In my morning meditation, this line popped up:

“… in our group discussions we should never settle for the “good,” but always strive to attain the “best.”

How perfectly that sums up my LMA conference experience this week in both the sessions, and especially in the hallways, as well as in my Legal Marketers Extraordinaire (LME) Facebook Group.

Mentors | Colleagues | Friends

I am blessed to have been in this profession long enough that I have well established relationships with most of the trail blazers. Bill Flannery–Mr. Sales in the legal industry and trainer extraordinaire–was present, taking a victory lap:

Biil Flannery, Jim Durham, Heather Morse
Biil Flannery, Jim Durham, Heather Morse

I was able to witness my dear friends, mentors, and colleagues inducted into the LMA Hall of Fame (congrats to Jennifer Manton, Catherine Alman MacDonagh, Merry Neitlich, Lisa Simon), and then realized I have personal relationships with all but two of the HOF members present at this year’s conference. And now I have a new goal for this year: Yes, Elonide Semmes and Wendy Bernero … expect me to pop up in your lives.

For any LMA member, a hallmark of our organization is the relationships found amongst the members. All you have to do is decide who you want or need to know, pick up the phone and call them, send an email, or engage with them on social media. It’s as easy as that.

HOF
LMA at its finest – (bottom L to R) Jennifer Manton, Catherine MacDonagh, Merry Neitlich, Lisa Simon, Felice Wagner, Mark Greene (Top L to R) Kim Perret, Elonide Semmes, Nat Slavin, Deb McMurray, Jim Durham, Roberta Montafia, Kevin McMurdo, Dave Bruns, Mark Beese, Ross Fishman

Educate Me

The content was spot on, the keynote address, the sessions on AI, and the GC panel were some of the best I’ve heard at any LMA conference. The CMO Summit really brought home the experience of the client, and our need for collaboration and journey mapping (Google it … lots of information out there). The Twitter feed was on FIRE! And I know Nancy Myrland will do something to capture all of that, and I welcome any blog posts from attendees (just no sales, but that’s a conversation for a different blog post).

Cleaning House/Taking a Group Inventory

But there was also an underlying chatter amongst some of the longtime members about the changes in LMA, and real concerns. And these need to be addressed.

I challenge all of my peers (because, yes, I am in “that” group) to do so in a respectful way that does not cause damage to our overall association, and so that the message can be heard.

I challenge the LMA leadership to tackle this head-on, don’t try and dismiss it as bitterness, because it is not (although, I admit, sometimes it can sound like that).

Perhaps it’s a series of conference calls, or board members sent off to interview us (and if you read the Twitter or Facebook threads, you know who to call) and get our feedback.

The message being sent is what we heard from the podium and on the swag: OneLMA, listen to the voice of the client, collaboration.

One LMA

I am already looking forward to #LMA18. Save the date for a Monday night LME party that we’re planning. And keep trudging along, implementing what you can, and don’t stop caring.