ALA’s fall conference season is anchored by two new and exciting conferences, but even returning events have undergone an overhaul to ensure they’re encouraging collaboration, networking and knowledge-sharing. Register now to set yourself up for dynamic professional development and new ideas that could alter way you’re currently running things.
July 25-27 | Chapter Leadership Institute in Louisville, Kentucky
Aug. 1-3 | Large Firm Principal Administrators Retreat in Nashville, Tennessee
Sept. 17-18 | Legal Lean Sigma and Project Management Yellow Belt Certification Course in Boston, Massachusetts
Sept. 18-20 | C4: The Legal Industry™ Conference in Boston, Massachusetts
Sept. 26-27 | Intellectual Property Conference for Legal Management Professionals in Washington, D.C.
Oct. 21 | Advanced HR Administration for Legal Management Professionals in Seattle, Washington
Oct. 21-23 | ALA Master Class: Leadership for Legal Management Professionals in Seattle, Washington
Oct. 24 | Managing for Impact in Seattle, Washington
Critique the UPBMS
ALA’s Uniform Process Based Management System (UPBMS) is a taxonomy that provides a standard framework for classifying back-office tasks and understanding the true cost associated with matters. An improved Version 2.0 was recently released — featuring more logical organization, a more intuitive structure and enhanced classification for the nonbillable tasks performed by senior personnel. Please review the full system and then provide your comments. Your suggestions, edits and questions will help the project team develop the best, most practical system for everyday use.
Learn more about the UPBMS and see how it’s being used through the following:
- “Unified Approach” (Legal Management)
- Do You Really Know How Much It Costs to Run Your Firm? And Do You Really Know Who Is Doing What Activities? (on-demand webinar)
- UPBMS Early Adopters, 2nd Installment (on-demand webinar)
- Job Description Toolkit (free-to-members resource)
Meet Online For HR or FM Courses
Registration is open for the e-learning courses HR1: Employee Selection and Promotion and FM1: Law Firm Accounting through July 12. Then, on July 15, sign-ups will open for HR2: Performance Management and Compensation and FM2: Financial Information and Analysis. Students who complete both courses in the series will be eligible to earn a Legal Management Specialist Certificate. (If you go that route, we encourage you to purchase a course bundle to save.)
For six weeks, these courses, led by a single instructor, meet online once a week to learn through lectures, case studies, discussions and demonstrations. (Anyone who can’t make the live session can catch up on-demand.) The result of this deep dive is a strong foundation in HR and FM procedures, laws and best practices for the legal environment.
Participate In the Compensation and Benefits Survey
Submit your firm’s data by July 5 for the 2019 Compensation and Benefits Survey and, if applicable, the 2019 Large Firm Key Staff Compensation Survey. Doing so will ensure you and other legal managers will have access to comprehensive, localized information to understand how your pay and benefits — and the positions you have in place — compare to the rest of the industry, as well as your region, state and perhaps even city.
This year, the report will address more roles than last year, increasing the marketing and business development positions covered to 18 and the IT and technology jobs to 20. And remember — participating firms get a discount on the final report.