The Florida Bar

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The Florida Bar

• Guardian of the Integrity of The Legal Profession

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The Florida Bar

• Authority derived from Article V of Florida
  Constitution
• An Agency of the Florida Supreme Court
• Mission
• Public Service
• Protecting Rights
• Promoting Professionalism
• Pursuing Justice

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Primary Functions

• Member Services
• Education
• Regulation
• Legislative Advocacy

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Divisions of The Florida Bar

• Headquarters Tallahassee
• Programs
• Communications
• Administration
• General Counsel
• Legal Division
• Five Branch Offices
• Lawyer Regulation, UPL, Ethics Advertising

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Educating Members

• CLE Programs
• CLE Publications
• Practice Area Sections of the Bar
• Board Certification

• Professionalism Center
• The Florida Bar News
• The Florida Bar Journal

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Please Note

• In the first year of membership, you can join 3
  Bar Sections at not charge
• Annual Dues are payable in July
• www.floridabar.org
• On-line individual attorney profile for members
  only
• Report CLE earned
• Address Changes
• Inventory attorney designations

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Member Services

• LOMAS law office management assistance
• SCOPE Seek Counsel of Professional Expertise
• Ethics Opinions, Ethics Counsel, Ethics Hotline
• Member Benefits
• Fastcase, Lexis, insurance and more.

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About L.O.M.A.S.

• Established 1979
• Oldest program at The Florida Bar
• FREE
• CONFIDENTIAL
• Part of Member Services
• Staffed but by experienced Legal Administrators
• Mandate is to provide law practice management
  information and assistance to members

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LPM - Law Practice Management

• Acquiring business management skills starts on
  Day One of your legal career.
• Following best practices in LPM will keep you out
  of trouble with your clients and The Bar. . .

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WHERE TO GET HELP

• If you have questions about contemplated actions,
  call the Ethics Hotline [phone]
• Confidential Help Line If you have questions
  about any office management or law practice
  management issues, call LOMAS 866-730-2020

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LAW PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SERIESPresented by
L.O.M.A.S.The Law Office Management Assistance
Service of The Florida Bar

• Enterprise Management Skills The Keys to Your
  Success.

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Surveys Report the 1 Reason why lawyers are not
promoted is . . . Lack of Management Skills!

• Solo
• Law Firm
• Government Law Office
• Judiciary
• Not-for-profit Legal Services organization
• Corporate Legal Department
• Whatever your present or future work environment,
  Enterprise Management Skills are key to your
  success.
• (Source ACCA, ABA, law.com, American Lawyer,
  etc.)

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Career Advancement

• When being considered for promotion, it is
  already assumed you are a good lawyer.
• Your management skills will be evaluated.
• Poorly trained managing attorneys result in high
  associate and staff turnover, low morale, loss of
  productivity, lower profits, and increased
  exposure to risk.
• The national associate turnover rate
  traditionally hovers around 33 (NALP)

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Business Management Skills

• Strategic Planning
• Risk Management
• What are risks, and how to avoid them
• Project Management Skills
• Decision-making Skills

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Business Management Skills (cont)

• Financial Management Skills
• e.g., budget preparation, report analysis,
  controlling costs, etc.
• Human Resources / Supervision Skills
• Information Management
• RIM
• Technology
• Process Development
• How to Develop Workable Systems

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Law Office Management Challenges

• All Law Offices
• Marketing
• Practice Management disciplines
• Specialization
• Technology
• Succession Planning/Retirement
• Law Firms in the private sector, two more
  challenges
• Pricing Legal Services
• Profits Allocation

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A Question of Balance

• Client Marketplace
• (COMPETITION FOR SERVICES)
• Profitability
  Market for Staff
• (Is this worth doing?)
  (SATISFACTION)

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The Road . . .Is paved with Good Intentions

• No one sets out to be sued or grieved

• You work hard for your clients

• Achieve Balance in your life and career

• Learn how to prevent risky actions, unhappy
  clients

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How to Manage Your Time and Work
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How to Manage Your Time and Work
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Managing Your Work And Your Time

• Time management seminars
• How to manage and track deadlines
• How to keep time records
• How to manage records (e.g. docket, files)
• How to develop and USE a conflict of interest
  checking system
• How to say NO

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Signs of a Management Breakdown

• Is your office a catalyst for stress?
• Chronic stress and chaos
• No budgeting process
• No planning strategies and caseloads
• No training/manuals
• Poor records management, filing backlogs
• Calendar/Task errors
• Client complaints

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The 7 Business Processes in a Law Office

1. Production
2. Marketing
3. Personnel
4. Systems Technology
5. Finance
6. Communication
7. Management

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ProductionOrganizing to get the work in and get
the work out
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Production - Key Business Processes

• Intake Process
• Conflict of Interest
• File Opening
• Telephone Call Management
• Calendaring Diarying
• File Closing and Archiving
• Records Management or Information Management

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Marketing

• How to keep the work you have and
• Planning to obtain the work you want now and in
  the future
• The Marketing Plan is part of the Strategic Plan
• Quality of operations affect Marketing efforts
• Why we dont market . . .

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Key Components of a Marketing Effort

• Direction and Buy-in
• If this cannot be defined STOP HERE
• Realistic Objectives and Goals
• Honest Analysis of Resources
• Ability to Benchmark
• Ability to Measure your Efforts
• Staffing
• Funding

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CommunicationsGreasing theorganizationswheels
Did
How?
Why?
Did Not
The
Nobody knows
Trouble
Not
By When?
I seen
Huh?
Another
Temp
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The Communication Process

• The need to define, document and distribute
  critical information
• Risk Management, disaster preparedness business
  resumption
• Partnership Criteria
• Policies, processes and procedures
• Supervision and Limits and Boundaries
• Orientation, Training and Mentoring
• Culture
• Client relations

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Personnel - Organizing the people

• What kind of skills
• What kind of positions
• How much experience
• How many people
• Deployment
• Skills and Process Training
• Cross-Training
• Performance Measurement
• Rewards
• Morale

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How to Manage People
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Personnel Hiring and Firing

• At Will
• Know how to interview
• Check references
• Keep up-to-date with labor laws
• Bi-annual refresher seminar
• How to terminate employment
• Shes going to tell a story . . .

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Supervising Others

• Three cardinal rules
• It is arrogant to believe that you can supervise
  others when you do not know what they do
• Agree to be managed
• Agree on how you work
• NO Lone Rangers
• NO Confederation of Solo Practitioners
• But, were different, our work is unique . . .

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You Are Your Brothers Keeper

• 4-5.1 Responsibilities of a Partner or
  Supervisory Lawyer
• . . . Shall make reasonable effort to ensure
  that the authorized business . . ., has in
  effect, measures giving reasonable assurance that
  all lawyers therein conform to the Rules of
  Professional Conduct.
• The lawyer is responsible for the actions of
  his/her employees

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Systems Technology

• Managing consultants
• What is it supposed to do?
• What do our clients use?
• What does the competition use?
• Lease or Purchase
• Administration Security
• Training, training and more training
• Benchmarking
• Read at least one legal tech periodical

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Financial Management Organizing Accounting
for the flow of money

• Internal Financial Controls
• Insurance portfolio
• Timekeeping, Billing and Collections
• Reports what do you need?
• Productivity Profitability Reporting
• Budgeting

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Insurance Portfolio

• Professional Liability Insurance
• Did you tell the truth on your App?
• General liability insurance
• Valuable data and papers
• Fraud/theft
• FFE (furniture, fixtures, equipment)
• Where are your inventories?
• Benefits
• Benefits comprising 38 of payroll expense

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Timekeeping, Billing Collections

• Why we keep time records
• Record of the work
• Profitability/Productivity
• How we get paid
• Does your bill tell the story of the work?
• The best form of a bill
• is the one that gets paid
• Use the billing software to track the results of
  non-billable activities

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About Trust Accounts

• Fiduciary Accounting Agent/Principal
• What is an IOTA trust account?
• IOTA vs. Separate Interesting Bearing Accounts
• If you are holding client money, it must be in a
  trust account.
• Familiarize yourself with Ch. 5, RRTFB.
• LOMAS CLE DVD -
• Maintaining a TRUSTworthy Trust Account

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More About Trust Accounts

• You must supervise the banker, accountant,
  bookkeeper, legal assistant
• When practicable, valuable client property should
  be held in a Safe Deposit Box
• The rules governing client money, govern the
  client non-cash property
• RRTFB 4-1.15 Safekeeping Property

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Budgeting

• Planning tool for the firm,
• Also for your cases
• Fundamental component of the strategic plan and
  marketing plan
• Budget Components
• Revenue
• Expenses
• Cash Flow
• Capital Needs

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Management Pulling it all together

• Shared Vision and Goals
• Agree to be Managed
• Maintain an External Focus
• Nail the Numbers
• Planning Implementing
• Culture
• Employee Relations
• Conflict Avoidance
• Client Relations
• Risk Management

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Compensation Systems

• You get what you REWARD
• Rewards marketing, mentoring, etc.?
• Compensation system reward handing off work to
  the best person for the job?
• Compensation system include rewards for keeping
  other people busy?
• OR does it reward hoarding?
• Does the lawyer keep clients happy?

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Compensation Systems

• Lock-Step
• Partner retires but doesnt tell anyone
• Eat-what-you-kill
• A computer runs the firm
• Work hoarding, kills efforts to specialize
• Objective/subjective
• Based on numbers AND factors such as management
  skills, keeping clients happy, cross-selling,
  etc.

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Recommended Reading

• ABA Bookstore
• How to Start and Build a Law Practice by Jay
  Foonberg
• Through the Clients Eyes
• Results-Oriented Financial Management
• Lawyers Guide to Records Management
• Lawyers Guide to Marketing
• Compensation plans for Lawyers

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The Business Plan

• If you would like to talk with a LOMAS PMA at the
  break, we will go over how LOMAS can help you
• Acquire law practice management training
• Develop a business plan
• Set up a law practice
• Conduct a self-audit and
• Answer your law practice management questions.

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Got Questions?

• L.O.M.A.S.
• has Answers!
• 850-561-5611