By Chere B. Estrin
For the past few years, I haven’t been much on going to conferences, which is strange because my partner and I used to hold the Paralegal SuperConferences all over the country until the Great Recession (which is another story for another day).
First, there was COVID, and then there was Zoom – (who wants to do all that travel when you can watch the conference and eat popcorn at the same time). I did go to a great conference around 2022 in Phoenix with 400 people, but dang, if my team and I didn’t end up with COVID.
However, every once in a while, an event comes along that you just have to attend. I am referring to the IPMA (International Practice Management Association) Conference in Aurora, Colorado. This is a conference of paralegals and practice managers from around the country and Canada who get together yearly for one of the best educational conferences in the country. Frankly, I am a Co-Founding Member but haven’t been active in quite a few years. Shame on me!
A few weeks ago, I renewed my membership and attended the New Members Meeting (yep, it had been so long, I had to take a refresher) and encountered some dear, used-to-be-close-colleagues-and new people entering the management arena. They talked about the conference with such excitement that I thought, “What the heck? Why am I not there?” It’s a significant anniversary, and honestly, everyone has their pride points. Being on CBS News, in the Wall St. Journal, Fortune magazine, and Forbes.com was nice, but there is nothing that sticks out in my career accomplishments like being part of a significant team of eight Paralegal Managers who started this thing. I mean, we all chipped in $400 and came up with $3200 for the first conference. I don’t know how far we thought we would go, but we ended up putting on a great conference and didn’t even have to eat hot dogs. Or pizza. Or cook spaghetti in our hotel rooms on a hot plate.
That is why I am writing today. If you are in Paralegal Management, plain old management, HR, an attorney responsible for legal professionals, an educator, a “wanna-be” or entry-level, a seasoned pro, or just curious, you need to be at the Hyatt Regency on October 23-25th for the time of your life. I’ll bet you $.25 (I never go more) that you’ll make business friends that will last you a lifetime.
I’m holding in my hand, a flyer from IPMA to attend the 2024 IPMA Annual Conference and Expo and it’s telling me that this 3-day conference is the most productive and cost-effective educational programming, networking and one-on-one business discussions with partners you can go to. IPMA holds the leading event for legal practice support management professionals. Not only will you hone your managerial skills and talents, but your firm will benefit from your participation in forums where other professionals share their successes. (I am copying this right out of the brochure, so it must be so.)
Just a smidgen of what you’ll learn:
- Mastering Excellence: Foundations and Strategies for Peak Performance
- Hot Trends in Recruiting
- How to Drive Efficiency Into your Team
- Training Tomorrow’s Leaders
- Workplace Bullying: How to Identify & Find Your Inner Circle of Leadership and Influencers
- AI Impact and Integration: How to Evaluate Tools, Enhance AI Interaction, and A:
- Mastering Organization: Strategies for Legal Managers and Their Teamsdhering to Data Security
- HR Trending Topics
- The Human Element in Legal Management: Fostering a Culture of Inclusivity and Well-Being
- Practice Innovation, Where Practice Management and Innovation Meet
- [Unlock Team Potential] How People Problem Solve and Get Work Done Is Secret to Thriving Teams
- Leading Your Legal Team in the Age of AI
- Round Table Discussion
- And a whole lot more, including the ’80s welcome party. (I wonder if I still have those shoulder pads……..)
Plus, the Expo has some of the most prominent, well-respected vendors and exhibitors in the field: eDiscovery, legal technology, depositions and court services, translation services, recruiting, and other solution providers.
I interview a lot of candidates. In that interview, I always ask: “Why are you leaving your current position?” or “What is your ideal job?” Inevitably, I get “More growth.” When I ask what “for more growth means,” I usually get a blank stare. You know, the one that says, “I hadn’t thought of that.” Everyone knows what they don’t want; few people know what they do want. I guarantee you want growth, whatever it means. You can’t keep suiting up, showing up, and zoning out. Come to the IPMA Conference. They’ll show you growth in about 3 days.
Sure, you could dive into a management book or catch a podcast on the topic. But sometimes, leaving the office—and maybe even taking a trip—can offer you fresh perspectives and practical skills. Attending a management conference provides some unique advantages:
- Inspiration and Motivation: The IPMA can spark new ideas, giving you renewed energy and innovative ways to lead and inspire your team.
- Practical Peer Insights: Engaging with fellow leaders from around the country can provide you with real-world advice that you can immediately apply to improve your leadership approach.
- Networking Opportunities: Conferences open doors to connect with other leaders, offering the chance to share experiences, build lasting professional relationships, and even develop new friendships. Now, you have someone to email when old Mr. Crotchety in the corner office gives you reasons why you can’t do what you need to do. After all, in his day (1954), that wasn’t done.
- You’ll go back and teach what you learned to other managers in the firm. That way, your firm realizes that it did not only invest in you but also in other managers. Let’s call it getting your bang for your……..well, you know the cliché.
- Conferences offer a platform for advancing your career by providing avenues to enhance your professional skills and knowledge. Workshops and training sessions offer hands-on learning experiences, equipping you with new tools and techniques applicable to your work. Additionally, conferences attract recruiters and employers, allowing you to explore job openings, make connections, find new avenues to attract new employees, and showcase your expertise.
Access to Industry Trends and Forecasts
- IPMA features sessions dedicated to analyzing industry trends and forecasting developments, taught by folks in the know. It’s a good way to familiarize yourself with the direction the field is heading in. Staying informed about emerging technologies, market shifts, and client behavior can give you a competitive edge and help you make informed decisions.
To improve your management skills, you might need to step outside your usual routine and surround yourself with other leaders.
Need more reasons to convince you? How about the opportunity to explore the latest trends, technologies, and innovations? Or the chance to enhance your professional skills through workshops and interactive sessions? Or just exchange ideas and possibly, just possibly, you’ll fix that stubborn problem you have with soandso. Oh, yes. We all have that problem with soandso.
For that reason, and that reason alone, you need to be at the IPMA Annual Conference on October 23-25, 2024.
Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to level up your leadership game, launch your firm into the stratosphere of long-term success, and—most importantly—make the Co-Founding members so ecstatic they’ll be moonwalking through the office. I’m not kidding. We need that. You want that. Trust me, Karen in accounting wants that. Let’s seal the deal before they start handing out glittery pom-poms, and we’re all stuck rehearsing for an impromptu halftime show. Because nobody wants that…except maybe Todd. Todd’s weird.
To register: 2024 Annual Conference & Expo – IPMA (theipma.org)
About the Author
Chere Estrin has over 20 years of experience in the staffing arena, including executive positions in law firms, litigation support companies, and the legal staffing divisions of a $5billion publicly held corporation. She is CEO of Estrin Legal Staffing, a nationwide staffing organization. Ms. Estrin was founder of the Paralegal Knowledge Institute, an online CLE organization. She publishes the prestigious digital magazine, KNOW, the Magazine for Paralegals, and is the former Editor-in-Chief of Sue, the Magazine for Women Litigators. She is also the author of 10 books about legal careers for attorneys and legal professionals.
Ms. Estrin’s contributions to the legal industry have been significant, and she continues to play an active role in shaping the future of legal staffing and training. She writes the popular,
award-winning blog, The Estrin Report, and has been interviewed by CBS News along with many top publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, Forbes.com, Los Angeles Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, The Daily Journal, ABA Journal, Above the Law, ALM, Law360 and many others. She has also been a speaker for many prestigious organizations and written hundreds of articles.
As the Co-Founding Member and President of the Organization of Legal Professionals (OLP), Ms. Estrin has guided the association’s development and implementation of the eDiscovery and Litigation Support certification exams (first in the country) along with Pearson Publications, a $7 billion corporation specializing in certification exams and educational publishing. She was also the Education Director designing, creating and executing online, live training programs with an on-call roster of over 500 instructors throughout the world. Currently, she provides webinars on legal career matters for LawPractice and Lawline, two of the largest attorney CLE online training organizations.
Ms. Estrin is a co-founding member of the International Practice Management Association (IPMA) and the Organization of Legal Professionals, composed of a prestigious Board of Governors inclusive of judges, an ABA President, and well-known attorneys. She is the recipient of the Los Angeles/Century City “Women of Achievement” award and recognized as One of the Top 50 Women in Los Angeles. Ms. Estrin has been writing The Estrin Report since 2005 and most recently launched her podcast, “Lawfully Employed”.
Reach out at: chere@estrinlegalstaffing.com or visit her website at www.EstrinLegalStaffing.com.