It's 2012 and our Chapter

is continuing to grow and

thrive! We have the larg-

est amount of members

since our inception, our

charitable efforts continue

to meet or exceed previous

years and we continue to

get volunteers to help on

new and/or existing com-

mittees. Our most recent

addition has been the

Newsletter Committee

which has been widely

received by all of you. It is

a great source of informa-

tion, especially if you find

it difficult to attend the

monthly luncheons.

Our Chapter will be hold-

ing its annual planning

retreat in February this

year where the new Board

meets with the existing

Board and Committee

Chairs so that we can map

out another exciting year.

If any of you have any

suggestions regarding up-

coming speakers, charita-

ble events, social venues,

etc. please feel free to

email me so that they be

addressed at this meeting.

I can't believe my term as

President will come to an

end in just a few short

months; it has been a great

confidence booster for me

(not that I really need it!) in

speaking in front of groups

and has allowed me to get

to know more of you on a

more personal level. This

past year also threw me a

curveball as I have been

managing our Orlando

office since August as

their previous Director

moved to New Hampshire.

My day care responsibili-

ties have increased from 50

to 95 individuals; my grey

hair has also increased dra-

matically although I'm not

sure if there is a direct cor-

relation! If any of you

have an interest in relocat-

ing, please let me know!

February 14 marks our

Third Employment Law

Seminar at the Convention

Center from 9 a.m. to

11:30 a.m. Registration is

at 8:30 a.m. and the cost is

$35.00 to attend with a

continental breakfast in-

cluded. Please try to at-

tend as these seminars

provide a wealth of infor-

mation to us as employ-

ment law affects what we

do on a daily basis and it

helps to get different attor-

neys' perspectives on simi-

lar issues we all face. Our

monthly luncheon will im-

mediately follow on hurri-

cane preparedness pre-

sented by Charles

Schwartz from YourIT-

Group.

Dawn Tasca, President

A Message from Our President

December2011/January 2012

PBCALA Holiday Social

2-3

Message from BB/BS, Our New Board!

4

Meet New Members 5

Other News

6

Our 2012 Business Part-ners

7

ALA Article 8-9

Calendar of Events 10

Inside this issue:

If you have

news you’d like

to see included

in the newslet-

ter, please email

Erin Fisher at

efisher@gunster.

com.

The Palm Beacher

The Palm Beach County Chap-

ter of the ALA held the Annual

Holiday Social at the National

Croquet Center on December

8, 2011. Members were on

hand to collect Angel Tree do-

nations. All in all, 114 angel's

wishes were fulfilled for needy

children through the Salvation

Army’s Angel Tree program.

Bill Bee and Kara Justi were

present to accept the CCW

check for $12,593 on behalf of

Big Brothers/Big Sisters. A

quartet from the Women of

Note A Capella Chorus

(including our own Sue Rec-

chia) performed beautiful,

heartwarming holiday classics.

A photo booth presented fun

opportunities for members to

show their wacky sides!

Palm Beach County ALA Holiday Social

Page 2 The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

To view additional pictures go the www.pbcala.org/members-

Sue Recchia and Lisa Tierney

The Women of Note

Our 2011 Angel

Tree

L-R: Gloria Hernandez, Dawn Tasca, Bill Bee and Kara Justi, of Big Brothers/Big Sis-

ters, and Rick Gallo and Bob Bell, of Integrated Data Technologies, Barefoot Mailman

Business Partner that sponsored the Community Challenge event.

Page 3 The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

And hilarity ensued...

The Women of

Note

Dawn Tasca, Mary

Aguiar, Gloria Her-

nandez, and Shan-

non Phelps of PNC

Bank

Mary Aguiar and Erin Fisher Terry Imai, Sherry Zabriskie of Legal

Search Solutions, and Erica Poeg.

Nicole Cutsinger and Lori De-

mayo

Debbie

Giordano, Sue

Recchia, Mary

Aguiar, Jim Me-

nendez, Gloria

Hernandez, and

Dawn Tasca

Erin Fisher, Mary Aguiar, Debbie Giordano, Lisa

Tierney, and Jim Menendez

Michelle Parcells and Brenda Danaei Bob Bell and Rick Gallo of IDT

Barefoot Mailman Business Partner

Jay Montgomery and Maria Massi-

nello of OTS

Our New Board! At the January 10 member

meeting, the Nominating Commit-

tee presented the nominees for the

2012-13 Board of Directors, who

were voted in by the members.

They are:

L-R: Sue Recchia, Secretary;

Marilyn Fong, Treasurer; Debbie

Giordano, Vice President; Gloria

Hernandez, President.

Congratulations!

Also pictured are Lisa Tierney,

David True and Susan Jennings

from the Nominating Committee.

Page 4 The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

Awilda Carozza, Firm Administrator– Novak Druce & Quigg

Erica Poag, Firm Administrator– Gordon & Doner

Susan Gavsie

Senior Admin Asst.

Holland & Knight

Ms. Carozza currently serves as the West Palm Beach Firm Ad-ministrator for Novak Druce & Quigg, LLP. Previously, she served in the Florida Army National Guard for 6 years and in the War Operation Enduring Freedom IV, in Kabul, Afghanistan

from May 2004 to May 2005. Ms. Carozza is married with a 1 year old son. She mostly en-joys spending quality time with her husband & son. She also en-joys reading (favorite books are the Twilight Saga), scrapbooking, photography and

watching TV (favorite shows, House, Law & Or-der SVU, Vampire Diaries, American Horror Story & Walking Dead).

worked in the minor league baseball field for 4 years doing sales and marketing. Ms. Poag graduated from Florida State Univer-sity with a BS degree in Marketing. She is

on the Board for the Palm Beach County Seminole Club. In her spare time, Erica enjoys running.

A native of Florida, Ms. Poag has worked in the legal field for seven (7) years. She currently serves as the Firm Administrator for Gordon & Doner, P.A. She previously

We are happy

to have you

join us!

Page 5 Volume 1 Issue 3 Volume 1, Issue 3

New Member News

Awilda Carozza

Firm Administrator

Novak Druce & Quigg

Larry Smith Stepping Down as Executive Director

January 17, 2012: The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) announced today that Executive Director Larry Smith will be leaving the organization to pursue other opportunities in association management. Smith's departure will take place in the coming weeks, and ALA President Karen D. Griggs, CLM, will lead the search for a new executive director.

"ALA has benefited from Larry's dedication and his valuable contributions to our success during the past two years," said Ms. Griggs, who chairs ALA's board of directors. "We wish him success in his future endeavors." During his tenure there, ALA expanded member benefits, maintained high member retention levels, and strengthened the association's financial reserves.

"It has been a privilege to serve such a talented and committed group of professionals in our field," said Smith, whose career has spanned law and association management. "I look forward to seeing the association continue its growth in the future." He joined ALA in late 2009, after serving for seven years as a director at the American Bar Association.

National News

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in

moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands

at times of cLidelhallenge and controversy.

Read more: ultimate measure of a

Page 6 The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3 Page 6 The Pa lm Beacher

Entries Now Being Accepted for the 2012 Burton/ALA Awards

Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 Burton Awards. The Burton Awards honors partners and manag-ers in law firms, as well as law school students who use plain, clear and concise language and avoid archaic,

stilted legalese. All nominations must be received by March 26, 2012.

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?”

Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968

Local News Joyce Johnston had knee surgery and is recovering nicely, hopefully she’ll be up to attending February’s meeting.

Larry Stern (formerly of LaBovick & LaBovick) is now administrator at Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb.

Former PBCALA member, Christina D’Elosua (formerly of Gordon & Doner) was named Executive Director of Leader-ship Palm Beach County.

Meeting Recap

For our first meeting of 2012, we were lucky to have one of our own, Sandra Borriello, speak to us on the topic “10 Great Ways to be a Great Legal Manager - and stay sane!” Sandra is an experienced legal administrator who is cur-rently a consultant. Sandra’s presentation included excellent examples and a fun skit from two of our thespians, Dawn Tasca and Jay Montgomery.

Additionally, the drawing for the trip to the ALA Nationals was conducted and the lucky winner of the all-expenses paid trip to Honolulu was Erin Fisher. Congratulations, Erin!

Sandra Borriello speaking on being

an effective legal administrator

Dawn and Jay flexing

their acting chops.

Shannon Phelps and Ray

Ellis of PNC Bank, Dawn

Tasca, Erin Fisher, and Deb-

bie Giordano.

Gold Coast

PNC Bank

Sunshine City

Solomon Mansure Group

Barefoot Mailman

Integrated Data Technologies, Inc.

Alligator Alley

Burke Investigative Process Service, Inc.

Halsey & Griffith

Segue Search

U.S. Legal Support, Inc.

Palm Beach

In-Kind

Please encourage all of your legal services vendors to join our Business Partner program. If you already do business with these ven-dors, please express your appreciation for their participation.

AFLAC Legal Search Solutions, Inc.

Brown & Brown Liability Consultants LexisNexis

Cintas Document Management OTS Legal

International Data Depository Thaxton Barclay Group, Inc.

Keiser University The Brazilian Court Hotel

Kouwenhoven & Associates, Inc. The Gourmet Coffee Co.

Lan Infotech

A Better Copy Center Daily Business Review

All-Ways Advertising The Wells & Drew Company

Artcraft Engraving

Volume 1 Issue 3 The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

2012 Palm Beach County ALA Business Partners The Board and Business Partner Committee are pleased to announce this year’s Business Partners. Throughout the year, our business partners help our Chapter by enabling us to provide scholarships for college students to aid in their tuition; they support our annual Community Connection, and help to un-derwrite our member luncheons and socials. We greatly encourage all members to support our business partners. Let us show them our appreciation and make this year one of our Chapter’s best!

Have you ever consid-

ered a vendor to be a

partner in your Firm? I

don't mean an actual

"owner," but an inte-

gral member of the

team that enables your

Firm to perform an out-

standing job for your

clients. For example, do

you recall the last time

you drove to a court-

house to file a docu-

ment? Or when you

last transcribed a depo-

sition, shopped for of-

fice supplies, retrieved

copies of medical re-

cords or served a sub-

poena? And, I bet that

drafting a space plan,

watering and caring

for plants or preparing

lunch for a partner

meeting have probably

(and gratefully) not

been on your "to do" list

lately. The myriad of

services provided by

our vendor partners to

our Firms is astound-

ing. Their services and

support are instrumen-

tal in assisting law

firms around the world

succeed.

In 2001, I was asked to

accomplish the near im-

possible task of opening

a branch office in less

than two weeks' time in

a territory that was un-

familiar to me: Dallas,

Texas. The potential for

success was minimal;

the potential for disaster

was monumental. Upon

my arrival in Dallas, I

was offered a confer-

ence room as my tem-

porary office at our

Commercial Real Es-

tate Broker's office.

The first two telephone

calls were placed to

local ALA members

who provided me with

extensive vendor lists.

The long lists were

whittled down and over

the course of the next

few days I successfully

hired numerous quali-

fied vendors.

In this particular exam-

ple, it was the Dallas

local area vendors, with

their expertise and

knowledge that al-

lowed our Firm’s Dal-

las office to open on

schedule: April 2,

2001. This is despite

the fact that one local

vendor and his crew

worked through the

night to replace furni-

ture which fell off a

truck in route to the

new office in an in-

credible rainstorm!

Most of the original

Dallas vendor partners

are still providing ser-

vices to the office after

four years.

The legal community

requires its vendors to

have a proven expertise.

Our engagement of

vendors is tantamount

to hiring a highly-

skilled, trained, knowl-

edgeable member of

our team. References

are checked and po-

tential vendors are

asked to prove that

they can “talk the talk

AND walk the walk.”

We are extremely

grateful for their inno-

vative ideas and entre-

preneurial vision.

Thus, we do not have

to reinvent the wheel,

but rather can rely on

vendors to help us as

we strive to run our of-

fices seamlessly, effi-

ciently, cost- effec-

tively and successfully.

As a member of the

ALA National Vendor

Relations Committee I

LET’S HEAR IT FOR OUR VENDOR PARTNERS!

By Vicky Berry

Page 8 The Pa lm Beacher The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

have been afforded the

opportunity to meet

with national, regional

and local vendors who

provide services to law

firms around the world.

The Committee's pri-

mary focus is to facili-

tate communication

among vendors, ALA

international, ALA re-

gions and ALA chapters

as well as provide a re-

source for member and

vendor feedback. Prior

to my work with this

Committee, I served as

the Regional Projects

Officer in Region 6

and as President of the

Orange County Chapter

where I had numerous

opportunities to speak to

our partners — ALA’s

sponsoring vendors.

Unfortunately, many of

our vendors voiced a

concern about the diffi-

culties they encounter

when attempting to

have an audience with

an Administrator.

ALA’s vendor partners

play an intricate role in

assisting our Firms (and

us) to provide the excel-

lent service our clients,

attorneys and staff ex-

pect. They are kind

and generous sponsors

of ALA at national,

regional and local lev-

els. Vendors contribute

incredible support

(time and funds) to as-

sist our organization

provide educational

opportunities to its

membership at all lev-

els.

But we all know there

is “NEVER” a good

time to receive a call

from a vendor because

as Administrators, we

are always in the mid-

dle of putting out a

fire. So with fire extin-

guisher in hand, the

phone rings and guess

who — it is an un-

known vendor on the

line. I put my extin-

guisher down, take a

deep breath and try to

gracefully switch my

hat from firewoman to

administrator again all

in one split second to

speak to the caller. At

the same time another

unsolicited e-mail mes-

sage appears on my

screen from yet another

vendor. In lightening

speed, I try to respond

but do not always suc-

ceed. Interestingly

enough, so many times

over the years when I

have taken the time to

converse with a new

vendor, saving money

and providing excellent

state of the art service

has been the result for

both my Firm and its

clients.

The next time you re-

ceive a call or e-mail

message from a vendor

sponsor, I strongly en-

courage you to respond.

By taking a moment

and creating a partner-

ship with them you

may discover a product

or service that will as-

sist your Firm to re-

main on the cutting

edge in this ever-

changing legal indus-

try.

“Our engagement of

vendors is tantamount

to hiring a highly-

skilled, trained,

knowledgeable

member of our team. “

Page 9 Volume 1, I ssue 3

"Reprinted with permission from Vicky Berry, Director of Attorney Recruiting and

Office Administrator for Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold, LLP, published in

Just the Facts by the Association of Legal Administrators, September 2005

Continued from previous page...

The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) was formed in 1971

to provide support to professionals involved in the management of law

firms, corporate legal departments and government legal agencies. ALA

provides educational opportunities and services to more than 10,000

members representing more than 5,300 employers in 21 countries. ALA

is structured into six regions with more than 100 chapters in the United

States, Puerto Rico, Canada and New Zealand.

ALA’s mission is to improve the quality of management in legal services

organizations; promote and enhance the competence and professionalism of

legal administrators and all members of the management team. The As-

sociation’s members are law office administrators who manage such areas

as finance, human resources, systems and technology, facilities, marketing

and practice development.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dawn Tasca, President

Gloria E. Hernandez, Vice-President

Sue Recchia, Secretary

Debbie Giordano, Treasurer

Jim Menendez, Immediate Past President

Mary Aguiar, Past Past President

Visit our website!

www.pbcala.org

February 14, 2012 3rd Annual Employment Law Seminar

Speaker: Alex DelRusso, Carlton Fields

Contact Dawn Tasca if you have specific questions!

February 14, 2012 February Meeting

11:30 PBC Convention Center

February 24, 2012 Leadership Retreat

2:00– 5:00 p.m.

March 23, 2012 PBCALA Legal Expo

3:00 p.m. PBC Convention Center

Hawaiian Shirt Contest!

April 22-26, 2012 National ALA Conference

Hawaii Convention Center,

Hilton Hawaiian Village

Calendar of Events

For membership information

please contact:

Michele Parcells, Membership Chair

Page 10 The Pa lm Beacher Volume 1, Issue 3

Early Bird Registration

ends 2/6/12! Visit

www.alanet.org!