April 12—Office Management
Speaker: G. Foster Mills and Charles W. Thompson
Foundational Principles
They don’t teach management in law school. Whether you run a small office or an extraordinarily large office the same principles often apply. G. Foster Mills was the Managing Attorney for the Corporation Counsel for the City of New York for over 12 years and will discuss some of the principles that he used in managing that office, some of the lessons he learned and some of the pitfalls to avoid. Charles W. Thompson will moderate the program and also talk about some of the principles that he used in managing a small office and a larger office when he was County Attorney in Carroll County, Maryland and then in Montgomery County, Maryland. The program will include discussions on basic principles coupled with some of the more esoteric theories of management. Both speakers will try to answer your questions during the presentation. Among the topics covered will be discussions of:
• Advancing the careers of your employees, including incentives, evaluations, feedback
• Flexible work environments, such as work-from-home, flexible work schedules, leaves of absence
• Workloads for managers, how many people can you manage effectively?
• Ethics, including what the lawyer’s rules say about paraprofessionals and sources for ethics guidance for paralegals and the supervisor’s role
• Practical tips on supervising staff
Speaker:
G. Foster Mills retired managing attorney for the New York City Law Department and Past President of the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Admitted to bar in 1979, New York. Boston University, J.D. and State University of New York at Stony Brook, B.A.
Charles W. Thompson, Jr. is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Prior to being appointed to this position Mr. Thompson served as County Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland from 1995 to 2006. For the previous 17 years, Mr. Thompson served as County Attorney for Carroll County, Maryland. Mr. Thompson received a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Military Institute and earned his Juris Doctor from the University Of Baltimore School Of Law. In addition to serving as President of the Carroll County Bar Association, Mr. Thompson served as Chairman of the Board of the State and Local Government Law Section of the Maryland State Bar Association, and as Chairman and a member of the Committee on Ethics. Mr. Thompson also served on the Board of Directors and as President of the County Civil Attorneys group in the Maryland Association of Counties. Mr. Thompson is currently serving as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University teaching State and Local Government Law. Mr. Thompson is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.