Jessica Grant Consulting

Say Yes to Summer Ambition

Jessica — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 06:18:30 +0000

Many CPD providers hit the breaks between July and September as lawyers and CPD decision makers leave town. But writing off the summer as “dead time” can be a costly mistake. Last spring, one of my clients asked me to put a strategy in place for their team to keep moving over the long lazy days of July and August. Yesterday they told me it was their most productive summer ever.

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Why Staggering Paper Deadlines Works

Jessica — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 15:53:05 +0000

One of my clients produces a remarkable collection of papers as part of an annual CPD program. Although the end result is so impressive that it in some ways probably looks easy, there is a staggering amount of work that goes into the materials by the program chairs and authors, each of whom contribute at least two papers. Last year, the program chairs had the inspired idea to stagger paper…

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End of Summer Reading List

Jessica — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 16:42:44 +0000

Looking for a good book to occupy what’s left of your summer? The ABA has just published a terrific list of the 24 greatest law novels – ever. To select the winners, they assembled a group of lawyers and academics to “find the best portrayals of lawyers and the law”. From Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment to Grisham’s The Firm, there’s something for every reader. Who was number one?

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What Advocacy Teachers Can Learn from Monsters, Inc.

Jessica — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 18:30:19 +0000

Two of my children are in elementary school so the release of Monsters University this summer was cause for some excitement in my house. The movie, released by Disney, is a prequel to Monsters, Inc. which came out about 10 years ago. Both stories feature a fictional city called Monstropolis, the power for which is generated by monsters scaring children (think monster in my closet…

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Get ’em Talking

Jessica — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 12:22:24 +0000

Next time you’re setting up for an education program, reconsider the traditional classroom or theatre layout in favour of a more interactive seating plan. Even with larger audiences, there are lots of reasons to make it easier for participants to connect with each other: 1) one of the main reasons lawyers go to live programs is to network; setting the room up in a way that promotes interaction…

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Savings Shopper

Jessica — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 19:55:20 +0000

Working with a shoe string CPD budget? Don’t fret. A booming CPD market, combined with lots of discount opportunities, is making it easier than ever to stay within budget. Here are five suggestions for how to save: 1. Early-bird pricing – These discounts are usually in the range of 10 to 15% off the regular registration fee. Providers use them to reward early registrants so they can have peace…

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The Write Stuff

Jessica — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 18:57:49 +0000

According to noted legal writing instructor Bryan Garner, many practising lawyers, especially transactional lawyers and new lawyers, suffer from a phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect. Garner’s post, “Why Lawyers Can’t Write” in the ABA Journal helps to explain why lawyers often underestimate the value of legal writing programs when making professional development decisions. The good news…

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The Ultimate CLE Roadshow

Jessica — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:58:01 +0000

Last month I had the pleasure of seeing two of today’s greatest CLE presenters not one but two times. For the third year in a row, Larry Pozner and Roger Dodd brought their larger than life Advanced Cross-Examination Techniques program to Canadian lawyers in three provinces. At the risk of sounding like a groupie (I’ve heard people ask where to buy t-shirts), every time I see Pozner and Dodd…

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Those Tricky LinkedIn Endorsements

Jessica — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 01:34:50 +0000

LinkedIn endorsements trouble me. The first time I received a notice that “X has endorsed you for..” I thought “what the hell is that?”. I actually received two in as many days and it freaked it me out so much that I contacted both people to ask how it happened that they endorsed me. I was mortified to think that they might think that I was asking them to endorse me. One seemed to understand…

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Novel (or should I say “graphic novel”?) CLE

Jessica — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:17:59 +0000

As the mother of a die-hard comic book fan, I couldn’t resist a quick post on a fascinating four-part series presented by Thomson West, from Law and the Multiverse. The online, on-demand CLE series, eligible for credit in many US states and some Canadian provinces, includes: Whammo! What Superheroes and Comic Books Can Teach Us About Constitutional Law; Kablam! Real-Life Superheroes in the…

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