fall 2014 the newsletter of the maryland chapter of the...
TRANSCRIPT
the newsletter of the Maryland Chapter of The Association of Legal Administrators, Inc.
FALL 2014
A CHAPTER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL ADMINISTRATORS
A LIFETIME OF SERVICE…A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE!Est. 1976
- Personal Insurance Coverage- Employee Benefits Programs- Investment Strategies*- Financial Planning*- Business Planning- Financial Aspects of Estate Planning- Executive Compensation
One East Pratt Street | Suite 902 | Baltimore, MD 212026550 Rock Spring Drive | Suite 190 | Bethesda, MD 208175216 Chairmans Court | Suite 101 | Frederick, MD 21703
240.422.8799 (local) | 855.333.6399 (toll-free)
www.tribridgepartners.com
Securities, investment advisory and financial planning services are offered through qualified registered representatives of MML Investors Services, LLC. Member SIPC. Supervisory office: 11350 McCormick Rd., Executive Plaza IV, Ste 200, Hunt Valley, MD 21031 - 410.785.7654. TriBridge Partners, LLC is not an affiliate or subsidiary of MML Investors Services, LLC or its affiliated companies.
BCC3156a CRN201511-177817
3
Welcome to the fall edition of disclosures!
September is nearly behind us and a new season is about to begin. I recently returned from Chicagohaving attended one of the new ALA Business ofLaw Conferences. These conferences replace theformer regional conferences and are offered several times throughout the year and at differentlocations. With topics ranging from “Aligning FirmVision with Firm Profitability” and “The Perfect ITNetwork: The 8 Technology Must-Haves” to “FiveTrends Shaping the Future of Work,” there truly issomething for everyone. Be sure to see the articlewritten by Lisa Mangus (our scholarship winner!)later in this issue about her experiences in Chicago.
My favorite month is October! Some find it melan-choly. “October, and the trees are stripped bare.”Not I. There’s a chill in the air that lifts my heart andmakes my hair stand on end. Every moment feelsmeant for me. Although I was born in February, I come alive in October! It’s time for sweaters, crimson leaves, hot soup, scary movies, and tinycandy bars. More importantly, it’s also the newtime for the Business Partner Exhibition HallEvent which will be held on Thursday, October 16from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. This is always a fabulousaffair and I hope that you will mark your calendarsto join your fellow members and our very generousBusiness Partners for what is sure to be a memo-rable evening. More details will be provided byDebbie Melnyk as the date draws near.
FALL 2014
PRESIDENT’SMESSAGE
In November, we will once again thank ourManaging Partners for all of their support through-out the year. We look forward to welcoming youand your Managing Partner to the Center Club onThursday, November 13 at 12:00 p.m. where ourguest speaker will be Kirby Fowler from DowntownPartnership of Baltimore.
As 2014 nears its close, we hope that you will joinus for this year’s Charitable Giving Breakfast onThursday, December 4 at 9:00 a.m. – a simply wonderful way to begin the holiday season.
And finally, don’t forget about our monthly webinars! This quarter’s offerings will be posted on our website and invitations will be sent viaListServe shortly.
MERRY AUTUMN!!
Renee Lane-KunzShapiro Sher Guinot & [email protected]
BOARD OFDIRECTORS
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
MARYLAND CHAPTER2014-2015
PresidentRenee [email protected] Sher Guinot & Sandler
President-Elect/MembershipBeth [email protected], Falcon & Murphy
Vice-President/ProgramsSteven [email protected] & Prokopik, P.C.
TreasurerEthel [email protected], Bowen & Semmes
SecretaryCindy L. [email protected] Katz Law, P.A.
Immediate Past PresidentDebbie [email protected] LLP
Advisory CouncilEric [email protected] Agnor Rapaport Skalny LLC
Bar LiaisonLisa [email protected] & Rosenthal LLP
Business Partner RelationsDebora R. [email protected] & Diamond, P.C.
Chapter WebmasterSarah T. [email protected] Sher Guinot & Sandler, P.A.
Community ConnectionsJoanne Edwards, [email protected] Spahr LLP
Diversity & InclusionRuth [email protected] Ewing, LLP
Managing Partner EventShirley [email protected] Cook, LLP
NewsletterShelly [email protected] LLP
Suburban GroupKristi [email protected] Sobin Gross Feldman &
Darby, LLP
4 FALL 2014
8 The Convergence of Law and Technology
12 Planning Your Next Firm Retreat
17 Dayspring School Supply Drive
19 Employers Get to Set the Schedule
26 Clean Bills, Happy Client
32 Law Firm Travel Programs
37 Summer Social and Educational Program
5FALL 2014
IN THISISSUE . . .
Copyright ©2014 Maryland Chapter,Association of Legal Administrators. disclosures is published four times a year and is distributed to Chaptermembers and law firm managing partners. To submit articles, contactShelly Ruff at 410.494.6264.
Article reprints are available upon written request.
disclosures is copyright protected and is not to be reproduced in any form without written permission fromthe publisher.
FOR YOUR INFORMATON . . .
3 President’s Message
4 Board of Directors & Committee Chairs
6 Editor’s Corner
20 The Convergence of Managed Support Services
22 Affordale Care Act
24 Advertiser Index
29 APPS Anyone?
34 What the Heck is ILTA?
36 Calendar of Events
36 New Members
6 FALL 2014
Fall, in the world of law firm management, conjuresup images of strategic planning: staffing andexpense budget preparation, open enrollment,exploring new ideas for enhancing productivity andservicing clients in increasingly more efficient ways.
To that end, the editorial team brings you an editionchocked full of “planning”, from Tribridge’s articletouching on the employer mandate component ofhealthcare reform scheduling to go into effect in2015, to articles on law firm retreats, managed support services, and managing work schedules in relationship to business needs.
Planning the fall wardrobe is always a bit of a challenge for me… shorts and bathing suits sadlygive way to layers of bulky clothing and the tropicalcolors of summer fade away. But… has anyone elsefound themselves dressing in full-out Halloweenblack and orange of late… perhaps “planning” for October baseball?
Enjoy!
Shelly Ruff, EditorOffice AdministratorVenable LLP
EDITOR’SCORNER
Shelly RuffVenable LLP
disclosures Editorial Committee:
Cynthia CherryChief Human Resources OfficerOber Kaler
Lisa MangusAdministratorShawe & Rosenthal LLP
David RodenDirector of TechnologyGoodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann LLP
Michele ShrinerOffice AdministratorHyatt & Weber, P.A.
When it happens inLaw,
Daily. InPrint. Online.
When business happens in Maryland, it’s...
Sign up for Daily News Alerts
TheDailyRecord.com
it’s...Ben MookTrial Courts ReporterBen Mook covers trial courts,bringing our readers the mostup-to-date news, verdicts andsettlements from state andfederal courtrooms.
8 FALL 2014
The confluence of online legal applications (apps)that do some of the work lawyers used to perform,the explosion of electronically stored information(ESI) and a multi-generational workforce havesparked a seismic shift in the change-resistant practice of law. While many lawyers perceive theonslaught of technology as a threat to their businessmodel, when used correctly, technology can achieveefficiencies and cost savings for clients, and a better-managed and more fulfilling practice for outside counsel.
As the authors can attest: Technology saves legalcosts, improves efficiency and is convenient. Yet,they caution consumers of legal services to beaware of the risks. Contracts churned out fromsmartphones may not cover the nuances thatshould be addressed in most sophisticated trans-actions. As any lawyer will tell you, much of thevalue they bring to an engagement involves askingthe right questions and using the answers to helpstructure the transaction – actions that the currenttechnology is incapable of performing. Accordingly,there are good times to employ technology inresolving legal matters, as well as inopportunetimes.
Lawyers are paper dinosaursLaw firms are historically huge consumers of paper.It was not too long ago when you could walk downhallways of law firms or into a law-yer’s office andbe visually assaulted by stacks of papers, files andmanila folders on the floor, desks and bookshelves.Lawyers like to have control and to have their docu-ments, if not in their hands, then at least close by.They “grew up” in their profession by spendinghours at vast law libraries, conducting research andphotocopying statutes, regulations and case law.
Many Saul Ewing lawyers remember consecutivelate nights in the early 1980s, studying for lawschool exams in the firm’s cavernous library. Parkedin a carousel, hidden behind a stack of voluminouslaw school books, they relied on paper and pencilsto study and memorize case law, uniform codes andregulations. Three decades later, the yellow legalpads and pencils have been, for all intents and purposes, replaced by the internet and a stream ofelectronic tools.
It is well known that the legal profession is slow tochange, particularly when the change involves afundamental shift in the method by which theydeliver legal services. However, law departmentsand law firms alike are beginning to follow theadage: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” At theUniversity of Delaware, lawyers take their laptops tomeetings. They rarely take notes by hand, and thelaw department is increasingly paperless. Instead,memos, notes and drafts are saved in Dropbox andeasily shared with others.
Hearing the desire and demand to improve serviceand focus on higher value activities, Saul Ewing isembracing technology, as well. According to theChief Legal Officers (CLO) Survey 2014, generalcounsel do not want to buy hours; they want to buyresults. If technology makes results more achievableand affordable, many firms will use it. As a result,Saul Ewing has overcome the challenge of imple-menting legal technology across its multiple offices.
Cost motivatorsAs the US economy gains momentum, and busi-nesses position and restructure for growth, there iscontinuing pressure on general counsel to containlegal costs. In addition, the complexity of ediscoveryhas made it harder to cling to “business as usual.”The Legal Outsourcing Guide reports that the traditional methods for collecting and distributinginformation can no longer be justified in terms oftime and cost.
In 2009, at the height of the Great Recession in theUnited States, the University of Delaware named itsfirst general counsel. And despite signs that theeconomy is improving, pressure on GCs across thecountry to cut legal costs is just as strong, if notstronger, than it was in 2009.
The legal team at the University of Delaware is notresistant to technology. Their bigger fear is cost-containment. They do not sweat over the subjectmatter of ediscovery documents. They worry aboutthe cost of producing them. Because most lawyersstill bill by the hour, the natural question for outsidecounsel is: Won’t law firms lose money by turning totechnology, which will accomplish the same task inless time?
THECONVERGENCE
OF THE LAWAND
TECHNOLOGY:
By Lawrence White and Barry F. Levin
THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY?
9FALL 2014
The short answer is “no.” If outside counsel arehighly motivated to serve their clients and retainthem, they will (and are) doing what it takes to provide better service and more efficient results.This becomes possible with enhanced technology.The clients will benefit and appreciate the use oftechnology to save them money. On the law firmside, greater efficiency frees up attorneys for high-er-value work, providing counsel to and advocacyfor their clients. Part of Saul Ewing’s current vision isto use technology to be better positioned to take onmore high-value counseling and advocacy work.The upside for the lawyers is that they get to spendless of their time doing routine work, such as draft-ing and reviewing documents, and more of theirtime on the high-value, intellectually challengingwork that they really enjoy.
In an ABA podcast in December 2013, MitchKowalski, a Canadian lawyer and the author of“Avoiding Extinction: Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century,” said the billable hour can create a disincentive to learn new technologies. Heurges lawyers to bury the concept that their time isintrinsically valuable to the client. “It’s not,” saysKowalski. Instead, clients value the result that theirlawyers achieve. “And so,” he concludes, “if I canspend less time and get the same result, my client’sgoing to pay me for that value (results efficientlyachieved) that I’m providing for them.” What technology has exposed is that clients are not looking for an attorney to spend his life working on a file. They are looking for a result from that fileand are willing to pay for that result.
The arc of legal technologyFrom our collective reliance on smart-phones andtablets to a surge in free or inexpensive automatedsystems that create and review simple legal contracts and online document assembly software,the suite of legal technology options is a red carpetbeckoning attorneys to adapt and save money andtime. Legal process outsourcing (LPO) has beenaround since the 1950s but has become valuable to general counsel in recent years. Most firms andcorporations outsource primarily to save money,and this is considered the biggest advantage forlegal outsourcing. While an attorney in major legal
markets, such as the United States, may charge anywhere from $250 to $500 per hour or even morewhen performing routine services (and many firmsstill charge the same rates for routine work as theydo for more valuable counsel), LPO firms generallycharge a fraction of that price and are increasinglymoving up the “value chain” beyond routine work.
Today’s lawyers can work 24/7 from hotel lobbies,airports and their living rooms because of ubiqui-tous technology. This “work” is not merely respond-ing to emails. Thanks to mobile apps and onlinesupport services, private lawyers and in-housecounsel have on-the-go access to technology thatenables them to simultaneously draft an agreementand respond to a client’s request for informationabout a change in federal law. Lawyer offices canbe dark after 6 pm, but chances are that many ofthem still are working somewhere.
Historically, in-house counsel conferences focusedon substantive changes in the law; today, the trendis all about technology. For example, at the mostrecent National Association of College andUniversity Attorneys (NACUA) conference, colleagues met in clusters, comparing notes on various shortcuts, document banks and softwarethey have been using to better serve their university clients.
One of the newest shortcuts – the Shake app – creates legal documents based on needs that havebeen entered electronically into a form by a clientor a lawyer. According to its mission statement, thecompany was founded on the belief that the “legalmarket is huge, inefficient, under-served by tech-nology and begging for change.” Shake is a freemobile app that can generate non-disclosure agreements and independent contractor agree-ments, wills, leases and personal loan documents.Meanwhile, LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer areonline legal documentation services that have been well received for both convenience and significantly reducing legal fees.
Mobile apps and software designed for the legalmarketplace have already made a name for them-selves among entrepreneurs who struggle to pay
10 FALL 2014
legal bills when they are starting up – often whenthey need legal services the most. They have pene-trated the market by being easy to understand andeffective for specific, well-defined services, as wellas attracting the attention of primarily the under-40professional who is not afraid of technology.
Judging by user reviews, mobile apps can be goodfor standard boilerplate contracts, but they may not yet be the wisest choice for complex, high-value or long-term deals. Like most technologicalresources, they serve an important support function. But the legal profession will not bereplaced or displaced by technology any time soon, even though it will certainly become part of the profession at all levels. These resources donot – and cannot – give customized solutions to all legal problems. Often, issues that seem straight-forward are actually not. “The devil is in thedetails,” and to this point, apps and software do not generally have the capacity to address many of the details in complex transactions.
Likewise, technology-assisted review (TAR) isanother frequently used option for outside counselbecause of cost. TAR uses technology to essentiallypredict whether a subset of documents is likely tocontain terms that have already been identified in a master set, reducing costs while maintainingaccuracy and speeding up workflow. At the sametime, however, this technology does not under-stand the client’s business and is not invested inthe outcome. After all, it is an automated tool andonly as good as the user inputting the data.
The old rules still apply. In today’s global, highlyregulated world with legal disciplines mountingdaily, clients need, and will pay for, an attorney’scounsel, experience and judgment. The end goal is client service, with optimal outcomes deliveredefficiently – not cutting corners.
The legal technology industry openly acknow-ledges its limitations. In typicalterms of agreement,legal technology resources and applications caution users that they are not to be used as a substitute for a law firm or attorney. This is code for caveat emptor – buyer beware.
As lawyers can attest, every situation is unique.Complex matters have ebbs and flows that requirediscussions at each stage. While legal technologycan save time and money, it cannot account forquality control, security and the nuances of a particular litigation matter, regulation or trans-action. Lawyers bring the human element, which, in many cases, is still essential.
“Nobody goes to law school to review documents,”says Kowalski. “People go to law school to use theirbrains and think of creative solutions to complexquestions. That’s the kind of stuff that will alwaysstay onshore, that will always stay in a lawyer’soffice.”
Embracing technology because the clientexpects itA firm’s technology capabilities are beginning tomatter more and more to potential clients. Afteryears of dipping its toes into the legal technologymarket, in March 2011, Saul Ewing formally estab-lished its technologically-based Litigation SupportServices (LSS) Department, which has proven to be so popular that other groups in the firm areclamoring for a similar platform of their own. Usinga hybrid of managed services, cloud services,Software as a Service (SaaS), and owned softwareproducts and services, the firm’s legal technologysystem gives partners greater flexibility and efficiency in serving their clients. As part of SaulEwing’s strategic technology plan, the firm part-nered with Daegis to host its Saul Review Platform(SRP) for ediscovery and document review, andTransPerfect Legal Solutions to host its virtual datarooms (i.e., deal rooms). In-house counsel manage-ment software, LexisNexis CaseMap Suite and high-speed FTP solution Aspera supplement thesemanaged services. Some more senior colleaguesare resistant to letting go of the paper, but adoptingcloud solutions makes life easier for both lawyersand clients.
What makes Saul Ewing’s LSS Department mostvaluable, according to clients and lawyers at thefirm, is that the people who manage it (including alicensed attorney) take true operational ownershipof each piece of software named above. From
11FALL 2014
Lawrence White joined theUniversity of Delaware as vicepresident and its first generalcounsel in 2009 after working formore than 30 years in higher edu-cation. [email protected] mail-to:[email protected]
Barry F. Levin is the managingpartner and chief executive offi-cer of Saul Ewing LLP, an EastCoast law firm with 11 offices and260 lawyers. He has served asoutside general counsel to a mul-titude of different clients in awide variety of industries for thepast 30 years.
branding and user interface to technical supportand back-end processing, each member of SaulEwing’s LSS team knows how to implement theappropriate technology to address complex legalsituations. Better yet, they understand legalprocesses and know how to get the job done andachieve favorable results for clients. David Leone,Saul Ewing’s director of LSS, says “it is crucial forlawyers handling a case to trust the legal tech-nology team from the outset.”
Together, the lawyers and legal tech professionalshave created a strategic advantage with clients byexplaining both the cost and time incentives ofmaking legal technology part of their legal capa-bilities. A firm’s technology should provide all thepieces that its clients need so that it can tell a storythat describes an end-to-end solution for the client.If its technology story has gaps, those gaps shouldbe analyzed and filled with either internal or external solutions.
Don’t be afraid of technologyAccording to an article that was based on a paneldiscussion on “Legal Technology – Good Trends,Bad Combinations and Ugly Results” at theLegalTech New York 2014 conference in February2014, legal technology is not going away. It is gainingrapid traction, even with the inevitable hiccups andresistance that have accompanied the transition. It is here to stay and will continue to develop andbecome one of the tools available to both in-houseand outside counsel.
There is a noted uptick in law departments’embrace of the cloud – a business model that offers increased efficiencies, where documents can be securely contained and accessed by thosewith permissions. According to discussions at theLegalTech New York 2014 conference, more thantwo-thirds of in-house attorneys said that their legal department uses cloud-based services – upfrom 50 percent in 2011. Yet, the legal profession, as a whole, lags behind others. According to panelmembers who contributed to last year’s report:
• Sixty-one percent of law firms do not use any typeof mobile device management (MDM) software,even though smartphones and tablets are widelyused by attorneys and staff.
• Seventy percent of firms offer no integration oftablets or smartphones with their video-confer-encing room equipment, making it difficult toimpossible to project anything attorneys bringwith them on their devices.
• Eighty percent of firms offer no type of mobile-time entry to their attorneys, even though today’slawyers are always on the go.
Lawyers are late to the game. It is not going to geteasier. It is not a light switch; it is a dimmer switch.Turn it on! According to panelists at the LegalTechNew York 2014 conference, expect to see anincrease in the outsourcing of commodity services;an increase in the use of enterprise social network-ing and collaborative software tools; and growth in the use of MDM systems. And there will be anincrease in the use of the electronic matter file andcloud computing, especially among smaller firms (at least initially).
But even though legal technology is here to stay, itwill never take the place of good counsel, judgmentand advocacy from a trusted attorney. In the end,technology should not be a threat to the model; itshould be used as a tool to enhance the model. ACC
Reprinted with permission of the Association ofCorporate Counsel (ACC) as it originally appeared:“The Convergence of the Law and Technology:Threat or Opportunity,” ACC Docket 32, no. 8(October 2014): 94-99. © 2014 the Association ofCorporate Counsel. All rights reserved. If you areinterested in joining ACC, please go towww.acc.com, call 202.293.4103, ext. 360, or [email protected].
12 FALL 2014
PLANNINGYOUR NEXT
FIRM RETREATWITH PROPER PLANNING AND EXECUTION, YOUR FIRM CAN HAVE ITS BEST ONE EVER!
As law firms become larger, multi-office and evenmulti-national, firm retreats have become more andmore commonplace. In fact, The Remsen Report’sReader Survey conducted in April 2007 reveals thatalmost half of the 180 firms that participated have afirm retreat once a year. Another 25% have oneevery other year.
Although it may sound like a relatively simple task,planning and executing a successful firm retreat ismuch more complicated than one might think —certainly requiring more time and effort than planning the firm’s holiday party! When you consider the number of attendees, their high levelof expectation and the total cost, planning a firmretreat is anything but simple! In addition, themeetings industry is extremely competitive so,unlike planning the family vacation, finding theright hotel and negotiating the best deal can bechallenging and time consuming.
Although every firm retreat differs according to the firm’s unique culture and its specific issues, the primary purpose usually involves strategicplanning, marketing and business development,discussions of specific business issues, and creating vision for the firm’s future direction.Equally important are team building, social camaraderie and just plain having fun!
All of these objectives can be met in a properlyplanned and well executed firm retreat held at the right time and at the right place. Once you’vedetermined your objectives, your venue selectioncan be the single most important factor in a successful event. Avoid the common mistake ofrushing to select a hotel and assuming that everything will fall into place from there…because it just won’t happen!!
When planning your next Firm Retreat, there are siximportant questions that need to be answered:
1. What is the purpose?The firm is investing lots of time and money to gather its people, so it’s important to have veryclear goals and objectives for what you want toaccomplish during your time together. Next, youmust develop an agenda to support those objec-tives. This is critical. Your goals and objectives willalso play a big role in determining the type of hotelyou’ll need.
2. Who is going to attend?Partners only? Associates? Spouses? Senior staff? If the purpose is to gain buy-in to a new strategicdirection for the firm, partners only might be appropriate. If, however, the primary purpose ismore social and relationship building, the firmmight include associates and spouses. More andmore firms are inviting clients, recruits and alumnito their firm retreats, as well.
3. What is the best location?Once you have determined your objectives anddeveloped the agenda, you can then find andselect an appropriate venue. For example, resortslend themselves to relationship-building and camaraderie, while business hotels might be thebetter choice for a partners-only planning session.Some firms go to the same place year after year,while others move it around.
4. What are your meeting room needs?The agenda will dictate your meeting room require-ments, set up and times, A/V equipment, food andbeverage functions and recreational activities.Attention to detail is extremely important.
5. What are the preferred dates?It is advisable to confirm preferred dates with keyattendees, and try to work with several sets of datesif you are locked into a particular venue. It’s best tobegin the planning process at least six to ninemonths out.
By: Christopher Bragoni and John Remsen, Jr.
(Reprinted with permission fromLawFirmRetreats.net)
13FALL 2014
About the Authors
Christopher Bragoni is RegionalDirector of HelmsBriscoe, the world’s largest and mostrespected meeting site search andselection firm. Christopher hasover 24 years of global hospitalityand meetings experience and specializes in law firm retreats.He can be reached at323.654.0432 [email protected]
John Remsen, Jr. is President ofTheRemsenGroup, a marketingconsulting firm that works exclusively with law firms to helpthem attract and retain the clientsthey want. He has been a featuredspeaker and/or helped plan over50 law firm retreats. He can bereached at 404.885.9100 [email protected].
6. What is the budget?To keep a handle on costs, establish a realisticbudget in advance. In addition to hotel accommo-dations, travel, food and beverage, recreation andthe like, consider the collective value of the lawyers’time. (Yikes!) If you plan to engage outside speak-ers or consultants to participate, consider their feesand expenses, as well.
Only after you have answered these questions are you ready to start looking for the right hotel.Depending on the destination you are considering,we recommend that you develop a Request forProposal (RFP) and get formal proposals from fiveto seven hotels that meet your criteria.
After you review all the proposals, narrow youroptions down to two or three. Next, take the time to visit each venue to see the guest rooms andmeeting space. Stay overnight. Eat in the restaurant,order room service and check out all the amenitiesyour group is likely to use. Ask each hotel to place atentative hold on the guest rooms and meetingspace to protect the space until you’ve got a signed
contract. And keep in mind that just about everything is negotiable, so be sure to negotiate,negotiate, negotiate!
If you have never planned a firm retreat or simplydo not have the time, you should consider out-sourcing the site search and selection to a companylike HelmsBriscoe. They are experts at meetingplanning and can act as your meetings assistant.They can also save you both time and money, byfinding the right venue and negotiating the bestpossible deal. Best of all, there are no formal contract commitments or direct costs as they arepaid a placement fee by the hotel.
Planning your next firm retreat can be an over-whelming task, but it doesn’t have to be. If you keepyour objectives in mind, develop a focused agenda,select the right hotel and utilize the many availableresources, you can almost guarantee a successfulevent!
Happy planning!
h a r d w a r e s o l u t i o n s
ma
na
ge
d p
rint
serv
ice
s
d o c u m e n t
m a n a g e m e n t
s o l u t i o n s
m a n a g e d I T s e r v i c e s
W E L I V E A N D B R E A T H E T H I S S T U F F . T M
410.252.4800advancestuff.com | We Live and Breathe This Stuff.™
Ensuring that everything in your world works, and works together.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES > LEGAL PRODUCTION PRINT | HARDWARE SOLUTIONS | MANAGED PRINTMANAGED IT | DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Intelligent Technology, Powerful Solutions,Executed with Precision.
Computer Forensics and eDiscovery experts providing unparalleled service• Relativity Best in Service Provider• Named Best Tech Company in North America by Hitachi • Customized Software and Visual Data Analytics• Enhanced Technology Assisted Review• Consultative World-Class Project Management
Contact usMichael Kroeber25 West 45th Street, Suite 701New York, NY 10036Phone [email protected]
Our attorneys are confident that when they call the help desk, they will see immediate results.” Miles & Stockbridge
Providing The Legal Industry With World Class IT Support
CALL US TODAY
443-872-9219
Enterprise Help Desk 24/7/365 | Infrastructure Management | Managed Services | Cloud Compu ng
Top 100 Managed Service Providers Worldwide 2014
Renee CarterSupport ManagerMajor [email protected]
Beth GoldsteinClient Relations [email protected]
Frank CulottaManaging [email protected]
Sandy CookMajor Account [email protected]
Debra EichhammerOffice [email protected]
Dammon WashingtonService [email protected]
Adam LubbesSystems [email protected]
Stan [email protected]
99.89% Customer Approval Rating
443-589-0140www.deximaging.com
10955 Golden West Drive | Hunt Valley, MD 21031
Continuing the Maryland Chapter's relationshipwith Dayspring Programs, a school supply drive washeld in August to help get 32 children at Dayspring'stransitional shelter on North Patterson Park Avenueready for the new school year. Dayspring Programs,Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded tochange the lives of homeless children and their fam-ilies. Dayspring provides a continuum of housingand support services to strengthen sustained recov-ery and self-sufficiency of homeless families whomust surmount the barrier of substance abuse.Children who have been homeless and whose livesare affected by poverty, substance abuse, anddomestic or community violence need comprehen-sive services provided by staff members whounderstand the effect such trauma has on children’sability to learn and grow into healthy and produc-tive adults.
The generosity of the firms that participated in theDayspring School Supply Drive was truly amazing.As we traveled from firm to firm picking up the sup-plies, the back of a Yukon SUV quickly became full,and it was soon clear that we were "going to need abigger boat." By the end of the morning, there wereboxes stacked to the roof of the SUV and secondvan was almost half-filled. In addition to the sup-plies, the Chapter raised $1,370, which was used topurchase additional school supplies for the chil-dren. The Dayspring Program Director said that shewas "speechless" at how much had been donatedby the participating law firms. The following excerptfrom Dayspring's thank you letter says it all:
Because of the drive, Dayspring children will beginthe school year well prepared. Having the neededsupplies and being prepared for school is so impor-tant to ensuring the children can be successful.Dayspring works to change the future for homelesschildren; these gifts can have a lasting impact for abetter tomorrow for our children. Your contribu-tions make a huge difference in their lives.
On Thursday, August 21, Ruth Fry, Nancy Robinsonand I attended the Back to School Rally at theCenter. It was quite an event, with a DJ, free haircutsfor the kids, pizza and other activities. Followingthe festivities, we helped the children assembletheir supplies for the start of school the followingweek. It was a wild and fun evening.
The Community Connections Committee sincerelythanks the following firms for their support ofthis resoundingly successful campaign:
Ballard SpahrBaxter Baker Sidle Conn & JonesDavis Agnor Rappaport SkalnyFunk & BoltonGallagher Evelius & JonesSaul EwingSchochor Federico & StatonSemmes Bowen and SemmesSilverman Thompson Slutkin & WhiteVenable LLPWhiteford Taylor & PrestonWright Constable & Skeen
17FALL 2014
DAYSPRINGSCHOOLSUPPLY DRIVEHUGE SUCCESS!
By: Joanne EdwardsHuman Resources/Office Services ManagerBallard Spahr LLP
410-685-1100www.courthousecopy.com
We are proud to support the Maryland Association of Legal Administrators.
Digital PrintingSmall and Large Document Scanning
Small and Large Format ColorExhibit Preparation
Database ManagementElectronic Media Duplication and Conversion
E-Discoveryand more….
Free Pick-Up and Delivery
Celebrating 23 Year of Service to the Baltimore Legal Community
Sometimes it feels like employees have so manyrights, they get to choose what they will do andwhen they will do it. This may be true to someextent if the employee is entitled to a scheduleadjustment as a reasonable accommodation formedical needs (American with Disabilities Act) orreligious needs (Title VII), or if they need a reducedor intermittent work schedule for medical/militaryfamily reasons (Family and Medical Leave Act). But in the normal course of events, it is actually theemployer’s decision to determine what needs to bedone and on what schedule – and that these deter-minations can change, depending on businessneeds. A recent case, Huang v. Continental CasualtyCo., provides a reminder to employers that you are,in fact, in charge (well, most of the time, anyway).
After working eight years for the employer, a systemand software engineer was reassigned to a newteam and given new duties, which included once-a-month pager duty on a weekend. The engineer(and the other members of his team) would have to carry a pager and be available 24 hours a dayduring the assigned monthly weekend on duty. The engineer refused to work weekends because of family reasons, even though his supervisor andHuman Resources told him it was a work require-ment and that he could be fired for his refusal. Heoffered to come into the office on Sundays insteadof Mondays, but would not be on pager duty other-wise during the weekend. The engineer was subse-quently fired for his continuing refusal of weekendpager duty.
The engineer then sued, alleging race and nationalorigin discrimination, along with retaliation. Heargued that he was meeting the employer’s legiti-mate job expectations because: (1) he offered a suitable alternative to the pager duty requirementby offering to come in on Sundays rather thanMondays; (2) he had a good reason to refuse pagerduty – he wanted to spend more time with his
family; and (3) the pager duty was not legitimatebecause it wasn’t in his job description.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit rejectedall of his arguments, however. First, the Court notedthat “employers are entitled to determine theirscheduling needs.” The offer to work Sundays didnot meet the employer’s need to have an employeeavailable 24 hours a day the whole weekend long.Second, although the Court observed that
“although a longing to spend more time with familyis understandable” (the Court has never met myteenagers!), it went on to state that this longing“does not undermine the legitimacy of a workschedule that cuts into family time.” Basically, his“preference for home life” could not trump theemployer’s work expectations. Finally, the Courtnoted that pager duty did not need to be memorial-ized in a job description in order to be a validemployment expectation.
Bottom line – an employee’s personal preference, oreven their family needs (e.g. childcare, school, etc.)should not control the schedule that the employersets. As a matter of employee morale, an employermight try to accommodate the personal schedulingpreferences of employees, although there is no legalrequirement to do so. But if the employer deter-mines that a particular work schedule is required bybusiness needs, employees must comply with thatrequirement.
EMPLOYERSGET TO SETTHE SCHEDULE –REALLY!
by Fiona W. OngPosted in EmploymentDiscrimination, Laws & Regulations,Litigation on July 10, 2014.
19FALL 2014
Fiona W. Ong, a graduate ofPrinceton University andGeorgetown University LawCenter, is a partner at ShaweRosenthal, LLP, a labor andemployment boutique. Shedefends employers in the areasof employment discrimination,wrongful discharge, leaveissues, and wage/hour regulation. Fiona co-chairs theMaryland Chamber ofCommerce’s Employment IssuesCommittee. She is the revisionseditor for a number of employ-ment law treatises published by Matthew Bender, and is acontributing editor of MatthewBender’s Employment LawDeskbook.
20 FALL 2014
THECONVERGENCE
OF MANAGEDSUPPORTSERVICES
World events and dramatic economic change since2008 when the “Great Recession” of our timebegan, have impacted all sectors of the businessworld. What was common practice and acceptedas the ordinary way for law firms to run their busi-nesses, has since become an exercise in reducingall possible fixed costs. Although this phenomenonhas accelerated greatly for law firms in recentyears, it has been the norm in the corporate worldfor the past few decades. Just as with CEOs oflarge corporations, law firms now also recognizetheir fiduciary responsibility to manage their budgets as tightly as possible.
To reflect these changing circumstances, law firmsare reducing costs through all possible meansincluding a significant increase in the use of out-sourcing. The concept of outsourcing certain non-core functions is not new to law firms. Backoffice administrative departments have been out-sourced since the early 1980s. However, recentevents have driven law firms to look into newareas of outsourcing opportunity. The law firmclient has changed the way they are acquiring legalservices from outside counsel, and as a result, lawfirms have been compelled to reinvent the waythey operate.
Areas like litigation support, IT, the documentreview process, and the middle office space, whichincludes legal support staff, word processing, andlegal research, are now under the microscope.They are the new “green fields” for law firm costcontrol and savings initiatives; more and morefirms are rethinking their positions in these areas.Many are asking themselves if making capitalinvestments in labor and technology infrastructurethat changes so rapidly makes sense. They arereviewing their secretarial ratios and the way theymeasure support staff productivity, if at all. In thatregard, they are looking to benefit from labor arbitrage and space reclamation relating to theirmiddle office support areas. Further, GC’s are nolonger willing to pay high level billing rates for litigation document review by junior attorneys;they are looking at Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)
solutions instead. In a few words, the game haschanged dramatically. Firms are finding it thatmuch more difficult to recover their costs and are seeking new strategies from their businesspartners.
Many, if not most “FM” companies, have remainedfocused on the back office. Historically their mainsource of value has been to lower a firm’s costs byproviding an even lower paid employee for backoffice support. The reality is there is very little costsavings opportunity in that area without signifi-cantly reducing services or risking quality. Supportproviders can offer opportunities to bring highvalue and competitive cost in the back office; butmay also bring value in terms of additional outsourcing opportunities for word processing, virtual legal assistants, legal research, litigationtechnology, litigation support, and other LPO func-tions such as document review and technologyassisted review. Firms are clearly very interested inthe additional opportunities for savings combinedwith a variable cost methodology.
Article originally appeared in the July, 2014 editionof ALA’s Capital Chapter newsletter, CapitalConnection.
DTI is a leader among E-discovery service and support providers while also providing contractattorney placement as well as outplacement services for displaced legal staff. Seewww.dtiglobal.com; 202-842-3300.
By: Peter BalisDirector of Sales
Management ServicesDTI
We are the law firm’sreal estate firm.100 North Charles St., Suite 1710Baltimore, MD 21201443 297 9000
www.colliers.comC E R T I F I E D P U B L I C A C C O U N T A N T S A N D B U S I N E S S C O N S U L T A N T S
410-727-5735 ETNET.COM BALTIMORE WASHINGTON FREDERICK BELCAMP
We have a long and successful record as advisors to the law firm community, serving clients from start-ups, to large, regional firms. Find out how we can bring greater profitability to your firm.
Legal matters can be complex.
So can managing a law firm.
© 2014 Robert Half Legal. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V. 0310-5008b
Whether you need a highly skilled word processor or a team of proven project attorneys for e-discovery document review…
You’re covered.
Robert Half Legal has more than 350,000 skilled legal professionals available on a full-time, temporary or project basis. Find out more at roberthalflegal.com/testimonials.
We’ll put the pieces together to help you achieve a more strategic and cost-effective solution.
DTI Management Services offers a new approach and end-to-end solution by integrating litigation and technology
with traditional facilities management.
DTI Re-DefinesManagement Services
World-class service. Local commitment.Local Contact: Peter Balis | [email protected](202) 697-0418 | (202) 842-3300 x5086 | www.dtiglobal.com
22 FALL 2014
IS YOURCOMPANY
SUBJECT TOEMPLOYER
SHAREDRESPONSIBILITY
PROVISIONIN 2015? By: Rebecca Bayne
and Susan PalfiTriBridge Partners, LLC
As a part of healthcare reform under the Patientand Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),the Employer Shared Responsibility (more com-monly referred to as the “Employer Mandate” or“Pay or Play”) was originally due to go in to effecton January 1, 2014. However, the enforcement ofthis provision was delayed until 2015.
What is the Employer Shared Responsibility?
Under the Employer Shared Responsibility provi-sions, Applicable Large Employers (ALE) must offeraffordable health coverage of a minimum value totheir full-time employees. If they do not, theemployer may be subject to an Employer SharedResponsibility payment (penalty), if at least onefull-time employee receives a premium tax credit(a.k.a. “subsidy”) when purchasing individual coverage in one of the public exchanges.
What is an ALE?
An Applicable Large Employer (ALE) is an employerthat has 50 or more full-time employees or full-timeequivalent employees (FTEs) in the preceding calendar year.
Under the PPACA, a full-time employee is definedas an employee working 30 hours or more a weekor 130 hours of service in a calendar month.
The full-time equivalent calculation is made by calculating the aggregate hours of service in amonth for employees who are not full-time for thatmonth and then dividing the total hours by 120.
Your employer size for an upcoming calendar yearcan be calculated by taking the sum of: • the total number of full-time employees for each
calendar month in the preceding calendar year,plus
• the sum of total number of full-time equivalents inthe preceding calendar year,
• then divide that number by 12 (months)
For the 2015 calendar year only, rather than usingthe entire 2014 calendar year, an employer maydetermine its status as a large employer by using alimited duration of at least six consecutive calendarmonths in 2014.
After the ALE calculation has been made and youhave determined that you have 50 or more full-timeemployees or full-time equivalents, then you areconsidered an Applicable Large Employer (ALE)and the mandate to offer coverage or pay a penaltywill apply.
When must I comply with the mandate?
If it has been determined that the mandate applies,your next step is to determine when you must comply. For employers that have 100 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents, then themandate to offer coverage will apply in 2015.
For employers that fall between 50- 99 employees,the enforcement of the mandate has been delayeduntil 2016, if the employer can certify maintenanceof workforce, aggregate hours of service, and main-tenance of previously offered health coverage.
What is affordable coverage?
Affordable coverage means the employee’s share ofthe premium for the employer sponsored medicalcoverage costs the employee no more than 9.56% of the employee’s annual household income.
In many cases, an employer will most likely notknow the employees’ household income.Therefore, the employer may choose from one ofthe affordability safe harbor provisions listedbelow. Under these safe harbor provisions, cover-age is affordable if the employee’s contribution ofthe self-only coverage, for the lowest cost plan, isless than 9.5% of:
23FALL 2014
TriBridge Partners, LLC providesadvisory services in the areas ofinsurance, employee benefit services, investment strategiesand comprehensive financialplanning services with offices inBaltimore, Frederick andBethesda.
Rebecca Bayne and Susan Palfiare both Senior Consultants in the Regulatory Affairs andCompliance group at TriBridgePartners. They help groups navigate the Patient andProtection and Affordable CareAct (PPACA) and provide employ-ers and HR professionals withHealth and Welfare complianceassistance. 240-422-8799 or toll free 855-333-6399;www.tribridgepartners.com;[email protected]
• The Federal Poverty Level for a single individual(2014 Federal Poverty Level for a single individualis $11,670)
• an employee’s box 1 W-2 wages • an employee’s monthly wages (hourly rate x 130
hours per month)
Is there reporting I must complete and when is it due?
If you have determined that you are an ApplicableLarge Employer, then in addition to the mandate tooffer coverage, you should also be prepared tocomply with the new IRS employer reportingrequirements. The first reporting won’t be due untilthe first quarter 2016, but because it will requiredata regarding coverage offered during the calen-dar year 2015, you should start collecting data starting in January 2015. Instructions for the newreporting requirements were released on August28, 2014. To submit reporting, Applicable LargeEmployers will need to file form 1094-C directly to the IRS, and then provide form 1095-C to theiremployees.
What should I do NOW?
To properly prepare for 2015, you should make sureyou have evaluated your group size to determine ifand when the mandate may apply. If you are anApplicable Large Employer (ALE), you should workwith your benefits advisor to determine whetherthe coverage you are offering to your employeescomplies with the mandate to offer coverage. In2015, you should start tracking the informationrequired for the new IRS reporting requirements.Prepare now, so you are not playing catch-up later.
DISCLAIMER: This material is intended only to provide brief commentary on the laws and issuesdiscussed above. Due to the general nature of thiscontent and because legislation is constantlyreleased and updated, the information containedherein may not be applicable in all situations andmay not, beyond the date of this communication,even reflect the most recent authority. For these reasons, nothing contained in this communicationshould be relied or acted upon without the benefitof legal counsel, and nothing herein should be construed as an admission or legal advice.
24 FALL 2014
ADVERTISERINDEX
ADMIRALTriBridge Partners, LLC ...........................2
CAPTAINDEX Imaging, Inc. ....................................16
COMMANDERAdvance –
The Document Specialists ..............14Precision Discovery, Inc.......................15The Lawyers Help Desk.......................15The Verve Partnership.........................14
LIEUTENANT COMMANDERColliers International ...........................21DTI Global ..................................................21Ellin & Tucker, Chartered ....................21Robert Half Legal....................................21W.B. Mason Company, Inc..................30
OUR 2014-2015 BUSINESS PARTNER SPONSORS
LIEUTENANTABA Retirement Funds Program .....25Alliance InfoSystems LLC....................25Arris, a Design Studio, Inc...................25Chubb Group of Insurance
Companies .............................................25Electronic Systems, Inc. (ESI).............28Herbert L. Jamison & Co., LLC............31Humanscale..............................................28Konica Minolta Business
Solutions..................................................31McEnroe Voice & Data, Inc. ................31milliCare by EBC Carpet
Services....................................................25NDX Archives & Next Day
Express......................................................31Phillips Office Solutions .....................28Planet Depos, LLC...................................31Recall............................................................25Ricoh Legal ................................................28Riggs, Counselman, Michaels
& Downes, Inc.......................................28Rippe & Kingston....................................28Royal Cup Coffee....................................30SunTrust Bank Legal
Specialty Group ...................................31Tuttle Printing & Engraving.................30
IN KINDCourthouse Copy ...................................18The Daily Record.......................................7
Who’s Watching Your Firm’s 401(k)?
(201) 917-3030 www.abaretirement.com
IGOR FEDOSENKO Vice President, Sales
[email protected] Inte
rior
Arc
hite
ctur
e &
Des
ign
Corporate Government Healthcare Hospitality Retail Tenant Planning
For more information on law firm design, contactAlex J. Kramer, Principal Officer at
410.752.5006 or visit us at www.arrisdesign.com
Arris
Effectively and securely manage your physical and digital information with Recall
With Recall, you’re covered when it comes to: • Governance • Data Backup & Recovery • Digital Conversion • Secure Destruction • Document Storage • Business Process Automation
Secure. Manage. Govern.
©2014 Recall Holdings Limited. All rights reserved. Other trademarks, registered trademarks, product names, and company names or logos are the property of their respective owners.
Visit recall.com
To learn more about Recall and the services we offer DC Metro businesses, contact Brad Crist, Sales Executive, [email protected] or Call 888-732-2556
· Disaster Recovery· Hardware &
···
IT Support that Keeps YourBusiness Running Smoothly
www.ainfosys.com
1700 Union Avenue Suite B 21211 410-585-9505
Providing business andpersonal insurance worldwide
through independent agents and brokersfor more than 130 years.
Financial Strength and Exceptional Claim Service
Chubb Group of Insurance Companies200 St. Paul Place, 23rd Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202-2038 • www.chubb.com
For further information, please contact Matt Magner Senior Law Firm Underwriter, Chubb & Son.
Phone: (202) 822-2423 / e-mail: [email protected]
26 FALL 2014
CLEANBILLS,HAPPYCLIENT
For legal departments focused on cost containmentand metrics-driven budget management, few thingsare more frustrating than law firms’ inefficientbilling processes. Over the last few years, the number of clients requiring their law firms to use e-billing has exploded. This has left law firms grappling with different client requirements, clunky software and inefficient processes.
However, these challenges have also broughtopportunities for firms to deliver superior clientservice and differentiate themselves by eliminatingbilling errors, sending invoices in a more timelyfashion and giving clients more cost predictability.Firms can also set themselves apart being proactiveabout using paperless invoices and becoming moretransparent with billing, rather than taking a purelyreactive approach.
In order to achieve these goals and foster improvedclient satisfaction, firms should focus on imple-menting technology and operational processimprovements around e-billing. They might alsoneed to rethink the way they approach billing. Withthe right software, processes and attitude, law firmscan make e-billing a mutually beneficial endeavor.
ADVANTAGES FOR CLIENTS
For clients, e-billing makes perfect sense. Paper-based bills from law firms can run dozens of pages.Not only do law firms spend a great deal of timeproducing, circulating, reviewing, modifying anddelivering these paper bills, clients often undertaketheir own arduous review before paying them.Through e-billing, corporate clients eliminate theburden of paper bills, and they can control lawdepartment budgets. E-billing data also enable in-house law departments to compare efficiencyamong law firms. Many clients now require elec-tronic bill delivery in order to transfer and preservebills easily in their own case management applica-tions. Many environmentally conscious corpora-tions require email delivery in order to satisfy corporate policy.
CHALLENGES FOR FIRMS
While this presents significant advantages forclients, the situation is more complicated for lawfirms. Software solutions can be extraordinarilyexpensive, and data security is always a concern.Without an industry-wide standard for e-billingcodes, timekeepers and administrative profes-sionals must adapt to continuously changing clientrequirements. Busy attorneys and staff might not leap into training for new technology andprocesses. Systems often are managed on spread-sheets or, even worse, entirely in the head of a single longtime staff member. Due to the dramaticimpact e-billing has had on firm collections andprofitability, law firm leaders can no longer ignoretraining in this area. Those who make educationand training a priority, and who implement soundtimekeeping practices supported by technologysolutions, will see greater client satisfaction andretention.
Law firms are not finished once they have trainedtimekeepers and staff to submit e-bills successfully.They must still track those bills to determine whichones have been rejected and which have beenapproved. Billing staff must also know what theycan and cannot change on their own to avoid ethicsviolations. For instance, billing staff might add ormodify lawyer time entries at the point of submis-sion in order to submit the related invoice success-fully. This is a risky approach, and many lawyers arenot aware of this practice within their firms.
Despite the challenges, e-billing can provide hugebenefits for law firms. By implementing practicesand technology that involve a degree of automationand standardization, firms will minimize the chanceof human error and the risk of delayed delivery andcash receipts. Quality e-billing data can also pro-vide firms with a wealth of business intelligencethat can be used to develop client- and lawyer-centric metrics.
By Candy Sharpe
27FALL 2014
Candy Sharpe, founding teammember of BillBLAST, heads upthe client services and productdevelopment team. She has beendedicated to the legal industry for over 15 years and is an experton legal billing applications, efficiencies and process improve-ments, as well as new technolo-gies to support and improve the same. Contact Candyat [email protected].
Firms should also look for proactive approaches to avoid violating client guidelines before bills aregenerated. By thoughtfully selecting and imple-menting mechanisms, processes and proceduresthat enable billing operators to identify guidelineviolations before they submit e-bills, firms can compress the cycle time for revenue collection.
Provide the Right TrainingIdentifying the right e-billing technology is just oneaspect of a successful program. A great deal of satis-factory client service also relates to education andtraining. Law firms should look for applications thatcan centralize and manage training points to betterleverage e-billing best practices. Firms also need tofind ways to break down the barriers betweenfinancial managers and those submitting the bills,so no one is working in a vacuum.
Firms must tailor training and workflows to differ-ent groups: staff handling e-billing, timekeeperswho record time entries and managing partnersand executive committee members.
• Staff: Billing operators who submit the bills needto be trained fully on technology solutions, sothey can leverage all the features the firm has paidfor. They also must be trained to increase theireffectiveness, such as improving the cycle timefrom when the bill is submitted to when it is paid.Law firms should also establish benchmarks inorder to measure the workloads and performanceof their billing staff.
• Timekeepers: For timekeepers, training shouldeducate every employee on delivering the mostefficient and effective service to clients. This oftencan be boiled down to asking two simple ques-tions: Does the time entry provide adequatedetail related to the services delivered; and doesit require specific legal training to provide theservice? If the answer to both questions is affirma-tive, lawyers and paralegals have already done agreat deal to ensure that the e-bill will comply withclient guidelines.
• Managing Partners and Executive CommitteeMembers: Those who lead law firms should beattuned to e-billing needs and challenges. Theyshould know where the problems with e-billinglie and which clients reject the most bills. Theyshould also know how much of their total revenueis collected through e-billing and how e-billingprocesses can impact revenue collections.
Consider a typical law firm. If 70 percent of thefirm’s revenues are subject to client e-billing guide-lines, it is possible that clients are rejecting orreducing payment immediately on up to 40 or 50percent of those bills. Those numbers can add upquickly and have a significant negative impact.With the right e-billing programs, optimized config-uration and smart use of metrics, a firm easily canaccess critical information that will allow it toimprove billing rate realization and see an increasein revenue.
A Clean Bill of HealthAs new technologies are created and client expec-tations rise, law firms need to keep pace if theywant to have a satisfied client base. For many firms,overhauling their technology platforms is a daunt-ing prospect. Yet when firms fail to do so, clientrelationships can be compromised, and they oftenturn to lawyers who are more tech savvy. Educationis the critical area of effective timekeeping prac-tices. Proactive sharing of related performance metrics will enable firms to set themselves apartfrom their competition.
This article was first published in ILTA’s March 2014issue of Peer to Peer titled “Client Satisfaction:Customer Service Is Job One!” and is reprinted herewith permission. For more information about ILTA,visit www.iltanet.org.
Insurance Services Risk Management
Kevin [email protected]
Contact Rippe & Kingston to start putting your Firm’s Financial Management pieces together today!
Imagination. It's what excites us. Inspires us. It drives us to change things from the way they are to the way we want them to be. Just unlock the collective imagination of your company and the sky is the limit. Capture, transform, manage. Ricoh will show you how to leverage the powerful information and knowledge that exists throughout your organization and create the future you want. Visit ricoh-usa.com or call 1-800-63-RICOH.
Imagination drives us to change.
End-to-end IT solutions customized to fit the individual needs of your firm.
learn more @ www.es i .net
Reduce Downtime Maximize Productivity Increase Your Bottom Line
At home or at work, Apps are fun to share and explore. Here are some of the editorial team’s favorites:
Lisa’s App Pick: WazeA navigation app that utilizes a community based approach to deliver savings on time, gas, and stresswhen commuting. Just by driving with Waze open,you’re already contributing tons of real-time trafficinfo to your local community. You can also actively report accidents, police traps and other hazards yousee on the road. Get road alerts along your route,and find the lowest gas prices around you shared bythe community. Plus, Waze has features to keep intouch while keeping the driver off their phone.Platform: IOS, Android, Windows PhonePrice: Free
David’s App Pick: ZiteMany of us are Internet news junkies and we don’teven realize it. If ever you find yourself reading an article, then clicking on links to get more info on thetopic, then you, like me, are a news junkie. Zitemakes it incredibly simple to find, organize, andenjoy articles on topics you like. Zite is a similar concept as Flipboard, but easier to get started withand more intelligent as you use it. Select a few topicsof interest and Zite will locate content for you. As youread the articles, give it thumbs up or down and Zitewill ask you if you are commenting on the site, themain subject or one of sub topics. Zite will use thisinformation to find additional articles tailored to you.Platform: IOS, Android, WindowsPhonePrice: Free
Cynthia’s App Pick: iBooksiBooks is not an application for purchase but rather a default application on iPhones. If you have aniPhone, you already have iBooks! If you are like me,you love to have certain documents close at hand forquick and frequent access. iBooks is a mechanismby which you can save important documents in alibrary in pdf format for quick retrieval on yourphone. I love it! I post emergency guidelines, vari-ous databases, telephones lists, floor plans, employ-
ment applications, all kinds of things!!! Best of all,once your document is posted there you need nointernet to access items in the library. This meansyou can pull something up while you are on a call!How to use: While the pdf is open, hit the squarewith the arrow in the top right corner, hit open iniBooks and it’s inserted in your library. Voila!Platform: iPhonePrice: Free, but I’d pay for it if it weren’t. iBooks is the best!
Michele’s App Pick: Ship MateWe all go on vacations from time to time, annually,semi-annually, and some even go quarterly. I recent-ly vacationed with Carnival Cruise Lines right out ofBaltimore, and in my planning I found an app thatmade things pretty interesting. The app is calledShip Mate. It shows you different cruise lines, theirmany itineraries, shows the layout of the ships(allowing me to be somewhat prepared for touringthe ship), and most interesting it has a feature thatallows you to chat with other people who are vaca-tioning at the same time, on the same ship. In thechat feature my husband and I “virtually” met somefolks from Chicago, Denver and Texas and planned aget together while on the ship. It was a very pleasant experience. Considering our port is rather small incomparison to others, I was amazed to find out thatthese people came all the way to Baltimore to cruiseon the Carnival Pride! In short, it was a nice way touse this app in preparation for our trip and we werefortunate to meet some really great people!Platform: IOS, Android, WindowsPhonePrice: Free
Shelly’s App Pick: MyFitnessPalA fitness app which provides coaching advice on how to lose weight and stay healthy, but also getsyou moving. It provides guidance on calories, alongwith a comprehensive library of nutritional informa-tion with more than 350 exercise suggestions. Ithelps you set goals, connect with others using theapp and creates reports of progress.Platform: IOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackberryPrice: Free
29FALL 2014
APPS ANYONE?
By Lisa Mangus, David Roden,Cynthia Cherry, Michele Shrinerand Shelly Ruff
For Office Supplies, Furniture, Coffee,Facilities & Printing
Chris Wood – 860 558 [email protected]
TuttlePrinting & EngravingPrinting & Engraving
800. 776.7682 • www.tuttleprinting.com • Rutland, V T800. 776.7682 • www.tuttleprinting.com • Rutland, V T
Specializing in:Specializing in:
Professional Stationery• Professional Stationery•Office Supplies• Office Supplies•Marketing Collateral• Marketing Collateral•
Tuttle makes your job easier!Tuttle makes your job easier!We understand your business needsWe understand your business needs
Proudly Serving Professionals Since 1912Proudly Serving Professionals Since 1912
and offer solutions.and offer solutions.
Charles H. [email protected]
443-320-1331 www.ndxgroup.com / John Corbitt 410-744-3080
Locally Owned File Storage
Find out why 2 of the top 4 law firms in the area have switched to NDX Archives for their storage needs.
Shredding Scanning
SERVICE / SECURITY / SAVINGS
Our dedicated team offers customized solutions to help you grow your practice.
Visit suntrust.com/law.
Build a lasting legacy.
SunTrust Bank, Member FDIC. ©2014 SunTrust Banks, Inc. SunTrust is a federally registered service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. How can we help you shine? is a service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc.
C O U R T R E P O R T I N GV I D E O G R A P H Y
V I D E O C O N F E R E N C I N GA N D
I N T E R P R E TAT I O N S E RV I C E S888-433-3767
[email protected] WWW.PLANETDEPOS.COM
Offices in Baltimore & Tysons Corner888-MCENROE
SINCE 1972
www.mcenroevoice.com
MARYLAND • WASHINGTON DC • VIRGINIA • PENNSYLVANIA
TelecommunicationsVoice Over IPHosted SolutionsVideo Conferencing Mark Wilson - Sr. Account Manager
Providing Solut ions Since 1898
32 FALL 2014
CONTROLLINGAND MANAGING
LAW FIRMTRAVEL
PROGRAMS7 TIPS TO CONSIDER
Not only is business travel a big expense, it is alsoone of the largest controllable expenses for manylaw firms. As much as half or more of a law firm’stravel costs are non-billable. Because of the compet-itive environment many firms are faced with,expenses for travel such as recruitment, businessdevelopment and administrative are all going up.However, with the right travel management program,you can take a big bite out of those costs withouthaving to sacrifice high quality service. Consider thefollowing 7 tips below.
TOP 7 STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE WAY YOURFIRM TRAVELS
1) Identify a key travel resourceLawyers are not like other travelers and law firmsare not like other organizations. With frequentchanges in travel plans and many last minuterequests, it’s important to have a single point-of-contact for your firm’s travel program. Identifyinga specific travel resource allows traveling attor-neys to concentrate on winning cases and doingdeals rather than on the complexity of businesstravel. In addition to establishing a single point-of-contact for firm-related travel, law firms shouldconsider a consolidated travel program through atravel management company. Not only can travelmanagement companies find the appropriate air-fare to carefully balance convenience with costefficiency, they also specialize in account man-agement which allows them to do the heavy lift-ing when it comes to travel operations, traveldata, firm-specific air and hotel contracts, travelpolicy enforcements, risk management proce-dures and more.
2) Analyze your firm’s travel policyThe legal industry is no stranger to revisions.While it’s common to re-write briefs and motions,it’s less common for firms to spend the same timeevaluating their internal operations. A corporatetravel policy can separate a financially competi-tive law firm from one that’s leaking savings.Taking the time to draft a firm policy, which takes
into account firm culture and travel patterns, canhelp law firms effectively manage their T&E pro-grams. Further, an up-to-date travel policy notonly supports valuable firm objectives like travel-er safety and security, it can also save firms a sub-stantial amount of money. To improve firm travelpolicy law firms might:
• Identify areas where the greatest savings can beachieved including: first class vs. business classvs. economy class travel and per diems.
• Encourage the use of preferred airlines, hotelsand cars.
• Recommend booking 14 days in advance when-ever possible or using non-refundable ticketsfor instances when traveling for conferences ormeetings that are unlikely to change.
3) Consolidate firm travel dataBy consolidating all air, hotel and car expense, thefirm will have an opportunity to capture key datarelated to both individual travel and the firm’soverall travel activity. Firms can consolidate witha travel management company or through anopen booking platform like TripLink, which cap-tures travel data no matter where travel isbooked. With this data, the firm will be able toisolate spending by location and supplier whichwill allow the firm to negotiate strategic supplierdiscounts.
4) Choose preferred vendorsAfter gathering and consolidating data, the firmwill be in a prime position to cut travel costs. Inparticular, once travelers’ most frequented hotelproperties and air suppliers have been identi-fied, the firm can use that data to consolidate pre-ferred vendors and suppliers and negotiate withthose entities. With collected data, the firm canshare with air, hotel and car vendors just howoften the firm is using their services. By sharingthese details, the firm is sparking the interest ofthese suppliers and may also qualify for specialperks like upgrades, which are beloved by alltraveling lawyers. By identifying preferred ven-
By: Paul MetselaarChairman & CEO
Lawyers Travel
33FALL 2014
About Lawyers TravelPaul Metselaar founded LawyersTravel in 1984 to fill a void in thecorporate travel market by provid-ing specialized services to lawfirms. Today, Lawyers Travel is a$900 million corporate travelmanagement company providingcomprehensive travel solutions toover 200 leading law firms.Lawyers Travel's mission is to pro-vide outstanding service, cost sav-ings and comprehensive travelsolutions to law firm travel man-agers, administrators and travel-ing attorneys. Lawyers Travel isthe 5th largest travel managementcompany by sales volume in thecountry according to BusinessTravel News 2014. Lawyers Traveloperates in over 90 offices nation-wide and in more than 90 coun-tries. For further information onLawyers Travel, please visit:www.lawyerstravel.com or con-tact 800-431-1112.
dors, a mutually-beneficial partnership is estab-lished: the preferred suppliers will benefit fromincreased volume while traveling attorneys bene-fit from exclusive cost-savings.
5) Risk Management – Know where travelers areat all timesA law firm’s attorneys are its most valuable asset.Knowing where your lawyers are traveling in theworld is critical. The firm should consider invest-ing in a third party security management solutionor partnering with a travel management companythat will assist in analyzing pre- and mid-trip trav-el data with the latest security updates. By part-nering with a travel management company or riskmanagement provider, the firm will be able tomonitor and track attorney’s whereabouts andimmediately respond to unexpected emergen-cies and events.
6) Group Travel–Avoiding liabilitySince lawyers often fly together in groups forbusiness travel, it is essential to know insurancepolicy guidelines relating to group travel.Knowing the firm’s policy will protect the firmfrom possible liability. When it comes to the num-ber of attorneys traveling on the same flight, it’simperative that all parties are aware of the insur-
ance rules and regulations. For example, somefirms’ insurance policies have rules that state nomore than five partners should travel together onthe same flight in case of an unforeseen event.
7) Simplify travel with easy-to-use technologyDue to the ease of use and convenience of emerg-ing mobile technology—fully functional mobileapplications for use on smartphones and tablets,cloud-based data storage and manipulation—technology is becoming a staple in law firm travel.In particular, mobile applications, many of whichare available at little to no cost, provide attorneyswith instant access to itineraries, flight changes,delays and cancellations, travel news and alertsand more, so they can focus more on their prac-tice and less on time-consuming travel arrange-ments.
In sum, partnering with a travel management compa-ny which understands lawyers and the specificneeds they face can help give your firm a competi-tive advantage in the marketplace, as well as stream-line travel processes that have a tendency to go awryat the worst times. Putting the time into the right trav-el program will avoid you getting summoned in themiddle of the night by an ornery, aggravated lawyer,and will also save the firm money!
34 FALL 2014
WHAT THEHECK IS ILTA?
When I first heard of ILTA, my first response was,“What the heck is ILTA?” I was told that I shouldtake a look at it, so I went to the website, iltanet.org.I was presented with i/+^, the current logo for ILTA,and a human translation to “International LegalTechnology Association.” Learning that the organi-zation was peer powered; run by a network of volunteers from law firms all over the world, wasintriguing. So with my basic understanding of theorganization, I joined primarily for e-groups andlocal group meetings.
My first year as a member of ILTA was mostlyfocused on participation in the e-groups. I finallyfound a discussion group specific to the legal ITenvironment. I obtained so much information andhelp throughout the year. However, I didn’t hearanything about local Baltimore meetings. About ayear after joining ILTA, I learned about the annualconference. It was held in Washington DC. I had no idea what to expect, but since it was so close, Iwas able to get approval to attend the conference.Never before had I been at a group meeting with somany peers in the technology field. A funny thinghappens with you get a group of IT professionalstogether. We talk. We talk about what technologiesare working in our environment and which onesaren’t. We console each other over massive out-look inbox nightmares, and the like. We learn howto perform our individual job functions better.
Through the conference, I found there was more toILTA than I first expected. I discovered first-handwhat peer powered really meant. In fact, I learnedthat there was an opportunity to get more involvedas a city representative for Baltimore. Upon return-ing, I found out there were more people just like mein Baltimore trying to support the legal industrywith information technology. I began organizinglocal meetings. I’ve been to plenty of vendor drivenIT events, but the clear difference ILTA provided isthe focus on education. When the vendors spon-sor events, they are required to provide educationrather than just a sales pitch with lunch.
My second year of conference was at Caesars in Las Vegas. I wasn’t looking forward to the Vegasheat in August, however, they certainly have airconditioning figured out. I actually found myselfneeding a jacket in some of the meetings. My second year of conference as a volunteer allowedme more opportunities to network with peers anddiscover more ways I can be more productive in mylocal firm. ILTA began it’s restructuring of volun-teers and changed my role from city representativeto Regional Member Liaison. Essentially our focuswent from organizing local meetings towards assist-ing members in getting the most out of ILTA. Thischange proved to be challenging and reduced theamount of meetings we held in Baltimore.
This year, conference was in Nashville. Conferencewas held in the, “What Mars colonization will looklike”, Gaylord Opryland hotel. This by far was mybest conference experience to date. With over 200 educational sessions available, it was hard topick just the exact session to attend. Each year, Itypically attend sessions relating closely to tech-nologies we are either having issues with or arepursuing in our firm. Just this past week, I had aconversation with a partner in our firm. In that single conversation, I pulled information I learnedfrom 3 different conference sessions. Having infor-mation relevant to what is happening in a firm is critical for IT to remain at the forefront of technology.
Highlights of the ILTA conference this year:
Keynote speakers: This year we heard someexceptional speakers. Each speaker has amazingcredentials. You can read more about them on theILTA website. (http://conference.iltanet.org/MainMenu/Sessions/Keynotes)• Peter Diamandis: The World of Disruptive
Technologies and Abundance• Rod Beckstrom: It’s a MAD, MAD, MAD Cyber
World: Imagine What You Can Do AboutCybersecurity and Risk Management
By Mark O. Koncurat
• Rohit Talwar: Unleashing IT To Disrupt, Defineand Differentiate Future Strategies
• Scott Friedman: Imagine, Create, and Celebratethe Future!
Educational Sessions: Each day there were 4 or 5timeslots available for educational sessions. Hottopics included: VDI, virtual desktop infrastructure,Apple in legal, eDiscovery, Security, DocumentManagement Systems, Office 365, Windows 8,Microsoft’s direction for legal, tech trends. As amember of ILTA, I can view recordings of most of the sessions post conference.
Vendor Expo: If you’re like me, you get a millioncold calls for sales every day. The vendor expogives you opportunity to initiate conversation with a variety of competing vendors. Hands on demosare available during the conference. Seeing howone vendor solves a problem differently fromanother helps to quickly see how something may ormay not work in your environment. A side benefit is my complete year supply of tech t-shirts.
Networking, Networking, Networking: Give mesome computers, cables, etc, and I’ll build you a network. Such is the case for most IT. Put us in aroom with other IT professionals and the conversa-tion might be pretty dry. Add food, alcohol, games,music, comic con style vendor expo, etc, and theconversation begins. This year, I have made someconnections with several individuals throughout theworld that are focused on delivering great informa-tion technology to law firms. This is one of my besttakeaways from the conference. This network oflegal IT peers is invaluable.
The great thing about ILTA:Firms join ILTA, not IT professionals. That meansthat if a firm is a member of ILTA, everyone in thefirm has the opportunity to attend meetings. ILTAhas sessions relevant to both HR and Accounting.ILTA is really a complementary organization to theALA. In Baltimore, we have several local meetingson the schedule. This month we will discuss take-aways from conference and future educational con-tent in Baltimore. In October, we’ll have a sessionentitled, “The Evolving Role of the Legal Secretary.”November’s session is, “Sharepoint 2013: What’snew for Legal.” In January, “Getting Through theClient Audit Process.” All sessions are free to attend.In fact, you don’t even have to be a member of ILTAto attend. We love it when our ALA friends join us for meetings. Typically the vendor or host firmprovides lunch to each local session.
So, what the heck is ILTA?ILTA is a way to reach out to other IT professionalsthat normally relate better to a computer screenthan to a human being. ILTA provides great educational content and a vision of how we canmake our firms better though technology.
35FALL 2014
Mark Koncurat is theInformation Technology Directorfor Neuberger, Quinn, Gielen,Rubin & Gibber, P.A. Mark canbe reached at [email protected]
Thursday, October 16, 20144:00-6:30 pmBP Exhibition Hall EventHotel Monaco
Thursday, November 6, 20143:00 pmWebinar: “Financial Management-It’s More
Than Just Billing and Collection”Rosenberg, Martin, Greenberg25 South Charles Street21st FloorBaltimore, MD 21201andShulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker12505 Park Potomac Avenue6th FloorPotomac, MD 20854
Thursday, November 13, 201412:00-2:00 pmManaging Partner EventThe Center Club
CALENDAROF EVENTS
Thursday, December 4, 20148:30-10:00 amCharitable Giving BreakfastSemmes Bowen & Semmes25 S. Charles StreetBaltimore, MD 21201
Thursday, December 4, 20143:00 pmWebinar: “The Workplace Law Landscape:
Trends and Challenges”Rosenberg, Martin, Greenberg25 South Charles Street21st FloorBaltimore, MD 21201andShulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker12505 Park Potomac Avenue6th FloorPotomac, MD 20854
Annette TreacyGeneral ManagerChasen Boscolo7852 Walker DriveSuite 300Greenbelt, MD [email protected]
Daniel LudwigLegal AssistantMiller & Zois, LLCEmpire Towers, Suite 10017310 Ritchie HighwayGlen Burnie, MD [email protected]
NEWMEMBERS
36 FALL 2014
MUSTANGALLEY’S
37FALL 2014
SEPTEMBEREDUCATIONALPROGRAM
Maryland Chapter membersenjoy a summer social eveningof bowling at Mustang Alley’s.
Our September educational program, entitled Data Security Breach, was presented by Phil Galbraith,President of Capitol Risk Solutions, Inc. Precision Discovery sponsored this program and was represented byMichael Kroeber. Several members who attended are pictured.