The Rhode Island Bar Association is hosting the New England Bar Association (NEBA) Annual Meeting this year at the Bristol Harbor Inn in Bristol, RI from October 28-30. NEBA is a leadership network group with members from each of the New England states. Each state rotates the responsibility of the Annual Meeting, and this year Rhode Island is hosting with Hon. Linda Rekas Sloan as President of NEBA.

As this exciting program may be of interest to RIBA members, we are extending the invitation to attend the non-credit, Plenary Session scheduled for Saturday, October 30^th at 9:00 am. The program, Real Talk: Implicit Bias and Microaggressions & Other Work Missteps, features award-winning trial attorney Dana Tippin Cutler and will provide an interactive presentation focusing on issues of implicit bias, micro-aggressions, and other attitudes or actions that impede goals of inclusion and diversity in the profession. Please note, as this is not a RIBA program, CLE credit is not being offered but attendees may apply for credit with the RI MCLE Commission directly.

The price to attend the Plenary Session is only $25.00, and includes an excellent full breakfast! Breakfast will be served between 8:00 – 9:00 am with the program starting at 9:00 am. The program will be held in the tent on the Bristol Harbor Inn property. Extra parking is located around the corner from the hotel at the Rogers Free Library.

Space is limited, so if you would like to attend, please click here to complete the registration form and submit the form to [email protected] by Thursday, October 14^th. If you have any questions, please contact the Bar’s Director of Communications Erin Cute by phone at 401-421-5740 or by email at [email protected]. 

As a reminder, the Rhode Island Bar Association online dues invoices are now available for the 2021-22 year. The Bar no longer postal mails invoices to members. Please go to the Bar's website at ribar.com and log in with your Bar ID and password. Click DASHBOARD and then MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL. Once there, you may access your personalized invoice and make your payment online by following the prompts. *Please note: your username to login to the RIBA website is your Bar number.

This year the Rhode Island Bar Association is going digital with our Bar ID Cards and will no longer postal mail hard copies to members unless requested. Once your dues have been paid and processed, you can access your bar card through the DASHBOARD area of the MEMBERS ONLY section on our website. From there click on MEMBERSHIP CARD which will allow you to print the card or download it to your phone for easy access! Please note, once your payment has been processed it may take up to 24 hours for your card to become available. You may request a paper copy of your card by contacting Office Manager Susan Cavalloro by phone at 401-421-5740 or email at [email protected].

You do not have to pay your dues online. As an alternative, you may download your invoice and pay by check. Or, you may contact the Bar at (401) 421-5740 and request your invoice be sent to you via postal mail. Please remember you must request the postal mailed invoice, as otherwise the only way to access your invoice is online.

If you have any questions, please contact Office Manager Susan Cavalloro by phone at (401) 421-5740 or email: [email protected]

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As a lawyer, you might be thinking of creating your own online presence. Because over a third of potential clients start their search online and 98% read reviews before hiring a lawyer, having a solid digital presence could help with growing your firm.

However, before you start, it is important to review good online reputation management practices.

For instance, one practice you might want to uphold is providing excellent client services. This does not only mean quality representation, but also other aspects such as maintaining consistent and clear communication with clients, requesting regular feedback during all stages of the work relationship, and staying in touch with former clients. Having solid relationships with present and past clients may help you control your image on the web.

Another thing you might want to consider is creating a protocol for dealing with negative reviews. Since you would not want bad reviews to ruin your image, you could come up with strategies to address them before they influence other potential clients.

In our blog, A Guide to Online Reputation Management for Attorneys and Law Firms, we give you six tips to help you manage your reputation in the digital world.

Efficient law firms tend to make more money; but gaining efficiency within a law firm doesn’t just happen – it’s part of a larger strategy. The first step is building workflows, and assigning tasks; then, you’ll need to monitor your processes to make sure they’re working, and with an eye to improving them. Of course, transparency is also important here. And, everyone in the firm should have access to relevant workflows. That begs the question: Where do you store them? For sure, you’ll generate task lists in your law practice management software and email calendar; but, there are also software that are exclusively built for maintaining office processes, like SweetProcess and ProcessStreet. So, if you want to take your workflow management to the next level, see what these software tools have to offer.

This tech tip is brought to you by the Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Consultant, Jared Correia, of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting. If you need help with billing, client relations, data management, financial management, marketing, office technology, time management, disaster prevention & recovery, or any other area related to managing your practice, Red Cave Law Firm Consulting will provide Rhode Island Bar Association members with unlimited virtual consulting services (email, telephone, chat, video) FREE OF CHARGE. To get started, visit the Bar’s LPM page here, or just email Jared directly at [email protected].