NATLE FYI

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Justice Partner, SBA Funding delivered a webinar on Tuesday that reviewed the program and its benefits to TLA members and NATLE’s TLAs.  Dan and Steve also explained SBA Funding’s role in stepping up to issue PPP loans early on in the pandemic when many banks were not offering the service.  About 1/3 of our US TLAs participate in the program mostly through NATLE-initiated emails with links to TLA-branded webpages (as demonstrated in the webinar).  The most salient point, for me, was that since 65% of all law firms are owned by baby boomers, the trend in the next 10 years will be a shift in firm ownership to younger partners.  For illustration, SBA Funding closed six loans for working capital last year, and already have 30 pending now.

Justice Partner, Ringler Associates is sponsoring one of the working lunches during the Winter Meeting.  The event page is open and accepting registrations.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…I’ll be forever grateful to my friend, Sara, for introducing me to Pure Barre.  By the end of my first 50-minute class just over 5 years ago, I was hooked.  Since then, I love going up to new-comers after a class to check in, welcome them, and laugh together over how hard many of the moves are, even for long-timers.  At the beginning of the pandemic, the instructor was alone in the studio to livestream classes and keep us from turning into soft, inactive lumps.  A few months into it, a mask requirement in the studio made breathing an exercise in itself, but gave us the chance to socialize, commiserate, and sweat together again.  I’ve made new friends, met a neighbor (I knew she looked familiar!), and just took my 1000th class on Monday.  See you at the Barre?

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Our Finance Committee met this week to discuss several topics, including instituting a non-member rate (add’l $125) to the Winter and Annual Meetings.  (This rate will not apply to TLA leadership attending the GAC.)

The (member) registration rate for the Winter Meeting is $325 and the program will include working lunches on both Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the abbreviated schedule ending the day at 2pm.  The event page is open and accepting registrations – we have 6, so far!  I’m aware that members are having difficulty reserving rooms within AAJ’s block for Friday night, so I’ve followed up with Urania to confirm (and beg for more).  I’m working on sponsorships to cover breakfasts and lunches, so let me know if you have contacts with a vendor interested in forming a relationship with NATLE.

The recordings of our previous (open-to-all) 4th Monday Zoom Series programs are now on our website.  The list and links are accessible (for members only) under the Events tab in the main navigation bar.  Since this month’s 4th Monday falls on Dec 26th, we are holding our next program on January 23rd.  Jennifer Adams, AAJ’s Senior Director of Publications & Education, will present the results of their 2022 Trial survey.

I’m excited by the response from TLAs with the dates of their major events for our Master Calendar!  You can send your dates at any point and the calendar will be updated and uploaded immediately.

The Salary Survey report is coming.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…the moving sale at Dad’s in NH was a bit of a bust because of the chilly drizzle, but the nextdoor neighbor kept me company – again, I’ll miss that.  Another bright spot came when a lady asked how much we wanted for the ski lift chair.  (Dad had bought two chairs for $75 when Pat’s Peak renovated one of their lifts several years ago.  He gave one to a friend and had the other mounted under his 2^nd floor deck.)  When I said, “Well, we were thinking it would stay with the house when it sells.”  She made a frowny face and said, “I’ll give you $900 in cash right now.”  Struggling to keep a straight face, I accepted her offer!  Can’t beat that ROI.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The Salary Survey report is coming.  Our consultant, The Spark Mill, initially shared a static dashboard, that was similar to the previous compensation reports and isn’t as useful as the sortable excel doc that Sadwith/Comer produced.  I’m adding a few more variables to that format, so my plan is to have it to Barbara on Monday and distributed to the participating TLA EDs shortly thereafter.

Winter Meeting Planning Committee co-chairs, Steve Pontoni and Ben Goldstein, met with Barbara and me on Monday to work on the program for a Saturday/Sunday schedule and determine a registration rate ($265).  Once we confirm the option of tickets for boxed lunches, I’ll update the event page and open registration. 

Our 4th Monday Zoom Series this week covered sponsors and how to help them be better sponsors.  The plan is to create a 1-pager to help convey these tips and expectations collected from a quick 2- or 3-question survey to our members.

The Minutes for the EC and Business meetings are on [still] the drafting table.  The NATLE Member TLA Event calendar idea, Winter Meeting planning, conversations with our Justice Partners about goals and expectations, as well as the 2023 GAC’s final contract negotiations, elbowed their way to the front of the line.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…I’ll be back in NH this weekend for one last moving sale at my dad’s.  I’m so grateful for the neighbors who’ve helped is so many ways, like posting the sale on the local community FB page, hauling the heavy things, and generally lifting our spirits.  I won’t miss the house or the 5-hour round trip, but I will miss the camaraderie that comes with country living and neighbors coming together to give each other a hand.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

It was really great to see you in New Orleans!  Of the 14 evaluations that have come in for the GAC, 2/3 indicated that it “exceeded” expectations.  Comments included, “unbelievably helpful and informative”, “awesome and informative”, “we should give more time to AAJ State Affairs staff”, and “great spectrum of speakers and topics”.  Thank you notes are going out to speakers, sponsors, and the planning committee this afternoon.

The Winter Meeting Planning Committee, co-chaired by Steve Pontoni and Ben Goldstein, will be working with the Saturday/Sunday schedule to put together the topics and speakers for Phoenix.  Please let me know if you have ideas you’d like covered.  Once a registration rate is confirmed, I’ll open the event page and send out the first announcement to sign up.  In the meantime, I’ve let Urania know that their convention registration page says the Marriott is $329/night, but OnPeak’s rate is $359/night.

The Minutes for the Business meeting are on the drafting table.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…as we approached the gate in Newark, the flight attendant announced that a handful of passengers at the back of the plane had tight connections, including yours truly.  In a rare, beautiful show of humanity, the usual cluster of aisle hogs parted like magic and let the harried bunch get through to the front.  The moment was tempered slightly when the gate bridge driver failed to get close enough and the whole plane had to move.  Instead of making us more harried, we were allowed to kneel in the aisle until they could open the door.  Once free, I ran like my hair was on fire only to discover that my connecting gate had been changed to just a few doors away.  Yes, I felt guilty and hoped no one from that flight saw me.  Anyway, I wasn’t expecting the inch of snow on the ground when I landed in Burlington, but it’s already mostly gone.  I guess it’s time to gas up the snowblower!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The GAC has an opening speaker for Sunday morning.  Mitch Landrieu’s office says he looks forward to joining us, so fingers crossed that his schedule doesn’t change in the next two weeks.  Our registration looks to be within a half dozen of last year’s numbers, and I know of at least two more yet to come in.

Our Salary Survey link closed this morning and Courtney (The Spark Mill) is going to be crunching the responses in time for the Membership Business Meeting on Monday, Nov 14.  I believe our response rate is around 80% or better, so that definitely lends it credibility and helps its usefulness.

I’ve heard of a few Strategic Planning Teams that are looking forward to a kick-off meeting.  It’s OK if NATLE members serve on more than one Team.  Let me know if you didn't fill out the wufoo form indicating your preferences for a team and/or haven't been called by an Executive Committee member...I can connect you.  We will also be talking more about this at the Membership Business Meeting.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…the trees are getting bare and the leaf peepers have gone home!  The weather this weekend will be spectacular and my fingers are crossed that the moving sale at Dad’s house in NH tomorrow will be a smashing success!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Any extra rooms in our block for the GAC will be released on Monday, so it’s crunch time if anyone knows of stragglers who need to reserve a room.  I have three rooms left in my back pocket, too, but those will be relinquished well before the conference.

Our Salary Survey (for EDs) will close next Thursday and Tiffany (chair) will convene the Committee early next week to divvy up the list of 24 non-respondents to encourage them to participate.  The response rate (64%) is better than for previous salary surveys (~50%), but for a confidential survey, we should have 100%!

The Executive Committee will be reaching out in the next few weeks to ask you to join a Strategic Planning Team.  If you didn't get a chance to respond to the invitation, let me know that you'd like to participate.  The descriptions of the Teams (in the questionnaire) may have been too vague, so the EC members plan to hold conversations with members about where we’ve been and where we’re going in this process, especially with those members who weren’t been involved in the earlier focus groups or interviews.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…I love this time of year.  I’d say only 10% of the leaves are down, but with good weather ahead both days this weekend, I’ll rip out the veggie garden and mow the lawn for the last time this season.  I’ll drain the fuel and swap its spot in the garage with the snowblower…it feels like I did the reverse just a few months ago!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

I understand that the list of registrants on the GAC event page wasn’t cooperating and it turns out that it wasn’t “permissioned”.  It works now.  Update on the room block…Friday is completely sold out and I’m trying to get more rooms freed up for Monday night.  There are 80 rooms reserved in our block, but only 65 registered, so there are at least 15 more people we’re expecting.  I’ve compared the room list to the registration list and contacted those who don’t yet appear in the room list. 

The Strategic Planning Teams are coming together with Strategy Leaders and members of NATLE to decide on how to accomplish the Plan’s goals.  A simple wufoo form that was sent out to all members on Wednesday as an invitation to participate and rank their top 4 Strategy Team choices.  Only a handful have come in, but I will compile the rankings and forward the Team rosters by the end of next week.  We are jumping right into this next step and a no-pressure kick-off meeting will be a great way to get everyone together, meet, and talk about a plan for how often to get together and map out a few measurable milestones.  Expect to be contacted by a Team Leader in the next few weeks.

Our Salary Survey is moving ahead with the email coming from The Spark Mill on Monday.  I just sent a reminder to the EDs.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…am I the only one who thought we were done with changing the clocks?  I just checked and we (well, most of us) have to fiddle with the clocks on the microwave, stove, alarms, thermostats, etc. for one more cycle this November 6th.  I haven’t decided how I feel about the super dark mornings that we’ll have next winter, but I like the idea of lighter evenings.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

To help prompt registrations for the GAC, I have started to send blasts with profiles of the speakers who will be joining us.  I know we are still six weeks out from the conference, but I’m stressing the urgency in making hotel reservations.  The latest message is to reserve a room before making flight plans since Friday, Nov 11th is sold out of our block and that’s after nearly doubling our original number in the contract. The current list of registrants is on the event page (when you’re logged in), so if you are talking with someone and you don’t see their name in the list, please encourage them to sign up and to forward the announcements to their leadership and governmental affairs staff.  There’s nothing better than hearing these discussions firsthand.

The Strategic Planning Work Group (Valerie, Alison and Jennifer) met with Chris Bennett (The Spark Mill) to talk about the timing of its implementation and how to keep it at the forefront of our activities as a living document going forward.  One of the next steps is to reach out to the membership with a brief questionnaire to invite them to let us know where they may have interest in participating within the goals and strategies of the plan.  The questionnaire will go out early next week.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…I checked on Jeanie in Tallahassee and she weathered Ian without losing power.  I’m sure we all know someone who has been (or is being) affected by the storm…seems like we’ve had more than our quota, so far, this year.  This is a working weekend for me – going through the rest of the boxes that have come down from Dad’s attic – but my thoughts are easily drawn back to those in its path with each Breaking News update.

Good Afternoon, Happy Fall and Happy Friday…er, Saturday!

It was good to see our Executive Committee members at the first meeting since Seattle.  The minutes are drafted and pending a review.  Our next meeting will be at 3pm on Saturday, November 12 at the GAC in New Orleans.  I have invited our Justice Partners to be an exclusive sponsor of dinner that night.  No one has jumped at the chance, but I’ll keep you posted.

Confirmations have started to go out to the GAC speakers and I will be pushing out more frequent announcements to register.  We have 42 registrants and over 50 rooms reserved, so I know there are several more coming in.  The current list is viewable on the event page (when you’re logged in), so if you are talking with someone and you haven’t seen their name in the list, please encourage them to sign up.

Membership dues are still trickling in with 66 yet to renew.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great (rest of the) weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…the arrival of Fall was unmistakable.  Frost warnings have been part of the weather reports for the past few days and the heat in my house kicked on this morning.  I’m ready to pull out the fleece and flannel again, but gradually.  This was a bit of a shock to the system.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

The Strategic Planning team met with Chris Bennett from The Spark Mill to discuss the input from this Committee regarding the draft Overview and go over the next steps.

The Salary Survey draft trom The Spark Mill has been shared with the Exeuctive Committee and the plan is to have it distributed before the end of the month.

The GAC Program flyer is now available on the event page.  The final time slots are still being confirmed with the speakers, so check back periodically for the latest version.

I am on vacation starting today through next Friday.  Since I can’t bear to cut the cord completely, I have my computer with me and will respond to any unexpected dumpster fires.  I’m on that long-anticipated trip with friends to the Latitude Margaritaville in Daytona.  Each rental unit comes with its own golf cart and margarita maker.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great long weekend,

P.S. in case you’re still here…I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  The weather up here on Saturday was spectacular, but left a lot to be desired for the rest of it.  I didn’t get around to re-sealing the driveway, but edged it so at least it looks spiffy and will be ready next summer.