April 09 Around the States - New South Wales

 

2009 may be the year of economic downturn – but not so for ALPMA in NSW.  It is business as usual and more.  We have continued to offer members, their guests and members of the broader legal management community a series of professional development and networking opportunities – representing, in these difficult times, extremely good value for money.

Overview of PD Events

We closed last year with two sessions devoted to OH&S.  Mark Addison’s presentation in November was followed by “Making OH&S Cost Effective” presented by Barbara Robertson.  An expert in the Alexander Technique, Barbara took us through how to effectively break bad posture and work habits.

2009 opened in February with a fascinating presentation by Tracey Cain of Australian Public Affairs.  She covered the topic “When the Media is Relevant to Legal Practice”.  Tracey gave real life examples that brought home to the audience the potential relationships between law firms and the media.  One comment received from the evaluation survey was:

“Tracey spoke very well and she was able to portray the importance of the media to the legal profession with valid examples - traditionally, we would associate media intervention with high profile firms and cases - and most of us would probably not have thought about the impact of the media in our size firms.”

In March dynamic presenter Fiona Cosgrove gave NSW members “Mentoring: A How to Guide” which was attended by 55 members and guests.  Fiona defined mentoring and then went further to explain the purpose and the relationships that develop.  She tailored her presentation to the legal industry, noting that lawyers are in the top thee professions for most unhappy jobs in the world; they suffer 3.6 times the amount of depression from other professions; and have higher divorce rates.  She gave us principles that should be incorporated into any mentoring relationship; questions to ask; and pitfalls and precedents.

April saw the return of our annual Trust Account update presented by John Mitchell, Chief Trust Account Inspector for the Law Society of NSW.  It was a timely presentation with John going through a demonstration of the new online lodgement method.  As always, it was an extremely well attended meeting with 61, of whom 29 were guests – either non-members or from the firms of members.  This is a great example of the flexibility of our membership which allows you to:

•    send a substitute in your place two times per annum at no cost and/or
•    invite additional members at a reduced rate
 

Regional Expansion

 

The ACT group have had two meetings in 2009:

 

• Unlocking the Secrets of Websites presented by Melbourne IT and
• The Changing Federal Workplace Relations Laws presented by the ACT Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

 

The membership in Canberra is slowly growing and we hope to have an extended professional development workshop there in May. We continue to support the group from Sydney and would like to especially thank ALPMA member Anne Reynolds for her assistance with the Canberra group.

 

Anne has represented ALPMA in the ACT on a number of occasions and has developed close links with the ACT Law Society and some of our members in the ACT. She actively encourages the members and seeks out opportunities to grow the membership numbers there. The Executive Committee is grateful for her reports on the success of the meetings she attends and for giving us feedback from ACT members.

We have worked closely in this period with Macquarie Bank on a series of workshops extending beyond the Sydney CBD. Unfortunately a session planned for April in Newcastle was unable to proceed but we thank the Newcastle Law Society, Legalink and Toll DX for their support in promoting the event. We will be proceeding with a Parramatta session in May.

 

Building Relationships

The NSW team is also working at continuing relationships with QL and the College of Law as well as the Women Lawyers Association of NSW. We will be cross promoting events with the WLA and urge members to look out for mention of this Association’s events in our regular “What’s On this Month” emails to you.

 

We will shortly be involved with WLA in the launch of a Business Case Template for Flexible Work Practice that will be co-branded with ALPMA. George Anderson, ALPMA member with Carroll & O’Dea worked closely with the WLA in developing the template. The launch will be held at the Law Society of NSW and members will be sent an invitation to attend.

 

Sponsorship

ALPMA is a not for profit organisation and as such our Sponsors are crucial to our survival and contribute directly to the quality of members benefits. We have been extremely fortunate in being able to work with such a great group as our 2008/9 corporate sponsors: Helene from ASK Funding; Paul and Lee from Fuji Xerox Document Supplies; Tisha and Tara from Law in Order; and David and Selen from Stratatel Softlog.

In March we held a National Sponsorship launch at Swaab Attorneys to launch the 2009/10 prospectus for each of the states and national. It was a great opportunity to build on existing relationships and make new contacts. The NSW Executive is currently reviewing applications received for corporate sponsorship in 2009/10 and will be announcing these shortly.

 

On a lighter note

We had a great turn out to the members’ cocktails held in February at the Tattersalls Club. We had 40 members and guests all enjoying the lovely wines and nibbles in the beautiful Tattersalls Room, overlooking Hyde Park. Perhaps because it was in a private room, it was one of the friendliest and most sociable cocktail functions I have ever attended – the group literally had to be shooed away at the end of the night. It was a great networking exercise for members and for our corporate sponsors. Another social event is scheduled for June and I highly recommend that you take some time out to attend.

 

Amalgamation

The time has come to formalise the current federated structure of the ALPMA state groups to become one national entity. For more information on the amalgamation see our National President’s report in this newsletter. You will, in a few weeks, receive notification of voting on a special resolution to proceed with amalgamation and the winding up of LOMG Inc T/A ALPMA (NSW). For your convenience, voting will be electronic and open for a period of seven days. For our part, the NSW Executive is in favour of the amalgamation and urges you to participate in the voting process.

 

If you have any questions about the national amalgamation, please feel free to contact Bronwyn Pott, National President, or any of the NSW Executive Committee. All our contact details can be found at http://www.alpma.com.au/nswboard.htm . It is hoped that the new national entity will commence from 1 July this year.

 

We look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming monthly seminars and Extended Professional Development Workshops. For more information on what’s coming up, visit the website at http://www.alpma.com.au/nswevents.htm . And don’t forget – now is the time to register for the annual Legal Management Summit – this year on the Gold Coast.

 

See you there!

Regards,

Gail Edmonds
NSW President