Newsletter Header, 12-2013
July 2016
Affinity Welcomes Solfecta Team and Clients
Get Things Done! - Building Your Team
PCLaw Update Alert!
Mastering Microsoft Word
New on the ACG Blog
Annual Administrator Bootcamp
Annual Management Symposium
Lean Six Sigma Workshop Series Continues
FREE Webinars
July Speaking Engagements
Worldox Newsletter Highlights
Word Tip of the Month - The Section Symbol
Meet the Team - Jeffrey S. Krause
Newsworthy - Links of Interest (Team Building Edition)
FREE Team Building Webinar
Attend our FREE team building webinar, Get Things Done! Building Effective and Accountable Teams, on Jul 14, 2016 at 1:00 PM EDT.
 
This webinar will outline tools you can use to help drive team definition and accountability. Join Strategic Management Consultant Alison Lukan as she discusses how you can keep your teams healthy so that they are functioning as productively as possible. 

Visit Our Webinar Archive
We archive our FREE educational webinars for 90 days after they are presented.


 
Affinity Welcomes Solfecta Team and Clients
Affinity Consulting Group is pleased to welcome clients and friends of Solfecta to our monthly newsletter and welcome Jeff Krause, Alex Palzewicz and Kyle Ackerman to our team.
 
Jeff Krause joins Affinity as a partner and will continue to assist clients with time, billing and accounting, practice management and document management. Jeff is a Wisconsin attorney and has been a legal technology consultant since 1998. Jeff lives in Waterford, Wisconsin and has worked with hundreds of law firms throughout the upper Midwest. He is also a frequent speaker at legal technology conferences around the country. You can learn more about Jeff in this month's Meet the Team feature.
 
Also joining the Affinity Team and Alex Palzewicz and Kyle Ackerman. Alex joins the Affinity Client Services Team where he assists Affinity clients with a wide range of issues. Alex is a paralegal and has been working in legal technology since early 2015. Kyle joins the Client Development and Marketing team. Kyle is a marketing professional with years of experience in the technology and legal technology areas. 
 
Welcome Jeff, Alex and Kyle...and welcome to all of you who are new to this newsletter! We are so glad to have you with us!
Get Things Done! - Building Effective & Accountable Teams
- Alison Lukan
 
"Doing things is not the same as getting things done."
 
Jared Silver said this, but so many of us feel it. We spend our days putting out fires, or talking to our team members and colleagues about the same problems over and over again. Sometimes the word team only means a group of people working in the same space on the same types of tasks.
 
But a team can be so much more.
 
Effective teams are complimentary is skill sets and focused on a shared, common goal. They work efficiently and do the right things.
 
Effective teams demonstrate a few key characteristics. This month's feature article will examine these characteristics and how to achieve them:
  • Accountability
  • Communication
  • Profitability
Attend our FREE team building webinar on July 14. See the details and registration link to the left of this article.
To learn more about effective team building in your firm, contact us.

Join Our Mailing List
PCLaw Update Alert! - Wait to Upgrade to v15         
PCLawLexisNexis released PCLaw version 15 and may contact you to upgrade your PCLaw system.

At this time, we urge you to WAIT and not upgrade to v15. Please allow us to upgrade our own PCLaw database first and get through one or two billing cycles before YOU upgrade. That will allow us time to test it and report any defects to LexisNexis development.

If you use Amicus Attorney or Time Matters with PCLaw, DO NOT UPGRADE YET! The link between these products and PCLaw v15 does not work. If you upgrade, your link will cease operating.

If you have any questions, contact one of our PCLaw consultants directly or call us at 877-676-5492 or email help@affintiyconsulting.com.  
Mastering Word: August 19 - September 30
-Columbus Bar Association Technology Certification Series
TIME IS MONEY! An attorney cannot effectively and efficiently practice law without a thorough understanding of technology. The foundational technology used in every practice is Microsoft Word.

Mastery of Word is necessary to increase speed and accuracy when producing documents, tracking changes to documents and protecting work product. Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley will present this six-week series at the Columbus Bar Association starting August 19. An optional certification test will be given after the conclusion of this series. 

New on the Affinity Consulting Group Blog
2016 Annual Administrator Bootcamp - October 9-12
-Taking Your System to the Next Level
We are excited to announce our 2016 Annual Administrator Bootcamp that will give you the intensive training you need to enhance efficiency, accuracy and productivity in your Default Services practice.

Each year brings new and critical information to the Bootcamp. Our engaging list of sessions this year are designed to promote discussion between you and our other attendee firms, as well as to provide you with the most information possible on the areas we will be covering.


3rd Annual Management Symposium - October 20-21
-Transforming in Times of Change
Whether you are a Partner, Manager, or someone who oversees a team, join us for our 3rd Annual Affinity Management Symposium, "Transforming in Times of Change," on October 20-21, 2016 at The Highland Dallas in Dallas, Texas.

We in the default services industry know - now more than ever - that we need to be poised to anticipate and adapt to change. Affinity Consulting Partner Debbie Foster and Management Consulting Director Alison Lukan, will lead our management level sessions on topics including:
  • The Difference between Leadership and Management
  • Managing Change with Process
  • Managing Change with People
  • Fixing Your Back Office
Lean Six Sigma Workshop Series Continues!
- Weekly Workshop Webinar Series Concludes This Month
You may have heard of Lean Six Sigma for other professions, like manufacturing. The reality is that this philosophy teaches critical tactics that can significantly reduce waste, while improving the value of your service to your clients, and improve your bottom line.

The weekly workshop series began June 1. Affinity Partner Debbie Foster and Strategic Management Consultant Alison Lukan guide you through an eight-week web-based seminar focused on improving the way you practice law. The series cost is $99 for an individual or $199 for a firm (group viewing only). If were not able to attend the June sessions, no worries. All sessions will be recorded and made available to registrants. You can catch up at any time.
  • July 6 - Office Hours 
  • July 13 - Factory of One 
  • July 20 - Office Hours and Closing Remarks 
Click HERE to register for the workshop series.
FREE Educational Webinars in July
This month we have two great FREE educational webinars. In addition to our Team Building webinar with Alison Lukan, we have Barron Henley presenting What is Office 365?
Looking ahead to August, back by popular demand is our Road Warriors webinar. Road Warriors 2 on August 18 will pick up where we left off and address software, apps and strategies for providing outstanding client support from anywhere! Register HERE.
 
Beyond the 3Cs was such a big hit that we will launch Beyond the Basics starting in late August to go deep into your favorite software. We will dive into all of the MS Office products and more. Quick tips to make your every day use easier and more efficient! Look for details on our Webinars page.
If you have questions about training opportunities, contact us.
July Speaking Engagements
In addition to this month's webinars, our Partners and Consultants travel coast to coast for speaking engagements in July. We start in Oregon, move across the country to New York, Georgia, North Carolina, then back west to California, and finish the month in Pennsylvania. Whew! 

Highlights from our Worldox Newsletter
Our June 2016 Worldox email newsletter includes an informative review of the Sony Digital Paper device by Affinity Partner Paul Unger. The Sony Digital Paper is the lightest and thinnest notetaking and mobile
document storage and access (using Worldox Web Mobile) device that we have ever seen.

If you are interested in the Sony DP device and Worldox Web
Mobile, please contact info@affinityconsulting.com


If you have questions about Worldox or any aspect of document management, contact us.
Word Logo
MS Word Tip of the Month - The Section Symbol (§)
Legal writing often requires use of the Section Symbol (§). But there is no § key on the keyboard. So how do you insert a § into your document?

The fastest and best way to do almost anything in Word is to use the keyboard. Hold down the ALT key, then type the number 0167 on the numeric keypad on the right side of your keyboard. This does not work with the number row at the top of your keyboard.
 
If your keyboard does not have a numeric keypad (most laptops) or embedded numeric keys enabled by a Num Lock key, there is Ribbon-based method.


To arrange for Word training customized for your firm, contact us.
 
Bonus trivia: The Section Symbol is called the silcrow. The Paragraph Symbol is called the pilcrow.
MEET THE TEAM - Jeffrey S. Krause
Affinity Consulting Group is a team of trusted advisors working together to find tailored solutions to unlock every client's potential. We thought you might enjoy getting to know about the lives of some of our team members who help make that happen. Each month we feature another member of the Affinity Team. Get to know us!

Meet Jeffrey S. Krause, one of our newest additions! Jeff joined Affinity last month as Partner and will be an integral part of our Practice management, Document Management and Time, Billing and Accounting teams. He has been a legal technology consultant since 1998, most recently serving as Partner for Solfecta in the Milwaukee area. Jeff has known the other Affinity Partners and Consultants for years and we are thrilled to have him officially join the Affinity team.

Newsworthy - Team Building Edition
Each month we bring you quick links to a variety of newsworthy items dealing with technology products, services, and other topics of interest to lawyers as they seek to better manage their practices. Last month we featured road warrior lawyer tips. This month we look at tips to help your build a successful team at your law firm.     
Visit Our Newsletter Archive
The Affinity Consulting Group Newsletter Archive has our email newsletters going back to January of 2010.