Nonprofit Resources had the honor of being a part of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) 2022 Annual Virtual Conference: Trending Topics in Legal Administration. This two-day event offered legal administrators the applicable knowledge to fine-tune their professional skillset in information technology, human resources skills, legal industry trends, and business ethics.
ALA is the premier professional association, connecting leaders and managers within the legal industry. They provide extensive professional development, collaborative peer communities, strategic operational solutions, and business partner connections empowering their members to lead the business of law.
The Nonprofit Resources team, comprised of Emma Bennett, Hanif Smith, and Michelle Jack, used their diverse skillset to create a virtual event that was both as engaging and interactive as ALA’s annual in-person conferences. In a short amount of time, this powerhouse team provided ALA with a robust professional development slate that covered a myriad of topics throughout the legal industry. In addition, they found other ways to engage attendees throughout the event with morning workouts, trivia, and other entertainment.

Day one consisted of a workout, courtesy of Dani Losefo from Iron Pineapple Fitness before kicking off the event with its first session, The Great Resignation Optimization by Mary Lynn Favoumi. Mary Lynn educated the audience on how the pandemic has shifted the way people live and work. Specifically, she spoke on how people think about work and the value they seek from it.

Mary Lynn was followed by The Honorable Judge Robin Schmidt, who moved the audience during her session, Alcoholism in the Workplace, by sharing a powerful testimony of her own battle with alcoholism and her journey to sobriety. Also included on day one was the well-known, Christopher McClure who presented Understanding ESG for Professional Services and provided the audience with an understanding of what ESG means for professional services, highlighted key market and regulatory trends, and shared the best practices law firms and departments should implement. 

Joan Bibelhausen ended the day with a hot topic for legal professionals, Mental Health, Well-Being and Implicit Bias in a Post-COVID Environment. She provided valuable insight into how the pandemic has affected people differently. For some, it exacerbated an underlying health or addiction issue; for others, a new problem developed. For many in the legal profession, stigma continues to prevent them from seeking the help they need.

ALA closed out a successful first day by inviting everyone to join them for trivia night! This exciting and dynamic session was hosted by RezEvents. Congratulations to our Trivia winner, Jennifer Thayer!

Iron Pineapple Fitness once again kicked off day two with some light morning stretches to loosen everyone up for Jared Vishney’s kick-off session, HIPAA Privacy Rules Are Changing in 2023! What You Need to Know. Jared reviewed and explained upcoming modifications to HIPAA privacy rules and how they will impact the legal field. Jared was followed by the Chief Brand Teller at Brandtelling, Arthur Germain, who provided engaging content during his session Building a Successful Personal Brand, on how to inspire action and showcase companies as industry leaders. 

Towards the end of the day the conference got technical with a thrilling panel discussion, What You Don’t See Can (and Probably Will) Hurt You: Avoiding Inadvertent Disclosures of Hidden Data by Tara Emory, Josh Thomas, and Erica Zolner. Their conversation focused on where sensitive data can hide and the risks it creates, as well as strategies and steps legal management professionals can take to help avoid hidden data pitfalls. This created the perfect transition for the final speaker of the day, Josh Franks who ended the conference with his session, Managing the Chaos and Cost of Cyber Incident Response where the audience was given valuable insight into how a cyber incident response fits within the greater cybersecurity industry and the key players and workflows that occur within the cyber incident response space.

The conference wrapped up with another evening of fun and games as RezEvents brought everyone back for a night of virtual bingo!

ALA’s 2022 Virtual Conference is a prime example of how Nonprofit Resources serves our client partners by “producing unique and successful events, created specifically with their audience needs and industry in mind. Emma Bennett brings a vast array of event planning experience, and her leadership allowed the team to meet the ambitious delivery timeline. Through her connections with Iron Pineapple Fitness and RezEvents, she was able to create the interactive conference that ALA was aiming for. Hanif Smith effortlessly ensured the technical and production success of the virtual conference with his experience navigating the technology platform and ensuring that the speakers were prepped and comfortable presenting. Michelle Jack dedicated her time to discovering elite speakers and connecting them with ALA to help bring the vision of this conference to fruition. With the support and expertise of other Nonprofit Resources team members as well, Nonprofit Resources’ ALA staff team created an astounding success of an event.

Another successful event in the books for Nonprofit Resources! From full-service association management to dynamic departmental support, Nonprofit Resources has all the staff and tools that an association needs to succeed. Our clients say it best! Contact us at info@nonprofitresources.us to discuss how we can help you and your association thrive.