By Jim Calloway

The 2014 OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference will be coming to the Hard Rock Casino Resort Tulsa June 19-21, 2014. It all begins with the OBA Open Golf Tournament at the beautiful Cherokee Hills Golf Club on June 19.  And by “open,” we mean open to all lawyers, regardless of practice setting or whether you are attending the Solo & Small Firm Conference. Review the golf information accompanying this article and sign up now.

Bryan M. Simms is our featured conference guest this year. He is a founder of Simms Law Firm Ltd. of Naperville, Ill. where he concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial litigation and civil appeals. Mr. Simms contributes regularly to TechnoLawyer and was recognized as the 2005 TechnoLawyer of the Year. He blogs regularly about the intersection of law practice and technology. His plenary session will be “How I Leverage Technology to Improve My Solo Practice.” He will also be on our “60 Tips in 60 Minutes” panel and will teach a session on remote access to the law office.

Our Saturday morning session on legal ethics will be taught by Oklahoma Supreme Court Vice Chief Justice John F. Reif and OBA General Counsel Gina Hendryx. This program promises to include a lively discussion with lots of give and take.

Oklahoma City lawyer Jeffrey Taylor has gained a lot of fame blogging as The Droid Lawyer™ and is one of our three Solo & Small Firm Conference presenters who will also be speaking at ABA TECHSHOW™ 2014. He will be teaching about “The Google-Powered Law Office” and giving tips on our “60 Tips in 60 Minutes” panel.

This year I will be talking about a topic that I view as critical for the legal profession and particularly solo and small firm lawyers, “Document Assembly for Everyone – Incorporating it Into Your Work Flow” as well as giving tips on the 60 tips panel.

Fastcase, the legal research service free to OBA members, is sending its trainer Josh Auriemma to teach us about “Getting the Most out of Fastcase for Your Legal Research.” This training session will be presented on both Friday and Saturday.

“Lying, Cheating and Stealing in Automobile Dealing” is the provocative title of a presentation by lawyers David Humphreys and Luke Wallace. Many lawyers receive inquiries about car deals gone bad, and this will be a great chance to learn which type of these problems has a legal remedy.

The OBA Young Lawyers Division Midyear Meeting will be held in conjunction with the conference. While we believe all of the conference programming is great for young lawyers, we especially want to encourage them to attend my program on “The Initial Client Interview” and a program that was requested last year, “Working with DHS on Family Law Matters” with DHS/Child Support Services lawyer Amy Page.

Several years ago, the program “Social Media, Internet and Email Evidence at Trial: Admissibility of Electronic Evidence” with OBA Family Law Section Chair Shane Henry might have sounded like a program just for family law practitioners, but now it seems that this type of evidence is involved in all sorts of litigation matters in addition to its increasing frequency in family law cases.

Worried about e-filing in state courts? How will this change impact your practice? Get the latest information about the state of state court e-filing from Debra Charles, general counsel of the Administrative Office of the Courts.

OBA President-Elect David Poarch will talk about estate-planning needs for the client who says “I Just Want a Will.”

Sending a demand letter to collect a debt is not nearly as simple as it once was. “Ins and Outs, Tricks and Traps of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act” will be taught by David Cheek.

Staying current on changes in the law is always a challenge and this year we offer a program to do just that: “Legislative Update – What’s New This Year?” with a panel moderated by Noel Tucker.

In addition, Dale L. Astle will give us “Oklahoma Real Estate Law Update.” Dale is president of American Eagle Title and Abstract and General Counsel of American Eagle Title Insurance Company.

There is much, much more. “Juvenile Delinquency Law: The Latest and Greatest Things Every Kid Defender Should Know” will be presented by Adam Barnett, Tulsa County assistant public defender. “Expungement Law: It’s As If It Never Happened…or IS IT?” will be taught by Jimmy Bunn, chief legal counsel at Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. “Stress and the Solo/Small Firm Lawyer” will be covered by OBA Ethics Counsel Travis Pickens and Rebecca Williams.

Sometimes it is important to know what you don’t know. Even the lawyer who intends to never handle an immigration law matter will benefit from “Immigration Law for the General Practitioner,” taught by Lorena Rivas Tiemann.

Participation in our children’s activities has declined over the years, so this year rather than hosting any organized children’s activities, we are directing everyone to the Tulsa Zoo, 12 miles and about a 15-minute drive away. The Tulsa Zoo is offering a 40 percent discount on admission for our conference attendees who purchase tickets in advance online. Details will be provided to all who register for the conference. The zoo’s daily activities are online.

Child or family registration for the Solo & Small Firm Conference still allows for those guests to have meals with the other conference attendees.

The Hard Rock Casino Resort features rock memorabilia, beautiful rooms and suites and several varied entertainment venues, as well as gaming.

As always, there will be a goodie bag with interesting gifts for attendees and information from our sponsors. There will lots of door prizes.

We hope to see you at the OBA Solo & Small Firm Conference. Use the form accompanying this article to register or register online and the separate form to register for the golf tournament.

Reserve your room by calling 1-800-760-6700 and using the Block Code OKBAR2014. The conference rate is $122 for a standard room.

Mr. Calloway is OBA Management Assistance Program director. Need a quick answer to a tech problem or help resolving a management dilemma? Contact him at 405-416-7008, 800-522-8065 or jimc@okbar.org. It’s a free member benefit!

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal — March, 2014 — Vol. 85, No. 8