You just can’t avoid talk of school this time of year. It seems everyone is scurrying along on a scavenger hunt for essential supplies and first-day fashions, or losing sleep over what our “babies” will need in the dorm room. It’s all about getting ready for school. Maybe you should join in, too, and get ready to write a little learning into your fall calendar! For this Friday Five, we’re looking at five big events sure to expand the outlook of your law practice.
So, What’s on the Fall Class Schedule?
While professional conferences are certainly good for your mind, they are also great places to mingle with peers who could become important parts of your network, right? And even if you learn nothing from a speaker, comparing notes with the person next to you can be worth its weight in gold.
1. Clio Cloud Conference. This one promises to be good. For the Clio Cloud Conference, set to take place September 23-24 at Chicago’s Hotel Sax, Clio has put together a program for forward-thinking lawyers focused on “cloud technology and better ways to manage your practice.” The faculty includes, among others, Bob Ambrogi, Matt Homann, Ed Walters, Richard Granat, Steve Matthews and Clio’s own Jack Newton, one of the pioneers of cloud-based practice management technology. (Attorney at Work is a Media Sponsor of the event, which means you get a nice 25 percent discount if you use the code “attorney@work”.) You should scamper if you want to get in, registration is 90 percent sold out.
2. P3 Conference. The Legal Marketing Association’s new P3 Conference promises a “groundbreaking dialogue with peers, experts and service providers about pricing, practice improvement and project management.” Scheduled for September 30-October 2 at The Wit in Chicago, the program takes a hard look at how to make money practicing law. The speaker lineup includes Kim Craig, Director of Legal Project Management at Seyfarth Shaw, on “Lessons from the Trenches;” Colleen Nihill, Chief Administrative Officer of Dechert, on monitoring performance; and Bryan Cave’s Chris Emerson on profitable pricing of your services. This is cutting-edge stuff!
3. Futures Conference 2013. This year, the College of Law Practice Management’s Futures Conference will take place at the Chicago-Kent College of Law October 4-5, and will deploy a new format. Keynote speaker Stephen Mayson will speak on “The Future of Law: Who Will Perform It? Who Will Regulate It?,” sharing his intimate knowledge of the UK’s Legal Services Act and the issues that arose as traditional bar and regulatory restrictions were removed. Fellows Ann Lee Gibson, Jordan Furlong and Bill Henderson will then make “TED-like” presentations to set up smaller group discussions on the market for legal services, innovation and legal education. More information can be found at the COLPM website, but the best part is always the opportunity to rub shoulders and compare notes with recognized experts in the field of law practice management from around the world. (Attorney at Work is a Platinum Sponsor of the conference, and Merrilyn Astin Tarlton will be among the discussion facilitators.)
4. National Solo & Small Firm Conference. This is “the big one” for lawyers who don’t practice in the big firms. This year’s Annual ABA GPSolo National Solo & Small Firm Conference will take place October 3-4 in Lexington, Kentucky. You can select sessions based on level of practice or substantive area of law. The latter includes divorce, equine law, estate planning, health care, ADA, employment law and more. Tech Bootcamp sessions range from something called “The Planet of the Apps,” to “Someone Online Hates You: Ethical (and Effective) Responses to Negative Reviews on the Web.” Also coming this fall, Illinois, Michigan, South Carolina and Wisconsin present their solo and small firm conferences.
5. Legal Marketing Technology Conference/West. This year the theme of the Bay Area Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association’s Legal Marketing Technology Conference/West is “ReBoot for Success.” The program includes a range of topics from the nexus of marketing and technology: competitive intelligence, client relationship management, website analytics, social media, email, content management, big data and more. It takes place at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. By the way: If San Francisco is out of the question, check in with your local chapter of LMA for helpful marketing programming closer to home.