NATLE FYI

Good Morning and Happy Friday --

I met with the new accounts representative at Esquire Bank this week to talk about their services and transferring some of NATLE's funds from Ameris Bank. I'll keep you posted.

A Save-the-Date blast went out this week with steps to get registered for the Winter Meeting. The Planning Committee has put together a great program covering timely topics including diffusing member conflicts, non-dues/value-added revenue, AI tools, and association and employment law and tax compliance. I encourage you to arrive by early afternoon on Friday (Feb 9) to join our Justice Partners TrialSmith, Skribe and Counsel Financial for a Happy Hour near the Marriott. The bird's eye view of the agenda is available on the event page and I'm working on the flyer with more details.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…I hate that Burlington is in the national (and global) news since last weekend for all the wrong reasons. I now recognize the false bubble I imagined enveloped the whole of Vermont and kept it removed from the senseless violence that happens in other parts of the country. That bubble popped with four gunshots and (thankfully) an arrest. The fact that there are pockets of extremism in the state was brought home for me back in the early 2000s when we (the VT TLA) hosted Morris Dees from the Southern Poverty Law Center. His office ran background checks on one of my board members and me since we were his transportation for the 5-minute commute from the airport and back. Apparently, a group in central Vermont was on their radar since they'd made threats toward Dees and the SPLC in the past. The three young men affected by last weekend's violence will all live, but one may never walk again. I have no words to express my sadness and disappointment that this kind of evil happened at
all, let alone, in my corner of the world.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday --

It was great to see so many of you in Leesburg and I hope you felt the program was valuable professionally and socially.  The evaluations aren’t exactly flooding in, so I’ll issue a reminder on Monday.  The results will be compiled and shared with the committee and participants, and then kept as a resource to plan future programs.  A survey for non-attendees will be distributed on Monday.

We talked about a webinar topic (basically, a how-to-lobby primer) for this month’s 4th Monday Zoom Series, so look for an announcement by mid-next week.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…so, after we wrapped up the GAC on Tuesday and I stashed my suitcase with the concierge, I had about six hours to kill before a grad school friend came down from Frederick, MD to get me so we could hang out for a few days.  (This is the same good sport who jumped at the chance to go on the wine-tasting riverboat cruise two years ago and who I joined in Daytona last year so she could check out the Margaritaville...her now-ex-husband hated to travel.)  Not one to thumb my nose at a reasonable suggestion, I followed the advice of several very smart GAC attendees and signed up for a massage to kill that time at the Lansdowne spa.  It had been since way before the pandemic that I’d had a massage and certainly my first 80-minute massage.  I won’t say she came close to working out the knots, but she sure found them…ALL of them.  I’ll be darned if I was going to flinch, but at one point when she had rolled over the same pebb ly wad of knots in my shoulders, she asked, “How is it going for you?”  This was minutes into an otherwise silent massage, so I was going with the assumption that she meant the massage and not my day.  I replied, “Boy, that sure is tight.”  With still a few hours left in my wait for Nancy, I parked myself at the C&R bar off the lobby to get some work done and fought hard to keep my forehead from bopping the keyboard.  We ate dinner at Rebellion in Leesburg (I highly recommend getting their mayo to go with your fries…it’s smoky and completely transforms the fries.  I should have asked for the recipe), visited Harpers Ferry on Wednesday, and I flew home yesterday.  It was great to reconnect with an old friend, but my new suitcase lost a wheel on its debut voyage.  I’ve filed a claim, but what a PITA.

Good Morning and Happy it's (just a) Friday --

I sat in on the day-and-a-half AAJ BOSS Summit earlier this week in Stowe, VT.  BOSS stands for Business.Operations.Supervision.Strategy and this debut program was attended by the full spectrum of new to seasoned attorneys and sole practitioners to large law firms.  There were also a few office managers in the nearly 100-person audience.  I’m not privy to the evaluation forms, but the dialog and lively discussions left me thinking that this was well received and will become a regular offering.  AAJ will be collecting feedback from attendees on the agenda, as well as the location.

The NATLE GAC is two weeks away and registrations are still trickling in.  If you have reserved a room at the Lansdowne, but no longer need it, please let me know before you release it so that we can switch it to someone who may be on the wait list.  I’m still collecting the lunch orders for the Working Lunch session and need to forward our final numbers next week.

Brian Yacker’s presentation provided a balance of new topics along with a refresher from his session on Association Law at the Annual Meeting in Seattle last year.  This 4th Monday Zoom Series was recorded.  Let me know if you'd like to view it.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Hug your loved ones.

P.S. in case you’re still here…I haven’t decided if I’ll pass out candy this year or turn off all the lights and muffle my doorbell to foil even the most persistent ghouls.  It’s somewhat weather-dependent since I’d really like to drag my fire pit from the back patio out to the driveway like several of my neighbor’s did during the pandemic.  That first year, 2020, I did turn out the lights and instead of opening my door to Sneezy, Dopey, and Coughy (that’s one of the dwarves, right?), I took a walk around the ‘hood to see if anyone else was being as cautious.  I remember that it was pretty cold, but the hearty souls with their firepits rigged up clever candy-delivery devices to maintain that physical distance.  There were simple sling shots to launchers (think potato gun) to impressive Rube Goldberg-style contraptions.  I’ll never be that creative, but I can at least be that social and the best thing is I won’t have to eat the giant bag of Snickers myself.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

We are a mere three weeks from the NATLE GAC and we still have room if you’re on the fence about attending or your volunteer leadership finds themselves available in the middle of November.  Share the program and encourage them to join us.  For those who are registered, you received an email earlier this week with four options for the Working Lunch on Sunday, Nov 12.  I’ll send a reminder out next week to gather the outstanding orders.

Brian Yacker, of Baker Tilly, will present a refresher on Association Law, and he has added “creating an appropriate accounting infrastructure, and a summary of ‘red flag’ reporting issues” to the lineup of topics he’ll cover.  This presentation will earn a CAE Ethics credit so register to attend our next 4th Monday Zoom Series this coming Monday.  It’s free and all members are welcome.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…I ventured down to Newport, RI on Wednesday for an overnight.  Because I had reached out to the local Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, they took the reins and came up with a schedule of sites to see based on our criteria for the Governmental Affairs Conference and its events.  A CVB team member who is local to Newport and very knowledgeable about, well just about everything, drove us around.  The hotel comp’d my room and fed me, and I personally covered the gas, so it was no cost to NATLE.  One of the topics on the drafting table for the Winter Meeting is tentatively “understanding the value of the CVB”.  I can’t say enough great things about the very smooth 24 hours I spent in that cool little city.  The all-access entry to potential event venues was worth the angst this control-freak endured by handing over the itinerary to a stranger, and the warren of one-way streets would have made me late to every appointment.  The CVB has always been my resource for images to use in the programs, but if I can swing the transportation, I’ll continue to reach out to them for help in the meals and accommodations department.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday (the 13th)!

We have added information to the NATLE GAC program this past week, including panelists from the Florida Justice Association who will talk with us about “When Your Governor Goes National: What to do when your legislative plans get scrambled”.  Don’t miss out on all of the informative roundtables and timely topics.  Please confirm that you and your staff and/or leadership have made reservations at the Lansdowne – there are a few who are registered, but I don’t see their names in the room block.  Also, watch your email on Monday for a chance to place your lunch order.  We will have a Working Lunch session on Sunday, Nov 12

Save the Date – February 10-11 – for the NATLE Winter Meeting!  While the format is being drafted for the historically more intimate audience, all attendees will benefit from the roundtables and discussions on non-dues revenue ideas to speakers with expertise on AI tools and how the new tech can make your life easier.  The AAJ Registration page is open and that’s the first step before making a hotel reservation, plus it generates your event badge and access to events.

Earn your CAE Ethics credit by attending our next 4th Monday Zoom Series on October 23rd.  Brian Yacker, of Baker Tilly, will join us for an Association Law refresher to his presentation at our Annual Meeting in Seattle last year.  Click on the link to register for the Zoom calendar invite.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…yes, it’s Friday the 13th, but I’m not superstitious.  I will just keep my fingers crossed (haha, I suppose that’s superstitious-adjacent) that today goes smoothly since I’ll get my COVID and flu shots this morning.  I tend to tolerate vaccines without the physical blow they deliver to some…knock-on-wood…so, as long as I’m still upright this afternoon, I also have a dental cleaning in the books.  These days, while the maples and beeches are at about peak color in my little corner of the country, I need to add a few extra minutes of travel time to account for the visiting leaf peepers.  They’re ok on the rural roads where they can pull over to admire the scenery and not risk weaving over the centerline.  It’s a little different on the highway, though, when you come over the crest of a hill and take in the broad valley.  The crazy quilt of reds to yellows can usually get a “Wow!” out of this VT native, but I get my eyes back on the ro ad in case the out-of-town drivers are here for the experience and didn’t think to rub their rabbit’s foot before getting behind the wheel.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

Registration for the GAC is up over 70 with at least another six waiting on last-minute legislative shenanigans before they commit.  Please forward the brochure to your leadership and encourage them to attend.  Stress that their counterparts from around the country will be there to participate in the informative roundtables and timely topics.  If you’d like anyone to receive the e-blast announcements directly, just forward their name/address/phone/email and I’ll make sure they get the information.  You can see the current list of registrants on the event page, once you log in.  It’s below the Sponsors and Cancellation Policy sections.

The Planning Committee for the NATLE Winter Meeting in Austin holds a kick-off meeting this afternoon to begin brainstorming the topics and speakers.  If you have ideas you’d like considered, please let me know.

Earn your CAE Ethics credit by attending our next 4th Monday Zoom Series on October 23rd.  Brian Yacker, of Baker Tilly, will join us for an Association Law refresher he presented at our Annual Meeting in Seattle last year.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend [and a long one if your office is closed for Indigenous People’s Day]!

P.S. in case you’re still here…growing up, I was a wiz at solitaire and otherwise entertaining myself.  As an only child, I relished the after-school and weekend play time with friends, especially at their houses since they all had siblings and the obligatory upstairs hall closet full of board games.  We didn’t have a closet in the hallway, but it would have been stocked with sheets and towels…not nearly has fun as Monopoly or Battleship.  On the flip side, I didn’t know many friends who went fishing, canoeing, or hawk watching.  My parents divorced, amicably, when I was seven and Dad moved just a few miles away.  I spent every other weekend with him and unless the weather was bad, Dad and I were always out in nature on our bicycles, trooping through fields in waders to get to a favorite trout spot, or counting species with a pack of binocular-clutching bird nerds at the Audubon Center.  We haven’t done that in a while, so now that Dad lives just a few miles away again, I think we’ll grab our binoculars and go count hawks this Sunday while the weather is nice.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

Today is the last day to register for the GAC at the Early Bird rate.  The brochure is uploaded to the site with the program of topics and panels, though we are waiting on a few speakers to confirm.  I have the first speaker/panel profile drafted and will send it out as soon as I receive headshots and bios.  I’m aware of a handful of EDs who are forwarding the brochure to their presidents.  They’ll be in good company with several attendees in TLA leadership from around the country.  If you’re not sure if you or your leadership are registered, once you log in and navigate to the event page, the real-time list of registrants is available below the Sponsors and Cancellation Policy sections.  Please encourage your leadership to attend this unique opportunity to mingle and collaborate with their TLA peers.

Save-the-Date of October 23 (4pmET) for the next 4th Monday Zoom Series with Brian Yacker of Baker Tilly.  He’ll join us for an Association Law refresher he presented at our Annual Meeting in Seattle last year.  An announcement will be sent on Monday.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…I see on my Non Sequitur daily calendar that yesterday was National Good Neighbor Day.  True to form, a neighbor from down the street, just stopped by with a card for another neighbor who had emergency knee surgery last week.  Ever since he moved in a few years ago, as soon as he gets word that someone in our ‘hood has had a medical issue or family loss, he’s out ringing our doorbells to invite us to sign a get-well or sympathy card.  When I say, "you’re always so good about doing this", he says it’s because he’s from Minnesota and that doing “good” will help him get through the Pearly Gates.  He’s a true gift to the neighborhood with ever the quick smile, friendly word, and sincere wave.  He’s also a source of heart-clutching, pray-for-no-accidents paralysis when you see him tottering up the street in roller blades.  Did I mention he’s in his late 70s??  Going up the street is one thing, but coming back down – I have to look away, just in case.  I’m not from Minnesota, but I still don’t want to lose this gem to a crack in the pavement.

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

We are now nine members away from a 100% renewal rate! If you're in this group, I'll reach out to you this afternoon and/or Monday morning.

You have one more week to register for the GAC at the Early Bird rate, so save $30. As I compare the room list with conference registration, I can see there are almost a dozen folks with rooms who have not yet registered. Once you log in and navigate to the event page, the real-time list of registrants is visible below the Sponsors and Cancellation Policy sections. If you don't see your name, this is your heads-up to get registered! Please also encourage your leadership to attend this unique opportunity to mingle and collaborate with their TLA peers.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great First of Fall weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…I like to think of myself as a bit of a news junkie. I don't follow sports, though, don't tell anyone...I have two full albums of hockey trading cards from the Gretzky, Roy, LeClair era. It was a brief passion before I found more physically demanding hobbies like snowboarding and mountain biking. Instead, I have my NPR station on just about 24/7 unless I'm watching the new version of S.W.A.T. or Call the Midwife (both on Netflix, btw). My weekly foray into AM radio is after 9pm on the weekends when I tune into Art Bell: Somewhere in Time. It's a few hours of archival recordings (since Art died in 2018) mostly from the 90s, so pre-Y2K and pre-9/11...such a different world. With a straight face, he delves into the truly bizarre taking calls from around the country from people who want to talk about everything from UFOs and alien abductions to chupacabras to remote viewing. What can I say, it's cheap entertainment.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The final ½ day of the GAC will be a session from Steve Pontoni’s popular Leadership Academy all about coalition building for the good of the bench.  “In this session, we will demonstrate how any TLA can build a training and recruitment strategy for judicial candidates and potential judicial appointments. Additionally, we will look at creative ways to gain power in the judiciary affordably. LEAD for Justice, the Great Lakes Political Academy, and other like-minded groups will join us to talk through what they have found to be successful.”  Please plan to stay until after noon on Tuesday!

Valerie O'Brien and I met with Mauricio Fonseca, MemberCentral's Chief Product Advocate (and guru when it comes to planning entertaining social events) this week to brainstorm a venue for a social event during the GAC.  No details, yet, but my read of the [zoom] room tells me that it will involve a band and a wine and/or beer tasting in the on-site pavilion.  (Yes, it’s outside, but there are plenty of propane heaters…buy your carbon credits early!)  The drafted flyer is with the Planning Committee, we should have it ready later today or early next week.  There are more than a dozen folks who have rooms reserved, but haven’t yet registered for the program.  You save $30 with the Early Bird registration rate!  We have a handful of TLA presidents signed up, but a testimonial (or two) on the ListServ would be awesome from those of you who can speak to the value of having your leaders attend.

Our Zoom discussion on Monday on the topic of litigation funding was well attended and recorded.  Copy ‘n paste the passcode: u703#.y+

The idea of a handy handbook (maybe downloadable from the website) for TLAs is back on the front burner, so it would be helpful to have your thoughts on the most relevant topics, such as which departments/contacts at AAJ are important to include.  The intention is to have an FAQ with answers, ie. “Where do I go to update our PAC card information?”  The answers will include the department and a description of the information that is available.  One section will be devoted to the Partnership for Progress program for which we already have text from AAJ.

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…oh, the beeping all around us these days!  I was sitting at my computer – where you’ll usually find me between 8 ’n 5 – when I heard an alarm bell that was of the “urgent” or “danger” variety.  I looked at my phone.  It was dark.  My dryer was still running, so it wasn’t that.  The sky was clear, so it definitely wasn’t the choking goose honk of a weather alert during NPR.  My attempt to discover the source reminded me of my previous home, built according to the latest code, which required smoke alarms in the hallways and every bedroom.  It also meant spending a small fortune in batteries to change them regularly, so I didn’t.  As luck would have it, a battery would always end up dying in the wee hours, never during the day.  The first beep might not have brought me out of a deep sleep, but I certainly heard the second.  With three bedrooms at one end of the hallway, I’d have to stand under each one for what felt like five minutes between each of those initial beeps just to figure out which one was getting low, hoping I’d guess right the first time so I could whack it off the ceiling with a broomstick and go back to bed.  Yah, it wasn’t pretty.  In a sleepy stupor, I once ripped a wall-mounted CO detector out of the wall – screw and all – before I realized it would have been less destructive to simply unplug it.  I used a lot of spackle repairing that hole.  So, in this recent episode, I wandered around the house looking for the source of my annoyance.  It turned out to be the blown-in insulation machine the guys were using on my neighbor’s new second floor addition.  I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have appreciated my taking a broomstick to their machine, so I turned up the volume on NPR and got back to work.

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

The GAC Planning Committee met this week to fill in the last few slots in the program, so watch for a flyer next week.  I have to say that the Lansdowne has exceeded my expectations as a meeting planner.  Their A/V quote is simple with just the right amount of information, and they send our room block’s reservation list every Monday morning – I typically have to beg for it at other properties – so I can compare the list with who’s registered.  (I’ll reach out today to the small handful of folks registered with NATLE who don’t yet appear to have rooms.)

I met with representatives from Esquire Bank on Wednesday to hear about their approach to banking for lawyers.  They are putting together a marketing packet with details on their products, but in the meantime, I’d appreciate hearing from the TLAs that work with Esquire.  Do you bank with Esquire or market their services to your members?  (Let me know your experience.)

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

P.S. in case you’re still here…thinking I’d (again) missed my window to reseal the driveway this summer, I mentally crossed it off my To Do list.  Instead, with temps hitting the low 90s for 3 days in a row this week, I ran to Lowes for a 5-gallon bucket and brush.  I was distracted on Tuesday and ended up working through lunch when I’d been planning to get to it, so I cracked open the bucket at 7pm once I’d changed into grubby clothes after my exercise class.  The fussy, time-consuming work is coloring just inside the lines, so I did the edges first.  By the time I could get to the “faster” sealing in the middle, the mosquitoes had come out with their stingers loaded for bear.  It’s a good thing I wore old clothes – slapping at mosquitoes, even with the back side of my gloves, left black smears just about everywhere.  It gets dark fast and early this time of year, so I had a hard time seeing if I was getting decent coverage by the time I quit at 8.  I must have been quite the sight dancing around and slapping at bugs, more than I’d imagined since even after a shower, I found a spot of sealer in my ear.  Unfortunately, in the 10 years since I last used sealer, my driveway must have gotten longer (unlikely) or the 5-gallon buckets have gotten smaller (nope) because I only made it ¾ of the way to the bottom.  I picked up a second bucket and finished the job the next day.  It’s no wonder I saddle myself with this job once a decade.  When will I hit that magic moment where I let it go and hire someone to do the nitty gritty tasks?