TLOMA Today

This is truly a time for us to reflect on the year and look forward to welcoming new experiences, connections and continued growth. It is also a time for gratitude; for recognizing others who have made a significant impact in our personal and professional lives.

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel - Carl W. Buechner. The above-noted  quote has long been my mantra, and I experience it again and again with you, my TLOMA peeps.  

It's bittersweet to be writing this; my last “Prez Mez” for TLOMA Today. My Presidency ends this month with the official hand-off taking place in February. Thank you for entrusting me with this honour, privilege and responsibility to serve you. This experience has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling of my career. Stepping up as Vice President and then President  has honed my skills and knowledge, forced me out of my comfort-zone and brought many new friends into my life.  

You have probably picked up on the fact that I like to write and tell wee stories each month. I’ll miss that. But fear not, I’ll connect with you over the occasional email, during yoga class, or perhaps over a coffee or lunch. For now, I have the pleasure of passing “the pen” on to your 2019 President Elect, Ms. Pamela Harris. 

As I move into the role of Past President for 2019, I would like to personally thank everyone who worked with me on the Board of Directors to ensure my Presidency was a success: Ivaylo Nikolov – 2018 Past President, Pamela Harris – 2018 Vice President, Cathy Byrnes – Treasurer, Angela Kirkpatrick – Education Coordinator, Debbie Tibbo – Conference Chair and Kylie Aramini – Communications Coordinator & Newsletter Editor. And of course, what would I have done without Liz Barrington and Karen Gerhardt, always there to answer questions and provide administrative support whenever I sent along an email or made a call about something that Ivo forgot to tell me (just kidding Ivo). Thank you to Katherine Mather, our Compensation Committee Chair, each of our SIG Leaders and all active volunteers for their tireless work on behalf of the Association. You are awesome!!!  

For those of you who haven’t yet served… I encourage you to consider giving back to your TLOMA community through volunteerism in 2019 and beyond. Here is what I found after volunteering: Amazing volunteers do exist and their impact is extraordinary. We are very lucky to have a team of people who want to generate a positive impact. This means implementing great programs and attracting more amazing volunteers. They are driven by the bottom line: results. We have folks who stick to their commitments. They have a zero flake factor. If they say they will contribute something specific, they do their absolute best to make it happen. They are problem solvers and hack, tinker and persist until they find a way forward. They are like Red Bull and “give you wings.” You feel amped when collaborating with these folks. When the different volunteers get together it is magical. Friendships form, fun is present and it feels like family.  So what do you think??? Our volunteers bring a wide range of contributions to the table. It could be seasoned skills or raw energy. It could be brand new ideas or field expertise. It could be one-off contributions or on-going commitments. So think about it. Next time a call goes out to the membership looking for volunteers, I hope you will step up.

I’m looking forward to seeing you December 7 when we’ll be “Making Spirits Bright” at our Annual Holiday Member Networking Event.This year’s event takes place at the Omni King Edward Hotel in the Vanity Fair Ballroom (37 King Street East). As we close out our 50th year as an Association, I’m filled with hope for our legal community. Sure, being a Law Office Manager is not always easy – but we all share the same crazy…I mean calling!!!

Warmest thoughts and best wishes to you and yours for a wonderful Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year. May peace, love, and prosperity follow you always!

Michelle xoxo

FINANCE

This was my second year as the Finance SIG leader for TLOMA.  It has again been a very rewarding experience.   The sessions we had in 2018 were well attended.  They included a session on:  Billed Basis Accounting Changes (January session), Electronic Payment Options Round table, and a Law Society Presentation on Practice Management Review and Spot Audits.  The last session of the year in December will be a further update on the CRA Changes on Billed Basis Accounting.  The Finance SIG round table event was particularly well received. In 2019, I look to seamlessly transiting my role as Finance SIG leader to Pat Carrano.  

Also, in 2019 I will take on the Treasurer role on the Board.  I am excited about the new opportunity.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Another year has gone by and my term as Human Resources SIG Leader has come to an end.  Thank you to everyone who attended this year's educational sessions.  I think we can all agree our favorite SIG was Marijuana at Work - The Times They Are a Changin', and they certainly are.  I leave you in good hands with Sandra Chung taking over as HR SIG Leader. 

A special thank you to Liz Barrington, Karen Gerhardt and Angela Kirkpatrick for your assistance with each SIG, it was never a dull moment!

Happy Holidays everyone and I will see you at the next HR SIG!

TECHNOLOGY

It has been a very productive year. Technology evolves very quickly, and I tried to cover aspects of this evolution with a variety of topics, such as Ways To Reduce Records Storage Costs, Trial by iPad, Cross Border Travel & Protecting Client Information, and Communication Solutions for Law Offices. It was also my first time organizing the Technology Round Table, which was received very well.  Next year, I am starting my second 2-year term as Technology SIG Leader with TLOMA. I am very excited about bringing additional sessions to the TLOMA Community.

A special thank you to Angela Kirkpatrick, Karen Gerhardt, and Liz Barrington for helping me organize all sessions. Stay tuned for more Tech events to come in 2019!

MARKETING

This was my first year as the Marketing SIG Leader for TLOMA. Whether you are new to legal or an experienced legal professional, a TLOMA membership provides invaluable networking opportunities, training and access to educational seminars to be more effective and stay abreast of new trends. The sessions in 2018 were well attended. They included a session on Developing Results-Focused Email Campaigns, Ensuring a Productive and Successful CRM Adoption and a Marketing Roundtable where we discussed everything from social media, directories, thought leadership and marketing ROI best practices. If you have any suggested topics for 2019, all ideas are welcome. I can be reached by email at cgilmore@dwpv.com.

FACILITIES

Microsoft Word is one of the most popular word processing programs across the globe. Chances are, you probably use it every day to create, edit, or view documents. And because you’re so familiar with it, you might think that you already know everything there is to know about the program. It’s time to rethink that assumption.

More than a word processor, Word is a powerful publishing tool that can increase every lawyer’s productivity. If you know how to navigate your way through the program, you can simplify your work and cut the time you spend on doing certain tasks. Here are five hacks that will make you a Word pro in no time.

1. Use legal backline to compare document changes.

Tracking document changes can be time-consuming, especially when you’re reviewing long and text-heavy documents. Thankfully, Word has an option called legal backline that allows you to see the changes made to a document at a glance.

To use the legal backline option, go to Review > Compare group > Compare and select Compare two versions of a document (legal backline).  Under their respective drop-down menus, choose the original and the revised documents you want to compare, and click OK. Word will then show you both the original and the revised version of the document, as well as a third document with all the revisions in red font.  This feature comes in handy when you’re reviewing an updated policy or a revised contract.

2. Combine multiple author changes in a single document.

Legal drafts, briefs, and memoranda often undergo multiple revisions before they are approved for publication. If you need to merge more than two versions of the same document, just go to Review > Compare group > Combine. A pop-up box will appear where you can select the original version and the revised version you want to merge it with. In the box saying Label unmarked changes with, input a word or a phrase that will allow you to remember which version was merged with the original. Then, click More > Show changes in > Original document.  Click OK. Repeat until you have combined all the versions you need to combine.

3.  Lock the final version of a document to prevent it from being edited.

You wouldn’t want your final document to be tampered with or accidentally edited, especially if it contained confidential information. To disable further editing on a document, you can mark it as “final” by going to File > Info > Protect Document > Mark as Final. Doing so will open the document as read-only, preventing users from making further changes.

4. Save time by using default or custom formatting styles.

From choosing family types to selecting font size to adjusting the margin, formatting documents is a tedious task. You can streamline this process by using the styles option in Word. Each style is basically a template consisting of a unique combination of heading, body, font, and other formatting preferences that can be quickly applied to your document. You can also create your own style by going to Home > Styles > Create a Style. If you want, you can add a name to your style, so you can remember which formatting template goes with a brief, a contract, or a draft pleading. This lets you deal with your document’s aesthetic needs in one click and spend more time on legal work.

5. Generate a table of contents based on your document.

The days of manually typing your table of contents for a report are over. To automatically generate a TOC, go to Insert > Reference > Table of Contents > Insert Table of Contents > OK. Note that this will only work if you have specific styles applied to your document, because Word uses such styles as guides to determine which parts of the text is the heading, sub-heading, and so on. If you haven't selected any style, you will get an error message. To apply a style to your document, just go to Home > Style then select a style. When you’re done, go to Insert > Reference > Table of Contents and select Update the Entire Table in the Update Table of Contents dialog box.

Microsoft Word is only one of the many Office 365 apps that can help your practice become more productive. Download our free Office 365 e-book now and discover how work at your firm can be better optimized.

As someone who works in the legal field, what do the words “work-life balance” mean to you? Do these words conjure up something that you feel you already have, or do they remind you of something that just seems… unobtainable?

Whatever the words conjure up, it’s clear that the concept of “work-life balance” is great. But is it realistic?

So, here is an idea. Why don’t we strive for work-life integration instead? Here are three scenarios where we’ll show you what can help you attain work-life integration.

Why Work-Life Balance Isn’t Feasible

The concept of “work-life balance” puts a lot of emphasis on your work life and your personal life being perfectly in tune, all the time, every day. Which proves the point that it can’t be feasible.

There will be days where work must take priority over everything else you do. The client who needs your undivided attention to settle a claim. Afternoon or evening meetings with clients that are trying to buy a house. Those times spent researching articles and sections to determine some obscure estate law on a tough case. Whatever the reason, there are always going to be times when you need to put the rest of your life on hold and focus on work.

Similarly, there’ll also be times when work can, or needs to take a backseat. Your clients aren’t as active during certain parts of the year (snowbirds, anyone?), so you have more flexibility. You take a vacation and your spouse says it’s a time to reconnect, just the two of you, with no phones allowed. A sick family member requires that little extra TLC. There are going to be days when you can place more emphasis on your personal life.

So, rather than strive for something that isn’t feasible, why don’t we just turn our attention to something that’s a little easier to achieve? As a society, we should consider achieving work-life integration. What’s that, you ask? Read on to find out!

Striving for Work-Life Integration

Work-life integration is an approach that takes all areas of life – work, home or family, community, personal, and health – into consideration. It’s about finding the harmonious synergy between all the things you find most important. How? By leveraging technology to intertwine your work and your personal life.

What do we mean by this? Well, technology has opened many new ways for us to collaborate and work virtually, especially in the last few years, and this advancement provides vast new ways of taking advantage of work schedule flexibility. Consider the following:

• Video conference calling capabilities have progressed enough that, when you need to hold a brainstorming session with a client, technology can let you do that remotely. No more need for face-to-face meetings.
• Every phone has data capabilities, giving instant connectivity to the Internet at your fingertips – a far cry from when Internet was only through landline cables and you needed to be physically plugged in to it to check your emails.
• Wi-Fi connections allow for the opportunity to turn any place with it into your office – any documents or files that are stored on a Cloud-based platform can be accessed via an Internet or data connection from any device, at any time.

Lots of technologies these days take work-life integration into account above all others. They allow for collaboration at a time that works for everyone.

Two Collaboration Tools That Can Help Improve Work-Life Integration

So, technology has provided new ways of working. Let’s take a bit of a deeper look at how these two collaboration tools – Microsoft Teams and SharePoint – can help improve work-life integration. 

Work-Life Integration with Microsoft Teams

You’ve been asked to help settle an estate for a widower who recently died, and there are several out of town family members who need to be kept in the loop, but can’t make the trip to your office. Worse, some of them are in different time zones than you. So, what can you do?

Microsoft Teams for Office 365 is a Cloud-based messaging and collaboration solution that acts as your ultimate workspace. With Microsoft Teams, you can communicate with team members and clients alike through individual or group chat capabilities, manage document sharing and collaboration in real-time, and, if linked with Phone System, Calling Plan, or Direct Routing, you can host voice or video calls, too.

Because Teams is available as an app on your mobile device as well as on your desktop or laptop, those family members in different time zones can connect with you whenever it suits you. Got some time while you’re waiting for your daughter to finish her swim practice? Pull up the file they need you to look at, and have a quick conversation with them through the Teams app on your mobile phone.

Work-Life Integration Using SharePoint

You’re a Junior Partner at a boutique law firm, and you’re finally getting to go on a much-needed vacation. You’re at the airport, waiting to fly out. Then, you get a notification on your phone. Your friend, another Junior Partner’s asked you if you’d have some free time at the airport to look over a deposition before she sends it on to the Senior Partner you both work for. You’ve got an hour before your flight boards, so you decide you might as well help her out.

Pulling up the Microsoft SharePoint app on your phone, you take twenty minutes and give the document in question a thorough once-over. Good thing you did, because you found three minor typos. Saving the document to your phone, you’re able to send it back to her.

This is work-life integration – being able to share and work on documents when it suits you.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform a wide range of industries. Industries that rely heavily of data analysis and data-based decision-making have been adopting new AI automation products that are changing the way they do business day-to-day. The legal profession is the latest to begin to feel the winds of this technological transformation blowing.

WHAT IS AI?

AI is a general term for software that automates human tasks that were once too complex to model. An example of AI is machine learning, which is a type of software that mimics the intuitive way the human mind learns patterns through experience. AI is also capable of handling simple customer interaction duties with chatbots that can communicate with people naturally while providing information, taking orders, or passing on requests.

HOW IS AI IMPACTING THE LEGAL INDUSTRY?

Advances In Artificial Intelligence Could Automate Legal Matters

Up until the past few years, law firms have been largely immune to major information technology disruptions. The industry benefited from paperless document storage and transmission, but IT innovations didn’t go much farther than that. AI applications, however, are appearing that can tackle some of the mundane work legal firms currently employ an army of lawyers and clerks to do. From searching document stores for evidence relevant to a case to evaluations of legal cases, AI is muscling its way into the legal world and offering opportunities for large savings in human labor.

Artificial Lawyers

AI is already filling in for human lawyers to make large scale class action suits easier to process. A good example of this is the massive cyber security breach that happened at Equifax. Chatbots were deployed by law firms to interact with affected customers and process their filing of law suits against the credit monitor. This made it possible to process hundreds of thousands of filings in a timely manner.

Document Research And Review

Big data has empowered AI applications to process large caches of data efficiently that would require armies of human clerks to manage. It has also made it possible to find specific information or larger patterns of information that was beyond the capacity of humans to do. These types of AI are well-suited to law firms that need to sift through large archives of case files and other legal documents.

Doing Due Diligence

Due diligence is another task that law firms expend large amounts of human labor performing. It typically requires large trove of documents to be carefully evaluated during negotiations for investment deals and mergers in financial markets. AI applications can take much of the tedious work involved out of the hands of workers and free their time to exercise their legal and financial expertise on complex problems that AI isn’t able to resolve.

Reviewing and Maintaining Contracts

Another major source of repetitive work performed by law firms is contract reviews and maintenance. Many firms process large numbers of contract documents that AI can evaluate and sort much faster than human evaluators can. The result is less need for human lawyers to spend their time in contract document archives and gives them more time deal with the cases that need human attention. There are AI software tools already in the market designed with this work in mind, such as eBrevia, Kira Systems, and LawGeex.

Making Predictions of Legal Outcomes

One of the tasks that lawyers spend long hours working on is providing initial recommendations to potential clients about legal cases that exist or that the clients may be interested in pursuing. In many cases, the evaluation is not complicated and only requires a simple interview. AI chatbots and website filing apps have begun to step into this role for basic legal advice that tends to be one-size-fits-all.

Making Divorce an Automated Process

Yet another example of AI taking the grunt work out of the hands of lawyers, an application called Wevorce provides potential clients with an online process that walks them through a divorce filing. Clients indicate their preferred outcome and the AI guides them through an online interview that consists of five modules. When a thorny question or exception comes up that the AI is ill-suited to evaluate, human experts are available to step in and handle it.

Okay, let’s try a quick ‘word association exercise’ that will tell you just how successful you will be achieving your revenue targets for this year. So, here goes: What’s the very first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word referrals?

Whatever your response, chances are it reveals that referrals play some role in you achieving your sales goals. But, that shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, here’s what recent studies conclude about how leveraging referrals systematically positively effects revenues:

• 69% of companies find deals move along measurably faster when they leverage the right referral source*
• 71% of leads coming through referral sources are more likely to close than leads coming without referrals*
• 74% of businesses conclude that using referrals is the least expensive method of acquiring new clients**

It’s because of these kinds of surprisingly strong outcomes that this series has been tackling how you can best harness the unique power of referrals to achieve sales goals. In part one, we reviewed the tangible business benefits of referrals and tactics used to generate new revenues with referrals. In part two, we dispelled the most commonly held myths about referrals that are preventing you from generating more revenues, faster.

Here, we address the good and the not-so-good of leveraging referrals. In other words, we explore what people and organizations that truly value referrals, referrals strategies, and referral programs like and dislike about them. Once again, we turn to the law firms of Lerners LLP, Fogler Rubinoff LLP and Caravel Law LLP (as well as the executive training firm Sandler Training) for their practical insights.

The ‘Good’ of Leveraging Referrals

Saving time and expense

When referral programs are implemented properly they help organizations redeploy marketing and business development resources to those efforts that have an impressive return on investment. The result: the ability to reduce the costs on sales activities that under perform. Caravel Law’s Director of Business Development, Michael Budworth provides further detail, ‘Tapping into referral sources leads to lower client acquisition costs; pure and simple. That’s important for Caravel as a business too because it allows us to establish a very competitive pricing model. In other words, the single strategy of leveraging referrals for building our book of business also helps us distinguish ourselves in ways that are meaningful to clients.’

Gathering unexpected insights and opportunities

Leveraging referrals is the most effective method of keeping in touch with, and learning from, those people who trust you, your service, and your organization. According to Eric Hoffstein, a litigation partner with Fogler Rubinoff LLP, ‘Engaging with referral sources is a powerful way of establishing strong relationships while building a deep understanding of those who are willing to be your brand champions.’ Sandler Training’s Chris Kelly adds to that, ‘In addition to validating what we know about a particular business or industry, leveraging referrals helps us bridge the gap in knowledge about opportunities in new or emerging areas. Because of our referrals, we’ve found ourselves making inroads in industries that weren’t originally on our radar.’

Strengthening a ‘Relationship’ Culture

Focusing on referrals as a method for increasing the volume and speed of sales has an immense impact on a company’s corporate culture. According to Lerners’ Partner, Cynthia Kuehl, ‘By reinforcing the importance of leveraging referrals, you are deliberately shaping a corporate culture that values long-lasting relationships. That kind of focus ensures a firm’s longevity and helps them to successfully thrive in what can seem to be the unpredictable ups and downs of business development.’

The ‘Not-So-Good’ of Leveraging Referrals

Staying on top of Changing Circumstances

Any successful sales program means you must spend time and effort to stay on top of evolving trends, competitors, new offerings and key decision-makers. Similarly, when leveraging referrals, you must keep your ‘finger on the pulse’ of key influencers (i.e. your referral sources). According to Budworth, ‘that means educating referral sources on new services to keep them aligned with your own revenue goals. At the same time, he emphasizes that ‘in addition to keeping referral sources informed, you never want to put them in a position where they may feel awkward.’

Staying on top of Evolving Motivations

The reasons why referral sources refer business to you are varied. However, the key is not to fall into the trap of boiling it down to the notion that ‘it’s all about compensation’. A referral program that relies solely on any single form of motivation is destined to fail. Rather, the motivations to refer business is different for each person. And, what makes matters more complicated is those motivations evolve over time. According to Budworth, ‘Sometimes the reason why referral sources take action is completely out-of-sync with what you had originally thought. But, it is always more complex than you think.’ So, keeping on top of these motivations means putting a program in place that helps you clearly identify, monitor, and adapt to the evolving motivations of each of your referral sources.

**Study: What You Should Know About B2B Referrals. Benchmarking B2B Referral Program Adoption and Results. (Heinz Marketing and Influitive).

**Study: The State of Referral Marketing in 2017 (Web Profits).

At TLOMA, we provide education, professional development, mentorship, and support to our Membership. Through these initiatives, TLOMA members are offered both a professional and social network of professionals working in law firms of all sizes. To encourage members to grow their network at TLOMA, we would like to profile TLOMA members in each issue of TLOMA Today to give readers a snapshot of who we are within the legal industry.

Name: Pamela Harris

How long have you been a member of TLOMA? Since 1996, that is 22 years, oh my.

Where do you work? Oatley Vigmond LLP, a plaintiff personal injury firm in Barrie.

What do you enjoy most about working in the legal industry? It is never boring, always changing, there is no shortage of challenges and the people are awesome.  On the days you do not want to run screaming from the building of course.

Where was the last place you vacationed? Paris, visit number two, looking forward to number three.

What is your favorite lunch spot during the workweek? I am generally scarfing down food in my office, I know, I know.

What is the name of your favorite restaurant? Groovy Tuesdays, if you are ever in Barrie, you must try it.

What is your favorite book? Guilty pleasure alert, anything by Jackie Collins, which unfortunately there will be nothing new.

What is your favorite comfort food? A burger for sure, I am so comfortable with them I have one every week.

Where is your go-to coffee shop? When I go-to, I am not having coffee.  State and Main is my new favourite watering hole.  Half price wine on Thursdays, nothing more to be said.

If you were able to start a blog, what would it be about? You will not believe what they did today….

Name one thing you can't live without? Air for sure, love runs a close second.  The people I love and the people who love me.  The list extends beyond blood relations.

If you could have a 60-minute conversation with anyone (fictional, famous, not famous, etc.) – who would you choose? Oprah Winfrey.

If you had to sing a Karaoke song to describe the real you, what song would you sing? Some of you can attest to the fact that I should never, I mean ever, sing Karaoke.

What are some of your pet peeves? People who squeeze the toothpaste in the middle and not from the end.

You have been gifted with $10,000 .... the only catch is you have to spend it all within 24 hours... you can't use it to pay bills. What does your 24 hours spending spree include? I would give it to people that it would make a difference in their lives.

If you are interested in participating in the Member Spotlight feature of TLOMA Today to share some of your experiences at TLOMA, please email editor@tloma.com for more information.

Name of Organization / Company: Ricoh Canada Inc.

Organization / Company Overview:

Ricoh improves workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter.

Ricoh is a global leader in providing end-to-end business intelligent solutions such as workplace services, managed document services, as well as offering Ricoh’s unique brand of professional information management consulting services. Our fully-integrated product and services portfolio is comprehensive yet focused on helping organizations share and reevaluate critical business information quickly and simply. With scalable solutions and services paired with global technical support capabilities, Ricoh is first class in our ability to help organizations revolutionize how they manage their digital and paper-based information.

Ricoh Legal Services are the Canadian Leader’s for Legal Business Solutions, leading Law Firms through the Transformation of the Practice of law to the Business of law.

Our services improve the quality of work life for legal professionals by delivering information in a way that empowers performance. We are re-inventing the legal workplace to virtualize the management of information as evidence. Our solutions and services deliver efficiency and automation to the internal processes of managing a law firm.

How many years have you been a Business Partner of TLOMA? Ricoh has been a partner with TLOMA for over 18 years. It has been a great relationship and we look forward to continuing this partnership for many years to come.

What has been your partnership experience with TLOMA over the years? Its been a great experience over the last 18 years with TLOMA. They are an extremely well-organized and professional group that makes it easy for partners like Ricoh. I find the SIG events have been a valuable way to share Ricoh’s expertise in the Legal industry in a meaningful way. The growth in Business Partner events have led to many opportunities for us and have allowed us to build stronger relationships.

Favorite TLOMA memory? It’s hard to pick just one! We have visited so many fantastic places and have had the opportunity to be entertained by many different types of artists. I would say my favorite memory is the many friendships that I have been able to develop over the years.

What is your favorite comfort food? We regularly meet with family and friends for Dim Sum on weekends. There is always a dish for everyone and it’s a great way to stay in touch with friends and family. My favorite are the soup-filled dumplings – once I mastered how to eat them I fell in love.

What is your favorite artist/band you got to see live in concert? All-time favorite concert was Lollapalooza – Janes Addiction headlined, and it was amazing.

Where is your go-to coffee shop? Chez Fisk - my house. I’m a tea drinker so it’s super convenient and made exactly to order!

Describe your ideal vacation – My ideal vacation is a tropical holiday with my wife and three kids—sharing quality time together at the beach, and then hopefully at the end of the day having a margarita with my wife watching the sunset.