education credit. You can hear Leung's last appearance on the podcast here. Speaker Bio Brianna Leung is a Principal Consultant with GrowthPlay, where she leverages talent analytics to help legal professionals drive innovation and change within their organizations.

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. Fishman's newest books can be found on Amazon: The Ultimate Law Firm Associate's Working-From-Home Marketing Checklist and The Ultimate Law Firm Partner’s Working-From-Home Marketing Checklist. Easter egg: See if you can count how many times the host's dog insists her squeaky toy is more important than this interview. Working from home! Speaker Bio Ross Fishman, JD, specializes in branding, websites and marketing training for law firms. A former litigator, marketing director and marketing partner, he has helped hundreds of firms dominate their markets. Fishman was the first inductee into the Legal Marketing Association’s “Hall of Fame.” He’s written seven marketing books, which are available on Amazon.

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. Visit ALA's Coronavirus Response webpage for more resources. Speaker Bio Lance Breger is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Infinity Wellness Partners, where he helped create a WorkLIFE Wellness Program and Executive Coaching Program. His company partners with forward-thinking executives, organizations and industries around the world to spread holistic health throughout the corporate landscape to make wellness a priority in the workplace every day.

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 an upcoming webinar, The Getting to Zero Strategy, and his column in the March issue of Legal Management, "The Efficiency of the Attorney Experience in Your Firm’s Back Office." Speaker Bio Rob Mattern, MBA, is President and Founder of Mattern, LLC. Mattern has been widely published, including recently in the The Wall Street Journal, Law Technology News and Legal Management magazine. He is an editorial board member of Law Journal Newsletters’ Accounting Financial Planning for Law Firms.

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 an upcoming webinar, The Getting to Zero Strategy, and his column in the March issue of Legal Management, "The Efficiency of the Attorney Experience in Your Firm’s Back Office." Speaker Bios Rob Mattern, MBA, is President and Founder of Mattern, LLC. Mattern has been widely published, including recently in The Wall Street Journal, Law Technology News and Legal Management magazine. He is an editorial board member of Law Journal Newsletters’ Accounting Financial Planning for Law Firms. Nathan Curtis, IGP, is a Consultant at Mattern, LLC, where he is focused on emerging technologies and their application in the legal environment, driving results through Mattern’s customized RFP process, and overseeing service, technology and policy implementations. He is also a Six Sigma Yellow Belt.

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." You can find more resources on ALA's Coronavirus Response webpage. Speaker Bio Michael Kemps is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Innovative Computing Systems, Inc., where he cultivates relationships with clients and partners and, with his management team, provides leadership, strategic and ethical direction and oversight of company operations.

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. Stephanie is speaking at ALA's 2020 Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her Legal Industry/Business Management education session is titled Building Rainmakers: How to Help Set Up the Next Generation for Success. View the session description here. Speaker Bio Stephanie R. Hanna, Esq., is the Founder and Owner of The Other 85. She has been coaching law students and attorneys for the past decade — helping them navigate the profession, build their reputation and develop their careers. Having been a prosecutor, judicial staff attorney, solo practitioner, magistrate and law firm associate, Stephanie understands the dynamics at play in each environment.

Cynthia Thomas discusses how to protect your law firm's operations by succession planning not only for attorneys but also for administrators. She is speaking at ALA's 2020 Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her Human Resources Management education session is titled Don’t Let Institutional Knowledge Walk Out the Door: Succession Planning for Administrative Managers. View the session description here, and make sure you're registered for the May 3–6 event. Speaker Bio Cynthia Thomas is the Interim Operations Manager at A to Z Law and Owner of PLMC & Associates, a law firm management consulting company that provides best practices in human resources and staffing. She is the Associate Editor of the editorial board of Law Practice and the Co-Vice Chair of the ABA LP Lawyer Leadership and Management Committee. She often writes articles on and is invited to speak and conduct presentations focusing on law firm staffing of the future and lean staffing. 

Anna Cates Williams, JD, MBA, shares her thoughts about improving efficiency by increasing your app use. She is speaking at ALA's 2020 Annual Conference & Expo in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her Operations Management education session is titled Apps and Social Media: A Firm Administrator’s Toolkit. View the session description here, and make sure you're registered for the May 3-6 event. As she mentions in the podcast, you can reach out to Anna with questions via LinkedIn. Speaker Bio  Anna Cates Williams, JD, MBA, is the Executive Director of Walker Lambe, PLLC, a boutique estate planning firm in Durham, North Carolina. She drives marketing, operations and financial initiatives for the firm. Williams has a diverse work history in law firm marketing and operations. She began practicing law with a healthcare start-up in Nashville, Tennessee, where she worked within the legal procurement team, negotiating alternative billing strategies as the client. She later moved into business development and management with a leading legal staffing and recruiting organization, where she partnered with large firm marketing and practice development teams delivering e-discovery and managed services solutions. 

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. Speaker Bio Brianna Leung is a Principal Consultant with GrowthPlay, where she leverages talent analytics to help legal professionals drive innovation and change within their organizations.

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," and register for her webinars, like Is the Legal Secretary Becoming Extinct? and Creating an Empowered Environment. All of ALA's free white papers can be found here. Speaker Bio Jennifer Hill is President of JHill's Staffing Services, a Division of Marcum Search LLC. She began recruiting in 2003 and has recruited for top-tier law firms and corporations throughout the United States. Hill also hosts a weekly radio show on LA Talk Radio, “Get Yourself the Job,” for more than 30,000 listeners a month; she interviews experts and authors from around the world about landing one's dream job.

ALA Executive Director Oliver Yandle joins the podcast to talk about how conferences are going and discuss what your Association has planned for the future. Here are reference links for some of the things Oliver talked about: Chapter Leadership InstituteLarge Firm Principal Administrators RetreatC4 The Legal Industry ConferenceALA Master Class: Leadership for Legal Management Professionals2020 Annual Conference & ExpoOrganizational pricing optionLegal Management Resource Hub Speaker Bio Oliver Yandle, JD, CAE, is Executive Director of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA), the largest international organization providing support to people in the legal management profession. Before joining ALA in July 2012, he served as the Executive Vice President of the Commercial Law League and the Executive Director of the International Association of Defense Counsel. He also was an adjunct instructor of legal analysis and writing at the Washington College of Law at American University.

Dan Lear, a speaker and facilitator for September's C4: The Legal Industry Conference, discusses the event, design thinking and the legal industry challenges attendees will tackle. The conference will occur September 18-20 in Boston, Massachusetts. The registration deadline for the early bird rate is August 5. Sign up now!  Speaker Bio Dan Lear is a lawyer, blogger and legal industry gadfly. As a technology-focused business lawyer, Lear advised companies from start-ups to the Fortune 100. He has spoken at marquee legal technology events including ILTACON, LegalTech, ReInvent Law New York, ABA TechShow, CodeX FutureLaw at Stanford Law School, and many others. From 2014 to 2018, Lear worked as the Director of Industry Relations at the online legal marketplace, Avvo, where he spoke frequently to lawyers, bar associations and other legal groups. Find him at rightbrainlaw.co or @rightbrainlaw on Twitter.

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, LLP, in Nashville Tennessee. She has been a leading member of the Large Firm Administrators Caucus for many years. Teresa is also a Past President of ALA and Vice Chair of the Professional Development Advisory Committee.

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 organisations, by and large they are very poorly managed, usually with significant commercial implications. James is internationally recognized as an author of peer-reviewed papers and a presenter to business and academic conferences.

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 implementation of the policy; and for monitoring of the platform of fund investments.

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 (CLFP). She has almost a decade of equipment leasing knowledge and dedicated experience working with the legal industry. She holds a bachelor's degree in communications and an MBA from St. John Fisher College. Additionally, Floyd successfully completed the Legal Management Finance Specialist Certificate Program through ALA. In her tenure, Floyd has been instrumental in growing First American's legal business to more than 200 firms. 

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.

Ritu Bhasin explains how a more diverse workplace thrives on authenticity - embracing differences - versus minimization - ignoring and/or stifling them. Ritu Bhasin, LL.B., MBA, is the Founder and Principal of BCI. Recognized globally for her diversity and leadership expertise, she has received a number of awards and distinctions for her work. She has extensive experience in delivering programming, consulting, and coaching across a range of management areas with a focus on leadership development, diversity and inclusion, and the advancement of women. Bhasin works primarily with senior leadership teams, boards of directors, middle management, and emerging leader groups, including women and diverse professionals.

What is the role of the law department operations managers? Why is it so crucial to understand this market segment? Find out in this episode of Legal Management Talk, and learn more at ALA's Corporate Law Department Symposium. Register at alanet.org/clds.   Susan Hackett is the Founder of Legal Executive Leadership. Previously, she served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for 22 years. Hackett's practice is designed to help legal executives successfully lead law departments and law firms. She helps clients assess and implement best or leading practices, leverage internal and external knowledge, demonstrate and increase value to their clients, and deliver results – rather than just lots of hard work.

Michael E. McCabe Jr. is a registered patent attorney with 20 years of patent litigation experience. He previously served as risk management counsel for a large IP firm. He presently heads the Attorney Discipline and Ethics group at Funk & Bolton, P.A., where his practice focuses on representing law firms and corporations on matters regarding ethics and malpractice, and representing IP practitioners in disciplinary, reinstatement, and admission matters before the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, as well as disciplinary defense before the State Bars of D.C, Maryland and Virginia.

Joining the podcast today is Alma Asay, former litigator at Gibson Dunn, and now one of the few female founders of a legal tech startup, a cloud-based litigation management software called Allegory. She shares her insights on the legal technology space. For more on the latest trends, best practices and technologies in the legal management space, check out ALA’s flagship publication, Legal Management, at legalmanagement.org. For more information about any of ALA’s education, events and member services, please visit alanet.org. 

Paula Davis-Laack is a stress and resilience expert who will be speaking at ALA’s upcoming Large Firm Principal Administrators Retreat about “Building Resilient Lawyers and Leaders.”  Paula Davis-Laack, JD, MAPP, is a former practicing lawyer, an internationally-published writer, speaker, media contributor, and a stress and resilience expert who has taught burnout prevention and resilience workshops for thousands of professionals around the world. Her articles on stress, burnout prevention, resilience, and thriving at work are prominently featured on her blogs in The Huffington Post, Forbes, Fast Company and Psychology Today. She also writes a regular column called "On Balance" for Wisconsin Lawyer magazine. Her latest e-book is titled Addicted to Busy: Your Blueprint for Burnout Prevention, available here. Her expertise has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including the Lawyerist, Law360.com, various ABA webinars, and the Women's Law Journal. She is the Founder and CEO of the Stress & Resilience Institute, a training and consulting firm devoted to helping companies and busy professionals build their resilience to stress. She is also a partner in Lawyer Strong, LLC, which provides resilience training to law firms.

Bill Mech discusses an ongoing project with ALA to help change the way we talk about legal management. Members should look for more information about the ALA UPBMS Taxonomy in the coming weeks! William (Bill) Mech is currently the Executive Director with Cunningham Meyer & Vedrine, PC. He also serves as a Legal Consultant for the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) and has his own business called ofPartner Consulting Services. Mech is an accomplished Management Executive with a proven record of success improving operations and controlling costs in legal service organizations. 

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.  Like what you hear? Read Babineau's column in the April issue ofLegal Management magazine and consider attending her session at ALA's Annual Conference & Expo! Sarah Babineau, MHR, PHR, SHRM-CP, is the Founder and Managing Partner of Compass Metrics, LLC, a woman-owned, disability-owned business enterprise. The consultancy focuses on law and professional services firm diversity analytics, disability inclusion programs and affirmative action planning. Babineau also provides expert witness testimony in matters related to the employment of people with disabilities.  sarah.babineau@compassmetrics.com | 508.333.1128 www.compassmetrics.com

The Association of Legal Administrators' President-Elect Laura Broomell shares trends in ALA membership and legal management as a whole. Laura is the Chief Operating Officer with Greene Espel PLLP, a 25-attorney firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has nearly 30 years of experience as a legal management professional, working with three firms. She received her B.A. from Metropolitan State University and earned her CLM designation in 2004. Laura has held numerous leadership positions in the Minnesota Chapter, including President. She was a Region 3 Representative for two years, followed by serving five years on the ALA Certification Committee, chairing the Committee for two of those years. Laura joined the ALA Board of Directors in 2013, and she served two years as an At-Large Director. Last year, she transitioned to the ALA President-Elect position. She is honored to become ALA’s President in Los Angeles in May.   ALA is the undisputed leader for the business of law, focused on the delivery of cutting-edge management and leadership products and services to the global legal community. We identify and provide solutions to the most strategic and operational challenges our members and customers face today, while we prepare them for the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow. www.alanet.org

Learn how firms can foster efficiency to increase value to clients and gain competitive advantage. Want to hear more? Register for ALA's Annual Conference & Expo in Los Angeles, May 22-25, to attend the Advanced Profitability Track of educational sessions. Catherine Alman MacDonagh, JD, is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the Legal Lean Sigma Institute LLC. She is a former corporate counsel and law firm executive who now teaches and provides training and consulting services in process improvement and project management, strategic planning, marketing and business development. A Lean Sigma® Black Belt and certified Six Sigma Green Belt, MacDonagh is an adjunct professor at Suffolk Law School and George Washington University’s Masters in Law Firm Management. She is Chief Enthusiasm Officer of The Mocktail and The Legal MocktailTM and the author of Lean and Six Sigma in Law Firms.

  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." Jobst Elster is InsideLegal’s Head of Content and Legal Market Strategy. He has served as a legal market strategist for the last 17 years, advising companies entering the legal market, involved in mergers and acquisitions, and expanding strategic operations overseas. Elster regularly writes and speaks on legal technology, market research and leveraging market data, technology innovations and futures, legal marketing and big data. 

Ari Kaplan joins the podcast to discuss his upcoming Annual Conference & Expo session, "Recovery, Renewal and Reinvention: Navigating the Next Decade." Ari Kaplan is the author of The Opportunity Maker and Reinventing Professional Services. After nearly nine years practicing with large law firms in New York City, Kaplan – named to the inaugural Fastcase 50 – has become a leading legal industry analyst. In addition to keynoting events in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, he has had the privilege of addressing administrators in 12 ALA chapters and at the Law Firm Financial Management Conference. He is also the founder of Lawcountability®.