Tips Today You Can Use Tomorrow

8:55 Welcome and Introductions

9:00 Security and Backup

Clara Cottrell, BASF Corporation, Research Triangle Park
Pegeen Turner, Legal Cloud Technology, Raleigh
Paul J. Unger, Affinity Consulting Group, Columbus, OH

Whether you are a solo or larger firm, mitigating your security risks is your professional and legal responsibility. In this session, we provide suggestions for reducing your risks and keeping your client data safe. Did you know that a good backup system is part of the security equation? We discuss best practices for the backup of your files, emails, and systems as well!

10:05 Litigation and E-courts

Afi S. Johnson-Parris, Fox Rothchild LLP, Greensboro
Michele Livingstone, Poyner Spruill, Charlotte
Paul J. Unger, Affinity Consulting Group, Columbus, OH

Whether you live in the courtroom or make the occasional appearance, our speakers expound on how lawyers can stay on top of the docket and deadlines, manage evidence, provide persuasive arguments, and learn more about the new e-court filing system rolling out across the state.

This session does not qualify for CLE credit.

11:08 Break

11:18 Managing Change and People While Staying Sane

James M. "Jim" Calloway, Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma City, OK
Samantha Gordon, McIntyre Elder Law, Charlotte
Michele Livingstone, Poyner Spruill, Charlotte

Managing people is not a skill necessarily taught in law school but is an essential component for most lawyers, whether you are supervising other lawyers or your support team. Remote and virtual team members add to the management challenge. On top of that you may find that even with the smallest team, change adds a layer of complexity. In this session, we provide management tips and some suggestions for putting your oxygen mask on first!

This session does not qualify for CLE credit.

11:52 60 Tips in 60 Minutes

James M. "Jim" Calloway, Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma City, OK
Damon T. Duncan, Duncan Law LLP, Greensboro
Brandon J. Huffman, Odin Law and Media, Raleigh
Afi S. Johnson-Parris, Fox Rothchild LLP, Greensboro
Pegeen Turner, Legal Cloud Technology, Raleigh
Paul J. Unger, Affinity Consulting Group, Columbus, OH

In this fast and fun session, our speakers provide actionable tips for everything from using generative artificial intelligence to leveraging mobile technologies and everything in between. In this session, there is never a dull moment as our panelists provide practice management and technology tips that are sure to lead to some enlightening ideas!

This session does not qualify for CLE credit.

12:59 Lunch Break

1:29 Client-centric Services

James M. "Jim" Calloway, Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma City, OK
Damon T. Duncan, Duncan Law LLP, Greensboro
Catherine Sanders Reach, North Carolina Bar Association, Cary
Kim K. Steffan, Steffan & Associates PC, Hillsborough

Do you put the client's experience first? You should! Excellent communication is necessary to comply with RPC 1.4, and it can also ensure that your clients become fans of your firm. It isn't always about "winning" or "losing", but a client who feels well represented and in the know will tell others. Our panelists suggest ways to make sure that your firm can develop and improve your client-focused services.

2:00 Business Development, Finance and Marketing

James M. "Jim" Calloway, Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma City, OK
Brandon J. Huffman, Odin Law and Media, Raleigh
Afi S. Johnson-Parris, Fox Rothchild LLP, Greensboro
Catherine Sanders Reach, North Carolina Bar Association, Cary
Kim K. Steffan, Steffan & Associates PC, Hillsborough

Whether you need more clients or have plenty now, firms should have business development and marketing strategies in place to remain visible and top of mind in the marketplace. We also discuss how to get on top of your finances to make sure that you are conversant in your bottom line so you can focus on stability and growth.

This session does not qualify for CLE credit.

3:00 Break

3:10 Microsoft 365 and Law Practice Technology^‡

James M. "Jim" Calloway, Oklahoma Bar Association, Oklahoma City, OK
Damon T. Duncan, Duncan Law LLP, Greensboro
Pegeen Turner, Legal Cloud Technology, Raleigh
Paul J. Unger, Affinity Consulting Group, Columbus, OH

Technology competency is a requirement under the NC Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1. How can you make the best use of tools you already have? Are there practice-specific technologies that you can deploy to stay on top of a case or matter so you can focus on the representation and not the administrative processes? In this session, we give you tips to superpower your technology so you can get more done with accuracy and acumen.

4:10 Adjourn

‡ Indicates portion providing Technology Training credit

Description

This full day CLE/CPM program is designed to give everyone actionable and tactical information that they can put to use immediately.

What is a tip? For instance: Type =lorem(#,#) and hit <enter> in a Word document to add placeholder text by several paragraphs and number of sentences. Handy for templates! Or, right-click on an address in Outlook to add to your contacts so you don't have to rely on auto-complete. Or, consider printing a document or getting Word to read it aloud during final proofing to make sure you don't miss anything. You get the point!

Contributors

James A. "Jim" Calloway

James A. "Jim" Calloway is the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program. He manages several projects for the OBA, including the OBA-NET, our member's official online community, and the OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference.

Jim publishes the award-winning law blog Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips and has served as co-author of three American Bar Association books on law practice management, including two on alternative billing. He recently retired his podcast The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology with co-host Sharon Nelson after 289 monthly episodes. Podcast archives can be accessed on The Legal Talk Network or via Apple podcasts.

Jim is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association and the American Bar Association, where he served as chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2005 and has been selected to be a speaker at ABA TECHSHOW over 20 times. He is a member of the ABA Law Practice Division's Law Practice Magazine editorial board and wrote the Practice Management Advice column for that magazine for five years. He was awarded the Law Practice Division's Robert P. Wilkens Award in recognition of Best Column in Division Publications in 2015. He is also currently a member of the LP Division's Legal Futures Initiative and its Legal Technology Resource Center committee.

In November 2018, Jim was awarded the William G. Paul Oklahoma Justice Award from Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. for his work on access to justice projects, including Oklahoma's rule on limited scope legal services.

Jim has been inducted as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. He is an active member of the National Association of Bar Executives, the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, the Practice Management Advisors of North America and the Association of Legal Administrators. He is a former President of the Cleveland County (Oklahoma) Bar Association.

Jim earned his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he was named to the Oklahoma Law Review.

Click here for more information about Jim or follow him on X.
Clara R. Cottrell

Clara R. Cottrell is Assistant General Counsel, Compliance & Privacy for BASF Corporation in Research Triangle Park. As part of the Legal Compliance group, she spends her time exploring and implementing data privacy and protection strategies for the company and in relation to the many digital projects, products, and initiatives across the varied business industries serviced by BASF. She also acts as US support on global and regional projects for data privacy and protection issues.

A registered patent agent, Clara was in private practice at Smith Moore Leatherwood, now Fox Rothschild, in Greensboro, before joining BASF in July 2013. Clara moved into her current data privacy role in January 2020.

Clara is actively involved in the North Carolina Bar Association with the Corporate Counsel Section (past Section Chair) and the Privacy and Data Security Section (Council member) as well as Chairing the NCBA CLE Committee and being a member of the NCBA Membership Committee. She has been named a 40 Under Forty by The Business Journal, a 2013 Legal Elite Young Guns Best Under 40 and a North Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Star.

Clara earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University and went on to earn her J.D. from Wake Forest University. After law school, Clara clerked for the Honorable Judge Ben Tennille (retired) in the North Carolina Business Court.

Click here for more information about Clara.
Damon T. Duncan

Damon T. Duncan is a bankruptcy and workers' compensation attorney at Duncan Law LLP in Greensboro. Duncan Law LLP has offices located across the state in Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Salisbury.

In addition to practicing in the areas of bankruptcy and workers compensation, Damon has served as the chair of the Law Practice Management & Technology section of the North Carolina Bar Association, secretary of the Greensboro Bar Association and has been named as a "Rising Star" and "Business Elite" in North Carolina.

Damon is also a part of the adjunct faculty at Elon University School of Law. He teaches a class during the winter term covering law practice management.

Damon earned his B.A. in Communications (Corporate emphasis) from Elon University and his J.D. from Elon University School of Law.

Click here for more information about Damon.
Samantha E. Gordon

Samantha E. Gordon is an Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorney at McIntyre Elder Law in Charlotte.

Samantha's tenure at institutions such as Jones Branz & Whitaker LLP and the Law Offices of Shane Smith allowed her to dive deep into the complexities of estate planning and personal injury cases, respectively. These experiences set the foundation for her specialization in elder law.

Samantha is an active member of the North Carolina Bar Association and Foundation. Since 2017, she has been a lead volunteer attorney for the NCBF Wills for Heroes program that provides free estate planning documents to first responders in North Carolina. In addition, she has been a co-chair of the Young Lawyers Division Pro Bono Committee since 2018 and received the distinguished award of Young Lawyer of the Quarter from the Bar Association in 2021. She has also been inducted into the North Carolina Bar's Pro Bono Honor Society in 2019, 2020, and 2021 with over 70 hours of pro bono work each year. In 2022, she was awarded among the young lawyers of the North Carolina Bar Association the Young Lawyer Pro Bono Service Award for her pro bono service throughout the years.

Samantha earned her B.A. in Political Science/Legal Studies/Economics from Bloomsburg University and her J.D., with highest pro bono honors, from Charlotte School of Law, where she participated in numerous clinics and organizations.

Click here for more information about Samantha.
Brandon J. Huffman

Brandon J. Huffman is the founding and managing attorney at Odin Law and Media in Raleighwhere he focuses on representing video game and interactive media clients. His law firm focused on providing creative legal counseling clients in corporate, intellectual property, content clearance, privacy, commercial contracts, employment and internet regulatory matters.

Brandon volunteers as general counsel to the International Game Developers' Association, the largest trade organization focused on supporting individual game developers. In early 2017, he was awarded the IGDA's MVP award.

Brandon earned his B.A. from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his J.D., cum laude, from The Ohio State University.

Click here for more information about Brandon.
Afi S. Johnson-Parris

Afi S. Johnson-Parris is a Partner at Fox Rothchild LLP in Greensboro. She is a NC Board Certified Family Law Specialist attorney practicing divorce and family law.

Before law school, Afi served her country as a Computer Systems Analysis Officer in the Air Force. After law school, she began practicing complex civil litigation in Atlanta and relocated to Greensboro in 2006 to practice employment and civil litigation. She founded her own divorce and family law firm in 2008 and has been practicing family law ever since.

Afi enjoys sharing her law practice management expertise gained from years in varied practice settings from AM Law 100 firms to solo and small firms. She is a former chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Law Practice Management and Technology Section. She is also a frequent presenter for law practice management programs, continuing legal education, and as a faculty member of the ABA's Family Law Trial Advocacy program. Currently, she is the Chair-Elect of the 25,000 plus member America Bar Association Law Practice Division.

Most recently, Afi was named to 2023 US News & World Report Best Lawyers and North Carolina Super Lawyers in the Family Law category. She was recognized as a Lawyer's Weekly Woman of Justice in 2019 and was the state-wide winner in Family Law for the 2017 Legal Elite by Business North Carolina magazine.

Afi earned her B.B.A., on an Air Force ROTC Academic Scholarship, in Computer Information Systems from the University of Miami, M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix, Southern Colorado and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was a published member of its Law Review.

Click here for more information about Afi.
Michele Livingstone

Michele Livingstone is an Associate at Poyner Spruill in Charlotte. She focuses her practice on civil and commercial litigation matters, representing businesses and professionals in state and federal courts. She also has experience representing governmental entities in litigation in state, federal, and appellate courts on a variety of issues including police practices and issues arising under the North Carolina State Constitution.

In 2022, Michele was honored with the Charles F. Blanchard Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the North Carolina Bar Association and is active in the North Carolina Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.

Prior to joining the firm, Michele served as a defense attorney on a variety of cases including labor and employment, professional malpractice, construction defects, and workers' compensation. She also was an associate attorney at Kennon Craver PLLC in Durham.

Michele earned her B.S. in Political Science and Economics from Santa Clara University and her J.D. from Wake Forest University of Law.

Click here for more information about Michele.
Catherine Sanders Reach

Catherine Sanders Reach is Director for the Center for Practice Management at the North Carolina Bar Association, providing practice technology and management assistance to lawyers and legal professionals. Formerly she was Director, Law Practice Management and Technology for the Chicago Bar Association and the Director at the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center.

Prior to her work at the NCBA, CBA and ABA she worked in library and information science environments for a number of years, working at Ross and Hardies as a librarian. She received a master's degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 1997.

Catherine's professional activities include articles published in Law Practice magazine, Law Technology News and GPSolo Magazine, as well as numerous other publications. She has given presentations on the use of technology in law firms for national bar conferences, state and local bar associations and organizations such as the National Association of Bar Council and the Association of American Law Schools. In 2011 she was selected to be one of the inaugural Fastcase 50, celebrating fifty innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders in the field of law and in 2013 became a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. She served on the ABA TECHSHOW Board from 2007-2009, 2014-2016 and is co-vice chair in 2019.

Click here for more information about Catherine. Connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Kim K. Steffan

Kim K. Steffan is the Managing Partner at Steffan & Associates PC in Hillsborough. She has been in general practice since 1986, most of that time in Hillsborough. Her areas of practice consist of business law, employment law, estate administration and probate, estate planning and real estate.

Kim serves on the Regional Advisory Board for UNC's Small Business and Technology Development Center. She is a current Board member and past president of the Orange County Bar Association. She serves on the District 18 Bar Mentoring Committee to assist young lawyers with professional development. She has spoken to various groups on estate planning, business law, family law, workers' comp, and other topics.

From time to time, Kim serves as a volunteer guest faculty member at seminars and workshops at the UNC Law School. She writes the monthly "Ask the Lawyer" legal column for the News of Orange County. She received the 2009 Work Life Balance Award presented by the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys.

Kim earnedher B.A. magna cum laude from Duke University and her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill.

Click here for more information about Kim.
Pegeen Turner

Pegeen Turner is a Legal Technology Consultant and President of Legal Cloud Technology in Raleigh. She has worked with attorneys and their technology both inside and outside of law firms for more than 20 years.

Pegeen's expertise lies in her strategic ability to seamlessly integrate cutting-edge cloud-based solutions into legal practices, elevating the operational efficiency and technological prowess of firms. She excels not only in implementing new technologies but also in optimizing the use of existing systems, ensuring that legal practices thrive in the digital era.

Pegeen began her legal career working as a software trainer for a large, Raleigh law firm. She soon moved into law firm IT and worked for both big and small firms before launching Legal Cloud Technology. She understands the structure and function inside of law firms and she works to help firms use technology to their advantage. She prides herself on bridging the gap so that law firms and attorneys can understand and use the best technology for their firms.

Pegeen earned her B.B.A. degree in International Business from James Madison University.

Click here for more information about Pegeen.
Paul J. Unger

Paul J. Unger an attorney and one of the founding partners of Affinity Consulting Group in Columbus, OH. He focuses on national speaking/training, coaching, strategic consulting, and workflow design for law firms and legal departments. He provides continuing legal education (CLE), legal-specific software training, and professional development programs for law firms and legal departments throughout North America.

Paul is the author of dozens of publications & legal technology manuals, including recently published books, Tame the Digital Chaos: A Lawyer's Guide to Distraction, Time, Task & Email Management (2020), Getting Your Digital House in Order (2023), PowerPoint for Legal Professionals (2023), and Adobe Acrobat for Legal Professionals (2020). He served as chair of the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center (2012-13, 2013-14), chair of ABA TECHSHOW (2011), and on the Executive Board for the Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) (2017-18, 2018-19).

Paul is an active member of the Ohio State and New York State Bar Associations. He specializes in time, task & distraction management, document and email management, paperless office strategies, courtroom technology, and legal-specific software training for law firms and legal departments.

Click here for more information about Paul.

Click here to view Forms and CLE Policies, Terms and Conditions.

If paying by check, click here for a printable registration form. Please reference the live webcast program code 351RW2.

Certificate of Completion and Archived Video: Your certificate of completion and archived video will be available approximately two weeks of the program date and can be found in your CLE account. MCLE credit is available to registrants only on the day(s) of the live event. This archived content is offered solely for review purposes and is not a substitute for live attendance.

Description

Contributors

James A. "Jim" Calloway

Clara R. Cottrell

Damon T. Duncan

Samantha E. Gordon

Brandon J. Huffman

Afi S. Johnson-Parris

Michele Livingstone

Catherine Sanders Reach

Kim K. Steffan

Pegeen Turner

Paul J. Unger