Women Attorneys Network of the South Shore

Having a Web Presence without A Website or Blog

Here is the chart that I mentioned at the meeting last night about the different online sites lawyers can use to have a web presence without having to commit to a blog.

Download HowToHave

Feb. 3rd Meeting - Stop Squirming, Start Earning

The next meeting of the Women Attorneys' Network of the South Shore is on Wed. Feb. 3, 2010!  Location - 160 Old Derby St. in Hingham, basement conference room.  Meeting time 6-8.  Meeting fee: $10.  Take a minute now to RSVP by emailing Laurie@WANSS.org. 

Stop Squirming, Start Earning! Renowned money coach Kathleen Burns Kingsbury will help you stop squirming when you have to ask for money from your clients. Role play to get comfortable asking for appropriate retainers. Show the value of your work rather than trying to explain what you charge and why. Expose and exorcise your hidden money beliefs that keep you trapped in the cycle of under-charging & under-earning. Please take Kathleen's anonymous survey so she can best meeting the needs of the group: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JQY5Y7B

Our sponsor this month is Chrometa:  http://chrometa.com/
When you don't accurately keep track of your time, you end up not billing clients for all the time you put in -- and lose money in the process.
Timesheets and stopwatches can help, but before you know it, you forget to fill out your time sheets or enter your hours into the computer.
That's where Chrometa can make the difference -- automatically capturing every second of your billable time with no effort or data entry on your part.
Result: you can increase your monthly billings up to 20% or more -- while actually working fewer hours. Take a closer look at Chrometa -- and gain control of all your billable time today.
 
We will be raffling off a copy of Chrometa. 

And as always, if you know some fantastic women attorneys who would make a great addition to the group, please invite them.

In addition, The Mass Bar is holding a data privacy conference in Springfield on Jan 27th. Click here for more information.  http://is.gd/6KhIH 

January 6th Meeting - Looking Back to Get Ahead

Hello all! We hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Our next meeting of the Women Attorneys' Network of the South Shore is on Wed. January 6th, 2010!  It's at the same location - 160 Old Derby St. in Hingham.  Meeting time 6-8.  Meeting fee: $10.  Take a minute now to RSVP by emailing Leanna or Alexis.

And as always, if you know some fantastic women attorneys who would make a great addition to the group, please invite them.

Our meeting this month is sponsored by the Law Business Revolution.  Our sponsors allow us to keep our meeting fees at the 2009 level, invest in our website & support for the meetings & hopefully have funds to start paying outside speakers to come in! So, please visit their site mentioned below and download the cool materials! 

"Have you wondered whether it's really possible to enjoy the freedom of running your law firm like a real business, in which you have a steady stream of happy clients and consistent cash flow without worry?  Well, it definitely is.  And you don't have to invest big bucks to learn how.  We've done the heavy lifting and now invite you to download over $22,500 worth of practice building tools and resources that were created for a million dollar law firm run by a single mom.  These resources are absolutely free and there are no strings attached.  Simply visit http://www.lawbusinessrevolution.com/, join the Law Business Revolution and get a jump start in making 2010 the best year ever in your law firm. "


Here's a look at our calendar for the coming year.   We have some fantastic speakers and some more things in the works. 

Jan  6: Looking Back to Get Ahead : What was your biggest success in 2009? What was your biggest learning experience? What was your most successful marketing campaign? What was your biggest marketing flop? Come and share and learn. Enter 2010 with a more secure foundation. Chances are good we'll be raffling off a book from Leanna & Alexis' Library of Success! And there will be markers and giant stickie notes. You don't want to miss this!

Feb 3:  Stop Squirming, Start Earning! Renowned money coach Kathleen Burns Kingsbury will help you stop squirming when you have to ask for money from your clients. Role play to get comfortable asking for appropriate retainers. Show the value of your work rather than trying to explain what you charge and why. Expose and exorcise your hidden money beliefs that keep you trapped in the cycle of under-charging & under-earning. 

March  3:   Hiring, Firing & Everything In Between.  Attorney Julie Halaby will talk about what you need to know about hiring employees, firing employees, when someone is a contract employee and when they are not. This is essential information for your growing law practice.  

April  7:  To be determined. 

May 5:  Immigration Essentials for the Non-Immigration Attorney.  Learn from Attorney Joshua Paulin how immigration rules and regulations affect your divorce clients, estate planning clients, criminally accused clients. Bonus - meet Eclipse the wonder dog!

June 2:  To be determined. Maybe self defense class. 

July & August: off

Sept 1 or 8? .: When Your Client (or their Kid) Gets Arrested. And You Aren't a Criminal Defense Attorney.  Essential information for the non-criminal defense attorney on the basics of DUIs and getting arrested. What to tell your client when they call you in a panic, and why every attorney should know a criminal defense attorney.  With Attorney Jessica Foley.

Oct:  To Be Determined

Nov: To Be Determined

Have a wonderful holiday and here's to a prosperous New Year!!

Leanna and Alexis

WANSS November 17th - Working with the Mentally Ill Client

Our next meeting of the Women Attorneys Network of the South Shore will be held on Tuesday Nov. 17th, 6-8 pm at the 160 Old Derby St. First Floor conference room in Hingham.  The meeting fee is $10.00 which is payable at the meeting. 

Our speaker will be our newest member, Andrea Barnes, JD, PHD.  Andrea is a clinical psychologist and an attorney, and will be talking to us about working with difficult and/or mentally ill clients.

Please bring a canned or boxed good (or 2) and be entered to win one of 2 books: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, or Influence by Robert Cialdini.  Food will be donated to the Hingham Interfaith Food Pantry. 

Our sponsor for this meeting is Darcy Schram of Advanced Court Reporting:  Advanced Court Reporting is a woman-owned, independent agency that has been providing outstanding court reporting and transcription services to the greater New England legal community since 1973.
Client satisfaction is their number one priority.  Whether you take depositions on a regular basis or just every now and then, working with one of their experienced, highly-trained, professional court reporters will ensure a smooth deposition, an accurate transcript and the best service you can provide for your clients.  www.AdvancedCourt.com

As always, please feel free to invite friends, check out our sponsor and please RSVP!

Hope to see you there! 

Leanna & Alexis

October 14, 2009 Meeting!

Hello all,

Thanks to much poking and prodding from you all and a well-timed phone call from Roni this morning we have schedule our next meeting of the Women Attorneys Network of the South Shore! 

We are blaming the economy for the lack of meetings this fall - it improved and Alexis and I got too busy with other things to put a meeting together (sounds better than sick kids and procrastination, right?)

Any way, please come to our office at 160 Old Derby St., Suite 456 on Wednesday October 14 at 6pm (meeting is 6-8) for wine, Whole Foods catering and the wonderful company of your fellow WANSS members.  We'll do some brainstorming around what we want for future meetings, and talk about sharing the joys of hosting meetings.

Important Details:  Meeting is $10.00, please RSVP, cash is best, and please feel free to bring a friend. 

See you there!

Leanna & Alexis

June 10 - What is Your Plan B?

What would you do if you were in an accident and in the hospital for a few days or weeks? Would someone know how to contact your clients and the Court to let them know what was going on? Does someone have your voicemail passwords? Your email logins? Could a substitute attorney come into your office and know what was going on with each file, what each deadline was? 

At the June 10 WANSS meeting, we'll work on these emergency plans.  You'll come away with a document that you can give to a back up attorney, your spouse, your office mate - so that your work and client's lives are not jeopardized by your accident or illness. 

Meeting will be held at 160 Old Derby St. Suite 456, Hingham MA.  From 6-8pm.  Meeting fee is $10.00  Dinner is served. You may want to bring sweater as the conference room can sometimes be chilly.  Please RSVP by replying to this email.  And as always, spread the word about WANSS!
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We love our sponsors!

In order to continuously improve our offerings and to get us a better website with a place for profiles of our fantastic members, and use our Virtual Assistant to help organize the meetings (it's not as easy as it looks), we have started looking for sponsors for our meetings.

The June meeting is sponsored by the wonderful folks at SmartMarketing:
SmartMarketing is led by Mark Merenda (http://twitter.com/markmerenda) who works with his team to help attorneys market the invisible - their services. 

Check out their great articles, presentations, see what SmartMarketing can do for you.
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Other events

This Thursday, May 21 (tomorrow) The Downtown Women's Club is hosting an event at the Hingham Gift Company from 6-8pm. Free. Click here for details & to RSVP.

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The Solo and Small Firm Committee of the Women's Bar Association and the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) have joined forces for a 3 part series aimed at assisting attorneys that are starting a new office.

Part II: Avoiding Malpractice Claims and Choosing Malpractice Insurance.
 
Do you know the short list of ways to avoid legal malpractice claims during this financial meltdown?  Since 2 out of 3 attorneys have a malpractice claim made against them during the course of their career, this is a must-attend program.  The panelists will cover the most common causes of claims, suggestions for how to avoid those claims, a dynamic discussion of malpractice insurance coverage, and explanation of the differences and intersection of malpractice claims and BBO complaints.  Learn from our experienced panelists, and feel free to bring questions.  Questions also may be submitted anonymously prior to the program by sending them to the RSVP email address.

Supplement what you learn here with Part III in June on choosing office technology.

When: Thu., May 28th, 6:00 - 7:30 pm

Where: Peabody & Arnold, LLP, 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston MA.  Directions.  Bring ID for security screening. Cost: $5.00 for non-members, free for WBA members.

Panelists:

Terri L. Pastori, Esq., Peabody & Arnold, LLP
George A. Berman, Esq., Peabody & Arnold, LLP and Chair of the BBO
Robert T. Gill, Esq., Peabody & Arnold, LLP
Terence J. Welsh, MBA Insurance Agency, Inc.

Prior registration is required.  Payment must be made at the door in cash or by check (payable to the WBA) only.  RSVPs for May/Part II program to Jared Correia by May 25, 2009 at jared@masslomap.org.  Please include your contact information and WBA membership status in your RSVP.  You may also include in your RSVP your anonymous question(s) to the panel.

Wed. May 6, 2009. Profitable & Efficient Practices!

Don't miss the next Woman Attorneys Network of the South Shore Meeting. 
Held at 160 Old Derby St.  Hingham, MA 02043.  6 -8 pm. 

Jared Correia of LOMAP (the Law Office Management Assistance Program) will be here to talk to us about
simple ways to use technology to make our practices more efficient, and he'll be educating us on how not to run afoul of the new privacy regulations. http://www.masslomap.org/

Leanna and Alexis will talk about making your practice profitable (and having more free time) by using Virtual Assistants and outsourcing.

Come and share your favorite tips, or just come and learn.

As always, there will also be fun networking, tasty food, great company and maybe a raffle!

Meeting fee is $10.00.  Please bring friends and please RSVP.

Leanna@HamillLawOffice.com
Alexis@AlexisLevitt.com

April 28th Panel on Planning for New Law Office

The Solo and Small Firm Committee of the Women's Bar Association and the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) have joined forces for a 3 part series aimed at assisting attorneys that are starting a new office. 
 
Part I: Business, Marketing and Operational Planning for the New Law Office.  Choosing to open a law firm is a big step, one that should be well-considered.  It is not just about hanging a shingle; it is about building the whole house.  Learn from panelists the essentials of developing your business and marketing plan, and find out what you should be thinking about in the way of office space, entity selection, recordkeeping, budgeting, revenue generation and more.  Make this the launching pad for your new firm, and supplement what you learn here with the following parts of this series (Part II in May, and III in June) on choosing malpractice insurance and choosing office technology.

When: April 28th, 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Where: the Ground Floor Conference Room at the Middlesex Superior Court in the Woburn/Trade Center 128, 200 Trade Center, Woburn

Directions: At http://www.tradecenter128.com/directions.htm  Main entrance to building is through the glass rounded entrance as you first approach the building.  Conference room is across the hall from the Dunkin' Donuts.  There is ample free parking outdoors and in the attached garage.

Panelists:

Jared D. Correia, Esq., LOMAP

Chiara Urbani LaPlume, Esq., Alan R. Goodman & Associates

Leanna Hamill, Esq., Leanna, Hamill, Attorney at Law

Admission fee is $5 for each part of the three-part series.  This fee is waived for WBA members registering by the RSVP date.  Prior registration is required.  Payment must be made at the door in cash or by check only.  RSVPs for April program to Jared Correia by April 23, 2009 at jared@masslomap.org (please include your contact information and WBA membership status in your RSVP).

April 1st Meeting & Special Offer on Photos

Please join us at the April WANSS meeting on Wednesday, April 1st from 6 - 8 pm at our office in Hingham at 160 Old Derby St., Suite 456.  We will have an open format, much like our January meeting.  Come, enjoy some good food, friends, and networking.  We will be asking for progress reports on establishing your online presence, be prepared!

You must RSVP to either of us so that we can order the correct amount of food.  Please invite colleagues, but ask them to RSVP, as well.  The fee for the meeting will be $10. 

Thanks - and see you then.

Alexis & Leanna
alexis@alexislevitt.com
leanna@hamilllawoffice.com

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We are very lucky to have a special offer from Gretje & Lori on professional photos. Gretje & Lori did Leanna's photo, Gail Otis' & Alexis' (even though she doesn't have it up on her website yet).

This price ($300) for photos and make-up is over half off the normal price of $450 for Gretje and $200 for Lori, and you'll end up with fantastic photos for web and print. The special is only good during April 20 and 22. Download the flier here: Download LoriGretjepromo4-09

March 4th Meeting - Having An Internet Presence without a Website or a Blog

March meeting is on Wed. March 4 at 160 Old Derby Street, Suite 456, Hingham. 6-8pm.  The topic will be "How To Have An Internet Presence (and get clients) Without A Website or A Blog" and will cover topics such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Avvo, Justia, HARO and more. (If you don't know what those are, then you need this meeting!) Bring a lap top if you have it and want to get started building your presence. 

 Please email one of us to RSVP so we know how many chairs and cupcakes to have, and how much food. 

 Meeting fee is $7.00.  

Thanks and hope to see you there!

Leanna & Alexis

Leanna@HamillLawOffice.com
Alexis@AlexisLevitt.com