Following a welcome from ALA President Debra L. Elsbury, CLM, and Interim Executive Director April L. Campbell, JD, our first completely online conference will be kicked off by ALA Today: The Virtual Conference's emcee, Judith A. Hissong, CLM, PCC. In our keynote session, "Living the Impossible," Umstead shares her remarkable story of losing her vision, losing her mother and discovering her life's passion. Through skiing, she found healing, her husband and a lifetime of high-speed adventure. She delivers her presentation with powerful storytelling, touching on overcoming adversity, teamwork, communication and elite performance. 

Objectives: 

• Illustrate how to overcome adversity. 
• Develop teamwork tactics. 
• Apply creativity and problem-solving tactics. 

Other Information: 

Educational Category: Communication and Organizational Management 

60 Minutes 

Audience: Essentials 

CLM Recertification Eligible: Yes 

HRCI: General Credit 

SHRM: Leadership & Navigation 

SHRM Learning Format: Instructor-Led Activity 

CPE Field of Study: Personnel/HR 

CPE Audience: Basic 

CPE Credit Eligible: 1 

CPE Prerequisites: None 

CPE Advanced Preparation: None 

Group Live - Presented Online Due to COVID-19

It’s a cliché, but it’s true: Change is constant. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re reminded how dramatically things can change overnight. Legal managers who are well-versed in change management can minimize the negative impact and move the firm forward. By leveraging change management techniques and tools, leaders can help the process of change be more positive, purposeful, collaborative and successful for everyone.

Read the article in Legal Management magazine here. Then, purchase access to the quiz: members pay $49; nonmembers pay $69.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the four truths about change. 
2. Recall why humans tend to resist change. 
3. Examine the role legal managers play in bringing about change to an organization. 
4. Review how to create a strategic charter. 
5. Recognize the four change management plans. 

Members and nonmembers can read the article in Legal Management magazine, then log in to take a test. If you pass with at least 70 percent, you will earn one CE credit hour. 

1 Hour

CLM® Application Credit: 1 credit hour in Organizational Development
CLM® Recertification Credit: 1 credit hour in Communications and Organizational Management
HRCI: 1 credit hour for General Credit
SHRM: 1 credit hour for Leadership and Navigation
SHRM Learning Format: Self-Paced
CLE: 1 credit hour for Participatory Credit

Managing multiple offices is tough, but now add in COVID-19 and suddenly you are managing multiple home offices, too! By attending this session, you will learn how to distribute workloads evenly between those at home and those physically in the office and be able to particularly address the different styles that people participate in online or hybrid meetings. Come and learn how to manage both physical and remote offices in our new normal. 

Objectives: 

• Discover how to manage a hybrid office scenario — physical and remote offices for the foreseeable future. 
• Identify how to manage great teams, making sure workload is distributed evenly and "quieter" people are not left behind. 
• Discuss how to overcome the "not seen, not heard" dilemma. 
• Recognize how, in a hybrid model, you manage those who are process more externally (think out loud) versus those who process internally (put a lot more thought into their ideas before speaking) — particularly in online meetings. 
• Describe what other skills you need to learn in this new management world.

Other Information: 

Educational Category: Operations Management 

60 Minutes 

Audience: Intermediate 

CLM App Management Category -FS: Operations Management 

CLM Recertification Eligible: Yes 

HRCI: General Credit 

SHRM: Communication 

SHRM Learning Format: Instructor-Led Activity 

CLE: Participatory Credit 

CPE Field of Study: Business Management & Organization 

CPE Credit Eligible: 1 

CPE Prerequisites: None 

CPE Advanced Preparation: Run Meetings, set agendas 

Group Live - Presented Online Due to COVID-19

Subtitle: Persistent, Ethical and Careful Collection of Law Firm AR in the COVID-19 Era. Successful pursuit and collection of a law firm's past due receivables adds cash and increases the realization rate of attorneys' efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic and the various states' executive orders and emergency legislation have greatly impacted law firms and, importantly, their clients. Protecting assets such as cash flow has never been more important in this era of uncertainty. This session will explore the tools and methods available to collect past due balances while avoiding the related pitfalls, such as counterclaims, malpractice claims, ethical violation claims and claims of running afoul of emergency orders and legislation in place due to COVID-19. You'll learn how to avoid involuntarily extending credit to clients through consistent and regular invoicing and collection techniques that help reduce your accounts receivable. Plus, you'll discover how to establish collections policies that will improve the aging of your open receivables while obtaining buy-in from attorneys and key leadership. 

Objectives: 

• Recognize how to create better cash flow, increase the realization rate of attorneys' billing and reduce past due accounts and write-offs during these uncertain times. 
• Calculate how to successfully maintain and improve client relationships while collecting receivables, especially if the client has suffered undue hardship during the pandemic. 
• Identify the practice areas and attorney(s) that may need additional assistance and training in billing and management of retainers. 
• Recognize and avoid counterclaims, potential malpractice claims, ethics complaints and claims of violations of emergency orders and evolving legislation in place due to COVID-19. 
• Identify when to cut ties and pursue the claim through a third party. 

Other Information: 

Educational Category: Financial Management 

60 Minutes 

Audience: Advanced 

CLM App Management Category -FS: Financial Management 

CLM Recertification Eligible: Yes 

CLE: Participatory Credit 

CPE Field of Study: Finance 

CPE Credit Eligible: 1 

CPE Prerequisites: None 

CPE Advanced Preparation: None 

Group Live - Presented Online Due to COVID-19

Budgets are a vital component of any firm’s operations, regardless of size. They increase awareness management gleans about the external economic environment in which their firm competes. But what makes one budget better than another? What are the elements that make a good budget and how can you improve your role in the budgeting process, while adding value to the finished product and to your firm or legal department? To be useful, there are certain elements any budget must have and principles one should always follow when establishing a budget. This CE course will review those elements.

Read the article in Legal Management magazine here. Then, purchase access to the quiz: members pay $49; nonmembers pay $69.

Learning Objectives

1. Explain how to assemble a meaningful budget for your firm.
2. Describe the key elements of a successful budget.
3. Identify how you can improve your role in the budgeting process.
4. Show the importance of involving other departments in the planning process.
5. Examine common budget types.

Members and nonmembers can read the article in Legal Management magazine, then log in to take a test. If you pass with at least 70 percent, you will earn one CE credit hour. 

1 Hour
CLM® Application Credit: Financial Management for Recertification toward the hours needed by Functional Specialists applying for the exam
CLM Recertification Credit: Financial Management

Jennifer Hill will discuss her research from her 2019 white paper, "The Changing Role of Law Firm Leadership," and how the impact of COVID-19 will help to shed light on what the new normal of law firm leadership will look like. Hill will discuss the evolution of law firm leaders from the 1970s to post-COVID-19, as well as how leaders at all levels can adapt to these changes and the new expectations for leaders and organizations. Finally, she'll facilitate inquiries into what the "next normal" will look like for law firms, their teams and their leaders. 

Objectives: 

• Define what leadership meant in the 1970s and in the early 2000s and what leadership means now during COVID-19. 
• Identify what makes a great leader and how to foster leadership in an organization. 
• Discuss the biggest challenges for leaders after COVID-19. 
• Explain the biggest opportunities for leaders after COVID-19. 
• Recognize how to adapt to changes as a leader and empower teams regarding mass change. 

Other Information: 

Educational Category: Communication and Organizational Management 

60 Minutes 

Audience: Essentials 

CLM Application Eligible: Yes 

CLM App Management Category: Organizational Development 

CLM Recertification Eligible: Yes 

HRCI: General Credit 

SHRM: Leadership & Navigation

SHRM Learning Format: Instructor-Led Activity 

CLE: Participatory Credit 

CPE Field of Study: Business Management & Organization 

CPE Audience: Basic 

CPE Credit Eligible: 1 

CPE Prerequisites: None 

CPE Advanced Preparation: None 

Group Live - Presented Online Due to COVID-19

More than ever, today’s legal management professionals are expected to have leadership capabilities. Deciding on which skills and behaviors to build into each firm’s environment can only be truly effective if the leader is willing to seek feedback about their own strengths and weaknesses from those they serve. The downside of this practice is that it can sting. The upside is that the legal manager is modeling a very powerful leadership behavior that will have long-term benefits to both themselves and the firm.

This CE course will encourage the reader to consider modeling the foundational practice of leadership development, thereby increasing self-awareness through seeking feedback. It will challenge the reader to push themselves outside their comfort zone and consider an action plan to increase self-awareness, seek feedback and commit to applying new learnings.

Read the article in Legal Management magazine here. Then, purchase access to the quiz: members pay $49; nonmembers pay $69.

Learning Objectives

1. Recognize the fundamentals of leadership development.
2. Discover how proper leadership skills can affect the long-term strength of your firm.
3. Summarize the role self-awareness plays in leadership strength.
4. Describe techniques for soliciting feedback.
5. Identify the most effective ways to demonstrate leadership strength.

Members and nonmembers can read the article in Legal Management magazine, then log in to take a test. If you pass with at least 70 percent, you will earn one CE credit hour. 

1 Hour

(CLM)® Recertification Credit: 1 hour in the subject area of Communications and Organizational Management (CM).

CLE: 1 hour participatory MCLE credit, including the following subfield credits: 1 hour of Participatory Credit.

SHRM: This program has been pre-approved for SHRM for 1 PDC for the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP.

HRCI: This activity has been approved for 1 HR (General) recertification credit hour towards California, GPHR, PHRi, SPHRi, PHR and SPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute.

Legal management professionals are faced with leadership challenges every day. You manage up and down the reporting line — managing partners and executive committees on the up, staff on the down — in an industry that is being reshaped by economic pressures and technology. Though it is sometimes a difficult position to be in, it also means that you — and those around you — benefit when you improve your leadership skills. Research shows that skills most valuable in today's leaders include self-awareness, adaptability and collaboration.

Learning Objectives

• Explain levels of leadership, management and ways you can work with others most effectively.
• Recognize Goleman's leadership styles and emotional intelligence elements.
• Apply knowledge of self to improve relationships and business outcomes in the law firm you manage

$69 for members and $89 for nonmembers

Available at a discounted rate as a part of a package

Successful completion of this course provides 0.5 hour of credit for the CLM. Credit hours must be reported in 60 minute chunks or more. You must combine this 0.5 hour of credit with another LFME course to report it.

.5 Hours CLM Recertification credit in Communication and Organizational Management

Times of crisis induce fear, frustration and anger. They also result in heightened levels of expressions of bias and discrimination, typically directed against marginalized groups. During the pandemic, anti-Asian/anti-immigrant violence and hate crimes have surged, and discrimination against racial minorities seeking health care were an undercurrent to reports of daily infection and death rates. And while fears of African Americans are part of a four-century history of anti-Black bias in this country, racial minorities were often the groups who, by virtue of their marginalization, found themselves incentivized to take on some of the more dangerous work during the pandemic: health care providers, cleaning and sanitation crews, and delivery and transport workers. As lawyers and legal professionals, we may feel somewhat removed, perhaps even protected, from that. But should we? As a profession, how do we recognize and respond to bias or discrimination arising from concerns about the pandemic, including identifying possible new ways that they might manifest in the current environment? How do we begin to prepare for the effects of that bias or discrimination once life begins to return to something resembling the pre-pandemic normal? 

Objectives: 

• Illustrate how to recognize and respond to bias and discrimination 
• Explain how bias and discrimination may manifest in the current environment 
• Identify possible effects of bias and discrimination once we return to the pre-pandemic normal. 

Other Information: 

Educational Category: Human Resources Management 

60 Minutes 

Audience: Essentials 

CLM App Management Category -FS: Human Resources Management 

CLM Recertification Eligible: Yes 

HRCI: General Credit 

SHRM: Relationship Management 

SHRM Learning Format: Instructor-Led Activity 

CLE: Recognition and Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession and Society 

CPE Field of Study: Personnel/HR CPE 

Audience: Basic 

CPE Credit Eligible: 1 

CPE Prerequisites: None 

CPE Advanced Preparation: None 

Group Live - Presented Online Due to COVID-19

This course reviews the foundations and tenants of ethics. Historical and contemporary schools of ethics are examined, and ethical decision-making and behaviors are reviewed. Ethics as a component of leadership is also addressed, and several frameworks to address ethical decisions and dilemmas are presented.

Ethics in the legal profession is typically focused on lawyers, but applies equally to all staff and paraprofessionals in all settings — in law firms, corporate settings and the judicial branch. No organization, regardless of size or setting, is exempt from obligations of ethical behavior.

Read the article in Legal Management magazine here. Then, purchase access to the quiz: members pay $49; nonmembers pay $69.

Learning Objectives

1. Define ethics and its importance.
2. Describe several systems of ethical thought.
3. Identify how ethics are formed at individual and organizational levels.
4. Apply the importance of ethics to professions and codes of ethics.
5. Identify and describe a framework for ethical decision making and ethical dilemmas.
6. Provide suggestions for development of organizational ethics.

Members and nonmembers can read the article in Legal Management magazine, then log in to take a test. If you pass with at least 70 percent, you will earn one CE credit hour. 

1 Hour
SHRM: Ethical Practice
CLE: Law Practice Management
HRCI: General Credit
CLM App Credit for Functional Specialists: 1 hour in the subject area of Legal Industry/Business Management (LI) toward the additional hours required of some Functional Specialists to fulfill the CLM application.
CLM Recertification Credit: 1 hour in the subject area of ethics.