WE Blog @ AABANY

September 19, 2011

Thanks for Coming to Fall Conference 2011: Diversify

Thanks to everyone who came to AABANY’s Second Annual Fall Conference on September 17, 2011, at Skadden. We are grateful for the hospitality of Skadden and its entire team for hosting us so well throughout the day. Special thanks go to our anchor sponsor Wells Fargo for its generous support. We thank also Sprint and Veritext as additional sponsors.

Thanks to our hard-working Committee Chairs and program organizers for bringing in some excellent speakers and moderators covering a diverse range of topics that truly defined what it means to “Diversify” as an attorney. Thanks to the Fall Conference Planning Committee for putting in long hours, participating in meetings and conference calls and doing all that was needed to pull off an event of this magnitude. Thanks to all the volunteers, mostly law students, who assisted tremendously in the smooth flow of everything from registration to checking attendees in and out of each program and making sure that everyone was getting proper CLE credit. Thanks to our AABANY Legal Interns, Melerie Shih and Hyunjoo Kim for running our BlackBerry PlayBook sweepstakes. Congratulations to Judy Tsang (@soapdishes) on winning the drawing for the PlayBook.

Thanks especially to everyone who registered to attend the Fall Conference. All told we had more than 210 attendees througout the day, from morning until evening.

During the luncheon, Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China, delivered inspiring and compelling remarks covering a wide range of subjects from Asian American attorneys to attorneys in China and the struggles and challenges that both have faced and continue to face. At the end of the luncheon, President Linda Lin announced the launch of the AABANY Law Review and introduced its first Editor-in-Chief Jen Yue Connor Yim. (Read the AABANY press release announcing the AABANY Law Review here.)

After the end of a long day, many of the attendees stayed for the cocktail reception. During the reception, James Hong, Civic Participation Coordinator at MinKwon Center, spoke about the work that MinKwon has been doing to mobilize the Asian American community in New York to engage in the re-districting process. MinKwon is the lead organization behind ACCORD (Asian American Community Coalition on Redistricting and Democracy) of which AABANY is a member.

Also during the cocktail reception, AABANY officially kicked off its inaugural Mentorship Program, with Julie Kwon, Mentorship Program Coordinator, introducing the program and inviting the first class of AABANY mentors and mentees to meet each other in person for the first time.

Fall Conference 2011: Diversify was a wonderful event, and it would not have been as successful without your involvement and participation. Thank you all for being a part of it. If you have any feedback, good, bad, big, small, please share it with us by emailing your comments to [email protected].

September 19, 2011

NAPABA Election: Message from Alex Lee, Esq.

Alex Lee, past president of APALA/NJ, friend of AABANY and active member of NAPABA, is a candidate for NAPABA VP-Communications and send this message to everyone at AABANY:

Dear AABANY member:

This email is a reminder to vote in this year’s NAPABA elections – you have until 11:59PM PDT, this coming Friday, September 23rd to cast your votes. By now, you should have received an electronic ballot and/or a paper ballot via The NAPABA Lawyer newsletter. If you haven’t, this may because NAPABA has an out of date email or snail mail address on file – please check with your home affilliate to ensure the correct information was sent to NAPABA when annual dues were paid in June/July but in any case, please also contact Andre Harrison in the NAPABA DC office at [email protected].

I know usually NAPABA elections generate limited interest for most people as often candidates run uncontested. This year is no different – of the seven races, just one – Vice President of Communications – is contested. However, that contested race happens to be mine – – I’m running against Bijal Vikal of White & Case in Palo Alto, California – and coming from your sister affiliate across the Hudson, I would greatly appreciate your vote and support. Attached are my candidacy statement and CV so you can take a look at my qualifications.

I’m very proud (some would say to the point of obnoxiousness, LOL!) of my roots in the NY/NJ area. I was born in New Jersey, went to grad school in Manhattan, and have lived on and off for many years in the city. My first mentorship during law school was through AABANY and I’ve always tried to attend AABANY events when I can.

I consider myself good friends with many of AABANY’s past presidents and officers. So when people ask why I’m running for NAPABA Board, a big reason is to continue and maintain NY/NJ representation at the national level. Of the current slate of candidates, none (other than myself) are from the Northeast. This fall, when Andy Hahn and Joe Centeno step down from their Board positions, the Northeast representation on the Board could be reduced to just our two regional governors. That’s about 10%. Considering the Northeast is 25-30% of the total NAPABA membership, we will be grossly under-represented.

We deserve better than that and if elected, I pledge to ensure that the Northeast will be heard at the Board level.

If you have any suggestions or comments or just want to chat, have a beer, etc., please feel free to contact me. Meeting fellow attorneys from around the country and the tri-state area has been one of the most rewarding aspects of NAPABA for me and I hope to continue to expand my friendships with all of you in the coming years. Thanks for your time and support and if you haven’t already, please try to make plans to attend the National Convention in Atlanta this November.

Regards,
Alex Lee

========================
Law Offices of Alexander M. Lee
354 Bloomfield Avenue, Suite 201
P.O. Box 205
Caldwell, New Jersey 07006
Tel: 973/364-1688
Fax: 973/364-1689
E-Mail: [email protected]
========================

The attachments are:

Alexander Lee CV

Alexander Lee Candidacy Statement

September 18, 2011

5 SIMPLE TIPS FOR ATTORNEYS – Pt 5

Here’s my final tip for handling paper. When you can, stop the source.

TIP#5 Don’t print it unless you have to. Yes, you’ve heard that before – but did you listen? Technology was supposed to cut down on the paper flow, not increase it. One reason technology doesn’t work is that we don’t work with it. I’ve had so many, many professionals tell me “I can’t read on the screen.” My question is: have you really utilized all the resources available to maximize the visibility? We are used to the comfort of reading off of paper. Reading from the screen, whether through an office application or in online format, is doable, if you create a new set of habits utilizing all the tools given to you by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Is this all a little overwhelming? Do you need help with this? Sure, I can help you. Contact me (and read more on my blog) at www.beautifulcorner.com.

In addition to being AABANY’s Administrative Assistant, Margaret Langston is a Professional Organizer. Her business, BEAUTIFUL CORNER, offers full organization services for the home or small business. BEAUTIFUL CORNER’s goal is help simplify the lives of its clients so that they may achieve optimum organization and full productivity at home and at work. BEAUTIFUL CORNER offers onsite and virtual service. For more information go to www.beautifulcorner.com.

September 17, 2011

Welcome to the Fall Conference

We are underway here at Skadden for the second annual Fall Conference! Feel free to comment in reply to this post and let us know how it’s going.

September 17, 2011

5 SIMPLE TIPS FOR ATTORNEYS – Pt 4

OK, we are getting everything into shape. But how will you keep up the good work? The paper just keeps coming. It’s doable, here’s one tip for the paper you are done with – but cannot throw away:

TIP#4 Drop the all or nothing approach for filing REFERENCE paper. Information, and now even work, can become obsolete a matter of months, weeks, or even days. You do not need perfect files. Reference paper simply needs to be sorted and separated by matter or subject, then filed generally. I prefer expanding file pockets , which don’t “lose paper” and loose filing within the pockets in separate manila folders. Do you HAVE to have labels other than handwritten ones? Unfortunately, I do! My handwriting is terrible. So is my eyesight. Consider using a label maker – since I’ve started doing this it takes me a fraction of the time to locate a file. Again, these reference pockets do not need to be perfectly organized en masse. The point is to get all the reference paper on a subject or matter in one place and to put it away, out of sight. Reference paper is the only paper that goes where you can’t see it, in your drawer, file drawer or hallway file system. If you are putting reference material in a shared space such as a hallway system make sure each pocket is clearly marked with your name.

Stay tuned, we’re wrapping it up in part 5!

September 16, 2011

On-line Registration for Fall Conference Now Closed

We have closed on-line registration for AABANY’s Second Annual Fall Conference. Thanks to all those who have registered. We are expecting attendance of around 200 throughout the day. If you missed the on-line registration cut-off please register on-site. Note: the 42nd Street entrance of 4 Times Square is closed on the weekends. You must enter on the 43rd Street side.

We hope to see you at the Fall Conference at Skadden on Sept 17!

Fall Conference 2011 Diversify

September 16, 2011

5 SIMPLE TIPS FOR ATTORNEYS – Pt 3

OK, we have begun to wrestle those piles into submission. Now, lets talk about how to keep them out of the office altogether:

TIP#3 Switch from being a HORIZONTAL PAPER PILER to being a VERTICAL PAPER PILER. Do you throw the stream of paper coming into your office in piles on your desk and floor? Don’t get mad, I’m not picking on you. I understand that some of you no longer have your own secretary (or, if you’re a really young attorney, maybe you never did). It’s OK; there are ways of creating systems where paper automatically files itself. You don’t necessarily have to double as your own file clerk. The first step to identifying and dealing with the paper is to GET IT VERTICAL and separated. My experience is that paper which lies down out of sightline gets ignored, is not processed and grows into anonymous, looming, oppressive mountains. Here is the one solution I’ve come up with that seems to work for a lot of people. Vertical file stands offer a way to instantly separate paper by case, client, etc. Get as many of these vertical file stands as will fit on top of your heating vent (without covering the vent), the top of your file cabinet, your end tables, or the counter space on your cubicle. Will this look busy? Yes, maybe, but you are busy.

In any case,I’d much rather see rows of these and empty floor space

in place of this: Your office last week

Now, here are two ways of categorizing ACTION paper that will help you to ACT on it and I suggest using BOTH methods.

First, create a series of files that are ACTION-RELATED. Here are the names of those files: RESPOND TODAY, RESPOND this WEEK, RESPOND this month. This could be further broken down into 1) making calls and 2) send an email regarding – but you might just want to stay simple and use the previous 3 general action headings. These three folders provide and instant tickler system and instigate a daily routine. You only have to deal with one folder at a time and the one which gets first priority is TODAY. As you act on the items in your TODAY folder, shift paper from the WEEK folder to the TODAY folder and from the MONTH folder to the WEEK folder.

The second series of action related files will not be so urgent as the ACTION files – but still stuff you need to get to and which you need to see. The names of those files will be either by client, matter or subject, or all of the above. In part 4, I’ll tell you what to do with reference paper

September 15, 2011

5 SIMPLE TIPS FOR ATTORNEYS – Pt 2

In part 1 we started to address those ominous paper towers in your office. Now we are going to the front line – prepare yourself!

TIP#2 Separate ACTION paper from REFERENCE paper. This is the first and maybe the most important habit to cultivate in order to take control of paper. Even if you are still piling paper from floor to ceiling, make sure that the REFERENCE paper gets the opposite corner of the office from the ACTION paper.

Here are examples of ACTION paper:

invoicing that needs to go out this week
the marked draft you have to finish by Friday
any memos that need immediate response

Here are examples of REFERENCE paper

supporting documents on a matter that you may need access to but not this week, or maybe even this month
research on a particular matter that you need to read but maybe not this week or this month

You get the idea, right? I bet you can think of several other categories for ACTION or REFERENCE. Stay tuned for part 3 and I’ll tell you what to do with the ACTION paper.

September 15, 2011

How to win a BlackBerry PlayBook: the Rules

Thanks to our Fall Conference sponsor, Sprint, we will be giving away a BlackBerry Playbook tablet PC to one lucky winner from a random drawing that we will conduct after the conclusion of the Fall Conference. How can you enter the drawing for your chance at winning this great prize? We offer you four simple ways: Twitter, WE Blog @ AABANY, completing the AABANY Get Connected Survey, signing up to be a Mentor in the AABANY Mentorship Program.

Twitter

Follow @aabany on Twitter.
Tweet about being at the Fall Conference. Don’t just say “hello” or “I’m here.” Say something substantive, like your reaction to a program or what a panelist has said, all in 140 characters or less.
Re-tweet any tweets you see about the Fall Conference.
Be sure to mention @aabany in the tweet and use the hash tag #FallConf so that we can locate your tweets quickly.
Send as many tweets as you like, but again they should be substantive or we won’t count them.
Any tweets sent after 5:30 pm will not be counted.

WE Blog @ AABANY

Go to WE Blog @ AABANY. The address is http://blog.aabany.org.
Look for any blog posts that day (Sept 17) related to the Fall Conference.
Enter a substantive comment in response to the post. Just as with tweets, just saying “hello” or “I’m here” will not count.
You cannot enter comments in reply to your own comment.
You can reply to someone else’s comment but it must relate to that comment.
Any comments posted after 5:30 pm will not be counted.

AABANY Get Connected Survey

Fill out the AABANY Get Connected Survey at the conference.
After doing so, present your business card to one of our volunteers and we will enter it into the drawing. If you don’t have a business card, we will have your name written on a blank card and enter you in the drawing that way.
You can enter only once using this method.

AABANY Mentorship Program

Apply to be a Mentor in the AABANY Mentorship Program at the conference.
After doing so, present your business card to one of our volunteers and we will enter it into the drawing. If you don’t have a business card, we will have your name written on a blank card and enter you in the drawing that way.
You can enter only once using this method.

Additional Rules

You can use one or more of the above methods to enter yourself in the drawing, except as otherwise stipulated below.
Subject to the above rules, you can be entered multiple times via Twitter and WE Blog @ AABANY.
You can be entered only once each by applying as a Mentor or completing the survey.
If you are already signed up as a Mentor or you have already completed the survey you cannot use those methods to enter the drawing.
This contest is open to everyone attending the Fall Conference but excludes any AABANY Board Members or members of the Fall Conference Planning Committee.

You can enter the drawing at the Fall Conference by signing in with your Twitter username and email address.

September 14, 2011

BlackBerry Playbook: You like?

BlackBerry PlayBook

BlackBerry has entered the tablet PC market with its own brand, the PlayBook. Pretty sharp looking, huh? Would you like one? Don’t want to shell out upwards of $500 for one? Come to the AABANY Fall Conference on Sept. 17 and enter a drawing to win one by using social media, commenting on our Fall Conference blog posts, completing our survey or signing up to be a mentor. Details coming soon. Stay tuned.