SAN DIEGO
Volume 225, 2022 $6.95
California Case Summaries
Monty A. McIntyre The Lawyer’s Guide to Thought Leadership
Noreen Fishman Leveraging Data with Competitive Intelligence
Phil Flora
Why Corporate Law Firms Need a Client Value Team
Allison Nussbaum Is Your Level of Responsiveness up to Par?
Julie Savarino
The Battle of the Meetings: Virtual vs. In-Person
Lindsay Griffiths
Law Firm of the Month
Green Bryant & French, LLP San Diego Elder Litigation’s One-Stop Shop
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2022 EDITION—NO.225
TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 The Lawyer’s Guide to Thought Leadership by Noreen Fishman
8 How to Leverage Data with Competitive Intelligence and Business Development Efforts by Phil Flora
EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor
10 Why Corporate Law Firms Need a Client Value Team
EDITOR Wendy Price
by Allison Nussbaum
CREATIVE SERVICES Penn Creative
LAW FIRM OF THE MONTH
16 Green Bryant & French, LLP, San Diego Elder Litigation’s One-Stop Shop
CIRCULATION Angela Watson PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths STAFF WRITERS Dan Baldwin Jennifer Hadley CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Noreen Fishman Phil Flora Lindsay Griffiths Monty McIntyre Allison Nussbaum Julie Savarino ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Info@AttorneyJournals.com SUBMIT AN ARTICLE Editorial@AttorneyJournals.com OFFICE 30213 Avenida De Las Banderas Suite 200 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 www.AttorneyJournals.com ADDRESS CHANGES Address corrections can be made via email or postal mail.
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by Dan Baldwin
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22 Is Your Level of Responsiveness up to Par? by Julie Savarino
24 California Case Summaries by Monty A. McIntyre
28 The Battle of the Meetings: Virtual vs. In-Person— Which Is Better? by Lindsay Griffiths
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The Lawyer’s Guide to Thought Leadership by Noreen Fishman
Y
ou might question if it’s necessary to be viewed as an expert in your industry. The fact is that great lawyers tend to be great thought leaders, as well. Being a thought leader is particularly important for lawyers because being viewed as a credible source of knowledge is a key differentiator. Keep reading to learn more about lawyer thought leadership and how to use it to reach potential clients.
LAWYER THOUGHT LEADERSHIP What is Thought Leadership? The term “thought leadership” refers to a type of content marketing that is used to build credibility for individuals or leaders within a firm. The general goal of thought leadership is to become recognized as an expert within your field. You want to be seen as the go-to resource in your industry. In order to become thought leaders, successful lawyers should focus on creating and promoting informational, valuable content and become active in communities associated with their industries. One of the main channels for doing so is social media. Thought leadership is most effective if you can position yourself as a resource that can provide value and advice to your audience. Then, when someone is seeking legal services in the future, they’ll turn to you first. They will already trust you and view you as knowledgeable in the subject matter, so you’ll be topof-mind when they need the services you offer.
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Lawyer Thought Leadership Best Practices Before you dive into creating thought leadership, consider the following:
R ESEARCH YOUR AUDIENCE
(AND KEEP LEARNING ABOUT THEM)
Compelling thought leadership starts with your client personas. What motivates your audience? What are their main challenges? What questions are they likely to ask throughout the process? Conduct research through your digital channels, perform client interviews, talk to your sales team about their experiences, etc. Make sure to evaluate this information over time, as it could evolve. Are the questions you typically get changing from year to year? You’ll need to know what’s changing so that you can address the most accurate and relevant information.
INTERACT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media can be a powerful channel for growing your brand and credibility as a lawyer. It’s important to be active and engaged with your industry communities online. Participate in relevant conversations about industry events, updates, and trends. Once you have been active in online groups, you can promote your own thought leadership more organically.
C REATE A VARIETY OF CONTENT AND PUBLISH IT ON MULTIPLE CHANNELS
Thought leadership for lawyers involves a lot more than just posting to your blog. It requires being active on social media, guest posting on other sites, and speaking at events, podcasts, and more. Mix things up with owned media and
external media sources. Aim to have a blend of written, video, and audio content that you can publish and promote through various channels. Your goal is to have thought leadership available wherever your audience might be present.
LEARN WHAT YOUR COMPETITION IS DOING
There are probably some lawyers in your space who are already viewed as thought leaders. Review their content, see what they’re doing, and note things like how often they post. Don’t copy, but don’t be afraid to get some inspiration. Similarly, if you see some gaps, those topics might be good areas to explore with your own content.
DEVELOP TRULY VALUABLE CONTENT
If you follow our blog, then you know this is a principle we mention a lot. In order to show that you’re an expert, you need to produce content that speaks intelligently to specific issues your audience cares about. Focus on exploring one area at a time, and taking a deep dive into the topic to provide real insights.
BE AUTHENTIC
Remember that overly promotional content will never truly connect with your audience. Furthermore, if you create content with the only goal of marketing, you’ll likely annoy your audience. Focus on providing content that is genuine and an organic reflection of you as a lawyer and your services. You should also make sure that your content makes sense to readers, offers a real perspective, and is backed by research that can help your audience form opinions.
Thought Leadership Strategy There are many forms of lawyer thought leadership, ranging from public speaking opportunities to blogs, to ebooks. Tactics like events and conferences, webinars, blogs, podcasts, ebooks, videos, guest posts, social media posting, and social media engagement all fall under the thought leadership umbrella. So how do you know what’s best for you as a lawyer? You’ll need to rely on a combination of keyword research and industry research. If you took the time to research your audience, then you’ll have a good idea of what people are asking about. You can also look at relevant industry news. Is there anything pressing happening that people are likely to research? Any of these areas are a good place to start in creating new content. Additionally, articles that contain howto’s, tips, and best practices are always helpful. Once you’ve thought about the format and type of content you want to produce, you can spend more time developing a strategy.
SELECT SMART GOALS
These are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. As you begin your work on thought leadership, think about what you’re hoping to accomplish.
COME UP WITH CONTENT IDEAS
Review your personas and consider how your content is focused on what those individuals want to learn about. What are they searching for and asking about? Brainstorm content ideas that answer all of these questions. Remember that starting with a brainstorm means there are no bad ideas—you can narrow them down as you go through the process.
ANALYZE COMPETITION
Understanding where your audience currently turns for information is an important step. Look for gaps so you can address topics that other lawyers aren’t.
CREATE AND PROMOTE YOUR CONTENT
Once you’ve created content, ask yourself if it’s easy to comprehend and share. Does your personality and point of view come across clearly? Consider where you’ll post each item and how to promote new content organically.
TRACK RESULTS
In order to know if you’re accomplishing your SMART goals, you need to measure performance. Figure out which tools you’ll use to track metrics, and then make it a point to report on those items regularly so that you can review performance over time (and optimize for the future).
Takeaway Thought leadership is a wonderful strategy for building your brand as a lawyer and acquiring new clients. Proving your expertise while reaching a wider audience and nurturing relationships are key benefits of lawyer thought leadership. Do your research, follow the best practices we listed here, and then use the five steps to develop a strategy you can stick to. n Noreen Fishman is the director of client services at Good2bSocial. Her primary responsibility is to help clients achieve their digital marketing goals. This includes managing the Good2bSocial team, ensuring constant communication with clients and updating them on their progress. Connect with Noreen on LinkedIn or www.good2bsocial.com.
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How to Effectively Leverage Your Current Data with Your Competitive Intelligence and Business Development Efforts by Phil Flora
D
ata—and specifically how well you can leverage data, apply analytics and implement new technologies—is increasingly becoming a key competitive advantage for law firms, legal recruiters, corporations and legal service providers. So how do you create a robust and strategic data strategy? And what if you already have a lot of data at your fingertips but you don’t know what to do with it? A good data strategy is about what your business wants to achieve, and how data can help you get there. To be truly effective, data must address a specific business need, help your organization reach its strategic goals and generate real value. Here are some ideas to create a more strategic approach to leveraging your competitive intelligence to aid in your business development efforts.
Perform an Audit of Your Current CI Landscape What databases and systems do you already have? And of those, which ones do you actually use? Are you leveraging them to their full capabilities? Now is the time to take stock of everything your organization is already paying for and ensure that you actually need it, use it, know how to leverage all that it can do and know where you have blind spots and needs that aren’t being met Once you have the answers to the questions above, schedule time with each of your data vendors to get a refresher course on the latest updates on each platform and to find out how your team can better utilize the tools. Come prepared with questions, pain points and even a wish list for the platform. Chances are that you and your team will learn something new as a result.
Do an Internal Audit to Maximize Existing Resources Share information with other internal departments on what tools each of them already has with the goal of assembling 8
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a master list and leveraging existing tools. We can’t tell you how many times we hear that a marketing department is interested in a demo of our tools when the same firm’s recruiting department has had a subscription to our products for several years. It’s in the firm’s benefit to share resources among the organization.
Create a Clear Data Strategy Now that you know the kind of data you have and what data you need, you can outline specific goals for using the data that align with your business needs and upcoming projects. This is important considering the sheer volume of data available today. We see many clients go into “data paralysis” mode where they have collected so much data to analyze that they are almost frozen by it because tackling it seems insurmountable. Legal data can of course be used in many ways, including: • Legal recruiting (associate and lateral hiring) • M&A targeting (finding firms that would be a good fit) • Business expansion (new markets, new practices, new cities, etc.) • Competitive intelligence • Benchmarking Outline your organization’s most important needs and then find ways to use data to support those initiatives. For example: • Learning about your key clients—Relationships are everything so learn about who represents the company, key contacts at that company and who at your organization may know those individuals. • Increasing associate hiring by region, practice and/or industry • Finding lateral partners in a particular practice, industry or geographic region
• Seeking new markets in which to expand • Creating new practice areas • Looking for merger partners or acquisition targets • Setting up an alumni relations program • Increasing diversity hiring • And so much more The point is that data—when it’s strong—can help support any kind of business growth, marketing or recruiting initiative.
Assign Roles and Establish Processes It’s important to assign specific responsibilities to individuals involved in the data process, ensure you have clear lines of communication internally between departments and have a consistent process for data requests. If research is needed by the business development and marketing team but the actual work is conducted by the knowledge management team, make sure your team members explain the why behind the data request instead of just asking for bits of information. In other words, the purpose of what you are trying to achieve with the data you are seeking. This will enable those gathering and synthesizing the data to give you a better work product. When thinking about staffing, map out the data steps and then think about who would be best to work on the project. These steps include gathering the data, storing it, processing/ analyzing it, pulling out the insights from the data and then finally presenting the data. If you find you need additional help that your firm is not currently equipped to handle, outsource the projects. Finally, set up a process with a simple online intake form to streamline, track and manage data requests. Tracking past data requests in a central place can also improve your efficiency for future similar queries.
Collecting Data You have the systems and team in place but how are you going to collect the data you need for the specific project? First, start by identifying the questions that you want your data to answer. Would qualitative or quantitative data be helpful? A combination of the two? You may want to set up a survey to send out via email and social media as well, especially if you are creating a white paper or research report and want to include timely voices and opinions as part of your narrative. You can then start to shape the narrative of your project based on the raw data.
How to Synthesize and Present Your Data The next step is how to turn your raw data into insights while ensuring you present it in a way that effectively engages and persuades your target audience. This involves knowing your audience and how they would best respond to the information at hand. Do written reports resonate with them? PowerPoints with charts and graphs? Or are they more captivated by storytelling? Always think about how to best convey the information you have or all the work you put into researching and creating your insights can fall flat.
How to Maintain the Accuracy of Your Data Moving Forward Now that you’ve spent all this time and effort getting your data in good shape and figuring out the data you need, it’s crucial to ensure you have the right tools and processes to maintain your data and make it actionable. Decide the cadence of reporting certain data and assign stakeholders responsible for the process. Create easy-to-update templates so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time when synthesizing the data and so you can easily benchmark each report against the others. When it comes to people data, your Client Relationship Management (CRM) system not only helps with managing contacts, but when fully deployed and utilized, it can also improve client service, streamline your lead generation process, and uncover hidden relationships. Of course, the key to having a successful CRM system is participation by key stakeholders and having updated data. Take the time to ensure your contacts are regularly updated and segmented. If you find this task to be too much to manage internally, you can outsource it.
In Summary There is no shortage of data available to law firms and legal service organizations today. The key is to be strategic about collecting it, updating it, synthesizing it and sharing it. Those organizations that view data as a strategic asset and develop robust data and analytics strategies are the ones that will have strategic advantage in today’s competitive legal market. n Phil Flora is the Vice President in charge of Sales & Marketing at Leopard Solutions and is a seasoned B2B and B2C marketing and business development executive. Learn more at www.leopardsolutions.com.
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Why Corporate Law Firms Need a Client Value Team by Allison Nussbaum
T
he core function of a client value (or client success) team in a software company is to ensure that clients receive ongoing and lasting value from the product and services they have purchased. As the leader of a client value team, I see it as understanding the client’s success criteria (objectives), desired outcomes, tolerance for risk, communications preferences, and more. In the software environment, we have well-defined processes for onboarding new clients and users, and for evaluating client value along the lifecycle of the client relationship. For years, I have wondered why most law firms do not engage this way with their clients.
were different—and most importantly, so too were client expectations. Today’s clients want law firms to provide much more than they did even five years ago: matter budgets, practice innovation, status reporting, and more. None of these services were a regular part of the typical corporate lawyer’s day. Now, they are the norm. Marketing, IT, and knowledge management departments work hard to find technology solutions to solve all of the clients’ needs; however, given all that is on the lawyers’ plates, adoption can be problematic.
Takeaways from 2022 Legal Marketing Events
At the same time, expectations for innovation have grown, and firms are being evaluated on their ability to deliver truly client-centric service. At a base level, they want to know that their legal fees are being invested into programs and processes that benefit them (the client). I suspect that most lawyers in firms do not think about client value in this way; to them, value is measured by the result they obtain for the client. In recent years, we have seen an increase in law firms hiring business professionals to handle the business of law. There are now chief client officers, chief innovation officers, and chief content officers—this is a great start, but it still leaves most of the client relationship work in the hands of the lawyers. In my experience, most firms believe that they are clientcentric, but when push comes to shove, without a dedicated and focused investment in the client experience, they are likely to fall short of their clients’ expectations.
Recently, I attended the Thomson Reuters Institute Marketing Partner Forum, the Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference, and the virtual LMA Tech West Conference. These conferences are where law firm marketing, innovation, and business development professionals gather to learn about and discuss best practices from leading thinkers and visionaries in the legal industry. Not surprisingly, I was drawn to sessions focused on technology and client service. There were several standout sessions that took me back to this idea of law firm client value teams.
Shifting Client Expectations Require a Different Model I heard repeatedly that the general expectation is that lawyers will handle all aspects of the client relationship. They do so while practicing law, serving on committees, and developing new business. This is an unsustainable model and has been for decades. It was born in a time when the demands of practicing law
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Delivering Client-Centric Service
A New Paradigm: The Client Value Team Given all this, is it time to change that paradigm? Is it time to put the day-to-day work of managing client experience into the hands of professionals who are trained to do so? I submit that the answer is yes.
Perhaps the vision for the modern law firm should be for lawyers to be subject matter experts in their areas of practice or industries. Leave the management of clients to professionals whose role is to ensure that clients are receiving the greatest value possible from their firms. Of course, this is a hard sell—I am well aware that many lawyers believe they can and should do everything for every client. There are law firms that have embraced elements of client value teams and their programs are extremely successful. The goal should be to better understand the client’s world—from how they approach their business objectives to the internal pressures they manage—and determine how the firm can partner with them to achieve their business and legal goals.
How to Organize the Team The ideal situation is to have a dedicated client value team reporting to a Chief Client Officer. In this scenario, client managers are assigned to the majority of the firm’s active clients, and they have industry or practice expertise. They also have solid business management skills, a superb ability to communicate, high-level decision-making abilities, and access to law firm decision makers. They are able to instill trust both internally and externally. The client manager is assigned and introduced to the main contacts at the company as soon as an engagement letter is signed, if not during the relationship development process. More frequently, the main client contact will be an operations professional who fully understands and likely appreciates this model.
Managing the Onboarding Process The client manager’s first job is to handle the onboarding process, which sets the stage for the ongoing relationship. First, they coordinate with the internal teams to make sure that the file is set up so that the lawyers can begin working immediately. They collect information from the client that lawyers often don’t think to request and which is necessary to the work of knowledge management, finance, and marketing. They profile the matter and document the client’s desired outcomes and success criteria. Most importantly, they keep this up to date throughout the lifecycle of the relationship. Once onboarding is complete, the client manager continues to engage with the key client stakeholders. Some of the key activities might include:
• Monitor the progress of the matter(s), including performance against budget. • Deliver regular updates to the client. • Monitor staffing of matter(s) to ensure diversity goals are being met. • Conduct regular meetings and develop relationships with key client stakeholders. • Interview and survey to determine client satisfaction. • Help to identify and implement strategies and tactics to develop and expand existing relationships and increase new business. • Plan and implement non-billable client events such as CLEs or in-service training.
Mapping the Client Journey The client value team also is responsible for mapping and documenting the firm’s client journey. Simply put, the concept of the client journey refers to all the touchpoints clients have in their journey with a law firm. This includes the sum of experiences that clients have when interacting with the firm and brand from the first point of contact—website, event, existing relationship—to the end of the engagement. The power of the journey mapping process is that its focus is not on what the lawyers want their clients to know or do, but instead gets into the clients’ heads. This requires empathy. A client value team is best positioned to do this work because they are not involved in the dayto-day legal management of the clients’ matters; their sole focus is on the client experience.
Client Health Scoring Another important role of the client value team is to lead the effort to adopt client health scoring, a metric used to understand the likelihood of a client to grow, stay consistent, or churn. This is a widely accepted practice in many industries, and it is extremely important for law firms. While the key performance indicators (KPI) and weighting are different in every organization, a law firm could monitor and measure KPIs such as profitability; client growth in the number of matters, cross-utilization and spend; client satisfaction (measured via surveys and/or NPS); and number and depth of relationships (measured using a CRM or ERM solution) to determine whether clients are growing, thriving, stable or at-risk.
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Client Value Teams Are Needed in Law Firms of All Sizes
Peterson Reporting. Providing nationwide service since 1986.
Client value professionals are more of the norm in BigLaw than in middle-market law firms. In BigLaw, these professionals reside in the C-Suite, business development departments, and in marketing departments. However, a client value team can and should fit into even small to mid-size firms as well if they want to see growth. There are many law firms doing this right, and they are seen as innovative and understanding of the plight of general counsel. Those firms continue to grow as the chasm between Am Law 100 and Am Law 200 firms grows wider. The time is now for corporate law firms of all sizes to invest in client value teams—even small law firms can employ a client value specialist. As the wants and needs of corporate clients continue to shift, so too must the delivery of legal services.
Experience Data Is a Client Value Team’s Best Asset Without easily accessible and organized data, processes like journey mapping and client health scoring would be nearly impossible. All of the information that is collected about the firm’s clients—from industry to fee arrangements to matter description—provides valuable insights. But collecting this data is just the first step. The data must be useable and not locked into multiple, siloed systems. When all of the data—even when it’s collected from disparate data sources—is brought together in a single platform, the client value team is empowered with the full picture of the client. n Allison Nussbaum is Vice President, Client Value at Pitchly and has more than 25 years of experience in the legal industry. She was an early employee and spent seven years at Manzama, a leading provider of market intelligence to law firms and professional services firms, where she built and led the global Client Success group. She also served as a business development leader at two global law firms and managed national accounts at InterAction, the market leader in CRM solutions for law firms. Learn more at www.pitchly.com.
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PARTNER SYNERGY SPURS EXPANDED ELDER ABUSE SUCCESS Partner Diversity Means Full-Service Advocates for the Elderly at Green Bryant French, LLP by Dan Baldwin We litigate elder abuse claims in both civil and probate court. We focus on three main areas: nursing home neglect and wrongful death cases, financial elder abuse cases, and will and trust litigation cases. Our breadth and depth of litigation experience combined with specialized subject-matter knowledge in elder law gives us a competitive edge and a unique perspective which translates into excellent results for our clients. Much of our team’s success in these areas is due to the synergy among myself, Rob Dieringer and Jessica Wilson—each of us bringing varying and distinct strengths to our cases,” says Joel Bryant, Partner and Founder of Green Bryant & French, LLP. Founded in December, 2004, and headquartered in San Diego with an additional office in Riverside County, the firm regularly handles elder litigation cases throughout Southern California. Bryant, Wilson and Dieringer lead the Elder Litigation Team at the firm. In the areas of nursing home neglect/wrongful death, financial elder abuse, and probate litigation, the firm has earned a sterling reputation as being knowledgeable, experienced, skilled and compassionate advocates for elders.
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“Our Elder Litigation Team’s knowledge, experience and success in handling all three of these distinct areas of elder litigation stacks up with any firm in Southern California,” Bryant says. Clients agree: I want to thank the law firm of Green Bryant & French, LLP. Their excellent communication and the overall professionalism were beyond expectation. They let us know each step of the way what was happening in our case. They always answered my questions in a clear and prompt way. The process was explained, and they gave me a good idea of what to expect at every turn. Their logical thinking, anticipation, and assembled evidence all reflected their great preparation that allowed them to represent my family in the best way possible. I always felt that they sincerely cared. I appreciated all the time and effort they put into the case. I can give my highest recommendation to the law firm of Green Bryant & French, LLP. –Robert M. The firm’s typical cases are supported by the Elder and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act (EDACPA) of California’s Welfare and Institutions Code. With combined decades of success in complex civil litigation actions, the Elder Litigation Team at Green, Bryant & French leans into
JOURNALS
LAW FIRM
OF THE MONTH
© Bauman Photographers
2022 2021
Partners: Joel Bryant, Jessica Wilson and Rob Dieringer
© Bauman Photographers Joel Bryant, Partner
their shared compassion for their clients, most of whom are elderly persons having suffered from some form of physical or financial abuse or neglect. The firm has helped many family members of loved ones, including elders in nursing homes who have been neglected and suffered serious injury or death as a result, elders who have been sexually assaulted in nursing homes, elders who have been financially exploited by someone they know and trust, and persons who have suffered monetary damages as a result of will or trust fraud. One case of particular importance to the firm involved an elder residing in his assisted living facility who had fallen and was injured and unable to move or summon help because the pull-cord system in the facility was, and had been for some time, inoperable. Alone and scared, the man grabbed the only thing he could reach, a bar of soap, and scraped out the word, “HELP” on the bathroom wall. Sadly, he succumbed to the injuries he sustained, leaving behind a loving and grieving family. The Elder Litigation team was able to assist the family in obtaining a favorable result as well as much-needed closure. The knowledge of the inner workings of these facilities was an integral part of evaluating the case. The empathy and compassion for the family was immediately felt—when these attorneys hear about cases like this, it evokes real emotion, compassion and compels them to fight to make sure these same harms do not befall others who are similarly situated.
Partner Diversity Means FullService Advocates for the Elderly “Given the diverse substantive knowledge and litigation experience of the Elder Litigation Team, we are able to see all sides of an elder litigation dispute and analyze the issues from 18
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a variety of angles. This enables us to confidently take on large institutions in complex matters which are multifaceted and often require not only a vast understanding of California’s elder abuse laws, but also often require a comprehensive understanding of medical issues, mental health issues, real property law, contract law, probate law, and litigation strategy. Such knowledge and experience open different attack angles for each case, which translates to excellent results for our clients,” Bryant says. With 32 years of litigation experience, Bryant is recognized as one of San Diego’s top litigation attorneys in the area of elder abuse and was one of the first San Diego attorneys to specialize in prosecuting civil and probate actions for financial elder abuse. Bryant’s passion for representing elders stems from a deep respect and appreciation for elders, as well as an understanding that many elders are vulnerable to being taken advantage of physically, financially and emotionally. Bryant says, “These elders have done everything that has been asked of them during their lives. When their country called, they stepped up. When their families, friends or neighbors needed help, they were there to provide it. Many of these elders devoted a good portion of their lives to helping others, and as they enter their twilight years, it is time for someone to do the same for them—to be their voice, to afford them dignity, to protect and enforce their rights. When I’m representing these people, or their interests after they have passed, I know I am doing something good for the world. There is no doubt in my mind that I am using my legal skills to better the community, for the highest and best use.” Bryant served as President of the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego in 2011 and served on its board of directors for 11 years. He also served on the board of directors for Consumer Attorneys of California and served six years on the board of directors of a non-profit focused on providing housing, meals and supportive services to low-income seniors living in San Diego. Rob Dieringer, Partner, is a dual-certified specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law as well as Elder Law. Dieringer focuses his law practice on will and trust litigation and civil elder abuse litigation. As an elder law attorney, Dieringer has counseled elders in their homes and in nursing homes all over San Diego County, assisting with legal and long-term care affairs. “When we are working on nursing homes cases, chances are that I have visited the nursing home in question and can offer that experience. Similarly, when I am prosecuting a trust contest, Joel and Jessica have incredible civil and trial expertise to bring to the table. The synergy is powerful,” Dieringer says. For the first ten years of her career, before joining the firm in 2017, Jessica Wilson gained training from seasoned civil litigators in distinguished law firms in Downtown San Diego, including on a wide range of complex civil litigation matters, both plaintiff and defense. This provides her a unique perspective and skill set for litigating elder abuse cases. “For me, this area of law feels fulfilling and rewarding,” Wilson says. As a Partner at Green, Bryant & French, LLP, she mentors newer attorneys
© Bauman Photographers Rob Dieringer, Partner
and describes this role as an important opportunity for her to stay connected with good practices, modeling professionalism, and provides for no shortage of thriving academic debates. A native of San Diego, Wilson shares a strong, often empathetic connection with the firm’s Southern California clientele, and she brings tenacity and creativity to the Elder Litigation Team.
In another matter, an elderly man was improperly held captive in a locked memory care facility, kept there by his estranged daughter and a dishonest doctor apparently more interested in filling beds in the facility than the elderly man’s well-being. Bryant’s first visit to the facility evoked memories of the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. While many of the residents of the facility were zonked out due to the ravages of mental illness, severe dementia and/or over-medication, Bryant’s client was the exact opposite—he was alert, oriented, full of energy, yet incredulous as to why his daughter had done nothing to get him out of that locked facility. Bryant, with the help of a neuropsychologist and the elderly man’s niece, was able to secure the elderly man’s release from that nightmare, so that he was able to eventually move back into his home, where he happily lived out his life for many years. The case demonstrated to Bryant how vulnerable elders can be, and how quickly they can lose their freedom when something in life goes awry, and they don’t have anyone looking out for them. Sometimes the answer is found not in adjudication through trial or settlement of a case, but rather in ensuring the abusers are extracted from the mix. In one particular case against an unlicensed Residential Care Facility for the Elderly, the attorneys at Green Bryant & French worked with the governing body and the end result was that the operator’s license was permanently revoked, and the facility was shut down. This was a worthy endeavor that resulted in an accomplishment that served not only the harmed family members, but the broader community too.
The collaborative working relationship among the three partners (and the others in the firm) is obvious to all. They bring their diverse strengths together to strive for consensus on approaches in each case. When their tactics differ and the situation requires a final decision as to the direction to proceed, Bryant’s 32 years of experience is a huge advantage in moving forward on a clear path. Describing the dynamic of the team, Bryant says, “The working relationship is very good. We have healthy differences in opinion, but we agree on everything that counts. In many ways, it is like family—we can talk directly and candidly with each other. Everyone brings different strengths. With clear goals in mind and an intentional path forward, our team rolls really well together.” A recent case proves just how effective that synergy can be. The Elder Litigation Team recently resolved a multi-milliondollar trust contest based on allegations of forgery. This case had pending proceedings in both probate and civil court. There were multiple parties, a large volume of motions and probate petitions regarding the interpretation of instruments, and tricky issues involving the deceased person’s mental capacity and relationships with her family members. This was an allhands-on-deck effort that produced great results.
© Bauman Photographers
Partner Synergy Spurs Expanded Elder Abuse Success
Jessica Wilson, Partner
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© Bauman Photographers Partners: Joel Bryant, Jessica Wilson and Rob Dieringer
Responses from their clients tell their story best: As a Trust’s non-professional Successor Trustee, I worked diligently for several months to manage a sizable, but fairly simple and straightforward estate. The beneficiaries and I met and concurred on everything. The ‘Agreement’ was signed and dated by all parties. All Trust activity was complete and finalized. Despite the Agreement, several months later one of the beneficiaries hooked up with an opportunistic lawyer and wanted a bigger piece of the pie. That’s when I retained Green Bryant & French. It became clear that the other side was skilled at their ploy of wearing down their opponent until they (we) begged for a settlement (in this case hundreds of thousands of dollars). GBF Attorneys were extremely professional and kept me informed and involved at all times. I always felt I was part of the team. The end result was the other side was outlawyered. They were forced to accept all aspects of the original Agreement. Even more significant was the disgruntled beneficiary wound up paying the legal fees for both sides. I was advised by other legal professionals that this was rare. I highly recommend the GBF law firm. –Robert S. In 2018, I was in a family dispute that I never would have imagined. I interviewed several attorneys in San Diego. Engaging Joel Bryant and Jessica Wilson was the best decision I could have made. They are smart, strategic, and experienced attorneys. Jessica was a “Rockstar” in depositions. She was so prepared and so tough. Joel was confident and effective in court. His experience is invaluable. We attained the outcome I was hoping for in my case. More importantly, when I was at my most vulnerable, Joel and Jessica both were supportive and accessible. I hope I never have to hire another lawyer, but I will hire Joel and Jessica again if there ever is a need to do so. –Tina C.
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Although I pray I never require legal services again, I would not hesitate to reach out to Mr. Joel Bryant and the legal team. The team represented me through unexpected, heartbreaking events that no one should have to go through. The many facets of this case included undue influence, elder isolation, preparation of a witness deposition of the elder abuse/undue influence/isolation, trust & amendment changes, to name only a few of the challenges. Joel, Jessica and Rob can ONLY be described as professional, genuinely caring, compassionate and an awesome team! Look no further, I am confident you are in the best of care with this law firm!!! –R. V. What continues to drive Bryant and his team is their steadfast belief that “elders are a particularly vulnerable and underappreciated part of our society, and are in dire need of skilled, zealous attorneys to protect their interests and enforce their rights in litigation, including trial.” Fortunately for California’s elders, the firm’s Elder Litigation Team has the depth and breadth of knowledge, skill and experience to fill that void and to be the go-to firm for wronged elders in nursing home abuse, financial elder abuse, and probate litigation. n Contact Green Bryant & French, LLP 402 West Broadway, Suite 1950 San Diego, CA 92101 619.239.7900 www.gbflawyers.com www.californiaelderabuselawyer.com
Is Your Level of Responsiveness up to Par These Days? by Julie Savarino
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awyers and professional services providers: Do you want to thrill your clients, customers, prospects, and other contacts (CPs)? If so, either become “ultra-responsive” or at least consider leveling up your responsiveness game and tool kit. The fact is this: In this current hybrid work world, the expectations, platforms, and tools available for and components of responsiveness have changed considerably! Studies show that many CPs now expect, want, and may need to reach a lawyer or other professional instantly, or receive some type of response “right away”—and by right away, CPs mean in less than one hour. Don’t believe me? Ask your clients, including (but not limited to) the general counsel, in-house counsel, C-suite executives, deal makers, referral sources, internal professional staff members, and other professionals you serve and work with. Decades of studies and surveys have shown (and continue to find) that the #1 complaint CPs have about lawyers (and other professionals) is their lack of timely responsiveness. This lack of timely responsiveness applies to ALL lawyers, whether a plaintiff or defense firm, and whether serving individuals, corporations, nonprofits, or any other entities, and applies to many other professional services providers too. Lack of timely responsiveness leaves CPs feeling like you are too busy for them, they are unimportant, they/their matters are not a priority or important to you, and generally are unwanted and/or unloved. Plus, lack of timely responsiveness threatens lawyers’, law firms’, and other professionals’ existing client and other relationships, reduces your new business pipeline, and can negatively impact future growth. The standard response time in the legal industry to get back to a CP used to be within two hours, but now it’s more like five minutes!
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Why? Because most CPs seek to contact a lawyer due to a stressful, important, or urgent situation/matter. Most CPs these days (especially C-suite decisionmakers, business owners, and entrepreneurs) are in a hurry, need legal advice/service fast, and don’t have a lot of time to waste waiting—for anything.
What Is the Number of Rings (and Total Time) Before Your Voicemail Picks up When Someone Calls Your Office and Cell Phone? If any of your phone lines make a caller wait for more than 15-30 seconds before your voicemail picks up, you have a problem. Many hard-driven professionals and clients are in a hurry, are short on time, and do not want to wait for a minute or more before they can leave you a voicemail (if you don’t actually answer within three rings, which is optimal). Check your setup now and minimize the number of rings before a personalized voicemail greeting picks up. The maximum number of rings should be five (but ideally, three).
Do You Have a Personalized Voicemail Message on Both Your Office and Cell? You should take the 5-10 minutes needed to personally record a short and sweet voicemail recording on all your phones. Include the name and phone number for your assistant or someone else in the firm whom a caller can contact if they have an immediate/urgent issue. Return calls within three hours. Work with your secretary/ assistant to have him or her return your calls within three hours if you are unable to return them yourself. If
you are too busy, don’t think it’s important, feel as though you are too important and high ranking or simply don’t have time to record a personalized voicemail greeting, then (and only if it’s truly necessary) ask an assistant to record one for you, but be sure it’s short and optimized. If you have not recorded a personalized greeting on both your office and cell, consider doing so now.
What Secure Messaging Options Do You Have and Use? According to the Legal Trends Report published annually by Clio, many CPs (especially younger ones) would rather text or email their lawyer than talk on the phone or face-toface. They prefer not to call your firm or meet with you in real life. Most of us in the legal industry know that standard text platforms are not very secure, and while Google Voice provides a free forwarding number and texting through an app or browser, it may not be very secure either. So, ask yourself: Are you using stand-alone and secure messaging apps like Signal or What’s App for business? If not, ask your clients whether they would like secure messaging as a communication option.
Does Your Website Have a Chat or Contact Us Option That Is Staffed Regularly? If your firm has a chat or “Contact Us” feature on your website but no one checks it or responds regularly to inquiries and questions, consider improving your process. If your firm does not have a way for CPs to contact you on your website, create one ASAP and be sure to respond in a timely manner (i.e., as close to “right away” as is possible).
Optimize Your Email Email Response Time—Now that “right away” is the new standard, ask yourself: How long (minutes/hours/days) does it take for me to respond to 1) what I perceive as important and urgent emails, and 2) the emails I receive that I do not perceive as important or urgent? • Use Your Assistant/Professional Staff: Arrange to give your primary assistant access to your email (not the contents of the email, just the occurrence of incoming emails), and train them regarding how to respond for you. For example, “Sue is in court all day today. Please let me know if your email is urgent, and I can text her. Thank you.—Assistant Name, contact info.”
• Use OOO (Out of Office) Messages: If you are a lawyer or other professional who does not currently practice a disciplined, daily email approach, or if you are super busy and not always able to check and read your email at least once a day (ideally four to five times daily, based on CPs’ expectations and “need right aways” as described above), consider creating an OOO message and then use it every day. For example, “Thank you for your email. Due to my workload, I only check my email twice a day, at around 8 am MST and 3 pm MST. If you need to reach me urgently, please (either) call my cell _______ or contact NAME (assistant/backup) email, phone.” • C heck Your Email Signature: Ask your clients whether your email signature is received in their inbox as an attachment. If so, streamline and optimize yours. The email firewalls in many (especially large) companies and organizations either block images or convert email signatures into images, which is a small but frequent annoyance to clients because they are not sure when an attachment is substantive, especially when they are on the go, using their cell/mobile.
Your Presence on and Use of Social Media Platforms, Especially LinkedIn: Is your LinkedIn profile optimized? If you don’t think LinkedIn is a valuable tool and you don’t spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, check out the great two-part article, “Why Lawyers Need LinkedIn” by Ross Fishman. If you are not using LinkedIn to research, keep in contact, and stay in touch via its LinkedIn messaging feature, you are missing out. Don’t let the “I’m too busy” excuse impede your responsiveness as described above (and ultimately your success). The fact is, if you have a job (and even those who don’t have a job but raise children or care for a family), you are busy almost ALL the time. We all need to force ourselves to make time to schedule and do these types of very important yet not necessarily urgent tasks so that we stay in tune with the times. Or, maybe hire a virtual assistant to help. n Julie Savarino an award-winning and highly motivated producer, innovator, leader, writer, and a highly rated and results-producing business developer, coach, and content producer. Learn more at www.busdevinc.com.
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California Case Summaries New California Civil Cases by Monty A. McIntyre, Esq. Monty A. McIntyre, Esq. is the publisher of California Case Summaries™ which provides short summaries, organized by legal topic, of every new published civil and family law case helping California lawyers easily master the new case law in their practice areas, get better results and referrals, and grow their law practice (https:// cacasesummaries.com). Monthly, quarterly and annual subscriptions are available, as well as annual Practice Area subscriptions in the areas of Employment, Family Law, Real Property and Torts. Monty has been a California civil trial lawyer since 1980 and a member of ABOTA since 1995. He currently works as a full-time mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc. conducing Zoom hearings throughout California (to use Monty contact his case manager Haward Cho, haward@adrservices. com, (619) 233-1323). Monty also helps lawyers improve their skills and practices with his Lawyer Master Mentoring™ services (for info visit Monty’s web at https:// montymcintyre-law.com).
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT Medical Malpractice Lopez v. Ledesma (2022) _ Cal.5th _ , 2022 WL 553421: The California Supreme Court, affirming the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the trial court, held that Code of Civil Procedure, section 3333.2, which limits non-economic damages to $250,000 in a medical malpractice case, applies to a physician assistant who has a legally enforceable agency relationship with a supervising physician and provides services within the scope of that agency relationship, even if the physician violates his or her obligation to provide adequate supervision. (February 24, 2022.)
Torts Sheen v. Wells Fargo Bank (2022) _ Cal.5th _ , 2022 WL 664722: The California Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s order sustaining defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s cause of action alleging negligence in defendant’s responses to plaintiff’s loan modification requests. The California Supreme Court ruled that a lender does not owe the borrower a tort duty sounding in general negligence principles to process, review and respond carefully and completely to a borrower’s loan modification application, such that upon a breach of
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this duty the lender may be liable for the borrower’s economic losses—i.e., pecuniary losses unaccompanied by property damage or personal injury. This type of claim is barred by the economic loss doctrine, a judicially created doctrine that bars recovery in negligence for pure economic losses when such claims would disrupt the parties’ private ordering, render contracts less reliable as a means of organizing commercial relationships, and stifle the development of contract law. (March 7, 2022.)
CALIFORNIA COURTS OF APPEAL Appeals Meinhardt v. City of Sunnyvale (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 702912: The Court of Appeal dismissed petitioner’s appeal of the trial court’s denial of his petition for writ of administrative mandate seeking to overturn a forty-four (44) hour suspension against him for engaging in speech that was critical of policies implemented by the new Department Chief. The appeal was dismissed because it was not timely filed after the trial court’s original decision denying his writ petition. While the original decision was labeled an “order,” under Dhillon v. John Muir Health (2017) 2 Cal.5th 1109, 1113, it was actually a final judgment. When a court has entered a ruling on a writ petition that constitutes a
final judgment, any party seeking appellate review of that ruling must timely appeal from that final judgment— and the time to file a notice of appeal is not restarted by the trial court’s subsequent entry of a document styled as a “judgment” that merely reiterates the prior final judgment. (C.A. 4th, March 9, 2022.)
Arbitration Aronow v. Superior Court of San Francisco County (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 896183: The Court of Appeal granted a writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its order denying plaintiff’s motion for arbitration fees and costs waiver or alternatively to lift the court stay of trial court proceedings pending the conclusion of an arbitration hearing. The trial court had previously granted defendants’ petition to compel arbitration in plaintiff’s action for legal malpractice against his former law firm and attorneys. Recognizing there was a split of authority, the trial court followed the appellate opinion that held a trial court does not have jurisdiction to lift a stay despite a plaintiff’s claim that he cannot afford to pay arbitration fees. (See MKJA, Inc. v. 123 Fit Franchising, LLC (2011) 191 Cal.App.4th 643, 658–659.) The Court of Appeal ruled that a trial court that grants a defendant’s petition to compel arbitration has jurisdiction to lift the stay of trial court proceedings when a plaintiff demonstrates financial inability to pay the anticipated arbitration costs, and the trial court may then require the defendant to either pay plaintiff’s share of the arbitration costs or waive the right to arbitration. (C.A. 1st, March 28, 2022.) Eminence Healthcare, Inc. v. Centuri Health Ventures, LLC (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 321011: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order partially denying defendant’s motion to compel arbitration. The parties agreed to arbitrate “any dispute, controversy or claim arising out of or relating to” their agreement, “[e] xcept for claims seeking injunctive or other equitable relief.” The trial court properly concluded that plaintiff’s causes of action seeking equitable relief were not subject to arbitration, determined that the resolution of the nonarbitrable equitable claims could make the arbitration unnecessary in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section 1281.2(d), and delayed the arbitration of the other causes of action until after the equitable claims were resolved in the trial court. (C.A. 5th, February 3, 2022.)
Attorney Fees Riskin v. Downtown L.A. Property Owners Assn. (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 805377: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s order awarding plaintiff/ petitioner $71,075.75 in attorney fees after she prevailed in her petition under the California Public Records Act (CPRA; Government Code, section 6250 et seq.) seeking to compel respondent to produce certain categories of documents. The trial court believed it had no discretion to deny fees because section 6259(d) provides the court shall award court costs and attorney fees to the requester should the requester prevail in litigation. The Court of Appeal disagreed, ruling that the trial court has discretion to deny attorney fees under the CPRA in some circumstances. The trial court has discretion to deny attorney fees when the plaintiff/petitioner obtains only partial relief and obtains documents that are so minimal or insignificant as to justify a finding that the plaintiff/ petitioner did not prevail. The Court of Appeal remanded the case for the trial court to exercise its discretion. (C.A. 2nd, March 17, 2022.) San Luis Obispo Local etc. v. Central Coast Development etc. (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 324988: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s orders awarding attorney fees of $172,850 to plaintiff/crossdefendant City of Pismo Beach (City) and attorney fees of $428,864 to plaintiff/cross-defendant Central Coast Development Company (Central Coast) after the trial court granted their motion for judgment on the pleadings regarding the cross-complaint filed by defendant/crosscomplainant San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) seeking its attorney fees under an indemnity agreement that LAFCO required City and Central Coast to sign when they applied to LAFCO to annex real property into the City. In an earlier appeal (San Luis Obispo Local Agency Formation Com. v. City of Pismo Beach (2021) 61 Cal.App.5th 595), the Court of Appeal determined that the indemnity agreement was not supported by consideration and that LAFCO had no statutory authority to impose an indemnity agreement as a condition of LAFCO’s statutory duty to consider Central Coast’s application. In this appeal, the Court of Appeal concluded that a contract by a public agency that exceeds its statutory powers is void and will not support an award of attorney fees pursuant to Civil Code section 1717(a). (C.A.2nd, February 3, 2022.)
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Civil Procedure Ables v. A. Ghazale Brothers, Inc. (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 326075: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order granting defendants’ motion to dismiss the action for failure to bring the action to trial within five years as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 583.310. In November of 2019, plaintiff filed an ex parte application requesting the trial be continued for at least 6 months, and the trial court granted the request and continued the trial to March of 2021. The trial court properly granted defendants’ motion because the March 2021 trial date fell five years and seven months after the action was commenced, and was not timely under Emergency Rule 10(a) which provides that for civil actions filed before April 6, 2020, the time in which to bring the case to trial under Code of Civil Procedure section 583.310 was extended by six months for a total of five years and six months. (C.A.5th, filed January 12, 2022, published February 3, 2022.)
Employment LaFace v. Ralphs Grocery Co. (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 498847: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s judgment for defendant, following a bench trial, in plaintiff’s action under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA; Labor Code, section 2698, et seq.). The trial court properly concluded that the PAGA action was equitable and plaintiff was not entitled to a jury trial, and that defendant was not required to provide seating for its cashiers. (C.A.2nd, February 18, 2022.) Mejia v. Roussos Construction, Inc. (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 883845: The Court of Appeal reversed a judgment for defendant, following a jury trial, in plaintiffs’ action alleging they were employees of defendant, not independent contractors, and therefore were entitled to damages including payment for unpaid wages for each hour worked, overtime wages for overtime hours worked, meal periods, rest breaks and failure to provide accurate pay statements. The Court of Appeal ruled that the ABC test, as articulated in Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903, does not include a threshold hiring entity test. As a result, the trial court erred when it instructed the jury that before the ABC test was applied to determine whether plaintiffs were employees or independent contractors, plaintiffs had to first prove they were hired by defendant or an agent of defendant. (C.A. 3rd, March 25, 2022.) n
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The Battle of the Meetings: Virtual vs. In-Person— Which Is Better? by Lindsay Griffiths
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he short answer? Both! After two-plus years of being limited to almost entirely virtual meetings, we’ve learned that there are huge benefits to doing things online. But many people were also chomping at the bit to get back to seeing each other in the flesh. So that begs the question—which is better? It turns out that we need both and for varied reasons. So, while you may be tempted to toss your ring light forever in favor of jumping back onto planes…not so fast. Let’s look at the pros of both types of meetings and see why you need to keep them all in your diary.
VIRTUAL Sigh, I know, many of you were hoping to get rid of these with all of that Zoom fatigue creeping in. But now that you’ll be mixing in more in-person events, there will be a better balance and you should be feeling less worn out by your screen time. Why do you need to keep them at all? Well…
Time They’re far more efficient. Particularly for lawyers who hold on to the billable hour like a life vest, time is money. Virtual meetings cut down on travel, time out of the office, and the meetings themselves tend to be far more efficient. For a conference, it may not be practical for you to be out of the office for the conference as well as the travel time, but to hop on your computer for a few virtual sessions? Why not!
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Distance Depending on the client, it can take a great deal of time and effort to arrive at a meeting, which may only last for an hour before you are back on the road again. While that face time can be necessary (more on that in a moment), sometimes distance makes it more efficient to hop on a virtual meeting rather than several flights with layovers. This holds true for conferences too—you can get the benefits of virtual networking and learning without leaving your desk
Inclusivity This falls on many levels. Remote work is more inclusive generally, as recent studies have shown, so it makes sense that this would extend to virtual meetings as well. Not only does this apply to employees of color, but it also applies to women in the workforce, employees who need more flexibility, and those with disabilities or compromised immune systems. This is a HUGE benefit for meetings and will be why we’ll see both business meetings and conferences continue to have a virtual component even in their in-person events.
Cost Of course, cost is always a factor—not just the actual spends, but the time out of the office. Whenever you are making the decision to attend a meeting or a conference,
you factor in the travel (fuel, especially these days, is significant), the time away from the office and your family, the hotel expense, and weigh that against the benefit of the face time with your client or networking opportunities. Sometimes the benefits are worth it, but other times, you can save that cost with a virtual session.
Pandemic And finally, we are still in a pandemic, with many jurisdictions facing periodic lockdowns, others facing waves of new strains of the virus. Some people are cautious while others are literally not allowed out of their homes and still others are too immune compromised to safely travel. The virtual option, as mentioned for inclusivity, is a fantastic way to ensure that you can still participate.
IN-PERSON Following all those virtual pros, does that mean we should all stay home and be glued to our screens after all? NO! We recently held our first in-person conference after two and half years, and I can tell you that the hugs have never been tighter. But apart from great hugs (and 70 people who managed to avoid getting COVID), what are the benefits of in-person meetings?
Body Language & Social Cues Although we have the benefit of video with virtual meetings, we are still missing out on each other’s body language and social cues that we have when we meet in person. This may not seem that important, but most experts agree that 70-93% of communication is nonverbal. So, imagine that you’re having a conversation with a client who has had to turn their camera off for one reason or another during a virtual meeting and you’re now missing out on 70-93% of your communication. Sometimes, you’re going to need to be meeting face-to-face to make sure that things are really okay, and the connection is strong. The same is true for conferences where networking is a large component—how will you know whether you’ve made a valuable networking connection unless you’ve looked the person in the eye?
Pay More Attention I think we can all agree with this one—we simply pay more attention when we’re physically present somewhere. Although virtual meetings can be incredibly efficient, unless they’re short and we’re the ones leading them, there can be the tendency to get distracted. If you have your camera on, then you are likely to be focused. But if not, my guess is that you may be using the time to check your email or your phone and to multitask, unless you’re needed at that moment. Even worse if you’re at a virtual conference. It’s just human nature. In person, at least you have others around you to shoot you a dirty look!
Gain More Trust For some reason, we trust people more when we’ve met them in person—at least this is what a study done by researchers at the University of Chicago says, indicating that negotiators who shook hands were more open and honest. I’ve met some of my best friends online and have yet to meet some of them in person, so I’m mixed on this one!
The Special Sauce That’s where the magic happens! We say this at the ILN— we don’t know what it is, but something special happens when we all get together. Yes, we are warm and engaging when we’re in a virtual meeting, but there is just something that happens when we see each other in person that is really special. It makes the long flights and layovers and train rides and even pandemic delays all worth it. And that’s why, for us at least, we will continue doing in-person conferences (as well as virtual events!) as long as we can! We’ve learned that there’s no substitute for being together, but there are great benefits to be had for being virtual (and hybrid!). So, keep all kinds of meetings and events on your calendars as we go forward! n Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Learn more at www.iln.com.
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