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Russ Balcome is the Western Regional Administrator for McCarthy Tétrault. He has worked in similar law office management positions in Edmonton, Calgary and now has responsibility for the Vancouver and Calgary offices of the firm.
He is a member of the firm's IT steering committee and for 30 years has been involved in all aspects of law office management and administration back to top...
Dave Bilinsky
David J. Bilinsky is the Practice Management Advisor and staff lawyer for the Law Society of British Columbia. He combines his law, math/computer science degrees and subsequent MBA in focusing on practice management issues emphasizing strategic planning, finance, productivity and career satisfaction issues for lawyers.
Dave is a prolific writer on practice management and has written for many publications including Law Office Computing, ABA's GP-Solo Magazine and Law Practice Magazine, the Canadian Bar Association's The National Magazine and others. He is a regular columnist for the CBA (PracticeTalk), the TLABC (Technology), the LSBC (Practice Tips) and The Lawyers Weekly (Focus on Technology). Laura Calloway and Dave Bilinsky are the authors of the Profitability column in Law Practice Magazine.
Dave is the author of Amicus Attorney in One Hour for Lawyers (ABA) and he has contributed to several books including Barristers & Solicitors in Practice (Butterworths), Flying Solo, a Survival Guide for the Solo Lawyer, 3rd edition (ABA), Law Office Procedures Manual for Solos and Small Firms, 2nd edition (ABA), Managing Your Law Firm (CLE-BC), Annual Review of Law and Practice (1998-2003) (CLE-BC). He is a contributing author and past member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Law Technology News, published by American Lawyer Media Inc and a current Editorial Board member for Law Practice Management Magazine, published by the ABA.
Dave is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, the immediate past Finance Chair of the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA and a member of the National Executive for the Law Practice Management & Technology Section for the Canadian Bar Association. Dave is a past Co-Chair of ABA TECHSHOW, the founder and current chair of the Pacific Legal Technology Conference and a member of the Technology For Lawyers Conference Advisory Board. Dave is an international lecturer in legal technology, having presented in China, across the US and Canada (including the Yukon) and over the Internet for such organizations as the All-China Lawyers' Association, the American Bar Association (ABA), LEGALTECH (Toronto, NYC and LA), the Canadian Bar Association (Nationally, BC, Alberta and Ontario), Colorado Bar Association, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, the Continuing Legal Educational Society of British Columbia, District of Columbia Bar, the Ontario Bar Association, SKLESI, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia, the Washington State Bar Association, and others. back to top...
Michah Buchdahl
Micah Buchdahl is an attorney focused on assisting law firms with business development initiatives. He is the secretary of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section, where his roles include chairing the sponsorship committee, co-chair of the education board, executive liaison to the standing committee on membership & marketing development, and ex-officio member of the nominating committee. Mr. Buchdahl is a faculty member of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Based in Moorestown, New Jersey, he is president of HTMLawyers, Inc., a law marketing company.
Mr. Buchdahl draws vision and ideas from a well of career experience. He worked in the Philadelphia Municipal Court as a mediator and arbitrator. He was formerly associate corporate counsel with the Philadelphia Flyers and Spectacor, as well as director of NBA Photos, a marketing division of the National Basketball Association. For nearly five years, he worked for a legal industry vendor on the sale and development of law marketing products and services related to technology. His knowledge of ethics issues pertaining to law marketing and advertising has led to dozens of annual law firm speaking engagements and retreats on the topic. With HTMLawyers, he has worked with law firms of all shapes and sizes on initiatives ranging from business development planning to audits of existing marketing efforts. HTMLawyers is the leading law marketing consulting company in the nation that prohibits any association or affiliation with vendors or for-profit providers of marketing-related goods and services, allowing for the most objective and honest results possible in project and consulting work.
In 1997, he created the www.InternetMarketingAttorney.com, which later became the home of the IMA Law Firm Web Site reviews and Nifty Fifty series of creative uses of the Internet for marketing purposes by law firms around the world. His IMA reviews are considered the only independent source of law firm web site “dos and don’ts” in existence—as he does not develop web sites, sell any web related products or allow any affiliations with people involved in selling or developing Internet-related products.
Prior to law school, Mr. Buchdahl worked in marketing and public relations functions within the National Hockey League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He also served as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun. Mr. Buchdahl attended Temple University both as an undergraduate (B.A., journalism, magna cum laude, 1985) and later for Law School (J.D., Dean's List, class president, 1991). He is admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.
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Jim Calloway
Jim Calloway is an attorney from Oklahoma. He serves as the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma, where he was named to the Oklahoma Law Review.
Mr. Calloway is a member of the American Bar Association where he served as chair of the ABA TECHSHOW™ 2005 Board. He had served on the TECHSHOWTM board for three previous years. He is an active member of the ABA Law Practice Management Section and was recently elected to the ABA LPM Section Council. He is on its Practice Management Advisor’s committee. He is also an active member of the ABA’s General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section, where he serves on the Solo Day and Road Show planning committees for the GPSSF section. As a part of his duties with the OBA, he designed and now manages the OBA-NET, the official online service of the Oklahoma Bar. He has made hundreds of presentations on law office management, legal technology, ethics and legal business operations. He also manages the annual OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. He was recently inducted as a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management.
Mr. Calloway publishes the weblog, Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips at http://jimcalloway.typepad.com. This weblog was awarded the 2005 Technolawyer @ Award for Favorite Practice Management Blog.
He also published, with co-author Mark Robertson, the book Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour: Strategies That Work, presently on sale through the ABA Law Practice Management section and was the author of two chapters in Flying Solo, 4th Edition (2005.)
Mr. Calloway has been a featured speaker at numerous events including the ABA Annual Meetings in 1999 through 2003, and 2005, ABA TECHSHOW 2000 through 2006, LegalTech Toronto 2000, LegalTech Dallas 2000 and LegalTech New York 2006. He has done presentations for the National Association of Bar Executives and the National Council of Bar Presidents at their annual meetings. He has also spoken at state bar association meetings and seminars for the Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Texas, and Utah state bar associations, as well as the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. His articles have been published in Lawyers Weekly USA, Law Practice Management magazine, Law Technology News, LLRX.com and GPSolo, as well as the Colorado, Maryland and Oklahoma Bar Association Journals.
Mr. Calloway is also a member of the National Association of Bar Executives where he served as chair of the Website and Knowledge Management Committee and is the 2005-2006 chair of its Member Services Forum.
Before taking his present position with the OBA, he was in private practice for approximately sixteen years in south Oklahoma City and Norman, Oklahoma. He is a former President of the Cleveland County (Oklahoma) Bar Association. Many of his articles are found at http://www.okbar.org/members/map/articleindex.htm. back to top...
Laura Calloway
Laura A. Calloway has served as the Director of the Alabama State Bar's Practice Management Assistance Program since 1997. Before joining the Alabama State Bar to establish the program, she practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama, for 16 years as a solo practitioner and member of two small firms, concentrating her practice in residential real estate, collections, consumer bankruptcy and family law. She is a graduate of Troy University, where she received her undergraduate degree in finance. She received her J.D. from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law. She is a member of the American Bar Association, where she participates in the Law Practice Management Section and serves on the section's Practice Management Advisors' Committee. She is a member of the planning board of ABA TECHSHOW® and, along with David Bilinsky of the Law Society of British Columbia, is an author of Profitability, a regular column on financial issues for small firm practitioners which appears in the Law Practice Management Section's magazine, Law|Practice. She has recently joined the staff of the magazine as financial editor, and was appointed to the section's governing council for a three year term beginning in September of 2006. back to top...
Simon Chester
Simon Chester joined Heenan Blaikie in 2004 as a partner in the Toronto litigation and business law groups, with special emphasis on knowledge management, research and legal opinions. He has been a pioneer over the past twenty five years in the application of technology to the practice of law.
Simon studied Jurisprudence at University College, Oxford, and on winning the Canadian Rhodes Trust Scholarship did post-graduate work at Osgoode Hall Law School. After a decade in the Ontario Government, he joined another major Toronto law firm. His earlier career included work as a faculty member at Osgoode Hall, as research counsel at the Ontario Law Reform Commission, and as Executive Counsel to the Attorney General of Ontario.
He has held leadership positions in professional organizations being the first non-American to chair the American Bar Association's Tech Show. He chaired the ABA Law Practice Management Section's Education Board and New Media and Internet Board. He serves as a Trustee of the College of Law Practice Management.
Simon has often testified before House of Commons and Senate Committees and is a frequent speaker at American, Canadian, Asian and European conferences on technology, international law and law practice management issues. Simon has contributed articles to American Lawyer, International Business Lawyer, International Financial Law Review, Law Practice Management, CAMagazine, CBA National and Business Law International ABA Journal. He has written chapters for Winning with Technology, The Quality Pursuit, Environmental Rights in Canada and Barristers and Solicitors in Practice. back to top...
Mike Demers
After his call to the BC Bar in 1990, Michael practised in the litigation department of a leading downtown Vancouver firm. He litigated cases involving everything from simple two-party debt actions to complex multi-party, multi-issue commercial and construction disputes. In 2000, Michael joined Jenkins Marzban Logan where his practice now focuses on construction-related disputes and employment matters.
Litigation of construction cases, for which Jenkins Marzban Logan is particularly well known, probably generates more documents than any other area of law. For over 10 years, Michael has been using technology to track and organize documents, transcripts and all other case-related information. He is firmly convinced that, to deliver the highest level of service to clients in the most cost-effective manner, this use of technology is "the only way to go." back to top...
Richard Ferguson
Richard Ferguson practises law in Edmonton, Alberta with the business law firm Lynass, Ferguson & Shoctor. He has successfully represented his clients before all courts in Alberta and has broad experience in business and commercial law. Richard is a past chair of the National Law Office Management and Technology Section of the Canadian Bar Association and is currently Chair of the CBA’s Continuing Legal Education Committee. He has chaired the Northern Alberta Law Practice Management Section of the CBA since 1995. Since 1998 Richard has been the CBA liaison to the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section.
Richard has been very involved in the distance education initiatives of the CBA and has been both a moderator and presenter in a variety of in-person and internet-delivered CLE programs. He has made presentations on a variety of law practice management and technology topics and has spoken at seminars on behalf of the Legal Education Society of Alberta on “Website Development Agreements,” “Law Firms and the Net,” “Software Solutions for Law Firms” and “Document Production for Lawyers.” He has also made presentations on behalf of the CBA in Halifax, Saint John, Saskatoon and London on the use of technology in solo, home and mobile legal practices and will be making an updated presentation at the CBA annual meeting in Montreal in August this year. In 2002 Richard presented papers at the Pacific Legal Technology Conference – “Successfully Implementing Technological Change” and “Building a Set of Effective Electronic Precedents.” back to top...
Jeff Flax
Jeffrey M. Flax administers technology and litigation support nationally for the federal defender program (approximately 2,600 lawyers and support staff in over 170 cities) on behalf of the Office of Defender Services of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Washington, DC. He is assigned to the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming in Denver, Colorado. Previously, he was an investigator for the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Colorado (1981-1988) and the Colorado State Public Defender (1978-1981).
Mr. Flax graduated summa cum laude from Metropolitan State College with a B.A. in Computer Management Science. He also received a B.S. in psychology from the University of Colorado.
Mr. Flax serves on the Joint Administrative Office of the United States Courts/U.S. Department of Justice Working Group on Electronic Technology in the Criminal Justice System. He is Vice-Chair of the ABA's Section on Law Practice Management (LPMS) Publishing Board, and on the Section's Webzine Board. Mr. Flax is Co-Chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' Litigation Technology Committee and the association's Web Site and Listserve, and Discovery and Freedom of Information Act committees. He also serves on the planning committee for Tech for Lawyers held annually in Toronto, Ontario.
Previously Mr. Flax served as Co-Chair of ABA Techshow in 1998 and 1999, was editor of the LPMS Litigation Applications newsletter, Chair of the LPMS Internet Delivery Task Force, the LPMS New Media and Internet Board, and the Colorado Bar Association's Internet Task Force. Mr. Flax is a member of the American Bar Association, Colorado Bar Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the National Defender Investigator Association. He lectures frequently throughout the United States and Canada on legal and investigative resources on the Internet, defending computer-related cases, computerized litigation support in criminal matters, information security, electronic evidence and discovery, use of computers in the courtroom, and utilization of computers in the practice of law. He maintains a web page at www.jflax.com listing hundreds of Internet resources on law, medicine, investigation and other sites of interest to lawyers. His e-mail address is Jeff@JFlax.com. back to top...
Ellen Freedman, CLM
Ellen serves as the Law Practice Management Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Bar Association. In that capacity she assists PBA’s members with management issues and decisions on the business side of their practice, including areas like technology, bookkeeping procedures, human resources, risk management, records management, marketing, setting up or closing a practice and so forth. Ellen is also founder and President of Freedman Consulting, which assists Pennsylvania law firms with mergers, partner compensation issues, practice management audits, strategic planning, retreats, management of projects in such areas as technology, financial management and time & billing system implementations, human resources, and in providing computer training ad hoc or in a classroom setting.
Ellen holds the designation of Certified Legal Manager through the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA), the credentialing body for the CLM degree. She was one of the first twenty in the nation to have achieved this designation. She holds a Certification in Computer Programming from Maxwell Institute, a Certification in Web Site Design from Temple University, and a B.A. from Temple University, where she also did graduate studies in Criminology. Ellen has served the legal industry for over 25 years, including 20 spent in hands-on management inside mid-sized law firms. She has been a frequent author and speaker on law firm management issues on a national, regional and local level.
More information may be obtained through her web site at http://www.PA-LawFirmConsulting.com. back to top...
Nicole Garton-Jones
Nicole Garton-Jones started her own firm Heritage Law in 2005 and practices in the areas of wills, estates, real estate and family law. In an effort to juggle a busy solo firm and the arrival of her first child in early 2006, Nicole implemented PC Law, Worldox, Amicus Attorney, Amicus Assembly, Paperport and Casemap to create an integrated, paperless and automated office environment. Nicole is now able to manage numerous files with relatively few staff and often works remotely from her home office. Nicole is a Director of the West Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and the West Vancouver Memorial Library Foundation and received a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia. back to top...
Tom Grella
Thomas C. Grella received his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law and practices in Asheville, North Carolina with the law firm of McGuire, Wood & Bissette, P.A., where he is chair of the Firm's Management Committee (sometimes referred to commonly as “Managing Partner”). He mainly practices in the areas of corporate, commercial real estate, condominium and private securities offerings. Tom is active in the American, North Carolina and Buncombe County Bar Association, and has written articles and spoken on law office technology and leadership.
He has recently co-authored, with his Firm’s Administrator, Michael Hudkins, a publication entitled “The Lawyer’s Guide to Strategic Planning – Defining, Setting and Achieving Your Firm’s Goals” published by the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section. The publication is a practice building resource which can guide lawyers and law firms in creating and implementing dynamic strategic plans in their law practices.
As a member of the ABA Law Practice Management Section, Tom serves as Vice Chair of the Section, and Chair of its Bylaws Committee. In addition, he has served as Chair of the Section’s Diversity Committee and Young Lawyer’s Committee. He has also served as Chair of the Core Groups. Prior to active involvement in the Law Practice Management Section, Tom served as a Division Director of the ABA Young Lawyers Division. He has also served a term in the ABA House of Delegates as the Young Lawyer representative from the State of NorthCarolina. back to top...
Christine Hall
Christine has worked as a paralegal specializing in corporate law for 25 years, 10 of those years at Owen Bird Law Corporation as the supervisor of their Corporate Services Department. She supervises 5 Corporate Services staff and provides paralegal services for various lawyers that range from simple to complex corporate transactions for BC and extraprovincial companies, Federal corporations, societies, partnerships, both general and limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships. Corporate transactions include incorporation, organization, changes to directors, officers and shareholders, alteration to share structure, drafting special rights and restrictions, amalgamation, continuation, voluntary dissolutions, restorations, corporate and tax reorganizations, and drafting of unique documents.
Administrative duties include creating and updating corporate precedents, creating and updating procedures, training corporate services staff and articling students, liaising with lawyers and support staff, maintaining BC Online account by setting up userids and liaising with BC Online staff. Christine was involved in the testing and providing comments to the programmers on filings for Corporate Online prior to its release. With respect to the Business Corporations Act, Christine drafted new precedents for her firm and sat on a committee to finalize them prior to the implementation of the BCA. She also prepared and presented in-house seminars on the BCA and was a presenter at a Continuing Legal Education seminar on basic corporate procedures. back to top...
Darcy Hammett
Darcy Hammett is the Director of Operations and Systems at the Land Title Branch, Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management. With 30 years of experience, Darcy has worked in every capacity and level within the Land Title Branch. From 1993 until implementation of the Automated Land Title Office system and the imaging subsystem in 1996, he served as the Business Architect for the development of that system. He is currently acting in the role of Project Director and Business Architect for the development of the Land Title Branch electronic filing system. back to top...
John B. Izzo, Ph.D.
Thinker, Agent of Change and Author
Don't miss Dr. John Izzo's presentation (Changing Values, Changing Technology -Renewing the Practice of Law), at the opening plenary on Thursday from 3-6:15 pm at the Westin Bayshore in conjunction with the ABA- Law Practice Management Section.
Thought provoking and best selling author Dr. John Izzo has devoted his life and career to facilitating deeper conversations about values and work, life, leadership and success. He has worked with thousands of leaders, professionals and front-line colleagues to foster workplaces of excellence, purpose, learning and renewal. His clients have ranged from high tech to high touch, hotels to hospitals and from government agencies to entrepreneurial start-ups. In each case, his beliefs, wisdom and experience has helped people discover practical ways to create engaged vital teams and intentional positive lives. Drawing on his early work in ministry and thousands of programs on creating “Spirited Workplaces”, Dr. Izzo challenges audiences to live a life that matters, where personal excellence is balanced with every day fulfillment.
Today’s employees are looking to be inspired, to work in places of deep trust, places of integrity, and places where their development and growth is nurtured and valued. Clients have said that Dr. John Izzo has that unique combination of practical ideas and high-level “big picture” thinking that leaders want. In every program he will inspire your people to greater vision, challenge them with new insights, and leave them with practical things they can do to create the organization of the future.
Dr. Izzo is the author of three books Awakening Corporate Soul and Values Shift: The New Work Ethic and What it Means for Business as well as Second Innocence (Barrett Koehler 2004). He has traveled around the world advising, speaking and doing research on workforce trends, positive corporate cultures and connecting with like-minded leaders.
He obtained dual Master’s degrees in Theology and Divinity from the University of Chicago, his Ph.D. from Kent State University, and has served on the faculties of two major universities. Fast Company, CNN, Wisdom Network, ROB, HR Executive Magazine, ABC World News , the Wall Street Journal, the National Post and the Globe and Mail have featured the research and opinions of Dr. John Izzo.
A few clients who have retained Dr. Izzo are: IBM Sun Microsystems, Mayo Clinic, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, TD Bank, Nortel Networks, Credit Union Central of Canada, Assante, Toys”R”Us, Kaiser Permanente, Coca Cola, Pepsi, The Bank of Montreal, Providence Health System , The Department of National Defence, The Retail Council of Canada, the National Restaurant Association, Arby’s, to name a few…
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Anna Juch
I have been working in the legal field for over 30 years with 23 of those years at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Beginning as a receptionist and junior secretary, I made my way through the ranks to become a paralegal in 1987. My learning by doing was augmented by taking and completing the Capilano College Evening Legal Assistance Program. As a senior paralegal, I provide paralegal services for various lawyers who require simple to complex forms of corporate work to be done for BC, federal and extraprovincial companies, societies, partnerships and other entities. The work ranges from simple changes in directors and shareholders, to incorporations and amalgamations, to reviewing audit material and preparing audit letters, to complex reorganizations, commercial transactions and tax driven transactions. I also provide agency services to other firms, train articled students and junior paralegals and act as an information resource for lawyers and staff.
In 1995, I found myself lecturing at a Continuing Legal Education course. Since that time, I have coordinated and/or lectured at a number of courses presented by CLE for corporate legal support staff. In addition, for a number of years now, I have also prepared and/ or presented in-house seminars for articled students, paralegals, support staff and junior associates. I was a member of one of the committees that evaluated the BC Registrar’s Policy and Procedures Manual and was a voice in the Corporate Registry User Forum Group for the Company Act Project. As an in-house committee member, I reviewed the new British Columbia Business Corporations Act, prepared information material for lawyers and paralegals, prepared and presented in-house seminars on the new Act and reviewed and updated corporate precedents. In the past and at this time, I am involved in the evaluation and implementation of new software for maintaining corporate records. Currently, I am part of an in-house committee that is preparing a comprehensive set of corporate precedents for use by the lawyers, articled students, paralegals and support staff.
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Hon. Mr. Justice Harvey Groberman
Harvey M. Groberman is judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and Deputy Judge of the Supreme Court of the Yukon Territory. He is the chair of the Joint B.C. Supreme Court and B.C. Court of Appeal Technology Committee.
Mr. Justice Groberman was appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court in 2001, and to the Yukon Territory Supreme Court in 2005. Prior to becoming a judge, he practiced with the Attorney General of British Columbia and with the firm of Davis and Company in the fields of Civil Litigation, and Constitutional and Administrative Law.
Mr. Justice Groberman has presented papers on a variety of topics at numerous conferences presented by the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia, the Canadian Bar Association, the National Justice Institute, and other organizations.
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Ross Kodner
Ross Kodner is an attorney, having graduated with honors from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1986, where he was a member of the Law Review. He founded Wisconsin's MicroLaw, Inc. (www.microlaw.com) in 1985, an international legal technology consulting firm and legal-exclusive training company, having served over 800 law firms and legal departments across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
Ross is a frequent speaker and author internationally on a broad range of legal technology topics, having conducted over 1300 CLE sessions since the mid-1980's. His Ethics credit program "How NOT to Commit Malpractice With Your Computer" has been seen across the world. He has written over 500 articles on legal technology and practice management topics for publications worldwide. Ross serves as the Chair of the Milwaukee Bar Association's Technology Committee and Chairs the Midwest Law & Technology Conference - a Milwaukee/Chicago regional legal technology conference that attracts more than 600 attendees every year. He also is the founder and Chair of "The Annual Consultants & Technologists Dinner" held every year in Chicago during ABA TECHSHOW - an event which brings together the top personalities and influencers in the legal technology world. He served an unprecedented four years in the ABA as Chair of the ABA Law Practice Management Section's Computer & Technology Division. He was also a member of the ABA TECHSHOW Executive Board for five years, held every March in Chicago. He has also been the Planning Co-Chair for U.S. LegalTech events since 1999 and currently serves on the planning board for Glasser LegalWorks. He has been asked to advise many well-known legal product companies including Apple Computer, Thomson-West, Gateway Computers, Adobe Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Visioneer, Corel/WordPerfect, Software Technology, Inc., and Ixio Corporation, among others.
In 1999 he was honored as the inaugural recipient of the "Technolawyer Consultant of the Year" - a lifetime achievement award by the Technolawyer Community (www.technolawyer.com). He also was honored in 2001, 2002, and again in 2005 as the "Technolawyer Contributor of the Year." Ross has extensive experience working with law practices in developing and acting on strategic legal technology plans. He has pioneered the blending of business knowledge and technology usage in practice. His article entitled, "Law Practice Business 101 - The ROLTI Factor: Teaching Lawyers to Think Like Businesspeople" featured in the March/April 2005 edition of Legal Management received wide acclaim.
His firm's website at www.Microlaw.com is the world's largest web repository of free online viewable legal technology CLE materials and receives almost a quarter million hits per month. When not traveling the continent educating lawyers and legal professionals, Ross is father to Jordan, 13, and Hayley, 9, his ultimate "gadgets." His personal mottos are "Friends don't let friends word process without Reveal Codes," "If you think hiring an expert is expensive, try hiring an amateur" and more recently "Get a Mac." back to top...
Kimberly Kuntz
Kimberly acts as counsel in the general corporate and estate litigation areas with an emphasis on product liability, negligence actions, complex jurisdictional and cross-border disputes. Kimberly has represented clients before all levels of court including the British Columbia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. As part of her general litigation practice, Kimberly is a member of the legal team representing the Government of British Columbia in an action to recover tobacco-related health care costs.
In her growing estates litigation practice, Kimberly represents executors, beneficiaries, and trustees in a variety of estate and trust-related disputes, including litigation brought pursuant to the Wills Variation Act. Kimberly also assists clients in disputes involving the interpretation of wills and trust instruments, matters involving suspected undue influence or incapacity of testators and settlors of trusts, and applications for committeeship of incapacitated adults brought pursuant to B.C.’s Patients Property Act.
Kimberly is also a member of the Sedona Conference Working Group Addressing Electronic Discovery and Production in Canada. She is currently involved in drafting Principles and Best Practices recommendations for lawyers, courts, businesses and others who regularly confront e-discovery issues in Canada. The Group will follow these Principles and Recommendations with examples and discussion to assist lawyers, courts and others involved to apply them to particular facts and situations they may encounter. A Canadian version of The Sedona Principles is scheduled to be released for public comment in late 2006 or early 2007.
Kimberly joined Bull, Housser and Tupper LLP as an articled student in July 1999 and was called to the Bar in May 2000.
Education
• 2000, Called to the British Columbia Bar
• 1999, LL.B., Queen’s University Law School
• 1996, B.A.(Hons.), Queen’s University
Professional Memberships & Activities
• Member, Law Society of British Columbia
• Member, Civil Litigation subsection, Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch
• Member, Wills and Estates subsection, Canadian Bar Association, B.C. Branch
• Member, the Sedona Conference Working Group on Addressing Electronic Evidence and Production in Canada
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Angela McCarthy
Angela McCarthy is Manager, Regional Litigation Support Centre, British Columbia Regional Office, Department of Justice.
Angela McCarthy is a regional representative of the Department of Justice's Barrister's Briefcaseproject. The Barrister’s Briefcase is an innovative Department of Justice project that helps federal government litigators electronically manage the thousands of documents they deal with throughout a case. It uses litigation support software (Ringtail CaseBook) to standardize document management practices throughout the federal government. Regional Litigation Support Centres provide counsel with support and training. This project will allow counsel to better represent the Crown, manage legal risks, and save money by facilitating collaboration between litigation team members, reducing paper duplication, and automating routine tasks. Angela joined the Department of Justice in 1998 and worked as a paralegal on a number of high profile, document intensive cases before taking on her new role in 2004 with the Barrister'sBriefcase project. Angela, along with her Litigation Support Centre technical counterpart, Chris Jones, provide operational support, project management, training and technical support to litigation teams throughout all phases of litigation. back to top..
Bill MacLeod
Bill MacLeod is the principal of MacLeod & Company, a litigation firm concentrating in professional liability issues. Mr. MacLeod has practiced litigation in Vancouver since his call to the Bar in 1978. Mr. MacLeod served as the claims manager for the Law Society’s compulsory professional negligence program, setting up PLI Claims Management Inc. which is now the Lawyers Insurance Fund. Mr. MacLeod has lectured at CLE Conferences on Loss Prevention, on the use of computer technology in the practice of law, on civil justice reform and recently on the Lawyer as Problem Solver. He is an advocate for restorative and mediation based approaches to the resolution of conflicts. back to top...
Tom Mighell
Tom Mighell is Senior Counsel and Litigation Technology Support Coordinator at Cowles & Thompson in Dallas, Texas. He is a frequent speaker and writer on the Internet and legal technology. He has published the Internet Legal Research Weekly newsletter since 2000, and the Internet research weblog Inter Alia since 2002. He is a regular contributor to the American Bar Association's Law Practice Today and Law Practice Magazine. Tom is a member of the ABA TECHSHOW 2007 Planning Board, and of the ABA Law Practice Management Section's Council. He received both his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. back to top...
Liz Mueller
Deputy Registrar, Corporate, Personal Property & Manufactured Home Registries, British Columbia
Liz Mueller started her career with the Provincial Government in 1974 and has been with the Ministry of Finance since 1985. In 1991, she was appointed the Deputy Registrar of the Corporate Registry. Prior to this she worked as a Human Resource Advisor for the ministry. In 2001 she took over the Deputy Registrar duties of the Personal Property Registry and Manufactured Home Registry. Over the past 12 years, Liz has frequently edited and contributed to the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC courses and publications.
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Sharon D Nelson
Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., is the President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., a computer forensics and legal technology firm located in Fairfax, Virginia. Ms. Nelson graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978 and has been in private practice ever since.
Ms. Nelson is a past President of the Fairfax Bar Association, a Director of the Fairfax Law Foundation and serves as a Vice Chair on the American Bar Association's Law Practice Management Publishing Board and as a member of ARMA's E-Discovery Advisory Group. She is also a graduate of Leadership Fairfax, is a past chair of the American Bar Association's TECHSOW and serves on the Virginia State Bar Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Board and the Virginia State Bar Special Committee on Law and Technology, and as the Chairman of its Court Technology Subcommittee. back to top...
Tom O'Connor
Tom O'Connor is a nationally known consultant, speaker and writer in the area of computerized litigation support systems. He is a New England native who graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 1972 with a BA in Political Science. After attending law school for one year at The University of Notre Dame, Tom returned to Baltimore and undertook a career as a paralegal specializing in complex litigation.
His initial exposure to a document intensive case came several years later when he assisted several public interest firms in Boston with a class action voting rights suit brought on behalf of patients at state hospitals. Over the years he has been involved in asbestos litigation, the Keating case, the San Diego Civic Center construction litigation, California class actions against crematoriums, national breast implant litigation, tobacco litigation on behalf of the Attorney General of Texas and various phases of the Enron litigation.
Tom's involvement with large cases led him to become familiar with dozens of various software applications for litigation support and he has both designed databases and trained legal staffs in their use on many of the cases mentioned above. This work has involved both public and private law firms of all sizes across the nation and, over the past several years, has expanded to include electronic document depositories and trial presentation systems.
A frequent lecturer on the subject of legal technology, Tom has been on the faculty of numerous national CLE providers and currently teaches a course on legal technology in an ABA approved paralegal program at a local college. He is also a member of the planning board for the annual ABA TechShow as well as the advisory board of the national LegalTech conferences. A prolific writer on the subject, with articles in numerous legal publications as well as being the Editor of several legal newsletters, Tom is also the author of The Automated Law Firm, a guide to computer systems and software published by Aspen Law & Business, now in its fourth edition and The Lawyers Guide to Summation, published by the ABA in the summer of 2004..
Sometime over the past 15 years, Tom also found time to return to law school and acquire a J.D. He currently resides in the Puget Sound area with his fifteen year old son, Seamus. They hope someday to have their own float in the Krewe of Tucks Mardi Gras parade in which they ride every year, down the Mississippi down in New Orleans. back to top...
The Honourable Mr. Justice William (Glen) Parrett
William (Glen) Parrett received his B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of Victoria and his LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1972. He was called to the bar of British Columbia in 1973. He practised first as an associate then as a partner with Hope, Heinrich and Hansen. In 1987 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel and in 1990 was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Vancouver. In 1992 Mr. Justice Parrett returned to Prince George as a resident Supreme Court Judge.
He has held several professional positions over the course of his career, including Director of the Legal Aid Society of British Columbia, Governor of the Law Foundation of British Columbia, non-Bencher member of the Competency and Discipline Committees of the Law Society of British Columbia and member of the Justice Reform Committee of British Columbia. He has also been a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee, the Supreme Court of BC Advisory Committee, the Supreme Court Technology Committee and the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court. He is a Director of the Canadian Judges Conference (now Canadian Superior Court Judges Association) and was recently named Co-Chair of the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association’s newly formed Technology Committee.
Mr. Justice Parrett has been a speaker for the Canadian Association of Journalists (Northern Division) in Prince George, BC, and at various other seminars including “Better Ideas For Dispute Resolution,” “Here Come The Judges: How to Litigate —The Bench’s View,” and at the Computers & Law Institute in Vancouver. back to top...
Nerino J. Petro, Jr.
Nerino Petro is the Practice Management Advisor for the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Law Practice Management Assistance Program (LOMAP). The mission of LOMAP is to help attorneys operate their offices more effectively and efficiently. As a practicing Illinois attorney for 16 years, as well as CEO/Senior Legal Technologist for CenCom which he founded in 1994, he is aware of the practice management issues facing attorneys throughout the country.
He is a Certified Independent Consultant for TimeMatters® practice management software, Billing Matters® time and billing software, Billing Matters Plus time, billing and accounting software and PCLaw practice management, time, billing and accounting software, and has provided consulting, installation, customization and training for his clients. He has been an instructor for the official LexisNexis Time Matters Certified Users Training course and has worked with other leading products including TABS® time and billing software, Practice Master® practice management software, Quikscribe Digital Dictation and TValue financial software
He is a member of the ABA GP, Solo and Small Firm Section Technology Committee and served on the ABA TECHSHOW Advisory Board – Tech University Track for 2005. He is also the Chair for the ISBA Committee on Legal Technology. He is a regular contributor to local, state and national publications and also provides information on legal technology, practice management and items of interest to lawyers on his blawg at www.compujurist.com . back to top...
J.R. Phelps
J. R. Phelps has served as the Director of The Florida Bar’s Law Office Management Assistance Service for the past 26 years. He graduated from Marshall University in 1966, and worked for several large law firms for 11 years prior to joining the staff of The Florida Bar. Mr. Phelps recently was awarded the Judge Walter S. Crumbley award for his outstanding contributions to practice management by The Florida Bar. He is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, and former Regional Vice President of the Association of Legal Administrators. He is a long time active of the ABA-LPM Section having served on numerous committees. He is a frequent author and speaker on law practice management topics to local and voluntary bar associations throughout the United States. back to top..
Dan Pinnington
Dan Pinnington is Director, practicePRO, with the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company. PracticePRO is LAWPRO’s innovative claims prevention initiative. It provides lawyers with tools and resources to assist them in adopting risk management strategies in their practices and in adapting to the changing practice climate, in particular in the area of technology.
Dan was called to the Ontario bar in 1993. He graduated from the University of Windsor in 1991 with a joint LL.B./J.D. degree. Prior to joining LAWPRO, Dan practised for seven years as a litigator, handling general and family matters, as well as those in the information technology, wrongful dismissal and corporate/commercial areas. Dan has advanced technology skills and for several years held the position of Manager of Information Systems at his firm.
Dan is well known in legal technology circles and frequently writes and speaks on law office technology. Dan is Chair of the Ontario Bar Association Law Practice Management Section, Vice-Chair of the OBA Technology Committee, and is on the executive of the OBA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Section.
He is Secretary to the Executive of CBA Law Practice Management and Technology Section. He is also on the Practice Management Advisors and Core Web Committees of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section. He is a past president of The Canadian Society for the Advancement of Legal Technology. back to top..
Roshni Reddy
Vancouver Operations Manager, Dye & Durham Corporation
Since joining the team in 1994, Roshni has steadily advanced to her most recent position as Manager of Vancouver Operation for Dye & Durham. Roshni is a member of the Court Services Online Client Advisory Group and Profile Manager for Dye & Durham with respect to their involvement in the Court Services Online E-Filing Pilot Project. Both of these roles have allowed Roshni to contribute the agent’s point of view for the electronic search and filing initiatives offered by CSO to date. Internally, Roshni has been involved with Dye & Durham’s development of My Dye & Durham ETRAY™, a web-based application, which allows their clients to submit search requests and documents submission packages electronically. back to top.
David G. Ries
David G. Ries is a partner in the Pittsburgh office of Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP, where he practices in the areas of environmental, commercial and technology litigation. He has used computers in his practice since the early 1980s and chairs his firm’s Technology Committee. He has represented clients in a variety of technology litigation matters, including major systems implementation cases, and advised clients on a number of technology law issues such as hardware and software agreements, technology use policies, domain name disputes, information security, privacy regulations, electronic records management, responseto computer intrusions and electronic contracting.
Dave has frequently spoken on technology law issues for legal, academic and professional groups including the the American Bar Association, the Allegheny County Bar Association. the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University and Robert Morris University. He is a member of the ABA TECHSHOW Board and spoke on “Information Security For Lawyers and Law Firms” and “Law and Technology: the Year in Review and the Year Ahead” at TECHSHOW 2006 in April 2006 in Chicago. He is a contributing author to a new ABA book, Information Security for Lawyers and Law Firms, (April 2006) and is a member of the ABA Information Security Committee. Dave received his J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1974 and his B.A. from Boston College in 1971. back to top...
Pete Roberts
Pete Roberts is Practice Management Advisor with the Law Office Management Assistance Program of the Washington State Bar Association. He began his career in legal administration in 1982, joining the firm of Wilkes & Artis in Washington, D.C. Peter moved to Seattle in 1993 and was the Administrator of the 64-attorney Seattle office of Garvey, Schubert & Barer. Peter is a frequent speaker on both practice and practitioner health topics. Peter has his MBA from The College of William & Mary and Certificate as Small Business Webmaster from the University of Washington. back to top...
Catherine Sanders Reach
Catherine Sanders Reach is the Director at the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Resource Center. She has provided practice technology assistance for lawyers for six years with the LTRC. Prior to her work at the ABA she worked in library and information science environments for a number of years.
Ms. Reach’s professional activities include articles published in Legal Information Alert, Law Technology News and GPSolo Magazine, and her continuing research on the digital library appeared in the AALL Law Library Journal. She has given presentations on the use of technology in law firms for national bar conferences, state and local bar associations and organizations such as the Association of Legal Administrators. In her articles and presentations she often references trends and statistics gleaned from the Center’s annual legal technology survey.
She received a master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 1997. She is a member of Beta Phi Mu, an international library and information studies honor society, and the Special Libraries Association, where she is the Director of the Legal Division. She is currently serving on the ABA TECHSHOW Planning Board for 2007 and on the editorial advisory board for Law Technology News. back to top...
Jeff Scouten
Jeff Scouten is a partner in the Vancouver litigation firm of Scouten Paez & Company. Jeff was called to the BC bar in 1984 and practises primarily in the areas of commercial and insurance litigation and administrative law. For the past several years, his practice has included a range of Internet and information technology-related matters, including the Braintech v Kostiuk case -- one of the leading Canadian decisions in the emerging law of the Internet -- in which he represented the successful appellant before the BC Court of Appeal.
With offices in downtown Vancouver and on Bowen Island -- and spending much of his time "on the road" -- Jeff has put technology to work in meeting the challenges of a highly mobile law practice. Over the years, he has managed to develop a "tool box" of hardware and software resources, tricks and computer habits suited to the unique needs of his own practice.
Jeff has served as group leader at CLE's annual four-day intensive Trial Advocacy Course. He is a member of the CLE Civil Litigation Advisory Panel and sat on the editorial board for the CLE's Civil Trial Handbook.
Jeff was active for many years in the Canadian Bar Association, both at the BC Branch level and nationally, and was the recipient of the CBA National's Centennial Medal in 1996. He is known to many as the BC counterpart in the long-running "Cher Collï¿Â1⁄2gue" series of open letters published in the Advocate through the late 1990s. Jeff now serves as a Governor of the Law Foundation of BC.
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John W. Simek
John W. Simek is the Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., a computer forensics and legal technology firm located in Fairfax, Virginia. He is an EnCase Certified forensic technologist (EnCE). He holds a degree in engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and an MBA in finance from Saint Joseph's University. He has an extensive knowledge of multi-protocol environments and a diverse range of networking technologies.
In addition to his EnCase Certification (EnCE), Mr. Simek is a Certified Novell Engineer, Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, NT Certified Independent Professional, a Certified Internetwork Professional and a Certified Trial Technologist. He is also a member of the High Tech Crime Network and of the International Information Systems Forensics Association as well as the American Bar Association. He currently provides information technology support to over 175 D.C. area law firms, legal entities and corporations. back to top...
Carla Terzariol
Carla Terzariol is executive director of the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia (TLABC). She has worked with TLABC since 1986 and has been executive director since 1994.
Carla is the current president-elect of the National Association of Trial Lawyer Executives (NATLE) based in the United States, and will become its first non-American president at its annual convention in Toronto this July.
Carla also sits on the volunteer boards of CAVEAT BC, a victims rights organization, and Ruby Slippers Theatre, a small theatre company based on Granville Island. back to top...
Reid F. Trautz
Reid Trautz is a lawyer and practice management advisor for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, where he provides management information and consulting services to members to help them improve their businesses and the delivery of legal services to their clients. Prior to his focus on the business of practicing law, Reid was a partner in a five-lawyer firm in Alexandria, Virginia.
Reid is a nationally recognized consultant, author and presenter on practice management issues, including business process improvement, law practice technology, financial management, attorney-client communications, and risk management. His articles have appeared in Law Technology News, The Practical Lawyer, Law Practice Management, GP Solo, and Law Practice Today, among others. He is a frequent CLE presenter at the ABA Techshow and solo and small firm conferences nationwide.
Reid is an active member of the ABA Law Practice Management Section, currently serving as the chair of the book publishing board, the largest publisher of law practice management books in North America. He is also a member of the ABA General Practice Solo and Small Firm Division Technology Board.
He is admitted to the bars of Minnesota, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
Reid can be reached at rtrautz@cox.net or via his blawg, www.ReidMyBlog.com. back to top...
Ron Usher
Ron was called to the Bar in 1980, after articling in Vernon and obtaining degrees from the University of Victoria and the University of BC Law School. He has practiced law in private practice in Vernon and Vancouver, British Columbia, in addition to working as in-house counsel to a Victoria computer software company.
Since the mid-80’s, Ron has provided management and technology consulting to a wide variety of law firms and law related organizations. In addition, he was the founder of a law firm that specialized in Wills, Estates and related matters. He has served as the national chairperson of the Canadian Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section, and has sat on the Provincial and National Councils of the Canadian Bar Association.
He is also a member of the Law Practice Management, Information Security and E-Filing Committees of the American Bar Association.
Currently Ron is working with the Law Society of British Columbia as a staff lawyer in the policy department focusing on real estate and technology issues. In this capacity he is dealing with matters such as Title Insurance, the Electronic Filing and Registration initiative at the Land Title Office, the implementation of Digital Signatures, Electronic Funds Transfer, and related E-commerce issues. Ron has represented the Law Society of BC on several national and regional projects in regard to real estate practice, title insurance, and e-commerce.
He is the staff lawyer to the Law Society of BC’s Conveyancing Practices Task Force, which is looking into practice issues arising out of the Wirick and Gill matters.
Ron is also the CEO of Juricert Services Inc., the corporation incorporated by the Law Society to carry out e-commerce initiatives. back to top...
Allison Wolf
Allison Wolf is a professional marketer and certified executive coach. She is the Marketing Manager at Harper Grey LLP a large Vancouver litigation firm.
Allison assists lawyers with goal setting, planning and execution. She is a catalyst for generating enthusiasm and commitment around a project, and motivating a team. Her passion is for guiding professionals and business people in the creation of strategic goals and plans and in supporting the action and sustainable commitment that lead to great achievement.
Over the past eight years Allison has advised hundreds of professionals on the marketing of their practices. This work has touched on all areas of marketing and business development: research, planning, writing, design, advertising, client relationship management, sales, networking, web site development, PR campaigns, media relations, events, sponsorships, team and practice group management.
She has worked for law firms of all sizes and scope, beginning with an international law firm, followed by a national Canadian firm and most recently Harper Grey LLP. In addition she has assisted numerous other professionals and businesses including artists, an educator, a film-maker, an advertising professional, small business owners and a non-profit organization.
Allison is the President-Elect of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) Vancouver Chapter. She also sits on the board of the Pacifica Family Addictions Foundation, a non-profit society.
She is a regular speaker on marketing topics. In 2006 she was part of team of professionals instructing an intensive marketing course for lawyers held jointly by the LMA and Canadian Bar Association.
Allison speaks English, French and Mandarin. She brings a unique international experience to her marketing and coaching practice. She lived, worked and studied in China for eight years.
She has a B.A. from McGill University, and holds an Executive Coaching Certification from Royal Roads University. She conducted graduate studies in Communications and East Asian Studies at McGill University and the Beijing Film Academy.
Allison Wolf can be reached by phone at (604) 895-2863 or by email at awolf@harpergrey.com
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