2024 Solo and Small-Firm Conference

Date: Feb 24, 2024 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Crowne Plaza, Edison

Member Price: $188

Non-Member Price: $235

Section Price: $176

Event Code: I000124

Areas of Law: Solo & Small Firm

Earn up to 6.6 credits, including 0.6 in Ethics and 1.2 in Diversity! (More Information)

Faculty

Keynote

Moderator

Catherine Finnerty, Esq.
Goldman & Beslow, LLC, East Orange
is an associate with Goldman & Beslow, LLC with offices in East Orange, Newark, Paterson and Jersey City, New Jersey. She devotes a substantial portion of her practice to bankruptcy and debtor-creditor negotiations and handles all issues pertaining to Chapter 7, Chapter 13, foreclosure defense and mediation, debt collection defense, debtor-creditor negotiations and consumer representation. In addition to bankruptcy and debtor-creditor law, Ms. Finnerty has experience in real estate matters, simple Wills, powers of attorney, living wills, and municipal court matters involving traffic tickets, disorderly persons offenses, and violations of municipal ordinances. She also represents clients in residential real estate transactions, and has experience helping property owners who desire to sell their property via short sale, are at risk of foreclosure, or who cannot make their mortgage payments.

Admitted to practice law in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Ms. Finnerty has been a member of the American and New York State Bar Associations and the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association. She has been a member of the NJSBA Bankruptcy Law and Women in the Profession Sections, and is Secretary of the Solo and Small Firm Section. Ms. Finnerty is a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and the American Bankruptcy Institute. She has also volunteered with South Jersey Legal Services, Legal Services of New Jersey and the Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, and represents clients throughout their entire bankruptcy cases.

Ms. Finnerty received her undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Barnard College, Columbia University, where she was the recipient of the New York Building Industry Scholarship and the Eugene Raskin Prizer for Spanish. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review and the recipient of the American Jurisprudence Award in Torts.
(8/23)
Laura M. Fisher, Esq.
Law Office of Laura M. Fisher Llc, Jersey City
Thomas J. Perry, Esq.
SECRETARY, Solo and Small Firm Section, NJSBA
Hutt & Shimanowitz, P.C., Woodbridge
Robyn E. Ross, Esq.
Ross & Calandrillo, LLC, Mountainside
Certified as a Matrimonial Law Attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, is a founder of Ross & Calandrillo, LLC in Mountainside, New Jersey, where she practices exclusively in family law. She is also an approved family law mediator pursuant to the New Jersey Court Rule.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey, Ms. Ross is a member of the New Jersey State and Union County Bar Associations, and is Past Co-Chair of the Essex County Bar Association’s Family Law Executive Committee. She is a trained volunteer for the Jersey Battered Women’s Service, has served on the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Character and is a former member of the New Jersey Supreme Court District XB Ethics Committee. She has provided service to the Early Settlement Panel programs in Essex and Morris counties and is the recipient of several honors.

Ms. Ross received her B.S. from The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College) and her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.
(9/23)

Presenters

Hon. Marcia Silva, (Ret.)
Angela Hooper-Menifield, Esq.
Law Offices of Angela Hooper
Stanley Louissaint
Principle and Founder, Fluid Designs
Christopher M. Rodriguez
R&R Legal Advisors LLC, Montclair
Erdal Turnacioglu, Esq.
Erdal Employment Law, Verona
Cheryl Marks Young
Creative Blueprints for Leaders

The Solo and Small-Firm Conference is back and better than ever. Join the NJSBA/NJICLE and your esteemed colleagues and friends for the CLE event of the year, with networking, fun and CLE seminars especially designed for solo and small-firm attorneys.

This year’s conference features track programming! The day kicks off with a round table of judges who were formerly solo and small-firm lawyers, with tips and ideas for how to set goals high and achieve them. Then, choose programs in one of three tracks – Hanging Your Shingle, Honing Your Skills or Scale and Grow – with basic, intermediate and advanced topics that will meet your needs.

The day ends with a segment on cultural sensitivity for both inside and outside the office and, of course, a cocktail reception that celebrates solo and small firm attorneys.

Register today to stay on track for excellence in 2024!

Program Agenda:

  • 9:00 | Welcome, Introduction and Overview of Topics - Robyn E. Ross, Esq.
  • 9:05 | Limitless Opportunities – From Solo and Small Firm to the Bench
    Aim high! A panel of federal, state and executive branch judges discuss what they learned as solo and small firm attorneys that helped them achieve success.
  • 10:35 | Break
  • 10:45 | Choose from Three Tracks
    • Hanging Your Shingle – Starting and Managing a New Solo Practice
    • Honing Your Skills – Cybersecurity Secrets from the Experts
    • Scale and Grow – How to Work Efficiently
  • 12:15 | Lunch and Solo and Small Firm Attorney of the Year
  • 1:15 | Choose from Three Tracks
    • Hanging Your Shingle – Virtual Lawyering
    • Scale and Grow – The Latest in Marketing and Networking
    • Honing Skills – A.I. and Your Practice
  • 2:45 | Break
  • 3:00 | Cultural Sensitivity -- from the Office to the Courtroom and Everything in Between
  • 4:00 | Adjourn and Cocktail Reception

CLE Credits
NJ CLE:NJ CLE information: This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 6.6 hours of total CLE credit, including 0.6 in Ethics and 1.2 in Diversity (Full Credits Available: NJ Beginner Diversity : 1.2, NJ Ethics: 0.6, NJ General: 4.8).
NY CLE (t&nt):NY Diversity Non-Transitional: 1.0, NY Ethics Transitional: 0.5, NY Practice Management Transitional: 4.5
PA CLE:PA Ethics Credit: 1.5, PA Substantive Credit: 4.0
$24.00 fee – separate check payable to NJICLE must be submitted at the end of the program

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