Gina's CLE Blog

It's Homecoming Week at West LegalEdcenter!

Like many educational institutions this fall, West LegalEdcenter is celebrating Homecoming!

Today's "Pep Rally" begins a week-long celebration of our employees' alma maters - from high school (Wadena Indians' blue and gold), to college (Winona State University Warriors' purple and white), to law school (University of MN Golden Gophers' maroon and gold) - everyone can proudly wear their school's colors. Tomorrow brings the coronation of our Homecoming King and Queen, and this royalty will reign over the tailgating party and flag football match on Wednesday.

Each month West LegalEdcenter recognizes the birthdays and service anniversaries of our staff. In this small way, we are able to celebrate milestones and socialize with our colleagues.

What does your organization or firm do to enhance the relationships with your staff and members and encourage community?

CLE Spotlight: Teicher's "Almost All I Need to Know About Ethics I Learned in Kindergarten" Sure to Inform as Well as Entertain

As I'm lucky enough to have spent time with Stuart Teicher - the "CLE Performer" - I personally know him to be funny, engaging, and entertaining, as well as an expert on attorney ethical topics.

That makes Start's presentation of "All I Need to Know About Ethics I Learned in Kindergarten," a live webcast on West LegalEdcenter next Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 3:00pm Eastern (2:00pm Central, 12:00pm Pacific), a program not to miss!

Many lawyers believe that the ethics rules are all common sense-- basically a version of those lessons we learned in Kindergarten.  Stuart agrees...in part.  In his signature "New Jersey Style," Stuart explains that when you scratch beneath the surface and look at some key parts of the rules, you find nuances that make a difference in the day-to-day practice. Stuart gives an entertaining and engaging seminar where he discusses certain critical attorney behaviors but also reveals hidden practical pitfalls in key rules such as misconduct, supervision and confidentiality.  Stuart then switches gears and shows how the rules of professional conduct are a source of direction for lawyers.

For more information or to register for the webcast, click here.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Social Media Presence

This has been a topic of great interest to all of us who have moved into the social media maelstrom - how do you measure how effective you are in this arena?

I personally don't take much stock in scores such as Klout, especially since a recent change in their algorithm has received much negative feedback from users with scores adversely effected.

Instead, I look to the connections and communications I've had with readers of my blog, followers on Twitter or Facebook, or with conversations I've had at conferences or events. I love hearing: "YOU'RE CLEGina? I read your blog!"

How are you measuring the reach and effectiveness of your social media strategy? I'd love to hear from you.

Keeping Up With Blogging - Writing a New Post

My last blog post was on the challenges of keeping up with the myriad of rules and regulations that govern the mandatory continuing legal education world. Today, I'm worried about keeping up with the expectations of my audience in the blogosphere. It is challenging to stay on top of my thoughts and put together relevant blog posts when my daily job often takes up so much of my time, both in the office and out.

This last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Atlanta for a conference we were holding on M&A and Private Equity topics. Our attendance was high and I always appreciate the opportunity to interact with our customers, speakers, and staff located at other sites. 

I was slightly disappointed that my first trip to Atlanta (outside of the airport that is) was met with less than perfect weather. I was hoping for the "Hotlanta" about which I've heard so much, but was instead greeted by rain and 60-degree weather. As a Minnesotan, I would normally relish such balmy temps in October, however we have been experiencing a crazy mix of sun and high temps (70's-80's) so I was a might chilly.

The highlight of my trip was a meeting with the staff at the Georgia MCLE Department of the State Bar. Always a pleasure to work with, I got to put faces to names and voices and discuss process improvements and how the State's system works. It was a great meeting and I left feeling ready to implement changes to our internal procedures here at West LegalEdcenter which will hopefully make life easier for the staff in Georgia.

While my trip to Atlanta may have delayed my recent blog posting schedule, it has helped me keep in touch with the regulators who will keep me informed about changes to the rules and regulations that may occur. That's a tradeoff that I'll make any day!

Keeping Up with Rule Changes, Especially When Effective Immediately

 
One of the biggest challenges I face, as someone who accredits programs nationally in all 45 US states with MCLE requirements, is keeping up with rule changes. How to identify a change? What is the impact on us as a provider and our customers as attorneys? How to implementing processes to incorporate the changes to ensure we are following the newest and most up-to-date rules?

Recently there have been a couple of big rules changes, in Illinois and New Jersey, that were implimented to be effective immediately upon passage by the Court. This presents even more challenge than any other type of rule change as there often is no "warning" and requires adjustments to processes and procedures to be created and incorporated right away.

I have been working on a process for regular auditing of the state rules, requirements, FAQs, and court orders to ensure that identification of changes happens much more quickly and that changes are not missed. While this can be a time consuming process, regular searching of the state's accrediting authority's website has given me information about not only rule changes, but other news that impacts MCLE such as extension of deadlines or compliance announcements.

How are you keeping up with rule changes? Do you have a regular process in place or are you relying upon notification elsewhere? From the regulators themselves? From this site?