Aug 22, 2011
THOMAS D. BERMAN
Professional Profile
Background
Before to forming BERMAN & ASSOCIATES in 1991, Mr Berman was Director of Law Firm Services for a San Francisco firm of CPA’s where he developed their law firm consulting division. Prior to that, he had over twenty five years of experience in the operation and management of law firms and corporate law departments.
Experience
Mr Berman’s background includes over forty years of service to the legal profession. He has substantial experience with the Partnership agreement itself; its form, structure and how compensation is made. He has written and lectured widely on the subject. His experience includes consulting in matters such as mergers and acquisitions, start-ups and dissolution. He is knowledgeable as to all phases of partnership and shareholder structure including partner/shareholder inclusion, departures, liability, partnership roles, lateral hires, and retirement issues.
Mr Berman has himself been responsible for the development and orchestration of a modern law firm. He is conversant with appropriate hardware and software choices, particularly related to billing, data base development, on-line information retrieval, accounting and general administrative functions.
Focusing on excellence in Practice Management and on Professional Liability issues, he developed a unique Risk Management Services Program of law firm Reviews for the insurance market which utilizes a Copyrighted Ten Point Program of Excellence. The Firm has been used nationally by Lloyds and other Insurers and directly by law firms, for over eleven hundred such Reviews. This work has included involvement with firms that have experienced errors and omissions difficulties as well as those that have not.
Among others, Mr Berman has lectured for both John P. Weil and Company and the Institute on Law Firm Management, University of Michigan. He has presented numerous Continuing Legal Education programs on the Risk Management side of law firm practice management. He has served on many different panel discussion (the latest sponsored by the Beazley Syndicate (Lloyd’s of London) as well as a panel discussion of issues pertinent to the Intellectual Property law practice. He has also lectured on other subjects as diverse as Strategic Planning and Managing the Multi-Office Environment. He presented a “first of its kind” program on Risk Management, sponsored by the California Continuing Education of the Bar as well as in-house training for well over a hundred firms.
Publications
Mr Berman has written for the California State Bar Journal, Managing Partner Magazine, ARK Publications (U.K.), the Practicing Law Institute, the National Law Journal, Today’s Business Lawyer (American Bar Association), Legal Economics, Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association, the American Lawyer, the San Francisco Lawyer, Business Insurance, as well as the San Francisco Recorder and the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He is the author of the book: Managing Your Professional Liability Insurance, (updated 2008) and maintains a weekly Blog of legal issues.
GRANT PRITCHARD, Associated Member
Before joining B & A in 1993, Grant had over thirty years of experience in the management of law firms as well as CEO of a nationally known food services corporation. Grant has a Masters Degree in Business Management and is an Adjunct Professor of Business at the University of California. He’s a Member of American Bar Assoc., American Academy of Management (International Membership), and Society for Business Ethics and Visiting Professor at Keller School of Management. He has managed firms of over two hundred attorneys and has worked with hundreds of law firms around the U.S. His specialty is business planning and orchestration and he has worked with many firms in organizing their year-end planning conferences and/or facilitating those planning sessions.
DEMETRIUS DIMITRIOU, Special Counsel (Ethics of the Practice)
Jim has been in the practice of law for over forty years and during that time has specialized in the Ethics of the Practice and in Law Firm Practice Management. He has Chaired both in California and for the ABA, Sections on Practice Management and Ethics. His writings include articles and special materials on these subjects and others. He has several books to his credit and is the Editor of several California Continuing Education of the Bar publications including a Law Office Manual for the Small Firm and the California Forms Manual.
HEIDI HIBSER, MBA, CPA (Accounting and Finance)
Heidi has been a CPA for over twenty years and has worked as the CFO and/or Manager of Finance for several law firms and other professional organizations. She specializes in the Accounting, Billing and Collections arena and has started and managed accounting departments as a Consultant from B & A. Heidi is located in our Santa Rosa, California office.
DOV FISHEL, (Practice Management/Turn-Around Specialist)
Dov is a specialist in business organizations and management with related degrees in those fields. As a “Turn-around” specialist with crisis management experience, he is particularly good in working with law firm clients who have had severe internal issues such as fraud and theft. He is a problem solver of the first rank who is able to step into a management role, help re-organize and re-structure the firm, then return reins of management back to the principals of the firm. He is head-quartered in Chicago, Illinois and works on assignments throughout the Midwest part of the U.S.
ROBERT MOEN, JD, CPA (Systems, Computerization, BLOGS)
Bob has worked for over thirty years in the field of computers, management and accounting. He has degrees in law and accounting and was formerly a CPA himself. He has worked with law firms and other professional services in computerization and management since before the PC and has managed organizations in the field of law and insurance. Bob is located in Las Vegas, Nevada.
MICHAEL METHUEN, Special Counsel (Intellectual Property)
Mike has been a law firm administrator for over twenty years and was formerly a patent agent. He spent almost a decade in the management of a large Intellectual Property law firm and is a specialist in the management of that arena. His knowledge and expertise includes IP Docketing for which he is considered an expert. He is located in New York State and works on special assignments for B & A.
AUSTIN ANDERSON, Anderson Group, Affiliated Firm Member (Michigan)
Austin essentially invented the Continuing Education of the Bar idea and began the Program against which most are measured at the University of Michigan in 1970. His Programs at the Michigan ICLE have been well known and respected for years and he in the grand master of lawyer training. He has worked with B & A for over ten years.
