DIRECTOR's REPORT  April 1, 2010

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics have been called “the most successful games ever”.  It’s hard to argue with that given how thousands of people, not only in Vancouver and Whistler, but all across Canada, celebrated the incredible performances of Olympic athletes and unleashed their national pride.  Congratulations to all the legal managers who worked hard over the months leading up to the Olympics to ensure that their firms also had a successful 2010 Games experience.

2009 Review

The BCLMA also had a successful year!

• We met with Board members from TLOMA and the ALA in Vancouver in April to discuss our ongoing relationship, shared resources, best practices, and plans to work together for the future
• We continue to provide upgrades and increased functionality to the website
• We created an Alumni “subsection.”
• We introduced an annual Subsection Electoral Process to support subsections, provide greater structure, and produce more leadership options for individuals.
• We created a Survey Committee to co-ordinate annual surveys.
• We co-hosted another webinar with ALA and TLOMA in September: “Evolve to Solve - Build Your Business.”
• In October, our sponsorship of the Professional Legal Management Week (PLMW), a week-long program of international scope that supports all levels of legal managers, brought awareness to the profession, as well as the BCLMA. Our "Going for the Gold" article highlighted impacts of the 2010 Games on law firms in B.C.
• Our three-part Leadership Series kicked off in October with guest speaker Joanne Ward discussing “Leadership & Balance.”
• We hosted an Administrators-Only event that featured Business Transformation Expert, Paul Gossen. His “Caught in the Crossfire” discussion attracted almost two dozen law firm administrators.
• We welcomed Justice Thomas Gove at the annual Managing Partners Dinner in November. J. Gove talked about the “Vancouver Downtown Community Court.”
• Our annual summer and winter social events continue to attract nearly one third of our Representatives and Affiliates. We enjoy these biannual opportunities to connect with our colleagues and deepen our relationships with one another as well as with our generous event sponsors, including: Arlyn Reid, Dye & Durham, HUB International, Mills Basic, Systems Auditing, and ZSA.

2010 Review to Date

• A Subsection Chair event was held on January 12 at which the Subsection Chairs and Co-Chairs updated the Board on their subsection plans for the upcoming year.
• The Winter issue of TOPICS was published
• Notice of the Annual General Meeting and Call for Nominations for the upcoming Board of Directors was sent out
• The Conference Committee for the BCLMA Conference on October 29-30 was formed
• The month of January saw a number of changes on the BCLMA Board of Directors.
• Director Evenna Liu resigned to pursue academic endeavours
• Director Jan Whyte resigned for personal reasons
• President Stephanie Marsh resigned as she changed employment to the accounting industry
• Barb Marshall was appointed interim President on February 1 pending the AGM on April 1
• I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Stephanie for her invaluable contribution to the BCLMA over the years, and particularly during the past 2 years as President.  On February 5^th the Board formally thanked Stephanie and presented her with a gift but I once again wanted to acknowledge and thank Stephanie for all her hard work and dedication to the BCLMA.

2010/11 Plans & Projections

• TLOMA/ALA/BCLMA meeting will take place in the Fall
• The second presentation in our Leadership Series will take place on April 21 at the Law Courts Inn.  Stacey Holloway will speak on “Dealing with People Who Make Life Difficult”.  To date we’ve had a tremendous registration response to this event.
• The Representatives-only event will take place on May 26.  Colin Cameron of  Profits for Partners, Management Consulting Inc. will be the guest speaker.
• This year’s Summer Social will be hosted on Thursday, June 10 at Monk McQueen’s, False Creek Waterfront, 601 Stamps Landing.
• The BCLMA 2010 Conference will be held at the River Rock in Richmond on October 29-30.  We had an excellent response to our call for conference committee volunteers.  Led by Conference Chair, Gary Carter, the 10-member Committee has already begun to plan an exciting agenda of topics and speakers for the general and breakout sessions.  The Committee will meet twice a month from now until spring and then monthly until October.
• The Managing Partners’ Dinner will be held on November 4.  Anne Giardini of Weyerhauser has signed on to speak.
• This year’s Winter Social will be held on December 2 at the Terminal City Club.

Thank you to everyone in the BCLMA who has made this a fun and exciting year. Special thanks to everyone who volunteers their valuable time to the smooth execution of BCLMA meetings, events and procedures: Board Members, Subsection Chairs and Survey Committee Members, and Conference Committee Members. We couldn’t do this without you.

Here’s to 2010!!