School days, school days!

Summer is behind us and our kids are back in their school routines. My granddaughter is excited about all the new things she anticipates she’ll learn in the coming year. She is eager to learn spelling words with more than five letters; she’s hoping to learn which number combinations add up to fifteen so she can start playing cribbage with Grandpa and me. She’s already begun to make new friends and she cherishes the "old" friends who followed her from kindergarten to first grade. The year is full of promise for this bright-eyed kid.

How about you? If you miss the fun of learning new things, proving out new theories and ideas and interacting and having fun with friends -- old and new -- then you’re not fully taking advantage of your CFCALA membership.

Sure, our days are busy, but everyone has to eat. So, join us the last Wednesday of each month for lunch. At our regular monthly luncheons you will enjoy the camaraderie of dining on great food with good friends while learning from our special guest speakers or speaker panels. Each month we focus on a different discipline and throughout the year we hit all the basics – HR, finance, facilities management, industry trends, technology and more!

CFCALA purchases all ALA webinars and offers them to our members for free! This is two-hours of web-based training from the experts once a month at no cost to you or to members of your staff who might benefit. Our CLM Study Program is in full-swing. If you plan to take the exam in the fall or in the spring, these weekly sessions are a MUST ATTEND. If you plan to take the exam in May 2011, when the Annual Conference comes to Orlando, or if you just want more education about all facets of legal administration, contact Georgette Freid, CLM to find out how attending these sessions will benefit you. CFCALA offers educational scholarships to be used toward attendance at regional or annual conferences or to purchase valuable reference materials, such as the ALA Management Encyclopedia. ALA’s Management SolutionsSM is a free, full-time information resource and reference service just for members of ALA and includes ALA Peer Consulting Database, ALA Documents on Demand and ALA Reference Desk. Go to  http://thesource.alanet.org/portal/server.ptfor more information or to access these terrific resources!

Join us at our monthly social hours for friendly networking and camaraderie. The coming months are jam-packed with special events – see CFCALA’s Calendar of Events on our website or look for more information in your monthly Communiquè.

The membership benefits of ALA are everywhere! It’s up to you to take advantage of them. Become more involved to find out about and take advantage of all that you’ve been missing! I hope to see you at an ALA event soon!

Happy Fall, Y’all!

Lenita McFeron
President
Central Florida Chapter
Association of Legal Administrators

Welcome New Members!

Adriana Ruiz, Firm Administrator/Case Manager - The Men's Divorce Law Firm

Stephanie Donaldson, Accounting Manager - Mateer & Harbert, P. A.

Olga Byll, Practice Administrator - Payas, Payas & Payas

Patricia "Patty" Trenton,  Senior Human Resources Generalist - Akerman Senterfitt

Patricia "Pat" Hermosa, Firm Administrator - Katzman, Garfinkel and Rosenbaum

Julie Colclasure, Human Resources Supervisor - Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A. 

Caryn Wheeler,  Administrator - Stump, Dietrich, Spears & Norman, P.A.

Welcome to the Chapter!!  Please jump right in and join your peers at the next CFCALA meeting!  We look forward to seeing you (often)!!

The following members celebrate October birthdays:

8th  -  Scott Wendel
11th - Jean Capen
16th - Tom Gillmore
17th - Jennifer Martinez
23rd - Lisa Mills

CFCALA Members Make Orlando Sentinel’s Top 100 list! A number of CFCALA member firms participated in the competition to be named among Central Florida’s Top 100 Companies for Working Families. Sponsored by the Orlando Sentinel, this year’s impressive list includes:

Baker Hostetler
deBeaubien, Knight, Simmons, Mantzaris & Neal, LLP
Foley & Lardner
Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A.
Men’s Divorce Law Firm
Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A.
Grower, Ketcham, Rutherford, Bronson, Eide & Telan, P.A.
Zimmerman, Kiser & Sutcliffe

Please join me in congratulating our friends and colleagues on their successful leadership of these fine firms.

Join fellow member, Marie Townsend, who is on the Advisory Board of the American Lung Association, on November 14th at the Bank of America Center for the 3rd Annual Climbing Heights for Lung Cancer event.  It's a competitive or unlimited stair climb in the American Bank Building and is co-sponsored by B of A and the American Lung Association.  Join in the fun by putting together a team and climbing, by sponsoring Marie or other climbers, or by donating generously to this worthy cause. For more information or to sign up a team, go to www.climbingforlungcancer.com.

Congratulations to Georgette Fried, CLM, SPHR on passing the SPHR exam.

Hearty congratulations go to Donna Eargle, CLM, Administrator of Roetzel & Andress, and Deborah Smith, CLM, Legal Administrator of Jacobs & Goodman, P.A. These ladies took the CLM Exam in New Orleans in May after participating for several months in the Chapter's CLM Study Group led by Georgette Fried, CLM. For more information regarding ALA's Certified Legal Manager program, please give Georgette Fried, CLM a call at 407-872-0600 or visit ALA's website at www.alanet.org/education/cert.

ALA WEBINARS...
Several interesting ALA Webinars are on the Calendar.  Don't overlook the benefit of a quick 2 hour dose of education in some critical areas.  See the Calendar for more details.

PRESIDENTS AWARD OF EXCELLENCE...

CFCALA once again attains Platinum status! We’re excited to start off a new Chapter year having earned our second Platinum Level Chapter award. This is ALA’s highest award. Many thanks to each Board Member and Committee Chair for your hard work!

The Chapter also won the following awards:

Second Place, Visibility in Advertising - Georgette Fried, CLM , Chair
Second Place, Recruitment and Retention - June Coffman/Kim Johnson, CLM, Co-Chairs
Third Place - Vendor Partnering - Jennifer Blamire/Marlene Simonson, Co-Chairs
Honorable Mention, Visibility in Bar Relations - Georgette Fried, CLM, Chair
Honorable Mention, Visibiilty in Community Challenge - Georgette Fried, CLM, Chair

CFCALA names Making Strides Against Breast Cancer its Community Challenge Weekend recipient for 2009. Again this year, CFCALA has an opportunity to make a real difference in the fight against breast cancer. We encourage each member firm to put together a team, raise money and walk with us to make strides against this horrific disease that has, in some way, touched us all. On Halloween day, I’ll be walking for my beautiful daughters and granddaughters in the hope that in their lifetimes they never have to hear the words, "You have breast cancer." If you want to form a team or find out more, contact Lorrie Bearden, CCW Chair lbearden@zkslawfirm.com. Thanks to our 2009 Community Challenge Sponsors: Omega Legal Systems and IKON Office Solutions.

CFCALA Fall Retreat is a Huge Success!
Thanks to Stacey Barve, of GreenbergTraurig, our CFCALA Education Chair, and Canon Business Solutions, exclusive Retreat Sponsor, this year’s Fall Retreat was packed with valuable information, as well as a lot of fun! We kicked off the day-long event with a Continental Breakfast and a presentation by Adriana Linares of LawTech Partners. Mastering Excel was the focus of this valuable session that provided specific tips for the way administrators use Excel. For more information on training topics covered by LawTech Partners, visit their website at www.lawtechpartners.com 

The second session of the day was presented by Cathey Massey of LawDocsXpress. Cathey possesses a wealth of knowledge regarding the H1N1 virus. Because she has clients all over the US, some of whom have already experienced the effects of H1N1, she is uniquely qualified to offer suggestions about ways to keep work flowing in spite of greatly reduced resources. Contact Cathey at cemassey@lawdocsxpress.com to request a copy of her handout or to find out more about how LawDocsXpress can provide workflow solutions.

We had a terrific time at lunch – there was plenty of time to network and socialize.
Congratulations to our door prize winners, Marie Townsend of Litchford &  Christopher and Alicia Gubbins of Foley & Lardner, who won FALA Cookbooks. The cookbook, “Someone’s in the Kitchen with FALA” is available for purchase for $25.00 from ALA and would make an excellent holiday gift for the cook on your list. Click on www.alanet.org/bookstore/alabooks.asp to order your copy today.

Monica Wofford has written a number of motivational books and provides coaching to Fortune 100 companies on a regular basis. In the afternoon, we were treated to Monica’s presentation, “Contagious Confidence.” We learned how to look at ourselves in a positive light and were amazed by what a difference our positive outlook and confidence can have on those around us. We also participated in an exercise wherein we determined our personality type. Are you primarily a “Commander,” “Entertainer,” “Organizer” or “Relater,” or do you possess several of
these personality traits? It was interesting to determine the different personality types among our group and to exchange information on how we relate differently to one another and to circumstances – both at home and at work. At the end of the 4-hour session, we would have loved to have more time to spend on this topic. If you’re interested in checking out some of the books Monica has written or in talking with her about providing training in your office, go to her company’s website www.monicawofford.com

We capped off the Retreat with cocktails. Everyone who attended the Fall Retreat is raving about the great ideas and information they received while having a really great time. You won’t want to miss future Retreats – free to CFCALA members!

CFCALA Celebrates Professional Legal Management WeekSM (PLMW)

Kudos to Kim Novak, Chapter Vice President, for pulling together a terrific PLMW event! Held at Tastings, A Wine Experience, we had about twenty-five participants. We enjoyed exchanging “war stories” and getting to know one another better. In years’ past, we’ve marked PLMW with a breakfast meeting. Everyone who attended this year’s event remarked that an evening social event is definitely the way to go. A number of members who have not yet joined us for our monthly social hours realized what they are missing and plan to join us for a relaxing time with friends and colleagues. You should make plans to join us, too! To learn more about PLMW and its initiatives, go to www.plmw.org

CFCALA OFFICERS ATTEND CHAPTER LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

A huge benefit of Chapter leadership is the opportunity we have to travel to conferences and network with other ALA members and Chapter leaders. One of the most exciting conferences held each year is Chapter Leadership Institute (CLI). CLI is designed to give Chapter leaders new ideas and tools to strengthen them personally and professionally so that they, in turn, can help strengthen the Chapters they serve. This year's CLI was held June 26th thru June 28th in Carefree, Arizona. Carefree is a resort town located just north of Phoenix in the heart of the Sonoran Desert -- average high temperature this time of year is around 105, but it's a dry heat. Kim Novak, Caroline Nicholaou, Sue Ruberti and I attended the three day conference. This year, the focus was on keeping Chapters fiscally sound in tough economic times. Specifically, there was a lot of discussion regarding recruiting and retaining members, as well as maintaining a strong business partner program. Other areas of interest focused on communications - written communications and running effective Chapter meetings, for example, were popular sessions.

At the 38th Annual Educational Conference and Exposition in New Orleans, outgoing ALA President Wendy Rice-Isaacs passed the gavel to Susan French Koran to preside over our 10,000+ members in 2009-2010.  Rita M. Alli is serving as President-Elect.

The following is our Region 2 Team for 2009-2010:

Sabine S. Curto (Washington, DC) - Region 2 Director
Stacey A. Barve (Orlando FL) - Education Officer
G. Carole Morris, CLM (Atlanta GA) - Communications Officer
Paula K. Barnes (Nashville TN) - Projects Officer
Michel Farrah (Canada) - At-Large Director

These folks are the link between ALA Chapters and the ALA Board of Directors and headquarters staff, and they stand ready to assist us at any time.