LAW OFFICE ADMINISTRATION

The photo above (left) of Shara Bajurin was the cover of California Legal Pro (Insights for the other Legal Professionals), Summer 2008 published by Recorder.  Inside photo is of Shara with the article, which is reprinted below.  As you will see, San Mateo County Legal Secretaries Association was well represented, although the association itself was not mentioned by name.  In addition to Shara, SMCLSA members Bonnie J. Stensler, PLS, CCLS and Mary L. King, CCLS were interviewed, as well as LSI's new president, Christa Davis, who is a member of Livermore-Amador Valley LPA, Mae Brooks, member of Ventura County LPA, and Patty Russell, member of Santa Clara County LSA.

"An Evolution"

Lawyers don't always know how to utilize their secretaries. Just look at the online legal tabloid Above the Law: In one post last October, editor David Lat, a former big-law attorney, confessed to not using his own secretary very much. Other attorneys, particularly junior ones, commiserated with gripes like, "I have no idea what to do with mine."

Maybe that's because the legal secretary's job has changed so much, due at least in part to evolving office technology, the departure from one-on-one staffing ratios, and the work habits of newer generations of lawyers.

"Technology gives all these benefits to the attorneys, which in turn makes secretaries faster so we can support more attorneys. But what they're getting is a completely different thing from their staff," notes Shara Bajurin, a legal secretary at Burlingame 's Carr McClellan Ingersoll Thompson & Horn.

As Outlook calendars and BlackBerrys have become more common, for example, many attorneys have taken on more responsibility for keeping track of their schedules, since they can access their calendars from just about anywhere. More of them answer their own phones, too, or get their messages through voicemail, longtime legal secretaries note.

That doesn't mean legal secretaries aren't still covering plenty of ground. Many of them still deal with calendaring and scheduling, as well as tasks like billing, mass mailings, drafting correspondence or pleadings, organizing case files, and readying documents for court submission.

But the way they approach some of those tasks has definitely changed.

Legal assistant Mae Brooks, for example, does a lot of scanning nowadays — it's how she and her attorney organize each file. "We scan everything now," says Brooks, of Ventura 's Ferguson Case Orr Paterson. "If we want to look at a file, because we've scanned everything [we can] call it up on the computer and it's all there."

And whether the tasks are relatively modern or totally traditional, new lawyers, especially, may be unaware of what's appropriate to delegate, some legal secretaries observe.

"When they're brand-new right out of university, they in all likelihood never had a secretary, so never knew how to use one," says Mary King, a longtime veteran of the profession. "The secretaries would have to say, 'If you're away from your desk and you want me to answer your phone, you have to tell me.'" Or, don't waste your billable time making copies — but don't ask someone to copy a single MCLE form that's not "work-related," either. "That," says King, "is the difference between an experienced attorney and one who's not."

MODERN DOESN'T ALWAYS MEAN EASY

The self-sufficiency of some lawyers, particularly younger ones, has taken some tasks out of legal secretaries' hands. But, of course, that hasn't always made life easier.

"The older attorneys, they grew up with: You dictated it, you gave it to your secretary to do," says Brooks, who leads the transactional law section for Legal Secretaries Inc., a statewide professional organization for legal support staff. "Now most of the attorneys coming out of law school generate their own [draft] documents on the computer." That still often leaves secretaries to put on the finishing touches — proofreading, formatting, adding indexes, filling out proofs of service. But Brooks and others say the window of time they get to do these things can wind up being tighter now.

"We can get our rushes out quicker," notes Patty Russell, a legal secretary at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Palo Alto . But, "the attorneys now do their own work and take forever to release the documents [to us]."

And there are also more revisions to process now, since they're no longer the hassle they were in the days of typewriters.

"When you have computers … the attorneys think they [can] say whatever they want to say, and then revise, revise, revise," says King, a longtime legal secretary who retired in February from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

And despite attorneys' growing self-sufficiency in some areas, LSI President Christa Davis isn't concerned the legal secretaries' profession is dying — she just thinks it's changing.

By way of example, Davis , now administrator at Pleasanton family law firm Staley Jobson, notes that attorneys don't always have a good grasp of each court's time frames and rules. "That's where I think sometimes a secretary's really valuable: They establish the contacts and networking within the court system."

WORKPLACE DYNAMICS

The evolution of the job description has, in some ways, been reflected in legal secretaries' relationships with their attorneys and fellow staff. "There was a time when I might be expected to make coffee, to do Christmas cards for the family, or any typing of personal items," Bajurin says. "That is just not happening anymore."

Though one-on-one attorney-secretary relationships still exist, legal secretaries now peg typical ratios at 3-to-1, with some as high as 6-to-1.

One of the inevitable consequences: limited face time.

"You don't have the time and the bandwidth to be able to sit with one person at any one time," says Bonnie Stensler, a legal secretary at Fenwick & West in Mountain View .

E-mail has done a lot to replace face-to-face, or even phone, communication: It's how Stensler receives most instructions from the two partners and two associates she supports. And it's how she most often communicates with her counterparts in clients' offices.

Walking the hallways at work, the dominant sound is no longer phones ringing, she says. "You hear the fingers on the keyboard."

Bajurin, though, also reports feeling more of a sense of teamwork in the office now than in the 1980s, when she began her career.

She found it more difficult to work with women attorneys many years ago, she says. "They wouldn't use a photocopier. They wouldn't do things that appeared secretarial, because they wanted to appear more attorney-like."

That's not the story any longer. "I really think the women attorneys today have benefited from the women before them, but they don't have that same fear of seeming secretarial when they come into an office," Bajurin says. Now, "everybody seems to pitch in."

The Recorder

By Pam Smith

June 16, 2008

The above article was published in The Recorder's "Legal Pro" publication on June 16, 2008.  SMCLSA was well represented in the article.

"Minding Meeting Manners"

By: Jennifer Juergens

At one seminar, the speaker shouted at two people in the last row who were having their own conversation. At a luncheon, attendees walked out when they finished eating, well before the panel finished their discussion. At the airport, the meeting planner sent a luxury motor coach for arriving attendees. Several decided to rent cars instead. In another instance, one speaker, after hearing one man's cell phone ring on three separate occasions during his talk, finally stopped in mid-sentence and said, "You better answer that."

Are these isolated incidences? Hardly, says Joan Eisenstodt, president of Eisenstodt Associates/Meeting Management and Consulting in Washington, D.C. "Nobody sets norms anymore. I can understand if the session is boring and you want to leave, but a few years ago that never would have happened. … People today can't separate their private and public behavior." Many industry professionals agree that the behavior of people today is uncertain. And although it's not clear as to why more people are acting rude and inappropriately, one thing's for sure: There's less face-to-face contact and more improper behavior. "I think it started with the fax and the convenience of having not to speak to anyone," explains speaker Gloria Hutter of Gloria Hutter & Associates, a San Francisco-based protocol and etiquette company. "And now with voice-mail and e-mail it's very easy not to have to be confronted face-to-face. People have developed easy ways to avoid having social graces and person-to-person contact. And some people have grown up with this, and they don't like the idea of having to report in to someone or look them in the eye. It's easier to do it by e-mail or voice-mail."

It isn't news that meeting planners complain about rude attendees and their general lack of acceptable behavior. Still, is it up to the meeting planner to establish proper etiquette during a meeting? Jacqueline Whitmore, founder of The Protocol School of Palm Beach, Fla., thinks so. "Meeting planners have to establish a criteria ahead of time. There should be a sheet handed out or sent before the meeting. In this letter you can have some bullet points such as put your cell phone on vibrating or silent mode, so it does not interrupt the meeting. A lot of people forget, so it's not uncommon to put a sign on the door that cell phones are prohibited. A meeting planner has to establish these guidelines."

Harith Wickrema, president of Harith Productions, Inc., a meeting planning company based in Fort Washington, Pa., agrees. He says that people are not as well mannered today, but that's because people sometimes just don't know any better. "We didn't have this technology years ago, so people weren't using cell phones," he says. "It's up to the presenter to remind attendees before their speech to turn off their cell phones. Attendees have so much going on sometimes they simply forget," he says.

Yet on top of all that is demanded of a meeting planner, it's apparent that establishing rules and modes of proper etiquette during a meeting has become a job requirement. "It is also the job of the company," Hutter explains, "but the planner should set the tone of the meeting. It would be a very good point for the meeting planner to offer protocol services to the client and find out if they are interested in conducting their meetings this way. I think it would be wonderful and a great step if more meeting planners would start implementing social etiquette into their programs because it would change the working atmosphere. People would start to think about it." And more planners are starting to do this. Lois Blankstein, director of meetings and exhibits for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, for example, feels responsible to do something when people are disruptive or there are issues of public safety. "If someone is smoking inside and it is a nonsmoking building I think I would ask someone to stop," she says. "If I saw someone taking pictures of someone in a trade show booth I'd make sure they have permission."

Yet once on-site, meeting planners can't be solely responsible for attendees' behavior. "Sometimes planners are not even at the conference they plan," says Barbara Mischuk, assistant meeting planner at AIG Life Insurance Co., based in New York. "The most they can do is send out literature ahead of time to inform and communicate. You might have something more important to do than tell someone they are dressed inappropriately. You can anticipate it, but you can't control it. Meeting planners take on a silent role on-site. If you're worried about cell phones in a meeting room, put that information in a brochure beforehand and have the speaker make an announcement at the beginning of the speech to turn cell phones off."

Technology and cell phones aside, just plain chatting, cutting in line and piling food on plates are things that really get under some people's skin. "I was at a luncheon recently where the two women sitting next to me were talking during the speaker. I just looked at them and said, ‘excuse me.' They got the message," says Whitmore. The one thing planners say bother them more than anything is people putting themselves above everyone else. "Some attendees bring uninvited guests to everything and then expect the planner to accommodate them," explains Noelle Rutter, CMP, director of meetings and incentives, California Host, in San Diego. "One person brought a three-year-old. We didn't have a car seat. If one person does it, why can't everybody do it? "If there's a PowerPoint presentation in a darkened room and people are leaving the session it's so distracting. I'm trying to tune them out, and it's disrespectful to the speaker." Whitmore agrees, but says, "You're always going to have latecomers, so planners should have seats in the back for these people. You can't really stop that from happening because people are going to be late because of traffic or because another session ran overtime." She says it's best to keep someone stationed at the door to keep it from banging in the back of the room. Rutter also says that sometimes attendees will check out of the hotel and not tell anyone, so the food count is off. "Changes actually cost the corporation money. At one meeting there were 22 spa appointments that weren't used. We rented kayaks that weren't used. If we're doing a dinner and it's $150 a person and 10 people don't show up, the money's out the window. All this could be avoided with one phone call," she says. Some planners have been known to have friends—and even a bellman—at the ready to use tee times that attendees don't show up for, she says. "The company is paying for it anyway. We understand that it's important to give people what they want, and people make changes. But I can save the client money if we have better communication."

Blankstein, director of meetings and exhibits for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, says that she's surprised by people's rudeness in everyday life and that it just carries over to meetings. "I remember when people brought their laptops to meetings, and they would expect us to provide extension chords for them. Then it is annoying for the person next to them to have to listen to the tapping of the keys.

"We have meetings where people dress in all different ways, and I don't think we should legislate how people dress. I think mode of dress is a personal choice. People looking alike leads to a lack of diversity in thoughts and ideas and that's just what we're trying to foster at meetings."

One thing that really bothers Blankstein, though, is attendees piling on food like they've never eaten. "Then they take two bites and throw it all away," she says. "And it seems to be the ones who complain about the high cost of registration. Or people stay at a reception long after it's over—even if the hotel wants to turnover the room. I think attendees should have a sense of what's happening and conduct themselves accordingly."

Protocol Tips "You can't buy etiquette," says Whitmore. "I still see corporate executives stab meat like wild beasts or others who can't make an introduction. It really is a bad reflection on the company. Some companies need a training program for top-level management on how to make eye contact and how to remember names. Some companies have

hired protocol officers to train people on the basics. "I tell executives they have to do their homework if they're going to do business in another country. They need to observe the culture and establish guidelines. Prior planning prevents poor performance. Everyday we're offending other people because we've become a lax society." Travis Yates, chief executive officer of the special events and Web design company Remington Agency in Gainesville, Fla., agrees. "One of the things I picked up in the Navy is, if you have to go somewhere you're not familiar with, learn the terrain. Do some research ahead of time. Go to the tourist board to find information. Use the Internet. If you call EPCOT in Orlando, they have a division that can answer questions for meeting planners. You can't do enough research, but don't do research only with Americans. If you tell a Japanese person you earned a black belt in three years it's offensive to them. It takes them their whole lives to earn a black belt." But what happens when a speaker reprimands two people talking in the back of the room only to find out one of the offenders is actually a translator for the other? "This could have been avoided," says Whitmore, "if the needs of the client had been anticipated. If the planner had known ahead of time, the planner could have had a special place for an interpreter. This could all be put in a questionnaire to the attendees and speakers along with such questions of dietary needs or if they have any disabilities such as trouble hearing or seeing."

Whitmore recommends several books on international etiquette including, Dos and Taboos Around the World by Roger Axtell; Dun and Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business Around the World by Conoway and Morrison, and Multi-Cultural Manners: New Rules of Etiquette by Noreen Dresser. "Civility costs nothing, but a lack of civility can cost a corporation millions of dollars in lost revenue," Whitmore says.

If planners want things to run smoothly during meetings, without having to take on the role of a reprimanding chaperone, they'll have to be prepared beforehand. "Set up guidelines that won't disturb the core of the meeting or dinner," says Hutter. "Suggest that they have a place where they can check in for their cell phone messages later."

Meeting planner Rutter is also a firm believer in getting all the information out up front. "It starts with filling out the registration form completely. Registering on-line is great because the form won't submit until everything is filled out. The problem is that sometimes we're starting without all the information. Attendees change travel plans or don't come to the meetings at all, and we never hear about it. We're here to save the client money. I see a lot of waste. When someone gets a rental car and doesn't tell us and we have a car and a staff member waiting for them it's a waste." Rutter also says that when people change their check-in dates the client ends up paying for rooms that are never used. "You are a guest and the host has taken time to put together the itinerary. Sometimes you have a full bus and you'll have one attendee who has decided to rent a car come up and ask us for directions to the hotel and hold everyone up. Now we give maps to the convention services manager, the concierge and the bus driver," Rutter says. During the meeting, says Rutter, it's important to build in housekeeping notes and reminders for attendees such as: wear business attire; be on time; turn off your cell phone; refrain from talking during a session; and clap when appropriate. "This takes the responsibility away from attendees." Rutter says one of her clients recently enforced meeting manners in a unique way. "We had a military theme, a flight school with dog tags and military buses. We had MPs in uniform policing the halls, and attendees were told to be in their seats at 0800 hours. "It let attendees, the squadron, know that we respect their time," explains Rutter. "If they were in the hall and not in the meeting they got a pass. This let them know it was important to us that they were in session and not making calls to their office." Patty Habeeb, president of Conventions a la Carte in New Orleans, advises planners to use the checklists found in meetings magazines as a guideline. "Anyone who doesn't use them is a fool," she says. "It's hard for a first-time planner to know these things," she says. "Nobody is perfect. I rely on checklists, and those that don't are not in this business very long." Eisenstodt says to put everything in writing to attendees. "It's up to the planners who run the meeting. I think that whatever you can do to make people understand that food at meetings, sidebar conversations, cell phones, beepers, anything that is disturbing or interferes with everybody's learning is wrong." Hortense Noble of Noble Events in New York City, whose companies produces medical, pharmaceutical and financial meetings, says she uses "major discretion" in handling certain situations. "These people are professional. We make sure we make housekeeping announcements to turn off cell phones in the meeting room, and they can direct calls to the registration desk. You're going to have the odd person whose phone goes off. It's going to happen. They don't mean to be rude, they just forget. They're very embarrassed when their phones go off.

"It's our responsibility to send out the information on dress code ahead of time, but once they're there, there's nothing you can do about how they're dressed. We had someone show up in a sweater for a black tie event. Look, they're probably going to feel uncomfortable and leave anyway. It's not my job. I leave those things alone.

"If people are talking in the meeting room it's not my job to tell them to stop. It's not my responsibility. Their own peers will let them know it's inappropriate. We're there to make sure everything looks fabulous and gets done. In terms of how people act or behave or look, that's out of our league. A lot has to do with how people see themselves. Our responsibility is to give out the correct information. We're not their parents."