July 19, 2011 Archives - CBA CLE Legal Connection

Senior Law Day Featured on 9News LawLine9

July 19, 2011 by Zachary Willis Leave a Comment

Colorado’s 9News LawLine9 had attorneys on hand to answer questions about elder law and estate planning this afternoon. Among them was Carl Glatstein, Program Chair of Senior Law Day. Glatstein spoke to viewers about Saturday’s event, which provides invaluable legal information to seniors, as well as their adult children, caregivers, relatives, and friends.

Senior Law Day is entering its thirteenth year by providing twenty-eight short and informative workshops to choose from that will help attendees learn how to better manage their family and financial issues and prepare for retirement. Attendees will also receive a free copy of the comprehensive 2011 Senior Law Handbook.

New workshops this year include:

DNR Orders
Advance Directives and End of Life Issues
Planning for Your Pets
Dealing with Trusts & Trustees
Nontraditional Domestic Relationships

Click here for a full list of workshops.

Senior Law Day will be held in Denver on Saturday, July 23, 2011. A $10 contribution is suggested, but not required to attend the event. Registration is requested. To register, call (303) 860-0608 or dial toll-free (888) 860-2531. Registration is also available online at www.seniorlawday.org.

Not in Denver? Don’t worry! Boulder County and Larimer County are each holding a Senior Law Day in their communities on August 13.

Click here to watch the 9News interview with Carl Glatstein and to read the full story.

Denver Urban Debate League Seeking Volunteers and Sponsors for the New School Year

July 19, 2011 by Zachary Willis Leave a Comment

The Denver Urban Debate League (DUDL) is committed to improving urban education in Denver by helping students learn and achieve through Debate. To fulfill its mission of providing competitive debate opportunities to every student in the Denver area, the DUDL is seeking volunteers and sponsors for the new school year.

For most of the inner-city high school students, this debate program is the only academic extra-curricular activity offered at their school. The DUDL is a nonprofit working with nearly a dozen Denver Public High Schools to offer this program and over one hundred students participate each year. The DUDL emphasizes education over competition, using debate as a tool to build valuable academic and life skills that will ensure Denver’s students future college and career success. The organization works with our community to promote inclusiveness, education equity, and active citizenship.

If you are able to help, the DUDL really needs volunteer judges to assist at the tournaments. And the best part is, you don’t need to be a former debater or litigator make a difference for these students; the DUDL provides judges’ training to interested volunteers. How easy is that?

To find out more about volunteering or sponsoring a tournament, visit the Denver Urban Debate League website or contact the Executive Director, Jessica Clark, via email.

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: litigation, volunteer opportunities

La Plata and Montezuma Counties Conducting Court Service-Improvement Program This Week

July 19, 2011 by Zachary Willis Leave a Comment

This week, judges, magistrates, clerks, and other court employees will again collect data to help improve the way the courts of Colorado’s Sixth and Twenty-Second Judicial Districts conduct their business. The court service-improvement program, which was first instituted in 2008, uses public surveys to gather information and assess the functioning and accessibility of the courts in each district. In the last three years, the surveys have been used at least once in each of Colorado’s twenty-two judicial districts.

Judicial officers, clerks and other court employees will spend time talking to people about their experiences as jurors, parties to a case, or as recipients of other Judicial Branch services. Attorneys, law enforcement officers, and anyone who does business with the courts will be encouraged to participate.

People leaving the La Plata County Courthouse on Wednesday, July 20, and the Montezuma County Courthouse on Thursday, July 21, will be asked whether they had business with the courts and are willing to fill out a brief anonymous survey. The survey forms will be available both in English and Spanish.

The survey is designed to gauge public opinion about access to and fairness of the courts. Questions include whether people felt safe in the building, whether they could easily understand the forms they needed, and whether they felt their case was handled in a fair manner. Participants also are asked whether they felt the judge or magistrate listened to them, whether they had all the necessary information before making a decision, and whether they felt they were treated with courtesy and given clear information about the next step in their case.

In Fiscal Year 2010, about 10,600 cases were filed in the courts of the Sixth Judicial District. That number includes 3,019 cases filed in District Court and 6,038 in La Plata County Court.

In Fiscal Year 2010, about 4,900 cases were filed in the courts of the Twenty-Second Judicial District. That number includes 1,152 cases filed in District Court and 3,459 in Montezuma County Court.

Filed Under: Updates Tagged With: 22nd Judicial District, 6th Judicial District, county court, courts, district court

Elizabeth Lewis: Planning for Business – The Metrics of Law Firm Financial Performance

July 19, 2011 by Elizabeth Lewis Leave a Comment

As a business attorney and owner of my own law office, I frequently find myself with questions as to how to run my own business better. To help work on the business side of practicing law, I attended the “Metrics of Law Firm Financial Performances” CLE earlier this month to learn more about how measuring financials can help my business grow.

I was hoping for more details about how to measure financials, but I did come away with three nuggets of wisdom that I felt were worthy of sharing:

You need to have a business plan in writing.
Law is a team sport – even if you are a solo practitioner.
Never let your accounts receivable get out of hand.

In regards to the first nugget, I was surprised that only four people in the class raised their hands to having a business plan for their law firm. I work with new businesses every day, and I always tell them that they need to have a plan for their business, even if it is only a few pages. I have a feeling that everyone in the class (or almost everyone) has a plan for what they want just like most business owners. It may not be something that would need 20 pages to put it down in writing, but there is a plan there. Whether it is to support their families, pay their student loans, or because they enjoy practicing law, each attendee went into the legal field for a reason. However, by putting that plan into writing, it clarifies the reasons for opening your own law firm and where you want it to go.

Concerning the second nugget, and as a solo-practitioner, I can completely see how viewing what you do as a team sport would help you connect better with your clients and grow your business. When your clients see that you are working with them, it makes what you do even more valuable. You are creating a goal together – and working toward that goal. Rather than being someone that sends a bill once a month, you are now part of their team. Whether it is as a divorce attorney that helps a client through a scary and confusing time by offering advice and counsel rather than just arguing in court for him or as a patent attorney that walks a client through the long and complex road of getting a patent rather than just being someone who only talks to the USPTO, by making sure that you are a part of your client’s “team,” you provide a more valuable service than just being a document preparer or courtroom voice.

As for the third point, making sure your accounts receivable do not get out of hand sounds like common sense, but something that can easily be forgotten. Much like getting a reminder from Facebook that a friend’s birthday is coming up or an email saying that tomorrow is trash day, having someone remind you occasionally that you should never end up $6 million in accounts receivable (okay, this number is somewhat unrealistic for most of us probably, but was used as the example by the presenter) is helpful.

Now to put these words of wisdom into action, writing that business plan is next on my agenda!

Do you have a business plan and have you found it helps keep your firm on track?

Denver Business Attorney Elizabeth Lewis became a small business owner in January of 2010. She opened the doors to her own law firm, the Law Office of E.C. Lewis, P.C., which specializes in business, intellectual property, technology, and online law. She contributes to the CBA’s SOLO in COLO blog for solo and small firm attorneys, where this post originally appeared on July 14, 2011.