CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
Minutes of
Board Meeting
24301 Southland Dr.
Hayward, CA 94545
Cupertino, CA 95014
April 26, 2008
9:45 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Meeting called to Order by
President Tina Sandoval at 9:45 a.m. at Hayward CA. Called roll and the
following members were present:
Officers Present:
_X_ Tina Sandoval, President
_X_ Marcel Neumann,
Vice-President
_X_ Annette Gomez, Secretary
_X_ Carol Ludlow, Treasurer
Directors Present:
_X_ Sue Hall,
Public Relations
_X_ Nancy Newlin, Conference
Chair
_X_ Robin Wilson, Newsletter
Chair
_X_ Vanessa Watson, Education
Chair
_X_ Thomas Connelly, Technology
Chair
_X_ Robin Schumacher, Membership
Chair
__ Fundraising, vacant
Others Present:
Chris Donica
Jeri Blatt
Jon Florence
Rod Magdaluyo
Approval of Minutes
After the board reviewed the minutes for the January 2008
board meeting, Carol Ludlow moved to approve the minutes. Thomas Connelly seconded
the motion. All were in favor. The motion was carried. Minutes are approved.
Approval of Budgets
Carol Ludlow presented the budget reports which were
actually presented to the board via email in April 2008. At that time, Annette Gomez
moved to adopt the 2008 proposed budget. Robin Schumacher seconded the motion. All
board members were in favor and the motion was approved on April 14, 2008.
Board Discussion
The board members took turns
summarizing their accomplishments and goals since the January meeting. (See
Board reports attached). The focus during this time was on Marcel and the Bay
Area Chapter’s desire to give CALDA’s name and logo more prominence on the
internet. Marcel is waiting to have discussion with Divorce Source, Divorce
Net, and Spotzer Media and will give us more information soon.
Thomas Connelly relayed his
conversations with Chris Donica, our webmaster, about CALDA’s website and
shared some of his ideas for improvement. Tom also suggested that samples of
documents and legal forms be available to our members through the forums. He
also expressed his desire to take legal action against Hitnet (the company
CALDA contracted with to build a new website) for their nonperformance.
Robin Wilson had mid May
projected as the time the next newsletter will be published for our members. It
was mentioned that a different format would be more appealing, but several
board members agreed that the content of the latest newsletter was very good.
Robin Schumacher shared the
results of her research on 211, a referral source of non-profit service
organization springing up all over the country and presently in several of California’s
counties. It is reached by dialing 211. Robin’s research shows that the
agencies which are listed tend to be sources of free or low cost social
services, which is not in line with what CALDA is trying to promote.
Discussion turned to a company
called MyCompleteCase.com, based in Georgia. They are an internet driven
company preparing legal documents in several states. They do not comply with
the California Business and Professions §6400. They also do not comply with
Title 11, §110 of the U.S. Code regarding bankruptcy petition preparers. Due to
this, their application for CALDA membership was denied. It has been discovered
that they are displaying CALDA’s logo on their website. This matter will be
referred to Richard Lubetsky, CALDA’s attorney.
Vanessa Watson passed out her
proposed agenda for this year’s teleclasses. Everyone was enthused about the
upcoming classes. There will be some new and fresh topics and something for
everyone. Going through some law school materials, she found some quizzes that
she would like to offer the members for credit. Once permission is granted from
the publisher, the quizzes will be forwarded to Steven Elias for approval
before uploading to our website.
Annette Gomez summarized the Inland
Empire workshop held on April 19 in Corona, CA.
Tina Sandoval conveyed that Robin
Schumacher completed approximately 7 to 8 brochures that are already available
on the website. Their goal is to focus on the completion of one brochure at a
time.
Nancy Newlin then took the floor
to discuss CALDA’s 2008 conference in Fresno. Nancy presented a visual
presentation displaying the postcard, binder cover and letterhead which ties
together the theme for this year’s conference. These materials will be prepared
by Datamindxp.com (Lloyd Green) for $495.00. She would like to have new items
for the conference bags and showed the board a new & unique gift that would
fit with the theme and give CALDA the opportunity to go green (you’ll have to
come to the conference to find out). Nancy then gave jobs to each board member.
She proposed inviting a District Attorney to appear and welcome the conference
attendees and she confirmed that Betty Cleveland and her husband will help with
registration again this year thanks to Carol Ludlow. Nancy showed a great idea
that would be fun, interactive and give the attendees a chance to mix. She then
asked for ideas for the entertainment. The rest of the conference discussion
pertained to whether we had a preference for a Friday reception or dinner, and
the best time to hold the Nominations & Elections and the annual meeting.
During this time Vanessa Watson passed out the draft for the class schedule,
took notes for minor changes and asked for ideas on teachers and classes.
Marcel stressed the importance of keeping the beginner family law classes for
the new members.
Sue Hall proposed the idea of
hiring an administrator for public relations. This agenda item will be tabled
to after this year’s conference due to budget constraints. Sue also wanted more
ideas for fundraising at the conference besides the raffle.
It was on the agenda that the
board would vote to purchase a new color printer for Robin Schumacher to use
for her duties as membership and administration chair. However, she bought her
own printer which she needed for her business, but will charge CALDA for color
copies. This was agreeable to all the board members.
Regarding the membership drive
that Robin Schumacher has been trying to promote, she announced that we got a
lot of new members at the $125.00 introductory fee but she is concerned about
membership retention at the $200.00 fee. In addition, she is concerned because
many new members offer to volunteer their time in various jobs, but are not
being contacted for help. She stressed the importance of delegating some tasks
which would not only help to retain members but would help CALDA to grow. Robin
announced the addition of 26 new members since the January board meeting.
Although Carol Knoll was unable
to attend, his concern about board e-mail communications was addressed so that
urgent messages such as motions and fax votes would be more prominent. Annette
Gomez was also concerned about board communication.
The floor was turned over to Jon
Florence, an invited guest of Marcel’s and sales representative from
SocialMediaSystems.com, an internet advertising consulting service. He
explained the services they had to offer CALDA, which was an internet search
engine optimization program. He differentiated between the pay-per-click
programs that many businesses are now using and their “organic search” program.
He went over two programs his company had to offer, which would manipulate our
website by adding content, video and other techniques so that Google would give
CALDA’s website a stronger presence on the internet. Prices varied from $3,400.00
- $18,000.00 yearly fee for their service.
Next, Chris Donica, CALDA’s
webmaster, took the floor. After interpreting Jon’s message in layman’s terms
to the board, he made suggestions to the board on parts of SocialMediaSystems.com’s
services that could be effective presently. He went over some of the services
that they offered that he could perform for us. Chris and the board
brainstormed some cost-effective ways to improve our site making it a one-stop
community resource and achieve the goal of giving CALDA’s website more internet
presence. Some suggestions for the new websites were to have a page of
resources for our members. Chris mentioned that many members are not using the
forums, he liked the idea of uploading documents and legal forms to the forums,
as it would generate more activity on the forums. Then the board discussed how
to proceed and what could be salvaged from Hitnet, the company which was
previously hired to do the job, but failed to perform. After Chris gave his
professional opinion on the value of the services received from Hitnet, it was
agreed by the members that legal action needs to be commenced against Hitnet. An
Ad Hoc Website Committee was created to assist with Chris Donica, webmaster,
with the design, layout, information, etc needed to get the new website up on
the web. The committee consists of Tom Connelly, Connie Crockett, Carol Ludlow
and Robin Schumacher. The head of the committee is Tom Connelly, all communications
are to be directed to Tom.
Chris’s partner, Rod Magdaluyo,
who puts together video productions for public service announcements took the
floor and talked about the purpose and process of video productions and how it
could be used on CALDA’s website and/or in other CALDA marketing efforts, which
could also be used to enhance our individual businesses through CALDA. Robin
Schumacher wants to raise funds through a sponsor to get started on a video
project. Further discussion will take place in July
Our next meeting
is set for July 12, 2008 at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, CA from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
At 2:45 Carol moved to adjourn the meeting. Sue seconded the motion. All were in favor.
The meeting was
adjourned at 2:45 p.m.
Submitted by Annette Gomez
President’s
Report
California
Association of Legal Document Assistants
Board
Meeting – April 26, 2008
Hayward,
CA
Report of: Tina R. Sandoval, President
To: The Governing Board of the
Association
Date: April 26, 2008
Reports that since the Board Meeting of January 18, 2008 through the present date, I have:
§
Met weekly with Robin Schumacher as part of the Brochure
Committee through March, 12, 2008. Meetings resumed on April 23, 2008.
§
Prepared and mailed Thank You letter to Kerry Suendermann for
her donation.
§
Received all fundraising and conference materials.
§
Obtained local storage facility and moved all fundraising and
conference materials to the storage.
§
Phone calls from prospective LDAs calling for information from
our website.
§
Drafted a sponsor letter to be sent out to the local casinos
requesting support for our conference.
Estimated time spent this quarter: I was unable to
keep track of the hours that I worked on behalf of CALDA this quarter. Weekly
meetings last 1.5-2.0 hrs, in addition to numerous phone calls, emails and
review of documents.
Expenses: Minimal-faxes, copies, phone charges–Donated.
New Business Items: None
Submitted by: Tina R.
Sandoval
Secretary’s Report
CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
APRIL 26, 2008 BOARD MEETING
Report of: Annette Gomez
To: The Governing Board of the
Association
Date: April 26, 2008
Reports that:
Since the January 2008 board meeting I have
prepared and sent the minutes for the January 2008 board meeting to the board
members and the webmaster via e-mail.
I have received minutes from the Inland Empire
Chapter and the Bay Area Chapter meetings.
I have conducted three fax votes;
one to revise the bylaws, one to choose the conference location, and the last
to approve the treasurer’s proposed budget.
I have copied board email conversations to cd
disk.
As president of the Inland Empire Chapter, I
organized and announced the monthly chapter meetings. In February, we held an
election in which I became the chapter’s secretary. Debra Burton (Jones) is the
new president and Ann Malane is the new vice president. We organized the Inland
Empire’s 5th one day workshop which was held on April 19 in Corona,
California. Invited speakers included Jim Husen, Esq, a Riverside family law
attorney and Pam Powell, a Riverside family law court examiner. We invited all
registered LDAs in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, but did not have any
non-CALDA members in attendance.
Estimated Time Spent this Quarter: I have
not kept track.
Expenses/Costs incurred: Phone
calls, Fax charges, photocopy, e-mail – all donated.
Agenda items: Board Communication
Submitted by:
Annette Gomez
Treasurer’s Report
CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
Board Meeting of April 26, 2008
Report of Carol Ludlow, Treasurer
To: The Governing Board of the Association
Date: April 17, 2008
Reports that: since the Board Meeting of January 22, 2008, through the present date I have:
1. Revised the proposed budget for
approval by the Board.
2. Reconciled the bank accounts for
January, February and March 2008.
2. Worked with Nancy on conference
pricing for conference and hotel accommodation.
3. Communicated with Chris regarding
setting up the Conference page to accept installment payments from member.
Estimated Time Spent this Quarter: Approximately 40
hours.
Expenses/Costs incurred: Printing, phone calls and
e-mails – all donated.
Submitted
for approval: Carol Ludlow, Treasurer
California
Association of Legal Document Assistants
Administrator
Report of: Robin Schumacher
To: Governing Board of the
Association
Date: 04-22-2008
Reports that:
All prospective member packets were mailed upon
request and all new and renewal member packets were assembled and mailed.
Members were also billed via email. Follow-ups on those not renewing/late
paying. Follow-ups and reminders regarding members’ LDA registrations. Membership
data base maintained. Compiled various reporting data per board request. Print
materials ordered and assembled. Worked on seminar in Fresno scheduled for Nov.
2.
Compiled packets for various workshops and sent
to respective recipients.
Estimated time spent this quarter: 130
hrs
Expenses/costs
incurred this quarter: $1,500.00 Administrative
fee
69.19 Postage-Membership
205.79
Copies-Membership
269.48 Clerk’s
mailing
$2,044.46
New Business Items: None
Submitted by: Robin
Schumacher, Administrator
California
Association of Legal Document Assistants
Membership
Committee
Report of: Robin Schumacher
To: Governing Board of the
Association
Date: 04-22-2008
Reports that: The following accomplishments have
been made by the membership Committee:
All prospective member packets were
mailed upon request and all new and renewal member packets were assembled and
mailed. Members were also billed via email. Follow-up emails and telephone
calls to those members not renewing/late paying. Follow-up email and telephone
reminders regarding members’ expired LDA registrations listed on the website. Answered
phone calls and emails regarding CALDA questions, and interest in CALDA.
Current Membership Status: 204 Members
(5% increase since last quarter)
Committee Members: None
Estimated time spent this quarter: 40
(see Administrator Report)
Expenses/costs
incurred this year: Long distance telephone charges
approx.
$20
- donated
New Business Items: 1.
Discussion regarding the membership drive
2. Response
to volunteers (when joining)
3.
Newsletter format
Submitted by: Robin
Schumacher
California
Association of Legal Document Assistants
2008 Conference
Report of: Nancy
Newlin, Conference Chair
To: The
Governing Board of the Association
Date: April 25, 2008
Report that: Worked
with various Board members to begin preparation, for the up coming Annual
CALDA Conference, to be held on Oct. 17 – 19, 2008. Also negotiated with
representatives of the Fresno Ramada Hotel, for the Conference site, etc.
Time Spent: Over
50 hours
Expenses: See Treasurer’s Report for the
Conference.
EDUCATION CHAIR
CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
BOARD REPORT
Report of: Education Committee Chair
To: The Governing Board of the
Association
Date: April 26, 2008
Reports that:
1. I have scheduled the following Monthly
Educational Teleclasses:
March 25, 2008 - Domestic Partnerships &
Review of Family Law
Speaker: Tamara Parker
Attendees: 8
April 23, 2008 - The Sequential Evaluation in SSA
Disability Determination
Speaker: Diana Wade
Attendees: 8
May 20, 2008 – E&O Insurance for LDAs
Speaker: Carol Shillingburg, Ameribonds Surety
& Insurance
June 10, 2008 (special) – Ethics Training for
Paralegals
Speaker: William “Bill” Weston, J.D., Ph.D,
American Bar Association, Chair
June 24, 2008 – Long-term care, Medi-cal, etc.
Speaker: Bob Scrivano
July 9, 2008 (special) – Marketing 101: How to Run
a Successful LDA Business
Speaker: Carl Knoll – pending
July 22, 2008 – QDROs
Speaker: Lynne Stein
August – December: waiting for responses from potential
speakers
California
Association of Legal Document Assistants
Newsletter Committee
Report of: Robin Wilson
To: Governing Board of the
Association
Date: April 26, 2008
Reports that:
I have produced
Quarter 1 Newsletter with the assistance of Lloyd Green, Jr., our publisher, in
early April, later than I had projected. It is my goal to take less time
coordinating on future newsletters. Cooperation of board members providing me
with their articles will help in this regard. I have also enlisted the
assistance of several colleagues to help review future newsletters prior to
their submission to the publisher. Having the experience of this newsletter
behind me gives me a better idea of what is involved in terms of coordination
of article submissions and in working with our publisher.
Professional
Standards Report
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
April 26, 2007
Report of: Carl
Knoll
To: The
Governing Board of the Association
Date: April 26, 2008
Reports that:
Since our last board meeting, I have dealt with one issue
of professional standard (complaint against an CALDA member), which did not
result in any formal resolution. I received an email correspondence/complaint,
but never a formal complaint per CALDA’s bylaws. However, I spoke with the
CALDA member whom I received the complaint about and she was aware of the issue
and tried to resolve it. In addition, I have had several calls from folks who
have either just become LDA’s or were looking into the profession. On each
occasion, I advised the folks about where to find the B&P Codes governing LDA’s
and briefly discussed the benefits of CALDA, etc.
Estimated
Time Spent this Quarter:
I have spent
approximately 6 hours since our last Board Meeting.
Expenses/Costs
incurred: Minimal fax, copy and phone charges. Donated.
Agenda
Items: Discuss ideas about how to better communicate with our Board
emailing. When there is a motion or something to vote on, perhaps in the
subject line we can first type “MOTION” or “VOTE” so it will stand out over the
others. In addition, perhaps we can use an urgent tag or the red “!” to denote
urgency.
New
Business: None at this time.
Submitted for
approval: Carl Knoll, Professional Standards Chair
CALIFORNIA
ASSOCIATION OF LEGAL DOCUMENT ASSISTANTS
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Report of: Thomas C. Connelly – CALDA
Technology Chair
To: Governing Board of the
Association
Date: April 26, 2008
Reports that:
- With the assistance of CALDA’s Webmaster, the Public
Relations Chair and Technology Chair are now receiving all email
correspondence and communications from all CALDA Board members.
- Communicated my opinion and knowledge to board members
regarding potential litigation against Hitnet, as well as jurisdiction and
venue issues according to California Code of Civil Procedure - consensus for
Illinois Small Claims action carried the day.
- Communicated with Webmaster regarding status of new CALDA
website and determined that the new site would be up and running in 4-5
months.
- Relayed board member recommendations to Webmaster
concerning interactive functions for CALDA members (legal document example
bank with PDF upload pending attorney approval) and the general public
(improved LDA search engine) on the new website along with aesthetic
beauty.
- Communicated with Treasurer and Webmaster about CALDA
email hosting service and request to obtain domain name back from Hitnet.
- Spoke to Webmaster about his initial review of CD from
Hitnet concerning website page layouts, graphics and further direction
from CALDA board prior to website completion.
- Communicated with Webmaster regarding board member service
terms to be displayed on current and new website (i.e. Hall & Connelly
terms = 2007-2009).
- Communicated with Webmaster concerning web search enhancements
to ensure appearance of CALDA website URL on page No. 1 of resultant for
applicable search terms (i.e. LDA; paralegal; divorce; bankruptcy;
evictions; etc.) and on-point presentation to be made at current board
meeting.
- Communicated with Webmaster re upload of director and member
photos on new CALDA website. Photos will be screened for appearance prior
to presentation on the site.
- Discussed options for new and creative website links with Webmaster
for new CALDA website per current and future suggestions from various
board members.
Estimated
Time Spent this Quarter: Approximately 25 hours.
Expenses
and/or Costs Incurred: Long distance telephone
& facsimile transmission charges ($30.00)-donated
New
Business: New
ideas for Webmaster and board consideration re completion of new CALDA website.
Respectfully Submitted,
Thomas C., Connelly
CALDA Technology Chair
