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Client relationships are central to a successful legal practice, whether the client is an individual, corporation or your employer. Strained client relations can soon lead to law society complaints and claims of malpractice; therefore, lawyers must constantly work to build and maintain effective working relationships with all their clients. The starting for clearly established client relationships is the engagement or retainer letter. There’s no doubt that Sending a letter is easier than defending a Malpractice Claim. Basic principles of keeping your clients at the centre of your legal practice are set out in Client Service 101. On some files, it’s harder than others to keep things civil. Five Things Lawyers Hate to Hear Clients Say focuses on avoiding conflict with your clients. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
Craig Ball, a U.S. lawyer, computer forensic examiner, law professor and noted authority on electronic evidence, recently rewrote his primer on backup systems, focused specifically on lawyers and law firms. In his blog post, Luddite Lawyer’s Guide to Computer Backup Systems Ball notes that although there has long been a call for lawyers to learn more about how information technologies work, that call has largely remained unanswered. His focus in this primer is on understanding backup technology for purposes of electronic discovery, but the information he provides is also important to lawyers setting up their own office backup systems. Given the prevalence of ransomware targeting law firms, having a reliable and accessible backup system has become more important than ever. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
Most lawyers accept and understand that planning whether on individual files, or in respect of business sustainability, is a critical process in maintaining their legal practice. But fewer lawyers actually implement what they know about planning in their day to day work. The post Band Aid Planning reminds lawyers that action is required and that the time for planning is now, and provides some specific suggestions for how to get started. A more detailed approach is found in The Power of Planning. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
The value of consistent use of checklists as a risk management tool for lawyers cannot be overstated, as set out in Loss Prevention Bulletin #230, Checklists for Lawyers. Checklists are useful not only during the course of a retainer but also when you are closing your files. If you’re not sure what you should include in your file closing checklist take a look at: The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
Because law office technology continues to develop and change, the tools you carefully evaluated and purchased five years ago may no longer be the best or most appropriate for your practice. These recent posts address why you might want to update your tech tools and provide some assistance to law firms considering an upgrade: The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
Clear and effective communication is a necessary tool in the risk management toolbox. You have a professional responsibility to be civil in all your communications, but you also need to know how to handle difficult conversations, whether with angry clients or fuming colleagues. These recent posts each contain valuable communication tips for every lawyer: The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
The latest issue of CLIA’s Loss Prevention Bulletin (Winter 2016, No. 65) explores the idea of intentionally incorporating redundancies into your practice management systems as an effective tool to manage risk, particularly in the area of tracking limitation periods. The issue also includes an article on the practical use of checklists and suggests lawyers would do well to incorporate the practice of using checklists into their legal processes. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
There are many sources for reliable risk management resources for law offices. One of the most reliable in terms of quality of content is the Attorney at Work Daily Dispatch. The recent three-part series on the topic of avoiding chaos and getting a grip by Dustin Cole exemplifies the consistently helpful content you can expect from this collaborative blog:
The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
For lawyers practicing in Nova Scotia, whether permanently or under mobility rules, the latest LIANSwers newsletter contains an important article on the still relatively new provisions of the Limitation of Actions Act in that province. Missed limitation periods are a common source of malpractice claims and as such, changes in legislation in this area are particularly critical for all who advise on potential litigation claims. Two recent posts by Jay Reeves on the Byte of Prevention Blog from Lawyers Mutual are also worth a close read. In the post, Risk Management and The Martian, Reeves uses the recent movie, The Martian, as jumping off point for a discussion on basic risk management techniques. Reeves addresses the classic “head in the sand” approach to difficult news in his post, Ignoring a State Bar Letter Will Not Make it Disappear. A simple substitution of “law society” for “State Bar” will make this post completely relevant for Canadian lawyers. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
The topic of lawyers’ mental health is the focus of the latest issue of CLIA’s Loss Prevention Bulletin now posted online. In Lawyer Stress 101, Doron Gold outlines some of the causes of stress unique to lawyers and provides useful tips to combat those stressors. The Canadian Lawyers Insurance Association provides loss prevention information solely for the benefit of CLIA insured lawyers. The content and links provided in Loss Prevention eBytes are intended as resources to qualified lawyers who should exercise due care and their professional judgment in adapting or making use of any content.
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