Winter 2004

In This Issue

Profile: Brenda Cleveland President's Message: An AALA Vendor Sponsor is Holding on Line One - Take the Call! Employer's Guide to Workers' Compensation What Really Matters: The Challenge of Finding Out What Makes Employees Loyal Electronic Billing: Bottom Line Results For Your Firm A Fresh Look at Retention Challenges You're Invited to the Next Revolution: ALA 33rd Annual Educational Conference and Exposition Law Firms in the Technology Age: Challenges and Benefits of Telecommuting in the Twenty-First Century Strategic Options for "Increasing the Pie" Beyond the Office: Exploring Our Not So Familiar Surroundings The Community Relations Committee Wraps Up Another Successful Year "Must Have" Policies for Your Law Firm's Employee Handbook News from the Editor

Profile: Brenda Cleveland
By: June D. Bell

Brenda Cleveland has finished second at least twice, but both times, she wound up a winner.

When she interviewed for a legal secretary position several years ago, she lost out to a candidate with more experience. But she made such a strong impression on attorney Sharon Ware that when the position became available again three years later, Ware remembered her and offered it to her. 

Brenda also finished second at an AALA (Atlanta Association of Legal Administrators) luncheon last year. She was chosen runner-up for a $1,000 scholarship for a three-day regional Association of Legal Administrators conference last November. When the winner was unable to attend, Brenda found herself on a flight to New York City with 25 other Atlanta administrators. She attended sessions on how to motivate employees, affect change and create a great place to work. Click here to learn more about Brenda's career path.

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President's Message: An AALA Vendor Sponsor is Holding on Line One - Take the Call!

Over the last couple months you’ve heard me bragging about the recent success of our 2004 Vendor Sponsorship campaign. Through the efforts of Jeff Gray, Director of Vendor Relations, this campaign generated $108,000 to help fund chapter services and educational opportunities. This revenue will be used to bring top-notch "conference quality" speakers to Atlanta and allow us to provide the basic services necessary to administer our Chapter. Click here for further details.

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Employer's Guide to Workers' Compensation
By: C. Wade McGuffey, Jr., Attorney at Law, Goodman McGuffey Lindsey & Johnson, LLP

A complete workers' compensation employment program involves more than just dealing with claims for workers' compensation injuries. A complete program begins with the hiring process. Compliance with other requirements, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), will assist you in dealing with workers' compensation employment issues. The proper development and use of job descriptions is also essential. Click here for a short guide to workers' compensation compliance and claims management.

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What Really Matters: The Challenge of Finding Out What Makes Employees Loyal
By: Kay Stanley, President/Paces Personnel, Inc. 

One of the most challenging issues that we as employers face today is finding out what really matters to people in the work place.  Surveys on the pursuit of happiness and what people draw meaning from in their lives can be distilled to a handful of categories: family, faith, relationships, getting involved in greater causes, and work. Click here for insights and strategies to help keep your employees loyal and make your workplace meaningful.  

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Electronic Billing: Bottom-Line Results For Your Firm
By: Michael McCullough, www.rainmakerlegal.com

Electronic billing has been embraced for several years by the country's largest law firms, but the response among the smaller and mid-sized firms has often been a wary "What's in it for my clients and me?" Is electronic billing a passing fad, a financial sinkhole with limited benefits, or a frill that only the largest law firms need to be concerned with? Click here to learn more about this technology.

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A Fresh Look at Retention Challenges
By: Cam Marston

The economy hasn't yet completely rebounded, layoffs and downsizings are still happening with regularity, and many who were laid off over a year ago are still searching frantically for work. With such an environment, how can employee retention be a problem in times like this? It would seem that logical employees would understand that finding a good job and holding on to it is the smart thing to do today. As we all know, though, employee retention is causing major problems in certain fields of employment. And the traditional solutions aren't working. Click here for insights into improving employee retention.

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You're Invited to the Next Revolution: ALA 33rd Annual Educational Conference and Exposition

Time is running out. Gather more than a few of your own superstar ideas by attending the ALA's 33rd Annual Educational Conference & Exposition in Philadelphia on May 17-20, 2004. Make valuable connections. Find new suppliers. Discover the latest trends. Click here for full details.

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Law Firms in the Technology Age: Challenges and Benefits of Telecommuting in the Twenty-First Century
By: Dean L. Silverberg, Esq. and Mitchell Allen, Esq., Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

Telecommuting (also referred to as "teleworking") is here to stay. The trend of working from home or a satellite office has exploded in the last decade. Estimates of the number of people working from home range from 15 to 25 million Americans. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported almost 20 million people did some type of work from home in 2001. Click here for financial, legal and other issues to consider to ensure successful telecommuting arrangements.

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Strategic Options for "Increasing the Pie"
By: Joel Rose

"Who gets what amount?" and "Is there enough money to go around?" are two of the most difficult questions that confront managing partners and members of compensation committees in most law firms, regardless of size and specialty. Obviously, if the proverbial "pie" is adequate, everyone shares accordingly, each in reasonable proportion to their effort expended in the firm's financial success, including the added benefits that accrue by being part of a group. However, if the "pie" is less than adequate to compensate partners in relation to their perceived and real contributions, many difficult issues have to be addressed. Click here for insights.

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Beyond the Office: Exploring Our Not So Familiar Surroundings
By: Reinhard Breckner

At 5600 Buford Highway, in Doraville, just north of Spaghetti Junction, in a relatively nondescript strip mall, stands a most peculiar establishment. It's called the Buford Highway Farmers Market. It may look like any other store from the street, but inside it holds curiosities the likes of which most of us only associate with remote places on the globe, about which we daydream when the mood at the office is tiptoeing around the intolerable. Click here to read more.

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The Community Relations Committee Wraps Up Another Successful Year
By: Jennifer N. Brinkley

Click photo for a larger view

The Community Relations Committee has had two very successful projects within the last few months. The first of which was Community Challenge Weekend where a group of sixty AALA (Atlanta Association of Legal Administrator) members, guests and business partners spent Saturday, October 18, 2003 doing some good-ole fashioned fall cleaning for My House. Everything inside the house from the windows to the toys to the floors sparkled after the cleaning it received. Mounds of summer clothes were folded and boxed away for the next year. Diapers were sorted, inventoried and properly stored. Even the holiday cards were addressed, stuffed and prepared to mail. Click here to read more.

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"Must Have" Policies for Your Law Firm's Employee Handbook
By: Mary Anne Ackourey, Freeman, Mathis & Gary, LLP, Atlanta, Georgia

One of the most effective ways to prevent problems with your legal staff and associates is a properly drafted employee handbook. Not only should the handbook provide appropriate guidance to employees regarding law firm "do's and don'ts," but it also should include policies that can help prevent litigation or otherwise reduce a Firm's legal exposure. Click here to read more about "must have" policies for your firm and how those policies can help keep your employees, and ultimately your firm out of trouble. Links to model policies are also included at the end of the article.

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News From the Editor
By: Debra Goldman, Goodman McGuffey Lindsey & Johnson, LLP 

Click here for miscellaneous "tidbits" that may be of interest.

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Comments to the Editor

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Editor: Debra F. Goldman (dgoldman@gmlj.com)

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