Women Attorneys Network of the South Shore

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

May Meeting & Upcoming Events

Our May Meeting is fast approaching. It will be on Wednesday May 7 at 6 p.m. at the boutique clothing store Lyn Evans for Potpourri Designs in Hanover.  It's located in Merchant's Row at 2053 Washington St. Hanover.  Our guests will be Image Specialist Lori Johnson of Your Best Image, and photographer Gretje Ferguson.  They will be talking to us about dressing for different events - Court, going from client meetings to after hours events, and if you are going to be on television or in the newspaper (like those of our members who came to the self-defense class last week.)

In addition to learning from Lori and Gretje, there will be discounted shopping and appetizers provided by Lyn Evans. Please R.S.V.P. to Leanna at leanna@hamilllawoffice.com  or Alexis at Alexis@AlexisLevitt.com

In other news...

Former WANSS guest speakers Kathleen Burns Kingsbury and Stacey Shipman are holding a retreat in Vermont in June on the connection between your mind, body, confidence levels and a successful career/business. There will be yoga, hiking, and workshops on money and business.  Check out the details here.

Also, if you haven't been to a Downtown Women's Club event yet, you don't know what you are missing. They have great events on the South Shore and in Boston. Their next South Shore event is on May 29 at Marina Bay in Quincy.

 

HINGHAM OFFICE SPACE: GREAT LOCATION: Derby Street, at the intersection of Route 3 at exit 15. Large corner office in a 7 room law suite with one attorney. Suite includes reception area, conference room, kitchen, and file room. Rent includes heat, electric, a/c, fax, copier and wireless internet. The building is handicap accessible with plenty of parking. $700 per month.  ALSO: Furnished Office available for “Virtual Office”. Contact Lee Darst at 781-741-9940    

Next Meeting Wednesday November 7

The next meeting of the Women Attorneys Network of the South Shore will be held at 6pm on Wed. November 7 at the Allerton House in Weymouth, 43 School House Road. As always, the gracious hosts at the Allerton House will be serving dinner, and you'll get a chance to chat with your colleagues and meet some new attorneys in the area.  And we will have a speaker.

Our speaker will be Stacey Shipman from Let It Flow Fitness.   She will be talking to us about stress reduction, wellness and will maybe even lead us through some yoga moves we can do at our desks.  Stacey is also involved in communications (she started a local Toastmasters Group) and she blogs for her business as well: http://letitflowfitness.blogspot.com/  so she can also talk with us about that.

Please email Alexis or Leanna (addresses at the right) to let us know if you are coming. 

My friend, Sheryl Schelin, the attorney who runs Blawg in a Box  has offered to put on a free multi-part telephone seminar (or web seminar if we can figure out the technology) that goes into more detail on the hows and whys of blogging.  The seminar would be available for live participation, and will also be recorded for those who couldn't participate directly.  And once you have your blog or website set up, we'll link to it on the sidebar.

There is another Downtown Women's Club Event on Tuesday October 30th at 6pm at Lyn Evans for Potpourri Designs in Hanover (don't worry, there is no Red Sox Game that night).  Update: There will be discounts at Lyn Evans and goody bags as well, and the event has expanded to include most of the merchants in Merchant's Row.   

The DWC Nov. 13th meeting is at the Toy Box in Hanover, so you can get some shopping done for yourself at the first one and for the little ones in your life at the second one. These events are very fun, and if you sign up as a member you can have an online profile on their site even if your own website is not up yet.  (And if you enter "Diane" in the promotional code, you'll get $10.00 off)

Hope to see you on the 7th!

Wed., October 3 - Blogging for Business

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, October 3 and will be about blogging for your business.  A blog is nothing more than a website for your business - but it's one that you can set up very easily and manage yourself.  And, because a blog is updated more frequently than a static website, it can get very good search engine results with out paying for adwords or for an SEO expert.  I (Leanna) have my blog as the primary way I market my business, and I receive about a third of my clients from it. 

In addition to meeting other great attorneys from the area, and dining on the lovely food that the Allerton House serves us, you'll learn:

• how blogging can help bring you clients, referrals, and opportunities for being published,
• the basics of getting started on blogging,
• ways to find out how your readers find your blog,
• examples of blogs in your practice area,
• about companies who will create your blog for you if you want web presence but don't want to do it yourself. 

So, please join us on the 3rd at the Allerton House in Weymouth, 43 School House Road, at 6pm.  Dinner will be served. 

Please leave a comment below to let us know you'll be coming, or email Leanna or Alexis (see email addresses at left under "Who We Are.")   

WANSS Meeting, Wed. Sept. 5!

Our September meeting will be held on Wednesday September 5th at the Allerton House at Central Park in Weymouth at 6pm. As always there will be food and drinks.  Click here for directions.

The evening will feature a mini-seminar on special education law and how the process works for putting a plan in place for a special needs student and appealing an inadequate plan.  The speakers will focus on "red flags" to look for when meeting with our clients so that we know when to pull in a special education team of advisers or refer out to them. 

Our speakers will be Jennie H. DunKley, principal of JDK Communications, a special education consulting firm, and Carol King, a special education attorney with the Law Office of Ray Wallace in Sharon.  Alexis met with Jennie in the spring and found her explanation of the special education system to be fascinating.  Please RSVP by emailing Leanna or Alexis, or by leaving a comment below. Be sure to pass this announcement along to any other women attorneys who may want to attend. 

Also, for those of you who don't have a website yet but are listed on ours, you should know that there are people looking for you on the Web and finding our website. Leanna will be holding a class on setting up a blog/website for your practice soon.  She did one last month for the South Shore Women's Business Network, and more people wanted one, so there will be one coming up. 

If you are looking for more networking groups, there are a couple more great ones in the area.

• Downtown Women's Club.  Free events around the South Shore and in Boston. The next meeting is Tuesday, September 11 at the Seasons in Marshfield.  September Calendar.
  
• South Shore Women's Business Network.  Lunches in Plymouth, Norwood and Hingham monthly, and a breakfast in Rockland. September Calendar.
  

If you haven't already done so, remember to enter your email address in the box above to get notices of upcoming meetings and events.

Also, Kathleen Burns Kingsbury of KBK Connections, Inc. (who spoke at our first meeting) will be holding a seminar called "Women and Money, Why Setting Fees is Emotional Business" on September 14, 2007.

Do you squirm when someone asks you for your fees?  Do you undercut your price to be “nice” or because “you should”?  This workshop will address how you can tap into what is driving your pricing strategy and how to make sure your self worth is not president of the company.   Download the flyer here: Download wmworkshopflyer.doc

We look forward to seeing you!

Next Meeting on May 2 at 6pm

Despite the sleet and rain, the April meeting of the Women Attorneys Network was a big success. Kathleen Burns Kingsbury of KBK Connections, Inc. talked to us about marketing our practices  and  Carmela McCauley won the gift certificate for a massage at the Bodywork Center in Hingham!

Our next meeting will be on May 2 at 6pm. Please note the change in start time. Hopefully this will make it a little easier for people to get to the meeting.  We will be meeting at the Allerton House Assisted Living at 43 Schoolhouse Road in Weymouth. Click here for a map.

Our speaker for the meeting will be Jaci Stanley, a Financial Planner. Jaci will be talking to us about planning for our own retirements. There will be food and drinks, and time before and after the talk for networking, etc.

As always, please pass the meeting information along to anyone you think might be interested in attending. And please email Alexis at alexis@alexislevitt.com or Leanna at Leanna@HamillLawOffice.com to let us know if you'll be attending. 

I'm adding links to attendees' websites on the side, so if you'd like to be added please let us know your email address. 

Hope to see you on May 2!

Kick-off Meeting April 4

Introducing the Women Attorneys Network of the South Shore:
A monthly group dedicated to fostering the professional & personal lives of Women Attorneys, particularly those in small firm and solo practices.

The kick-off meeting of the Group will take place on Wednesday April 4th from 5:30 - 7:00pm at Allerton House Assisted Living at 43 School House Road, Weymouth.  click here for a map

In addition to networking opportunities (and food), Kathleen Burns Kingsbury of KBK Connections, Inc. will be speaking to the group about marketing and growing our practices. Kathleen is a lot of fun and very engaging, so don't miss this event!

Future events are held on the first Wednesday of the month: 

May 2: Financial planning with Jaci Stanley - a personal financial planner to help us think about planning for our own retirements.

June 6: Location to be determined, will involve cooking delicious and healthy food.   

July & August: no meetings

September 5: Location TBD,  Family Law Mini-Seminar - red flags to watch out for when meeting with our clients about other matters.

October 3: Location TBD, Estate Planning Mini-Seminar - red flags to watch out for when meeting with our clients about other matters.

November 7: Location TBD, Stress reduction techniques with Stacey Shipman from Let It Flow.

December: no meeting

In order to receive email notification of upcoming events, please subscribe using the box on the left. And let us know if you'll be attending the April meeting by leaving a comment below, along with your contact information (including website if you want it included in our member list.)