I can't believe that the 3rdAnnual Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference is next week October 23-25. The Conference is being held this year at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells and there's still time to register here.

We've got a gret line-up of local, state and national speakers including Kevin O'Keefe, Connie Kilmark, Ross Kodner and yours truly. You can see a bio listing of all of our speakers here.

There's a wide range of program tracks on Substantive Law, Practice Management, Technology and Ethics/Quality of Life as well as three Plenary Sessions. Topics (check them all out here) including blogging for lawyers, substantive law sessions on Family Law, Elder Law, Business and Intellectual Property; Practice Management topics inlcuding sessions on getting paid, starting a new office and business planning as well as mistakes that can cripple your law practice; Technolgy sessions on Digital Dictation and Speech Recognition, alternatives to MS Office, free and low cost legal research and how to avoid committing malpractice with your computer; Ethics/Quality of Life sessions will cover retirement planning, fee agreements and trust account issues and more. On Saturday, Connie Kilmark will be speaking on Your Financial Personality at Home and at Work which is open to attendees AND their significant others.  

Speak to vendors offering products and services in our sold out vendor hall on Thursday and Friday (full listing here). Join us for the Vendor Reception Thursday night and in the Hopsitality Suite on Friday night sponsored by DeWitt Ross & Stevens. There wil be plenty of opportunitied for you to network with your fellow attorneys and to catch a wave or two in the huge indorr waterpark for you and your family (each guest room includes four free waterpark passes!).

This ia terrific opportunity to network with your peers, attend some great CLE sessions and talk to vendors. So come on up to the Wisconsin Dells. Practice Law. Manage Business. Enjoy Life!

It's that time of year again – time for the 3d Annual Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference October 23-25, 2008 at the Kalahari Resort in the lovely Wisconsin Dells. Full details at the website: www.wisolosmallfirmconference.com or  www.wssfc.org

Early bird registration of $250.00 is scheduled to end today, so don’t  delay to save. Your registration gets you two days with 32 individual sessions and 3 plenary sessions with state, regional and national speakers; Thursday nights Vendor reception, Breakfast and lunch on Friday and Breakfast on Saturday; chance to visit with vendors and enter drawings for a lot of nice schwag.  You can register at: http://wssfc.org/PricingRegistration or call 800.728.7788. Unfortunately, we were unable to include the conference in the Ultimate Pass  this year but hope to add it for next year’s conference.

The guaranteed discount room rate is  also set to end  today: the Kalahari has made a limited number of rooms available for $139.00 per night for up to four persons and includes four water park passes, a $160.00 value. They have included rooms for Saturday night after the conference concludes as well, but you have to hurry as the room rate discount expires today! Make your reservation by calling the Kalahari at Phone: 877-253-5466 and tell them you are with the Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference.  Over 50% of the room block had sold as of Monday the 21^st and we are excited to see the number of families with children already booked to take advantage of the conference and the chance to get away for a family mini-vacation.

Each attendee will receive a USB flash drive with the conference materials and the first 300 registered attendees will receive a free copy of TechHit Software’s (www.techhit.com) SimplyFile utility for MS Outlook.  SimplyFile has become one of my indispensable tools and is a $40.00 value. You will have the chance to register for other prize drawings including free registration for the 2009 Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference; a complimentary future night stay at the Kalahari and other vendor donated prizes. Mix and mingle with vendors and your peers at the Thursday night Vendor Reception and on  Friday night, enjoy the hospitality suite sponsored by DeWitt, Ross & Stevens so you can relax after the day’s sessions and network with other attendees.

Saturday’s Plenary Session - Your Financial Personality at Home and at Work- with Connie Kilmark is open to attendees and their significant others as well. Or take advantage of the 20% discount on spa services for conference attendees.

Finally, attendees will be the first to receive a live introduction and training on the new free legal research benefit powered by Fastcase which is set to launch November 1, 2008. For those that register,  watch your email for the chance to sign-up for this training conducted by Fastcase CEO Ed Walters.

I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at this year’s conference, so register today and see you in the Wisconsin Dells!

Practice Law. Manage Business. Enjoy Life!

I can't say enough good things about the terrific folks who make up the Wisconsin Association of Legal Administrators (WALA). In my role as PMA for the State Bar of Wisconsin, I get to interact with WALA members on a regular basis and see them in action first hand. The speakers and programs they contribute to are always top notch and to say that they really believe in helping law firms is an understatement.

Each year WALA puts on their Annual Conference of Education & Exposition (ACE) which they bills as "…an opportunity for a vital exchange of information between administrators, legal managers, industry leaders,vendor partners and guests" and this year 's ACE is shaping up to be just that.

Scheduled for Thursday, October 9, 2008, at Country Springs Hotel, Pewaukee, Wisconsin, this years ACE and is themed "Roadmap to Knowledge" and includes sessions on Taking the Express Lane: Effective Marketing Strategies for Law Firms, Building Buy-In for Business Development and Face Reading, the Road Map to Self Discovery. The keynote - Personal Accountability and the Question Behind the Question! - seeks to help firms deal with morale by teaching firms about Personal Accountability and how to put accountability and responsibility into action.

You don't need to be a WALA member to attend and everyone will have a chance to visit with WALA vendor partners including EZ Office Products, Bultman Financial Services and many more. There is also a lot of good scwhag that can be one in the form of door prizes and drawings throughout the day. Cost for non-members is $150.00 or attend with a WALA member and get in for only $125.00. FInd our more on the WALA website here.

Join me at the Kalahari Resort October 23-25, 2008 in the Wisconsin Dells for the 3d Annual Wisconsin Solo & Small Firm Conference for 2 days of great CLE, networking and fun! Full details can be found on the conference website here.

This year's conference has 32 individual sessions in four tracks consisting of Substantive, Practice Management, Technology and Ethics/Quality of Life areas. In addition to these four tracks, there are three plenary sessions with National Speaker Kevin O'Keefe sharing his knowledge on blogs; Laurel Bellows of the ABA House of Delegates speaking on getting involved in your bar; and Connie Kilmark, personal finance guru speaking about dealing with financial stress (this session open to attendees and their spouses/significant others!). I will be presenting along with other great speakers including Ross Kodner, Jeff Krause, Margaret Hickey, Dean Dietrich, Lori Kanneberg and others. You can find all of the speakers here.

Attendees will have an opportunity to network with their peers, browse the Vendor area, receive Fastcase legal research training and spend time enjoying the Kalahari's numerous leisure activities. Attendees can receive 20% off Spa and Salon services during your visit and the conference room rate is also available for Saturday night and extend your stay.

The Kalahari has extended a special room rate to conference attendees of $139.00 per night for up to four persons in a room, but there's more: Each room includes four passes to the Kalahari's Indoor Waterpark, a $160.00 value! Float down the lazy river, learn to surf, enjoy a meal in one of the resorts restaurants or enjoy a massage in the Spa. But don't wait too long - the special room rate is only available until September 23, 2008.

Register for the conference by September 23, 2008 and enjoy early bird pricing of $250.00 for Wisconsin lawyers (and their staff that are registered at the same time) and WALA members; after September, the registration cost jumps to $275.00.

Each attendee will receive a US Flash Drive with containing the conference materials and the first 300 attendees will receive a copy of TechHit Software's SimmplyFile utility for MS Outlook.

I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at this year's conference.

Practice Law. Manage Business. Enjoy Life!

See you there!

While most solo and small firm attorneys shy away from organizations such as the America Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) and their state chapters such as the Wisconsin Association of Legal Administrators (WALA), it doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of their offerings.

ALA provides the Legal Management Resource Center (LMRC ) which contains terrific articles and other materials many of which are free and don’t require an ALA Membership. One such article is Put on a Happy Face (and Mean It). Ponder these Points to Make Your Firm a More Pleasant Place to Work (click here to download this article in PDF).

The article’s author, Kriss Will, tried to convey the concept that office managers need to stop looking at attorneys as the “enemy” and stop the habit of bashing the attorneys. According to the author:

We all know this to be true, but it is so easy to forget – if all you are going to do is complain, no one wants to work with you.

This article is a  quick read at only 5 pages, but contains some great thoughts and advice about making the office a better place to work. One that your staff will look forward to coming into each day. Here are a few of the points made and although they may seem a little campy, they are still sound:

Identify your GOOB factor: your “Get Out Of Bed” factor. What is it that makes you want to go to work? Think of ways to work with your team to increase the interesting, exciting and challenging parts of your work. Ask your team for ideas on how to make the less exciting factors at least more fun.Maybe you could institute a “silly hat day” in the accounts department at month end. This might lighten things up a little.

A de-stress tool that I often recommend when training managers and lawyers is to “walk the block before you do your block.” Just getting out of the office and clearing your head can greatly assist when dealing with challenging situations. It is amazing what a breath of fresh air does for the mind. And if you are up to it, try to see the funny side of the situation. There usually is one.

Do not become a slave to work. While I think work should be fun, it should not be the only fun in your life. Work/life balance is a juggle but not one that we managers should shy away from. It will be hard to have fun at work if you are constantly begrudging the amount of time you need to spend there.

While some of these may seem to be apparent to you, it’s always good to see them in writing and to also serve to point out what is often overlooked. I recommend that you take some time and peruse the ALA and WALA websites for other useful information that may benefit your practice.