Category: General
2022 Holiday Wishes
GLE has continued its support of World Central Kitchen in 2022, and applaud their efforts in providing assistance to citizens of Ukraine.
One Less LEDES Creation Tool Available
We were sad to learn that Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions will no longer be selling its eBillingDesk product as of 1 June 2021. It was perhaps the most versatile of the stand-alone LEDES invoice file generator/editor tools available in the marketplace. We learned that they will honor existing subscriptions to the end of their subscription term, but no new subscriptions will be available for purchase.
Organizational Donation
GLE has been fortunate to work consistently throughout the 2020 pandemic year at a time when so many are struggling. As you may have noticed on our 2020 holiday card, GLE made the largest donation in our 9 year history to World Central Kitchen and Chef Jose Andres. In addition to the obvious synergy (we are Global Legal Ebilling and they are World Central Kitchen), we have enormous respect for the mission of WCK. Imagine formulating and then executing a plan to tackle hunger on a global scale! You can learn more about the work of this very worthy organization here.
2020 Holiday Wishes
Update on Bogus Industry Awards
Those who are regular readers may recall that I published a post on the crazy awards that are basically pay-to-receive distinctions. A real award isn’t something that you pay for.
And while I continue to receive award notifications from all kinds of organizations, I saw a really great article echoing my comments on these non-distinctive awards in the ABA Journal, June/July 2020 edition. Here’s the link.
It seems that Lucy Davis of Davis Law Group in Seattle won an award as Lawyer of Distinction in the personal injury field in 2017. Lucy is a poodle. In submitting her application for the award, Lucy’s office mentioned that she had “Juris Dogtor” and was a member of the King Country Bark Association.
To those at Davis Law Group, I salute you!! And to Lucy, you’ve got my vote.
Pandemic Update
While the pandemic impacts businesses around the world, we are fortunate to have work underway and have not closed our doors.
Our best wishes for good health for you, your families and friends, and our thanks to all who continue to provide essential services and medical care during this time.
Please stay home to flatten the curve, wear masks if you need to go out and wash your hands!
Awards??
This year I began to receive notices of awards from numerous legal publications. The offers were remarkably similar, all notifying me that I had been nominated by my peers in legal for a prestigious award and was a finalist based on recent voting. Some of the awards received so far this year include:
- Finance Monthly’s Legal Awards Global Award 2019.
- CIO Application’s Magazine’s Top 10 Legal Tech Consulting/Services Companies 2019
- Lawyer Monthly’s Women in Law Awards for 2019
- and then again Finance Monthly’s Global Award 2019.
And this doesn’t include the number that I deleted before I started saving my “Award” notifications. I think my favorite early honor was one that named me as a top lawyer. I corrected them several times that I was not a J.D., but apparently that wasn’t enough to disqualify me from the award.
Each of these honors required a fee to be interviewed and for the printing, shipping, etc. of the award. So my question is this: Who pays for an award?
Recently Forbes Magazine published an article on top corporate law firms in the Americas, which can be found here. I believe I have finally found an award I can respect. At the bottom of the page you will see the following note: “Companies do not pay a fee for placement on the list, which is independently determined by Forbes.” My congratulations to all who were honored on the Forbes list and to Forbes for their methodology and process.
Fun With eBillingHub
I got together with the folks at eBillingHub last weekend to attend the Pittsburg Vintage Grand Prix. What a blast! eBH is a sponsor and had a tent right at the finish line. Great food, great friends, great fun. If you ever get invited be sure to go.
Inspirational Thoughts from Rudy
I went to hear Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger speak last weekend. If you have ever seen the movie Rudy (a favorite), his story will be familiar. This is his real story, not the one portrayed in the movie.
Rudy grew up as one of fourteen children in a working-class household. He was small in size and had marginal grades. He described himself as a dreamer who always imagined that better was possible. After graduating high school, he served two years in the navy and worked another two years at a power plant. He loved Notre Dame football and his dream was to attend Notre Dame. The first time he applied to Notre Dame he was not accepted and instead, with the help of a priest who was the former President of the University, was accepted into Holy Cross College. While there he learned he was dyslexic. He worked for two years to improve his grades and finally, on his fourth application to Notre Dame, was accepted into the college. He tried out for the football team,earning a spot on the practice squad (no mean feat for someone 5’6″ and 185 lbs!) and spent two years helping prepare the team for games. In the last home game of his senior year, in recognition of his devotion to the team, Rudy was allowed to dress for the game with the team. He participated in three plays at the very end of the game, sacking the opposing team’s quarterback in the final seconds of play. Rudy was carried off the field by his teammates.
Rudy has some very interesting things to say about staying focused and reaching for impossible goals.
- Regardless of our age, without something to strive for, we founder.
- He talked about “goofy thoughts,” those voices in your head that tell you you can’t do something or that a goal is unrealistic, or the voices of others who tell you something is impossible. Their message is the same: aim lower; be satisfied with what you have; better isn’t possible. Goofy thoughts drive you away from your purpose and can lead you into trouble. I loved that he put his message in such simple terms so that kids in attendance could understand.
- He talked about the importance of mentors in his life. Most were just regular people and would hardly call themselves a mentor. By giving encouragement they helped him to remain focused as he kept true to his course. We need to believe that anything is possible. (I wonder, who did you encourage today?)
An inspirational story and a great message.