New AALA president Kristi Smith emphasizes education, involvement By: June Bell

When Kristi Smith first began attending AALA meetings ten years ago, she would sit through the monthly program and then sneak out without talking to anyone.

How things change.

This year she’ll be leading the Atlanta chapter, overseeing its direction and encouraging members to participate more fully, boost their education level and encourage their colleagues to join.

Kristi, Hyatt & Stubblefield’s administrator, has a list of ambitious plans for her one-year presidency, and she’s counting on the usual strong support and collaboration from the board. She takes the gavel from Michael Stephens, senior human resources administrator for Troutman Sanders.

Here are some of the areas where she said she expects to focus her energies:

Increase membership …
Membership in the chapter is at an all-time high of about 250. “We want to continue our extremely successful membership campaign,” says Kristi, noting that the Atlanta chapter rightly dubs itself “the largest chapter in the Southeast.”

Kristi, who has served on the membership committee, wants every legal administrator in Georgia to know about the Atlanta chapter and feel welcome as well as compelled to join.

Administrators become members for a variety of reasons, she says. “For some people, it’s certainly the scholarships that we provide to national and regional conferences,” she says. “Some people are just in it for the listserv. They get everything they need from it out of that. Others like the networking.”

She praised the solid work of outgoing membership chair Jennifer Brinkley, and she said she knows the new chair, Joan Gingrich, will continue to keep enrollment numbers climbing.

Kristi herself is a case study on how a marginally involved AALA member can assume an active role in the chapter and then evolves into a leader. She began to participate in networking and volunteering after the 2000 vendor luncheon. At that event, her name was chosen in a drawing for a paid trip to the national association’s annual conference, held that year in Baltimore.

“That kind of got my fire started as far as getting more involved in the chapter and doing things,” she says.

Inspired by the people she met and the programs she attended, Kristi decided to become more visible in the local chapter by volunteering to photograph participants at chapter events. Kristi also served on the vendor relations committee in 1997 and 2001 and the membership committee in 2002.

She joined the board in 2003 as treasurer. Last year, she was vice president, and she’ll be president through March 2006.

Outgoing president Michael Stephens said he has “the utmost confidence” that Kristi will be an excellent leader. “Part of the reason why I agreed to serve as president for a second term was having Kristi as my vice president,” he said. “She is going to do an awesome job.”

Continue to serve current members …
As important as new members are, current and long-time members deserve attention too. Kristi hasn’t forgotten them. She’d like to see them take the lead in mentoring new members and in sharing their knowledge with their colleagues.

The format of the March meeting was designed to allow them to do just that. Kristi tapped veteran AALA members to serve as roundtable moderators, directing discussions and brainstorming on topics such as human resources, technology, finance, marketing, event planning and facilities management.

There hasn’t been a chapter-level roundtable discussion in three years, though they’re regularly held at the section level, Kristi said. By reviving them, she hopes to encourage members with varying levels of experience to share their knowledge and get better acquainted with their colleagues.

Increase certified legal managers …
The Atlanta chapter has three members who have attained certified legal manager (CLM) qualifications. Kristi would like to see that number double or even triple.

Certification, she says, “is good for the profession. It brings that prestige to the legal manager as a professional, as a career legal manager. It can only benefit our profession as a whole if we pursue this.”

The Atlanta chapter’s three CLMs are Holland & Knight’s Greg Rimes, Betsy Wells of Friend, Hudak & Harris and James Gillespie of Constangy, Brooks & Smith.

Before applicants can take the ALA-administered exam, they must have three years of experience as a legal administrator and complete two hours of course work in each of at least five topics. They can choose from categories such as interpersonal relation skills, time management, project management and leadership.

James has committed to leading a study group for the CLM exam, and it’s open to anyone who’s interested.
“I want to encourage members to attend the study groups because even if you’re not planning on taking the exam,” Kristi says, “it gets into the meat of what we do.”

She urges members who are considering becoming certified to recognize how valuable those three letters are. “It’s just now starting to become recognized in the legal community by our employers,” she says. “They’re starting to want to hire CLMs because they know they’re up to date and well versed in all these areas of legal management.”

Kristi says she’s planning to become certified – but it won’t happen during her year as president. She’s got her hands full with her responsibilities to the chapter and her firm. She’s overseeing a major upgrade to the office technology and computer systems at Hyatt & Stubblefield. She also commutes each day from Social Circle and squeezes in as much time as possible with husband Darron and their 7-year-old son, Ryan.

Provide educational and social opportunities …
Even members who aren’t yet pursuing CLM recognition can benefit from AALA programs. Kristi says she and her board will continue to provide stellar speakers and educational opportunities.

Mark your calendars for a special half-day seminar on June 22 at the Midtown Four Seasons. Participants will attend a keynote address and 90-minute sessions on topics such as leadership, project management and oral communication.

And from April 17 to 21, more than three dozen members will fly to San Francisco for the ALA national conference. “The Gateway to Your Success” is an excellent opportunity for participants to learn from some of the top experts on law firm administration and network with colleagues from around the country.

Vendor sponsorship dollars helped provide nine scholarships for this year’s national conference, and their continued support allows the chapter to offer its high-quality educational programs.

When you see Kristi at an AALA event, feel free to offer suggestions for making the chapter even more vital to the success of every Atlanta legal administrator.

June D. Bell regularly profiles legal administrators for the AALA newsletter. Reach her at junebell@aol.com.

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