Articles

2013 Annual Conference Committee Chair Gives Update . . .

Save the date!  The 2013 Annual Conference and Exposition will be held April 14-17, 2013 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland (Washington, DC area).  This beautiful and newly developed harbor is on 350 acres of premium Potomac River shoreline, with more than 70 shops and restaurants and views of downtown Washington, D.C. and Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

The 2013 Conference Committee began its planning in January 2012, and we have been creating a wonderful education and Conference experience.  We developed our theme in January, Effective Leadership Through Changing Times, and continue our work developing educational sessions around this theme.  This year, we are also creating a series of sessions for the experienced administrator who is seeking more advanced educational sessions.  We have identified those educational sessions as "Seasoned to Perfection."  For attendees interested in focusing on strategy for the future, we have identified a "Future Law Firm" group of sessions.  Because of the proximity to The George Washington University (GWU), we are also excited to be planning a graduate level afternoon workshop on Strategic Leadership with professors Carol Leonard and James Bailey of GWU.

We are also collaborating with our strategic alliances, such as the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), to strengthen sessions focused in these subject areas.  Their contributions and expertise will benefit both the general administrator and the functional specialist attendees.  For example, ILTA is assisting with sessions on security issues, security standards for mobile devices, and the latest strategies in technology, all of which will be relevant in 2013 for the future law firm.  We have a session planned with LMA in which they will present results from a survey they recently conducted with BTI Consulting Group.  We believe that working with our strategic alliances brings more depth to the education we will offer at the 2013 Conference and to future Conference planning.

In January we discussed the need to identify new speakers for this conference, and the Committee is pleased to report that we will have many new faces and fresh ideas to present to attendees.  In addition, we will also bring back a few of our highest rated speakers from previous years whose focus is on the dynamic and changing law firm industry.  this Committee brought a few different ideas for session topics as well, such as a session entitled, "Can You Hear Me Now?", for branch manager administrators, and a session on Pro-Bono case management.  Legal project management (LPM) sessions will take center stage at our Conference, because our committee recognizes how LPM processes add value to firms, and we plan to cover this topic in three sessions and at different experience levels.  In addition, the committee collaborated with Michael Cohen to present an important session on diversity, inclusion and the law, and we are identifying important sessions for CLM member requirements as well.

We will announce many more exciting details over the next few months, such as our keynote speaker, our session sponsored by the Foundation of ALA, and of course, our very exciting finale event.  We welcome you to visit the Conference page [at www.alanet.org] for updates and announcements.  Our Committee continues to work creatively on ALA's premier event for "your connection to knowledge, resources and networking."  Feel free to contact Karen Glowacki, Chair of the 2013 Annual Conference Committee, with any questions.  We look forward to seeing you next April in National Harbor! 

(Article written by Karen Glowacki, Committee Chair and reprinted with permission from Your ALA News newsletter, September 6, 2012 issue, published by the Association of Legal Administrators, www.alanet.org.)