Overview of the ALA Conference 2025
The Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) is a professional organization with more than 10,000 members in 30 countries. It serves as the primary support and educational network for legal management professionals. Founded in 1971, the ALA helps its members lead and managing law firms and other legal service organizations. The Association of Legal Administrators Conference 2025 will be the legal industry’s largest gathering of professionals dedicated to the advancement of legal management . The conference will be held in Seattle, Washington and will feature keynote speeches from legal industry experts, general sessions and roundtable discussions, hands-on workshops, and more than 70 different learning opportunities. Designed for legal management professionals at all levels, the conference will arm attendees with the resources and knowledge they need to become leaders in the legal field.
Important Dates and Location Info
Explore the 2025 Association of Legal Administrators Conference
Mark your calendars for one of the most anticipated events for legal management professionals—the Association of Legal Administrators Conference, which will be held biannually in 2025. This premier industry event is set to take place from May 16 to May 19, 2025, promising to be an invaluable opportunity for networking, learning, and growth within the legal management community.
The association is thrilled to announce that the 2025 conference will be hosted at the Nashville Music City Center, located in the heart of downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Nestled among some of the city’s best restaurants, bars, and local attractions, the Nashville Music City Center boasts 350,000 square feet of column-free exhibition space and is equipped with over 80 meeting rooms, offering a grand and convenient space for the conference’s exhibits, keynote speakers, and breakout sessions.
The decision to hold the 2025 conference in Nashville was not made lightly. The Music City offers a unique blend of professional opportunities and cultural experiences, making it an ideal location for attendees to both work and play. With its reputation as a vibrant business hub and rich cultural heritage, Nashville is sure to be a memorable setting for the upcoming conference.
Stay tuned for more information as the 2025 conference date approaches. Whether you are a legal administrator, a law firm manager, or someone who simply wants to expand their professional horizons, the Association of Legal Administrators Conference is the event for you!
Featured Speakers and Workshops
One of the biggest draws for 2025 Association of Legal Administrators Conference is the speakers and workshops. This year’s lineup features some of the most prominent names in the legal profession. The Keynote Speaker will be Ellen Petry Leanse, a Stanford University educator and high tech innovator. Leanse has worked with companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook and her keynote address "How to Design Your Life" is expected to capture the crowd. Legal admins will be excited to learn that her focus will be on success strategies in work, life and transitioning proficiencies between the two.
Vice President of Education at Association of Legal Administrators, Bob Wiltfong is also set to return. Wiltfong will cover "Resolving Conflict: Using Emotional Intelligence to Engage in Difficult Conversations" in a workshop that promises to give attendees the information they need to better handle even the most difficult conversations that come with the day to day duties of running a legal practice.
For a more international flavor, Roger Smith, Director of the Justice Gap Campaign in London, will also speak at the conference. His talk "Innovating Access to Justice: Learning from Around the World" will cover how to address unmet legal needs. There will be talks on the latest information technology, including "Law Firm Computer Security and the Keys to Protection" and "360 Degrees of Data: A Full Picture of Your Law Firm’s Performance."
There will be a number of practical workshops covering everything legal administrators want to know, including how to develop better leaders for the future, both within your law firm and the profession in general.
Opportunities for Networking
Attending the Association of Legal Administrators Conference in 2025 offers a unique time and place for its members and potential members to engage in networking opportunities that may well help accomplish their shared goals. From the outset of the Conference, there is no shortage of opportunities to interact with other legal administrator professionals that administrators can take advantage of to learn from the successes and failures of others. One way of making the most of your time in New York City is to seize the opportunity to meet as many people as possible.
Program sessions also have ample opportunity for conversation between administrators to discuss industry developments and events. While workshops can be highly informative, the opportunity for direct interaction with peers and colleagues is also important to a successful conference experience. The Planning Committee for the Conference has even managed to provide a specific session on the meeting of various professional administrators groups to discuss a variety of topics.
Another way that the Conference makes it easy to meet professional legal administrators is that attendees will be setting aside time to interact with one another. For example, the opening reception allows everyone in the conference an opportunity to interact with one another.
This is all complemented by lunches and receptions that are organized by the Association of Legal Administrators. Such events also make it easy to exchange information with other professionals in the field.
Registration Process
To register for the 2025 Association of Legal Administrators Conference, simply visit the official website at www.alanet.org. On the conference webpage, you’ll find a dedicated section titled "2025 Conference" which will provide instructions on how to register online. The process is straightforward, and you’ll be guided through various steps to provide your personal information, preferences, and payment details.
Keep an eye out for the early bird registration rates that will be available soon after the page is launched . Taking advantage of these early bird rates can lead to significant savings compared to regular ticket prices. By registering early, you can also ensure that you get a spot at the conference and have access to any additional special events that might require tickets.
For those who are looking for a deeper dive into the conference details, the committee has prepared an information video to give you an overview of the upcoming event. Everything will go live once the conference page is activated on www.alanet.org.
Sponsors and Exhibitors
All of the ALA 2025 Conference partners and exhibitors provide important services and products that help law firms operate efficiently and effectively. They also play a key role in the ALA Annual Conference by hosting the Welcome Reception on Sunday evening, breakfast every morning, and the Closing Event. The conference would not be the same without them. We are also fortunate to have the outstanding sponsorship of CATS at our conference. Every year Cincom delivers excellence with their support of our event. They also provide educational sessions each year that are well-received. When you visit the CATS booth, you will experience their champions’ commitment to serving, and you can also learn about their latest innovation—the CATS Predictive Legal Analytics Software.
Highlights and Previous Successes
For the 2025 Conference, a Focus on Building on Successes of the Past
Envisaging the future highlights of the Association of Legal Administrators conference 2025 allows for a discussion on what has proved successful at past conferences. For instance, many notable highlights have emerged as recurrent themes at former conferences.
Networking opportunities have been both a highlight and a theme. The legal field is notoriously insular, and the ALA has built an environment that seeks to break down these barriers and promote information exchange. This has been seen in past successful themes within the conference, including the emphasis on recognizing the "business" in legal business by empowering legal management professionals with the skills necessary to lead their firms’ management and development teams effectively. At the same time, the significance of "wellness" in all aspects of life has gained traction in discussion at past conferences. This has also become a recurring theme, including over the course of past conferences.
Successful past conferences have repeatedly focused on business opportunities. For example, at the 2015 conference in Phoenix, Arizona, ALA built networking opportunities around Business of Law: A Professional Services Map to grow "distributed professional services," which helped legal administrators grow their firms and expand their skillsets. This was also seen in 2016, where networking opportunities and an emphasis on the "business" in legal business was available. The 2016 conference took the concept of "access" further by including a section on "Five Simple Strategies to Grow Your Firm Through the Power of Professional Networking." This could be expected to feature again in 2025, when expanding beyond one’s firm and building on successes of the past would be seen as a theme and highlight.
For the 2018 conference held in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada, the conference theme was "Vital Leadership – Inspired Minds," highlighting an emphasis on effective leadership in a law firm environment. Effective leadership has been shown to have a similar effect in developing a business partnership, which meant opportunities for networking were high. Leadership-focused conferences often pair well with leadership development opportunities, which led to additional opportunities for cohesiveness across the conference theme. The 2018 conference also included "wellness" as a focus and theme with "Mental Health Awareness Month" being observed in May of the same year. Mindful moments were made available to conference attendees, further promoting the concept of "wellness" in all aspects of life. This is likely to prove a consistent feature of past conferences, likely to be repeated in 2025.
The 2025 conference on the Association of Legal Administrators Annual Conference promises to reimagine the success of past conferences, including an emphasis on leadership, the business of law, wellness, and networking opportunities to expand beyond one’s firm and consider broader business partnerships.
Attendee Feedback and Insights
"Attending the conference is one of the best business decisions I make every year. I know it will pay for itself ten times over."
"The Association of Legal Administrators conference is always full of outstanding break-out sessions , excellent keynote speakers and the general camaraderie among the participants is inspiring."
"I always walk away with ideas that I can implement that same week."
"Every opportunity to network with other administrators is priceless. I look forward to attending each year."
"Seeing old friends amongst the 1,200+ attendees and establishing new business relationships is a must for every legal administrator."
"The knowledge I receive from colleagues and vendor reps is invaluable."
