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Ethics - page 4

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Productivity, Technology

Calculating Dates: Trust, but Verify

Lawyers often need to count days between dates to determine deadlines. A recent discussion on Twitter revealed several tools, some built right into your computer, which can help with this particularly important task. Since deadline related errors are the subject of disciplinary complaints and malpractice claims it is important to get this right! While you can use free tools to…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Marketing, Microsoft Office, Productivity, Security

Tips from the CPM ICYMI Newsletter (October- December 2020)

Every week subscribers receive the ICYMI enewsletter from the NCBA Center for Practice Management. The newsletter highlights tips, tools, trends, and techniques to help your law practice. Following are a few popular quick tips from past issues of the newsletter. Microaggressions Look Different When We’re Working Remotely Part of being inclusive includes understanding and avoiding microaggressions. This article looks at how to…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Security

Three Ways to Securely Share Documents Electronically

You send and receive documents electronically with clients. Many documents. You have considered what is in the document, such as sensitive, privileged, and confidential information, and how to protect it.  What workflows for securely sending/receiving documents balance ease of use for you and your client with adequate security?  You do not necessarily need any new technology, just use what you…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Financial Management, Productivity

I Need Some Help! Virtual Assistance for Law Firms

Feeling a little overwhelmed? Do you need some help but not ready to hire full time or part time in your firm? Whether it is getting bills out, reviewing documents, getting the phones answered, or responding to clients there are many services for law firms that can help! Choose from contract attorneys, virtual assistants and paralegals, virtual receptionists, marketing, and…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Financial Management, Productivity, Technology

The Lowdown on NC Lawyers Taking Credit Cards

There has been a repeated refrain during the pandemic regarding the importance of getting the bills out and getting paid. One bit of advice that is constant is “take credit cards”. But what should a NC lawyer know? What are the options and ethics to consider? Are there other types of e-payments a lawyer can take? Why Take Credit Cards?…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Marketing, Social Media

Law Firms, Ethics, and Use of Social Media

Many law firms have embraced the use of social media, such as Facebook, to connect with potential clients. Individual lawyers use platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to share and communicate. With in-person networking and gatherings at a standstill, more firms and lawyers are looking at social platforms to reach out to clients and potential clients. What ethics issues should be…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Productivity

Your Firm Cookbook: Why and How

Does your firm document its processes and procedures? Having a firm “cookbook” has many advantages, from on-boarding new team members to identifying opportunities for improvement. Documentation can help with business continuity and succession planning. Many firms may have a Standard Operating Procedures manual, but is it easy to find and update? A three ring binder back at the office is…

Center For Practice Management, COVID-19, Ethics, Security, Smartphones

Somebody’s Watching Me

Many lawyers and legal support staff are working from home, using their laptops, personal smartphones, and online video conferencing to stay connected. These services and devices have features that may be listening and collecting confidential information. Other devices in the home, like webcams, smart TVs, voice-activated assistants, and Internet of Things (IoT) connected hardware, may also be listening. While you…

Center For Practice Management, Ethics, Marketing, Search

Responding to Negative Online Reviews

Your law partner emails you over the weekend and asks, “did you see our Google Reviews?” Not knowing that you even had Google reviews you surf over to find that not only does your firm have 2 out of 5 stars average, but 2 of the reviews are scathing and incorrect. You want to respond and make it clear that…

Center For Practice Management, Cloud Computing, Ethics, Productivity, Technology

Killing Time or Billing Time?

Recently a partner at a firm in Boston was suspended for overbilling. While by all accounts, she was an excellent lawyer and her clients were happy with her work, the methods she used to create her time entries were “inadequate, careless, rushed and error-prone” according to the decision by Justice Frank Gaziano of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The attorney…