Institute - Hull on Estates # 239
Listen: Institute
This week on Hull on Estates and Succession Planning, Natalia Angelini and Nadia Harasymowycz discuss a recent Institute, Brave New World: Building a Thriving Trusts & Estates Practice in the 21st Century, which was held on Thursday February 3, 2011.
There were variety of topics at the Institute, including:
· Planning for Disabled Beneficiaries: How Recent Legislative Amendments have Changed Estate Planning
Nimali D. Gamage, Jan Goddard & Associates
· The Role of Social Media in Marketing an Estates and Trusts Practice
Suzana Popovic-Montag, Hull & Hull LLP
Terry Fallis, Thornley Fallis Communications
· The Impact of Divorce, Remarriage and Common Law Relationships on Estate Planning
Daniel S. Melamed, Torkin Manes LLP
· The Legacy of Hare versus Hare:Limitation Periods and Promissory Notes
Ed Esposto, Blaney McMurtry LLP
· Damages for Mismanaging Trust Investments
Sean Lawler,Shibley Righton LLP
· The Role of Collaborative Law in Resolving Estate Disputes
Clare E. Burns, WeirFoulds LLP
· Recent Cost Decisions in Estate Litigation
Justin de Vries, de Vries Litigation
Kimberly A. Whaley, Whaley Estate Litigation
Jane E. Martin, Eisen Graham
For more information on New World: Building a Thriving Trusts & Estates Practice in the 21st Century, please click here.
If you have any comments, send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com or leave a comment on our blog.
Natalia R. Angelini - Click here for more information on Natalia Angelini.
Nadia M. Harasymowycz – Click here for more information on Nadia Harasymowycz.
Institute - Hull on Estates- Episode #239
Posted on February 15, 2011 by Hull & Hull LLP
Natalia Angelini: Hello and welcome to Hull on Estates. You’re listening to episode #239 on Tuesday, February 15.
Welcome to Hull on Estates, a series of podcasts for the Canadian legal community dealing with issues and insights surrounding estate planning in Canada. Hosted by the lawyers of Hull & Hull, the podcast will touch on some key considerations when planning estates and wills. Now, here are today’s hosts.
Nadia Harasymowycz: Hi and welcome to another episode of Hull on Estates. I’m Nadia Harasymowycz.
Natalia Angelini: And I’m Natalia Angelini.
Nadia Harasymowycz: If you want to be heard on Hull on Estates, you can participate by leaving us a comment. Email us at hull.lawyers@gmail.com or you can visit our blog at estatelaw.hullandhull.com.
Natalia Angelini: Well hello everyone. Today Nadia and I thought we’d talk about the recent Institute that took place on Thursday, February 3rd.
Nadia Harasymowycz: It…just for everyone out there, if you don’t already know that lawyers in 2011 are required to continue with our CLE, that’s another reminder. And the Institute was accredited for some time and it sold out early. So if you’re looking to hit your CLE hours, I would keep your eyes posted on a variety of websites including the Ontario Bar Association so that you can sign up and sign up often for our upcoming CLE’s.
Natalia Angelini: Yeah, that’s a great idea. It was a really interesting day. There were a variety of topics discussed. I’ll just run through them in case anyone is interested in getting the materials, they can do so. We had Nimali from Jan Goddard’s firm discuss planning for disabled beneficiaries. We had our own Suzana Popovic-Montag and Terry Fallis talk about the role of social media and marketing in estates and trust practice, and Nadia and I are gonna touch further on this in our discussion today. And there was also a discussion about the impact of divorce and remarriage and common law relationships on estate planning and Daniel Melamed from Torkin Manes addressed that topic.
Nadia Harasymowycz: There were 3 other speakers who filled up the afternoon and they spoke on Hare and Hare and limitation periods and promissory notes and the legacy of that decision. That was Ed Esposto of Blaney McMurtry. And then there was Sean Lawler of Shibley Righton spoke on damages for mismanaging trust investments. And Clare Burns of WeirFoulds spoke on the role of collaborative law in resolving estate disputes. And last but not least, we had a panel of 3 lawyers, Mr. Justin de Vries, Ms. Kim Whaley and Ms. Jane E. Martin spoke on recent cost decisions in estate litigation. So it was a…certainly a well-rounded program that gave a lot of insight to topics that are certainly relevant in estates and trusts recently.
Natalia Angelini: Right and I have a particular interest in the topic Clare Burns addressed, which was the role of collaborative law in resolving estate disputes. It’s a new thing that is coming to estates and hopefully coming to estates and where I’m excited about it. It’s definitely been underway in the Family Bar for quite some time.
Nadia Harasymowycz: I think one of the things that most of these papers had in common is how an evolving practice can really learn from, you know, different areas. And one of the things that Suzana and Terry spoke about which we’re gonna give you a little insight on today, is how using social media to improve your practice and get yourself a little jumpstart in terms of moving forward, can be helpful.
So I’m gonna give you a quick run through of her paper. And Suzana started with looking at the use of social media, and by that we mean a variety of things, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, podcasts and what-not. And basically using media for the purpose of marketing which is somewhat new in the legal field. Suzana ran through a variety of marketing techniques that worked for our firm and we’ll start with a quick synopsis of those, just in case you want to take on that challenge.
Natalia Angelini: Yeah, and for those of you out there that are sort of traditionalists and haven’t, you know, got on the bandwagon yet with this sort of, you know, new way of marketing, it really, in my view, is something that can’t be ignored. I mean, we are moving at a fast pace with computer, you know, social media advancements and it’s so helpful…we’ve found in any event…to take advantage of all the new ways we can reach out to people.
Nadia Harasymowycz: I think on that point, it’s probably important to note that where it may be a little foreign to our generation, my cousin has been on a computer since about the age of 2, fully knowing how to navigate. So as long as we can tap that for the future, we should try to do our best.
Natalia Angelini: Yeah. It certainly reflects the reality of what people, you know, are doing out there. And this is something that, you know, is definitely only gonna be increasing going forward.
Nadia Harasymowycz: Absolutely. So one of the points that we can’t forget is that when we’re using social media, we have to still hit the guidelines and the important factors of marketing. And those were outlined by Suzana and Terry with basically looking at how you start your practice. We had the good fortune of having Rodney Hull as one of our founding partners who brought a sense of leadership and knowledge and passion for the field, which is, of course, an obvious benefit if you have something along those lines. But if you don’t, learning your field is truly important and that’s part of the specialization of what we do. And I think that can be applied across any practice, whether it’s estates or family or whatever it is you want to work in.
Natalia Angelini: That’s right, Nadia. And one of the next things that we find helpful is creating a user-friendly website. We’ve created one at our firm, we maintain it and it’s really intended to provide our clients and colleagues with a strong sense of connection to our firm and it also assists with learning the product, as Nadia mentioned. We’ve got things like links that describe our practice, links that lead to our blog, newsletters, etc. And this kind of…having this kind of website really, we found, is helpful in attracting clients and colleagues and keeping them informed about not only the firm but also new things that are happening in the area.
Nadia Harasymowycz: I think you can even take that a step further and say that with all these new avenues of media available to us, it’s really about the dissemination of information. And by creating a website, you’re able to put out information that represents yourself as a firm, represents yourself as a practitioner and represents your field of practice in a way that allows others to really understand what it is that you do and how you can assist them, if you’re working in either litigation or a strictly solicitor’s practice. Either way, whatever you do, putting information out there about what it is exactly that you do, should certainly help your practice.
Natalia Angelini: Right and that sort of feeds into Suzana and Terry’s next point about giving in order to get. So by giving this information out, you end up getting…often getting other lawyers and colleagues calling you, wanting to run ideas by you. And that’s something that we welcome, and it really does help build, you know, relationships in this field as well.
Nadia Harasymowycz: It’s funny, these points keep flowing into one another but Natalia just spoke about building relationships. And that’s really the next facet of the process. You know, in maybe 20 or 30 years ago, everybody would have had something called a Rolodex on their desk, which is somewhat outdated now. But really the concept is still the same – when you meet somebody and you speak with somebody, it’s a card that gets filed in your head or in your Outlook and that’s a relationship builder so that next time you need something, you can give somebody a call. Or if a client calls and said you know I need a recommendation for so and so, you have somebody that you can go to. And that’s one of the things that social media has allowed us to do incredibly simply with functions like LinkedIn or Facebook or websites that offer information. You can certainly create a Rolodex, if you will, in a much simpler fashion.
Natalia Angelini: Right. Another thing you can do is start a newsletter. And I mean our firm started that in ’97 so it’s been quite a few years. It’s called The Probater and we publish it four times a year. And, you know, not every firm may be able to do that. I mean every firm’s got different focuses and depending on the size, you may have, you know, things you want to put more attention to than others. But we found that it’s a good tool to really get more general, sort of, solicitor-bent topics addressed and that are really of interest to a cross-section of our readers.
Nadia Harasymowycz: And I think that, you know, I’m gonna cover a few of the next points fairly quickly that were given at the seminar. But I think what they can all be covered under is the concept of knowing your audience. Knowing who it is that you want to speak to and what it is that the information they’re looking for and giving it to them. We at Hull & Hull have managed to do that with our Breakfast Series which are widely attended. And again, as a side note, have been CLE approved. So we will continue trying to get that approval for the future. But knowing your audience and getting people that are interested in your topics and hitting those points is critically important. And that has to do with using email effectively, podcasting and blogging and getting the information that is integral to your practice to the people that need that information.
Natalia Angelini: So that’s a good point, Nadia. I think we’re gonna be ready to wrap up soon. And I just sort of…you know, we wanted to leave you with thinking about, you know, the old rules and the new rules. With this new technological age, we really need to take a different approach to marketing. And you know in the old days, you could either, you know, buy expensive advertising or work your way through the media by, you know, great articles being written about you. And now, you know, we see…as Nadia and I have been saying…more attempts to reach people through web content and quality of material being published.
Nadia Harasymowycz: I think the important thing to note is that there’s lots of avenues out there that you can reach people who may be potential clients in the future or may simply be one of those individuals added to your Rolodex. But whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve in your practice, whether it’s solicitors, barristers or a little bit of both, you should take a thought or take a minute to think about what avenues of social media can help you move yourself forward. And not to forget that these new and upcoming trends are probably here to stay and that we should really embrace them.
Natalia Angelini: Yeah. Great. So thanks everyone for listening. And until next time, take care.
Nadia Harasymowycz: We look forward to hearing from our listeners. You can send us an email at hull.lawyers@gmail.com and be sure to visit our blog at estatelaw.hullandhull.com where you’ll find even more information and discussion and today’s topics and the practice of estate law. We hope that you enjoyed the show. I’m Nadia Harasymowycz.
Natalia Angelini: And I’m Natalia Angelini. Take care.
This has been Hull on Estates with the lawyers of Hull & Hull. The podcast you have been listening to has been provided as an information service. It is a summary of current legal issues in estates and estate planning. It is not legal advice and you are reminded to always talk with a legal professional regarding your specific circumstances.
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