Put Into Practice Newsletter

July 2020

Features

The Lawyer Who Heard a Strange Whisper Once there was a lawyer who woke in the middle of the night to a strange whisper. He got up and turned on the lights. He searched his house from room to room. But he couldn’t figure out where the sound was coming from. Read more

Mindfulness Without The “Meditation” Meditation has been proven to manage stress and anxiety, increase focus, and interrupt negative thought patterns. For a variety of reasons, however, many people don’t feel that traditional meditation is for them: it feels “too woo-woo” to them, that it is counter to their practice of faith, or that it is connected only to the practice of Buddhism. It needn’t be any of those things. Read more

Practice Points with Mark Scruggs: Conflicts and Confidentiality – the Bane of an Estates Lawyer Avoiding conflicts of interest and protecting the client’s confidences is a concern for all lawyers, but probably for none more so than a lawyer with an estates practice. Preparing an estate plan for a husband and wife, writing a Power of Attorney agreement for a principal naming a son or daughter as attorney-in-fact, representing an estate by and through a personal representative, all of these relationships can create ethical pitfalls that can be avoided with some forethought and planning. Read more

How Prospective Client Consultations Could Impact You — ABA Formal Opinion 492 Explained Last month, The American Bar Association (“ABA”) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released Formal Opinion 492, which explains how a prospective client consultation limits the lawyer or her firm from accepting a new client with materially adverse interests to the prospective client.  Read more

Cybersecurity Tips: Culture of Security Welcome back to our cybersecurity series! So far we have focused on strong authentication mechanisms to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.   Strong passwords, long passphrases, password vaults , and  multi-factor authentication .  These are all great ways to avoid many of the common attacks against organizations and help keep you and your clients’ information safe. Read more

Section 230: How a 24-Year-Old Media Law Safeguards Your Client’s Website Do any of your clients have websites? Social media accounts? What about online marketplaces? If your law practice works with corporations, intellectual property, brand or reputation management, startups, or any form of digital media, knowing the basics about liability for third-party content can greatly improve your ability to manage your clients’ exposure to litigation. Read more

Handling Emergency Legal Problems (HELP Team) What would happen to your practice in the event of a medical emergency? Who would take care of your cases and clients? What about if your law partner unexpectedly retires – or dies? HELP is available. Lawyers Mutual’s HELP team is experienced at Handling Emergency Legal Problems. Visit the HELP Team Website

Upcoming Events

In an effort to do more during this work reset caused by the pandemic, we are pleased to offer LM insureds a FREE Summer CLE Series on timely and relevant topics impacting the legal profession. Event details for the Zoom meetings are below. We encourage you to invite your staff to participate in these programs as part of their professional development. Thanks for your time and consideration. We hope you join us for these programs! Diversity Equity & Inclusion Series All programs are 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM except for July 15th which is 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. July 15, 2020 – Recognizing and Managing Implicit Bias with Gracie Johnson-Lopez of Diversity & HR Solutions (Completed) August 5, 2020   – Diversity Equity & Inclusion Strategies for Law Firm Management with Julie Beavers of Lawyers Mutual and Monica Webb-Shackleford of Webb Shackleford PLLC  Register Here   August 20, 2020  – Productive Conversations about Diversity in the Workplace with Monica Webb-Shackleford of Webb Shackleford PLLC  Register Here

Financial Strategy Series All programs are 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM.   July 28, 2020 – Managing Your Firm’s Financial Health During Uncertainty with Tom Boyle of TrustBooks (Completed)   August 18, 2020  – A Primer on Fees, Billing and Collections with Camille Stell of Lawyers Mutual Consulting & Services  Register Here   August 26, 2020  – Guide to Using Software to Manage Your Firm Financials and Trust Account with Tom Boyle of TrustBooks   Register Here

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Let Us Know How We're Doing Lawyers Mutual is embracing a new decade with new excitement. Review us on Google! For every review we receive from January-October 2020, we’ll donate $10 to the Food Bank of N.C. Scroll down until you see the Write a Review button on the screen. On a computer browser, this will be on the left side of the screen. On a mobile device, this will be on the right side of the screen. Thank you for your feedback! Review Us

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