Category Archives: Law Practice Management

Duties, Education, Law Practice Management, Media, Privacy, Privilege, Security, Social Media, Technology

Upcoming Presentation: Calbar Solo & Small Firm Summit: “The Mobile Lawyer & Professional Responsibility: Confidentiality in the Digital Age”

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I didn't intend for this blog to be a billboard for all of my 'stuff', but lacking much time these days, that's what it's been lately.  Since I'm already on a roll, I might as well tell you about a new program I'm presenting at the Calbar Solo and Small Firm Summit in Long Beach, California.  The Summit runs from June 20 – 22, 2013 and my program (#19) is entitled: 

The Mobile
Lawyer & Professional Responsibility: Confidentiality in the Digital Age

Friday, June 21, 2013 
1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m.

Lawyers
are open for business 24-hours a day. 
They communicate via Twitter & Facebook, on smartphones, tablets
& notebooks – in coffee shops, taxicabs, airports and on airplanes.  This program reviews recent COPRAC opinions
addressing technology and provides tools to protect confidences and privacy for
both attorney and client.

Hope to see you there!

Books & eBooks, Education, Law Practice Management, Strategy

Shameless Plug Alert: The California Guide to Growing & Managing A Law Office

Grolo2 Cover - Cropped
I heard rumors that people who preordered the book were starting to receive their copies and now it's official.  The book is out.  Obviously, you should buy several copies for members of the entire family as holiday gifts.  After all, what better time to share the knowledge than on, say, Memorial Day weekend?

But I'm not pushing…not…pushing…

Cases of Interest, Education, Law, Law Practice Management, Metadata, Privilege, Scope, Security, Spoliation, Strategy, Technology

The Exchange – San Francisco Wrap-Up


MP900387819Today's General Counsel Institute (Formerly the Executive Counsel Institute) held the San Francisco stop of their "eDiscovery for the Corporate Market" series, nicknamed "The Exchange".  Prior to this, I'd only attended in Los Angeles – and only the first day – but I was on a couple of the panels this year, so attended the entire one-and-a-half-day event.  The moderators for this location were Browning Marean III, Robert Brownstone and David Kessler.

This format is still working for me, folks.  The roundtable approach and ability for all attendees to participate is simply a great way to info-share, and as I've mentioned in prior summaries, the vendor attendees do not overpower the conference with blatant pitches.

Most importantly, I learn something new every single time I attend; and that's the point, isn't it?  Let me share with you the sessions that were covered this year:

  • Polling the audience (Pain points, role, expected outcomes)
  • Data security, social media and the cloud (with a healthy portion of BYOD included)
  • Dealing with challenges of legal holds
  • Recognize/reconcile the ethical and contractual tensions that can arise between I/C, O/C and providers
  • Importance of day-to-day processes, management skills, swimming upstream, info management and governance
  • Effective and efficient project management
  • Recalibrating the program – unaddressed issues
  • Resources and tools
  • Search technologies and forward thinking

And most importantly, several coffee breaks…

Every flavor of eDiscovery professional is represented at these conferences, from lawyers to techies to support staff; and each brings to the (round)table their real-world perspective of what they see on a daily basis.  Practical information, not theory!

I encourage you to check it out the next time the conference is in your area.

Education, Implementation, Law, Law Practice Management, Science, Scope, Strategy, Technology

ReInventLaw Silicon Valley: GoldenState & the Three Bears

RILSC 2013
What the hell was that???

I’m speaking of the all-day ‘experiment’ (that’s what I’m calling it), ReInventLaw Silicon Valley 2013 conference this past Friday.  Is that a criticism?  Not at all.  This was the kickoff event of a collaborative effort; law students, professors, technologists, investors, inventors, attorneys and everything in-between, all convening in one place (The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, to be exact) to talk about the future direction of law practice.  Approximately 40 speakers in all.  You read that right; 40 speakers in a single day (enough to make an LPMT Chairman cry).

And what did we see?  Good talks, bad talks, decent talks, shameless sales pitches, moderately-shameful sales pitches.  Terrible speakers with outstanding messages, outstanding speakers with terrible messages & mediocre speakers with mediocre messages.  Speakers who went on too long, speakers who didn’t go on long enough and speakers who were juuuust right (yes, this was the LPMT-equivalent of the Three Bears…).

And of course, live streaming Tweets hosted on a PC with an IP-address conflict (DHCP, my friends; old school!).  There were funny tweets about there only being five ties in the room (I happened to be one of them).  My response was to create the hash tag, #thesmartesttiesintheroom.

In other words, I had a great time!  It’s very easy to criticize something like this, I suppose, but the organizers were able to land many hard-to-attain speakers while simultaneously coaxing approximately 350 people (by my rough count of how many actually showed up vs. the 500 tickets that were distributed) to convene in one location for a healthy exchange of ideas.

I gotta go…my porridge is getting cold…

eDiscovery California, Education, Law Practice Management

Upcoming Presentations: eDiscovery Fortunes & the San Francisco Exchange!

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Beware the Ides of March…(or technically, four days afterward)…

March 19, 2013 – 1:00 P.M. to 2:00 P.M.:  I'm presenting a co-branded webinar for both the State Bar of California's LPMT and Intellectual Property Law Sections, entitled: "Discover
a Fortune Hidden in a Computer: A Practical Guide to E-Discovery".

As we know, depending on the results of any forensic exam, it might result in misfortune for one side or the other.

March 26, 2013 – 8:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.:  I'm also delighted to be added to the faculty of Today's General Counsel's, "eDiscovery for the Corporate Market", aka "The Exchange".  On the first day, I'll be one of the moderators of two panels; Session 2: "21st Century Considerations: Data-Security, Social Media and the Cloud", and Session 6: "Effective and Efficient Project Management".

I'm surrounded by some impressive heavy-hitters on this one and as I've stated in the past, I really like the roundtable approach, which fosters great participation and discussion (which is why I was happy to join the faculty).

Hey, at least I didn't say, I liked it so much, I bought the company…

California Lawyer, Criminal Liability, Duties, Education, Implementation, Law Practice Management, Scope

Calbar Looking at Limited Law Licenses: It’s all about Standards

MP900341927An article in the February 2013 issue of the California Bar Journal states that the Calbar Board of Trustees is examining the possibility of creating a class of "limited-practice licensed" individuals.  Among the reasons provided as the catalyst (e.g. lower cost to consumers, path to eventual Bar passage), ostensibly, the Board also believes this would circumvent instances of unauthorized practice of law (UPL).  UPL (Rule 1-300) falls outside of the Bar's jurisdiction and is normally addressed as a misdemeanor charge via a criminal complaint.

A form of certification already exists within the Bar (or at least, it used to), called "Certified Law Clerk".  I know it well because I was one when I worked at the L.A. County D.A.'s Office during law school.  From memory, some of the criteria to be certified included being a 3L and having already passed the Evidence course, among other things.  Certification allowed me to perform more duties than a standard law clerk.  Obviously, I see some benefit to the idea.

However, I also see detriment, and the first one that comes to mind is expectations.  What level of expertise will a client of this class of legal professional believe they are – or should be – receiving?  Who will guard the line between limited-practice and unlimited practice to ensure that the provider doesn't cross it?  Who is at fault if the provider doesn't meet the standards the client believes they should meet?

Is a new tort called "Limited-Malpractice" going to spring out of this plan?  Will it ultimately 'dilute the brand' of what being a lawyer means?

Considering that I'm Chair of the Law Practice Management and Technology Section Executive Committee, if this new class is ultimately created, my Excom will likely be front and center during the implementation process.

Either way, I'll say this; the Board has their work cut out for them!

California Lawyer, Duties, Law Practice Management, Media, Social Media, Technology

Calbar Formal Opinion Interim No. 10-0001 (Social Media/Attorney Advertising) is Now Formal Opinion CAL 2012-186

MP900423020Happy New Year!  Some of you may recall when I wrote about this proposed opinion back in early June.  It addresses when a social media post by an attorney might cross the line from a statement to an advertisement, thereby triggering additional state bar rules.  In late December, apparently with little fanfare, the opinion was formalized as CAL 2012-186.

California Lawyer, Law Practice Management, Miscellaneous, Technology, The Bench

AB 2073: eFiling Requirements for Orange County, California Superior Court – Effective 01-01-13

MP910220916Happy New Year, All!  I've been taking a little bit of a break from blogging, combing social media, etc.  However, this tidbit on AB 2073 crossed my path yesterday.  I'm posting the information verbatim from the Orange County Superior Court website:

PUBLIC EFILING NOTICES:  Effective January 1, 2013, pursuant to amendments
to Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6 and Orange County, California
Superior Court Rule 352, all documents filed in limited, unlimited, and complex
civil actions must be filed electronically unless the Court rules otherwise.
After January 1, 2013 any document that is electronically filed with the court
after the close of business shall be deemed to have been filed on the next
court day. “Close of business” means the time at which the court no longer
accepts filings at the court’s filing counter (e.g., 4:00 P.M.). Although not
ready for immediate implementation, the court is working towards extending the
electronic ‘filing window’ to midnight, at which point all documents filed
before midnight on a court day will deemed to have been filed on that court
day, and documents electronically filed on or after midnight will be deemed
filed on the next court day.

Cost, Duties, Education, Implementation, International, Law Practice Management, Metadata, Privacy, Privilege, Sanctions, Scope, Social Media, Strategy, Technology, Zubulake

Summary of Executive Counsel Exchange – Day One

Last week, I attended day one of the Executive Counsel Exchange in Los Angeles, as has been my custom the past three years.  Just to clarify, this conference is sometimes referred to as the Executive Counsel 'Institute', but the actual program is called, "The Exchange" and the theme is, "e-Discovery
for the Corporate Market".

This year, the primary moderators were Browning Marean III of DLA Piper, my old pal Robert Brownstone of Fenwick & West and David Kessler of Fulbright & Jaworski.  This is one of my favorite programs because it's a roundtable.

The reason this particular conference is so beneficial is that attendees share their day-to-day experiences confronting the many eDiscovery challenges we know so well.  I've always considered the practical much more important than the theoretical – mostly because people, situations and budgets don't tend to comport to the (IMHO) wishful thinking that appears in many overly-optimistic project plans.

Take a look at the agenda.  If these look like the kinds of issues you see, think about attending.  The next event will be held in late March in San Francisco.

California Lawyer, Education, Law Practice Management, Management, Scope

CalBar Board Committee of Member Oversight Clarifies Definition of Acceptable MCLE


MP900403638As I wrote on July 24th, 2012:

"The State Bar of California Board Committee on Member Oversight seeks
to amend the definition of what qualifies for proper MCLE credit in the
state of California.  Apparently, some confusion has arisen regarding
whether CLE programs may only contain substantive law versus whether they may encompass other ares of law practice and/or law practice management."

On November 15th, 2012, the Board of Member Oversight voted to amend the education standards in MCLE rules 2.52(A) and 3.601(A), effective January 1st, 2013.  To be specific, they voted to change one
word, as illustrated below:

“The activity must relate to legal
subjects directly relevant to members of the State Bar and or
have significant current professional and practical content.”

This is great news for MCLE providers in the State of California – and my Law Practice Management and Technology Section, specifically – because effective January 1st, 2013, we may provide to you,
State Bar membership at large and the public:

  • Topics related to business or financial management of a law firm;
  • Topics
    related to law office operation, including but not limited to facilities, staffing,
    systems and equipment;
  • Topics
    related to creation and improvement of legal case work and work flow
    management, including time management of attorneys and support staff, and
    delegation of responsibility;
  • Topics
    related to the competent delivery of legal services and/or the establishment
    and maintenance of effective law office management;
  • Topics
    related to communications by and between attorneys and support staff
  • Topics
    related to the use of computer and/or Internet technology in the practice of
    law     or the management of a law office    .
  • Topics
    related to the lawful and ethical management of a law office’s financial
    accounts including client trust accounts.
  • Topics
    relating to lawful and ethical client fee agreements, fee sharing and referral
    arrangements.

My favorite is highlighted; considering this is a law technology blog, of course.  It's a win-win for all concerned.