Get Your Hand Out of My (Law Firm's) Pocket!

"Get Your Hand Out of My Pocket" is the title of a great  blog post on law firm financial controls by the Alabama Bar's Laura Calloway. As many of you know, Laura was the Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2009. Too many small law firm lawyers feel that they know and trust each other so well that they do not need strict financial controls. As a former U.S. President once said, "Trust, but verify."

Closing the Client File

My July 2009 Lawyers USA column is Closing the Client File. I hope this column is useful to all of you and would encourage you to forward the link to others. This is an extremely important topic and I think it is key to close the client file properly with the ultimate destruction of the file in mind.

Do FTC "Red Flag" Rules Apply to Law Firms?

UPDATE: The FTC announced this week that it will delay enforcement of the Red Flags Rule until November 1, 2009.

A new Federal Trade Commission rule proposes requiring businesses to have a written plan to identify and respond to "Red Flags" indicating possible identity theft.  Failure to comply may result in several government sanctions. Many feel that these should not apply to law firms and the American Bar Association has communicated that belief to the FTC.

Here's an article from the Ohio Lawyer with more details about the rule. But the date is almost here and, according to the FTC, if the lawyer regularly defers payment for services performed the rule applies. The FTC told the doctors the same thing. So if you tell a client they can pay their bill late because their home was just destroyed a few federal rule applies to your firm? I'd hate to guess the meaning of "regularly" for most law practices.

The good news is that the legal profession has long protected the confidentiality of client information. The bad news is that this is so deeply ingrained in the DNA of law firms that the required written documentation may be sparse and identity theft issues may present a somewhat different risk.

Maybe the answer is to reduce to writing the many protections of our clients' confidentiality we already have in place.

Judith D. Equels, Director of The Florida Bar's Law Office Management program, has these observations:

"Here are some tried and true tips for preserving client/matter confidentiality and file security from the annals of good old fashioned law office policies:

• No one should have access to personal information in a client/matter file except those assigned to work on the file. Who has access to your client files?

• Visitors, guests, clients, maintenance staff, janitorial staff, repairman and vendors should not be allowed to roam the office without being accompanied by a firm employee.

• Consider making offers of employment contingent on a clean criminal background check.

• Grant weekend and after hours access to the firm's offices to only those who must have 24-7 access. Keep an accurate record of those with access privileges, and review it regularly.

• No files are ever removed from the firm's premises without specific written authorization from an owner of the law firm. If a file must be taken out of the office, must it be the whole file?

• It is important to verify the identity of new clients. Also, during the course of the work, it is often necessary to verify and/or hold client's personal information. Use a checklist that risky information has been collected/verified. Redact the working copy for the file, and lock up the originals, or the full copy if the original was returned to the client. This would include birthdates, SSN's, DL numbers, birth certificates, passports, medical files, banking information, tax returns and the like.

• No one enjoys the task of putting up files at the end of the day, even though we know we're supposed to secure them. Just do it! This may mean installing a lock on the lawyer's private office door.

• Buy a shredder/shredders with enough capacity to handle the job for your firm's needs.

• Imaged files are more easily protected, but then how secure is the firm's file server? Are sensitive drives password protected? Does the firm change the password frequently? And, is access to the backup media adequately protected?

• Most lawyers and law firm employees have remote access to the firm's information, are there limits and boundaries in place to prohibit access to sensitive client/matter information? What is an employee capable of downloading on a laptop, from his/her PC?

• Never send a client's personal information to be copied at a commercial copy service center.

• Never release a file to another lawyer without obtaining the client's written permission.

• And, finally, here's a really old policy, but it works: If an employee's workspace is in the common area of the law firm, papers are turned face down when not actively working on same, and these papers/files are secured at the end of the day."

I think Judith has a lot of great points and I appreciate her letting me share them in this space. If you want help preparing documentation, the FTC has also placed a form online for businesses at low risk of identity theft. It is a six page fill-in-the-blank form.

Law Practice Today "Suddenly Solo" Issue: Great Resource for the New Lawyer as Well as Newly Solo Lawyer

Many lawyers are finding themselves in the position of opening a law practice due to circumstances that were not entirely voluntary. The July, 2009 edition of Law Practice Today has the theme Suddenly Solo and it is a great collection of articles and links to many online resources. This webzine is an incredible resource for new lawyers starting a practice as well. Let's spread the word about this resource. Blog it, Tweet it. Link to it. And, most importantly, take a few minutes to e-mail the link to any lawyer you know who may be in the process of starting up a small firm practice.

The link above is to the current issue of Law Practice Today. As we say in blogging jargon, here is the permalink: http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/archives/july09.shtml This should be good for years into the future if you want to add the link to a website. 

Between the articles and the linked resources contained in this issue, a lawyer can invest hours of reading, study and planning their future here.

I'll note that Allison Shields and I contributed 50 Web Resources for the Suddenly Solo Lawyer. It was great working with Allison.

This month's Digital Edge podcast features Sharon Nelson and me interviewing Ross Kodner on the topic of How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times. Look for a new book from the American Bar Association with that title coming very soon. 

But there are many other great articles. The volunteers of the editorial board of LPT have done a great job this month, as have my fellow contributors. Now it is time to do your part and spent a moment or two sharing the link with those you know.and encouraging them to pass it along.

(UPDATE: Fixed bad links. Sorry about that.)

New ABA Book: Effectively Staffing Your Law Firm

"Effectively Staffing Your Law Firm" was just released by the ABA General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division. It addresses an important area of law firm management from the smaller firm perspective. I made a modest contribution to the book with a chapter on "Care and Feeding of the Law Office Staff." You can see the table of contents and read the first chapter here.

"In only ten television seasons, Murphy Brown went through some ninety-three secretaries. L.A. Law's McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak had Benny Stulwitz, the mentally challenged office worker. Real-life California lawyer Edward L. Masry had Erin Brockovich. And, of course, Perry Mason had Della Street. So, who's helping you get the work done?

"Every lawyer in a solo or small firm likes to think that only those who've taken the oath and been admitted to the bar are at the helm, but the reality is that the engine driving the office is the staff." --- jennifer j. rose, Editor, *Effectively Staffing Your Law Firm*

Heading off to Oklahoma Bar Solo and Small Firm Conference

Lawyers from all across Oklahoma are heading out to the Oklahoma Bar's Solo and Small Firm Conference today. It is a great event with lots of fun and great CLE presentations. If you are not able to attend, you can read about the details here and see the complete list of programs (PDF) here. If you aren't from Oklahoma and don't have a solo and small firm conference in your state, you can use these links to start lobbying for one. We are happy to be hosting three "world class" CLE presenters in Irwin Karp, Ross Kodner and Nerino Petro. A good time will be had by all and our attendees will go home with some great information to put to use immediately. I hope my friends in Missouri enjoy their Solo and Small Firm Conference as well since it is being held at the same time.

GPSOLO Mag "Small" Issue is Big Hit

I meant to mention this earlier. The GPSolo Magazine for April/May 2009 has a theme of "small" and a lot of great material worth reading. From small marketing ideas to small town practice to representing small business, this issue certainly delivers. I deem it a big hit. Of particular note are two features: How the Little Stuff Can Get You in Big Trouble by Paula J. Frederick, deputy general counsel for the State Bar of Georgia, and Shake Big Savings from Small Practice Management Ideas by my friend and colleague, Reid Trautz of the Association of Immigration Lawyers of America. The Frederick article should be required reading in law school ethics classes as an entertaining, real world example of the slippery slopes a lawyer can encounter by not paying attention to details.

Matt Homann's E-book: Thinking About Law Practice in 140 Characters or Less

Bob Ambrogi once called Matt Homann the "Confucius of the legal profession." 

I've known Matt for several years, so long ago that it was back when his blog, the [non]billable hour, used to discuss alternative billing. I congratulated Bob on that characterization because Matt does provide a lot of information in a form that would fit perfectly if you read it after cracking open Fortune Cookie [Lawyer's Edition.]

So it is no surprise to learn that Matt loves Twitter with its 140 character limit. Yes, Matt tweets -- a lot. But for those of you who don't follow Matt on Twitter, (Matt would want me to add -- yet!) he has summarized his 100 favorite tweets about law practice into a free e-book: Thinking About Law Practice in 140 Characters or Less. Some are fun. Many are insightful. But you cannot read all 100 without thinking seriously about your law practice client service model. One Sample: "Firing bad clients doesn’t put them out of their misery, but it puts them out of yours."

Enjoy! 

It is Hard to be Objective About a Great Resource like BlawgWorld

Today I feel obligated to heap great praise and give an unqualified endorsement. I think TechnoLawyer’s BlawgWorld is superb. In particular I think it is a great resource for the busy practicing lawyer. Let me explain.

It can be tough being a lawyer in this, or any other, economy. Representing clients, completing projects, handling administrative responsibilities and staying current on one’s legal subject matter issues is the proverbial full time job. But in all but very large firms, where a narrow focus is still possible, a lawyer also has to be aware of technology issues, some management issues, time management, marketing and more. The days have long passed where a lawyer can be ignorant of issues like metadata, possible waiver of attorney client privilege by sending to a client’s work e-mail account, electronic discovery, the need for data backup and many other important matters.

If you are reading this blog post, you know there is lots of helpful free information about many practice management issues available online. But who has the time? That’s where the current generation of BlawgWorld fits our needs. Each Monday we can receive an e-mail with a selection of the greatest hits of technology and practice management related content selected from the last week of legal blog posts and online editions of several other publications. And that’s the first reason this is so great. In this day of disappearing newspapers and shrinking press rooms, with BlawgWorld, we can all benefit from the seasoned editorial judgment. Neil J. Squillante and his team at TechnoLawyer invest their time reading lots of blog posts and articles. And, even though you could visit the sites individually, receiving it all packed in an e-mail is very convenient.

BlawgWorld is concise, with just the post titles (or a description) and the links. There are lots of links, but you can scan all of the week’s selections in just moments. This lets the busy lawyer select and read one or two articles each week. (But don’t blame me or the Technolawyer gang if you end up reading many more.) But every week, you can painlessly devote a little time to reading about current emerging issues or how to improve your practice. You can decide if you have five minutes to invest or twenty. You can see a sample issue online here. I do have a personal interest in that I want BlawgWorld to stay just like it is—because it works for me!

I could say more, (spotlights brighten, background music rises) but you just need to believe. So….. I want you to stand up, and come forward, and click on this link. It’s time, brothers and sisters, to subscribe to BlawgWorld. What’s the risk? Just one more e-mail a week. You can easily unsubscribe after a few weeks if you wish. But as a lawyer (or other legal professional), I think you will really enjoy BlawgWorld.

Would you like to work for you?

"Would you like to work for you?" is the question asked in my latest Lawyers USA column. And, no, the answer is not "depends on what I could pay me."