September 2017


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. Links to Capital Connection may not be shared without permission from the Chapter. 
Editor: Jacqueline Moline 
Associate Editors: Paula Serratore; Cindy Conover
​Contributing Editors: Richard Gibson; Heinan Landa; Robert Half Legal; Kyra Y. Fuller; Frank Schipani; Astrid Emond; Josh Quinn & Tommy Rotunno; Paul H. Barton; Arnold Sanow, MBA, CSP
Newsletter Designed By: Jessica Davis


In this issue:

President's Message

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​Recently, we were reminded of the strength of community by the response to Hurricane Harvey and its impact on the communities in its path.  All over the country groups and individuals organized fundraising events, collected supplies, and made personal donations in support of the relief efforts.  Our own Association rose to the challenge as each Chapter encouraged others to donate on behalf of the Chapter, and to facilitate donations from members to further increase the donations provided by ALA.  While the relief needs are tremendous, our donations in timing and scale will be welcomed and valuable.
 
In our own community, I am proud of the contributions that the Chapter has made.  We demonstrate our commitment to the community in a number of ways, not least through leadership. Our Vice President of Community Services and Vice President of Community Services-Elect both serve as members of the Chapter’s Executive Committee.  Perhaps the most visible of our community service programs is the Toni K. Allen Scholarship, where we provide significant financial support, guidance and mentorship to a high potential student.  In preparation for next year’s award, we boosted news coverage of this year’s presentation through social media, achieved significant donations from those who attended the event, and launched a program to reach out to a larger number of students.
 
In the past, we have organized community services programs to make sandwiches by the hundreds, to help feed those who have too little or no food, and have donated well-stocked backpacks to younger students in order to give them the best start possible to the school year.  And, later this month, on the 27th, we will provide resources at the D.C. Central Kitchen for a full day of meal prep. Volunteers will assist by cutting vegetables, preparing salads, packaging meals, and completing other kitchen tasks.  If you have not yet signed up for the D.C. Kitchen event, I encourage you to do so. They not only provide food, but also teach the population they serve the skills needed to improve what and how they eat.
 
Both as a Chapter and as individuals we consistently demonstrate our caring for and generosity to our community, whether in our own backyard or when extraordinary need arises across the country.  I expect that many of us encounter groups and organizations for which our support would be valuable. If you have an idea, please let our community service leaders know. We are always interested in offering new and exciting opportunities for our members to contribute.
 
Thank you for your support of the Chapter’s response to the relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, and thank you in anticipation for your leadership of, participation in, and contribution to future community service events.
Richard Gibson

New and Returning ALA Capital Chapter Members

Emma Marie Woods
Reed Smith
Director of DC/VA Market Operations
1301 K St., N.W.
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005
Mwoods@reedsmith.com
 
Callum McKern
Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.
Assistant Manager, International Department
1100 13th St., N.W.
Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20005
cmckern@bannerwitcoff.com
 
Althea Michelle King
Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker, P.A.
Office Manager
12505 Park Potomac Ave.
Potomac, MD 20854
mking@shulmanrogers.com
 
Bryony Jarrett
Harmon Curran Spielberg + Eisenberg
Office Manager
1725 DeSales St., N.W.
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036
bjarrett@harmoncurran.com
Kevin Blafkin
Morrison & Foerster
Director of Administration
2000 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
kblafkin@mofo.com
 
Andrew Robertson
Morrison & Foerster
Office Operations Manager
2000 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 887-1500
arobertson@mofo.com
 
Cameron Gowan
Jones Day
Library Services Manager
51 Louisiana Ave., N.W.
Washington , DC 20001
cgowan@jonesday.com
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Congratulations, Eileen Burkett!

The Capital Chapter would like to congratulate Eileen Burkett on her retirement from Lewis Baach! 

How to Test a Disaster Recovery Program for Law Firms

Heinan Landa
CEO, Optimal Networks

​Disasters can be, well, even more disastrous to law firms because their responsibility to protect client data does not dissipate post-disaster. In fact, former ABA President Steve Zack was quoted as saying, “They [law firms] must represent the client competently and diligently, safeguard client’s property, and maintain client confidentiality and communications. These obligations are neither excused nor waived following a disaster.”
 
Not only that, but any amount of system downtime has immediate and drastic effects on revenue, since your attorneys can’t very well bill when they are unable to work.
 
Perhaps that’s why our law firm clients frequently ask us how they can better plan for a disaster and test their disaster recovery plan. Here’s what we advise:

Step 1: Determine the levels of disaster scenarios to consider testing
  • An important file is lost. Can you restore it in a timely and effective fashion?
  • Your organization’s server fails. Can it be virtualized? Replaced?
  • There is a biohazard that has made the office inaccessible. Can all employees work remotely?
  • Your office burns down. Can you function?
  • The worst of all possible disasters: The entire city where your office is located is struck by disaster. Are you out of business?
Review each practice area in the firm separately.  Ask how long it can afford to be “out of business” and what resources it would need to get up and running. Create your overall plan to take into consideration the specific risk factors for each practice area.

Step 2: Plan to test the scenarios
Industry standards suggest that you test your plan for a failed server situation twice a year and for a Level 4 disaster scenario (your office burns down) once a year. Note that as the severity of the simulated disaster situation increases, the more downtime the test will require.
 
Of course, when you have a quicker way to recover from a disaster (backup systems in place, server virtualization methods, etc.), the less downtime a simulated disaster will require.  Consider your direct costs as well as the cost of downtime before you decide which testing level is best for your firm. If you find that this cost is simply too high, consider testing only the most common disaster scenarios — server failure and file loss.

Step 3: Test your scenarios
Once you have a detailed disaster recovery plan in place, you must be sure that your solutions will work the way they’re supposed to.

  1. With the help of external consultants and/or your internal IT team, plan the disaster recovery test with the full knowledge (and acceptance) that it will require downtime. Then, comprehensively communicate this to all attorneys, staff, and clients.
  2. Ensure that you have an executive-level user involved in the testing scenario so that you have someone on the “front lines” who can evaluate the test from a business continuity perspective. A Managing Partner from each practice area would work.
  3. As you are conducting the test, keep a detailed log of everything that does not go as planned (as well as the solutions that worked well). This way, the test will inform the plan’s revisions.
  4. When your test is complete, review your log and incorporate any suggestions to modify your plan (and, if necessary, your technology) so you are ready for the next test.
With multiple surveys reporting that cost-per-minute of downtime can range from $15,000 to $30,000, and many law firms reporting recovery point objectives (RPO) as approximately two hours, the cost of a disaster can really add up—especially depending upon the nature of your law firm.
 
While transactional attorneys often report an RPO in hours, litigators’ timeframes can be shorter or longer, depending. When designing and testing a disaster recovery plan for your law firm be specific, be meticulous, and be comprehensive. It could be what keeps you in business.

September 2017 Diversity Observances

From September 15th to October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month. This month corresponds with Mexican Independence Day,which is celebrated on September 16, and recognizes the revolution in 1810 that ended Spanish dictatorship.


September 1-2 (Evening): Eid Al-Adha, Eid al-Adha is an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to follow Allah's (God's) command to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Muslims around the world observe this event.
September 4: Labor Day in the United States. Labor Day honors the contribution that laborers have made to the country and is observed on the first Monday of September.
September 5: Buddhist Ghost Festival aka Hungry Ghost Festival, Ancestral worship by those practicing Taoism, where street, market, and temple ceremonies take place.
September 12: The Ethiopian New Year. Rastafarians celebrate the New Year on this date and believe that Ethiopia is their spiritual home.
September 15 – October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month. This month corresponds with Mexican Independence Day,which is celebrated on September 16, and recognizes the revolution in 1810 that ended Spanish dictatorship.
September 20-22 (Evening): Rosh-Hashanah is the Jewish New Year celebration, marking the creation of the world.
September 28: Teacher’s Day. Taiwan uses this day to honor teachers’ contributions to their students and to society in general. People often express their gratitude to their teachers by paying them a visit or sending them a card. This date was chosen to commemorate the birth of Confucius, the model master educator in ancient China.
September 29 - September 30: Yom Kippur is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar and is a day of atonement marked by fasting and ceremonial repentance.

Robert Half Legal Spotlight:
7 Ways to Improve Your Online Brand and Legal Job Search

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You’ve kicked off your job search in all the right ways: you’ve updated your resume, prepped for interviews and perfected your elevator pitch. But there’s one thing you may have forgotten to do: improve your online brand. In today’s digital age, a positive web presence is an essential requirement for getting noticed and hired.
 
Here are seven legal career tips for improving your image with personal online branding.
 
1. Know yourself
Before you update your profile on LinkedIn, one of the most influential professional social networks today, take a good look at yourself. Start by jotting down your strengths, weaknesses and career goals. Then get advice from trusted friends and colleagues about how your online profile looks. Ask them to point out any areas where you can improve.
 
2. Know your audience
Target your approach. If most of your legal resumes are going to traditional law firms, your online brand should have a buttoned-up appearance and tone. But if you’re aiming for more cutting-edge legal practices, you can take an innovative route. Regardless of the type of position you seek, remember that the audience for your professional online profile is different from that of your personal social media page. With that in mind, make sure you keep your photo and content professional.
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3. Be complete
Just having an account is not enough. You have to populate it with good, relevant content. Go to your LinkedIn page and look at the strength of your profile. If you’re a serious job seeker, it should be at or close to 100 percent complete. In addition to the basics, include your specialties, college/law school groups and societies, samples of work (make sure they don’t contain privileged content), volunteer activities and awards. And of course, replace that default silhouette image with a professional photo — definitely not a selfie or family portrait with other individuals cropped out.
 
4. Be consistent
Make sure the professional persona you present across the web is consistent from platform-to-platform. This can be as simple as making sure the name you use is the same on each site. In other words, don’t be “Catherine” on one website but “Kate” on another. Even more important, check to see that your summary (or about) sections, job history and tone are in-line with each other. And when you add a publication, achievement or job title, do so across all profiles.

5. Diversify
LinkedIn is not the only social media outlet for professional networking and information sharing. Tap into Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and/or Pinterest. There are also a few platforms specific to the legal community, such as Martindale.com, Connected and LawLink (for attorneys). To develop even more of an online presence, volunteer to speak at a conference, host a webinar or contribute articles to industry publications.

6. Check yourself out
Have you Googled yourself lately? If not, you should. What turns up when you search yourself online is what prospective employers or clients can find out about you. If you find something unflattering, think about scrubbing some of the negative content. Try increasing the amount of positive mentions associated with your name by starting a personal site or blog.
 
7. Watch what you write
Things that are good to post online: work history, career accomplishments, unique skills, personal values and specialized knowledge. Things that are not good to post: confidential information or legal advice — doing so could put you in hot water for the unauthorized practice of law. The best legal career advice when it comes to your digital presence is to avoid posting anything online you wouldn’t want to see in a newspaper.

In today’s digital world, you can’t escape the influence of the Internet on your personal brand. Don’t let a less-than-stellar online profile hinder your networking and job search efforts. Rather, make your online presence an authentic and appealing representation of who you are as a legal professional.
 
Article provided by Robert Half Legal, a premier legal staffing service specializing in the placement of attorneys, paralegals, legal administrators and other legal professionals with law firms and corporate legal departments. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Robert Half Legal has offices in major North American and global markets and offers a full suite of legal staffing and consulting solutions.

A Letter From 2013 Toni K. Allen Scholarship Recipient Kyra Fuller

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to the ALA Capital Chapter Foundation for contributing $15,000 to my education and for introducing what has become an amazing mentorship with Pheobe Boger-Smith through the 2013 Toni K. Allen scholarship award. I am honored to be considered a scholar for a foundation that eagerly looks to support students in the DC metropolitan area. It is this support that made attending Spelman College, graduating in 3.5 years magna cum laude and entering the workforce that much more worth it. I am excited to announce that I am starting my career at Microsoft as a consultant in Dallas, TX with plans on pursuing my MBA degree in the near future. Thank you again for the generosity and support throughout my college journey. I plan on working very hard to achieve my goals, as well as help steer future students in the direction of excellence.


Sincerely,
Kyra Y. Fuller

DocSolid and NetDocuments Unlock the Information Lost in Paper

Frank Schipani
Director of Information Technology, Gilbert LLP
Technology Section Chair

When my firm migrated its document management system to NetDocuments 2011, we gained some capabilities the firm had long sought including improved searching, anywhere access and built-in disaster recovery.

But after the NetDocuments implementation, the firm still had too much information locked up in paper records or in scanned records that were not properly OCRed and made available for searching in the DMS.  Productivity was lost in frequent physical trips to key file cabinets. When paper documents were filed incorrectly, searches were time-consuming and frustrating. And, of course, those filing cabinets took up space and added to our real estate expenses, which the firm wanted to reduce.

When we added DocSolid’s KwikTag Legal in 2013, we now had a robust scanning solution that we could use to start a bulk back-file scanning initiative to drive paper records to NetDocuments. We started out with realistic expectations.  We didn’t intend to become paperless at all.  Our goal was to enable attorney productivity through substantially improved search and mobile access to documents.  To make that happen, the scanning and saving solution had to be as easy and foolproof as possible.  The best way to do this was to use KwikTag to manage the scanning process and ensure that scanned paper made its way to NetDocuments properly.

Different people have different reasons for wanting to scan paper.  Everyone wants improved search capabilities, and the easy answer to that is to digitize the paper and put it in NetDocuments where it could be easily searched. Some hate how the paper takes up space in their office or in file cabinets around the office.  They think paper and cabinets are ugly, particularly in this era of glass walled offices and open workspaces where it is harder to hide things.  Some understand the liability of not knowing where their records are and the expense of looking through paper in a discovery request.  

Of course there will always be some that would love to keep their paper forever.  NetDocuments allowed us to structure our file storage in a way that mimics the file cabinet structure, and this eased the minds of those who were worried they would not be able to find their records once we digitized them.  This is understandable.  Many people are very visual and they will remember forever that a folder they stored five years ago is in the second cabinet, third drawer, ten inches from the right.  I understand this because my wife is the same way.  Ask her about a book we haven’t touched in three years and she will tell you on what shelf it sits, in what room of the house, and she can name the five books on either side of it.

Once we started some bulk scanning projects it was very satisfying to see the victories start to accumulate. It wasn’t long before attorneys began remarking on the ease of searching for their documents electronically, and the groundswell of enthusiasm and successful adoption went from there. As we digitized additional library materials and other valuable records, attorney work product was improved through vastly more efficient search and mobile access.

We do a lot of insurance work, and our attorneys have to reference hundreds of insurance policies going back over decades. We now have something like a knowledge repository that anyone can access through NetDocuments. Searches take seconds, not hours, and we were able to reduce our real estate footprint as well. Paper is harder to keep track of, it’s expensive to produce, and it is more difficult to implement retention policies.  All of this was simplified through digitization of records.  Integrating KwikTag Legal into our DMS helped meet our strategic objectives – our attorneys are empowered through improved search and mobility, which ultimately translates into productivity.

Success wasn’t automatic, though. A critical task was to convince people that the scanning we did would be as accurate as possible.  We wouldn’t miss documents or pages, and everything in the paper would be faithfully reproduced in the DMS.  If people discovered problems, they would lose confidence in the scanning and would opt out of allowing us to digitize their records.

DocSolid’s KwikTag process was a critical component for ensuring our scanning process was accurate and fast.  KwikTag is the robust tool for detecting and correcting scan errors, confirming upload to the DMS and then making sure the paper is properly destroyed or sent off site.  We conducted extensive testing of both the scanning hardware and the scanning process to refine the workflow to make it as efficient and foolproof as possible.  Like in other areas, good process and well trained people to carry it out are just as important as the technology.

A key aspect of our process is that it is modular.  The process is broken in to several well-defined and discreet steps, such as paper preparation, profiling, scanning and quality checking.  A paper record does not need to flow through the whole process at one time.  Nor does it need to be handled by the same person.  Modularization allows us to allocate resources more efficiently.  If someone is available to prepare paper for scanning – removing staples and paper clips – they can do that for whatever time they have available and set it down when they need to.  When they are done they can drop the paper record on the stack waiting to be profiled in to KwikTag, and someone else can do that at some other time.  Our overall scanning process keeps track of where each record is in the process so nothing gets lost. 

We continue to refine and improve our scanning workflow to make it as quick and accurate as possible.  We plan to ramp up bulk scanning and eliminate all paper files in file cabinets and secretarial areas within the next year. 

The integration between NetDocuments and DocSolid has been notably smooth and easy.  Now we are looking forward to growing that relationship through DocSolid’s Postmark for NetDocuments. Postmark will place a small barcode tag on any document printed from the DMS.  Later on when someone is trying to decide what to do with that paper, they can look at the barcode and know that we already have that document stored in the DMS.  If there are no hand-written notes on it, then it is an exact copy of what is in the DMS and can be destroyed.  If it has notes, the paper can be scanned right to KwikTag, which will see the barcode and upload the one with hand-written notes back to the DMS, and again the paper copy can be destroyed. 
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When we started our scanning initiative back in 2013 we took the long view.  We knew that we could not make all the paper go away overnight.  Getting buy-in across the firm would take time.  Getting the technology and the processes in place would take time too.  We never had the goal of becoming a paperless office, or scanning just for the sake of scanning.  Our goal was to make life easier for everyone in our firm and make possible efficiency gains, mobility and reduced risk.  Now, four years later, we are actually in a position to make every file cabinet in our office go away.  No attorney is going to be tied back to our physical office by their paper records.  They can access anything from anywhere.  That’s a goal worth working toward.  

Member Spotlight: Crossing the Grand Canyon – Rim2Rim

Astrid Emond
IP Prosecution Manager, Baker & Hostetler LLP
IP Section Co-Chair

Guess what I did this summer -- I hiked the Grand Canyon -- Rim to Rim in one day! I had applied to be part of this epic adventure through Project Athena, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of medical or other traumatic setbacks achieve their adventurous dreams. The hike is 24ish miles, with an elevation change of 6,000 feet.
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After little sleep, I left my house on a Monday morning to meet up with a group of strangers in Phoenix. After meeting at the airport, we drove the 4 hours to the South Rim and went straight to dinner. After brief introductions, we learned that it was supposed to be around 110˚F at the bottom of the Canyon the next day. Robyn Benincasa, our amazing adventure leader, advised that we had two options: 1) go to the hotel and sleep 4 hours; or 2) go to the hotel, get ready, and start hiking immediately. The majority voted to get on the trail and so we started our hike around 11:30 p.m. It was dark and the Canyon was just a black hole to us. 
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We took our first short break at the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Canyon; it must have been around 4 a.m. by then. We refilled our water bladders and hydrated with a couple of swigs of saltwater. There was also an opportunity to use the facilities which was an experience in itself – one had to get water for flushing from a spigot outside of the building. After leaving the ranch, fatigue set in. I decided to focus on the feet in front of me and to just keep shuffling forward. Maybe it was the intake of electrolytes or the swigs of saltwater, but all of the sudden, the fatigue disappeared and I regained my strength. After hiking several more hours, we arrived at our next rest station. Unfortunately, the waterline was broken and we were unable to refill our water. So, we decided to push on and take a break at the next station in hopes we might find water there. Unfortunately, that was not the case either. We pressed on for several more hours. Spirits were still pretty high and we joked about the Canyon being broken and the added challenge this provided. But the sun had come up, it started getting hot, and the north rim seemed ever so far away. After passing two rest stations without being able to refill our water bladders we decided to take a break anyway. We massaged our feet, put on fresh socks, and applied sunscreen. Since we couldn’t fill drinking water, our support team collected some empty water bottles and filled them with river water. Robyn told us that we would now need to share all available drinking water as a group before we drank the river water. There were no complaints. Everyone understood the challenge and what needed to be done to keep ourselves hydrated and safe. The story of an experienced hiker who had just recently died in the Canyon from heat exhaustion while searching for water circulated, and drinking river water suddenly didn’t seem so bad. It was all a matter of perspective. By this point, some of our team members started to struggle. The sun was beating down on us and we stopped in the shade to catch our breath whenever possible. For some, physical exhaustion set in and for others the mental challenge became very real. But, after about 16 hours of hiking, we arrived at the north rim; tired and elated; a group of strangers had turned into family.
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I feel blessed to have been on this journey. Personally, I learned how important it is to prepare for a successful hike and I also learned how important it is to be flexible to deal with challenges as they arise. By coming together and a bit of improvisation, we overcame the challenges. And, it was beautiful to witness how everyone on the team contributed. Each person shared their strengths; whether it was wise words, a smile, an encouragement, the strength to carry someone else’s backpack, breaking out in song, each person on the team shared their gifts. 
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​It is difficult for me to put into words what this experience meant to me. Certainly, it is a personal accomplishment to cross the Grand Canyon in a day. Who knows what else I might accomplish now. I also realized that sometimes we need to rely on others, surrender and accept the gifts others offer. Being part of a team made the hike so much more beautiful. There were stories of heroism; there were stories of victims turning into warriors; there were stories of strength, perseverance, grit, and determination. There was also a story of disappointment when one lady got gravely ill somewhat early into the hike and had to turn back. And while she had to turn around, she was as much part of the family as anyone who completed the hike. Her ability to reframe her disappointment and her willingness to share her journey and lessons were simply inspiring and provided many learning opportunities for the rest of us. It is amazing and wonderful to see how quickly a strong team can develop.

Many of the participants spoke of this epic adventure as a transformative experience. Being presented with major challenges and finding our true strengths to climb back out of this canyon together.
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I am left with a full heart knowing that humanity and kindness is alive and well and I plan on paying this gift forward. 

Developing an IT Roadmap with an Effective Budgeting Strategy

Josh Quinn & Tommy Rotunno
mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc.

WINTER IS COMING…
Yes, it’s that time of year again, kids are going back to school, tree leaves are starting to change color, and the holidays are quickly approaching.  Q4 is peaking its head out and It's time for Firm’s begin compiling their budget requests for the upcoming year, ranging from improving efficiency to strategic growth initiatives. Many firms find the budgeting process daunting when it comes to IT; there are many moving parts with software & hardware upgrades, software & hardware support renewals, ongoing IT Security protections, and Windows & Office migrations (just to name a few!).  This can lead to second-guessing how much & where the Firm is allocating budgetary dollars, contemplating if you are in line with your peers or falling behind.
 
SETTING THE BUDGET
The first step is figuring out if you are spending in the right areas of IT; it is important to understand if you are budgeting the proper amount.  The Legal IT industry is proudly unique in that the information sharing across firms is unprecedented – allowing for a look into the budget and spending across firms.

As a reference point and per the recent 2016 ILTA member survey, 44% of small firms (1-49 attorneys) and 39% of medium firms (50-199 attorneys) spend within 1-3.99% of firm revenue on technology, excluding IT staff salaries/benefits and training.  Medium sized firms are highly concentrated in the middle of this range, with 56% of firms spending 2-2.99% of firm revenue.
An alternative metric for a point of reference is the IT Spend per Attorney.  Almost three quarters (70%) of small firms spend up to $8,000 per attorney, while over half (60%) of medium firms spend $11,001-$17,000 per attorney.

What does this mean for you?  As an example, if you are a firm with 30 attorneys and an annual revenue of $6M almost half of your peers are spending between $60,000-$240,000 on technology per year.    If you are a firm with 100 attorneys and $20M in annual revenue, most of your peers are spending between $400,000-$600,000 (based off total revenue metric) or $1.1M-$1.7M (based off attorney count metric) on technology per year.

To keep up with the cadence of continuous changes in legal technology, Law Firms are also recognizing that IT spend cannot be limited to a single year investment, it is now a cornerstone and foundation of the firm's livelihood.  A vast majority of responses from the 2016 ITLA member survey have shown that IT budgets have remained the same or in many cases with over half (53%) of firms have increased their IT budget year-over-year – which was a 12% growth rate from the previous year's survey.  It is not uncommon for Firms to look to their trusted IT vendor and partner with them to come up with the roadmap that fits the budget that was set by firm.

WHERE TO SPEND THE IT BUDGET STRATEGICALLY
The very best businesses are built on a solid foundation – and this should be no different for IT.  The first stop for your IT budget should be ensuring all the production hardware & software are currently covered under vendor support contracts.  This means having an accurate inventory system to be able to track warranty expirations and version information and understand when items are approaching end-of-life, which should also help lead towards forecasting & planning when to upgrade these systems.  As Microsoft ended support of Server 2003 in July 2015, and is currently slated to end support of Server 2008 in January 2020, it is imperative to begin the planning & execution of upgrading these platforms as soon as possible.

The rapid pace of technology has a habit of throwing the old models out the window in favor of the new "sexy" technology; think how datacenter technologies have evolved from systems that were once tiered into a converged model (combining two tiers into one) and then hyper-converged arrived combining three tiers into one package.  Software is making leaps even faster, with the introduction of the Cloud's rapid workload adoption and removing the need to host certain infrastructure on-premise.  These developments in technology allow you to realize efficiencies (from licensing & hardware cost reduction, technology consolidation, and ease of business continuance) that were previously out of reach for a majority of small/mid-sized businesses.

Once your technology foundation is solid, the next area to focus is business continuity and disaster recovery.  While IT disaster recovery is a subset of an overall business continuity plan, it's also important to position the production workload in a capable location with enough capacity, power, and cooling.  Many firms experienced this first hand, with the most recent being Hurricane Harvey in Houston TX where some firms experienced full outages for several days that were not in a colocation facility. These Firm outages could have been avoided if they were in a colocation facility, which are backed up with multiple connectivity & power sources with fully redundant generators, and are generally staffed 24x7.  If you are currently in a colocation facility, the next evolution is to layer on backup & replication in accordance with the firms recovery point & recovery time objectives.  A new trend in this space is Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) through public cloud such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS which might make sense for some firms to investigate further, allowing them to convert CapEx to OpEx while still retaining the same (or greater) level of protections.

As additional budgetary dollars allow, a renewed focus on IT security should become a priority.  While there are dozens of security products and suites, some fundamental security practices should be implemented such as endpoint security, mobile device management, two-factor authentication, and a routine (quarterly or yearly) penetration test performed by an independent third party.  The legal industry is becoming a hot target for malicious attackers, looking to gain access and the highly privileged information that is stored within a law firm.  New tactics and techniques are coming to market and gaining traction, such as DMS threat analytics, log aggregation and correlation, and Managed Security Services Providers.
Education and training should be a staple in the yearly IT budget.  Allocation of funds not only to raise user awareness of security threats such as phishing, but also to help the IT staff stay current with industry conferences to understand what is new in the Legal vertical.  These conferences can pay for themselves if you leave with lessons learned from your peers or happen to develop a relationship with a vendor that is able to accelerate the firm's growth or reduce its expenses.

Legal applications are the elephant in the room – and where firms can easily allocate a clear majority of their yearly budget.  There's no shortage of reasons to focus on this area; from the upcoming sunset of Elite to the allure of Artificial Intelligence, but it's important to stay grounded and develop a long-term vision of how the application set will mature at the firm.  Some core business applications – such as accounting suites – are sun setting while others are new spinoffs that might be worthy of consideration.  Are you considering a desktop OS refresh into Windows 10 with Office 2016?  This will most likely be the best window of opportunity to consider changing core legal applications that plugin to the Office suite, such as templating & numbering.  As DMS platforms become more millennial friendly, they are beginning to add features for expanded mobility along with integrated security & analytical features, which might be worthy of an upgrade at your firm.  Does your firm use a practice management application, where it might make sense to break apart and start using focused applications that are best-of-breed due to the firm's growth or renewed focus on technology?

There is not a blanket "yes" or "no" answer for these questions, as every firm is unique in both culture and technology needs.  For firms in the small to mid-sized space, most of the time it does make sense to partner with and involve trusted vendors to do the heavy lifting and provide guidance for the many paths of success that a firm can go down with their IT budget.
 
In closing, the pace that the technology landscape is changing is forcing Firms into more fluid IT budgets.  It is important to know how to define the budget and drive your IT roadmap with the budget that is set.  If you have trusted IT vendor relationship, lean on them to help you define your IT roadmap and put together a 3-year plan that addresses the health of your foundation the core side of your network, a disaster recovery and business continuance model, must-have IT security solutions, ongoing education, and legal applications (Microsoft Office, DMS, practice management, docketing, templating & numbering).  Don’t fall behind, now is the time to take control of the process.

Email Productivity - Tips & Tricks

Paul H. Barton
QuietSpacing

Email is the global de facto communication standard. Business use of email continues to grow. Email is also a hybrid form of communication—a written form used conversationally. This hybrid nature, coupled with habits developed early in its use, results in email being both the boon and the bane of the modern work world. It is the boon because we can communicate globally, twenty-four hours a day. It is the bane because everyone else can too!

Consider these suggestions to make email part of a more productive day. 

1. Turn New Message Alerts Off 
New message alerts were valuable when email was new. We only received five emails per day back then and needed to be alerted to their arrival. 

Times have changed. Now, we receive five messages per minute. The new message alert serves only to distract us from other productive efforts, resulting in time lost getting back up to speed when we return to our efforts after checking the alert. 

2. Check Email Regularly Versus Constantly
Staying responsive to others while getting work done is a difficult balance. Regularly checking email versus constantly checking email is one way to achieve this balance. Staying focused on one thing—even for a short period of time—produces higher quality work faster. That’s a positive result.

The frequency of inbox visits varies from day-to-day depending on other demands. However, a good rule of thumb is every fifteen minutes. That allows focused efforts and responsiveness to cohabitate.

3. Craft Single-Subject Emails
As a hybrid communication method, email has incorporated many conversational nuances. Not all of them are good or productive. One bad habit is switching topics mid-message. This is a normal conversational behavior, but it doesn’t translate well to email—a written form. 

Consider how physical letters were crafted: one subject in each letter. The reasons were simple. Not only did it focus the writer and reader on one subject—more effective—it was easier to file and to find. These goals—effectiveness and ease of use—also pertain to emails. Thus, only discuss one subject in each email. If a new subject needs to be communicated to the same person, start a new email.

4. Leverage the Subject Line
Another bad email habit is the failure to craft good subject lines. The subject line is one of the few pieces of information every email recipient sees. Yet, most subject lines are only marginally communicative. Here are some examples of good and bad subject lines:

Bad Subject Line
  • Question
  • Meeting Tomorrow
  • Need Information
Good Subject Line
  • Question—Thompson Matter—Deadline=End of Business Today
  • Meeting Tomorrow—Smith Matter—2:00 p.m. Eastern—Conf Rm 12 North
  • Need Information—Robertson Deal—Deadline=Tuesday at Noon Eastern
The bad subject line emails tell the reader little, requiring the email to be opened and read before any meaningful action occurs. That’s a waste of time. The good subject line emails tell the recipient what they need to know without ever opening the message. They’re more effective and more efficient.

Moreover, it is much easier to find and file the good subject line emails.

5. No Radio Silence
We have a strange relationship with email. We send and receive hundreds of email each day. We work hard to stay on top of our work, and occasionally, we fail to keep others informed as to our progress. This is a bad habit because no news is always bad news to the person expecting to hear from us!

Make a habit of updating those with whom you work on a regular basis regarding your progress on the projects at hand. One good rule of thumb is to do these update emails at the end of each day as way to button up that day before going home.

6. Reduce Use of ‘Reply All’
‘Reply all’ is often required to keep everyone in the loop and to document effort properly. However, it’s not always required. One study found that people overuse ‘reply all’ about 20 percent of the time. If we all get one hundred emails a day (a low estimate) and we all reduce our use of ‘reply all’ by twenty percent, we’d all have twenty fewer emails per day that we didn’t need to open, read, and delete. How many minutes would that save? All it takes is making one consideration: Does everyone on this email thread need my response?

Pick One or Two
Decide if any of the above suggestions make sense. If so, implement them and start getting those precious minutes per day back!

This article has been reprinted with permission from the author and originally appeared on ​http://www.quietspacing.com/blog/ ​​

Beware of Connection Killing Mind Games

Arnold Sanow, MBA, CSP
Sanow Professional Development

​We are limited by our ability to see everything (although some people never seem to miss a thing!). We may get glimpses of a situation and so we "fill in the gaps" of what we don't know, with missing pieces supplied by our thoughts, beliefs, and impressions - our assumptions. We may witness a certain behavior but not what motivated it, and jump to conclusions in our attempts to put 2+2 together.
 
Mind reading is hazardous to connections because our presumptions often conjure up false information. Assumptions about what people are thinking, feeling, or doing can lead us into dangerous waters:
 
* I know exactly what you are thinking
* I know she's disappointed in me.
* He's trying to cover up for blowing it!
* Oh, I know he won't mind
 
You my think you can read a person like a book and know exactly what they're thinking. Your assumptions might be based solely on a gesture, a sigh, a comment, or perhaps total silence. Those cues might lead to the correct conclusion, but unless you confirm their accuracy, there's a real danger that you're mind-reading! Your deduction could be totally off-base, resulting in your needlessly withdrawing trust, getting defensive, or driving people around you crazy - simply because you misread them or the situation.
 
Danger! Avoid getting trapped by assumptions - that you know what people want, that you can make a decision for them, or that they know what you mean.
This holds especially true for our closest relationships, for those with whom we think it's easy to get inside their heads and know their every thought. However, we never can know for sure. In long-term relationships, we may tend  to avoid vital questioning for fear of rocking the boat, making waves, or bringing up sensitive issues - thereby missing the mark entirely.
 
In any situation, instead of relying on assumptions, ask for more information. When we get facts, we're much less likely to draw connection-crushing conclusions. 
 
By collecting more data, you increase your understanding and help avert potential arguments:
 
* I want to make sure I understand the situation completely. Can you please review this matter once more?
* I'm not totally clear on your ideas and want to make sure I get the whole picture. Please tell me again.
* Give me more specifics so we can make this work
 
Observe when your mind starts second -guessing others. Note your observations, bypass mind-reading, and question the source directly: "I noticed you were looking at your watch. Are we running late?" "I noticed your haven't been talking much. Are you bothered by something I said?" Concocting fantasies can cost us connections. Probe for the truth

Arnold Sanow, MBA, CSP, is a speaker, trainer and facilitator who works with companies and organizations to improve everyday interactions, communication, people skills and relationships to improve teamwork and  build a more positive, productive and profitable organization. He is the author of 6 books to include, "Get Along with Anyone, Anytime,Anywhere" and was recently named by Successful Meetings Magazine as one of the top 5 best bang for the buck speakers in the USA. www.arnoldsanow.com  - speaker@arnoldsanow.com 

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, jam@carmaloney.com; Paula Serratore,pserratore@alacapchap.org

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: Cindy Schuler (Chair), cschuler@skgf.com; Monique Terrell (Co-Chair),mterrell@stradley.com 
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. 

Contact: Emily Christianson (Chair), echristianson@relmanlaw.com; Julie Tomey (Co-Chair), tomey@thewbkfirm.com
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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: Cheryl Flynn (Chair), cflynn@wileyrein.com; Sarahi Estrella
(Co-Chair), sarahi.estrella@arentfox.commailto:sarahi.estrella@arentfox.com ​


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: Danita Ellis (Chair),danita.ellis@nelsonmullins.com; Jackie Thomas (Co-Chair), jackie.thomas@agg.com
Listserv: branch@lists.alacapchap.org
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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:  Kevin O'Hare (Chair), kevin.ohare@cox.net; Greg Fudge (Co-Chair), gfudge@bakerdonelson.com
Listserv: ooms@lists.alacapchap.org
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. 

Contact: Kimberly J. Potter (Chair),  kpotter@sgrlaw.com; Astrid Emond (Co-Chair), aemond@bakerlaw.com
Listserv: ipadmin@lists.alacapchap.org



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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: Wilmara Guido-Chizhik (Chair), wguido-chizhik@bomcip.com; Marion Baker (Co-Chair), baker_marion@yahoo.com
Listserv: smallfirm@lists.alacapchap.org


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Finance
Based on member feedback the Capital Chapter has formed a new Finance Section. We are seeking active members to helps us get this group up and running in 2016! As we get started, we will be focusing on what issues members are facing within their firms that we may be able to help address together. Topics may range from reviewing new time and billing systems to tax filings and matter budgeting solutions and anything in between. Your input is needed! Please consider adding Finance section meetings to your monthly educational schedule.

Contact: Andy George (Chair),  andrew.george@finnegan.com; Evan Kettig (Co-Chair),  kettige@gotofirm.com
Listserv: finance@lists.alacapchap.org
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: Aryn Blanton (Chair),  aryn.blanton@bracewelllaw.com; Jasmine Stribling (Co-Chair), jstribling@bsfllp.com
Listserv: hr@lists.alacapchap.org
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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),  schipanif@gotofirm.com; Kenny Mitchell (Co-Chair),  kmitchell@wbklaw.com
Listserv: tech@lists.alacapchap.org