 Reaching for New Horizons
Offering what you need…
by David J. Bilinsky
You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well you just might find, you get what you need…
Words and music by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
It is commonly believed that young people do not join traditional associations. However, in 2006, the William E. Smith Institute released a report: Generations and the Future of Association Participation that found that contrary to commonly held assumptions – Generation X and Y workers (born after 1965) show every indication of joining associations at even higher rates than Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). (www.smithbucklin.com/smithinstitute/william_smith.cfm)
So what is or can the CBA be doing to appeal to young and young-at-heart members? Here is my short list of things that the CBA has started or could be doing further that adds value to my CBA membership (and hopefully to others as well):
1. DISCUSSION GROUPS:
The B.C. Branch and the National Office have started listservs (online discussion groups) that allow 24/7 sharing of information and enhance the value of Section membership. These allow for virtual “Section meetings” and allow members to dialogue “real time.”
2. B.C.-ORIENTED PRACTICE SUPPORT:
The CBA could provide extensive document precedents, resource lists, lists of mentors, lists of consultants and other materials to enhance the solo and small firm lawyer’s ability to practice law. The B.C. Branch has started to post information kits and standard forms on their website.
3. PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS:
The CBA has started expanding the content of the Branch publications and seeking to make them all searchable on Google (i.e. not hide the contents behind a membership wall) in order to drive potential members to find value in CBA membership.
4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
With mandatory CLE coming in B.C., the CBA can become a leading resource for education and training, particularly if they adopt web-based programming. The CBA has started podcasting CLE on their website in practice management.
5. EXPANDING MEMBERSHIP:
The American Bar Association has an associate class of membership which allows non-lawyers as associates. Opening membership wider allows for an expanded membership base as well as increasing the critical mass for Section activities. It also allows for more bodies to be thrown at tasks!
6. BROWN BAG SESSIONS:
Holding regular live “open to any member” presentations on practice management topics are “low hanging” fruit that add value to membership and can be captured and put on the web for later access.
7. LENDING LIBRARY:
Establishing a loaner program for books on practice management (or on other topics) is another “low hanging” fruit that could enhance Section membership.
So to follow Mick’s advice, if the CBA changes to increase the value of the membership in order to attract more non-members to join, it may find that while it doesn’t get perhaps what it wants (100 per cent participation!) it may find that it gets what it needs....
David J. Bilinsky is the Practice Management Advisor for the Law Society of British Columbia. E-mail: info@thoughtfullaw.com Blog: www.thoughtfullaw.com
Technology Tip from Dave Bilinsky’s Award-Winning Blog: (www.thoughtfullaw.com)
I get calls all the time from lawyers whose computers have slowed to a crawl. Chances are, your once-zippy computer has been infected by something nasty. It is probably faster to simply reformat the hard drive and start all over. So how do you do this?
First: back up your data; Second: make a list of all the applications you have on the computer; Third: ensure that you have the installation disks for all the applications – including the operating system – together with the requisite software keys and/or usernames and passwords; Fourth: copy necessary drivers for your scanner, printer etc to a flash drive; Fifth: take a deep breath and reinitialize the hard drive; Sixth: install the operating system and your security software (firewall, anti-virus, anti-malware and anti-spyware) and install the latest signatures, updates and patches; Seventh: install all your applications and drivers; and Eighth: run a security scan on the external hard drive on which you copied your documents, photos etc and once it is “clean,” copy over your documents, photos etc.
To view the abridged version of the full article go to www.thoughtfullaw.com/category/technology/ |
This article originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of BarTalk and is reproduced here with permission of both the author and the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch. |
