Beyond Structured Settlements

Ohio NAELA 2012 UnProgram

For the past several years, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) has featured "UnPrograms" as part of its educational curriculum. Earlier this week, Patrick Hindert, S2KM's primary blog author and a NAELA member, attended the Ohio NAELA 2012 UnProgram as a participant.

What is an UnProgram? NAELA's UnPrograms are moderated group discussions about specific topics. The topics typically are identified in advance and the discussions are informal. The handouts for the NAELA Ohio Chapter's 2012 UnProgram were limited to: a list of topics; suggested "Ground Rules", and a one-page evaluation form.

Compared with traditional conference lectures and panels, NAELA's UnProgram discussions are informal and encourage participation by all attendees.The discussions frequently focus on practice issues or actual cases and result in the exchange of ideas and best practices.

Based upon S2KM's limited experience with UnPrograms, these discussions seem to work best with less than 15 participants per topic. For larger groups, participants select from among multiple discussions which occur simultaneously and require space planning. Although it helps to have a moderator with specific subject matter expertise, subject matter experts inevitably emerge during the discussions. Individual discussions can vary in time allotments.

The agenda for the Ohio NAELA two day UnProgram featured topics suggested in advance by participants:

• Increasing efficiency and profits with technology.
• Cloud computing.
• How to market and expand an Elder Law practice.
• How Elder Law and Special Needs Law differ.
• Using care managers.
• Medicaid issues - planning scenarios; estate recoveries; eligibility issues; appeals process; spend down options; annuities; promissory notes; home exemption.
• Veterans benefit issues - planning priorities; irrevocable trusts; proposed pension legislation.
• Special pensions.
• Structured settlements and settlement planning.

Some of the "Ground Rules" for the Ohio NAELA UnProgram:

• Participants are encouraged to be polite and warned not to interrupt other participants.
• Participants are encouraged to ask any and all appropriate questions.
• Participants can politely decline to answer any questions.
• Discussions about fees and other issues that violate anti-trust law are prohibited.
• All other ideas are welcome and encouraged.
• The moderator is directed to monitor individual input to encourage broad participation.
• Break out sessions are suggested if and when a subset of participants want to discuss a specific subtopic or related topic.
• When participants become disinterested in a discussion topic, they are encouraged to move to another group.
• Groups are not expected to backtrack when new participants are late entering a discussion.
• Individual participants are encouraged to continue discussions during breaks and meals.

Although Ohio NAELA's UnProgram organizers did not attempt to integrate Internet use or Internet resources into the 2012 UnProgram, the UnProgram's informal, horizontal format appears well-suited for both synchronous and asynchronous Internet adaptibility. Private wikis with discussion features could prove especially valuable for organizing, capturing and leveraging the considerable knowledge generated by the Ohio NAELA UnProgram.

Additional resources and information about Internet-based knowledge management (KM):

• For attorneys - see the public wiki and related concept map (with embedded links) S2KM developed with Denham Grey and Barbara Bowen in 2006 introducing web 2.0 for lawyers.
• For structured settlements - see the structured settlement wiki.

NAELA Special Needs Summit - 3

This S2KM blog post strategically analyzes the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) 2010 Special Needs Summit from an Internet-based knowledge management (KM) perspective. The NAELA Special Needs Summit occurred February 25-27 in New Orleans. Prior S2KM blog posts summarized the NAELA Special Needs Summit and analyzed the NAELA Special Needs Summit from a structured settlement perspective.

This S2KM review also considers a March 9, 2010 Web 2.0 webinar for NAELA members by Mark Miller titled "Web 2.0: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Miller is Chief Operating Officer of ElderLawAnswers; General Manager of Lawyers Life Network; and Director of Operations and Business Development for the Academy of Special Needs Planners. Miller has more than 15 years experience in sales and business development for web-based service providers.

Positives

• Knowledge resources - Whether the subject is elder law, special needs law or personal injury settlement law, NAELA's membership possesses substantial knowledge resources. Specific to disabled persons, NAELA's knowledge encompasses technical legal knowledge as well as relationship knowledge with disability leaders and disability community stakeholders.
• Knowledge culture - NAELA promotes and prioritizes legal scholarship. Examples include: the NAELA Journal and NAELA's annual writing prize for law students. NAELA promotes and practices knowledge sharing. NAELA's unprograms offer a non-hierarchical and interactive learning alternative to traditional lectures. Compared with traditional lectures, NAELA's unprogram learning model is more comparable with how collaborative learning occurs on the Internet.
• Focus on web 2.0 - NAELA has identified and offered learning resources on web 2.0 and social network technologies. In addition to Mark Miller's March 9, 2010 web 2.0 presentation, NAELA also featured S2KM's web 2.0 for lawyers wiki at its 2008 National Symposium.
• Mark Miller's web 2.0 presentation - Miller's 90 minute web 2.0 presentation was comprehensive. It highlighted many web 2.0 features, tools, and developments and offered advice for NAELA members about blogging; podcasting; web-site design; search engine optimization; news feeds; key word searches; social media; and emerging tools.
• Web 2.0 examples - a growing number of NAELA members, and non-NAELA special needs attorneys, have experimented with web 2.0 tools - especially blogs and podcasts. Examples of special needs and elder law blogs:
  • Harry Margolis
  • David Lillesand
  • Frank Johns
  • Patricia Kefalas
  • John Campbell

Negatives

• Web 2.0 learning disconnect
  • Neither the NAELA Special Needs Summit nor Miller's web 2.0 webinar made any attempt to integrate the web 2.0 medium itself into their learning programs.
  • If "the medium is the message" (to quote Marshall McLuhan), NAELA has not yet processed or responded to that message from a web 2.0 learning perspective.
  • NAELA's conference was typical of almost all professional association education conferences. Learning takes place in multi-purpose hotel meeting rooms with no Internet resources or integration. Laptops are discouraged by the general failure to provide power outlets. With the notable exception of NAELA's unprograms, the speakers lecture with limited audience interaction. Supplemental learning resources include power points, hardcopy handouts or web 1.0 flash disks.
  • Miller's web 2.0 webinar utilized a traditional web 1.0 powerpoint. His extensive presentation was lecture format with limited interactivity and no asynchronous features.
  • Typical of most introductions to the Internet, Miller's web 2.0 webinar focused primarily on identity and marketing - with no discussion about whether and how web 2.0 can enhance and accelerate learning or what learning issues and strategies occur with web 2.0.
  • As one example of a web 2.0 learning issue, many college professors (the paragons of old school learning) are banning laptops from their classroom and view in-class Internet surfing as a distraction. These paragons, however, typically lack any ability to integrate discussions (example: Socratic teaching) or Internet resources into their classroom experience. Their teaching model is a hierarchical lecture which is contrary to how the web 2.0 Internet functions.
  • Teaching web 2.0 using web 1.0 (or predecessor technologies) is akin to trying to teach people to swim or play basketball in a traditional classroom - using hardcopy text with no diagrams - instead of utilizing a swimming pool or a basketball court. After an hour or a semester in the classroom, the students still won't be able to swim or play basketball.
• Role of knowledge management
  • NAELA's members all qualify as knowledge workers. Without specifically studying knowledge management, NAELA has spent 25 years helping its members identify, expand and manage knowledge.
  • The changing Internet medium (currently web 2.0 featuring social network technologies) prioritizes knowledge and how you manage knowledge:
    • Knowledge generally becomes more transferrable and complex.
    • New knowledge tools, systems, networks, teams and leaders emerge.
    • New business models evolve requiring online skill sets and related knowledge services.
  • Unless NAELA and its members study and understand Internet-based knowledge management, how will they successfully transfer their professional knowledge (including relationship knowledge) to web 2.0?
  • And what happens to those professionals and professional associations who are slow (or unable) to successfully transfer their knowledge to the Internet? How will they compete? Who will want (or allow) them to participate on Internet-based knowledge teams and networks?
  • Neither Miller's web 2.0 webinar nor NAELA's first-ever Special Needs Summit discussed knowledge management.
  • How could knowledge management have improved the NAELA Special Needs Summit? As one example, the NAELA Summit made no attempt to define special needs law or to differentiate special needs law from elder law or personal injury settlement law. NAELA could have used (and still could use) various types of knowledge maps to:
    • Define these strategically important knowledge domains and related knowledge boundaries;
    • Identify stakeholders and online learning resources within each community of practice;
    • Highlight transactional events and transferable knowledge opportunities for NAELA members within each knowledge domain.

Unsolicited Recommendations for NAELA

• Continue to study Internet-based knowledge management - focusing on web 2.0 and social network technologies.
• Develop a web 2.0 learning strategy:
  • Utilizing appropriate learning environments, teachers and tools.
  • Introducing participants to online culture, organizational theory and functional skill sets through actual experience.
  • Integrating web 2.0 learning into NAELA's other educational programs.

For Additional Information see:

• Denham Grey's KM wiki
• S2KM prior blog posts
  • Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map - featuring Barbara Bowen
  • Knowledge Management and Structured Settlements

2008 NAELA Symposium - 2

This blog post looks at the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and elder law certification (CELA) from the perspective of knowledge management (KM) and web 2.0. S2KM's prior blog post (2008 NAELA Symposium-1) featured S2KM's "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" wiki  plus a NAELA-specific podcast interview by Scott Drake for the Legal Broadcast Network (LBN) with Patrick Hindert, S2KM's Managing Director and blog author.

Knowledge Management (KM) means organizing knowledge to achieve productive work, competitive advantage and business value. KM provides a professional discipline to personalize advancing Internet technologies and to help knowledge workers understand and manage personal, organizational and industry knowledge.

Here are some recommended KM learning resources for NAELA members:

• Wikipedia definitions for
  • Knowledge management
  • Elder law
• Google searches for
  • Knowledge management
  • Elder law
  • Elder law wikis
  • Elder law blogs
  • Elder law podcasts
• Denham Grey's
  • KM wiki
  • Knowledge Sharing and Social Software
• Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map - Dr. Barbara Bowen
• Selected blogs featuring KM and law
  • Lessig 2.0 - Lawrence Lessig
  • DennisKennedy.com - Dennis Kennedy
  • Law X.0 - Ian Best
• S2KM blog posts
  • Web 2.0 for Lawyers
  • Concept Maps
  • Introduction to Podcasting
  • KM and Law
  • KM and Structured Settlements

From a traditional (pre-web 2.0) KM perspective, NAELA represents an "advanced" and knowledge-intensive community of practice. NAELA's community knowledge is displayed on the NAELA website as well as the website of the National Elder Law Foundation (NELF) which sponsors and manages the Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) program.

In addition to the CELA program and the several hardcopy elder law textbooks CELA recommends as learning resources, NAELA captures and distributes knowledge in many formats including:

• NAELA's website - an excellent example of a web 1.0 website;
  
• NAELA conferences - including hardcopy handouts, CD Roms, and audio tapes;
• NAELA Journal - an academic journal featuring articles by leading elder law attorneys and professors;
• NAELA News - a magazine featuring additional articles by leading elder law attorneys and professors;
• NAELA Listserv - an online tool for NAELA members to communicate about substantive legal issues.  

Question: what is striking about NAELA's "advanced" knowledge-intensive community of practice?

Answer: NAELA currently does not offer its 4400 members any:

• Web 2.0 resources; or
  
• Web 2.0 applications; or
• Web 2.0 learning strategies.  

NAELA's web 2.0 shortcomings are shared by almost every other professional trade association S2KM follows. AAPD, featuring two association blogs, represents the singular exception that proves the rule. Because of NAELA's strong knowledge foundation and orientation, however, this author predicts NAELA and its professional members will become successful adapters of web 2.0 tools and technologies.  It is time for NAELA to begin this transition.

NASP 2007 Annual Meeting - 2

This blog post continues S2KM's reporting about NASP's 2007 Annual Meeting.  For earlier S2KM reporting: see NASP 2007 Annual Meeting - 1.

S2KM continues to update and improve the nasp wiki where S2KM is capturing key components of a conversation about "The Structured Settlement Market" initiated October 19, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Recent additions to the nasp wiki include summary outlines for these NASP educational presentations:

• Stephen R. Harris - topic: "Transfer Issues";
• Patrick J. Hindert - topic: "The Primary Market".

Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map

This blog post re-publishes an updated S2KM concept map titled "How Web 2.0 Impacts Lawyers" developed with Dr. Barbara Bowen, Managing Director of Sound Knowledge Strategies.

Related resources:

• Barbara's audio interviews with Ned Arthur of Truffle Media Networks:
  • S2KM Podcast Tape 10 - discussing the "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" concept map;
  • S2KM Podcast Tape 4 - introducing Barbara and concept maps.
• A "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" wiki developed with Denham Grey and featuring Barbara's concept map.
• A blog post by Luis Suarez about the evolution of Knowledge Management.

In addition to Barbara's audio interviews, the Web 2.0 for Lawyers concept map includes:

• Six (6) embedded (linked and related) concept maps
• Improved links for:
  • Web 2.0 Google searches
  • Web 2.0 commentators including:
    
    • Tim O'Reilly
    • Dion Hinchcliffe
  • Web 2.0 commentators who focus on lawyers including:
    
    • Professor Lawrence Lessig; and
    • The Kennedy-Mighell Report.

S2KM will continue to feature leading "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" commentary and resources on this blog - including periodic updates and improvements for the S2KM-sponsored Web 2.0 for Lawyers concept map and wiki.

S2KM Podcast Review - 1

This blog post highlights and summarizes S2KM's first six audio podcasts which can be subscribed to and are accessible from the upper left corner of S2KM's blog: "Beyond Structured Settlements". Future S2KM reviews will also highlight podcasts from other structured settlement podcast sites including Ringler Radio, The Settlement Channel and The Factoring Channel.

Truffle Media Networks - S2KM initiated its own podcast channel (S2KM Podcast Channel) June 10, 2007 in collaboration with Truffle Media Networks.  Ned Arthur of Truffle Media hosts S2KM's podcasts. During the past six weeks, S2KM and Truffle Media have begun to develop a collaborative public podcast library.  We intend to continue this collaboration throughout 2007.

Preliminary S2KM podcasts focus on these topics and people:

Participant introductions

• Ned Arthur - S2KM Podcast Tape 1 introduces S2KM Podcast host Ned Arthur and Ned's company, Truffle Media Networks. In Tape 1, Ned and Patrick Hindert, S2KM's Managing Director and blog editor, discuss Ned's background and provide an overview of Truffle Media Networks. They also discuss the application of podcasting to the following industries:
  • Structured settlements - including the primary and secondary United States markets
  • Personal injury settlement planning
  • Special needs planning
  • Secondary insurance markets for annuities and life insurance
• Barbara Bowen - S2KM Podcast Tape 4 introduces Dr. Barbara Bowen, Managing Director of Sound Knowledge Strategies. Barbara is a knowledge management (KM) expert who specializes in eliciting and visually representing tacit knowledge to achieve shared mental models. In Tape 4, Ned and Barbara discuss Barbara's educational and professional background and introduce concept maps. In subsequent S2KM podcasts, Barbara and Ned will discuss specific S2KM concept maps including "How does Web 2.0 Impact Lawyers".
• Joseph Dehner - S2KM Tape 5 introduces Joseph Dehner, a partner in the law firm Frost Brown Todd and co-author of "Structured Settlements and Periodic Payment Judgments". Ned and Joe discuss Joe's historical study of, and role within, the structured settlement industry beginning in 1977. Ned also elicits Joe's preliminary S2KM podcast analysis of structured settlement public policy. Joe will be providing additional podcast commentary about structured settlement public policy for S2KM during the next couple of weeks.

Supplemental S2KM reporting - The following S2KM podcasts supplement prior S2KM blog reporting:

• Special Needs Attorneys - In S2KM Podcast Tape 2, Ned and Patrick discuss the relationship between structured settlements and special needs attorneys. Related S2KM commentary and analysis includes:
  • Structured Settlement Law - a public wiki S2KM developed for a June 12, 2007 presentation to the Academy of Special Needs Planners.
  • Academy of Special Needs Planners - an S2KM blog post reviewing the Academy's March 2007 Annual Conference.
  • Inconvenient Questions - S2KM's three-part series about the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and its potential impact on structured settlements.
• Structured Settlement Mid-2007 Report - In S2KM Podcast Tape 3, Ned and Patrick identify and review important mid-2007 structured settlement industry developments as highlighted in a prior S2KM blog post. They also review June 2007 structured settlement newsletters from the law firms Drinker Biddle and Pullman & Comley.
• AAJ 2007 Annual Conference - In S2KM Podcast Tape 6, Ned and Patrick review the American Association for Justice (AAJ) 2007 Annual Meeting which occurred in July 2007. S2KM's blog coverage of the AAJ meeting included three posts. S2KM and Truffle Media will be publishing additional AAJ Conference podcast reviews in August featuring other structured settlement stakeholder attendees.

For additional information about podcasting, see S2KM's prior blog post "Introduction to Podcasting" which features an embedded concept map developed by Barbara Bowen.