“Great lawyers are not made in law school or in the courtroom. Great lawyers develop their knowledge and skills over time in all they do. They are shaped by experience, guided by principle, and know that learning never stops. Great lawyers strive for excellence in their practices, which goes beyond knowledge of the law. Great lawyering includes delivering effective and exceptional client service, as well as managing the professional risks that can harm clients and a law practice.”
The Art of Great Lawyering is the theme of the 17th Annual Jerry Mirza Memorial Risk Management Conference, offered by the ISBA Mutual Insurance Company in October. I am honored to be the sole presenter for this half-day conference tradition.
We’ll first highlight the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology management and legal ethics in TechnoEthics. Technology is important to every lawyer today, but we must be sure client confidences are protected wherever we are and whatever computing devices we are using in our practice.
We’ll next look at the areas of greatest malpractice risks and share common-sense solutions in What Keeps You Up at Night: Practical Solutions to Common Lawyer Nightmares. From employee conduct to trust accounts, from calendaring mistakes to The Avoidance Syndrome, this session will help you sleep better at night.
The third session of the day is the shortest but may be the most important. When You Go to Heaven, Will Your Practice Go to Hell? is a primer on planning to protect your clients, firm and reputation in the event of sudden death or disability. Never an easy subject, we’ll tackle it head-on and make it "doable".
Finally, we’ll explore how better communications can make you a better lawyer in Mastering Client Communications. As lawyers, we rarely blame communications when a case or client relationship goes bad, but there is more to this issue than meets the eye--or ear. Just understanding the three components of interpersonal communication will immediately help improve these skills.
The conference will be held in four locations the second week of October, beginning in Collinsville, IL on October 8. We'll next head to Bloomington October 9, then to Oakbrook Terrace in suburban Chicago on October 10, and finally to Chicago at the Harris Bank Auditorium on Friday, October 11.
I look forward to helping all those who attend in their journey to great lawyering.
For further information, check out the ISBA Mutual website.
