WHAT IS THE ASSOCIATION
OF LEGAL ADMINISTRATORS?
The Association of Legal
Administrators (ALA) is an international
organization made up of over 8,000 legal administrators and support
managers. Local ALA chapters are divided into six geographic regions.
The Columbus Chapter is a part of Region 3 (which has approximately 1,300 ALA members).
A
majority of ALA members work in private law offices, but corporate and
government law offices, public interest nonprofit organizations and
college/university offices are also represented. More than half of all
ALA members work in an office that have 1-75 attorneys. A little
over 21% of members work in offices with 75 or more attorneys. ALA
members work in the areas of principal administration, as well as
management areas of human resources, finance, facilities, systems,
marketing, and practice management.
ALA
is committed to developing the legal management profession and the
professional expertise of its members. The Columbus Chapter welcomes
anyone who fits ALA's eligibility criteria to join today! Read on to
see if you are eligible to become a member...
AM I ELIGIBLE TO
BECOME A MEMBER OF ALA?
According to the Association of Legal Administrators, in
order to become a regular member of the Columbus Chapter, you must be
a "full-time legal administrator or support manager employed in a
private law firm, legal service clinic, corporate legal department,
university legal department, governmental legal agency, court system,
charitable legal agency or some other organization engaged primarily in
the practice of law."
Visit the international organization's Join
ALA! site for other membership classifications and eligibility
criteria including international affiliate membership and associate
membership. Please note that
membership is not open to vendors or consultants.
HOW
DO I APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP?
Here are two simple ways to apply for membership to the Columbus Chapter of ALA:
1. Contact our Membership
Chair
The Columbus Chapter Membership Chair, Jack Green, is more
than happy to answer any questions you might have about becoming a
member of ALA. Jack can also forward applications to you. His contact information is as follows:
Jack
Green
Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP
41 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: 614.365.2700
E-mail: jgreen@ssd.com
Apply Online!
Both the local and
international organization applications are available online in PDF format and require
Adobe Acrobat Reader to be installed on your computer. If you don't
have the Reader, click the Adobe icon below to download it for free.
For your convenience, you
may send both applications with dues to Jack Green at the address listed above.
WHAT
ARE THE BENEFITS OF BEING A MEMBER?
As a member of the
Association of Legal Administrators, there are many outstanding
networking opportunities as well as programs that serve to educate and bring
together administrators in the legal community. Some different
programs and benefits include:
Monthly
Meetings
The Columbus Chapter
meets for a one-hour luncheon every third Wednesday of the month. At
these meetings, members listen to speakers on a wide range of topics,
including records management, disaster recovery, staffing, and
Internet research, just to name a few. Some meetings are round-table
discussions on topics like finance and technology. The monthly
meetings provide excellent opportunities for the Columbus Chapter
members to get to know one another, while keeping updated on what the
Chapter is doing.
Chapter
Events
Annual events like the
ALA Columbus Chapter Golf Outing, the Partners' Dinner/Lunch, the Vendor Show and the
Community Challenge Weekend help Columbus Chapter Members create ties
with the legal community and the Central Ohio community as well. All
upcoming events are highlighted on our Announcements
page.
Community
Service
The Columbus Chapter of
ALA enjoys giving back to the Central Ohio community.
Visit our Community Service page for more
information.
Committees
The Columbus Chapter has
a variety of committees to help achieve the Chapter's goals.
Committees include Legal Career Development, which seeks to spur
interest in the legal field as a profession and Community Service,
which oversees community service opportunities for the chapter. The
Chapter also has committees that oversee public relations, membership,
the newsletter, the salary survey, the annual partners' lunch, the
website and the
vendor show. Visit our Committees page to
see the entire list of committees and their chairs.
Small Firm Administrators' Forum
The Columbus Chapter has a Small Law Firm Administrators' Forum, which
serves to bring together the administrators of the smaller law firms
in town. You can find contact information on our Committees page.
Publications
Members of the Columbus
Chapter receive several publications, including ALA News (a
bimonthly member magazine), Legal Management (a bimonthly
journal), and the Chapter's monthly newsletter, Columbus Chapter
News. Check out the Newsletter
page to read our newsletter online in PDF format.
Annual
Conference and Exposition
ALA's Annual Education Conference targets legal administrators of all
experience levels. There are more than 100 educational courses
stretched out over a four-day period and "[m]ore than 200
companies showcase the latest legal technology, products and
services," according to ALA. For more details, visit our Conferences
page.
Regional
Conferences
Members of the Columbus Chapter attend the Region 3 conference, which
is usually held in the Fall. The conference lasts two days and is a
great way to take advantage of educational opportunities while meeting
and networking with other administrators in the region. For more information, visit our Conferences
page.
Retreats
and Specialized Programs
Each year, ALA holds special interest retreats as learning
opportunities for administrators working in specialized organizations.
Speakers, panel presentations and networking benefits are all
included. Currently, ALA sponsors the following retreats and programs:
Large Firm Administrators Retreat; Corporate/Government Fall Forum;
Intellectual Property Retreat; Law Firm Management: Essential
Competencies for Legal Administrators; and Law Firm Profitability
Enhancement Program.
Telephone
Seminars
"ALA's telephone
seminars are a cost effective and efficient way to bring education to
each participant's office or home," according to the
international organization's Programs site. It doesn't matter where
you live or work -- to take advantage of this program, you just need a
touch tone phone. The Columbus Chapter has recently hosted several
telephone seminars.
Other
Great Benefits
There are other
outstanding programs and benefits for members of ALA, including professional
certification for legal administrators, a nationwide job bank, online
educational opportunities through the Learning on Demand Program, and the
Value in Partnership (VIP) Program, which offers discounts from
various organizations. Visit the ALA
Programs site for more details.
If you are an
administrator in the Central Ohio legal community, we'd love to have you as a
member of the Columbus Chapter of ALA!
