September 2016

Firm Fitness - Driving Profitability In Your Firm

September is Client Appreciation Month

PCLaw Advanced Training

Beyond the Basics Webinars Return

PCLaw Update Alert!

Annual Administrator Bootcamp

Annual Management Symposium

September Speaking Engagements

Affinity and Internet for Lawyers Webinars

Worldox Newsletter Highlights

Word Tip of the Month - Use Word Add-Ins

Meet the Team - Amy Reardon

Newsworthy - Links of Interest (Fitness Edition)

Visit Us on the Web

Affinity Blog

Webinar Archive

Firm Fitness - Driving Profitability In Your Firm

-Debbie Foster & Alison Lukan

The business of law isn't what it used to be. The economic climate has changed. The billable hour is dying. Clients want value, and lawyers face increasing competition from customary rivals as well as emerging online DIY companies that have commoditized many of the services historically provided by traditional law firms.

That means it is time to start thinking about how to revolutionize the way you practice law. It's time to start thinking about accomplishing more while using less resources.

Read this month's feature article on making your firm fit and profitable.

Join Debbie Foster and Alison Lukan for a FREE webinar. Details below.

FREE Firm Fitness Webinar

Today's firms are focused on profitability and that can mean a lot of things, but one of the most effective ways to control your bottom line when increasing productivity is to be more efficient. Join Affinity Managing Partner Debbie Foster and Strategic Management Consultant Alison Lukan to find out how!

Register HERE for this free 30-minute webinar on Tue, Sep 13, 2016 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM EDT

September is Client Appreciation Month

- Free Guest Speaker Webinars Start NOW!

Enjoy our Guest Speaker Webinar Series to Celebrate!

September 6 - 5 Mistakes Law Firms Make With Their Website with Brendan Chard, CEO/Owner of The Modern Firm.
September 8 - The Art of Presentations with Josh Hoeppner, CEO of PresentationView.
September 12 - Case Map: Capture, Organize and Analyze Case Knowledge with Guest Speaker from Lexis Nexis.
September 13 - 5 Questions You Should be Asking Your Malpractice Carrier with Vern Barclay, Founding Partner of Shea Barclay Group.
September 20 - 7 Keys to Building a Referral-based Law Firm with Stephen Fairley, CEO of The Rainmaker Institute.
September 26 - ASK THE EXPERT: Your Top Word Questions Answered! with Barron K. Henley.

PCLaw Advanced Training

-September 21, Columbus, OH

We are excited to announce our half-day PCLaw Advanced Workshop. Your instructor, Affinity Partner Steven J. Best, brings decades of PCLaw experience with him as he leads you on a deep dive into PCLaw with specialized, in-depth training from reconciliation and billing features to tips and tricks in PCLaw's Document Manager and Template Editor that you will use daily.

This workshop is designed for the intermediate to advanced user of PCLaw and includes an open forum Q&A for you to discuss specific PCLaw challenges. Laptop computers are NOT provided at this workshop, but you are encouraged to bring your own. Instruction is presented lecture style along with a detailed PCLaw manual written by your instructor.

To find out more including a course outline, CLICK HERE. Or just... REGISTER NOW.

Beyond the Basics Webinars Return this Month

-School is back in session!

September marks the return of our Beyond the Basics webinar series.

September 15 - Death By PowerPoint - Elements of Proper Design with Paul Unger.
September 20 - Word Paragraph Formatting with Barron K. Henley.
September 22 - Managing your Outlook email with QuickSteps, Rules and Add-ins with Debbie Foster.
September 27 - PC Law Emailing Invoices with Cindy Melfa.
September 29 - Working with images, video and more in PowerPoint with Paul Unger.

PCLaw Update Alert! - Wait to Upgrade to v15

LexisNexis 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.

Annual Administrator Bootcamp - October 9-12

-Taking Your System to the Next Level

We are excited to announce our 2016 Annual Administrator Bootcamp, formerly known as the CaseAware� 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.

October 9-12, Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa

Register Now!

Third 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

Watch a video preview of our topics.

Register Now!

September Speaking Engagements

School is back in session and our Partners and Consultants are keeping busy with a full schedule of webinars. Wedged between the webinars are trips to Boston, Dallas, Miami, Columbus, Las Vegas, and Grand Rapids.

Click here to see the complete schedule.

Affinity Partners and Consultants Present for Leading CLE Provider

Starting this month, Affinity Partners and Consultants are teaming up with one of the leading providers of CLE content to Bar associations around the country, Internet for Lawyers.

Here is a list of seminars featuring Affinity Partners and Consultants in September:

September 7 - Moving Your Practice Into the Cloud - Benefits, Drawbacks and Ethical Issues Presented by Barron Henley, Esq.
September 23 - The Case for Practice Management - Why Outlook Isn't Enough Presented by Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq.
September 30 - Technology: Slave or Servant - Time, Task, Document & Email Management Presented by Paul J. Unger, Esq.

Highlights from our Worldox Newsletter

- Subscribe to Our Free Worldox Newsletter

Our August 2016 Worldox email newsletter features an article about the enhanced Worldox Ribbon for Word and Excel.

Read the August 2016 Worldox Newsletter.

If you have questions about Worldox or any aspect of document management, contact us.

MS Word Tip of the Month - Use Add-Ins to Make Word Better

Microsoft Word has an incredible array of features. Most of us use only a fraction of them. But there are features not yet present in Word or difficult to access and use. For those, you need an add-in. Here are a few Word add-ins that are especially useful to lawyers:

Office Tabs for tabbed browsing of your open documents.
WordRake to make your writing more concise.
PerfectIt for better document editing.
Consistency Checker finds mistakes your grammar checker misses.
Best Authority builds your tables of authority quickly.
Metadata Assistant preserves confidentiality by removing hidden data.

To arrange for Word training customized for your firm, contact us.

Meet the Team - Amy Reardon

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 Amy Reardon. Amy contributes to the Affinity Team by serving as our new Client Development Coordinator. She is located in our Columbus, Ohio office. Amy came to Affinity when HMU, headed by Barron Henley and Paul Unger, joined forces with Affinity in 2008. Although Amy has long been a member of the Client Services Team, she has recently jumped into our newly created role of Client Development Coordinator. When asked why she loves what she does, Amy said, "I love to help people and exceeding the needs of our clients makes me happy."