Articles for Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators

Networking is a key part of any successful career management plan. It allows you to develop your knowledge base, expand your circle of contacts, and build credibility in your field. However, networking (which is really just the business word for relationship-building) can be filled with mysteries and minefields. Here are a few key tips to help you navigate this sometime treacherous terrain.

Regular carpet maintenance not only is “green” friendly for the environment, but it is “green” friendly for your firm’s wallet.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become a popular business topic as a way to increase efficiency and reduce costs. However, is a VoIP solution the right solution for your firm? This article answers some key questions about VoIP and its use in law firms.

Is your Firm in the Green Zone? If not, learn how to get on the highway to becoming green.

Facilities can benefit by being proactive in facility maintenance. Regular carpet maintenance reduces allergens trapped beneath the surface of your company’s largest air filter!

This is the first article of a four part must read series regarding 401K Plan Sponsors and their fiduciary responsibilities. As a Plan Sponsor, what is your obligation to educate your employees about your 401K plan and saving for retirement? What constitutes plan education or investment advice?

By Patti Lane, CLM, Michael Stephens, PHR, Marshall Fletcher and Lisa Nietzel, CLM Evidence is everywhere throughout the Association of Legal Administrators that the dynamics of the vendor/administrator relationship have changed and matured. Far from being the “enemy,” vendors are our business partners. We need them and they need us, and it is in all of our best interests to change our thinking and our paradigms. Through the efforts of the Vendor Relations ...

By Anthony K. Greene, CRM, CIC, Jamison Insurance Group As we come to the end of 2009 most insurance companies have seen an increase in reports of actual and/or potential lawyers’ professional liability claims. This is no surprise since historically claims against law firms and other professional advisors have increased after every major economic downturn. In many instances billings, collections and fee dispute related issues put administrators and other staff ...

An introductory look at what it takes to maintain your facility By Stephen Lewis, Technical Director, MilliCare Choosing a Sustainable Maintenance Plan Equals Financial and Environmental Savings Carpet is an important investment for any organization; it is both a costly asset and, visually, makes a big impression on visitors and clients. As an investment, protecting and extending the life of carpeting should be considered a top priority. Being proactive and ...

By Becky Jones of Milner, Inc. We did it. We super-sized the annual half day conference. Our special one day conference, "Navigating the Legal Marketplace," took place on June 17 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Jeff Mangrum, of SST Communications woke us up first thing in the morning with his great stories of legendary leaders. After a yummy lunch, Jeff reconvened before a crowd of over 75 people interested in "Finding the Eye of the Storm." Jeff and his troupe ...

What Outsourcing and Paperless Options May Mean For Your Firm in 2010. By Pete Smith of The McCart Group Many of you will consider important decisions in the coming months that will affect your firms’ open enrollment and insurance renewals for 2010, as well as budgets and the larger architecture of your businesses. Perhaps nobody can understand ...

By Joel A. Rose In many progressively managed law firms, one strategy for deciding how to cope with the current recession that has been implemented with success by managing partners and members of executive committees has been to conduct a retreat specially designed to address the tensions and insecurities that partners and associates may feel about their future.  ...

By Becky Jones of Milner, Inc. Organizations no longer have an option when it comes to document imaging. Imaging technologies are the foundation for any automation initiative of paper-based processes, and the onerous record keeping requirements of regulatory agencies demand the technology. It is estimated that over ...

By Kimberly Lusink and Joanna Berentsen of Paramount Staffing, LLC In today’s economic climate, seeking new employment can seem to be a daunting task. If you are seeking inspiration, then you can find it in the words of wisdom from those who have trodden equally rocky paths, such as Madame Curie. Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We ...

By Teresa Pritchard Schoch, BA, MSLS, JD, CLL, ERMP, CRM Law firms have likely never had more plates in the air; tough decisions on down-sizing both attorneys and staff, strategic decisions relating to mergers and acquisitions to offset the impact of a weak economy, complicated technical adjustments for compliance with E-discovery rules, etc. And just when they thought they ...

By Melissa Lafsky The economic storm of the past year has left many, if not most, of America’s businesses struggling to stay afloat. As budgets tighten and upper-tier management scrambles to cut costs, one of the first and largest measures companies are taking is layoffs, sometimes on a massive scale.  ...

© Dean L. Silverberg, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., New York, NY 2009 With a new Congress and Presidential administration in 2009, Congress has and will continue to be pressing a legislative agenda that will have a significant impact on employers, including law firms, and how they do business, as well as how they respond to complaints and lawsuits from employees. Below are just a few of the recent legislative changes that will effect law firms and how their busy Legal Administrators ...

By The Green Team The AALA meeting last month showed us how little we actually know about the green movement. It was thought that being green meant recycling your aluminum cans and paper, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. The purpose of this article is to offer a mode of thinking to manage your law firm and your life and enter what is to be known as the Green Zone. Being in the Green Zone is a state of mind. What can I do every day to make my office environment, my home, my ...

By Nestor Rivera, Esq. Carlton Fields, P.A. Are you having problems getting a health care provider to provide you with an employee’s medical records or other health information necessary to evaluate and address a workers’ compensation claim? Although the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule went into effect several years ago, many health care providers (especially the smaller ones, such as individual physicians) are still weary of ...

By Anne-Marie Mizel What Every Employer Needs to Know Summary: New legislation has recently been passed that vastly increases employees’ rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, overruling Supreme Court cases that had limited those rights. Those changes go into effect in just a few weeks. On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed into law a sweeping ...