Our name may be different but our Core Values are a constant.  This week we are celebrating six Core Values Awards recipients who are being recognized for their demonstrated commitment to the qualities for which ALM would most like to be known.  As you can see, our winners come from throughout the company and work in many different areas.  But all are joined by their committment to Quality, Integrity, Teamwork, Innovation and Trust.  Please join me in celebrating their accomplishments and congratulating them on their awards.

1. Celisia Dawes, Courthouse Clerk, Daily Business Review, West Palm Beach  

Since she was hired Celisia thoroughly demonstrated the core value of quality to improve a business procedure. She identified a huge potential problem and tackled it from day one of her employment. As courthouse clerk one of her job responsibilities is to pick up all new cases filed and bring the legal notices back to the office to be prepared for publication. In the past once the notices were dropped of with the legal supervisor that portion of the job was done. However, because Celisia also compiles for publication what is called the "3 Column Foreclosure List" she gets a copy of all the Notice of Sale legal's. Celisia started to see that there were quite a few duplicate notices, legal's with information missing or copy that was not clear. She took upon herself to review all of the new cases she was picking up from the courthouse in detail and then started to alert the court staff of the duplication problems, missing info and unclear copy of some of the legal notices. This new process she put into place has saved the DBR a large amount of revenue by not duplicating the publication of legal's or having to re-run legal's because of missing exhibits.  

2. Julie Liew, Associate Editor, Verdict Search, New York

Julie demonstrates the core values of quality, integrity and teamwork in all of her work which was a large factor in the decision to promote her from reporter to associate editor last year. Julie leads by example and works hard to develop her team members by spending a lot of time working with directly with them. Under her management she has been able increase the amount of case reports produced by her team while at the same time improving the quality of those reports.  Julie is a tremendous team player. She's always willing to help others, and whenever her manager has an emergency task for the editors as a group, she is one of the quickest to respond. Julie has helped everyone that she manages and works alongside, and she has helped the department by increasing productivity during a period in which every dollar counts.

3. Debra Mc Loughlin, Case Digest Editor, New Jersey Law Journal, Newark

Debra received two core value award nominations for exemplifying the core value of teamwork. As a case digest editor she has had to take on a heavy workload to cover a staff shortage due to a leave of absence. Debra has had to take over many new digesting responsibilities. There are days where she gets as many as 20 cases to edit but she never complains and always gets the job done. She is remarkably quick at editing cases, frequently getting the work back to the assistant editor to proof the very same day it was issued. The management of the Law Journal feel very fortunate to have Debra as a valued team member.

4. Martin Refsal, Art/ Photo Assistant, National Magazines, New York

Martin used the core values of quality, innovation and teamwork to improve business procedures and increase productivity and efficiency. His position as the art/photo assistant is a tremendously multifaceted position requiring the ability to keep track of all the administrative details as well as all the art that goes into each publication. No matter what task, problem or puzzle comes his way Martin is on top of it instantly and always brings it to resolution, usually improving the methods in the process. An example includes when his team made the move to 120 Broadway, they were split from their manufacturing/production colleagues. This meant that liaison work with the pre-press vendor that was previously done by that group could have fallen through the cracks. However, Martin stepped forward and took it upon himself to be responsible for all contact with the vendor and for trafficking and shipping the pages, previously done by manufacturing.  Similarly, when the team lost a photo editor who left the company, Martin stepped in and took on many of her responsibilities so that work would continue without interruption or loss of both continuity and quality. He continues to set an example for everyone with his dedication and commitment to quality. Martin is totally committed to the position he fills, to the magazines and to the company.

5. Michael Scarcella, Reporter, National Law Journal, Washington, D.C.   

Michael Scarcella was nominated by a team of his coworkers because of his selfless dedication to The National Law Journal where he consistently demonstrates the core values of quality, integrity and teamwork.  As a reporter his time is divided between writing for the weekly print publication and writing for The Blog of Legal Times with continuous updates of D.C. legal news.  Contributing to both publications is essential, though the demands of one can sometimes override the other. However Michael is able to strike a balance because of his ability to plan ahead and stay organized with his beat.  He keeps meticulous track of upcoming oral arguments in cases, and he never misses the release of an important decision from one of the courts he covers. Mike's planning ensures that there is a steady amount of content to draw on if another team member is looking for a quick blog post. Mike sets high standards for his work. He rarely has an error in something he writes, and he frequently checks back with his sources to confirm even the smallest detail. He is also a generous colleague, readily helping out new staff members as they try to learn the databases. Mike's hard work and commitment to quality make a significant difference in the outcome of our publications and, by extension, the satisfaction of our readers.

6. Stefan Thieme, Data Entry Representative, Customer Service, New York 

The core values of teamwork and quality are something that Stefan demonstrates on a daily basis. Much of Stefan's work has helped to increase productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. Stefan is consistently in the top tier of performers in his volume of data entry with accuracy that is unmatched. Stefan also serves a trainer for new hires and their go to person for advice and assistance in their data entry and customer service. Stefan manages all the interruptions graciously and still manages to do his other work. With the company acquiring the New Jersey Lawyer, and merging Legal Times into the National Law Journal this past year Stefan helped the rest of the staff understand these changes in relation to how to handle customer service. Also, as the department converted to a new version of fulfillment software they were asked by the vendor to do exhaustive testing of all data entry processes. Stefan identified many areas for potential improvements, tweaks, enhancements and simplifications for the vendor.  Because of his data entry expertise and his IT knowledge he also assumed a very active role in solving system slowness, participating in several webex sessions with the vendor and IT to track down possible reasons and solutions.  Many of those issues have been solved thanks in large part to Stefan's work.