SEPTEMBER 2020 BAR BULLETIN | Page 3

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Vision 20/20 – Focused on Recovery Step 2 – Learning how to fish again Dean T. Xenick 2020-21 PBCBA President The old adage “give me a fish, eat for a day, teach me to fish, eat for a lifetime” is more true than ever. Our current situation has forced us to rethink our practices and “learn to fish” again, and in more creative ways. We are facing a renaissance in our work lives. In order to succeed we need to figure out new and more innovative ways to thrive in these challenging times. This “work renaissance” comes in many forms: • How do we market for new clients with traditional networking restricted? • How do we interact with our clients? • How do we most effectively communicate with the court? • How do we deal with other lawyers who aren’t cooperative? • How do we move our cases in the best interests of our clients in light of the current courthouse situation? • When will the courthouse open? • When the courthouse finally opens, what will it look like? • When will jury trials resume? • How can we cut costs and continue to provide the same level of service to our clients? Learning to fish again means educating yourself and, in some cases, reeducating yourself on your practice by seeing what others are doing while being unique at the same time, in order to separate yourself from the pack. But how do we do this? Thankfully, we already have many tools and resources at our disposal, literally at our fingertips, to get the information we need to continue to get new clients and service our current clients as efficiently as possible. We just need to re-learn how to use them. In the past, many of us would scroll through the PBCBA bulletin or the Florida Bar News looking for pictures or perhaps a CLE, maybe skim over an article, see who was hired or fired, etc. This cursory review is no longer enough. These publications which you get regularly, for FREE, are a treasure trove of valuable information that your fellow lawyers spend considerable amounts of time assembling for you, to HELP you succeed. Don’t take them for granted anymore! These very same publications contain news stories, CLE opportunities, webinars, and other valuable information which will be laser-focused on our current situation and how you can benefit from them. Thus, you must retrain yourself to not only read these publications, but do so with a focus on how it can help you and your clients, how it can help you plan your budgets, workflow, and so much more. Some of this innovative programming includes: • Our virtual Bench Bar Conference in the month of August • August 19 - Civility and Good Practice Navigating Complex Cases • September 16 - CLE relative to Remote Notarization Statute • September 17 – CLE relative to Keeping Client Info Off of the Dark Web • Town hall Zoom meetings with local judges and Florida Bar representatives So my ask of you this month is for you to take advantage of what is right in front of you and use those resources to focus on your practice, to GET INVOLVED, and to GET ENGAGED, in order to learn to fish again by doing the following: • Read the PBCBA Bulletin, cover to cover; • Check out our website www. palmbeachbar.org weekly for new information and stories about local topics of interest; • Read the emails from the PBCBA e-mail blast for new programming we are releasing weekly; • Like and visit our Facebook page, for breaking news from Palm Beach County and the state of Florida, all of which will affect your practice; • While you are doing the above, keep an eye out for new and inventive programming that we will be offering to HELP you; • Go to our CLE page and download a CLE on a relevant and timely topic: https://cle.palmbeachbar.org/; • Visit https://www.15thcircuit.com/ for local courthouse news and information; • Read the Florida Bar News, cover to cover; • Visit www.floridabar.org and https://www.floridasupremecourt. org/ for breaking news stories and information about the state of the Courts and the Bar; and • If you still have time, go backwards a couple of months into these publications for past stories, which no doubt can help you. Sometimes we take for granted what we already have right in front of us. So, instead of being “given a fish”, take the initiative and “learn to fish” again, using tools and resources you already have access to. You will be surprised by what you will learn. Again, if you ever have any questions, concerns, or ideas of how we can do better, I invite you to call or email me at [email protected]. We are YOUR Bar Association and are always looking for ideas to help you and your practices. HAPPY FISHING or as fisherman say, “Tight lines!” Next up, Step 3 – “Who moved my cheese”…..Stay tuned PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 3