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Registration is now open for the 2008 OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference, YLD Midyear Meeting and Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section Midyear Meeting. The conference dates are June 19-21, 2008 and the location is again Tanglewood Resort. For Friday night entertainment, back by popular demand, we have the Bar and Grill Singers.

And, once again, we have another outstanding set of programs, social events and networking opportunities for the Oklahoma small firm lawyer.

Our special out-of-state expert guests this year are Catherine Sanders Reach and Reid Trautz.  Catherine is the director of the American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center, a member of the ABA TECHSHOW Planning Board and a frequent speaker at technology conferences and bar meetings across the country. (On a personal note, Catherine is also on my very short list of “go to” experts when I get stumped on an issue.)  I promise you that you will enjoy both her engaging style and encyclopedic knowledge.

Reid Trautz has been a guest at our Solo and Small Firm Conference in a prior year when he was the practice management advisor for the District of Columbia bar. Now Reid is the director of the Practice & Professionalism Center for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He publishes Reid My Blog, a law practice management blog. Reid is another frequent lecturer nationwide in legal ethics, law office management and legal technology. He also promises to visit every hospitality suite.

Catherine and Reid will join me with the opening session at the conference, the ever-popular, always enlightening 50 Tips in 50 Minutes. Catherine will also give us presentations on “Going Paperless in 2008,” “Adobe® Acrobat® Tips and Tricks” and “Internet Legal Research: Tips to Zero in on the Good Stuff… and Then Find it Again!” Reid will give us “Tips for the Mobile Lawyer” and then will join with me for a program called “Plan for Success:  Managing Your Business in a Changing World.”

Given the expertise we have available with law office technology this year, we are going to end the conference a little differently. Reid, Catherine and I will have an afternoon session Saturday titled “Small Firm Technology Guide: What You Need to Buy - ­What You Need to Trash.” Finally we will end with our traditional “What’s Hot and What’s Not in Running Your Law Practice” where we balance audience participation, questions to our panelists and hot technology tips with drawings for many fabulous prizes. If you thought you might want to sneak out early, you should maybe think again.

But we have much more expertise at our conference on a wide variety of topics. For example, we have Dr. Dwight E. Adams appearing at our conference. Dr. Adams is director of the University of Central Oklahoma's Forensic Science Institute. He is also the former director of the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Va., and is noted by the FBI as the first FBI Agent to testify in court on DNA analysis. His topic will be “You Know CSI, But Do You Know FSI?  The Changing Landscape of Forensic Science in Oklahoma.” He plans to be available for the entire conference so that you will have a chance to meet and visit with him.

One of our “home grown” experts is Oklahoma City criminal defense lawyer Jack Dempsey Pointer who will give a presentation titled “Nowhere to Live: Sex Offender Registration.” We’ve been hearing more and more about the impact of these laws and thought that our conference attendees would want to know more about this area.

Another topic that has been in the news in Oklahoma is immigration law, so we have invited Oklahoma City lawyer T. Douglas Stump to join AILA’s Reid Trautz for a program “Hot Topics in Immigration Law for the Nonspecialist.”

One cannot turn on the news on TV or pick up a newspaper without hearing about the mortgage foreclosure crisis in America. We’ve asked Norman attorney David Sisson for some help in this area with programs titled “Is Chapter 13 the Answer to Foreclosure?” and “Defending the Common Foreclosure Case.”  David has studied extensively in this area and has a wealth of information not easily gleaned from a law library.

Many are aware that we need to spend more time and attention to taking care of ourselves and our fellow lawyers. We have a special plenary session entitled “Lawyers Helping Lawyers: Confronting a Crisis in Our Profession,” which has important information for all of us.

Our sponsor, the OBA Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section is having their MidYear meeting with us once again.  They are generously sharing their expertise with us. Their special guest is Steven B. Gorin from the St. Louis, Mo., firm of Thompson Coburn LLP. This is a very well-known law firm, and I’m betting this is his first solo and small firm conference. His topic is “Insurance LLC Helps Business Owners.” Apparently a recent IRS private letter ruling has blessed an interesting estate planning strategy.

Another advanced estate planning topic is “Safe Harbors for Stormy Times: An Overview of Available Preservation Alternatives” with Tulsa lawyers Lesa Creveling and Philip Feist.

For those of you who are interested in estate planning at a little different level, we have “The ABC’s of Estate Planning” with Tulsa attorney Gale Allison. Gale is a former staff lawyer with the Internal Revenue Service who now limits her boutique practice to estate planning issues. She invites one and all to bring their questions as she wants this to be an interactive session with lots of audience participation. Young Lawyer Division attendees should take note of this one.

Also directed to the young lawyers, but of interest to all, is a program called “I Have an Office – Now What Do I Do?”  This presentation will be from Weatherford attorney Donna Dirickson. Donna is a former chair of the OBA Law Office Management and Technology Section. Donna will discuss a variety of topics, including how she manages and organizes her law office.

Oklahoma City lawyer (and CPA) Ken Klingenberg will help us with some financial advice in his program “Income and Tax Issues for the Small Firm Lawyer.”

The OBA Family Law Section returns to the conference as a sponsor with its great hospitality suite and some great programming for all of us. One of these programs is from Tulsa attorney David A. Tracy and is called “What is Collaborative Law & Why Should I Care?” We were still finalizing the other program at press time.

“Problems, Pitfalls & Punting: What Not to Do in Your General Practice” is the title of a program by Eufaula attorney Deborah Reheard, Shawnee lawyer James Stuart and Tecumseh lawyer Kimberly Warren. Our panelists assure me that they are all experts in all three of these areas. It’s always been my theory that some of the most important decisions you make are cases and clients you decide not to take.

Speaking of experts, we will also have Kraettli Q.Epperson speaking to us on title examination standards and OBA General Counsel Dan Murdock speaking to us Friday on legal ethics issues.

OBA Ethics Counsel Gina Hendryx will have a special “Ask the Ethics Counsel” feature where conference attendees can sign up for 30 - minute private ethics question and answer sessions during the day Friday. She will also give all of us a presentation titled ““Trust Account Check Up”   Safekeeping Client Funds While Maintaining Proper Business Records.” I’ll also be doing a program at the same time on building a small law firm Web site.

But of course, there’s a lot more to the OBA Solo and Small Firm than the programming. There is the chance to meet other lawyers and exchange ideas. You get to take your family to a nice resort and have some time to relax. There are the hospitality suites. You get to satisfy your MCLE obligation for the year. There are children’s activities and several swimming pools. There’s great food and fun. Again, there are the hospitality suites.