The PLTG is an organization of legal application trainers from law firms and consulting agencies in the metropolitan New York area. The PLTG is dedicated to exchanging cutting-edge information, ideas, and experiences to provide support to, and improve the performance of, the legal training community.
Over two decades ago, encouraged by his supervisor and driven by a hunch that others in the legal community had the same need, legal application trainer Dennis Holly acted on a vision of a support group for legal technology trainers. At a time when the pace of changing technology was rapidly increasing, trainers found their roles becoming more complex. Dennis believed that gathering together people of similar backgrounds and needs would produce a forum to discuss how other trainers in law firms were handling the demands of training lawyers, secretaries, and staff in the core applications of a law firm.
In October 1991, Dennis founded the Professional Legal Trainers Group (PLTG). At the first meeting, 15 law firm trainers met for a discussion and planning luncheon. At that time, Dennis was a WordPerfect 5.1 trainer at Whitman & Ransom (now Winston & Strawn). The founding members of the PLTG instantly saw the value of discussing their roles and exchanging methodologies for training and decided to continue meeting on a monthly basis.
Over the next several years, Dennis guided the activities of the group as it steadily grew. Member firms would take turns hosting the burgeoning organization. Most meetings in the early years were luncheons. The group produced by-laws, formed a steering committee comprised of the officers, and established a series of monthly meetings and annual events that helped attract and nurture the membership.
Today the PLTG boasts a membership of over 175 individuals, representing over 50 law firms, legal departments, and technology training & support vendors in the tri-state area. Members include trainers, training consultants and training & support managers, as well as other individuals from information technology departments in metropolitan area law firms. The second Friday of each month (except for August and December), members meet at a breakfast meeting to address a wide range of topics facing the legal training and support industry. A planning meeting is held in January to ensure that meetings will address current topics of interest to members for the year.
In this forum, members share technical and strategic information about new technologies, software and training. Vendors and speakers make presentations at the host law firm or meeting place, and panels or roundtable discussions of migrations, training programs, and the latest technical innovations are scheduled throughout the year. The steering committee meets monthly and is responsible for maintaining the focus and direction of the group.
The original focus of the group continues to be the thrust of the PLTG today:
A forum for trainers and vendors to share information about the fast-changing legal environment.
A support group for the constantly changing trainer’s role and the law firm’s expectations for meeting new requirements for training and support.
An open exchange where members share best practices as well as war stories.
An opportunity to share the many features of a variety of software applications used in the legal community.
Focused presentations from guest speakers, panels, and vendors on training-related topics and products.
An annual IT Directors' panel discussion.
At the tenth anniversary meeting of the PLTG in October, 2001, Dennis was given a plaque recognizing “his outstanding vision and leadership.” Thanks to his vision, the PLTG continues to address the needs of those professionals in the training and support field at law firms and legal departments in the New York metropolitan area.
Dennis’ family and friends, our industry and the world lost a great leader, mentor, and friend in May 2014. Dennis Holly was a true renaissance man, a strong believer in the power of teamwork, and someone whose positive can-do attitude made our organization possible. In his honor we post his obituary as a special remembrance of our founder and first president.
