#NALS11-Roll With The Changes

Eden Park - Cincinnati, Ohio

For many reasons, autumn is always such a pleasant time of the year.  My mother says it is her favorite season because the changing leaves are so beautiful, but here in Phoenix, Arizona it's more likely because the temperature is finally breaking below 100 degrees and people can actually go outside and enjoy themselves.  It seems as though people are friendlier and more willing to venture out to experience new and interesting beginnings.  There is also a feeling of anticipation in the air when autumn rolls around-schools are in session, baseball playoffs are underway, and the holidays are right around the corner.  It's simply a time of change and it feels refreshing.

When I travel to Cincinnati, Ohio next week for the NALS 60th Annual Education Conference, it will be the beginning of a change that will be refreshing and revitalizing for NALS.  As I drove to work on Friday, REO's song, Roll with the Changes, came on the radio and seemed quite timely for the season and the issues that NALS is addressing in its next Board of Directors and Strategic Planning/Think Tank meetings in Cincinnati next week.  Last week I wrote a short article in eNews for NALS about the flying pigs in Cincinnati and the historical origination of how "pigs can fly."  Cincinnati has evolved for many years and is a thriving metropolis (formerly referred to as "Porkopolis").  The recollection of Cincinnati's history and my own personal remembrances of the city when I lived there from 1985 through 1993 reminds me of how NALS also has great origins that began in 1929 and how it must continue to evaluate its relevance in today's neverending changing environment in the legal industry.  Perhaps it's no coincidence that the NALS national conference is held this year in a city where pigs fly and unbelieveable things really do happen. 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Steve Jobs' passing earlier this week...and I have been touched by his genius in many ways, and not just by his Apple products.  His commencement address at Stanford in 2005 was highlighed on the news this week, in Facebook, and many blogs that I follow.  Again, I thought how timely his message is today and every day:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Autumn is a refreshing time of year and the best time to embrace new ideas and changes.  NALS will Engage, Enhance, Inspire and Promote the association to make it relevant for the future while it rolls with the changes in the city where pigs can fly.

All Star Week

My Luis Gonzalez bobble-head--2001 HR Derby Champ,

he hit game-winning single to beat the Yankees in the 2001 World Series, and was named this year's MLB All-Star ambassador.

Last Friday was so busy in my office that tomorrow (manic Monday) will continue its frantic pace while I attempt to catch up with all the email, correspondence, pleadings, service of process, electronic court filings, and all the other “simple” details that happen in a busy assistant’s day.  In my earlier blog post a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how my bosses were on vacation.  Well they took more vacation coinciding with the Fourth of July holiday…and you’d think it would lighten up a little.  But no, it doesn’t work that way, especially when they have embraced technology at a non-stop pace even while they “relax” on the beach with their families. It seems to me that they could easily land a commercial with some high-tech manufacturing company showing how much fun they are having while they work remotely on a laptop, iPad, and/or iPhone from a beach chair with the ocean in the foreground. Isn’t this one of the biggest reasons the firm elected to have web-based data management software?

Well, I don’t want to belabor the antics of my wonderful bosses, but I would rather look forward to next week, even though it will undoubtedly be somewhat stressful, because the MLB All-Star Game is here in Phoenix, Arizona.  Baseball has long been a favorite sport of mine and I grew up in Ohio with parents who adored the Cincinnati Reds--I was a lucky kid to be able to see the Big Red Machine in action and it gave me a solid foundation to maintain a lifelong admiration of the sport.  After my husband and I were married in 1985, we moved to Cincinnati because he accepted a job with General Electric.  Again, luck was with me and I took a position with a law firm working for a partner who had season tickets (right behind the Reds dugout).  Technology had not exploded yet, but my boss was a workaholic and could never take the time to attend all the home games at Riverfront Stadium (just a few short blocks from the office).  He knew I was passionate about the Reds and gave me the tickets quite often (I guess there are advantages in having bosses who are work crazy)! 

Over the years I have continued to enjoy the game and now, because I live in Phoenix, I have once again cheered for another hometown National League team, the Arizona Diamondbacks.  I haven’t attended as many games in the last few years due to increased commitments with family and my favorite not-for-profit professional associations, NALS, but I still like to think of myself as a baseball fan.  It’s exciting to have the All-Star Game here in Phoenix and I’ve been reminiscing about the 2001 season when the Diamondbacks won the World Series.  Luis Gonzalez, who hit the game winning single to beat the Yankees, has been named the All-Star ambassador this year and there so many exciting and fun things to do this week in Phoenix.  My husband and I shared Diamondback season tickets in 2002 (again, with a boss who didn’t have time to attend all the home games), but we don’t have tickets for the All-Star game.  My husband travels a lot for business and sometimes it’s just not easy to plan a trip to the ballpark these days, but we will watch it on the big screen TV in our family room while we most likely stay in touch with our friends through social media, play games on our iPhones, and possibly work on our laptops.  Really? J

Legal Vacations

    NALS…the association for legal professionals

    Tulsa, Oklahoma

One of the attorneys I work for left town earlier this week for a family vacation and it has occurred to me that it’s almost like he never left the office!  Initially, you’d think there would be less work for me to do, but because we live in a high-tech world it is unlikely that things will ever slow down.  The days of removing yourself from the daily work grind instead to take a relaxing vacation are definitely in the past.

Do any of you remember the days when we could speak on the telephone with a person who would take a handwritten message or send a package to a destination in the regular mail and actually wait for that person to respond in a similar fashion?  I remember times in the past when my boss would never call me while he was vacationing and, if he did, it was only because he wanted to brag about the wonderful time he was having while I competently handled any situation in the office. 

Sometimes I reminisce about the “good old days,” but on the other hand I seriously doubt that I could give up some of the new technologies that make things more convenient (at least that’s what my rational side is trying to tell me).  My boss has been sending me a constant string of emails each day that require various amounts of time to complete the tasks assigned.  At the end of one of his emails he says, “Thanks for doing all of this.  I know it’s really busy for you when I’m gone.”  I simply write back, “And how is that different than any other day when you’re here?!” 

The immediate feeling and realization is that this is extremely sad -- a vacation seems to be no different than any other ordinary day in the office because we are still sending emails, drafting documents, listening to voice mail messages, and managing the constant flow of information that just never stops.  I guess there is a certain amount of security in knowing that important matters can be handled in such an expeditious fashion, especially when you have a competent legal assistant, and that your livelihood will not fall apart because of the constant care and concern.  But I also believe we need more time to sit back and relax (and certainly when we take a vacation).  The phrase, “Take time to stop and smell the roses” is so antiquated nowadays…we speed by the roses so fast that we don’t even see them, let along smell them!

So, this Legal Gal’s Friday begins by flying to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend a meeting this weekend with the NALS Think Tank.  It’s a group of legal professionals who will be brainstorming about the industry and how to take NALS…the association for legal professionals into the future.  And, because I am taking a personal day off work, I guess you might consider it a mini-vacation, but guess what I’m taking along with me!?  My laptop computer, smartphone, and my Kindle-- so that I can take notes at the meeting and have all my important documents/references with me, check my work email, make and receive any phone calls, and maybe read my books on my Kindle for pleasure.  Can anyone tell me where the roses are in Tulsa so that I don’t fly by them without first taking a moment to smell them?  Happy Friday! J



Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

It's no big surprise that Friday is my favorite work day, something that I'm sure I have in common with many legal professionals.  Even though I work as a legal assistant, the tasks typically aligned with the term "Gal Friday" describe many of my own personality traits (efficient, organized, and faithful) and the variety of assignments that I am expected to complete on any given day at a moments notice.  Now, by today's standards, this reference may tend to be condescending or sexist, but it seems to me that most of my Fridays are quite interesting for one reason or another, and more often than not, it is because my bosses want to meet a filing deadline before the weekend begins.  Hence, the title of my blog: Legal Gal's Friday.  So let's begin with one of my more interesting Fridays...

Just last week on June 3, 2011, I had the pleasure of attending the NALS Region 8 Conference in Rohnert Park, California.  The group of attendees boarded a luxury bus with a very personable bus driver and we began our trek to San Francisco to tour the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This courthouse is distinctive and rivals many of the famous buildings in our nation's capitol and it has an extremely interesting history relating to the preservation and restoration after the courthouse was damaged in the San Francisco earthquake in 1906.  The picture above was taken with my iPhone by a visiting law student, who was also on the tour with the NALS attendees, in one of the most impressive courtrooms at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  It was also our distinct privilege to have an audience (or you might say "special session") with Judge Michael Daly Hawkins discussing the Ninth Circuit's history and answering our questions concerning procedural tips we could with our attorneys (hopefully to win their arguments). Judge Hawkins was so personable and he took the time to shake hands with all of us.  This may sound corny to some people, but after working in the legal field for 30 years, this was a highlight for me and my career.  And, by the way, did you know that the library in the courthouse has several bobblehead dolls of several U.S. Supreme Court justices (my favorite is Sandra Day O'Connor).

I want to send special thanks to Kathy Sieckman, PP, PLS, CLA, the NALS Region 8 Director, for Thinking Big and planning all the details of this wonderful adventure.  It's a Friday this Legal Gal will never forget!