What You Can Learn About Law School

Transcription

1 Carol Seubert Marx President

2 GETTING THEM TO JOIN FOCUSING ON NEW LAWYER RETENTION WITH FOCUS GROUPS

3 Law Student Focus Groups To learn what the Association can do for them: Entrée to jobs Paying off law school debt Access to practicing lawyers Help with expenses surrounding taking the bar exam A resource for how to handle the worst case scenarios lawyers face (possibly a 2-hour class) Checklists for areas of practice More about alternative ways to use their law degree

4 Membership Task Force Obtain empirical evidence from focus groups as to why members are not renewing their memberships Develop suggestions for OSBA Board of Governors to re-sign non-renewers and retain members

5 Non Member Focus Groups Met with non-renewing members after the District Meetings Provided free OSBA membership for the remainder of the Bar year and six free hours of CLE The chair, a staff member or two, and a member or two of the Task Force met with the non-renewers Meetings were held in six locations with approximately 10 people attending each of the meetings There was a good cross-section of the including prosecutors, government lawyers, male, female, a few minorities, younger, and older attorneys

6 SOME OF WHAT WE LEARNED: Some are in dire financial circumstance unemployed, student loans Several expressed despair as to how to pay for the required CLE hours needed to stay licensed Universal anger directed at the law schools regarding their job placement percentages. A great misunderstanding or lack of awareness of the programs and benefits of OSBA membership All were responsible for paying their own dues Almost all were active in their local bars Government lawyers had ample access to free CLE opportunities Most were active in their communities. They all missed the green book

7 RECOMMENDATIONS: Restructure the way in which our members are advised of our programs Focus our marketing capabilities in a new way to reach members in years 1-10 Consider various levels of membership and perhaps look at a varied dues structure based on usage of programs or areas of practice Meet regularly with members near year s end for years 1-10 Think of things to do to make membership fun as well as indispensable Consider hosting social events other than the District Meeting in each District Examine how do we gain greater access to the law schools to promote the Association and the benefits of membership

8 Creative Committee Developing plan to serve non-traditional lawyers Examining program to transition new lawyers into the practice of law

9 Tools To Help Start A Practice

10 OfficeKeeper is a nuts and bolts resource guide to opening, maintaining and closing a law office, covering both the day-to-day operations of a law office, as well as professional responsibility. It includes checklists, forms, references and links to Web sites and the new Model Rules. Chapters include: Opening and Maintaining a Law Practice, including choosing a business entity, developing a business plan, basic office equipment and office space considerations; Time Billing and Accounting, including trust accounts, fraud prevention and financial accounting; Case Management, including conflict checks, retainers, timekeeping and docketing, client communications, and case management software systems; Office Staff, including hiring/firing, payroll, performance reviews and shared staff; Marketing, including what is permitted, networking and specialization; Practice Challenges, including cash flow, substance abuse, burnout and how to avoid malpractice; Quality of Life, including pro bono opportunities, career satisfaction and achieving a balanced life; Closing/Selling a Law Practice, including law practice valuation, records retention and professional responsibility issues.

11 Online OfficeKeeper chapter with index and hyperlinks imbedded

12 Sample OfficeKeeper chapter with imbedded links to forms and resources

13 Sample form pulled directly from an imbedded link in an OfficeKeeper chapter

14 OfficeKeeper. 325 page document including practice forms

15 A library of thousands of legal documents that have been automated using HotDocs Templates ask questions and automatically create customized documents based on the answers given One low annual subscription fee, which is based on number of attorneys in the firm, OSBA Subscription rates start at $195 for a solo attorney Phase 1 of the library includes: Domestic relations forms (from all 88 counties) Probate forms Real estate forms Business forms from the Secretary of State General practice forms

16 Initial document assembly page and complete OhioDocs index

17 Example of blank OhioDocs form-fillable document page

18 Example of completed OhioDocs form-fillable document page

19 Retaining New Lawyers/Mentoring

20 While minorities make up more than 30% of the country's population, they make up less than 10% of the country's judges and lawyers. We re here to change that. The Law and Leadership Institute: introduces promising high school students from six under-served urban communities to the legal profession through an intensive college preparatory program in law and leadership Law and Leadership Institute students (beginning with rising 9 th graders) gain: critical academic skills in studying, test-taking and writing self-confidence an awareness of college-level expectations interaction with positive role models to encourage and nurture their educational and professional goals

21 Chief Justice O Connor speaking to freshman at LLI at Capital University Law School

22 Student networking at summer law firm internship

23 Ohio State LLI students performing community service creating cards for US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan.

24 Purpose To Identify and train lawyers for future opportunities for leadership in the Association, the profession and in the community To nurture effective leadership with respect to ethical, professional and community service issues To raise the level of awareness among lawyers regarding the broad range of issues facing the legal profession and to build relationships among legal leaders across state and experience levels Create a cadre of lawyers upon which the OSBA, state and local government entities, local bar associations and community organi-zations can call upon for leadership and service

25 Program This interactive leadership training program is conducted during a seven-month period (January to July). There are six sessions. Sessions cover issues such as: leadership ethics and professionalism state and local government access to justice community service economic development Participants will become: effective writers and public speakers problem solvers effective lawyer leaders

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27 Leadership Academy members participating in a legal clinic with Cleveland Legal Aid

28 New Lawyer Training A basic level course that introduces new attorneys to the "nuts and bolts" of practicing law. Classroom Hours At least 12 classroom hours including topics related to professional conduct, professional relationships, obligations of lawyers, or aspirational ideals of the profession Topics related to fundamental law office management Instruction on topics related to client fund management Nine of the12 hours must be instruction in one or more substantive law topics that focus on handling legal matters in specific practice areas

29 Supreme Court of Ohio Mentoring Program Lawyer to Lawyer Mentoring links experienced attorneys with new lawyers who have recently been admitted to the practice of law in a one-on-one relationship designed to assist new lawyers as they begin their legal careers. Mentors and new lawyers meet in person six times during the course of a year to discuss topics and engage in activities they select from a mentoring plan. Mentors receive 12 CLE credits and new lawyers receive required new lawyer training credit. 543 (62%) new lawyers participating for our upcoming term, which begins Feb. 1, 2012, with 612 mentors signed up for this term. The Mentoring Plan activities are broken up into five categories: 1.Introduction to the Legal Community and the Community at Large 2.Introduction to Personal and Professional Development 3. Introduction to Ethics 4. Introduction to Law Office Management 5. Introduction to Client Communication, Advocacy and Negotiation

30 Carol Seubert Marx, President Questions? Thanks for your attention