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Submission and Selection Process

ALA's conferences fuel the development and advancement of legal industry professionals by providing both proven solutions and innovative thinking in an inviting and exciting environment. Conference attendees connect with talented, diverse, and engaged presenters and colleagues who share their experience and expertise generously. We are seeking your creative participation in designing conferences that optimize learning by providing the very best, high-level, relevant, and thought-provoking ideas pertinent to the business of running a law firm.

A legal administrator is the business manager of a law firm. 90% of the audience will be administrators of law firms, while 5% will be legal administrators of a corporate or government law department. Most of our members are NOT lawyers.

Proposals will be reviewed based on the following criteria:

  • Is the quality topic content current, relevant, pragmatic and concise?
  • Will the session answer the "How" to legal management issues?
  • Has the presenter(s) received positive ratings in the past?
  • Will the session appeal to seasoned administrators and managing partners?
  • Is the session well organized and designed to meet the needs of this particular audience?
  • Is the session able to be presented in 15-20 minute instruction periods followed by meaningful application exercises and repeated until the session material is covered?
  • All speakers at ALA conferences are required to agree to ALA’s educational content policy.  (See submission and Selection Process)*
Selection Process

Please note that in most cases we limit presenters to being involved in no more than two sessions per conference. We suggest that you first develop your submission proposal in Word and then copy and paste the information into the appropriate sections online. The online form does not have spell check so editing your information in advance will ensure greater accuracy.

Please Note:

  • Presentations cannot be sales pitches.
  • We purposely strive to present conference education that is diverse in nature so that it enriches the learning experience for our members.
  • *All speakers at ALA conferences are required to agree to ALA's educational content policy. The policy makes clear that educational content presented by the speaker at an ALA conference becomes the property of ALA. Speakers will grant ALA a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to capture, live stream, record, use and archive Speaker's presentation and handout materials (collectively "Speaker Property") in any manner ALA deems appropriate including, but not limited to, the reproduction, translation, distribution, creation of derivative works, and display on the internet of all or any excerpt of Speaker Property, with ALA retaining the proceeds derived from such distribution and use of Speaker Property. The speaker also agrees to work directly with the company performing these services for ALA, if any, and understands that the sale of Speaker Property by ALA is primarily for the educational benefit of ALA's membership and not for monetary gain; and therefore, there is no royalty arrangement between Speaker and ALA.
Our Mutual Commitment
  • We expect presenters to acknowledge they are available to speak during any timeframe of the conference and as such will not request a change to the session timeframe assigned.
  • We expect presenters to work closely with the conference committee to meet all deadlines.
  • We expect presenters to not make substantial changes in content, or format without approval from the conference committee.
  • We expect presenters to provide high-quality presentation materials in electronic format, by the communicated deadline.
  • We expect presenters to recognize that a conference presentation is an opportunity to share information and is not a platform for the promotion of business, practice, service or product.
  • We expect presenters to be available for interviews, blog posts, podcasts or other conference activities associated with their expertise as mutually agreed upon.

In turn ALA will:

  • Provide you with your evaluation scores after the conference.
  • Provide you with expense/honorariums per event policy (As a non-for-profit organization, we appreciate contributors who are willing to share their expertise without expectation of an honorarium. We guarantee that you will receive valuable professional exposure.)
  • Provide complimentary registration for the conference on the day of your presentation, including admission to the Business Solutions Marketplace (exposition hall), educational programs and social events. Pre-Conference workshops and Certificate Programs are the exceptions.

Have Questions?

If you have a question or problem with your submission, please contact us.