Herb Falk Society 2020 Induction

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The Herb Falk Society honors those members of the Greensboro Bar Association who contribute at least 75 hours of pro bono service annually. The sixteen individuals inducted for 2020 were recognized at the April 15, 2021 virtual annual meeting. They are:

Lisa Arthur (130.3 hours)

Kearns Davis (156.6 hours)

Richard W. Gabriel (75 hours)

Eloise McCain Hassell (90.6 hours)

Manisha P. Patel (393.25 hours)

Karen McKeithen Schaede (76 hours)

Jim Slaughter (94 hours)

D. Clark Smith, Jr. (305.4 hours)

Theodora A. Vaporis (94 hours)

Jonathan Wall (94 hours)

Congratulations and Thank You for Your Service!

President Arthur Recognized for Outstanding Service

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President Lisa Arthur was recognized for her service at the virtual Annual Meeting of the Greensboro Bar Association and the 24th Judicial District Bar on April 15, 2021. President Elect Desmond Sheridan paid tribute to Ms. Arthur’s many accomplishments and contributions to our organization. This year’s need for social distance dictated that a gift from the members be presented to Lisa at her office after the meeting.

Thank you, Lisa, for serving the members of the Greensboro Bar Association well in these challenging times!

Young Lawyers Section: Connections

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End of the Year Party

YLS will be hosting a final virtual social event to mark the end of the year!  Watch your emails for more details.  We look forward to seeing you!

April Events

In April, the Young Lawyers Section was busy!  First, we provided a catered dinner from Liberty Oak to Greensboro Urban Ministries.  We also had a fun virtual March Madness beer tasting event!

YLS Facebook Group

Have a question about practice?  Procedure?  Which clerk to talk to?  The Young Lawyers Section has created a private Facebook Group for its members to communicate with one another about the ins and outs of practicing law.  A link to the Group can be found at YLS Resource Group – Let’s Help Each Other!  Please request to join and ask your peers for any legal advice you may need!

Connect With Us

Do you want more information about upcoming Young Lawyers Section events or how you can get involved?  Visit our website at www.greensboroyls.org, e-mail Hillary Kies ([email protected]) to make sure you are on the listserv and follow us on Facebook (Greensboro Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section).  If you have missed the opportunity to connect with the Young Lawyers Section, we hope to see you at one of our future events!

A Primer on Your Firm’s Financial Health Part 3: Collections

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Camille Stell is President and CEO of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at [email protected] or 800.662.8843.

If you are operating the fees, billing, and collections component of your practice as you did twenty years ago, chances are you are missing opportunities for work.

Clio COVID-19 Impact Report

Clio is a cloud-based legal practice management solution designed for solo and small law firms. Clio serves 150,000 customers spanning 90 countries.

As part of Clio’s ongoing research for their annual Legal Trends Report, they have undertaken new research to learn more about the impact of COVID-19 on the legal industry.

According to the 2020 Clio COVID-19 Impact Report:

  • 71% of legal professionals are more concerned about their clients’ ability to pay legal fees than before the pandemic
  • 25% of law firms are losing revenue due to unpaid bills than before the pandemic
  • 75% of clients would prefer to pay their legal fees via payment plan, while only 53% of law firms are equipped to offer payment plans

Online Payments as a Marketing Tool

The 2019 Clio Legal Trends Report showed that 50% of consumers in need of legal services are more likely to hire a lawyer who accepts online payments. And 40% of individuals in need of legal services said they would not hire a lawyer unless they accepted credit or debit cards.

A recent study conducted by Total System Services showed that as many as 75% of customers today prefer to pay with a credit or debit card. In addition to the convenience, customers enjoy credit card rewards, cash back and other perks of using their cards.

And importantly, studies show that 85% of electronic invoices are paid the same week they are sent, and 57% are paid the same day the client receives the invoice.

You need online payment options. Taking credit cards means you get paid faster. The money is deposited in your account sooner than with a check. Integration between your credit card processor and your time and billing program and your accounting system reduces duplication of payment information. Using a credit card processor avoids the risk of client credit card numbers jotted down on sticky notes in your office.

Credit Cards and Trust Accounts

No credit card fees from the merchant should ever be taken out of the trust account. If the client disputes the charge, the merchant should not remove the funds from the trust account without notifying your firm and verifying your permission. See NC State Bar Ethics Rules RPC 247 Payment of Fees by Electronic Transfer, 97 FEO 9 Credit Card Chargebacks Against a Trust Account, 2009 FEO 4 Credit Card Account that Avoids Commingling, and 2013 Formal Ethics Opinion 13 – Disbursement Against Funds Credited to Trust Account.

When shopping for a credit card payment processor you should consider costs such as transaction fees, monthly rates, integration with your other practice management tools, and Terms of Service language.

While there are many online payment platforms available, LawPay is the Affinity Partner of the NC Bar Association. LawPay was designed specifically for attorneys. LawPay prevents commingling of earned and unearned funds, protects your trust account from third-party debiting, and ensures IOLTA compliance for credit card, debit card, and eCheck transactions.

Other legal specific credit card payment processors include ClientPay, Headnote, LexCharge, and MyCase Payments. LawPay and other credit card payment processors can also process ACH, e-payments, and e-checks.

Automated Clearing House, a U.S. financial network used for electronic payments and money transfers, often have fees that are lower than credit card processing fees.

In the NCBA’s Center for Practice Management blog, Catherine Reach has a post with a link to the ABA Solo, Small Firm Division listserv discussion on the ethics of charging processing or convenience fees to make up for the credit card processing fee, check it out. The short answer is don’t charge your client a fee to make up for the credit card processing fee.

Orion Law Management 2019 Collections Survey

The Orion Law Management 2019 Collections Survey reveals the many challenges law firms face with collection matters.

  • Policy – 57% – setting a universal payment and collections policy that will apply to all clients
  • Enforcement – 29% – how do you handle approaching clients about late payments once they become overdue?
  • Tone – 14% – how do you contact the client to get payment but avoid offending them in the process

Best Practices

Invest the time to establish a policy and communicate it throughout the firm. Get attorney buy-in for the process you use and share success stories. If you use resources other than the attorney, make sure everyone is on the same page about the collections message. In other words, don’t have attorneys undermine collections efforts by saying, “it’s not me trying to shake you down!”

Be proactive. Stay on top of accounts receivable with monthly reports so that billing doesn’t become delinquent, and if it does, it’s not extremely overdue. Following up with the client on outstanding invoices at billing time can help clients avoid falling too far behind to catch up.

Phone calls can be impactful. This gives you a chance to connect with your client and determine if there is a problem in the process – the work, the amount billed, a personal or business issue with the client.

Asking for money is hard – but forfeiting firm revenue is harder. Be respectful, courteous, and kind. Listen. Look for options to assist your client.

Cash is King

Keep in mind, in times of crisis such as a pandemic, everything is negotiable.

For clients who have outstanding balances:

  • Reach out by phone and email to inquire about the statusof payment
  • Continue to send the bill to your client – their situation may change in a few months
  • Send invoices in a different way – if you mailed it, send it via email as a follow up
  • Offer payment deferrals
  • Consider payment plans
  • Consider extending a discount for remitting a balance due
  • Make it easy for clients to pay you with online or electronic  payment options, including credit card

Also, assess your own law firm accounts payable situation:

  • Reach out to your creditors to inquire about options for payment
  • Request payment deferrals
  • Request a payment plan
  • Ask for a discount for remitting a balance due
  • Use a credit card with favorable terms or benefits to you such as cash-back options

Conclusion

Billing and collection of fees is a work in progress. As with many aspects of your business, this is an evergreen component, meaning that there is always work to be done in this area, always knowledge to collect to make sure you are on top of trends and clients are responding to your fees, billing, and collections processes.

Camille Stell is the President of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at [email protected] or 919.677.8900.

Contribute Now To This Year’s Habitat Project

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Our campaign to raise the money and volunteer commitments for this year’s Habitat project is now in full swing, with a goal of raising the rest of the cost of the house in the next few weeks and getting ready for construction to begin on September 18.

Please visit our giving page now at https://give.habitatgreensboro.org/campaign/bar-build-2021/c328465. It gives you three options:  to make an immediate contribution on the site, to mail a check to Habitat at the address provided or to make a pledge payable by July 31.  Please also use the link on the Giving Page to added to a list of volunteers for the construction work. We will contact the volunteers on the list to schedule their work once a construction schedule has been developed.

We are already making great progress in getting ready for our September start:

Over $45,000 has been raised to date moving us steadily closer to our goal.

  • A number of volunteers have already signed up on the volunteer list.
  • Under the leadership of Judge Vincent, all the available District Court Judges have volunteered for the work.  Their commitment continues their tradition of active participation in our Habitat projects.
  • We have contacted the staff at Elon Law School, who will recruit law students to work with us when they return to school in the fall.
  • We have lined up representatives in several firms to solicit contributions and volunteer commitments from within their firms.  Please respond if a representative from your firm approaches you about participating.
  • The Fox Rothschild firm has agreed to take on one of the workdays in the fall.  Please let us know if your firm would also like to provide the crew for one of our workdays.  Law firms who have adopted workdays on our past projects have found them to be a rewarding team-building experience.

As the start date approaches, we will be assigned the homeowners for the house, who will work with us to build a new home and new future for themselves and their children. We will also be assigned a house site. As soon as we know the family and site, we will let you know.

This will be our ninth Habitat project building on a proud tradition of Habitat work by the Greensboro Bar Association.  As far as we know, our work with Habitat is unmatched by any bar association in the country.  Please go to the Giving Page now and join us in this effort!

If you have any questions, contact Bill Cooke at [email protected].

Many thanks to the District Court Judges and to the many generous members who have contributed so far, and lets all look forward to making another Habitat house a reality.

Battle of the Bars Trivia Night

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Let’s Get Ready to Rumble! Are you a trivia master? Do you want to support your local Bar Association and help the GBA bring home the trophy?

Join us for a virtual Battle of the Bars rematch with the High Point Bar Association on Thursday, May 6 at 7:15 PM.

Registration is required. Limited to 30 players.

Members registered as individuals will be randomly assigned to a team upon arrival. Members wanting to form their own team of 4-6 players should ask one teammate to register and add each team member (and their email address) to their reservation as a guest.

Register Here!

Keeping Up with COVID

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The Greensboro Bar Association’s website now includes a page specifically for COVID-19 updates.  Look for the RED banner at the top of the Home page for direct access to:  https://www.greensborobar.org/category/covid-19-updates/ .  Here you will find information such as Administrative Orders, COVID-19 Positive Reports, and other news regarding COVID-19.  The GBA’s email updates will continue as this webpage is designed as an alternative means to publish information related to COVID-19.

May Calendar Notes

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May 6 – Battle of the Bars Trivia, 7:00 PM, Zoom

May 12 – GBA Board Meeting, 4:00 PM, Zoom

May 19 – Young Lawyers Board Meeting, 12:00 PM, Zoom

Click to keep up with GBA Events Online

Click Here for Legal Community Events

Wellness Corner

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BarCARES is a confidential, short-term intervention program provided cost-free to members of the 24th Judicial District Bar and other participating judicial district bars, voluntary bar associations and law schools. If you would like additional information about the program and/or its availability in your area, please contact the BarCARES coordinator at 919.929.1227 or 1.800.640.0735 or click on the icon below.

Message from the President, May 2021

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Lisa W. Arthur

Lisa W. Arthur, President of the Greensboro Bar Association

GBA Members,

We’ve come to our last newsletter of the 2020-2021 GBA year and what a year it has been! This year was nothing like what I expected it to be, and it certainly presented the GBA leadership with a number of challenges.

Our board and committee chairs rose to meet these challenges. We created a COVID Response Committee to assist members in practicing in a COVID world. We hosted a virtual Holiday Party where we traded book wrapping and live music for at home scavenger hunts and show and tell. Even without that wrapping at the Holiday Party, we were still able to have our Elementary School Book Project. We held every single membership meeting virtually, hearing from a variety of speakers on diverse topics. We held CLEs, trivia, craft night, a Herb Falk Society induction, and diversity training all via Zoom. We created a Long Range Plan to better position the GBA for years to come. We embarked on a fundraising initiative for our 9th Habitat House virtually. The GBA Foundation remained active in giving financial grants and our Awards Committee recognized deserving members. We published our monthly newsletter and expanded our social media presence. We continued to connect this year, even though we couldn’t be together in person.

I want to especially thank our board and committee chairs for all of your hard work this year. None of these events would have been possible without each one of you, and it was an absolute pleasure working with you. I also want to thank Diane Lowe, who is the doer of all things GBA and a trusted advisor for our group. I’m excited about the next wave of GBA leadership, and I know that the GBA will be in good hands next year.

As I said at our last meeting, being your president this year has been one of the highlights of my professional career thus far. I could not have asked for a better group of leaders to work with and a better group of members to serve. Thank you for trusting me with this important role.

If you benefited from any of the programs that the GBA offered this year, I encourage you to consider making a donation to the ninth Habitat House to show your appreciation and thanks: https://give.habitatgreensboro.org/campaign/bar-build-2021/c328465 Help us build something even better next year!

I look forward to seeing you next GBA year, hopefully in person. Until next time, friends! I hope you all have a wonderful summer.

Lisa Arthur

Help Support Our Ninth Habitat House

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Help Support Our Ninth Habitat House

After a one-year COVID delay, we will begin construction of GBA’s ninth Habitat house on September 18.  In the meantime, we need to raise the rest of the $75,000 we have committed to Habitat for the cost of house.  Already GBA members have given $40,078 including the $25,000 anonymous contribution that got us started.  In the coming weeks, you will receive an email with a link to a giving page for you to make contributions and volunteer to work on the house.  Please be on the lookout for the email.  Our goal is to complete the fundraising by May 31 and to have a list of volunteers who have committed to join in the work.

Donate Here!

This project adds to our long-standing tradition of sponsoring Habitat houses going back to 1990.  Our Habitat work has brought great credit to this Bar Association and provided us with an opportunity to work together in partnership with one another, with the judges who join with us, and with the homeowner families who move from substandard housing to a home of their own and who can then build equity for the future as they pay down their mortgages to Habitat.  When you receive the link to the giving page, please give generously so we can meet our fundraising goal going away and be among the first to volunteer for our work on the site.

Announcing Slate of Nominees for Officer & Director 2021-22

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Announcing Slate of Nominees for Officer & Director 2021-22

The following members have been nominated to serve as officers of the Greensboro Bar Association for June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022:

GBA President Elect (24th JD VP): Judge Marcus A. Shields

GBA/24th JD Secretary: Molly A. Hilburn-Holte

GBA/24th JD Treasurer: Davis McDonald

The following members have been nominated to serve as directors of the Greensboro Bar Association for a 3-year term starting June 1, 2021 and ending in May 31, 2024:

Judge K. Michelle Fletcher

Manisha P. Patel

L. Nicole Patino

The following member has been nominated to serve as a director for 1-year term starting June 1, 2021 and ending in May 31, 2022 (filling the unexpired term of Judge Shields):

Jennifer Gibert Mencarini

The nominations were submitted by the 2020-21 Nominating Committee:

Eric Richardson (Chair), Lisa Arthur, Jim Bryan, Mark Gaylord, Molly Hilburn-Holte, Sarah Roane, Karen McKeithen Schaede, Grant Sigmon,  Judge Teresa Vincent, and Gerald Walden

Voting will take place at the Annual Joint Meeting of the Greensboro Bar Association and the 24th Judicial District Bar on April 15, 2021 via Zoom.

Judge Marcus A. Shields

Judge Shields is a native of Sumter, South Carolina.  He received a Bachelor of Arts in Experimental Psychology from The University of South Carolina-Columbia and his Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University, School of Law in Durham, North Carolina.  Marcus is licensed to practice law in all State and Federal Courts in North Carolina.

Marcus began his career in private practice handling civil, juvenile, and criminal matters in both the Triangle and Eastern North Carolina. He practiced as a Post-Conviction Attorney with North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services, Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2013, Marcus joined the Guilford County Public Defender’s Office where he practiced in both District and Superior Court up until his appointment as a District Court Judge by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in May of 2018. Marcus was elected to the district court in 2020. Marcus presides in all of the district courts in Greensboro and High Point. He is the assigned recovery court judge for Greensboro’s Adult Mental Health Court and Greensboro and High Point Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts.

Off the bench, Marcus is active in his community. He serves on the Greensboro Bar Association’s Board of Directors; he is former President of the Guilford County Association of Black Lawyers; he is a member of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers; he is a member of the Guilford Inn of Court, and a host of other civic organizations. He is a former adjunct law professor at Elon University, School of Law.

Judge K. Michelle Fletcher

Judge Fletcher is a native of Greensboro and graduated from Northwest Senior High School.  She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from UNCG.  She began law school in 1992 and received her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central School of Law in May 1995.

Michelle served Guilford County as an Assistant District Attorney before being appointed by Governor Easley in 2008 as a District Court Judge.  She has presided over each of the various district courts including, but not limited to, criminal, family law, juvenile delinquency, juvenile abuse/neglect/dependency, contract disputes, domestic violence orders of protection, and landlord-tenant disputes.  Michelle received her certification in Juvenile Law in 2010.  She was appointed by the Chief District Court Judge as the lead juvenile judge for DSS Court until she was appointed to serve (and currently serves) as the lead judge for the Guilford County civil courts.  She also currently serves as the presiding judge for the High Point Mental Health and Drug Treatment Courts.

Judge Fletcher continues to serve the community by being active with several local organizations.

Michelle is married to Ken Free and they have one child, Trey, who is 15 years old.

L. Nicole Patino

Nicole Patino is a zealous advocate for her clients. She loves the practice of Labor and Employment Law and considers herself lucky each day she gets to practice.

Nicole completed her undergraduate and graduate work (M.A. in English) at Virginia Tech University. She graduated from Elon University School of Law where she was a staff member of the Elon Law Review in 2013-2014 and became Notes and Comments Editor during the 2014-2015 school year.  Nicole was a law clerk with the Law Offices of Fred T. Hamlet during her second and third year in law school.  She continued her legal career as an associate with Law Offices of Fred T. Hamlet for five years until Mr. Hamlet’s death.   Her goal is to honor his memory and work with the same dedication and devotion to the ethical practice of law.

Jennifer Gibert Mencarini

Jennifer Mencarini is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Emory University School of Law. She also has a Master’s degree from Southern Methodist University. Before coming to Greensboro, Jennifer practiced law for 11 years in Dallas, TX where she primarily represented health care providers who had been sued for malpractice.

Jennifer’s current work at Elon University School of Law focuses on providing professional development and support services to students and graduates.  In addition to providing 1:1 career coaching, she teaches professional development in the Lawyering, Leadership & Professionalism Program, manages Elon Law’s pro bono program, serves as an adjunct faculty member, and coaches graduates studying for the bar examination.

Jennifer is an active member of local organizations including the Women’s Professional Forum, the GBA, and the United Way of Greater Greensboro’s Education and Economic Impact Council. She serves on two North Carolina Bar Association Committees (including as a Co-Chair of the Pro Bono Committee).

Manisha P. Patel

Manisha Patel is a family law attorney representing clients in various stages of their domestic law matters. She began her legal career practicing with a private law firm before opening the doors to her solo practice in November 2018. A Virginia native, Manisha graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) with Bachelor’s degrees in both economics and history. While enrolled in Virginia Tech, she received recognition at both the state and national levels for distinguished service in student affairs and on-campus student government.

Manisha earned her JD from Elon University School of Law, where she was the Vice President of the Women’s Law Association and member of Phi Alpha Delta International Law Fraternity. She identified family law as an area of interest early in her first year of law school and has since dedicated her practice to offer compassion, dedication, and zealous legal support to individuals in emotionally trying seasons of life.

In her free time, Manisha enjoys Burn Boot Camp, running, & has completed ten half marathons and a number of smaller races throughout the country and Canada. She is also enthusiastic about her Virginia Tech Hokies and loves spending time with her adopted rescue dog and firm mascot, Rusty M. Patel.

In Memoriam, FRED THURMAN HAMLET

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FRED THURMAN HAMLET

February 28, 1947 – February 18, 2021

Fred Thurman Hamlet grew up in Pittsboro, North Carolina and was a 1965 graduate of Pittsboro High School. He received his undergraduate degree with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, participating in  Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa, and went on to obtain his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1973. He was admitted to the bar in 1973, Georgia, 1973; 1977, North Carolina, 1977; and 1978, U. S. Supreme Court, 1978.

Fred practiced law for more than 45 years. Beginning his legal career in Atlanta with Fisher Phillips, he soon returned to North Carolina where he worked with firm Nichols, Caffrey, Hill, Evans & Murrelle. In 1994, he opened his own practice where he remained devoted to his work until his final days. Fred provided advice to businesses and individuals on a broad range of labor and employment matters. A special interest in labor unions led to his involvement in matters that required him to enter into strike areas at the risk of physical violence. He also litigated matters that created employment law precedent in North Carolina and in the Fourth Circuit. His most notable trial involved representation of the City of Greensboro in the November 1979 Communists and Klansman clash known as the Greensboro Massacre.

Fred participated in the Boy Scouts in his youth, earning his Eagle Scout award, and served as a Scout Leader at the 16th World Scout Jamboree in Australia in 1987. He enjoyed the camping trips and outdoor adventures associated with the Boy Scouts and lived up to their motto, “Be prepared.” He was an avid college basketball fan and attended annually the ACC tournament for many years.

He was a frequent seminar speaker on labor and employment law topics and took pride in being a guest speaker at Elon Law School, UNC Law School, and Wake Forest Law School. He was a preceptor at Elon Law and employed over 30 law clerks from Elon in his practice. He was a mentor to countless young attorneys who would seek his advice on a range of topics, from negotiating a salary to selecting a jury and discussing ethic issues. Throughout his career, he exercised prudence and demonstrated the highest standards of professional ethics.

Fred was predeceased by his parents, Curtis T. Hamlet and Blanche Justice Hamlet of Pittsboro, NC.  Family members who survive him are his two children, Fred Thurman Hamlet, Jr. of Durham, NC and Alice Hamlet of New York City, NY, and his twin sister Margaret and her husband Bill Bingham of Garner, NC.  He is also survived by his significant other of 20 years, Sheila Dorsett of High Point, NC; and his longtime associate attorney, Nicole Patino of Asheboro, NC.

Christon Halkiotis Presented with 2020 Centennial Award

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The 2020 Centennial Award for outstanding and exemplary community service was presented to Christon S. Halkiotis at the virtual GBA member meeting on March 18, 2021.

Christon earned her B.A. from Rutgers University in 2000 and her J.D. (cum laude) from N.C. Central University School of Law in 2004.  She was an Assistant District Attorney in the District Attorney’s Office in Greensboro and High Point for 15 years,
from 2004 to 2019.  She has had her own law practice since October of 2019.

Christon’s community service has largely been with the Junior League of Greensboro where she had a stellar year as President.  She focused her volunteer and fundraising efforts on the League’s goals of providing resources and assistance to elderly adults in our community.   Some of the community projects she has been involved with include Friends Against Fraud, which provided assistance to elderly individuals on elder financial abuse; Community Housing Solutions, which provided financial help and volunteers to assist elderly residents in Greensboro by making home repairs when they were unable to complete those repairs themselves due to physical and financial issues; Food Assistance to provide food to elderly members of our community who are homebound; and she assisted with the rehabilitation of the Smith Senior Center.

She has always been a big supporter of the League-run thrift store, the Bargain Box. As a sustaining member of the League, Christon continues to go out of her way to support the Bargain Box through donations and volunteering her time because she believes it plays an essential role in our community, and specifically to women in need through the League’s special partnership with the Women’s Resource Center.

We are pleased to recognize Christon Halkiotis for her dedicated service to the community and her commitment to making it a better place for all.

Stell: A Primer on Your Firm’s Financial Health Part 2, Billing

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Camille Stell is President and CEO of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at [email protected] or 800.662.8843.

If you are operating the fees, billing, and collections component of your practice as you did twenty years ago, chances are you are missing opportunities for work.

Legal Trends Report

Clio is a cloud-based legal practice management solution designed for solo and small law firms. Clio serves 150,000 customers spanning 90 countries.

The Clio Legal Trends Report provides information on the most important issues facing the legal profession. By analyzing aggregated and anonymized data from tens of thousands of legal professionals, supported by extensive survey research, the report offers unique insights into law firm efficiencies, hourly rates, and other key metrics for success.

The Clio 2019 Legal Trends Report showing law firm production numbers are disappointing, but not surprising based on my conversations with solo and small firm owners.

  • Average daily utilization rate – 2.5 hours of billable time
  • Average daily realization rate – 2.0 hours billed to clients
  • Average daily collection rate – 1.7 hours collected from clients

The average law firm bills clients for work roughly within 30 days of performance and gets paid approximately 90 days later presenting a four-to-six month gap in cashflow.

Law firms can speed up the process by which payments are received and simplify the process by focusing on the essentials.

Jordan Furlong, lawyer and legal consultant with Law21, suggests offering your clients a “crisis billing arrangement” for any matters arising out of the pandemic and recession, rather than billable hours. Your client will pay a monthly “pandemic flat rate” on the lower end of your billing scale, with a unique billing code that all timekeepers in the firm will use for simplicity and with automatic payments to ensure financial stability.

Voice of the Client

From your client’s perspective, nothing annoys them more than surprises when it comes to billing. Here are the excuses or delaying tactics often used, are you guilty?

  • “The case was more complicated that we expected”
  • “I’ve already written off some of my time and had an associate do a lot of the work to keep your bill low”
  • “I’ll check with the managing partner and get back with you”

Your client would say:

  • “You’re the lawyer, you should know what this case is going to cost”
  • “How many of these cases have you tried before? The data is in your billing records, use it”
  • “Before we start a matter, give me a worst-case scenario in terms of cost so I can decide if I really want to pursue it”
  • “If there is a wrinkle in the case that may cost me more money, pick up the phone and call me”

Use the Data

Review your financial reports for the prior 18-24 months for clues, data, insights, and trends and talk this over with your accountant or CPA. What is your most profitable work? Your least profitable work? Are you staying in touch with clients? Referral sources? Networking from six feet is not only possible but necessary. Do you know where your work comes from? Use this time to be strategic about building your referral network and thanking them for their efforts.

Look for opportunities for additional work. What work have you been doing that should be expanded? What are new practice areas to explore? What new regulations might impact your client in an unexpected way?

Make Billing a Priority

Put processes in place to ensure you are adequately capturing your time which should be billed to clients

  • Document your billing process in order to improve billing workflow
  • Timely billing results in greater collections – is it necessary to only bill once a month? Is it time to change the process? Rather than hold all bills to the end of the month, do you want to process bills throughout the month?
  • Does your process involve multiple layers of time keeping, review, editing, and processing?
  • Streamline the process and you’ll collect more money and have happier clients
Conclusion

Billing is a work in progress. As with many aspects of your practice, this is an evergreen component, meaning that there is always work to be done, always knowledge to collect to make sure you are on top of trends, and constant communications with clients as to how they are responding to your fees, billing practices, and collections processes. Check in next month for our next installment on collections best practices.

Camille Stell is the President of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services and works with law firms to modernize their law practices through strategic planning and succession planning. Continue this conversation by contacting Camille at [email protected] or 919.677.8900.

Keeping Up with Covid

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The Greensboro Bar Association’s website now includes a page specifically for COVID-19 updates.  Look for the RED banner at the top of the Home page for direct access to:  https://www.greensborobar.org/category/covid-19-updates/ .  Here you will find information such as Administrative Orders, COVID-19 Positive Reports, and other news regarding COVID-19.  The GBA’s email updates will continue as this webpage is designed as an alternative means to publish information related to COVID-19.

April Calendar Notes

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April 14  – GBA Board Meeting, 4:00 PM, Zoom

April 14 – GBA Foundation Member Meeting, Zoom

April 14 – GBA Foundation Annual Board Meeting, Zoom

April 15 – Annual Joint Meeting of 24th Judicial District Bar & GBA, 12:30 PM, Zoom

April 20 – Submission Deadline for May Newsletter

April 21 – YLS Board Meeting, 12:00pm, Zoom

Click to keep up with GBA Events Online

Click Here for Legal Community Events

Wellness Corner

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BarCARES is a confidential, short-term intervention program provided cost-free to members of the 24th Judicial District Bar and other participating judicial district bars, voluntary bar associations and law schools. If you would like additional information about the program and/or its availability in your area, please contact the BarCARES coordinator at 919.929.1227 or 1.800.640.0735 or click on the icon below.

Message from the President, April 2021

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Lisa W. Arthur

Lisa W. Arthur, President of the Greensboro Bar Association

GBA Members,

We’ve finally made it to spring! I hope that the month of March has brought you sunshine and maybe even a dose (or two) of the COVID vaccine.

This past month, we hosted another social opportunity with NailedIt DYI. We painted signs for our homes and connected with each other over a fun craft. Thank you to those of you who participated.

At our membership meeting, we hosted Andrea Harrell and Sergeant Ryan Todd from the Greensboro Police Department.  They shared the Department’s diversity hiring initiatives and discussed the recruitment process for new police officers. Our Nominating Committee also announced our slate for the next cycle of GBA leadership as follows:

GBA President Elect (24th JD VP): Judge Marcus A. Shields

GBA/24th JD Secretary: Molly A. Hilburn-Holte

GBA/24th JD Treasurer: Davis McDonald

Directors: Judge K. Michelle Fletcher, Manisha P. Patel, L. Nicole Patino, and Jennifer Gibert Mencarini

We are grateful for these devoted GBA leaders and are excited to see what the future of our organization has in store under their leadership.

In April, we will welcome the Guilford Education Alliance as our featured speaker at our membership meeting.  We hope to see you there! Stay safe everyone.

Lisa Arthur

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by the Greensboro Bar Association and while we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, members, legal professions featured or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

Find Us

Physical Address:
Greensboro Bar Association
24th Judicial District Bar
122 North Elm Street, Suite 805
Greensboro, NC 27402
(336) 378-0300

Mailing Address:
Greensboro Bar Association
24th Judicial District Bar
PO Box 1825
Greensboro, NC 27402

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