January 2016

Capital Connection is published monthly for members of the Capital Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators to provide information for the education and benefit of legal administrators, law office managers, managing partners of law firms, and other law related associations. Capital Connection is not engaged in rendering legal, financial, or tax counseling or advice through this publication. The contents of all articles, letters, and advertisements published in Capital Connection should not be considered endorsements by the Capital Chapter of ALA nor the opinion expressed therein of any products advertised. Contributing authors are requested and expected to disclose financial an/or professional interests and affiliations that may influence their writing position. Articles and materials accepted for publication are subject to editing by the editorial team and become property of the Capital Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators.
Editor: Jacqueline Moline
Associate Editors: Paula Serratore; Denise Fidura
Contributing Editors: Beth L. Fowler, CLM; Chronus Mentoring and Talent Development Solutions; Jenna Carter; Washington Express; Monique Terrell; John T. Mooney, ACC, SPHR; Connie Summers; Lance Breger
Newsletter Designed By: Jessica Davis

In this issue:

President's Message
New and Returning ALA Capital Chapter Members
Members on the Move
How to Use Mentoring in Your Workplace
Season of Giving Wrap-Up: Salvation Army Angel Tree Program and N Street Village Gifts for Moms
Spotlight: Washington Express, Gold Business Partner
Welcome 2016 Business Partners
Diversity & Inclusion: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
In Need of a Mentor, Coach - or Both?
HR Section Update: Art Makes a Statement for Business Too
Antitrust Guidelines
7 Culprits of Coffee and Caffeine

President's Message

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, enjoying time with family and friends, or just relaxing. As the year begins, many of us focus on our goals for the year at our firms and in our personal lives. TV shows and print media are full of suggestions for how to eat better, work out more, save more money. We have projects that didn’t get completed last year, or new initiatives that need to be implemented this year. Just thinking about it all can be overwhelming!

The good news is you’re not in it alone. No matter what you are trying to accomplish there is someone who has done it before and is more than happy to help. Many of you have heard me say on numerous occasions that I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for the people in ALA who have mentored me over the years, and I continue to call on many of you. I have also been privileged to mentor other members over the years, which has been as beneficial to me as it has been to them.

Mentoring is an important part of our society as well. How many of us have children who have been successful because they were mentored by someone in school, Scouts, sports, or other organizations? Programs like AA are successful because each member has a sponsor or mentor. The ALA Capital Chapter Foundation assigns a mentor to each scholarship recipient to help them make the best of their college experience. And of course, many of our firms have mentoring programs for new associates.

As we look forward to the coming year, I hope that each of you will think about how mentoring can benefit you or someone you know and become part of the Chapter’s Ambassador Program. If you are a new or relatively new member and have not been assigned an ambassador, please contact Chapter Headquarters and let them know. If you are a more “seasoned” member, please consider signing up to serve as an ambassador so that we can pair each member who wants one with an ambassador.

As you map out your goals for this year, think about what part mentoring will play – whether serving as a mentor or relying on a mentor for guidance. Either way, you will be more successful if you do – I guarantee it!

New ALA Capital Chapter Members

.Christophe Smits
Manager International Department
Banner & Witcoff
1100 13th St., N.W.
Suite 1200
Washington , DC 20005
(202) 829-3267
[email protected]

Andrew George
Financial Planning & Analysis Manager
Finnegan
901 New York Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 216-5453
[email protected]

Matthew Cichocki
IP Operations Manager
Cooley LLP
1299 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 728-7148
[email protected]

Carolyn C. Park
Regional Administrator
McGlinchey Stafford PLLC
1455 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004
(518) 542-6774
[email protected]

Ariel Casey
Branch Office Manager
Peckar & Abramson, PC
2055 L St., N.W.
Suite 750
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 293-8815
[email protected]

Astrid E. Emond
IP Prosecution Manager
Baker Hostetler
1050 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 734-3318
[email protected]

Catherine Best
Senior IP Personnel Manager
Cooley LLP
1299 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 728-7068
[email protected]

Members on the Move

Please join us in wishing the following members well in their new positions!

Tina L. Butts
Director Human Resources
Sughrue Mion, PLLC
2100 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20037-3202
[email protected]

Lisa A. Furlong
Secretarial Manager
Venable LLP
575 7th St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20004
[email protected]

Rodney M. Jefferson
HR Coordinator
Squire Patton Boggs
2550 M St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20037
[email protected]

Jamaine Yarborough
Regional Office Administrator
Finnegan Henderson
11955 Freedom Drive
Reston, VA 20190-5675
[email protected]

Jenna Carter
Office Administrator
Ropes and Gray LLP
2099 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
[email protected]

How to Use Mentoring in Your Workplace

This article is reprinted with permission from Chronus Mentoring and Talent Development Solutions

Successful companies large and small use mentoring to tackle complex human resource challenges such as increasing employee retention, enabling company succession plans, and improving workforce productivity. In fact, corporate mentoring is on the rise with 71 percent of Fortune 500 companies offering professional mentoring programs to their employees. What ways are these successful organizations and businesses using mentoring? Read this article to discover how mentoring is being used in the workplace, including employee career development, leadership development, diversity mentoring, reverse mentoring, and knowledge transfer.

1. Employee Career Development

To retain skilled employees and develop future leaders, it’s critical to understand employee career objectives and align them with organizational goals. Opportunity for learning and development is a top driver of engagement, and is more important than leadership, culture, and compensation (Right Management, 2012)1.

By encouraging a learning culture through mentoring, companies ensure that employees take an active role in spreading knowledge and best practices throughout their organization. The collaborative nature of mentoring develops individuals and interpersonal links between individuals, which increases engagement. Corporate mentoring enables both career development and leadership development to help employees develop new skills and feel engaged within the organization. These factors all lead to happier employees and a better retention rate for a stronger, more effective organization.
Learn how software helps run career mentoring programs

DAIMLER TRUCKS3, with multiple offices spread across North America, decided to provide a business mentoring program to all of their 4,000 office-based employees to improve employee development and begin building a leadership succession plan.

“Our aim is multipurpose mentoring,” said Suz Hahn, Learning Architect for Daimler’s Learning and Development. “We’re providing career development and self-development of mentors and mentees. We’re also using Chronus software to cultivate future leaders and talent within Daimler.”

2. Leadership Development

High potentials are an incredibly valuable asset to any company, but they’re often difficult to retain. With careful cultivation, companies can increase retention to ensure they’ll be able to appoint suitable leaders at the top when needed—which is crucial to the health and future of every organization.

However, because high potentials are so important, it’s imperative to engage them while also exposing them to different areas of the business, developing their leadership skills, and ensuring they’re learning what they need to excel in prospective new roles.
Professional mentoring programs are an effective strategy to reward high potentials with personal attention and guidance, which leads to nurturing an organization’s leadership chain. By connecting high potentials with leaders, top performers, and each other across the company, high potentials learn faster and are ready to take on leadership positions sooner. This results in improved engagement and a faster time to productivity, while leveraging internal resources, to keep costs to a minimum.

DELOITTE’s4 Emerging Leaders Development Program connects high-potential managers from underrepresented groups to formal mentors. When forming these pairs, Deloitte factors in geography, service line, growth opportunities, what gaps the mentee has and where he or she needs visibility. These mentoring pairs then work at building trust between each other so they can form a strong, influential relationship, which lasts for a minimum of two years. “It gives the most senior leaders in the firm an opportunity to engage with a cross section of leaders that they normally wouldn’t see in their day jobs,” says Kathy Hannan, managing partner for corporate responsibility and diversity. The program also shows mentees possible future careers.

3. Diversity Mentoring

A diverse workforce is required to stimulate innovation, cultivate creativity, and steer business strategies. Mentoring empowers a diverse range of employees to share their opinions, ideas, knowledge, and experiences on a level playing field.
Through diversity initiatives, employees learn cultural awareness to create an inclusive corporate culture and learn of their own importance to their company.
Mentoring creates an environment of trust, belonging, understanding, support, and encouragement for a diverse workforce. It gives employees an opportunity to voice their concerns, overcome hurdles, and find solutions. As a result, it inspires employees to perform to their highest ability.

Mentoring not only helps organizations develop and retain diverse talent, but it also helps build a robust community of diverse talent for the future. The effects of diversity mentoring help corporations differentiate themselves from their competitors and gain new clients while providing long-term support for their employees.
See how software helps makes diversity mentoring easy

DEUTSCHE BANK5 found that in the aftermath of the financial crisis, a diverse workforce had become even more of a priority for financial service companies. Internal company research revealed that female managing directors who had left the firm did so because they were offered better positions elsewhere. In response, Deutsche Bank created a sponsorship program aimed at assigning women to critical posts. The company paired female executives with executive committee members who served as mentors. This not only raised the women’s visibility, but also ensured that they would have a powerful advocate when promotions were being considered. As a result of this professional mentoring program, one third of the participants were in larger roles, and another third had been deemed ready to move up by senior management.

4. Reverse Mentoring

Popular among companies that believe everyone has something to bring to the table, reverse mentoring partners an older, more experienced employee with a younger, less experienced newcomer.

It differs from traditional mentoring because it’s the new employee who serves as the mentor, providing senior members of the organization with up-to-date information on the latest business technologies and workplace trends.
Reverse mentoring is generally a two-way street, with a partnership that provides the younger employee with a chance to see the larger picture as well as macro-level management issues.

HARTFORD INSURANCE6 saw that to reach new customers, they would have to encourage older employees’ familiarity with social media while also increasing company-wide usage. They were also concerned regarding the changing demographics of the company. With baby boomers set to retire in their company and a nationwide millennial attrition rate of 15%, they knew they would have to do something to engage their workforce.

Hartford Insurance implemented a reverse-mentoring program to help address this need. Their program consisted of a group of senior managers and junior employees who were paired into mentoring groups. These mentoring interactions have saved the company both time and money through improvements in planning campaigns, advancements in the company’s internal electronic communications network, and newly engaged millennials who are eager to make a difference at their company. This group has also emphasized the need for the company to become more fluent in social media, mobile computing, the cloud, and other digital technologies so that Hartford Insurance will remain a competitive company in the years to come.

BENEFITS Because many millennials are unsure of what they can bring to the table and their future career options, reverse mentoring can be an excellent way to continually engage them within the organization.

Reverse mentoring also provides senior executives with the satisfaction of sharing knowledge with a different generation, increasing multi-generational engagement and reducing conflicts throughout the organization.

5. Knowledge Transfer

Helping employees acquire necessary knowledge, skills, and expertise is essential for any organization. Mentoring is an effective approach to organize, create, capture, and distribute knowledge. It supports short- and longer-term situational as well as topical.

learning between individuals and groups. It also reduces the time required for knowledge transfer by providing direct access to a range of experts and peers who can share the required knowledge and skills in an environment that promotes rapid learning.

Because 80 percent of learning is informal (as commonly cited by Bersin), mentoring empowers learning in ways that manuals, intranets, and training programs can’t. It shortens the learning curve, enhances productivity, and helps employees align to business strategy. In addition, knowledge transfer fuels succession planning, ensuring that once executives retire, someone with plenty of company knowledge will be ready to step into place.

KPMG7 started its “Leaders Engaging Leaders” program because they wanted to expand opportunities for a diverse group of managers. Their business mentoring program pairs 60 top managers with members of the management committee, the board of directors, and national managing partners.

This mentoring program provides their employees with an opportunity to engage with a cross section of leaders they wouldn’t normally see in their day jobs, which expands knowledge transfer within the company and encourages their leadership goals.

Several people in Leaders Engaging Leaders have taken on more significant leadership roles, including one who has joined the board of directors. KPMG is currently looking to expand the program. “The goal is ultimately to drive it down deeper into the organization,” Hannan says. “It really helps with retention […] and gives folks a line of sight to a number of opportunities across the firm.”

Conclusion

In today’s volatile business world, it’s extremely important for organizations to engage employees both intellectually and emotionally. Through mentoring, employees identify themselves as a vital part of the organization while creating a heightened level of ownership. By improving employee engagement and retention along with other company initiatives, mentoring helps the company’s bottom line while also ensuring that employees feel committed to accomplishing their work in accordance to the vision of the organization.

REFERENCES
1 http://www.right.com/thought-leadership/research/advancing-careers-driving-results.pdf
2 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1736
3 http://chronus.com/resources/daimler-trucks-reinvents-corporate-mentoring-program
4 http://bestpractices.diversityinc.com/talent-development-mentoring/is-sponsorshipthe-new-mentoring-case-studies-from-ey-deloitte-att-dell-and-hilton/
5 http://www.forbesmedia.com/files/Innovation_Through_Diversity
6 http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/research_sites/agingandwork/pdf/publications/hartford.pdf
7 http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/04/19/peer-mentoring

Season of Giving Wrap-Up: Salvation Army Angel Tree Program and N Street Village Gifts for Moms

Jenna Carter
Office Administrator, Ropes and Gray LLP
Vice President Community Services

For the 18th straight year, the ALA Capital Chapter participated in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program. This year member firms adopted 1803 Angels. This was 30% of the of the 6,000 Angels in D.C. to be adopted. In addition to all of the wonderful toys, children received much needed new clothing. Many Firms celebrated the culmination of the Angel Tree Campaign with gift packing parties and luncheons.

It was also a very successful year for the N Street Village Gifts for Mom’s program. With your generous donations, over 120 $25 gift cards were donated to this worthy cause.

Thanks for supporting Our Community and Our Kids!

Washington Express Spotlight:
Washington Express Celebrates 35 Years in Business

This is a big year for Washington Express as it is our 35th year in business. Looking back over the years, we are proud of how far we’ve come. From a small back alley courier dispatch office on 14th Street, we have grown with our customers and are now an automated logistics and professional services firm with five divisions, including a national federal filing service and a same day florist, Nosegay Flowers.

As our electronic world continues to shrink the demand for the physical delivery of envelopes and paper, we have been fortunate in adapting to meet the evolving needs of our customers. By adding new services such as “Office Freight," expedited visa, passport and document legalization, congressional seat holding, international and domestic express air freight, and, yes, even flowers, we have been able to make a transition that is often difficult for any company that started as a small, entrepreneurial business with one product.

We just celebrated our best year ever in 2015 and we thank you, our customers, for making that possible. We believe that our success over the years is a result of listening to our clients, learning and growing from our mistakes, and continually evaluating our systems and processes and making improvements where needed. Our reputation for quality has allowed us to expand our products and service offerings as our clients know that they can rely on us for professionalism in what we do from beginning to end. We appreciate and are grateful for your trust and confidence.

Diversity & Inclusion: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Monique Terrell
Branch Office Manager, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
Diversity & Inclusion Section Chair

The ALACC continues its commitment to diversity and inclusion by sharing resources that celebrate our differences. Please join us in honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the extraordinary contribution he made to our country and the world abroad. Monday, January 18th is “A Day On, Not a Day Off”. Click here to learn more.

In Need of a Mentor, Coach - or Both?

John T. Mooney, ACC, SPHR
Consultive Source 6/10/2011

Senior business leaders often confuse the foundational development tools of mentoring and coaching. In fact, ask any 50 employees to define mentoring, and you’ll typically get 50 definitions. There appears to be universal agreement only about the lack of a common definition.

With roots in the early 20th century developmental work of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky, mentoring draws from the developmental concept of scaffolding. Scaffolding is an instructional interaction aimed at extending knowledge, reducing task complexity and transferring responsibility, all while providing emotional support.

Mentoring, Relationship Building

Mentoring takes two forms: formal and informal. Formal mentoring provides:

Greater appreciation of diversity efforts across corporations, offering increased opportunities for women, minorities and other underrepresented groups.
A clear platform to communicate formally an organization’s vision, mission and values.
Career development in the cultural attributes of an organization (i.e., corporate politics, how things get done).

Formal mentoring is often characterized by burdensome rules, regulations and requirements, and it might appear “stuffy.” Thus, it is not the ideal tool for all situations.
Informal mentoring, however, happens all the time and can last for days, weeks, months or years.

Informal mentoring is:

Dependent on intrinsic motivation.
Communication between two employees, where one wants to learn and the other might gain from sharing career experiences.
A natural match born out of a relationship and the desire to grow and develop one another.
Something that frequently blooms into a lasting relationship.

Social networking tools such as LinkedIn serve to facilitate many such informal mentoring roles.

Coaching Is Holistic Investment

Coaching, on the other hand, is a development tool that serves as a holistic investment in professional development. Use of the term “holistic investment” is intentional: Development involves the whole person—what you see on the surface as well as what is below the surface.
On the surface, behavior is observable and situational, typically communicated in tools such as 360-degree feedback. Below the surface lie thoughts, beliefs and values. But the role of an internal or external coach has evolved from its roots as an organization’s agent for performance remediation to its present focus on development potential of individuals.

Corporate development frequently speaks in terms of competency development. Competencies create a framework for developing talent aligned with strategic or leadership characteristics. Corporate competencies are generally presented as learning goals for development and are different from skills and qualifications.

It is important to recognize competencies and signature strengths developed throughout one’s career and lifespan. For example, using coaching techniques when working with mid-level managers can help ensure that the requisite development opportunities are aligned with corporate or leadership competencies.

Coaching leaders on their personal development is a holistic process that considers all aspects of adult psychological development, including one’s personal experiences from childhood and adulthood as well as his or her current experience and context. Coaching development works to incorporate work and personal life, although leaders frequently see themselves as two personalities—the person they think they should be and their real self. The coach attempts to encompass both perceived aspects (personas) of the leader’s life in the coaching process.

John T. Mooney, ACC, SPHR, is principal of the training and coaching firm Consultive Source, based in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, area.

Adapted with permission from John T. Mooney – Consultive Source.
© (2010) John T. Mooney– Consultive Source. All Rights Reserved

HR Section Update: Art Makes a Statement for Business Too

Connie Summers
Office Manager, Three Crowns LLP
HR Section Chair

On December 15, the HR Section and Branch Office Administrators Section came together for a joint meeting where Jean Efron Art Consultants LLC made a presentation on law firm artwork. Jean Efron and Jane Snyder, one of her project managers, were the guest speakers. Jean is the Principal of Jean Efron Art Consultants LLC. Prior to establishing the firm in 1973, she was with the Fine Arts Offices of the U.S. General Services Administration. The firm is a Washington, DC-based art advisory firm that provides comprehensive fine art services for clients in both the private and public sectors. Jean Efron Art Consultants LLC have worked with many national and international law firms to help them with ways to develop and/or complement and enhance their firm’s art program. They gladly answered numerous questions posed by our members, including how to plan and commission works of art for interior and exterior spaces utilizing all forms of media, many of which include tech-based or interactive features.

The firm collaborates with clients to establish the project’s direction with emphasis on acquiring the highest quality art within any budget. They also oversee framing and installation of artworks and work with specialists in conservation, appraisal, art lighting and special installations. In a recent article in The New York Times, Jean noted that “[t]he shift in how law firms approach art reflects a change in how firms think about the design of their workspace and the impression they want to leave with clients and the public.” Law firms today are becoming more interested in works of art that reflect their firm’s vision. Traditional works seem to be falling out of favor.

Antitrust Guidelines

Professional associations such as the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA), although well recognized as valuable tools of American business, are subject to severe scrutiny by both federal and state governments. As such, it is important to review the antitrust guidelines each year.

The single most significant law affecting professional associations is the Sherman Antitrust Act, which makes unlawful "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce…"

A professional association by the very nature of the fact that it is made up of competitors is a combination, thus satisfying one of the elements in proving an antitrust violation. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act is also applicable to professional associations; it makes unlawful the same types of conduct that are prohibited by the Sherman Act. Furthermore, almost all states have enacted antitrust laws similar to the Sherman Act.

There is no organization too small or too localized to escape the possibility of a civil or criminal antitrust suit. The federal government has brought civil or criminal actions against such small organizations as Maine Lobstermen, a Virginia audiovisual association, Bakersfield Plumbing Contractors, the Utah Pharmaceuticals Association, and local barbers associations.

The government has brought approximately five civil and ten criminal cases a year against professional associations. It is thus imperative that every professional association member, regardless of the size of the association or the size of those comprising the membership, refrain from indulging in any activity which may be the basis of a federal or state antitrust action.

There are four main areas of antitrust concern for professional associations: price fixing, membership, standardization and certification, and industry self-regulation. The area of greatest concern, for it is the area where individual members are most likely to violate the law and the area where the government appears most concerned, is price fixing. The government may infer a violation of the Sherman Act by the mere fact that all or most of the members of the professional association are doing the same thing with respect to prices. It is not required that there be an actual agreement, written or unwritten, to increase prices. Rather, price fixing is a very broad term which includes any concerted effort or action which has an effect on prices or on competition.

Accordingly, professional association members should refrain from any discussion, which may provide the basis for an inference that the members agreed to take action relating to prices, production, allocation of markets, or any other matter having a market effect. The following topics, while not the only ones, are some of the main ones which should not be discussed at regular meetings or member gatherings:

Do not discuss current or future billing rates, fees, disbursement charges or other items that could be construed as "price." Further, be very careful of discussions of past billing rates, fees or prices.
Do not discuss what is a fair profit, billing rate or wage level.
Do not discuss an increase or decrease in price, fees or wages, or disbursement charges. In this regard, remember that interest charges are considered an item of price.
Do not discuss standardizing or stabilizing prices, fees or wages, or disbursement charges.
Do not discuss current billing or fee procedures.
Do not discuss the imposition of constitute unfair trade practices. In this context, another law firm (or even a corporate legal department) may be considered a competitor.
Do not complain to a competitor that his billing rates, fees or wages constitute unfair trade practices. In this context, another law firm (or even a corporate legal department) may be considered a competitor
Do not discuss refusing to deal with anyone because of his pricing or fees.
Do not conduct surveys (under the auspices of ALA or informally) relating to fees, wages or other economic matters without prior review by antitrust legal counsel. Any survey should have the following characteristics: a) participation is voluntary and open to non-members, b) data should be of past transactions, c) data should be collected by an independent third party, such as an accounting firm, d) confidentiality of each participant's data should be preserved, and e) data should be presented only in a composite form to conceal data of any single participant. If these criteria are met, an association can collect and disseminate data on a wide range of matters, including such things as past salaries, vacation policies, types of office equipment used, etc.

However, care must be taken to ensure that the purpose of any survey is to permit each firm to assess its own performance. If a survey is used for the purpose of or has the effect of raising or stabilizing fees, wages, disbursements, credit policies and the like, it will create serious antitrust problems.

Within this same legal framework applicable to surveys, an association can make presentations or circulate articles regarding such educational matters as establishing sound office procedures, etc., provided it is clear that the matters are educational, and not a basis for law firm uniformity or agreement.

Inasmuch as association antitrust violations can subject all association members to criminal and civil liability, members should be aware of the legal risks in regard to membership policy and industry self-regulation. Fair and objective membership requirement policies should be established. Membership policies should avoid:

Restrictions on dealing with nonmembers.
Exclusions from membership, especially if there is a business advantage in being a member.
Limitations on access to association information, unless the limitation is based upon protection of trade secrets.

The Association of Legal Administrators has a code of ethics, which sets forth parameters of ethical conduct. However, to ensure that the Code of Ethics does not create any antitrust problems, ALA must continue to ensure that its Code does not have arbitrary enforcement procedures or penalties.

The penalties for violating federal or state antitrust laws are severe. The maximum criminal penalty for violating the Sherman Act is $350,000 for an individual and $10,000,000 for a corporation. Pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act, alternative maximum fines could be increased to twice the pecuniary gain of an offender or twice the loss to another person.

Individuals and corporate officers who are found guilty of bid rigging, price fixing or market allocation will virtually always be sentenced to jail pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines; community service cannot be used to avoid imprisonment. The minimum recommended sentence is four months; the maximum is three years.

Additionally, there are civil penalties such as injunctions or cease and desist orders, which could result in government supervision of association members, restricting the association's activities or disbanding the association.

Civil suits may be brought by consumers or competitors. Civil antitrust actions result in treble damage awards and attorneys' fees. Thus, if association members are held liable to a competitor for antitrust violations, which resulted in $500,000 worth of lost business, the verdict may exceed $1,500,000.

The government's attitude toward professional associations requires professional association members, as well as professional associations themselves, to at all times conduct their business openly and avoid any semblance activity which might lead to the belief that the association members had agreed, even informally, to something that could have an effect on prices, fees or competition. Thus, it is important that members contact the association headquarters or legal counsel for guidance if they have even the slightest qualms about the propriety of a proposed activity or discussion.

7 Culprits of Coffee and Caffeine

Lance Breger, Executive Wellness Coach & Founder of Infinity Wellness Partners

Is any beverage loved more by today’s professionals than coffee? I think it’s safe to say that corporate America worships coffee! 80% of average Americans are bowing down to the coffee bean 3-5 times per day in the form of 8 ounce cups. And why not? Coffee never argues, never misses deadlines, never wants a raise, and gives taste, warmth, instant energy and a break from work all without expectations! If our love for coffee is blind, the time has come for me to perform some serious Lasik surgery to help expose the true, serious health consequences of our coffee and caffeine honeymoon.

Let’s start with some fun facts about your best friends Java and Joe:

Caffeine is highly addictive and in the same category as methamphetamines as a stimulator of the central nervous system
It possesses a high level of dependence with 81% of people having an inability to quit
There are over 700 volatile chemicals and substances in non-organic coffee through the brewing process making it a very toxic beverage
1% of your cup of coffee is excreted directly and the other 99% needs to go through the liver. It takes 7-10 days to detox and decaffeinate the blood, which puts another unnecessary stress on the body.
Coffee studies that demonstrate health benefits are only using 5-ounce serving sizes (without cream and sugar) and larger sizes erase the benefits.
- Short - 8 ounces
- Tall - 12 ounces
- Grande - 16 ounces
- Venti - 20 ounces
- Trenta - 30 ounces

Now that I’ve whet your whistle on our tasty topic here, I’d like to introduce you to 7 Culprits of Coffee and Caffeine:

1. High Blood Pressure – Caffeine will increase your blood pressure the most during the first few cups and the potential blood pressure spike is relevant to the amount of current stress on the drinker. If you are in a stressed state while drinking caffeine (i.e. driving in traffic, crashing on a late deadline) you will experience rises in blood pressure.

2. Mineral Loss – Caffeine decreases stomach acid lowering the absorption of energy-producing electrolytes (B & C Vitamins, Chloride, Potassium, Calcium, Sodium, Zinc, Magnesium), which are necessary for the mitochondria (power generators) of your cells. Caffeine gives you the sensation of energy while depleting the very vitamins and minerals needed to make energy on your own!

3. Iron & Anemia - If iron is eaten in a meal the absorption will be decreased by 75% if caffeine is with that meal or consumed shortly after. One of the major symptoms of anemia is fatigue because organs aren’t getting what they need to function properly.

4. Unrested Sleep – Sleep issues start when consuming 100-300 mg of caffeine per day (100 mg caffeine per 6 ounces). Nightly sleep is divided up into 90-minute cycles. Within those 90-minute cycles are 4 stages of sleep and caffeine prevents the deepest 4th stage (coma-like) through the suppression of melatonin. This creates even more of an energy crisis and causes you to reach for caffeine the next morning perpetuating a vicious cycle.

5. Immune Sinks – Coffee is both a stimulant and stressor to the body. When consumed it actives the sympathetic nervous system causing a release of the stress hormone cortisol. Every time cortisol is released the immune system is suppressed. A daily coffee distracts and taxes the body’s major defense system causing you to be more susceptible to bacteria, viruses, and pathogens.

6. Headaches – Caffeine reduces cerebral blood flow (and oxygen) to the brain through vasoconstriction creating headaches and fatigue. There is also a 60% decrease in blood flow to the neck and jaw muscles that lead to a forward head posture, tension and chronic trigger points.

7. Blood Sugar Spike – As mentioned above caffeine is a stressor and causes an increase in the stress hormone cortisol that tells the body to release blood sugar into the circulation setting you up for energy crashes, sugar cravings, depressed mood and more stress all day.

Can you see how coffee contributes to burnout, chronic fatigue and far too common physical-mental-emotional challenges of today’s workforce? If not, I’ll share a little more. Coffee was also referred to as 'empty fire' by Native Americans, which indicates something with little nutrition that drys and heats the body. A hot and dry body is prone to dehydration, inflammation, illness, disease, fungal and parasite infections – yuck!

To conclude, coffee and caffeine act essentially as an override button. Hitting this button daily, even multiple times daily overrides what is real in your mind and body. Professionals get so out of touch with what their true state of emotional, mental and physical health is because of this drink dependence. It’s critical to know what you are left with in its absence and if all you are experiencing is withdrawal symptoms, lack of energy, no zest for life, a poor mood, and achy body - I have news for you, my friends. You don’t just like the taste, but you need it.

Have no fear, I’m not going to ask you to go cold turkey, but I am going to offer you a rainbow bridge to make successful small steps toward where you want to go. Below are 8 simple recommendations to help reduce your coffee intake and minimize the effects of caffeine on your mind and body:

Switch to organic coffee and tea to reduce the chemicals and toxins
Reduce or remove non-organic creamers and additional sugar/sweeteners
Add a little grass-fed organic butter or coconut oil to coffee to stabilize blood sugar and slow the caffeine release in the bloodstream
Move to an organic espresso shot which has only 70 mg of caffeine, but gives a comparable boost of energy
Switch over from coffee to tea and regress in caffeine over time from black to green and finally to herbal
Order ‘Demi’ sized coffee which means ‘half’ in French and is only 3 ounces
Transition to 50% decaffeinated coffee
Use Swiss Water Process Decaffeinated Coffee to minimize chemicals

Take the Coffee & Caffeine 21-Day Challenge

Do you smell that? You now have eight new coffee and caffeine tips brewing to help improve your happiness, health and productivity! It’s time to convert information to wisdom through action as I challenge you to take at least one tip (you can choose up to all four at once) and apply it every day for the next 21 consecutive days. Repeating new behaviors on consecutive days for 7-21 days creates entrainment or habit formation.

I wish you all a very cleansing and inspiring 21-Day Challenge! Please think of me as your personal Executive Wellness Coach and I invite you to share your questions or comments with me at [email protected].

Lance Breger is an Executive Wellness Coach and the Founder of Infinity Wellness Partners, a comprehensive corporate wellness company that prepares executives and organizations for the most productive and healthy work-life. Lance has led online/on-site training programs for over one thousand professionals through his company’s four pillars of wellness: fitness, nutrition, mind/body and ergonomics.

Lance is also a Master Instructor for the American Council on Exercise and the recipient of the IDEA Health & Fitness Association Program Director of the Year award.

Administrative Committees

Communications and Media Relations
As members of the Newsletter and Media Relations Committee, Chapter members participate in producing the award-winning Capital Connection. Members gather to brainstorm new ideas for editorial themes for upcoming editions. The newsletter reports Chapter business activities such as Section and Committee news and provides information about upcoming educational and other events. It also includes articles of interest to members and other legal management personnel, collected, authored and/or edited by members of the committee. This committee also works with other legal associations and the media to ensure that ALA and the Capital Chapter are represented in the legal industry. The Newsletter Committee welcomes new members.

Contact: Jacqueline Moline, [email protected]; Paula Serratore,[email protected]

Diversity & Inclusion
The Capital Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators is a professional organization comprised of administrative managers from private, corporate and government legal organizations in the Washington DC, Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland areas. ALACC embraces and encourages diversity within the legal profession. We value diversity and those initiatives that promote it and look to partner with affiliated professional legal organizations to advance diversity. We not only strive to raise awareness, but to increase our sensitivity in the area of diversity and more closely reflect the diversity of our community at large. Having a more inclusive and diverse legal community will improve the quality of our organizations workforce and respond to our client’s requirements for diversity. As a committee we are very interested in your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about achieving greater diversity in our Chapter, our profession, and in our firms.

Contact: Monique Terrell (Chair), [email protected]; Vanessa Partin (Co-Chair), [email protected]

Salary Survey
The Salary Survey Committee is responsible for maintaining, updating and running the local survey each year. They review the positions listed, the job descriptions, and the benefits questions to ensure that the survey remains relevant to the end users. The members of the committee also promote the survey within the Chapter to stimulate participation. In addition, the committee is tasked with selling the license to the survey software to other chapters within ALA for use in their locales. They also provide technical support and logistical guidance to those chapters who purchase and utilize our survey software.

Contact: Jeff Delcher (Chair), [email protected]; Sheri Shifflett (Co-Chair),[email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]

Member Experience
The Member Experience Committee will establish a welcoming environment for new members to be integrated into the Chapter through a formal Ambassador Program. Ambassadors will provide support and guidance to new members through their first 12 months of membership, ensuring new members realize benefits of membership and become ambassadors of the Chapter.

Contact: Kenia Garner (Chair), [email protected] ; Barbara Kernus, (Co-Chair), [email protected]

Educational Sections

Branch Office Administrators
The Branch Office Adminsitrators Section focuses on a broad range of topics of interest to local adminisraotrs who must coordinate with other officees of their firms. The Section's monthly luncheon meetings, held on the second Tuesday of the month, provide a venue for members to discuss issues of common interest, share ideas, and network. Members are encouraged to raise topics and to recommend speakers.

Contact: Richard Gibson (Chair),[email protected]; Wendy Iversen (Co-Chair), [email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]

Office Operations Management
The members of the Office Operations Management Section represent a cross section of legal expertise from functional administrators to branch office managers. The Office Operations Management Section (OOMS) meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month to discuss operations related hot topics. We welcome all members to join the section, especially if you are an administrator in a small law office and you have to wear multiple hats. We can provide you with many best practices to run your operation smoothly.

Contact: Jeffery Cole (Chair),[email protected]; Jamaine Yarborough (Co-Chair), [email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]

Intellectual Property (IP)
The Intellectual Property (IP) Section focuses on all aspects of legal management as it pertains to the IP Administrator. The group discusses the complexity of the ever-changing IP environment and how to effectively create and apply IP specific, non-legal procedures in both boutique and general practice firms. The Section's monthly meetings, held the third Tuesday, are primarily lunch meetings and every third month is a dinner meeting.

Contact: Kristine Miller (Chair), [email protected]; Sharon Smith (Co-Chair), [email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]

Small Firm Management
The purpose of the Small Firm Management Section is to provide Administrators of law firms with 35 or fewer attorneys educational opportunities through vendor presentations, idea sharing and open forums specifically designed for those who work in smaller firms. The Small Firm Management Section meets the fourth Tuesday of the month at host law firms.

Contact: Emily Christianson (Chair),[email protected]; Julie Tomey (Co-Chair),[email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]

Human Resources
The Human Resources Section operates as a venue for educational information on global human resources issues. While the Section is mostly comprised of HR professionals, any member is invited to participate in the meetings which typically take place on the second or third Wednesday of each month. The meetings feature industry speakers or roundtable discussions on topics such as recruiting, benefits, strategic planning, performance management, career pathing, retention and other matters of interest.

Contact: Connie Summers (Chair),[email protected]; Carmen C. Weissbratten (Co-Chair), [email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]

Technology
The Technology Section is looking for members to join the group for lively discussions about practical situations we all face daily in the information technology world. With ever-changing IT needs and issues, we will look at our firms' policies and procedures and help develop best practices and speak of the many concerns we all have. Even if you are not in the IT field, your experiences and opinions will help us in bringing all departments of a law firm together and working on the same page.

Contact: Frank Schipani (Chair),[email protected]; Kenny Mitchell (Co-Chair), [email protected]
Listserv: [email protected]