feedback helps client service – no matter who’s the...
TRANSCRIPT
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
A newsletter to help our Members, Representatives, Affiliates and partners stay current with the business of law ✦ Fall 2011
B C L e g a l M a n a g e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n
by Adam Pekarsky, FoundingPartner, Pekarsky Stein
Iwas a perfectly average law student. Ihave no idea where I ranked in my lawschool class, though I am certain it was
not in the Top Ten. I’m always surprised by how many peo-
ple did graduate in the top 10% of theirclass, though.
I had assumed that only one in tencould do so, but then I was never verygood at math. That’s why I went to lawschool.
Here’s what I didn’t learn at lawschool. I didn’t learn about the business oflaw, and I didn’t learn about client ser-vice. Concepts such as WIP and A/R,
Origination and Spin, Client Teams and RFPs,
Targets, Overhead, Partnership Track and Race
Sheets… none of these things were taught
alongside Rule
Against Perpetuities. Yet, the impor-
tance of understand-ing how a law firmfunctions is, in myview, directly relatedto a lawyer’s chancesof succeeding in pri-vate practice.
For too manynewly minted lawyers, marketing is like floss-ing; an annoying task that someone says youshould do even though it’s difficult to findthe time, and you don’t really see the imme-diate benefits. It’s not until you’re trapped inthe dentist’s chair enduring multiple rootcanals that you seriously re-think the valuein adding flossing to your daily routine.
It’s no dif-
FEEDBACK HELPS CLIENT SERVICE – NO MATTER WHO’S THE CLIENT
Know the client but, first,lawyer, know thyself
Adam Pekarsky
A challenge test of 4 on 7We challenge you totake Paula Butler’sunique test of four HRquestions, each with multiple answers, onlyone of which is correct.
Can you get them all?Win a prize if you do. But bet you can’t.See Page 7...
By John Pater, Director of Technology at Davis LLP
It’s 2 o’clock in the morning and you arerudely awakened from your dreams of sun
and surf to learn your website just wentdark. Gone. Disappeared without notice.Gulp.
Upon investigation, you discover thewhole server is gone... as in, it’s not physical-ly there!
“But,” you shriek, “…the server is in a se-
cured collocation facility!” So what happened? Did someone just
walk in, pick it up and walk out with it? Youask yourself over and over how this could this have happened.What’s the story?
Turns out, locallaw enforcement ar-
rived in the dead ofnight and took it.Fiction? Not for oneAmerican companywe’ll call Capp LLP.
Capp’s server was externally hosted in a secure site with acollocation vendor. In June 2011, the FBI gained entry into a“secured” facility and walked Capp’s server out the door.
They had a warrant. However, the warrant was not forCapp’s server, nor did the warrant have anything to do withCapp at all.
Oh, the FBI did take the server specified in the warrant,but they decided to also take all the neighbouring servers forgood measure – one of
Topics in Topics – Fall 2011
• Know thy client, but first, lawyer,
know thyself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
• Dude! Who stole my website – and its server?! . .1
• Write a better proposal by working out
the ‘Why’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
• BCLMA’s Satisfaction Survey: Taking the
measure of people like us
is a fascinating job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
• The benefits of running a law firm’s
document-management system within a
hosted virtual desktop are tantalizing . . . .18
• What’s in a name? Paralegals are applying
for, as a start, protection for their
occupational title... whatever it
turns out to be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
• New UBC law building opens . . . . . . . . . . .22
• BCLMA’s Member & Newsletter Services . . . . .2
• The Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2, 13
• You Be The Judge, by Paula Butler:
The challenge of four HR questions; plus
answers to: ‘The case of my employee
being an idiot’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
• Save These Dates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
• Making the Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
• BCLMA’s Executive & Section contact info . . .23
WHEN THE COPS SHOW UP WITH A WARRANT...
Dude! Who stole my website – and its server?!?
Know thyself fl to Page 6
Dude! My website’s gone! fl to Page 2
John Pater
which was Capp’s. When interviewed,the collocation vendor referred to theneighbouring servers as “stolen” by theFBI since they were not included in thewarrant.
The fact is, it does not matter whatyou call the servers – neighbouring orotherwise – they were gone! All-in-all,several innocent and unsuspecting com-panies like Capp were negatively im-pacted and left in the dark.
What would you do? What could youdo? After all these were the “good guys.”How do you protect yourself from them?
This story does not end as badly as itcould have. Later that same day, theFBI returned the server unscathed, andthe website was back up and runningwithin 24 hours. Nevertheless, this doesgive you cause to pause. What if the FBIdid not return it? Ever?
Now ask yourself some pointed ques-tions. Do you host your website exter-nally? Do you host production dataservers with an external vendor? What ifthis was a critical production server oth-er than your web presence? Your emailperhaps? How long can your firm gowithout it? How long will it take you toget back in business?
Is your data backed up elsewhere?Can you get to it24/7? Better yet,
do you have a ‘hot’ or ‘warm’ redundantcollocation site somewhere?
Okay, breathe. The good news is that a thoughtful
disaster recovery (DR) plan covers forthe loss of servers and data regardless ofthe cause, and the reality is, whether it’sthe “big one” shaking the data out ofyour servers or someone simply walkingaway with them – even if it’s the goodguys – you need to have contingencies inplace.
What is your contingency plan? Doyou know what is absolutely critical toyour business? If you are just starting todesign your contingency plan, don’t takeit all on at once. Start with the most crit-ical elements and work backwards fromthere.
To understand what is most criticalto your business, determine how longyou can be without a certain product,repository of data, or service before itnegatively impacts the business (or youremployment!). This will help you deter-mine what, exactly, is critical. Fromthere, you can start to look at the scopeof work and size of budget needed tostart building the appropriate contingen-cy plan(s).
While on the surface, the case of theFBI and their warrant is a new twist to abusiness-interruption threat, it is – in
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org
FALL 2011
Editor: Stephanie MarshManaging Editor, Designer: Peter Morgan
This issue, the newsletter’s archive and a Topics index are all available in PDF format at: www.BCLMA.org
Editorial © 2011 BCLMA, CANADA
Published by: MORGAN:Newsletterswww.Morgan-News.com
BRITISH COLUMBIA LEGAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
President: Ernie Gauvreau
WHO WE ARE
The BCLMA, founded in 1972, is a non-profit organiza-tion with 115 Representatives and more than 220 Affili-ates across B.C. It is the BCLMA ‘s goal to provide edu-cational and networking opportunities, to enhance skillsas legal administrators and managers, and to provideprofessional and personal benefits to its registrants.
MEMBER SERVICES:
G Opportunities to network with other law firm ad-ministrators and managers are provided by events suchas our annual Spring and Winter socials, or our monthlysubsection meetings.We host an annual Managing Part-ners Event, and a large conference every other year.
G The Job Bank on our website outlines informationon potential employment opportunities for all types oflegal-related and lawyer positions.
G The Discussion Board on our website enables Rep-resentatives and Affiliates to quickly get questions an-swered and obtain advice from others who may havefaced similar situations. The best way to get involved isto become a part of the BCLMA.
NEWSLETTER SERVICES:
Topics is a public newsletter. We will be pleased to addyou to our email list for it. Please contact the EditorialCommittee Chair, or any member of the Editorial Com-mittee listed on the back page, for comments on any ofthese articles or to offer suggestions for articles in futureissues, or for adjustments to the circulation list. Com-ments are always welcome.
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS:
Topics is copyrighted, however we encourage you to cir-culate or copy this newsletter unmodified for your owninternal or private use. You may freely quote any articleor portion of article, but it must be accompanied by attribution. Quoting any article or portion of articlewithout attribution is prohibited.
The newsletter, its contents or its material may not besold, intact or modified, nor included in any package orproduct offered for sale.
BC Legal Management Association
2Topics
Dude! My website’s gone! fl to Page 4
Dude! My website’s gone! fl from Page 1
GRAH
AMM
ORGA
N©
201
1
THE FIRM
server named ‘hardy disk’ and hisgang.... yeah, i tried that... nobody’s
heard of them in catering...
“hi, trudy, nora here... fine... so, could you tell the managingpartner the RCMP is here with a WARRANT to arrest a
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
fact – an old story. Remember Y2K? Yes, we have talked about this since
the last millennium. This is the story ofBusiness Continuity Planning (BCP) orwhat I like to strive for, “Business Resilience.”
I first heard the term while attending adisaster-recovery conference in New Or-leans prior to Hurricane Katrina.
What does it mean? I define DR as re-covery from a problem and primarily anIT function of getting systems back upand running. BCP is a more holistic viewof keeping the business running while DRtakes place, and it involves all levels ofbusiness management and administration.
Business resilience is about getting tothe place where there is no interruption.With the use of multiple locations, alongwith data replication and failover technolo-gies, the business can withstand quite a lotand not be negatively impacted (as least onthe client-facing side of the business).
Of course, each level comes with a
cost. Think about it. With enough plan-ning, money and time, you can virtuallyeliminate the need for any outage,planned or otherwise.
Make contingency planning a manda-tory part of every project going forward.
For now, look at what you have, pickthe single most critical component and
do everything you need to do to protectit. Is the ‘cloud’ an option? Can you takeadvantage of multiple offices or colloca-tion facilitates?
Location is the big concern here. Formany, America’s Patriot Act or the privacyaspects of the Canada Health Act, or both,causes firms to be cognizant of where theirdata resides. When creating plans andpolicies, be sure they can be foundationallayers as you work toward achieving Busi-ness Resilience. This project will seeming-ly be a perpetual work in progress.
I pose the question, “Is the cost of notimplementing a plan greater than thecost of implementing one?”
In other words, “Can you afford notto have a plan in place?”
So I ask again, “Your server is gone.What do you do?”
Let’s not lose any sleep over it.
John Pater is Director of Technology at Davis
LLP. He can be contacted at 604.687.9444, or
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
4TopicsDude! My website’s gone! fl from Page 2
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FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
ferent in law firms. Several yearsafter your bar-admission ceremo-ny, you are asked to prepare yourbusiness case for partnership, andas you stare blankly at the ques-tionnaire that starts with Please esti-
mate the approximate billings you expect
to originate for the firm in the coming
year, a root canal starts to look prettygood.
Until lawyers truly understand theeconomics of a law firm and the stark re-ality that you are a seller of units of time,where the only way to increase revenue isto sell more of them at a higher price,marketing will be akin to flossing; some-thing you need to do to ensure your long-term (financial) health and (revenue gen-eration) viability. The good news is, itneed not be arduous or burdensome. Infact, the easiest way to market is to devel-op great client-service skills at an earlystage.
In fairness, perhaps law school is sup-posed to be about teaching you the law
and not about teaching you how to be alawyer. I came across The Pheromone of
Client Service, David Freeman, in the May2008 Law Journal newsletter, but it’s astrue today as then: When Fortune 1000
counsel were asked what it took to geta firm short-listed, an overwhelm-ing 75% said they looked for ex-ceptional client focus, whereas only12.5% stated they were swayed bylegal skills. The fact that only12.5% cared most about legal skillsis a bit alarming, but it says a lotabout the buying mentality of the
primary purchasers of legal knowledge.So, if lawyers are not taught about the
importance of client service whilst in lawschool and its direct correlation to drivinglaw-firm revenues, then when do theylearn these skills?
No doubt there is some osmosis alongthe journey from student to partner, butwhat if this process of unconscious assimi-lation of ideas is coming from a client-ser-vice-challenged source?
Here’s what I mean by this. When youstart your career in a law firm you typi-cally hear two things. First, treat the part-ners of the firm as though they are yourclients. Second, no news is good news.
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
6Know thyself fl from Page 1
Staffing issues?
www.rjohnsoncorp.com
Topics
Know thyself fl to Page 9
Until lawyers truly understand theeconomics of a law firm and the starkreality that you are a seller of units oftime, where the only way to increaserevenue is to sell more of them at a
higher price, marketing will be akin toflossing; something you need to do toensure your long-term (financial) health
and (revenue generation) viability.
Justin has been working in the mail room at the West CoastLaw Group in Vancouver since May of 2011. He is the son of a client of the firm, and he was hired for the
summer before he returns to university in the fall. Last week, Justin was arrested for smashing in windows at a
downtown department store during the Game 7 riot. He wasidentified from a cell phone video that has now been posted onYouTube.
His arrest has been reported in the newspaper, the video hasgone viral and it has somehow been made public that he worksfor the West Coast Law Group.
As the Human Resources Manager,
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
7TopicsOUR NEW SCENARIOS – TELL US WHAT YOU’D CHOOSE WHEN:
ANSWERING FOUR INTERESTING HR QUESTIONS
Here are some short scenarios with multiple-choice answers. If you get
all four answers correct, and comment on why you think so, you’ll be
eligible for a draw where you could win a $25 Starbucks gift card.
➊ The managing partner of a law firm asks the new re-ceptionist to his home on a Friday night. When she arrives athis house, he suggests they have a drink in the hot tub. Un-comfortable, she says that she can’t go in because she doesn’thave a bathing suit. However, he excuses himself and returnswith a bathing suit – in her size. They get into the hot tub,and she quickly has to defuse his unmistakably sexual ad-vances. She runs out of his house, sends an e-mail resignationand files a sexual harassment complaint at the BC HumanRights Tribunal. What happens to her complaint?
1. She is likely not successful because she voluntarily went to his house,
changed into a bathing suit and climbed into the hot tub.
2. She is likely not successful because the actions occurred away from
work and therefore rules regarding employment law don’t apply.
3. She is likely successful because she gave him no suggestion his actions
were welcome, and she felt obligated to go to his home because he is her boss.
➋ Brad is a paralegal, working at a law firm for two years.His attendance was fine for the first few months, but he hassince missed a significant amount of work. He disclosed tothe two lawyers he works with that he has Crohn’s disease.
The firm does not have any medical confirmation, but ithas an attendance-management program that involves lettersbeing sent to employees who do not have good attendance.The HR Director decides to put Brad on the program. Stepone is to send a warning letter to Brad that his attendancemust improve or his employment is in jeopardy. Doing thisis:
1. A good idea. Brad needs to be accountable for the time
off he has been taking which is causing problems for the
lawyers he works with.
2. A bad idea. When an employee is sick it is not fair to
bring it up, particularly when the firm knows he has a legiti-
mate illness.
3. A good idea with some changes. The firm needs medical confirmation
for his absences and to ensure that Brad is doing all he can do to be at work
regularly. Threatening his employment is not a good idea at this point.
➌ Downsizing law firms need to lay off the most recenthires first, as this is required by the B.C. Employment Standards
Act. This is:1. True.
2. False.
3. Partially true but with some exceptions.
➍ A law firm must give an employee a leave of absencefor educational purposes if the education will benefit a personin their job.
1. True.
2. False
3. Only true if the course has been mandated by the employer.
HOW TO BE OUR JUDGEWhen you’ve read the new scenario, click on this link
to let us all know what you would do:
www.bclma.org/resources/newsletters/topics/response.cfm
Only your response, not your name, is revealed to oureditors.
Next edition, we’ll print a selection of responses, com-bined with Paula’s commentary and perspective.
We’ll also provide you with a brand-new scenario to in-trigue and challenge you.
JUDGE! Read our new scenario, then tell us how you’daddress it. Your response will bereviewed by labour lawyer PaulaButler. Contributions by you andPaula will help you and your col-leagues in the BCLMA solve diffi-cult issues they might encounterin their firms.
ANONYMOUS! Your response is100% anonymous, even to theEditors – unless you sign yourname in the Response form. Andwhy would you sign your name?
WIN! If you sign your name, you’ll become eligible towin a $25 gift certificate to London Drugs. And you stillremain anonymous to our readers! We never publish win-ners’ names.
YOU BE THE JUDGE
By Paula Butler, LL.B
PAULA BUTLER’S ADVICE ON LAST ISSUE’SSCENARIO: THE CASE OF MY EMPLOYEEBEING AN IDIOT
‡‡
The idiot!fl to Page 8
you have received three phone calls fromlawyers at the firm, some who have beencontacted by clients, pressuring you tofire Justin.
You like Justin, but feel disgusted bywhat happened at the riot and feel con-cerned about the reputation of the firm.
What do you do?
YOUR RESPONSE: I would fire Justin – he
is bad public relations for the firm, and the West
Coast Law Group should not be associated with
him.
Hi, this is Paula. While the West CoastLaw Group may not want to be associat-ed with Justin and termination of his em-ployment feels like quick fix to an uncom-fortable situation, employment lawprinciples may prevent them from firingJustin.
An employee’s behaviour outside ofwork is generally not grounds for termi-nating an employee, although there are afew exceptions to this.
The first exception: if the employee’sactions are prejudicial to the employer’sinterests such as an employee who worksfor a forestry company chaining herself toa tree that her employer is trying to log(remember Megan from an earlier You Be
The Judge article, whose employer wasrepresenting the forestry company?)
The second exception: whether theaction constitutes a “revelation of charac-ter” which is inconsistent with the em-ployee’s job, such as an accountant whois caught stealing money from his non-profit volunteer work.
In this case, Justin has been caughtsmashing windows. While this action isreprehensible, it is hard to argue that thisaction is prejudicial to West Coast LawGroup’s business interests, or that it is arevelation of character which is inconsis-tent with working in the mail room.
In addition, Justin is protected by theB.C. Human Rights Code, which prevents theWest Coast Law Group from terminatinghis employment based on a criminal con-viction (or pending criminal charges) thatis unrelated to his employment.
The decision-makers in the firm willhave to ask themselves if the kind of prop-erty damage Justin engaged in relates to
his job delivering mail from the mailroom.
Is it really likely thatsmashing in windowsduring a StanleyCup riot suggeststhat he will
dam-
age the mail being received by the firm?Factors such as whether Justin is contriteabout his actions need to be taken into ac-count as well. It is my guess that theabove response would have caused morediscomfort to readers had it been pub-lished in June. People were understand-
ably disgusted by the Stan-ley Cup riot and thiswas sometimes reflect-ed in knee-jerk reac-tions regarding thepeople who were involved.
Employers can besubject to the samereactions; it is im-portant to remem-ber in highly-charged situationssuch as these to takethe time to think be-fore acting, and tomake sure that allaspects of the situa-tion have been canvassed.
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
8You be the judge fl from Page 7
Topics
FRAN
CKBO
STO
N
Armed with these two arrows in theirquiver, fledgling associates carry on un-der the expectation that so long as thepartners for whom they are working con-tinue to use them, then the quality of thework must be acceptable. Similar logicapplies to the parallel universe of the ac-tual partner–client relationship in that a
client who pays his bill and sends thelawyer another file must, ipso facto, behappy.
Most partners faced with using thesame associate they used last time – onewho at least knows the client, generallyunderstands the paper and will do thetask with little or no supervision – willprefer this option over one who has neverseen the file and will, therefore, requiregreat amounts of hand holding, mentor-ing and (Gasp!) training, even if the latteris seen to be the brighter of the two.
As a result of giving the second file tothe same associate, their peer’s skills arenot developed while they are instilledwith the false sense of confidence thattheir work must be A-1; after all, the‘client’ keeps sending them new projects.
The problem is that as these associatesgrow up and mature into partners, theytake the same performance metrics andapply them to their real clients. No newsbeing good news, they take comfort inthe fact that the client pays their bill andcontinues to send them work.
Often, though, the client is actually
not happy; rather, they are merely toler-ant. When was the last time you changedbanks? Long-distance providers? Gyms?It’s often easier to simply put up withsub-par service than to exert the effort re-quired to switch.
While most clients don’t even knowwhen they are getting bad legal advice,they almost certainly know when they are
getting bad service. Add to this the gener-al lack of training and self-awarenessaround what constitutes great client ser-vice, and you have a lawyer who believesthey are doing a great job servicing a re-lationship when, in fact, they are merelybeing tolerated. No news being goodnews, everyone carries on, whistling hap-
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
9Know thyself fl from Page 6
Topics
Know thyself fl to Page 10
MOST PARTNERS USETHE SAME ASSOCIATE
THEY USED LASTTIME: ONE WHO
KNOWS THE CLIENT,UNDERSTANDS THE
PAPER AND WILL DOTHE TASK WITH
LITTLE SUPERVISION
pily through the graveyard.Proof of this disconnect can be found
in a recent Inside Counsel Magazine surveyof general counsels and their externallawyers, where respondents were asked toevaluate levels of client service. Fifty-twopercent of external lawyers gave them-selves an “A” rating, while only 21% ofclients agreed. When asked if levels ofclient satisfaction had improved overtime, 68% of thelawyers said“Yes” while only32% of clientswere of the same opinion. While it couldbe argued that this speaks to a stunninglack of self-awareness, I would submitthat it is a product of the unique lawyerupbringing.
How often do we work with recentlyadmitted lawyers who have been let goafter articles or at some point during theirearly years of practice, who come to uslike a deer in the headlights for havingbeen turfed by their firms even thoughthey’d never received a negative review?They thought they were doing great andthen, all of a sudden, out the blue, wham,they’re fired.
Is this any different than a client firinga firm without any notice? Not really, ex-cept that it often takes a law firm severalmonths to realize what’s happened.
Let’s take this parallel argument a stepfurther. If associates in law firms treatpartners as clients, and if those partnersregularly provide feedback to those asso-ciates (which most say they do), then whyshouldn’t real clients be given the oppor-tunity to provide feedback to the partnersbeyond a beer at a hockey game or a chaton the walk from tee box to green? Afterall, providing formal feedback to associ-ates in a law firm has become common-place, though oftentimes the feedback re-lates more to the finer points of the law(e.g., a missed case, a poorly proofed con-tract, a secondary source not considered)than it does to the actual lawyer-client re-lationship. How did the associate com-municate with the partner? Were expec-tations around timing managed? Dealwith difficult issues up front? Keep thepartner constantly in the loop? Spend theappropriate amount of time on the file?
Seek guidance as to whatthey could have done bet-ter? And, it could fairly beasked in return: Did thepartner provide clear ex-pectations as to how muchtime they wanted the asso-ciate to spend on the mat-ter? The form of commu-nication they preferred?
Themethodof deliv-ery of the
final product? In short, adialogue around the ser-vice provided as much asthe analysis undertaken.
And yet, there’s a dif-ference between our two
universes. Associates crave feedback fromtheir ‘clients’ (aka the partners of thefirm) and often lament that they don’t get
nearly enough. Partners, who managereal clients, not only don’t seek it, buttypically fear doing so lest they don’t likethe answers they hear. In fact, accordingto some consultants in the client-inter-view business – such as Altman Weil andMarci Krufka, in their 2005 article,“Client Surveys Can Demonstrate YourLaw Department’s Value” – lawyer per-sonality data reveal that their aversion tofeedback may not be due to a lack of con-cern for clients, but rather to uniquecharacteristics in the lawyer personality.Perhaps the ambivalence of the partnergeneration toward feedback on the ser-vice they provide suggests that these“unique characteristics,” err, mature withthe passage of time.
Law firms have hired Directors of Pro-fessional Development – a role I held forthree and a half years at a national lawfirm – to act as intermediaries between
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
10TopicsKnow thyself fl from Page 9
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Phone: 1.847.432.3546 Email: [email protected]
Twitter.com/rossfishman Web: FishmanMarketing.com
Blogs: RossFishman.com; LawFirmSpeakers.com
* Cancellation Policy: Due to the financial commitments the BCLMA must incur to the hotel, we require72 hours’ cancellation notice or full ticket cost will be charged. Substitutions welcome.
BCLMA Educational Event
B C L e g a l M a n a g e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n
partner and associate at performance-re-view time. So too has the profession seenthe recent emergence of third partiesconducting client audits on behalf offirms big and small.
And, just as law firms hope that byproviding feedback to their associatesthey can retain the best and brightest,give them the tools necessary for greatersuccess and create a culture where theabsence of feedback should be construedas a negative and not a neutral, so tooare Canadian law firms starting to em-brace the importance of seeking feed-back from real clients with the samegoals in mind.
Research studies show that simply ask-ing clients for their opinions and feed-back typically creates an enhanced imageof the law firm that endures for severalmonths to a year following the survey.
Conducting satisfaction surveys seemsto create a halo effect for the firm resultingin enhanced client loyalty and profitability,
according to Paul M. Dholakia, of RiceUniversity’s Jesse H. Jones GraduateSchool of Management, and Vicki G.Morwitz of New York’s Stern School ofBusiness. Not surprisingly, then – an obser-vation that is supported more anecdotally
than through any formal research of mine– associates in law firms appreciate feed-back too, and routinely comment on howwell any such process reflects on the firm.
So to sum up: I’m okay with the ‘yourclients are the partners of the firm’ con-cept, but I think the ‘no news is goodnews’ mantra is very 1987. We live in atime of instant news and constant feed-back. In addition to being expected,thoughtful and timely feedback actuallyconstitutes good service.
And good service enables sellers oftime to sell more of it, which is where thisall started. The best part is, you don’tneed to have finished in the top 10% ofyour class to be good at it.
Adam Pekarsky, a former lawyer, is the Found-
ing Partner of Pekarsky Stein. It is a specialized
consulting and recruitment firm, and a local
provider of third-party, client-satisfaction pro-
grams in Western Canada. Click here for the
firm’s White Paper on the topic:
http://goo.gl/p3j9v
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
12TopicsKnow thyself fl from Page 10
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SAVE THESE DATES!BCLMA ANNUALWINTER SOCIAL
Thursday, December 1, 2011 5:30 pm Reception & Buffet Dinner
Terminal City Club, Vancouver
BCLMA BI-ANNUALCONFERENCEOctober 25 – 27, 2012River Rock Casino Resort
Richmond, BC
By Stephanie Marsh, Proposal Manager, KPMG Vancouver
We all know that business rela-tionships are extremely impor-tant. Whether it’s between a
shopper and a department store, or aclient and a law firm, we understand bothsides of developing and maintaining abusiness relationship – to get and keepwork, or enjoy savings and excellent ser-vice, depending on which side of the rela-tionship you’re on.
Store chains set up loyalty programsto keep their customers returning. Theykeep customers informed through flyersand e-alerts. They make them feel specialby inviting them to advance-sales eventsand offering additional savings.
Law firms do it by inviting clients tohigh-end or high-profile activities such asgolf tournaments, hockey games in pri-vate suites or evenings at cultural, tradeor association events.
They make donations to the client’sfavourite charity or sponsor fundraisers.The goal is to create a sturdy relationshipbased on trust and integrity such that
when opportunitiescome along, your
firm will naturally getthe work.
And yet, answer-ing Requests for Pro-posals (RFPs) is in-evitable. That’s notthe same thing assaying business devel-opment is all fornaught. When itcomes to RFPs, it’s
simply a part of that process. If you’vedone a good job building the relation-ship, then answering the RFP becomes acinch.
David G. Pugh and Terry R. Bacon,authors of Winning Behavior, Behavioral Ad-
vantage and Powerful Proposals, refer to thechess game of business development.They suggest that a strong opening gameand middle game significantly increasesyour chances winning the endgame, akawinning the work. Their opening game ismarket analysis, strategic and businessplanning as well as strong branding. Theirpowerful middle game involves initiatingcontact, developing the relationship, ob-taining a solid understanding of a client’sbusiness and their needs, and establishinga solid track record of delivering on your
promises – even exceeding their expecta-tions. Opening, middle and end games.All three components are important andnecessary.
Besides being part of the process,there are definitely situations where RFPsare unavoidable. Some of those include:
Government rationale: Some public-sectororganizations are obligated to go toRFP for certain projects, say once ev-ery five years (e.g. audit). They need toshop for the best current price. Or,they are obligated from an optics per-spective; they can’t be perceived bythe public to show favouritism by re-appointing the same vendor over andover, or by not openly inviting a cross-section of vendors to bid. The public sector must also go to an
RFP when really big taxpayer bucks areinvolved and the project will affect avery high number of stakeholders (e.g.building a dam that will provide hydro-electric power for 100,000 citizens). Some RFPs are sole-sourced, of
course, but crown corporations, min-istries and an assortment of public sec-tor organizations often post their RFPon a public bid website such as BCBid or MERX; they cannot only inviteproposals from firms they want towork with or those with the most ap-plicable and impressive credentials.
Questing: Some private companiesbranching into uncharted territory(e.g. global expansion) haven’t a cluewhat firms can provide the best andmost comprehensive services. They is-sue the RFP to find out.
Questioning: Some companies are con-sidering something so new, they don’tknow what they don’t know. They usethe RFP process to see what all theservice providers define as their response. Depending on those submissions,
they might redefine the scope of work,scale it back, ramp it up – or cancel it
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
13Topics
The FAQs of RFPs fl to Page 15
RFP. SOQ. EOI. WHY?
Write a better proposal by working out the ‘Why’
Stephanie Marsh
GRAH
AMM
ORGA
N©
201
1
THE FIRMwe LOVE how you treat us,but your invoice is TWICE
AS LARGE as what you bid!
that's because CLIENT PERKSare EXTRA! would you like somechampagne for NOTICING?
Law firms spend too much time on the wrong things, and not enough time do-
ing the things that generate significant new revenue. Things that help you
dominate your markets. Each year, they repeat the same mistakes, then won-
der why they’re not getting the results they want. Too many firms focus on goals that
can’t be measured like “getting our name out there” or jumping on the latest fad
when they should focus on “Making Money.”
With the right strategic focus and clear execution plan, your marketing can generate
that new revenue and set you on a course for market leadership. This hard-hitting pre-
sentation by internationally-recognized Ross Fishman will show you how.
The BCLMA Board of Directors invites all BCLMA
Representatives and Managing Partners to join us at our
annual, complimentary, Managing Partners Event to
learn more, ask questions, gather new information — and
network with your colleagues.• Thursday, November 3, 2011• 5:30 p.m. | Reception followed by
Dinner with Guest Speaker, Ross Fishman• Four Seasons Hotel,
791 West Georgia Street, Vancouver• To register, please contact:
Jane Kennedy at [email protected] • Registration deadline: October 31, 2011• Guests’ price: $80 inclusive, per person*
ROSS FISHMANGuest Speaker Ross Fishman, the CEO of Fishman
Marketing and former litigator, is among the legal pro-fession’s most engaging and informative speakers.
Ross has an international reputation as one of the legalprofession’s most experienced and innovative marketingstrategists. He helps law firms dominate their markets anddrive millions of dollars of additional revenue.
Fishman Marketing has designed campaigns for nearly 100 firms world-wide, and presented at over 250 marketing programs and firm retreats.
• Phone: 1-847.432.3546
• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter.com/rossfishman
• Web: FishmanMarketing.com
• Blogs: RossFishman.com; LawFirmSpeakers.com
* Cancellation Policy: Due to the financial commitments the BCLMA must incur to the hotel, we require 72 hours’ cancellation notice or full ticket cost will be charged. Substitutions welcome.
BCLMA Annual
Managing Partners EventWhy your marketing isn’t generating revenue.
And how it can.
Information & Legal Support Services
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B C L e g a l M a n a g e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n
altogether once they see what it cancost. (If you’ve ever read the results ofan RFP’s Q&A series, or read throughthe amendments, you’ve probably not-ed how many proponents can read thesame RFP in very different ways, par-ticularly when the RFP is poorly writ-ten or purposely vague.)
Expansion: Some companies experienceexponential growth and their currentprovider can’t keep up. For example,Grandma’s Apple Pie & Cateringwould never get a contract to cater anevent at the convention centre. Theclient needs to shop the market andfind a provider – maybe even morethan one – who can cover all the baseseffectively and efficiently.
Noblesse oblige: An organization mightappoint a new Chair or CEO whowants to continue their own profes-sional-services relationships. While
frustrating from your perspective, it’scompletely understandable fromtheirs. Think about when you’ve changed
jobs and wanted to continue workingwith the same printer or copier salesrepresentative or insurance agent. Thenew Executive Member will initiate anRFP process to compare their experi-ences with those of the Board or Man-agement. Ideally, they make a decisionin the organization’s best interest.
Conflict of interest: Some professional-service firms will be naturally conflict-ed out of undertaking an assignmentdue to other work they are already do-ing for the client. An RFP becomesnecessary.
Frustration: Some organizations feel dis-satisfied (a little or a lot) with their cur-rent service provider, and are only justthinking about switching. They wantto know what else is available, while
giving their current provider anothercrack at it by issuing an RFP.
A new leaf: Some organizations havebeen with their current serviceprovider so long, they wonder if thework is getting stale. Is the serviceprovider still coming up with newideas and strategies? Are they chang-ing with the times? An RFP processcan present fresh ideas.
Lucky for you, you’ve already com-pleted 80% of the up-front work (i.e.business development) to clinch the deal!Now you just have to put a few things inwriting.
NOT ALL SERVICES ADD VALUEOnce you’ve responded to all of the
requirements of the RFP, don’t overlookadditional services you can provide. But
be picky. Don’t create a section that de-scribes all of your other practice areas –-
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
15Topics
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The FAQs of RFPs fl from Page 13
The FAQs of RFPs fl to Page 16
you will only annoy your reader.If you’ve already told them you’re a
full-service firm, they will understandwhat that means without you having tolist every single practice group and sub-group. Only include what you know isrelevant.
Examine the whole picture. Perhapsyou have other services to offer that willcomplement their business, even thoughthey haven’t asked for it in their request.Yes, they’re looking to do a merger, butyou also know that if the merger is suc-cessful, they will need bigger premises toblend in the new company. Bring in yourreal estate team, and describe how theirexpertise can benefit the engagement.
Using the same scenario, it’s likely thetwo merged companies use different ITsystems, or two different payroll systems.Bring in your IT team to talk aboutstreamlining systems and service optimization.
When you fold in these value-addedservices, that’s the time and place to talkabout your qualifications in those prac-tice areas. There’s not much point talkingabout the recognition your IT lawyershave received from Lexpert in the Execu-tive Summary of an M&A proposal.Keep apples with apples and orangeswith oranges.
Offer a free seminar or workshop ontopics that interest them. If they take youup on it, offer to host it at their work-place. Don’t inconvenience them by ask-ing them to travel. Make sure you investthe time and money.
SCORE WITH THE EVALUATIONWhen writing your proposal, keep in
mind the Evaluation Table (aka scorecard), if provided. It outlines how manypossible points you can score in each sec-tion. Demonstrating your understandingof the project gets discussed in your ap-proach and methodology, and initially in-troduced in your Executive Summary.Don’t miss any chances to score valuablepoints.
Some clients award points for goingabove and beyond: “Tell us what wehaven’t thought of. Share your innovativeideas and additional services that comple-
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
16TopicsFAQs of RFPs fl from Page 15
MAKING THE MOVES…WELCOME, NEW & RETURNING AFFILIATES!
New members joining the Human Resources subsection... Charmaine Hallof Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and Suzanne Drost of McCarthy Tetrault.
WELCOME NEW FIRMS
AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES
John Hawke, a well known personality at BCLMA as past presi-dent (2010/11) and former COO with Lang Michener, has tak-
en a new position as COO with the firm of McLeod & Company based in Cal-gary... Jane Bracken retired from her position as Administrator at HastingsLabour Law Office and Danuta Malarski, formerly with J.R. Hay & Co., hastaken over Jane’s former responsibilities... Lydia Cheng has moved to PatersonLaw Office; both Lydia and Paterson Law Office are new to the BCLMA.
In accordance with our bylaws, firms are the BCLMA’s Members. Representatives were
formerly known as Full Members. Affiliates were formerly known as Subsection Members. The
list of the Affiliate Chairs and Co-Chairs as of the date of publication is always on the last page of
each TOPICS. You can also go to our website for the latest list; just click our name at the page bottom.
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The FAQs of RFPs fl to Page 19
By Gary Carter, BCLMA, Paine Edmonds LLP
Surveys are an important tool for theBCLMA. We collect data on behalf of
the association, sometimes with a partnerlike the CBA, and thenorganize, analyze anddistribute the data.
Surveys that wetake help our lawfirm managers setsalaries and staff ra-tios, for example.Boards within theBCLMA generatesurveys to gaugeyour own satisfac-tion of our servicesand benefits.
Earlier this year, the Board of Directorsissued a Satisfaction Survey to gauge your over-all experience with the BCLMA. We askedabout everything, from subsection meetingsto conferences to social events.
The Board has already begun to consid-er this feedback and will use it to a greaterdepth as they get set to plan the 2012 calendar.
The BCLMA Board of Directors thankseveryone for their time to provide candidfeedback. We value your comments.
Here, we have provided a brief summa-ry of the results from the BCLMA 2011 Sat-isfaction Survey.
GENERAL✔ 128 out of 337 members participated in
the survey. This is a lower-than-expect-ed rate of participation – a little morethan one third of the membership. Thisled me to believe that either the Board isdoing an excellent job of keeping ourmembers happy or our members aresuffering from survey overload. It’s likelya bit of both. However, I’m leaning to-wards the former!
✔ 92% of participants work in the MetroVancouver Area.
✔ 55% of participants work in firms withmore than 40 lawyers. An interestingstatistic, given that 80% of our memberswork in firms with less than 40 lawyers.
✔ 60% of law firm Administrators wearmultiple hats. No surprise there!
✔The two top-ranked enrolment benefitswere (1) the Topics Newsletter and (2)Networking and Subsection meetings(84% and 79% respectively).
✔ 88% of participants said that theBCLMA communicated and connectedwell with its members. 9% had no opin-ion while just 3% of respondents felt thatthe communication level was lacking.
EDUCATIONAL EVENTS✔ 74% of participants voted to have two
educational events per year.✔How do we improve attendance at our
BCLMA Educational Conferences?59% of respondents voted to hold theconference in either Downtown Van-couver or in the Greater VancouverArea.
✔One third expressed that getting Firmapproval to attend a conference was anissue for them.
✔ 48% of participants want a conferencethat spans two full working days, while34% voted for one working day and oneweekend day.
SOCIAL EVENTS✔Why do our members attend our social
events? 91% responded that they attendto network with other management pro-fessionals in the legal community. Andas you’ve seen from previous event re-ports in Topics, more and more peopleattend the Winter and Summer Socialsevery year – about one-third of the en-tire membership in recent years.
TOPICS NEWSLETTER✔ 96% of participants responded that they
read Topics either always or sometimes,with three-quarters of them reading itonline at work. This year, 25% of the BCLMA popu-
lation received a feedback survey withintwo weeks of receiving each edition ofour quarterly Topics newsletter. By theend of the year, everyone will have re-ceived the survey once. The editorial board has already started
to analyze that data, the results of whichwill help ensure the BCLMA continuesto bring you information and updatesthat are most important and valuable toyou. (Just one more Topics survey to go!If you haven’t received one yet, watchfor it in about two weeks!).
We’ll report on the results to you in theWinter issue.
SUBSECTION MEETINGS✔ 73% of participants responded that they
either regularly or usually attend subsec-tion meetings.
VENDORS AND SPONSORS✔ 96% of participants responded positively
to the presence of vendor sponsors atour member events. Certainly, theBCLMA appreciates vendor support atour events and we always encourageyou to reach out to them at events andexpress your personal gratitude to themfor their support.
Thanks again to everyone who partici-pated in this year’s survey. To those whodid not participate, we can only assumethat we’re doing a great job!
If you have any questions about the sur-vey, please contact me for more information.
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
BCLMA SATISFACTION SURVEY
Taking the measure of people like us is a fascinating job
Topics 17
Gary Carter
SPRING 2011 BC Legal Management Association www.BCLMA.org Member Services: [email protected]
A newsletter to help our Members, Representatives, Affiliates and partners stay current with the business of law Spring 2011
B C L e g a l M a n a g e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n
By David K. Wotherspoon and Patricia N. Morrison, Fasken Martineau
Over the last quarter century, lawfirms and law courts have wit-nessed a growing shift from paper
documents to electronically stored infor-mation, now often just known as ESI.
Responding to thisdramatic shift, the depen-dence of law firms ontechnology swelled. So,too, has our reliance onpeople to help organize,manage, preserve andhandle disclosure of elec-tronic records.
In Canada, a group ofleading legal experts collab-orated on The Sedona Princi-
ples, a set of voluntaryguidelines related to themanagement of electronicrecords for litigation mat-ters. (The 12 principles are on
page 8).
Here, we discuss howthese guidelines affectlaw-firm managers in BC.
The BCLMA compriseseight sections: Human Resources, Finance, In-
formation Technology, Knowledge Management,
Trainers, Small Firms, Facilities & Services andMarketing. Each of these sections must beproactive and work together—both in our
WORKING TOWARD DOCUMENT-PRODUCTION STANDARDS
Every aspect of a law firmbenefits from supportingthe Sedona Principles
For SaleThis senior
paralegal is upto something...
but what? Then the youngcouple spills the
beans. Whatwould you do?
See Page 6
The Sedona Principles to Page 8
By George Lo, IT Manager, Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang
The smartphone has become an indis-pensable part of everyday life for
work and for play. With the Blackberry, Research In Motion
(RIM) of Waterloo, Ontario pioneered theconcept of email anytime, anywhere toserve the needs of the business community.Apple then came along and designed asmartphone with the consumer in mind.The result was the iPhone — a smartphonethat could do just about everything else.
Innovation occurs rapidly in technolo-gy, and competition is rarely merciful.Each successive release ofthe iPhone has attractedeven more consumers,and corporate usersare being lured awayfrom their Blackberry.
Just last year,iPhone surpassed theBlackberry in overallmarket share on the
strength of consumer demand. Inroads tothe corporate environment are not far be-hind as business leaders demand greaterchoice and the industry works together toresolve any remaining concerns aboutcompliance and security.
But as these changes open the door forApple, the same opportunity becomes
Topics in Topics – Spring 2011
the Sedona principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1– What are the Sedona Principles? . . . . .8
change the smart phone industry – again? . .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
and athe payroll leak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
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’s Member & Newsletter Services . . . . .2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
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George LoAndroid, a game-changer? to Page 2
Android, a next ‘big thing’? And could it change
the smart phoneindustry… again?
David Wotherspoon
Patricia Morrison
SEARCH ME...
stay current with the business of law A newsletter to help our Members, Representatives, Affiliates and partners
B C L e g a l M a n a g e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n
EvWORKING TOWARD DOCUMENT-PRODUCTION STANDARDS
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B C L e g a l M a n a g e m e n t A s s o c i a t i o n
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SPRING
proactive and work together—both in our. Each of these sections must beMarketing
Trainers, Small Firms, Facilities & Services
formation Technology, Knowledge Management,
The Sedona Principles
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BC Legal Management Association 2011
proactive and work together—both in our. Each of these sections must be
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formation Technology, Knowledge Management,
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Member Services: [email protected] BC Legal Management Association
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George Lo
Member Services: [email protected]
Apple, the same opportunity becomesBut as these changes open the door for
compliance and security.resolve any remaining concerns aboutchoice and the industry works together to
Android, a game-changer?
Member Services: [email protected]
Apple, the same opportunity becomesBut as these changes open the door for
compliance and security.resolve any remaining concerns aboutchoice and the industry works together tohind as business leaders demand greater
2to Page Android, a game-changer?
O ur editorial surveys this year show us
that a large majority of you are intrigued
by the implications of technology’s influ-
ence over the legal industry. For the last couple of
years, the steady growth of cloud computing, where
our computers are talking to storge computers per-
haps thousands of kilometres away, not just in the
next room, has begun making inroads into the
management and executive levels beyond those of
the IT section.
In this intriguing article, we’ve asked the key
people of two firms that are friends of the BCLMA
and which are deeply involved in cloud computing
to tell us about the benefits beyond simple adminis-
tration software of one of the key items for a law
firm, document management. Is cloud computing,
we asked, really ready to take on this intensive
task? And what about the political and legal issues
of where such data is located?
By Andre Coetzee, i-worx, and BillBaker, Baker+Cadence Solutions
The advent and adoption of the person-al computer in the 1970’s and the In-
ternet in the 1990’s gave us unprecedent-ed access to information and knowledge,particularly in the workplace. The Infor-mation Age revolutionized how law-firmworkers access and share information.
Thousands of documents were storedand shared on servers located within thelaw firm’s offices. As time went on, theamount of data stored there increased ex-ponentially, until we evolved from the in-formation age to the information-overloadage.
Today’s law firms need to manage andsecurely access the large amount of digitalinformation they have, such as agreementsin scanned files, emails or court prece-dents. How do they do it? Simple.
Document Management System(DMS), meet The Cloud.
Due diligence and compliance whenopting for a cloud service-provider issomething currently being discussed andreviewed by The Law Society of BritishColumbia. Some of the critical issues de-liberated arise from most recent studies
and reports. They referto the importance of duediligence when choos-ing and handing overthe firm’s data for stor-age and processing tocloud serviceproviders – particu-larly about jurisdic-tional issues, i.e.where is the data located? Who has accessto the data? What measures are being tak-en to secure the data?
Lawyers and staff log on to their hostedvirtual desktops via the Internet using a se-cure, encrypted, secure-socket layer con-nection. And, jurisdictionally the lawfirm’s data and applications reside in a se-cure data-centre located in BritishColumbia.
Once users have logged onto their host-ed virtual desktop, as we call it, permis-sions are set on files and folders to allowauthorized access only to specific users.Besides implementing security features torestrict access to files and folders, a DMSwill also be able to use the standard per-missions that are set up on files and foldersthat include Microsoft Active Directory.
Most law firms have some form ofhomegrown system used to organize theplethora of documents being stored. Mostof these systems are manual, and result incopious amounts of time wasted searchingfor documents buried on the shared drive,within emails, scans inside folders and soon. Sometimes they must even recreate adocument if it could not be found.
A DMS systematically organizes andindexes files, enabling quicker and easiersearching and retrieval of documents.
For example, you can do a text searchfor a word or phrase that will return a listof all the documents and emails with thosewords, and you can refine the search to aparticular lawyer, date range, or type ofdocument.
There are many vendors that provideDMS. Worldox, however, specializes inhelping small– to medium-sized law firms,
proving that cloud com-puting can be effective nomatter the size of firm;that it is not just for large
firms with IT depart-ments.
Worldox has struc-tured its DMS solutionso that law firms can:✔ Reduce implemen-
tation costs. Worldox does not requirea dedicated server for the application,or an SQL server database, nor SQLuser licenses to access the database. Italso requires less time for configurationof the Worldox system.
✔Horizontal: Move or copy emails toWorldox from Outlook. These emails aretext-indexed and become searchableand are easily shared and accessed byemployees within the firm. Emails arestored with the other electronic docu-ments for the case.
✔ Search quicker. There is a productivitygain to the firm because users canquickly find documents and emails usu-ally within seconds rather than minutesor hours.
✔ Implement security. You can apply differ-ent levels of security and rights on doc-uments, from the ability to edit to ac-cessing a read-only file.
Document-management systems havetraditionally been implemented on lawfirm’s servers and computers that resideon the premises.
Although users can reap the benefits ofa much more structured and organizedway of storing and accessing their docu-ments leading to higher productivity, thereare still challenges for users, especiallylawyers who want to connect remotely toaccess documents.
Traditionally, the solution for accessingdocuments and the DMS remotely werevaried, and came with their own chal-lenges. Some used VPN, Remote Desktop, orLogMeIn. However, all these solutions had
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
18WORLDOX MEETS THE CLOUD
The benefits of running a law firm’s Document ManagementSystems within a Hosted Virtual Desktop are tantalizing
Topics
Bill BakerAndre Coetzee
DMS in the cloud fl to Page 19
ment your proposal.” Your Value-addedServices section will address this requestperfectly.
A lot of partners will say that clientsonly flip to the Fees page and ignore ev-erything else. “Keep it short and sweetand let’s just concentrate on the fees.”While you must always ensure your pro-posal is succinct, you mustn’t skip or ig-nore anything the RFP asks for, either.Every request is there for a reason to thepotential client; address all points, nomatter how redundant or irrelevant itmight seem.
Indeed, some RFPs are poorly written,or you can tell they’ve obviously repur-posed it and simply substituted namesand numbers. It doesn’t matter. Youmust address everything.
Firstly, it demonstrates that you’veread the entire request and you’ve madethe effort to deliver. Secondly, assumeyour competition will address everything.Don’t miss out!
If anything seems questionable or un-clear in the RFP, and you have the op-portunity to ask clarifying questions –ask. Again, it shows your commitment toproviding a good proposal and may evenreveal anomalies the client will want toamend.
Occasionally, RFPs ask that the Feessection be submitted separately from theproposal so that the RFP readers canevaluate all of the facts first, without be-ing swayed by numbers.
So, do your words count? You betthey do!
AIM TO WINRFPs are an intrinsic part of business
and business development. Invest thetime and resources you need to win.
Stephanie Marsh is Proposal Manager at
KPMG in Vancouver.Contact her at
604.691.3367 or [email protected]
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
19TopicsFAQs of RFPs fl from Page 16
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their own security issues regarding docu-ment access and document removal fromthe firm’s document repository.
There is a paradigm shift taking place.Instead of investing in IT Infrastructure,law firms have begun to host their dataand desktops in the cloud. i-worx Cloud-based solution, OfficeOneLive (hosted virtualdesktop) includes Microsoft Office and Out-
look Exchange as well as all the law firm’sbusiness legal-software applications, locat-ed in a private and secure data centre.The benefits of hosting a DMS in thecloud are far-reaching, as you will seehere.
Lawyers working on cases remotely(from home, a hotel, Hawaii...) can accesstheir hosted virtual desktops for their dataand DMS. This increases their productivi-ty significantly as they can work as if theywere in the office. If they need to performa search in their DMS for files and/oremails, they can do so as long as they havean Internet connection.
Wendy Allan, Office Manager at Dig-by Leigh & Company, a law firm in NorthVancouver, says, “Our firm uses both Of-
ficeOneLive and Worldox. For us, the combi-nation of a hosted virtual desktop with aDMS creates a seamless transition be-tween working in the office and workingfrom a remote location.”
Installing a DMS on a hosted virtual
desktop makes a secure collaboration withothers more readily possible and mucheasier. For this to occur efficiently and se-curely, access privileges need to be set upto ensure that users only work with case-specific data.
Installing and configuring a DMS issimplified and standardized across the lawfirm because it is installed on the hostedvirtual desktops that reside in a data centreas opposed to individual workstations orlaptops.
This ensures that all users have accessto the same version of the DMS. When
DMS in the cloud fl to Page 20
DMS in the cloud fl from Page 18
Installing and configuringa DMS is simplified andstandardized across the
law firm
If anything seemsquestionable or unclear inthe RFP, and you have the
opportunity, ask
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
upgrades are required, all staff use the lat-est version at the same time. This will savea lot of time and money in the cost of ITmanagement and support.
World Software Corporation, maker ofthe Worldox soft-ware, also has acloud-basedmodel, Worldox
Complete Cloud,whereby lawfirms have ac-cess tothe
Worldox applications viathe Internet on a pay-per-user monthly fee. ManyUS law firms find this op-tion appealing as it allevi-ates them from having toimplement, manage and support the ap-plication themselves.
Although Worldox Complete Cloud isenticing, the data is stored on servers injurisdictions other than Canada. Thesolution to this dilemma of wanting touse Worldox in the cloud on servers inCanada is solved by opting to purchaseWorldox outright and having it installed,managed and supported on an Of-
ficeOneLive-hosted virtual desktop thatresides in a British Columbian data cen-tre. There has also been interest in host-ing virtual desktops that reside in Cana-da from U.S.-based firms due toregulations that allow their government
to access the firm’s data without permis-sion.
The ability to access your corporatedesktop from smartphones and/or tabletPC’s is a growing trend.
Virtual desktop users securely connect
to their entire corporate desktop, includingDMS, using any device (e.g. an AppleiPad, a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, etc.)and get full functionality from all theirlaw-firm software.
There may be a situation where youneed to access a document, and the onlydevice available is an iPad, a tablet, aniPhone or the like, which means accessfrom outside of the office is now possible.And quick! i-worx can provide demonstra-tions to show the speed of data transfer be-tween the firm and the cloud.
What about cost? There is a one-timeset-up fee, but you do not need to replacephysical hardware every five years. Say
goodbye to licensing costs too. Our systemincludes Microsoft Office & O/S (Windows
7) Software Assurance. and is supportedwith a live help-desk for support.
There are many opinions regardingthe myriad of service offerings in the
cloud, andhow benefi-cial they are.Converginga popularDMS likeWorldox in
an Of-
ficeOneLive hostedvirtual desktop makes for apowerful and compellingcloud solution. This solu-tion provides user-access –anywhere, anytime, usingany device – to their cor-
porate desktop and data for increasedproductivity.
Andre Coetzee is a Director and a founding mem-
ber of i-worx of North Vancouver, a Premium
Managed Service Provider with a focus on cloud
computing. For more information or to learn more
about real cost savings and how OfficeOneLive
could benefit your firm, contact Andre at
604.639.6300, or [email protected]
Bill Baker is founder and owner of
Baker+Cadence Solutions of California. He is a
Certified Worldox integrator. Baker+Cadence So-
lutions has completed about 180 Worldox instal-
lations in the U.S. and Canada. Contact him at
916-677-4277, or [email protected]
Topics 20DMS in the cloud fl from Page 19
The solution to this dilemma of wanting to useWorldox in the cloud on servers in Canada is
solved by opting to purchase Worldox outrightand having it installed, managed and support-ed on an OfficeOneLive-hosted virtual desktopthat resides in a British Columbian data centre.
DESI
GN
GRA
PHIC
(NO
TA
DMS)
BY
OLE
KSIY
MAR
K
By Janet Crnkovic, BCPA’s VicePresident of Education &Certification
Paralegals across the province havelong hoped for a certification and/or
regulation of our profession. We look to the Law Society of British
Columbia with hope and, perhaps, thebelief that a certification scheme wouldbecome a reality in light of numerous re-ports of various paralegal task forces dat-ing back as early 1989 and culminating inthe final report issued in 2006.
Unfortunately, the Law Society hasnot been able to formulate any practicalmanner in which to implement any of thevarious recommendations.
The BCPA has repeatedly faced thequestion of independent paralegals versusself-regulated paralegals versus ‘certified’paralegals. Most often, the case of On-tario paralegals and law clerks is the citedexample of what should happen in BC. ✔ Paralegals in Ontario are independent
practitioners who are regulated, li-censed and insured by the Law Soci-ety of Upper Canada.
✔ Law Clerks are paralegals who do notpractice independently but under thesupervision of a lawyer. In my view, an Ontario paralegal can
be said to be more or less analogous to thepractice of BC notary publics, and an On-tario law clerk to BC paralegals practicingpursuant to Chapter 12 of the Professional
Conduct Handbook of the Law Society. It may appear that the analogies are
so close BC should simply follow On-tario’s lead. I happen to disagree and be-lieve that this cannot be the case.
Paralegal regulation in Ontario arosefrom the rampant and unregulated prac-tice of paralegals in that province prior toregulation. The defining difference be-tween BC and Ontario is BC’s protectiveand restrictive Legal Profession Act and, inparticular, s. 15 (see box).
Whereas, in Ontario, such restrictive –and some say protective – legislation of thelegal profession does not exist. In fact, I re-
call reading several papers where the On-tario Bench continually bemoaned this“oversight” in their legislation.
Ontario’s Law Society is in the situa-tion of reacting to those who practice law(as the case with the previously unregulat-ed paralegals) where as BC legislationputs the practice of law clearly in thepower of Law Society.
BC & ONTARIO: AT A GLANCEThe equivalents below set out the lay
of the land in both provinces and where –I believe – BCPA’s direction lies.
Equivalents Ontario: Lawyers: Paralegals
Ontario paralegals practice in “sim-ple” litigation areas, such as SmallClaims Court under the Provincial Offences
Act. This involves summary-conviction of-fences where the maximum penalty doesnot exceed six months of imprisonment,or before administrative tribunals, includ-ing the Financial Services Commission ofOntario. For details, see the Ontario Par-alegal Association at this link:http://www.paralegalsociety.on.caBC: Lawyers: Notary Publics
Practice is restricted to conveyancing
and commercial matters. See the BC No-tary website (click here for the completelist: http://bit.ly/o6F0A1
EquivalentsOntario: Lawyers: Law Clerks
ILCO is the Ontario professionalbody representing Law Clerks in On-tario. It defines a Law Clerk as a trainedprofessional doing independent legalwork, which may include managerial du-ties under the direction and guidance of alawyer and whose function. See theILCO website here:http://www.ilco.on.caBC: Lawyers: Paralegals
That’s not so easy to sum up as theother items in this section.
It is my view that BCPA’s position onparalegal practice is best reflected by thesituation of Law Clerks in Ontario.
In other words, there is no movementto promote independent paralegal prac-tice, nor does BCPA have the intent to doso; the BCPA wishes paralegals to workunder the supervision of lawyers.
Most recently, the Law Society’s Deliv-
ery of Legal Services Report recommendedexpanding the scope of practice for arti-
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
21TopicsBC PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION
What’s in a name? Paralegals are applying for, as a start,protection for their occupational title... whatever it turns out to be
An excerpt from the Legal Professions ActAuthority to practice law
15 (1) No person, other than a practising lawyer, is permitted to engage in the practice of law,
except
(a) a person who is an individual party to a proceeding acting without
counsel solely on his or her own behalf,
(b) as permitted by the Court Agent Act,
(c) an articled student, to the extent permitted by the benchers,
(d) an individual or articled student referred to in section 12 of the Legal
Services Society Act, to the extent permitted under that Act,
(e) a lawyer of another jurisdiction permitted to practise law in British
Columbia under section 16 (2) (a), to the extent permitted under
that section, and
(f) a practitioner of foreign law holding a permit under
section 17 (1) (a), to the extent permitted under that section.
(2) A person who is employed by a practising lawyer, a law firm, a law corporation or the govern-
ment and who acts under the supervision of a practising lawyer does not contravene subsection (1).
Occupational Title Protection fl to Page 22
cled students and paralegals. We understand that the Benchers
have accepted this recommendation, and have begun to explore it with the judicia-ry. Interestingly and surprisingly quickly,the process for articled students is beingimplemented this month, with amend-ments to the Law Society Rules to read:
Effective September 1, 2011, an articled stu-
dent who is not enrolled in temporary articles
may provide all the legal services that a lawyer
does, if certain conditions are met and with a few
stated exceptions (Rules 2-32.01 and 2-43(1)
and (2)).
The various reports of the Law Soci-ety’s task forces clearly set out what maybe required if ‘regulation’ ever comesinto effect. The financial and administra-tive requirements are immense; an en-deavour that the Law Society, despite itsrelatively immense resources, has chosennot to undertake, and one that BCPA,with its significantly limited resources,cannot undertake.
For these reasons, the BCPA has deter-mined that occupational-title protectionis something that will assist our professionas well as something that BCPA can com-mence. At present, one of the most press-ing issues for the BCPA and everyone elsegenerally is, “Who can call themselves aParalegal?”
Presently, anyone can call themselvesa paralegal, although an actual job title isin the realm of the employer (lawyer andlaw firms).
Title protection will give the profes-sion, the public and stakeholders a clearunderstanding of what a certified paralegal
or registered paralegal means; the type oftraining and/or education will regulate –to some extent – who can be called a certi-fied paralegal.
The exact title is yet to be determined,recognizing that some will choose to re-main with the title Paralegal.
BCPA’S ACTION PLAN❶Define and set out the requirements
for membership as a title-protectedparalegal during this past summer.
❷Consider the business plan and impli-cations for BCPA in administrationterms as we move towards title protec-tion (e.g. Fee increase? Office require-
ments including, possibly, paid admin-istrative support).
❸Thereafter, identify stakeholders andhold information meetings with stake-holders this fall.
❹Consider what, if any, CLE require-ments will be required by title- protected CLEs.
❺Continue to draft and work on titleprotection, heading towards a full ap-plication next spring.
BCPAs are hopefully involved at thegrassroots level, by understanding the is-sues. This could be as simple as ensuringthat they know the current terminology.(It continually surprises me that membersstill use Legal Assistant when they should
use Legal Administrative Assistant!) BCPA’s position is that the terms Par-
alegal and Legal Assistant are interchange-able job titles (with Paralegal being prefer-able) and that Legal Administrative Assistants,
Assistants and Legal Secretaries are inter-changeable.
They are also being asked to informand educate their firm, their colleaguesand their HR department..
Janet Crnkovic, BCPA’s Vice President of Edu-
cation & Certification, has worked as a Parale-
gal for more than 20 years. Contact her at
This article is reprinted with permission from
the BC Paralegal Association:
http://www.bcparalegalassociation.com
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
22TopicsOccupational Title Protection fl from Page 21
The University of British Columbiaopened the country’s first new purpose-
built university law school building in 30years in September, a $56-million facility.
Allard Hall – named after donor andalumnus Peter A. Allard – is expected to helpadvance legal research and education inCanada and, expand the UBC Faculty ofLaw’s presence in the community.
“From human rights to environmentalprotections, a passion for law and justice iscrucial for civil society,” says Prof. StephenToope, UBC President. “As a leading globalcentre for law education and research, AllardHall will provide UBC students and scholarswith an exceptional environment to learn,teach and conduct research that advances so-cial justice and the rule of law worldwide.”
Inspired by the legal community’s strongsupport for the law building campaign – in-cluding two foundational grants from TheLaw Foundation of BC which totaled $12million – lawyer, businessman and philan-thropist Peter A. Allard donated $11.86 mil-lion to the faculty, one of the largest individu-al gifts to a Canadian law school.
Other donors, who gave at least $1 mil-lion each during UBC’s fund-raising cam-paign, include: ✔ Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and the Lad-
ner family✔Davis LLP and Irwin Davis✔ Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP✔ Richards Buell Sutton LLP
Hundreds of gifts from the legal commu-nity, alumni and friends of UBC Law drovethe fundraising campaign to surpass an initial$24-million goal by more than $10 million.
The building is the first purpose-built,new law building for a Canadian law schoolin 30 years. It replaces a building that firstopened in 1951, which was expanded and re-named in 1976 after George F. Curtis, UBCLaw’s founding dean.
Allard Hall has expanded space for publicresources that include a state-of-the-art UBCLaw Library, which is an academic hub forstudents and the legal community, and theUBC Law Student’s Legal Advice Program(LSLAP) and the UBC chapter of Pro BonoStudents Canada, where law students pro-vide more than 200,000 hours of free legalservices to the community and non-profitgroups annually. Law reform organizationsin the building include: the InternationalCentre for Criminal Law Reform and Crimi-nal Justice Policy and the BC Law Institute.
New UBC law building opens
Allard Hall Forum
DON
ERHA
RDT
FALL 2011 ✦ BC Legal Management Association ✦ www.BCLMA.org ✦ Member Services: [email protected]
BOARD OF DIRECTORSErnie Gauvreau, President
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLPD: [email protected]
Cindy Hildebrandt, SecretaryRichards Buell Sutton LLPD: [email protected]
Lori-ann Birdsall, DirectorLindsay Kenney LLPD: [email protected]
Anita Parke, DirectorThorsteinssons LLPD: [email protected]
Susan Spalding, DirectorOwen Bird Law CorporationD: [email protected]
Paula Kiess, DirectorMcCullough O’Connor Irwin LLPD: [email protected]
Paul Sandhu, DirectorWhitelaw Twining Law Corp.D: [email protected]
Angela Zarowny, TreasurerAngela M. Zarowny, BA, CGA,
Accounting ServicesD: [email protected]
ADMINISTRATIONJane Kennedy, BCLMA Administrator & Membership ServicesPO Box 75562, RPO Edgemont VillageNorth Vancouver, V7R 4X1
P: 604.988.1221F: [email protected]
BCLMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS & SUBSECTION CHAIRS
Facilities & Service ManagementLorraine Burchynsky, Chair
Boughton Law CorporationDirect: [email protected]
Alicia Bond, Co-Chair
Bull Housser & Tupper LLPD: [email protected]
FinanceSheila Tham, Chair
Watson Goepel Maledy LLPD: [email protected]
Pelar Davidson, Co-Chair
Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLPD: [email protected]
Human ResourcesKerri Antifaev, Chair
Alexander Holburn Beaudin & Lang LLPD: [email protected]
Sonia Kenward, Co-Chair
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLPD: [email protected]
Knowledge ManagementKathy Barry, Chair
Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy LLPD: [email protected]
Sarah Sutherland, Co-Chair
McMillan LLPD: [email protected]
Small FirmsKimberly MacMillan, Chair
Simpson Thomas & AssociatesD: [email protected]
Lisa Dawson, Co-Chair
Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLPD: [email protected]
TechnologyGeorge Lo, Chair
Alexander Holburn Beaudin Lang LLPD: [email protected]
TrainersTara Cain, Chair
Clark Wilson LLPD: [email protected]
She’li Mullin, Co-Chair
Camp Fiorante MatthewsD: [email protected]
TOPICS EDITORIAL COMMITTEEBob Waterman, Chair
Richards Buell Sutton LLPD: [email protected]
Lorraine Burchynsky, Topics Advertising
Boughton Law CorporationD: [email protected]
Paula Butler, Barrister & Solicitor
Sunita MarchCamp Fiorante MatthewsD: [email protected]
Stephanie MarshD: [email protected]
Peter MorganMorgan:NewslettersP: [email protected]
SUBSECTION CHAIRS
DENNIS COX