Paul Unger is a lawyer, speaker, and author in the field of legal technology. He has lectured in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Contact Unger at punger@affinityconsulting.com.

If you get 150 emails, 50 messages, 20 telephone calls, 15 walk-in interruptions, 25 social media notifications, and 50 email or internet curiosity breaks, that totals 310 digital interruptions. Divide that into 480 workday minutes and you have an interruption every 1.5 minutes! 

A 2025 Microsoft study indicated the average American worker is interrupted every two to three minutes — 275 times a day — by meetings, emails, or chats during core work hours.¹ Researchers in a 2007 Microsoft study concluded that it takes about 15 minutes to return back to work following an electronic-based interruption.² 

If lawyers are interrupted every two minutes, and it takes 15 minutes to return back to work they were performing, it can feel almost impossible to get anything done during the workday. This is why you may look at your timesheet some days at 5 p.m. and see only two hours of billable time, but feel like you put in a 14-hour day. 

The reality is we live in an age of information overload. We are constantly connected to the world, from smartphones, social media, 24-hour news networks, tablets, and computers. Unfortunately, this constant information overload may worsen our attention span. 

Between document filing deadlines, meetings with clients, case law research, and other tasks, an interruption every couple of minutes could greatly hinder a lawyer’s ability to effectively practice law and serve their clients. 

One way lawyers can help overcome the inability to focus is by learning attention management skills. Here are five attention management tips you can implement today that are easy, practical, and will make a big impact on your ability to focus and practice law. 

1. Turn off ALL notifications 

Why would you want to give the world a hotline to your brain? Turn all notifications off, and I mean all of them. 

In Microsoft Outlook, email notifications can be turned off by navigating to “File” > “Options” > “Mail” and deselecting the four different methods of notifications when a new message arrives. On an iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications and turn off notifications by app. As a recent Microsoft article notes: “The inbox may still be the front door to work, but too often it opens to a flood of unprioritized chaos.”³ 

You can also schedule “Do Not Disturb” times on your phone and computer to limit the texts, calls, and other notifications you receive. 

2. Practice single-tasking 

Clear your desk and your multiple monitors of information that is not directly relevant to the project you are executing. 

For example, email creates distraction explosions every 30 seconds to five minutes. How can lawyers possibly focus if they see those explosions hit in their inboxes? You should always minimize your email platform on your monitor unless you are batch processing emails or planning upcoming tasks.

Just because you have two or three monitors doesn’t mean you need to have something displayed on them, especially if the information displayed derails your ability to focus on the task in front of you. 

3. Use the Pomodoro method 

Pomodoro is a technique that utilizes a 25-minute timer. You work on a single task, preferably deep-thought work, for 25 minutes and then take a break and do whatever you want for five minutes. In other words, work in intervals. 

The human brain functions well when maintaining attention to a single task for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, studies show workers begin to lose focus. By giving yourself a five-minute break, you can return to deep-thought legal work for another 25 minutes easily. 

Once you get a little momentum going and are immersed in the project, it becomes a lot easier to make progress on the task at hand. 

This technique can make a huge impact on productivity and help combat procrastination. 

4. Tackle deep-thought work early in the day 

Dive into deep-thought work, writing, or projects in the morning. Our brains function better following quiet time or sleep. In addition, this is theoretically the time before other tasks pop up throughout the day that could derail your attention. This can be one of the most productive times of the day since there could be far fewer interruptions. 

5. Create rituals 

Rituals are small checklists or short rigid schedules designed to execute the same desired tasks during a set period of time. Rituals can help form positive habits and prevent you from taking email or internet curiosity breaks. They also remind us to do things we frequently forget. 

By adding rituals and checklists, lawyers can greatly enhance their ability to focus and do those things that seem to always fall off their radars. 

By implementing these five attention management tips, lawyers can take back control of their workdays, make progress on their to-do lists, and continue to serve their clients in a timely and ethical manner.

Endnotes
1 MICROSOFT, 2025 WORK TREND INDEX ANNUAL REPORT: 2025: THE YEAR THE FRONTIER FIRM IS BORN (April 2025), https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/2025-the-year-the-frontier-firm-is-born.
2 Steve Lohr, Slow down, brave multitasker, and don’t read this in traffic, N.Y. Times (March 25, 2007), https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/25multi.html.
3 Breaking down the infinite workday, MICROSOFT (June 17, 2025), https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday.

Jeffrey Schoenberger is a senior consultant at Affinity Consulting Group LLC.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. According to a Forbes Advisor survey, 97% of business owners believe tools like ChatGPT will help their businesses.¹ At the American Bar Association’s TECHSHOW in March, there were more than 15 sessions about AI.² And yet, lawyers continue to make headlines for citing cases that never existed — because an AI platform confidently made them up. 

That contrast tells us something important. AI is powerful, but it is not magical. Like any other tool in your firm, AI can help or hurt depending on how — and where — you use it.

The goal is not simply to “use AI,” but instead to leverage AI effectively in certain situations, with minimal risks and maximum results. 

Start with the right model 

Different AI tools generally serve different purposes, and many can outperform traditional search engines when you want an answer that synthesizes several sources. Below are five “general-purpose” AIs and how they may help your firm — without using them for legal research or analysis. 

• ChatGPT has become a household name and excels at more general inquiries like brainstorming, outlining, and producing first drafts.
• Claude tends to be more cautious, more structured, and better with long inputs. It is less “salesy” and more deliberate.
• Google Gemini has the advantage of access to Google’s ecosystem and your stored data.
• Microsoft Copilot shines inside Microsoft 365 — summarizing email threads, manipulating Excel data, and helping draft responses in Outlook or Word.
• Perplexity combines AI summaries with citations, which is helpful for market research, tech evaluations, and comparisons. 

These tools are not designed to do legal research or final-form legal writing. Treating AI platforms as substitutes for legal judgment is how lawyers could end up embarrassing themselves — and worse, explaining themselves to disciplinary authorities. 

The safest and most effective approach is simple: 

• Use AI for administrative work or for early drafts in areas where you are already knowledgeable.
• If you can confidently spot errors, omissions, or bad advice, you are in the right territory. 

Example 1: marketing 

Many lawyers know what they want to say but dread sitting down to write it. Marketing content, such as blog posts, newsletters, and social media, often stalls out at the blank page stage. 

That is where AI earns its keep. 

In this example, start by asking ChatGPT for ideas. The quality of the results depends on the prompt.

An OK prompt: “Give me ideas for social media posts for an estate planning firm.” 

A better prompt: “I am the owner of a solo estate planning firm. I primarily work with single mothers, and I am a single mother myself. I need ideas for blog posts aimed at single mothers who do not yet have an estate plan.” 

Specific context produces better output. Once you find an idea you like, ask ChatGPT for a draft. If the draft misses the mark, tell it why and ask for a rewrite. 

You will still need to edit and factcheck. But if writer’s block is your bottleneck, AI can get you moving. 

Rule of thumb: If something feels wrong, fix it. If you are unsure, verify it or remove it. 

Example 2: writing email responses 

Not every email requires legal analysis. Many require clarity, tone control, or a nudge toward action. 

For example, Copilot can help by drafting a response based on your instructions: “I need to follow up politely but firmly and ask the client to respond.” 

That differs from asking for legal advice. Used this way, Copilot may save time and reduce friction. 

This can work particularly well for re-engaging clients who have gone silent for months. Sometimes the hardest part is figuring out what to say and how to say it. AI can help you get over that hump. 

Example 3: drafting firm policies 

Policies are another area where AI can provide leverage without undue risk. 

For example, suppose you want to formalize a work-from-home policy. You already know the rules: 

• Two days remote per week
• Three days in the office, and
• Two weeks’ advance notice for planned remote days. 

Feed that information into ChatGPT and ask it to draft the policy. You will likely receive a surprisingly thorough draft covering objectives, eligibility, approval processes, communication expectations, equipment, security, and acknowledgments. 

Will it make assumptions? Yes. 

Will it include things you do not want? Probably. 

But reviewing and refining a draft is far easier than starting from scratch. It may also surface issues you had not considered. 

A critical rule: Always start fresh 

One final operational note that matters more than people realize: When you switch topics, start a new chat in the AI platform. 

Reusing an existing conversation confuses the model and degrades output quality. Treat each task as a clean slate. You will get better results faster and with less frustration. 

The takeaway 

AI is neither a silver bullet nor a ticking time bomb. It is a productivity tool — one that rewards clear thinking, good judgment, and appropriate boundaries. 

Start by using it where the stakes are low and your expertise is high. That is how you can transform your legal practice using AI without becoming an example in an ethics presentation.

Endnotes 
1 Katherine Haan and Rob Watts, How Businesses Are Using Artificial Intelligence, FORBES (April 24, 2023), https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/ software/ai-in-business. 
2 American Bar Association, TECHSHOW, Chicago, Ill. (March 25-28, 2026), https://www. techshow.com.

From St. Louis to Kansas City to Springfield and across the whole country, one issue that seems to unite lawyers is this: We’re not great at billing our clients.

We didn’t go to law school to learn how to become bill collectors, and my school certainly didn’t offer many “how to run a law firm” management courses. So, when and how exactly are we supposed to pick up the details on invoicing?

Because of this, many firm owners learn receivables by trial and error (legal pun intended). With that in mind, here are a few billing tips and tricks to help along the way:

Three tried and true billing tips for Missouri law firms
1. It’s a mental game.

Clients come to you at some of the worst moments in their lives. The least lawyers can do is be predictable in our billing schedule.

Clients shouldn’t be waiting months to receive an invoice, and sending bills sporadically doesn’t foster confidence (or trust) between you and your client. Whether you bill monthly or on another cadence, the key is consistency.

A practical rule of thumb: send invoices around the 4th of every month. If the client gets paid on the 1st, their paycheck has likely cleared by the time your bill arrives, making yours one of the first bills they’ll pay rather than something that gets pushed to “later.”

2. The call is coming from inside the house (yes, you).

Often, the real reason firms fall behind on billing is simple: hours don’t get logged. We’ve all been there; waiting until the end of the month to input time, only to realize we’re trying to reconstruct an entire month of work like it’s a missing evidence timeline.

The problem is that it’s nearly impossible to recreate every billable increment for a month. We forget details. You log six hours for a day that happened two weeks ago, but you know you were at the office for ten. Now you’re losing revenue for the firm — and for yourself.

You and your staff need a rule for tracking time. Ideally, this happens daily, but weekly is more realistic for many firms.

And if you have a few “problem children” at your firm who struggle to track time consistently, consider adopting Smokeball’s Autotime feature. It runs in the background and tracks what you’re doing and for which matters.

3. It’s time to join the modern day

Lawyers are not always known for being early adopters of change, but if there’s one place where modernizing pays off quickly, it’s billing.

It’s time to adopt technology that can automate the most frustrating parts of the process. Your firm administrator will thank you. Your future self will, too.

That means using software like Smokeball, which lets you:

— Print prebills in bulk (and separated by lawyer)

— Automate invoice creation

— Send bills to clients all at once — without going case-by-case

Instead of manually pushing invoices one matter at a time, you can press a button, and your bills go out in a batch.

And if you bill hourly, it’s also worth thinking about adopting an evergreen retainer policy, which can also be automated with the right system.

Bottom line for law firm billing

Billing doesn’t have to be the headache it was back in the day. Technology exists now to make it easier and more consistent.

Try it and give yourself one less thing to chase at the end of every month.

Trust accounting and billing software by Smokeball

As a member of The Missouri Bar, you get access to Smokeball’s trust accounting and billing software at no cost, valued at $588/user/year, to help you manage your trust accounting compliantly and bill easily. Click on this link to access your software: https://bit.ly/mobarbill-blog-0226.

Jordan Turk is a practicing lawyer in Texas and Smokeball’s director of education and attorney development. Smokeball is cloud-based legal practice management software. 

Jeffrey S. Krause is a senior consultant at Affinity Consulting Group LLC.

Jeffrey R. Schoenberger is a senior consultant at Affinity Consulting Group LLC.

For lawyers, relationships are not just important — they are fundamental to success and longevity. While most of the business world uses customer relationship management software, the legal industry has been slow to adopt it, despite the undeniable importance of relationships in legal practice. 

This slow adoption represents a missed opportunity. CRM software can provide essential tools for lawyers to track important information about the people they meet and turn that information into mutually beneficial business relationships, helping foster strong, long-lasting connections. 

Keep track of facts 

You know the names of your client Sally’s spouse and children, her hobbies, favorite sports teams, and so on. Knowing that Sally’s spouse is Jim, she has a son, Thomas, in high school who plays volleyball, and she enjoys building ships in bottles has no bearing on legal work for her small business. But, of course, it’s courteous, it could be interesting — maybe you like ships in bottles, too — and it builds connections and rapport. 

For basic facts like these, you don’t need a heavyweight program. David Rockefeller, chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation, did it all with Rolodex cards.¹ 

Whether you use Apple or Google Contacts, Microsoft Outlook, or just a folder with text files in your default notes app, capture the relevant information in a way that makes sense to you. Complexity can hinder, especially if you value mobile access. 

In Apple Contacts, for example, in addition to name, phone, email, and address, it includes a “related name” field. Based on the example above, you could add two related names and relationships: “spouse” for Jim and “son” for Thomas. The related name field can hold whatever you like. Instead of just Thomas, you could write “Thomas (volleyball; middle blocker).” It’s just a text field. Outlook contains a similar feature. 

What about hobbies (ships in bottles), business wins, or other news Sally shares? You will find contact apps limiting. You could use a combination of the notes fields and a TextExpander snippet to keep a log of events, as one example. Suppose Sally said September was her business’s first month of $200,000-plus sales. You could open Contacts, click in the “note” section, type the date, and then type “first month of over $200,000 revenue.”

Whether it’s Apple Contacts, Outlook, or a cross-platform notes app, this system travels with you.

Use facts for business growth 

What the above-described system offers in simplicity, speed, and mobility, it sacrifices in flexibility, reporting, and automation. For example, to us humans, “court clerk,” “ct clerk,” and “clerk of courts” are the same person or office. Not to a computer. If you wanted to create an email list of everyone you noted talking to about an issue with the court clerk’s office, it’d be a mess to pull together because the data isn’t “sanitized.” You’re looking at a labor-intensive process to assemble an email list. 

Programs like Clio Grow, Lawmatics, and HubSpot provide organizational structure, reporting, and communications tools that humble contacts apps cannot match. Fullfledged CRM programs manage all stages of recruiting a new client or a new matter for an existing client. Suppose Sally wants to buy the building she currently rents for her business. You would create a new matter in Lawmatics (or an intake in Clio Grow) and add Sally as the contact. You can now track all interactions with Sally in persuading her to hire your firm to handle the commercial real estate purchase. 

CRM software tracks matter stages such as new lead, under review, engagement agreement, and retained. Each matter contains a calendar-centric timeline where you can add notes, schedule appointments, track emails, assign tasks, and send and receive documents. 

These capabilities may remind you of practice management software. While there are similarities, significant distinctions come in reporting and marketing tools. The more you use the CRM software, the more you can report on — for example, what percent of commercial real estate prospects greater than $500,000 become clients. Or how many inquiries resulted from an educational event you held at the community center. Or the average estimated value of clients who hire you versus those who do not. Where do you see the best return on your time? Does reporting show that Sally introduces you to lots of individuals who become clients? 

This is where CRM software shines. Lawyers traditionally market in one of two ways. One way is loud. They broadcast their name in any way they can, obtain a large number of leads, and hope that some are of sufficient quality. The other way is to quietly rely on word of mouth. Not as many leads come in, but they tend to be of higher quality. Unfortunately, neither of these methods are very targeted.

CRM software allows you to identify patterns you might miss and take advantage of them. If you market loudly, is your television ad working as well as your radio ad or your billboard? Which timeslot is working best? If you market quietly, what patterns can you identify in your best referral sources? Which sources are providing you with the best referrals? What patterns exist in those referrals and the work you do for them? This type of information lets you put your marketing dollars to work where they are most effective. 

Where practice management software focuses on handling matters for clients, CRM software focuses on the steps from prospect to signed client. In our example, once Sally agrees to representation on the purchase, a CRM tool like Lawmatics can send an engagement agreement template for her to electronically sign along with an option to pay any retainer. It can then transfer the collected information to practice management programs. 

Get started

For facts and mobility, start with either Apple Contacts or Google Contacts. Both support related names and notes. Google Contacts also supports user-defined fields. Each is accessible from the web. 

For a complete CRM solution, look for one that connects with your practice management system. A robust integration will save you time as you turn more tidbits into leads into clients.

Endnotes 
1 Joann S. Lublin, David Rockefeller’s Rolodex Was the Stuff of Legend. Here’s a First Peek. The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 5, 2017), www.wsj.com/articles/davidrockefellers-famous-rolodex-is-astonishing-heres-a-first-peek-1512494592.

The Missouri Bar and Smokeball recognize the important role solo and small firms play in every local community. By providing Smokeball Bill at no cost, all members of The Missouri Bar will now have access to a user-friendly software solution that ensures trust accounting compliance and simplifies billing.  

“By providing Smokeball Bill at no cost to all Missouri Bar members, we hope to assist them with running efficient and compliant law firms so they can even better serve their clients,” said Shelly Dreyer, 2024-2025 Missouri Bar president.

Manually managing trust accounting can lead to compliance errors and malpractice claims. Smokeball Bill makes it simple for members to easily comply with trust accounting regulations. The software also helps firms send and collect invoices and bills.

“By providing Smokeball Bill software, which typically costs $588 per user/per year, at no cost to Missouri Bar members, we aim to enhance the resources accessible to the legal community as a whole and to the clients they serve,” said Jane Oxley, CRO and co-founder of Smokeball.

This is Smokeball's 14th no-cost product partnership with a state bar, following the announcement of partnerships with state bars including the State Bar of Texas and the Oklahoma Bar Association. To learn more about Smokeball’s no-cost product offering with The Missouri Bar or to sign up, please visit www.smokeball.com/missouribill.

About Smokeball - Smokeball is your partner to drive your law firm into the future. As the industry's leading cloud-based legal practice management software, Smokeball empowers you to run your firm specific to your area of law. Our platform gives you all the insights and tools you need to work smarter, not harder: automatic time tracking and invoicing, streamlined workflows for your specific practice area, a library of over 20,000 standard legal forms and documents, and actionable reports. Smokeball is a member benefit of over 20 U.S. bar associations. Learn how to run your best firm at smokeball.com.

About The Missouri Bar - The Missouri Bar was created in 1944 by order of the Supreme Court of Missouri. Its mission is to improve the legal profession, the administration of justice, and the law on behalf of the public. Through educational programs, publications, and more, The Missouri Bar serves as a valuable resource for members — and for the citizens of Missouri.

Ask the average person how lawyers differ from their neighbors and one answer you’re likely to hear is, “They speak a different language — legalese.” Sadly, that perception is not wrong. 

In contrast to other professions, lawyers tend to cling to the language of the past with a seemingly unshakeable tenacity. This includes contracts that announce themselves with “WITNESSETH,” references to “the said minor child,” and the dreaded “here” family (herein, hereinabove, heretofore, hereby, etc.). There are dozens of examples of archaic, outdated words and phrases that lawyers use, erecting barriers to comprehension and unnecessarily requiring clients to ask what documents mean. 

How is it that these words from the distant past persist, and what can lawyers do to break the mold and give clients separation agreements, sales contracts, leases, trusts, pleadings, and a host of other documents written in language they can readily understand? 

How and why 

First — the how and why. My own theory, based on personal experience and nods of recognition when I’ve outlined it to other lawyers, has to do with our first experiences as “baby lawyers.” 

Law school graduates possess lots of knowledge about the law of contracts, torts, trusts and estates, property, and other substantive areas. They have learned how to read cases and statutes and how to find the law. Frequently, however, they have little knowledge about how our profession is practiced in the real world. 

When my first employer asked me to draft a PDL motion (a motion pendente lite for temporary orders in a family law case), I had no clue where to begin. Recognizing my confused look, he quickly found an example and handed it to me. “COMES NOW, THE PETITIONER,” it began, so I duly inserted the relevant information from the case I was assigned into the old motion. That document became my template for future motions. And since the motion closed with, “WHEREFORE, Petitioner prays,” that phrase appeared at the end of every pleading I drafted. “That’s the way it’s done,” I thought to myself. 

It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to visualize the same scene occurring when my boss began his life as a lawyer and his first employer similarly handed him examples to rely upon for drafting pleadings, contracts, and other legal documents. 

Another likely contributor to outdated writing style is a lawyer’s fear of risking a bad outcome from using untested language. Some lawyers may think, “If it was good enough for other lawyers, it’s good enough for me,” or, “It’s what the judge expects.” 

So, if a lawyer in 1940 wrote a contract stating, “NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises and other good and valuable consideration herein expressed, the sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto agree as follows,” modern lawyers may fear that changing that lingo will jeopardize the contract’s effectiveness.

Write how you speak 

In “Legal Writing in Plain English,” Bryan Garner, editor of “Black’s Law Dictionary,” offers lawyers a simple suggestion: “If you wouldn’t say it, don’t write it.” 

Consider giving those outdated templates a much-needed refresh. Read them carefully and consider whether the average person would understand the language. If you, a highly trained professional, are struggling with any of the words or the convoluted syntax, your clients may have trouble making sense of the document. 

Constantly ask, “What does this word or phrase add to the document?” If the only answer is “Because it’s always been there,” take it out. Once you’ve decided you need to make changes, where should you begin? Here are a few suggestions for streamlining your documents so clients can understand them: 

Assume document will be attacked by that lawyer 

You know the one — the lawyer who twists words in a sufficiently plausible way that you will have to respond, and your client will have to pay you while you try to convince a judge that your words meant what you intended them to mean. If you start with simple, modern language and sentences, you are setting yourself (and your client) up for success from the beginning. 

Jettison the jargon 

No statute or rule requires pleadings to open with “Comes now…” Get rid of the formulaic language and replace it with the simplest possible version. Instead of, “Petitioner, by and through counsel, for her Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, states and avers as follows,” change it to, “Petitioner, for her petition for dissolution of marriage, states:,” for example. 

One easy change that will immediately make documents clearer is to give “herein” the heave-ho. Every time a contract refers to a proposition “stated herein,” I ask the question, “In what?” Does that mean in this paragraph? In this section? In this document? In the pending action? While in most instances, the answer will be clear from context, lawyers can eliminate all possibility of misinterpretation with a few clarifying words like, “as stated in this [paragraph/agreement/section].” 

Once you get rolling, you will discover other ancient hangers-on that can be thrown in the trash forever. “Wherefore, Plaintiff prays” becomes, “Plaintiff therefore requests.” “In witness whereof the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned,” becomes simply a blank preceded by the word “Date.” You get the idea. 

Say it once 

“Null and void.” “Cease and desist.” “Indemnify and hold harmless.” 

Some lawyers believe the notion that saying something twice is the legal equivalent of double bagging at the grocery store. Remember the basic contract principle that each word in a contract is to be given meaning. By saying something twice, a lawyer may give another lawyer the opportunity to insist to a judge that the two terms have distinct meanings.¹ Pick one. 

Also, eliminate “belt-and-suspenders” numbers. Perhaps when lawyers handwrote contracts, they needed to spell the number out and then put the numerals in parentheses: “three hundred twenty-seven (327).” In a typed document, though, there is nothing ambiguous about “327.” You will, however, create unnecessary ambiguity by saying “twenty-four (6).” That kind of error disappears if you settle on one version — words or numbers.

Additionally, have the parties agree once at the beginning of the contract, rather than reminding readers throughout the document that, “the Parties further agree…” If the contract began with, “The Parties agree:” then you’ve fulfilled that contract requirement. All there is left to say is what they’ve agreed to. And there’s no reason to say, “The Parties agree as follows” or “to wit.” 

Define terms

Since my practice focuses on family law, I’m accustomed to pleadings and agreements that refer to the petitioner and the respondent, usually capitalized (superfluous capitalization, in my opinion). By page three of a separation agreement, however, it’s very easy to lose track of which party is which. Due to the confusion, a lawyer may accidentally award the Lamborghini to the husband instead of the wife, for example. 

The simple fix: Define the parties by their first names at the top of the document — “Petitioner, Morgan Miserable (‘Morgan’).” Notice it didn’t say “(hereinafter sometimes referred to in this Agreement as ‘Morgan,’)” and yet you understood exactly what it meant. Once the court approves the separation agreement, they are no longer husband and wife, but they will most likely retain their first names. 

Lawyers can define the separation agreement as “the Agreement.” The date of entry of a judgment of dissolution of marriage in this example, is defined as “the Entry Date.” The anticipated judgment becomes “the Judgment.” More complicated terms, such as a definition of “net income,” lawyers can explain once, with subsequent references using the name of the defined term. Lawyers can use capital letters to clarify which terms are defined so there is no confusion between, say, “a party” and “a Party,” with the latter meaning a party to the action. 

Simplify, simplify, simplify 

After drafting a document, reread it, both to make sure there aren’t any errors and to see how it could be more concise. Some formulas may jump out immediately. “In the event that” can almost always be replaced with “If.” Try it out. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll begin to remove that overworked phrase. 

Eliminate unnecessary modifiers. When a document states, “The Parties currently hold title to…” in a separation agreement, ask, “When other than ‘currently’ could it be talking about?” When the boilerplate says, “as provided for in any law now or hereinafter effective of this state or any other state or territory of the United States or any foreign country,” it can be shortened to, “as provided for in any law in effect now or in the future in any state or country.” 

And don’t forget the boilerplate, the most neglected section of most contracts. Lawyers focus closely on the terms of the contract, but they often forget that the boilerplate contains other terms the parties must agree upon. “That’s what we always put in contracts,” is not a good enough answer to a client’s questions about these “standard” paragraphs. Every sentence needs to be clear, not to mention grammatical. 

Have another person read your document

Both for ensuring clarity and avoiding legal and factual mistakes, it makes sense to have another lawyer in the office review the document. Sometimes lawyers get so involved in the drafting they miss something crucial. If you are a solo practitioner, ask a paralegal or a legal assistant to review the document for clarity. 

Conclusion 

I always tell clients that if they don’t understand every term in a contract I’m asking them to sign or approve, I haven’t finished my job. 

Begin by eliminating every word people don’t use in normal speech and replacing each with the modern equivalent. Go through a second time to make certain you haven’t repeated yourself unnecessarily. Have a non-lawyer read the document and give feedback. If an administrative assistant doesn’t understand, there’s a good chance a client won’t either. 

Take pride in your writing. Even the densest contract can be made understandable with a little extra effort. The more time you spend on a document, the shorter it may get as you eliminate unnecessary repetition and replace the ancient with the modern.

Endnotes 
1 “There has been a welter of needless litigation over the doublet [indemnify and hold harmless], as litigants have wasted countless dollars fighting over imaginary differences between the words – differences that have no historical justification.” Bryan Garner, Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (2011).

Solo and small firms often find the role of a bookkeeper tough to fill. Most small firms may not need a full-time bookkeeper, leading them to try incomplete solutions or handle the work themselves. In many small firms, no single person plays the consistent everyday role of ensuring orderly finances. Regardless of how simple you believe your firm’s finances to be, having a constant form of oversight is valuable. A bookkeeper can streamline your finances and prevent costly errors, helping your firm stay compliant and financially healthy.

Here are eight key bookkeeping tasks that require consistent attention.

1. Time entry

If you bill by the hour, someone must be certain that time is entered into the billing system. Time entry is not the bookkeeper’s responsibility, but you should have an enforced policy of contemporaneous time entry. Then, your bookkeeper looks at daily or weekly reports to ensure people stay current with time entry. Trying to recall what you did for a client on March 3 – when it’s now March 31 and you are about to run bills – is a recipe for frustration and lost money.

2. Expense entry

If you advance costs for clients, you must have an expense recovery process and a set of eyes reviewing your bills and identifying opportunities to recover costs. Many small firms overlook this step. The partner/owner/solo runs to the courthouse for a hearing, tosses a $5 parking fee on their personal debit card or the company credit card, and then forgets to enter the recoverable expense on the client’s matter. A dedicated bookkeeper would be tasked with reviewing the company credit card, check register, bank statement, and bills to ensure all costs advanced have been properly invoiced for recovery.

3. Prompt billing

Bills should be sent out every month, or every quarter – whatever frequency you have adopted – but it should be consistent. You cannot get paid if you do not send bills.

4. Collections

Bills that go out should be paid by your terms. When they are not, someone should be following up for payment. Solo and small firms are not positioned to finance their clients’ legal bills.

5. Accounts payable

You want to get paid, and so do your vendors. Often paying bills is done when the partner/owner/solo has time. They get a bill and simply pay it without regard to the balance in the operating account, or without considering what other bills are coming due. Managing accounts payable is just as important.

6. Bank reconciliations

All operating accounts and trust accounts should be reconciled monthly. Too often, we log into online banking, see a positive balance, and assume we have money available. Be aware of the Rules of Professional Conduct governing your clients’ funds, trust account reconciliation, use of trust accounts, and the like.

7. Reports/month end

What’s your AR (accounts receivable) balance? What’s scheduled to be paid? What are the bank balances? How much WIP (work in progress) awaits billing? Someone should be responsible for running these reports and making sure the partner/owner/solo understands them.

8. Payroll

Even if payroll is outsourced, someone must ensure it’s submitted on time – weekly or monthly.

While this list appears long in article format, it might not represent 40 hours of work per week, and you may not want to increase your firm’s overhead with the cost of another employee – including salary, benefits, technology, office space, PTO, health insurance – even on a part-time basis. In that case, outsourcing is the answer for your firm.

Microsoft Outlook allows you to create and save email templates that can help you even better serve your clients by communicating more effectively and efficiently.  If you’re familiar with templates in a word processing program like Microsoft Word, you see the power email templates offer. Rather than rewriting the same email frequently or finding an old email where you answered similar questions, you can create a customized template with default language.  

Some situations where email templates may be useful include new matter request forms, instructions to a client, directions to your office, etc. 

Currently, Microsoft has three versions of Outlook and all support email templates. Windows users could be running “Outlook (new)” or “Outlook (classic).” The icon you click in the task bar or start menu indicates your version. Mac users have only “Microsoft Outlook.” Although it isn’t labeled as “new,” its interface behaves mostly like “Outlook (new)” for Windows. 

Below are steps for each program on (a) how to create and save an email template for later use, and (b) how to use a saved email template to create a message. 

Outlook (classic) on Windows 

(a) Creating and saving an email template 

1. Open Outlook and click New Email to create a new message. 
2. Write the email message you'd like to save as a template. Leave placeholders (e.g., Xs or email space) for parts you may customize later. 
3. Click File in the message window (not the main Outlook window). 
4. Select Save As. 
5. In the Save as type dropdown, choose Outlook Template (*.oft). 
6. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the template (default is the Templates folder). 
7. Name the template and click Save. 

(b) Using a saved email template 

1. Go to the Home tab and click New Items in the ribbon. 
2. Select More Items > Choose Form. 
3. In the Look in dropdown, select User Templates in File System. 
4. Browse to find the saved template, select it, and click Open. 
5. Make any edits to the email and send it.

Outlook (new) on Windows 

(a) Creating and saving an email template 

1. When creating your first email template in Outlook (new), start with step 1. When creating subsequent templates, you can begin with step 5. 
2. Open Outlook and click New Email. 
3. Click the Insert tab > Enhance Outlook with apps. 
4. Search for My Templates. 
5. Right-click on My Templates and select pin. This adds an icon for templates to your Insert ribbon. It looks like a page with a lightning bolt at the bottom right. 
6. Click the My Templates icon you just added to the Insert ribbon. 
7. In the sidebar that opens, select the blue Template button at the bottom. 
8. Give your template a name and write the text you'd like to save as a template. 
9. Click Save. 

(b) Using a saved email template 

1. Open a new email window. 
2. Navigate to the Insert ribbon and click the My Templates icon. 
3. In the sidebar that opens, click on the saved template you wish to use. The content appears in the email. 
4. Make any changes and send the email. 

Outlook for Mac 

(a) Creating and saving an email template 

1. Open Outlook and click New Message. 
2. In the message toolbar, click the ellipses (…) and select My Templates. 
3. In the sidebar that opens, select the blue Template button at the bottom. 
4. Give your template a name and write the text you'd like to save as a template. 
5. Click Save. 

(b) Using a saved email template 

1. Open a new email window. 
2. In the message toolbar, click the ellipses (…) and select My Templates. 
3. In the sidebar that opens, click on the saved template you wish to use. The content appears in the email. 
4. The template content will load into the email. Edit as necessary and send. 

For more resources to help you build, manage, and protect your practice, visit The Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management Resource Center. 

Chances are you have a credit card in your wallet right now. And I would bet you have an expectation that merchants will regularly accept your card as payment for goods and services. Your law firm’s clients are no different. Credit cards are a modern way of transacting business in 2024, and by not accepting credit cards, you are almost sending the message that your firm is behind the times. And quite frankly, that is not a good message to send out to the prospective client public, especially the growing millennial and even Generation Z client base. Whether your firm regularly deals with individuals or companies, offering the option of paying your firm’s bills and/or retainer requests by credit card is simply expected.

Your clients expect it in 2024

If you walked into a local merchant, selected items for purchase and then walked up to a payment register, most of us would expect the merchant to take credit cards and would likely be taken aback if asked to pay by cash or check only. Now, there are some businesses that still operate this way, but most throughout the world now transact business with credit cards. Law firms should be no different. Asking your client to pay you by cash or check only makes doing business with your firm harder and could, in the near future, cause a client to think twice about doing business with your firm. Further, credit card payments typically permit your client to extend their payment terms beyond the charge date, allowing your firm to get paid faster.

Get paid faster: control your cash flow

Too many lawyers look at the balance in their operating account as a barometer of business success. The better barometer is cash flow. How regularly are your invoices going out and how quickly are those invoices being “relieved” or paid? Delivering invoices quickly and accurately is the first step but making it easy for your clients to remit payment is just as important, if not more important. Simply put, accepting credit cards improves cash flow which is more important than cash in the bank. Cash flow is an analysis of current cash on hand, payables due to vendors, receivables expected from clients and anticipated billing in future periods.

Because firms primarily work on a “bills out, money in” basis, you want to shorten the time between the two actions.

Cost is simply the cost of doing business

This writer believes we should just buck up and eat those credit card processing fees. Getting paid faster is worth the 2-3% fee. And don’t pass that fee along to your clients — that’s again, in this writer’s opinion, petty and borders on ridiculous. If you’re accepting a $30,000 retainer, amounting to, let’s say, a $900 processing fee – i.e. 3%, you may want to simply ask your client to remit payment by check, but don’t refuse that retainer because it’s being paid by credit card. 97% of a retainer is much better than zero. And remember, the 2-3% fee is typically considered a normal business expense and tax deductible. Note, however, that there are some legal and ethical considerations.

Use credit card processing tools built into your law practice management software or deal with a merchant processing company that deals with law firms

You may use a law practice management software (LPMS) to track important case-related information like contacts, calendar appointments, documents, case facts, and communications including emails and texts. Examples of such products include Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, Rocket Matter, and Smokeball. Of that sample, four of them have credit card processing built in. Smokeball, while having no built-in tool, tightly integrates with LawPay, as does MyCase, which is owned by LawPay’s parent company. While they still charge the typical credit card processing fee, they connect seamlessly to your LPMS-generated invoices and make it easy to include ePayment links in invoice emails. As a member of The Missouri Bar, you can receive discounts on certain products. Click here to view your member benefits.

If you do not use an LPMS, or yours lacks a built-in ePayment tool, you can still take advantage of credit card payments via a merchant processor.

Consider LawPay, Law Charge, or LexCharge, as they specifically deal with law firms. That means, for example, they’ll understand what an attorney’s trust account is and that there can be no merchant processing fees associated with it. Also, you would not have to deal with your banking institution’s in-house or preferred provider. Just about any credit card processing company can work with your firm and deliver fast payments to its bank accounts — operating and/or trust.

Every study of the subject tells us law firms that make it easy to pay by credit card are more likely to be paid faster and in full. Make it easier on the client and yourself by charging ahead.

Collaboration happens in two forms: asynchronous and real-time. We generally prefer asynchronous communication — text messages, emails, and perhaps voicemails — over real-time communication. How often do you text or email from your phone compared to making actual calls in a given day?  

Different forms of collaboration may be helpful for different areas of your practice. If something isn’t going smoothly, consider switching the type of collaboration you use depending on the situation. 

Asynchronous  

Asynchronous collaboration allows people to work from anywhere at any time. Early birds can collaborate with night owls. New Yorkers can collaborate with counterparts in the Far East. Time zones don’t matter. Here are tips to make asynchronous collaboration better:  

Basic document sharing  

1. If you’re not on the paperless bandwagon, start by getting a scanner to turn important papers into documents that can be shared easily. After scanning the papers, programs like Adobe Acrobat or ABBYY FineReader can convert a PDF to an editable Microsoft Word document.  

2. To work together over the internet, your document must be accessible to your collaborator. The easiest sharing platform is Dropbox, although there are plenty of competitors in this market. In fact, Apple (iCloud Drive), Google (Google Drive), and Microsoft (OneDrive) all offer free space; they just can be a bit more challenging to share from.  

3. Apple Pages, Google Docs, and Microsoft Word all offer free web-based versions of their respective word processors. If your collaborator doesn’t have the same word processor as you, they can access these free versions to edit the document you share, although they must create an account with the vendor if they don’t already have one.  

4. Each person can now edit the document.  

Share information rather than a document  

1. Microsoft’s OneNote is the most cross-platform of the note-taking or “everything bucket” solutions. Create a notebook, share it with your collaborator, and either of you can put almost anything you can imagine in there: lists; checklists; images (whose in-image text will be scanned so you can search for it); other documents like Word, Excel, or PDF files; and even handwritten notes from an Apple Pencil or Surface Pen. OneNote is available on all the major platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android). There’s even a web-based version if you’re collaborating with someone who doesn’t want to download the free app.  

2. All the major web-based practice management platforms offer some version of a client portal. But don’t be limited by the word “client”. These portals are shared spaces where anyone you allow can see and interact with information you choose to make available from your practice management program. Clio lets you share just about anything through the portal. Clients can even upload documents and send you secure communications through it. Cosmolex offers a similarly rich portal experience. Actionstep’s portal, on the other hand, is restricted to document sharing. Visit the Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management site to get an idea of features, comparisons, and considerations regarding practice management. If you decide to buy, the bar’s Member Benefits page provides discounts for many top contenders.  

Real-time collaboration  

If you and your collaborator need to work on the same document simultaneously, consider two factors: how tech-savvy your collaborator is and how complex the shared document is (e.g., complex formatting, lots of images, etc.) 

Technophobe collaborators  

If the person you’re sharing the document with is not a technophile, the easiest thing to do is a web meeting where one of you opens the document and shares your screen. You can even grant keyboard and mouse control to your fellow participant so they can edit and navigate the document while the document remains on your computer.  

All the big web meeting platforms support screen and control sharing, though many require a paid account. If you’ve made it this far without a paid account at Zoom, WebEx, or similar, this LPM comparison chart will help you choose one.  

And once you’ve made that choice, read up on video conferencing professionally and get a pair of good headphones.  

Although you don’t need it for mere document collaboration, I recommend getting a high-quality webcam. The ones built into laptops stink, a fact confirmed by no less than the Wall Street Journal. I have and like Logitech’s Brio Ultra HD Pro Business. Despite the alphabet soup of a name, it works wonderfully and has a built-in microphone and privacy shutter (great if your office doubles as a bedroom). 

Complex documents

Complex documents share best in their native format. In the legal world, this usually means Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Luckily, sharing is fairly easy for these programs, and your collaborator doesn’t have to own (or subscribe to) Microsoft Office. Here are the steps to share a Microsoft Office document via OneDrive (or SharePoint) so others can edit it at the same time and see changes as they happen:  

1. Save your document to OneDrive  

2. Open the document via the Office desktop app or Office web app.  

3. Click the “Share” button at the top right of the Office app.  

4. Enter the email address of your collaborator. Type a message if you like. Then click “Send.”  

5. As an alternative to the step above, you can choose “Copy link” if you’d prefer to send the person a link via a text message or other means. It’s just a web link.  

6. The collaborator receives a link they can click to access and edit the document.  
7. When you both have the document open simultaneously, you will see a circle with initials of others in the document in the top right of the app or web app window. Clicking on a pair of initials reveals what page of the document that person is currently viewing or editing.  

Mix and match  

Depending on the information you’re sharing and the tech skills of your collaboration counterparts, one method may make more sense than another. In my experience, older clients prefer web meetings where you control everything as they comment or dictate text. Most other folks prefer asynchronous document sharing because, like text messages or emails, they can review the documents at a time convenient to them.  

You probably remember your first laptop. You may also remember how difficult it was to use a laptop as your primary workstation. The laptop’s size limited the number of outputs it supported. The solution? A docking station. I still recall snapping my laptop into a docking station designed specifically for that laptop, which was quite expensive and fixed in one place. Well, enough about the “good old days.”

Docking stations are simple devices that expand how you can use almost any computer, whether a workstation or laptop. They also work with many tablets such as a Microsoft Surface, which uses a Windows interface. As the name implies, the main requirement is a USB port. Once connected, a USB dock increases the number and type of peripherals you can connect. For example, the dock I am using as I write this is an ICY BOX USB 3.0 Universal Docking Station, available at Amazon for around $100. It works with either Windows or Mac. It provides HDMI, ethernet, USB, and microphone ports, among others.

In addition to the connections this device provides, the portability and flexibility cannot be overstated. It is essentially plug and play, meaning a desktop, laptop, or MacBook Air can be connected with a single USB 3.0 connection. I have another small USB dock I carry in my laptop bag, allowing me to connect to various devices I might encounter on the road. While most people use these devices to expand a laptop or tablet, they work just as well with workstations, especially when it comes to adding additional monitors.

Docking stations come in many shapes and sizes. If looking for one, I suggest focusing on two things, starting with the video connections. Make sure the dock offers outputs to any monitors you wish to connect. Second, and probably most important, confirm what type of connection it uses. More and more of these devices are connecting via USB-C, so make sure your laptop supports this. If it does not, go with a USB 3.0 model. You may have to shop around a bit to find the right combination of video outputs and connection type.

USB docking stations are a low-cost way to expand your productivity. Depending on the number and type of connections, you can expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $200, with most falling in the $125 range. They provide an easy way to attach additional peripherals to any computing device and utilize those peripherals with multiple devices.

If an unforeseen emergency – like another pandemic – occurred, would you already have contingency plans in place? If you retired, would the law firm continue operating smoothly? Strategic succession and contingency planning can help you prepare for the future so you can even better serve your clients without disruption.

Contingency planning prepares you for the unknown, the unplanned. Succession planning, on the other hand, is the preparation for a planned exit from the firm (most often retirement). The two go hand-in-hand.

When considering what the future might hold, you must think about the people who will carry the torch in your absence, the core processes that keep business running smoothly, and how to transition work and clients seamlessly.

First-rate players

You can’t plan for the future without planning for those who will succeed you or take over in the event of an unplanned absence. Early identification of star players provides you with time to mold them into stellar leaders and rainmakers. The sooner you start working with these key players, the more time you have available to help shape them into whom the firm needs them to be.

Fundamental processes

Numerous fundamental processes drive every firm. Strategic planning requires identifying those processes and documenting every step, from client intake to closing letters. Process documentation has immediate benefits. New hire onboarding is more efficient, and process documentation helps get everyone in the firm on the same page.

While documenting processes, look for areas of potential improvement and gaps in the firm’s coverage. Ensure that there is a back-up for each task. Should someone suddenly leave the firm, you don’t want to be left in the lurch.

Future transitions

Transitioning work and clients is never easy. The most successful transitions start before retirement is on the horizon and must begin before an emergency is upon the firm. Ensure that every client works with and trusts at least two lawyers in the firm. Clients must be comfortable with your replacement long before you decide to retire.

Train associates to handle every type of matter that comes in. Work side-by-side on the complicated matters and provide them guidance on how to handle the thorniest issues. Then, when you are ready to retire or an emergency arises, they will be prepared to handle the workload.

This type of planning isn’t easy. Keep succession and contingency planning in mind with every decision your firm makes so you – and your clients – don’t have to worry in the future.

For more resources on contingency and succession planning, visit The Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management Resource Center.

Do you have a nagging suspicion that you’re missing something when running your firm? Maybe some key insight that would make your firm more competitive. Or perhaps a way to run your firm more efficiently to even better serve your clients. Here are three steps to help you get on the right track – taking your firm from surviving to thriving.

Step 1: Gain clarity

Positive change starts with absolute clarity. Cut through the noise and identify the root causes of the issues keeping you up at night, not just the symptoms. Clarity comes from avoiding superficial answers.

Maybe everyone in the office knows that something “takes too long.” We know intuitively that the answer isn’t “do it faster.” If that would fix it, it would be fixed. More often, something “taking too long” has more to do with repeated, disparate interruptions than with a lax worker or slow technology, for example. If one person answers the phone, greets visitors, and prepares letters for mailing or emailing, then letters being slow to mail probably isn’t the result of the person or internet speed.

Step 2: Get insight

Leverage the power of perspective to change how you think about your firm’s future. Tap into the wisdom within your firm and uncover better, smarter ways of working. Generally, the people doing a process daily, such as paralegals, intake personnel, and receptionists, have the best understanding of how client-facing interactions really go. Better understanding how things happen or are handled now in the present day is a more valuable starting point than the memorialized platonic ideal stored in a 10-year-old binder on a dusty shelf.

Step 3: Develop your roadmap

Finally, understand where you’re going and how to get there. Your detailed, actionable practice analysis report empowers you to confidently take your next steps toward an efficient, highly successful practice. 

Profound transformations start with a crystal-clear understanding of your most significant challenges and exciting opportunities. Focus on the following three key areas of your practice.

People

Your people – your employees and clients – are your greatest asset and greatest source of insight. Open dialogue is critical to the success of organizational change. Take the time to listen to, document, and thoroughly explore challenges, suggestions, and concerns offered by your team and clients. Go beyond the “what” to understand and communicate the “why.” Using a people-first approach, you turn skeptics into champions for change.

Process

“The way we’ve always done it” is the enemy of efficiency. Sometimes, it just takes a fresh pair of eyes to see your processes’ time- and energy-wasters. Think of process steps as puzzle pieces. How can they best fit together? Document how you do things now. Do this in a thorough, detailed way. Once you know the step-by-step of how you do things now, which sometimes differs markedly from existing written procedures, then it’s time to find levers to adjust, goals to change, and measurements of success.

The ultimate goal is to eliminate waste, cut procedural clutter, improve efficiency, and document everything to ensure that folks complete things the same way every time. Or at least most of the time.

Technology

Even the best, most expensive technology can’t save you from underlying process inefficiencies. That’s why you must start with people and processes and then explore technology solutions.

This approach lets you deploy technology precisely in line with what you need — nothing more. Sometimes, a team simply needs more training on your existing solution. Sometimes, a reconfiguration of a current solution does the trick. Whether it’s new software, a complete system overhaul, or optimizing what you already have, your target should be to get the most for your technology investment.

Conclusion

Identify and prioritize your firm’s steps to advance from surviving to thriving. Get the right people in the right roles following the right processes and having solid tech support. Then, you’ll go from feeling overwhelmed and stuck to empowered, confident, and optimistic about your firm’s future.

For more resources to help you build, manage, and protect your practice, visit The Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management Resource Center.

Lawyers and their firms interact with all manner of websites and services, and care that private information is safely managed. We also operate websites and services where consumers and our clients expect the same.

In this environment of ever-increasing data collection and aggregation and concomitant breaches, regulating bodies are starting to respond to consumer complaints and have begun to act. Your law firm’s website may soon be in their crosshairs, impacting your engagement and reach with current and potential clients.

Websites know no geographic boundaries, lawyers so regulations related to data collection affects lawyers in three ways:

1) what we disclose to website visitors about data-collection practices;

2) the ability of an individual to obtain a copy of that collected data; and

3) the ability of individuals to erase that data under limited circumstances. The most important of these is disclosure of data collection.

Data collection and cookies

Websites store information about visitors and track their interactions via tiny text files called “cookies.” Cookies are not inherently malicious and are often helpful. Amazon uses them so you can store contents in your shopping cart while continuing to click around. Cookies are also why you’re able to stay logged in to password-protected websites.

The privacy concerns with cookies arise from “tracking cookies” or “third-party tracking cookies.” These cookies “follow” you around the internet as you browse websites and build a more intimate and complete picture of you. Have you noticed how, when you search Google or Amazon for “Sonicare toothbrush,” you subsequently see electronic toothbrush ads on other websites you visit? You’ve experienced the power and reach of tracking cookies.

Go to wikihow.com/View-Cookies to learn how to review the cookies on your computer’s web browsers.

Requirements

To comply with the recent government regulations, websites must disclose their use of cookies. This is why, in visiting websites in the last couple of years, you’ve seen more and more “pop-up” disclosures regarding data collection and cookies.

What do you and your website need to do then?

- Your website must provide visitors with accurate and specific information about what every cookie your website uses does.

- You must obtain a website visitor’s consent before using any cookies beyond those necessary for essential website functions, such as allowing users to stay logged in as they bounce around and return to your website.

- Once the visitor consents, you must document and store that consent.

- Visitors must be able to access your site even if they reject certain types of nonessential cookies.

- Visitors must be able to withdraw or change their consent easily.

It’s entirely likely and reasonable that you don’t have the foggiest idea what cookies your website uses or what’s stored in those cookies on visitors’ computers. That’s OK. There are several websites that will examine your website for compliance and tell you where you are deficient. If you are responsible for your website’s backend, there are tools available for WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace.

If you have no idea what the preceding sentence means, there are plenty of companies willing to walk you through the process, such as OneTrust.

Missouri data disclosure laws

While Missouri has no laws specifically governing data disclosure, § 407.1500 RSMo. regulates consumer notifications of actual data breaches. The statue defines a breach as “unauthorized access to and unauthorized acquisition of personal information maintained in computerized form by a person that compromises the security, confidentiality, or integrity of the personal information.”

Personal information is an“individual's first name or first initial and last name plus one or more of the following:

- social security number,

- driver’s license number or other government identifying number,

- financial account numbers (in combination with a PIN or other access credentials),

- unique electronic identifier or routing code (in combination with a PIN or other access credentials),

- medical information, or

- health insurance information.

The statute provides two exceptions as to whether accessing such information qualifies as a breach. First, good faith access is not a breach. Second, a reportable breach occurs only if the accessed personal information is “not encrypted, redacted, or otherwise altered by any method or technology in such a manner that the name or data elements are unreadable or unusable.” A breach of encrypted information need not be reported if the encryption key was not compromised.

Additionally, a breached party’s notification obligations may be tolled based on a law enforcement request (e.g., an ongoing investigation) or superseded by another law (e.g., HIPAA for healthcare organizations).

Notifications from the breached party to affected individuals must happen within 45 days of the breach’s discovery, which could be long after the breach’s occurrence. If the breach impacts more than 500 state residents, the business must notify the attorney general’s office.

Finally, the law provides a private right of action under which individuals may sue. Only those whose data was breached may sue for damages, and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office may also act.

For more resources about keeping your and your clients’ information safe, visit The Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management Resource Center.

Document management solutions are critical to the success of today’s law firm. Legal specific document management eliminates the wild, wild west approach to document storage and security and significantly improves the efficiency and productivity of legal professionals.

 Selecting a document management system (DMS) can be daunting, but here are four simple steps to get you started on the path to selecting the perfect DMS for your firm or legal department.

Identify core features of your DMS

Understand the real needs of your firm before looking at a document management system. Does your firm have issues capturing emails? Are your challenges with finding documents? Are there difficulties with saving documents consistently and naming conventions? Truly recognizing the needs of your firm or department is the first step to understanding and selecting the features needed in a DMS.

Rank feature importance

One document management solution will probably not provide you with EVERYTHING on your list. Ranking your requirements will help. Know what features are critical to your firm or department. Know which ones you’d like to have but could live without and which ones you definitely do not want or need. It may be necessary to trade off some features that mean little to your process in place of ones that cannot be compromised.

Evaluate on premise solutions versus hosted, cloud-based solutions

Understand your choices when selecting the DMS configuration that’s best for your firm. Keep in mind that the number of on-premises vendors diminishes each year. Most investment and development focus on hosted (AKA cloud-based) solutions.

With on-premises solutions, you’ll need to consider whether you have someone with the knowledge to set-up and maintain the system, plus hardware/software costs and specialized manpower for maintenance. You also want a clear sense of the vendor’s long-term strategy for its on-premises product. If you must have an on-premises DMS, perhaps for regulatory reasons, ensure you understand the vendor’s commitment to future support for and investment in their on-premises products.

For hosted solutions, consider recurring costs (usually monthly, quarterly, or annually) to maintain servers and warehouse your documents, understand your data will live elsewhere, and maintain a strong internet connection.

Identify the choice that best meets your needs and budget.

Explore solutions via demo

Document management solutions should enhance the work your firm is doing, not add more steps or additional challenges. By watching an actual demonstration and seeing how a document management system’s features are performed, you’ll see which system will make your teams more productive and efficient.

Also, if a DMS indicates it can perform a critical function, ask the demonstrator to show you how it’s done.

For more resources on opening, building, managing, protecting, and winding down a law practice, visit The Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management Resource Center.

It's a crazy world. Social media, 24-hour news cycle, client emergencies - it's a wonder we get anything done. We’ve all heard of a “to-do” list designed to help increase our productivity and keep us on track, but with so many things vying for our attention, here are some items you should consider for your “not-to-do” list.

Do NOT begin your day by immediately diving into email.

Instead, begin your day with a five-minute private planning session. I use SELF Journal for this and time block my day on paper. Along with this, I state some 30,000-foot goals and recite three things I am thankful for.

Creating a plan for your day and visualizing your goals before diving into email can help you keep the main goal in view. You can always adjust as the day unfolds, but start with a plan.

Do NOT start your day without a team huddle.

After your five-minute planning session, have a quick huddle with your immediate team. I call this the lightning round. Each person has 60 seconds to recite what they have going on today and for the rest of the week. This encourages communication, awareness of projects, and almost always results in shifting some tasks and schedules around to better distribute work and help each other.

Do NOT participate in meetings unless there is an agenda, and never organize one without one.

I like to take it a step further and try to identify a goal or theme for the meeting to give it “purpose” or spark engagement. Whatever the case, showing up to a meeting without an agenda and clear purpose is a recipe for wasting time and killing morale.

Do NOT say, “I will get that done this weekend or tonight.”

Why would you derail your personal life that way? Stop being a martyr, and schedule to do work tasks during business hours. We all need a life outside of work, and making promises like this will not only kill your personal life but also could lead to burnout.

Do NOT let people ramble in meetings.

We all know these people – they either don’t prepare for a meeting, don’t read the agenda, don’t stay on task, or they just love to hear themselves talk.

Everyone’s time is valuable and deserves respect. When this happens, politely suggest talking offline or recording it as an issue to include on a future agenda so those in the meeting can tackle issues on the current agenda.

Don’t be too rigid about this, though. Sometimes, spontaneous topics are  important. Try to fit those spontaneous topics into an agenda item where the floor is open for items not on the agenda.

Do NOT keep your email inbox open on your computer all day.

Your inbox is one of the most disruptive environments to place yourself in if you are trying to work on a project or take a “deep” dive into a task. It’s like choosing to write a complex brief or letter in a war zone – every two to three minutes, a bomb or a fire is landing in your inbox. How can one possibly focus in an environment like that?

Instead, skim your calendar in the morning and decide how often and for how long you can batch process your emails that day. Every day will be different. Aim for something reasonable like five times a day.

Do NOT carry your phone 24/7.

Let’s face it, that smartphone is a ball and chain. It is incredible how often we check our phones during the day, and it is having a terrible impact on productivity.

Take a phone “fast” by leaving your phone in a secure location all day while you are at work. Let your loved ones know to reach you on your office phone if an emergency occurs. 

For more resources on opening, building, managing, protecting, and winding down a law practice, visit The Missouri Bar’s Law Practice Management Resource Center.

When we think about what to put on a firm website, remember that your clients are normal people, and so are you. Why do you visit a business’ website? Determine what’s helpful to you and add it to your firm’s site. Here are examples to get you started:

Schedule appointments that work for you and the client

One way to minimize distracting calls is to let folks pick appointment times themselves, in the calendar windows you allow. Services like Microsoft Bookings and Calendly sync with your calendar, allowing clients to see when you're free and schedule an appointment directly on your calendar.

Letting clients schedule appointments for themselves seems intimidating at first, but you can create rules to protect your time. “Buffer time” blocks time before and/or after the appointment, ensuring a gap to prepare for the meeting or organize your notes afterward. You can limit how soon clients can schedule appointments, guaranteeing plenty of heads-up to prepare for the meeting. You can also specify how far in the future someone can schedule and limit what hours are available each day of the week.

Both Bookings and Calendly offer code snippets, sometimes called “embed” or “widget” code, to add this scheduling functionality to your existing site.

Collect more information upfront using web forms

Clients completing intake or other informational forms in your office is as popular with them as filling out medical forms with a clipboard and dry ballpoint pen is with you. Apart from being time-consuming and annoying, no one wants to interpret the handwritten last name of a stranger.

Make life easier for clients and yourself by adding to your website tools you may already pay for: Google Forms and Microsoft Forms. Each is included with many Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 plans, respectively.

When selecting an intake form tool, ensure it meets the security requirements in your jurisdiction or practice area for the data you collect, e.g., HIPAA compliance for medical information. The free version of many tools is less secure than the paid version.

As with Bookings and Calendly, you can add questionnaires from each company’s forms product to your website.

In addition to these “general purpose” forms, Lawmatics, a web-based, legal-specific customer relationship management (CRM) application, provides more advanced options for forms on your firm site. If you subscribe to Clio Manage, its companion CRM product, Clio Grow, is another route to consider.

Explore the wide world of plugins

Many firms host their website on Squarespace or Wix, or they build the site using WordPress, which is available through countless providers. All support plugins written for their respective platform in addition to the embed and widget code mentioned above.

Plugins expand your website’s functionality, empowering you to go beyond text, videos, and images. Some potentially useful plugins for your law firm include a booking calendar (see above), advanced search features (to aid visitors in finding information on your site), and a chatbot or live chat. These features help your website live up to its potential and benefit clients — more than a mere business card.

Squarespace and Wix are self-contained, meaning they host your site online and provide the software that creates and customizes your pages. This approach offers a curated experience conceived and designed by one company. Its downside lies in being “closed source,” meaning that the software is not freely available for folks to modify and extend. Vendors permit plugins for these platforms at their discretion. Useful Squarespace plugins for a firm website include Dropbox, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, and Weglot. Wix plugin options include Dropbox, Magic Form Builder, and Social Media Stream.

WordPress has the most varied plugins of the three platforms. A web search for “law firm WordPress plugins” produces dozens of “top 10” lists of valuable plugins. While the WordPress software is free, the site hosting costs money, as do several popular plugins.

Being “open source” software means anyone can write and distribute a WordPress plugin. That’s beneficial — lots of plugins, but also a security concern. Before installing any WordPress plugin to your website, ensure it isn’t risky — download plugins only from official repositories. Read reviews from other users and explore what permissions the plugin requests.

While plugins offer valuable opportunities to enhance client interactions, you must prioritize website security over features. Don’t cut corners and leave your site vulnerable to hackers and malware.

For more practice management tips, visit MoBar.org/LPM for whitepages and checklists, as well as News.MoBar.org for articles covering a wide array of topics.

For lawyers – particularly solos and those responsible for making payroll each month – it seems there are only two states of the business. Either you are too busy to breathe, or you are scrounging around for billable work.

One of my colleagues refers to slow spells as time to “shake the trees” and work on those small tasks that need to be completed but you’ve forgotten about, or they were always less pressing than other matters. There are useful things you can do during slow periods that will eventually turn your “molasses time” into money:

Invest in training

You and your employees use core tools every day. I guarantee the computer programs you already own have features that would help you work faster and more accurately.

• If you draft documents, do you have templates with key language in one place that’s consistently editable with ease?
   
• Have you customized your email application with rules to filter incoming mail, separating client correspondence from newsletters and advertisements?
   
• How about setting up reusable task templates in your case management system?
   
• Have you developed a documented procedure for redacting PDFs for filing?

 Use your downtime to learn how to use your tools better.

If this interests you, Missouri Bar members get a 20% discount on Affinity’s legal-specific software manuals. Go here and use the coupon code MOBARMANUALS.

Catch up on CLE

Irrespective of business conditions, you will need CLE at the end of your reporting period, June 30, 2024. The Missouri Bar allows a portion of self-study CLEs to apply towards your MCLE hours. Here is a list of upcoming CLE programs.

Take inventory

Take inventory of your technology. Ask the following questions:

• Who has what? Make a list of each staffer and what they have as far as computers, monitors, scanners, printers, phones, and headsets. Also record what software each staffer has, the version of that software, and any associated licensing key. The software list says who has access to special software, like a child support calculator, and whose software should be upgraded.
   
• Where is it? After making the list, identify where that equipment is. Some equipment will likely at the office, but given hybrid-work policies, a fair portion might be in the homes of remote employees.
   
• How old is it? Record the purchase date and warranty status of each piece.

This inventory list will serve you well for two purposes: insurance claims, if necessary, and planning for replacement of equipment as it ages out of warranty.

Everything has a process

What you do in the firm has an “order of execution” or checklist of events/actions you take – from drafting a letter to a client to scheduling a meeting to creating, and executing documents. Even paying rent or restocking the coffee beans has a checklist.

Document how you do both administrative and substantive processes. Documenting processes will help you discover and eliminate bottlenecks. It also creates a “cookbook” should the person “in the know” be on vacation and the work still gets done.

Use the spreadsheet here to start your documentation process. Start with these two LPM whitepapers as your guides.

Centralize your knowledgebase

If you currently create client documents – whether it be a letter, estate plan, or operating agreement – by finding the most recent one you created for a client and modifying it for the current situation, you’re wasting time and relying on your memory to locate the starting point.

Take time to gather a representative set of recent documents – wills, for example – and assemble a single template, a starting document that contains the best versions of your provisions. Put those provisions into a single word processing document to use as your future starting point. See this LPM checklist as a guide on the subject.

Slow times in your business are stressful but remember there are useful things you can do during those times that will pay dividends down the road. And focusing your mind on something immediate and useful has benefits of its own.

For more practice management tips, visit MoBar.org/LPM for whitepages and checklists, as well as News.MoBar.org for articles covering a wide array of topics.

Perk No. 1: You can bill from anywhere

The flexibility offered by technological advancements allows lawyers to work remotely, far from traditional office settings. This capability has transformed legal practice, enabling lawyers to manage their duties from anywhere with internet access. While this benefit allows for unparalleled convenience and adaptability, it comes with significant caveats.

Con: Don't let go of work-life balance

The ability to work from anywhere can blur the boundaries between work and personal life. Lawyers may find themselves working during vacations or family time, as evidenced by social media posts showcasing work activities during supposed leisure times. This encroachment into personal time can erode work-life balance, leaving lawyers unable to truly disconnect and recharge.

Perk No. 2: You can be flexible with your schedule

The billable hour model affords lawyers the ability to schedule their work around personal commitments, such as doctor’s appointments, without needing to take official time off. This flexibility is seemingly ideal for managing both professional responsibilities and personal life efficiently.

Con: What is work-life balance anyway?

Despite the apparent scheduling freedom, the necessity to meet billable hour quotas can pressure lawyers into working extra hours to compensate for time taken off. This often results in a reluctance to fully utilize allotted PTO, leading to minimal breaks and a continuous work cycle that can hinder true relaxation and personal time.

Perk No. 3: The sky's the limit for your earning potential

Billing by the hour correlates directly with earning potential, where more hours worked equals higher income. This model rewards diligence and long hours with financial gains, offering substantial economic opportunities, particularly for those from modest backgrounds.

Con: Burnout is always one step away

The pursuit of increased earnings can lead lawyers into a relentless cycle of working longer hours to sustain and enhance their lifestyle. This relentless drive, while financially rewarding, can lead to burnout. An illustrative example is a lawyer who logged 3,000 billable hours in a single year, working consistently, even during holidays and weekends, showcasing the intense pressures and unsustainable work pace that come with such high earning expectations.

What is a lawyer to do about these risks?

While the billable hours model provides significant perks in terms of flexibility, remote work capabilities, and potential earnings, it also poses substantial risks to lawyers’ well-being and work-life balance. Firms and individuals must manage these challenges strategically.

Members of The Missouri Bar are eligible for a 10% discount on Smokeball subscriptions. Smokeball is an all-in-one cloud based legal practice management software. Click here to learn more.

Jordan Turk a practicing lawyer in Texas and the legal technology advisor at Smokeball. Her family law expertise includes complex property division and contentious custody cases, as well as appeals and prenuptial agreements. In addition to her family law practice, she’s passionate about legal technology and how it can revolutionize law firms.

Jordan graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Classics, History, and Religious Studies and then went on to attend the University of Arkansas School of Law to earn her J.D. After almost four years of practice with a high-asset family law firm in Houston (and after being frustrated at the lack of automation in her firm), she discovered the world of legal technology which ultimately brought her to Smokeball.

Growing your law firm requires careful planning and strategizing. If you started your firm as a solo practitioner, you may already have completed some of these exercises, but now it’s time to think bigger about growth. 

Each firm will find a unique path forward to success, but these steps will help ease your law firm’s growing pains. 

Develop a growth strategy 
Before you take any steps forward, create a clear plan that outlines your law firm’s goals for the next one, five, and 10 years, as well as the resources needed to implement those changes. Because they’re so busy with the daily work of practicing law, many firms don’t take time to strategize for the future. But a plan that features guiding principles and goals sets the foundation for how your business decisions should be made; without it, strategic growth is nearly impossible. 

Include a detailed organizational chart while forming your strategy. This document forecasts each department’s development and expansion, as well as the number of projected employees needed for it. Correlate each stage of law firm growth with the necessary resources and budget. 

Build a successful culture
Before adding new staff, establish a positive, supportive work culture for existing employees that reflects your firm’s values. A written mission statement is an important first step. Then lay the groundwork for a culture that engenders pride, loyalty, and enthusiasm. Focus on work-life balance and workplace equality, the two issues employees most often report as lacking. Make sure to regularly reevaluate your culture and adjust your policies and processes at every stage of your firm’s growth to support a business that works for everyone. 

Bring business skills and tools to the table 
Because lawyers are not typically trained as businesspeople, formal learning and development will also help your firm grow as a business. Look to continuing legal education programs, as well as formal business management courses for your partners and senior lawyers. 

To be most effective, this business acumen must be paired with the technology and tools to run your firm like a business. These include: 

• Time tracking and billing: Adopting a system that records every action taken within your software not only reduces time spent on manual billing and time tracking, but also churns out valuable metrics that inform your growth. Unless your hours are accurately recorded and billed, your progress will be stymied. 
   
• Task management: As your firm grows, automating workflows and assigning tasks to appropriate staff ensures your firm can improve efficiency. Streamlined collaboration leverages employees’ skills and improves performance across the board. Delegation becomes not only easy, but second nature, when tasks, deadlines, and reminders are mechanized. 

Hire strategically
Rely on your growth strategy to determine which positions to fill so hiring is balanced across your organization. Seek people who are not only qualified for your positions, but those who want to advance within your firm. 

If you don’t already employ non-legal staff, start with an office manager who coordinates and implements your strategy across the firm. You also need human resources support via an internal HR position or an outsourced contract position. HR handles office conflicts, disciplinary proceedings, compliance, insurance, and policies covering discrimination, diversity, and harassment. A good HR team will also provide employee training and implement your firm’s policies, including creating an employee handbook. 

Focus on existing clients
Client retention is crucial to law firm growth — otherwise your firm will constantly be focused on replacing them. Identify your most profitable cases and clients, evaluate their needs, and plan to support them as you grow. This may include:  

• Providing consistent communication with clients 
• Offering convenient online payment options and administrative processes 
• Keeping a friendly, hospitable in-person experience 

Develop new clients
With your existing clients securely in place, it’s time to attract new ones. Apply metrics captured by your legal practice’s management software to calculate the percentage of leads who make appointments, appear for appointments, and sign with your firm. Then, isolate your most effective demographics to make your marketing more targeted and effective.  

Identify the types of new clients your firm wishes to attract to focus your growth. Many firms focus on increasing the number of overall clients, but don’t overlook a strategy that concentrates on fewer clients with bigger projects. 

Utilize marketing and branding 
Once your firm has identified your ideal marketing segments, focus on the features that make your firm unique, including your services and reputation. Use those characteristics as a springboard for your marketing program. Hire professional marketing and branding assistance to build an effective website, digital marketing, social media, SEO, and content marketing. While these services come at a price, they also give your firm a professional polish, helping you generate more leads and firmly establish your firm’s long-term market success.  

With a clear growth plan, the right hires, and the implementation of efficient technological tools and processes, your law firm can expand and profit for many years to come. 

Through The Missouri Bar, Missouri lawyers receive a 10% discount from Smokeball in the member benefits program. The Missouri Bar also has resources available for members interested in building their practice. Members also have no-cost access to the experts at Affinity Consulting through email or unlimited 30-minute virtual visits. Reprinted with permission of Smokeball. Originally published here.  

By Danielle DavisRoe, Affinity Consulting  

Color draws our eyes and attention: stop signs are red, construction workers wear yellow, and sticky notes are bright and colorful. You can also use color to draw attention to your data with Excel's conditional formatting feature. Conditional formatting uses rules to color code your data and automatically update the colors as your data changes. 

To get started, select the cells that you want to be conditionally formatted. On the Home ribbon, in the Styles group, click on Conditional Formatting to see your options. 

1. Amounts greater than or less than a certain amount

Use if you have a list of numbers (for example, fair market values of assets in an estate or marital property in a divorce) and need to know if any of them are worth more than a certain amount. 

2. Specific values

Use if you want to draw attention to cells with a specific value (such as property in an estate or cells containing "N/A".) 

3. Highest or lowest amounts

Use if you have a list of numbers (for example, a list of attorneys and their billable hours) and want to quickly see which ones are the largest or smallest. You can format a specific percentage or certain number of cells that fall at the top or bottom of the range. 

4. Color scales

Use color scales to color code a series of numbers based on their values. When color coding using red, yellow, green, the largest number is green, and the smallest number is red. The numbers in between are assigned a shade based on where they fall between the lowest and highest numbers. 

5. Custom rules

Set up conditional formatting to work based on custom rules that you create. 

6. Managing rules

You can apply multiple rules to the same cells. The Rules Manager allows you control the order in which they apply. 

If you’re interested in additional videos and lessons like the one above, head over to Affinity Insight and register. As a Missouri Bar member, you get unlimited free access to the video library. Use the coupon code MOBARMEMBER at checkout to drop the cost to $0. Affinity Insight Standard is included with your bar membership at no cost to you. 

Looking for additional resources to help open, build, manage, protect, or wind down a practice? Missouri Bar members have access to more than 100 whitepapers, comparison charts, checklists and more available from Missouri Bar Practice Management.  

1. Listen to your users 

Start by listening to your users. Find out what their pain points are before implementing anything new. What’s working? What’s not working? When you know what’s challenging them, you can ensure that any upcoming changes ease their frustrations.   

For example, when Affinity leads a new software rollout, we start off with a user survey. The user survey helps us understand where users are frustrated and where they have an appetite for change. We use that knowledge to put together a training plan that benefits users immediately. If you want to do this on your own, Survey Monkey is the granddaddy of web survey tools. You can also look to tools like Microsoft Forms (included in many Microsoft Office 365 packages) and Google Forms (free and included with Google Workspace packages).  

2. Communicate 

Start with what you learned from listening to your users to frame your communication with them. Center your messaging around what’s important to your users and how the change will improve their job. Your new practice management system might improve things for your firm’s partners, but that should not be the focus of your communication with the rest of the team.  

One of the best ways to know what’s happening with you users during the transition is to see what resources or help articles they are accessing, or where work seems to bog down. 

If Affinity leads a rollout, our online learning platform offers course managers (i.e., firm administrators) the ability to track users’ progress through assigned courses. That’s a significant benefit to firm administrators, but not something the users engaging with Affinity Insight’s training content care about. We tailor our communications with users to focus on what they care about - how good training will help them get their job done faster and easier.  

For a firm doing its own change-over, think of ways that you could gather information on users’ sticking points: 

• Create a centralized email help address (for example, “name of new software”@myfirm.com”):  This provides a place for users to report problems or questions, and shows management where to focus employee training. 
• Create an intranet help page: Although creating an intranet sounds overwhelming, your “intranet page” can be as simple as a Microsoft Word document in a centralized location. In the document, place web links to helpful articles or training content, such as a video demonstrating the new software in your firm’s system. 

Absent some coding, you will not be able to tell who accesses which help resource however many times, but the email address (or alias) and help documents work symbiotically. You seed the help document with what you believe will be core questions and then adjust it based on email questions. 

3. Assign a pilot group 

When implementing new software, do not underestimate the power of a pilot group. A pilot group receives early access to the new software, tests it, and makes recommendations for changes. Not only can a pilot group help facilitate a smooth transition but they can also be your biggest cheerleaders. Get them excited for the change, and their excitement will spread like wildfire.  

Be sure to give the pilot group extra time to play around with the new programs. Do not expect them to get through their normal workload and give your new software the attention it deserves. The most successful pilots are ones that have the time each day to test things out.  

4. Train your employees 

There’s an adage we use around Affinity: if you are not going to train your users, you should not implement new software. We say it because it’s true. Implementing even the most user-friendly software in the world will flop if you do not give your users adequate training. While training at the time of implementation is vital, providing refresher training weeks and months later will help people improve their skills and learn how to take advantage of more advanced features.  

Record training videos and make them available for people to watch when questions come up down the road. Provide written instructions for those who would rather read than watch videos and provide as much training (both live and on-demand) as possible. Many software vendors also offer recorded videos and live webinars for users, and these can be a critical tool in helping your team succeed. 

5. Lead by example 

Lead by example and make sure team managers are onboard before rolling out any new software. If your leaders are not on board, either get them on board or head back to the drawing board.  

If your leaders do not adopt the new software, it has a waterfall effect. When they do not use your new software, it sends the message to your team that they do not need to use it or that there is no benefit to using it. It also makes it harder for your users to use the software. Suppose leaders are not storing or updating data in your practice management system or document management system. That forces your users to work outside of the system and makes the new system unreliable.  

Making sure users have the tools they need to learn new programs and software is one of the most challenging parts of any software implementation, but by utilizing these five tips early in the planning process, even the most complex changes can succeed. 

Missouri Bar members look to open, build, manage, protect, or wind down a law practice have access to scores of white papers, checklists, charts, and articles through the Practice Management Center. Missouri Bar members can also schedule a free consultation through the Ask an Expert page or by emailing MoBarLPM@affinityconsulting.com. 

Note: This is the final piece of a three-part series from The Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Company. The first part (about legal malpractice insurance) ran Dec. 15, 2021, and the second part (about cyber liability insurance) ran Jan. 12. The author describes some of the common types of insurance that lawyers and law firms should consider purchasing. The coverages included are by no means an exhaustive list but are intended to provide you with a good starting point to determine the coverages that are necessary for you and/or your firm.  

Business owner’s policy (BOP)

The Hartford explains that “A Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) combines business property and business liability insurance into one business insurance policy.” 

A BOP generally includes three basic insurance coverages needed by business owners: 

General liability insurance to help protect you from lawsuits when your business causes injuries or property damage. For example, if a client gets hurt at your office, this can help. It also helps cover claims of slander and libel. 

Commercial property insurance coverage helps protect the physical location where you practice law. It also helps cover the items you use to conduct your legal business, whether it’s leased or owned. 

Business income insurance coverage helps pay for lost income if you’re forced to shut down due to a covered property loss. This includes damage from fire, wind, or theft. 

It is important to note that you can purchase these three types of coverages in standalone policies, but most people find it easier and more economical to purchase a BOP. 

Workers’ compensation insurance

With rare exceptions, Missouri law requires a business owner to carry workers’ compensation insurance if he or she has five or more employees. This type of insurance provides benefits to your employees if they suffer illnesses or injuries because of their jobs. These benefits usually cover medical care, replace lost wages during recovery, provide disability benefits, and give death benefits in the event of a work-place accident that results in death. For the business owner, workers’ compensation insurance often helps cover legal costs if an employee sues because of a workplace illness or injury. 

Life insurance

While planning for one’s own death is uncomfortable, it is necessary. Life insurance can help you take care of dependents, a spouse, and/or aging parents. It also often gets more expensive with age, so it is something that you should consider purchasing while young. When considering the amount of life insurance you need, consider things like your final expenses, outstanding debts, housing costs (remaining mortgage/rent expense, utilities, etc.), and the educational or medical needs of dependents. 

There are two categories of life insurance: term and whole life. Term life insurance allows one to lock in a certain death benefit for a certain number of years. Within the term category, there are two types: renewable and level term. Renewable insurance has premiums that will increase annually as you age. while the premium for a level term policy remains the same throughout the term.  

Whole life insurance also pays a predetermined death benefit while rates remain the same. However, unlike term life insurance, premium payments made on a whole life policy earn tax-deferred interest and sometimes dividends. You can also borrow against it (in the amount of the current value) or cash in your policy prior to your death. The downside to whole life insurance is that it is much more expensive than term. 

Employment practices liability insurance

Employment practices liability insurance (“EPLI”) provides coverage for employment-related claims made against you and/or your firm. Such claims could include sexual harassment, age and disability discrimination, and wrongful termination. While this is common insurance for a business, a law firm can purchase policies specifically tailored to its needs that include coverage for things like the failure to make someone a partner, third-party claims brought by nonemployees for harassment or discrimination, and claims related to a nonprofit controlled by the law firm. 

Business (commercial) auto insurance and non-owned auto insurance

Many people do not realize that most personal auto policies do not cover accidents that occur while traveling for the purpose of conducting business. Given this, business auto insurance is essential to protect you from uninsured personal liability for property damage, medical care, and personal injury. 

Likewise, most personal auto policies held by your employees do not provide them coverage when they are traveling in their personal vehicle for a work purpose. Non-owned auto insurance protects your employees from uninsured personal liability for property damage, medical care, and personal injury. 

Other miscellaneous insurance types

There are numerous insurance products made to specifically cater to the needs of lawyers and law firms. Here is a non-exhaustive list of a few of the more helpful ancillary coverages: 

Commercial umbrella insurance, like a personal umbrella policy, would step in and cover damages that exceed the policy limit on your BOP. 

Accounts receivable general business insurance provides protection if your accounts receivable data is lost. It can also provide coverage for interest on a loan you had to take out to offset uncollected monies. 

Valuable papers and records insurance is valuable if your firm has several physical files. This policy covers the replacement cost of your records if the same were lost due to a covered peril. 

Employee dishonesty insurance provides coverage in the event an employee commits fraud or embezzlement. 

The Missouri Bar has assembled scores of resources for members looking to protect a practice. Members can learn more about the insurance options available from Missouri Bar member benefit providers here. The Bar Plan is a proud Missouri Bar member benefit provider and the only endorsed carrier of Professional Liability Insurance for The Missouri Bar. 

Depending on your firm’s size, you may be one of several people, one of a few, or the only person who know how to do important firm tasks. This compartmentalization has strengths and weaknesses. For example, limiting access to financial accounts reduces the possibility of theft or falling victim to a phishing or wire fraud scheme. Compartmentalization is a form of security. On the other hand, core business functions must continue even if the managing partner, office manager, or other high-ranking employee is unavailable or compelled to take an extended, unplanned absence. Most such events are unhappy occasions – perhaps an illness impacting the employee or an elderly parent’s health. You can’t put off payroll, health insurance premiums, or rent payments indefinitely because the person who “always does that” is unavailable for an indefinite period.

Moving from the grim to the practical, unlock the knowledge stored in each staffer’s head, including your own, by documenting fundamental business processes. This brings several advantages:

1. Nobody needs to be interrupted while on vacation because a coworker couldn’t complete a form or find something;
2. The firm has a resource to help train new hires;
3. The simple act of documenting your processes naturally leads you and your team to evaluate whether that process still makes sense; and
4. If you are a solo or small firm, when you choose to retire, your “process cookbook” adds value to the firm, offering interested parties something beyond a rolodex to buy (see this related blog on succession planning for lawyers firms).

Step by step

When working with firms to create good processes, I’ve found it helpful to speak in terms of a “cookbook” and “recipes” rather than “manuals” or “process maps.” Familiar vocabulary helps make what could be seen as a remote and unfamiliar activity more approachable. We’ve listed out what you need to complete a task (“ingredients”) and the order in which you do things to get the right result (the “steps” in our “recipe”). We’ll also group similar recipes together for easier locating later (our “cookbook”). Here’s an example:

Returning original documents to a client
Hopefully your firm has embraced paperless practicing. (If not, see this blog to get started down that path.) A core part of a paperless firm (or paper less if you’re still transitioning) is keeping those original documents you need for specific reasons – such as something that statutorily requires an original document – and returning all other original documents to the client.

Ingredients
To send originals back to the client, we need the following ingredients:

• the original documents;
• name and address of the client;
• a cover letter;
• a mailing label; and
• an appropriate envelope or other shipping container.

Steps
Here are the steps to prepare and mail the documents:

1. Confirm that the documents are scanned and in the firm’s document repository.
2. Decide how documents will be sent (e.g., US Mail, UPS, etc.).
3. Place documents in an appropriate envelope or shipping container.
4. Prepare a mailing label with the appropriate delivery service.
5. Open the cover letter template. If your firm doesn’t use document templates, see the Why Template Building is Critical for All Law Offices white paper and the “how to” checklist on Getting Started with Document Automation.
6. Type in the client’s information, method of delivery, and delivery tracking information.
7. If you don’t have a digital signature stamp, print the document for the sender to sign. If you do have digital signature stamps, apply the appropriate stamp to the document and print the letter. To learn more about digital signatures, take this CLE.
8. Place the cover letter in the envelope or shipping container.
9. Seal the envelope or container.
10. Place the mailing label on the envelope or container.
11. Place the envelope or container in the outbox or call for a pickup, as appropriate.

With that, we’ve written our first recipe together or, in business-speak, mapped our first process. You can probably already imagine similar recipes or processes that would accompany this one in a cookbook or employee manual: sending and receiving intake forms from new clients; sending and receiving discovery documents; and sending paper invoices and receipts of payment.

Learning along the way

The first time you and your team sit down and document the steps in fundamental processes – such as taking information from a client and generating draft corporate formation documents or estate planning documents for a lawyer to review – will take a while. Here are two tips to make this process easier:

Tip 1: Have the people who do the work lead that portion of the mapping. In our “returning originals” recipe above, if one person is responsible for drafting correspondence, that person takes the lead in outlining what happens currently. You gain nothing substantive by just having higher-ups guess or declaim what the process is or should be. There’s a reason the process works this way now. It could be good. For example, the typist always asks the lawyer for the client’s address because the firm’s central client address book is reliably inaccurate or incomplete. Or it could be bad. For example, the typist doesn’t look up the address in the central client address book because that person was never trained how to do so or lacks access to the system. The first step is knowing what happens now.

Tip 2: Through the process mapping exercise, you will discover things you’ll want to note for later examination or remediation. In reading our “returning originals” recipe above, maybe you learned about document templates for the first time. Creating a template so typists don’t continually recreate cover letters from scratch would save time. Same thing with digital signature stamps. Make a note and set it aside as two things to investigate for process improvement.

In the case of our typist lacking training or access to the client address book, that’s a remediation issue. Granting access is likely either a few clicks or the purchase of an additional license. If it’s a training issue, most vendors are happy to help train employees on their products. It’s a simple thing to solve.

Having the employees on the “front lines” leading the relevant process mapping gives you an honest view of what happens now, offering you the clearest perspective of where potential changes might bring great long-term gains or quickly eliminate initially unnoticed bottlenecks.

Getting started

Head over to our Practice Management Center to get started making your recipes for business success. Here are resources to guide the way:

• Everything has a Process Part 1 - How to Identify Yours: This whitepaper includes process mapping tips.
• Everything has a Process Part 2 - How to Improve Yours: This whitepaper discusses breaking large processes into smaller ones.
• Process Workflow Worksheet with Sample Workflow: This Excel document will guide you through documenting each step in a process.

Missouri Bar members have access to hundreds of white papers, checklists, comparison charts, and articles for those looking to open, build, manage, protect, or wind down a law practice. Have questions? At no cost, members can ask an expert their legal technology or practice management questions via email or by scheduling a one-on-one, remote consultation.

Moneyball Analytics is based on the book “Moneyball, The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” by Michael Lewis. The book became the basis for the movie “Moneyball,” which told the story of the 2002 Oakland A’s. Limited by a small market, competition from a more successful team just across the bay, and one of the smallest payrolls in baseball, the A’s nevertheless fielded a team that made the playoffs for two straight years. The A’s accomplished this by making decisions based on data.

Anyone with even a passing interest in baseball knows that it is a game of statistics. There are stats for everything. Traditional baseball managers and scouts often relied on only a few of them and combined them with hunches and “gut” feelings when evaluating players. The moneyball concept was different because it relied almost exclusively on numbers and sought to monetize certain statistics. Moneyball was also different in that it looked at numbers that traditional statisticians overlooked.

What can law firms learn from moneyball analytics and sports statisticians?

Keeping Score

Like sports, business has winners and losers. During the game, you can tell how each team is doing by looking at the scoreboard. After the game, the compiled box score or stats sheet provides the details. Looking at the statistics in depth almost always explains the final score. Sometimes, a single statistic tells the story. In football, for example, the team that has the fewest turnovers usually wins even if they trail in other statistics.

Law firms, like any business, can benefit from keeping score. However, many businesses don’t keep even the simplest scoreboard. Some only check the final score when the game is over – its year-end net profit, for example. While that is better than not looking at all, the final score happens for a reason. If you want to improve the final score, you need to dig into the details.

Hot Streaks, Cold Streaks and Lifetime Averages

In sports, every player and team have streaks. Streaks happen in almost every sport. In the same season, a player may have a 20-game hitting streak or a five-game hitting slump. However, they also have a lifetime average that tracks how they perform over the long term. Coaches and managers watch for streaks and help players break out of bad ones to become more consistent over time. Ultimately, this improves a player’s lifetime average.

Streaks and averages are another place where law firms can learn from sports. Your players are your lawyers and staff. You expect a certain performance level from them. Are they consistently reaching that level? If not, are you helping them have fewer losing streaks and improve their lifetime average? Spotting trends early allows you to take corrective action sooner and avoid a single player dragging down your entire team.

A Balanced Offense

A good sports team has a balanced offense. In baseball, teams seek a balance of power, speed, and batting average. In football, teams look for a balance of running and passing. Sports teams know that being one dimensional or predictable will eventually cause problems as their opponents learn and take advantage of their tendencies or weaknesses.

Balance plays a role in business as well. Many law firms work in multiple practice areas to provide balance. If the economy is hurting one area, it may very well be helping another. Every firm, even one that specializes in a single area, looks for balance in two areas: getting more work (finding new clients) while at the same time getting the work done. Many firms focus on one or the other and then scramble to change direction as the need arises. The other perennial balancing act is work-life balance. A sports team does not worry about work-life balance, but a law firm should.

Non-Traditional Stats

In sports, certain statistics grab the most attention. Baseball is famous for its triple crown of home runs, runs batted in, and batting average. Teams have always sought and paid for players with high numbers in these areas. Baseball teams following the moneyball concept look at statistics differently. While these numbers are important, moneyball teams place a higher priority on slugging percentage. They feel that slugging percentage is a better indicator of a player’s overall offensive contribution to the team. Specifically, they believe slugging percentage reflects the player’s ability to create and extend scoring opportunities. Also, because slugging percentage is not a statistic that makes headlines, good sluggers might be available at a lower cost.

Every business looks at certain traditional numbers. The first thing we all create at the end of the year is a profit and loss statement. In addition, specific industries or professions have their own traditional indicators of success or failure. Law firms, for example, run productivity reports and track the number of new clients added each year. Are there non-traditional numbers that are better indicators? A lawyer whose productivity numbers seem lacking may spend their non-billable time acquiring new clients or expanding their professional skills. Everyone agrees that those skills are valuable. Perhaps assigning a value to these skills is a better indicator of the total value of the lawyer.

Every business wants to add new, high-quality customers. Does the traditional count of new clients tell a firm everything they need to know? Detailed record keeping and a little math reveal so much more. Where did the clients originate? How much revenue and profit did they generate? Now, add some math. On average, how much revenue or profit does a client acquired from a specific source generate? How does that compare to other sources? A firm that is armed with this information makes smarter decisions about where to spend their marketing dollars or invest their business development time.

The Missouri Bar’s Practice Management section provides a wealth of resources to help members build and manage their practices. This includes offering white papers on ways to double your referrals, make your website the hub of a successful marketing strategy, and much more. At no cost, members can also email their practice management questions to an expert or schedule a 30-minute one-on-one remote consultation.

As a legal professional, you have encountered your fair share of PDF files and assumably created more than a few. Even in our personal lives, PDFs are ubiquitous: appliance instruction manuals, new car brochures, bank statements, etc. The PDF format’s great attraction is that it reproduces electronically exactly what a printed document looks like. And it does so across any device – smartphone, iPad, computer, TV, etc. 

The primary reason for PDF’s ubiquity in our lives comes from two business decisions Adobe, PDF’s creator, made 15-25 years ago. The first decision was made in the mid-to-late 1990s, at the start of the internet boom. Adobe decided to charge a bundle for the PDF creation software (Adobe Acrobat) and give away the software to read, but not edit, the files (Acrobat Reader). At the time, this was revolutionary. We’re accustomed now to opening Microsoft Word documents, for example, on devices that don’t have Word installed so you can read, but not edit, the file. That was hardly the case when Adobe took that innovative step. 

Similarly, Adobe had a version of Acrobat Reader for all platforms, not just Microsoft Windows, another major difference in the late 1990s when Apple macOS were a tiny, shrinking market and Linux was unheard of outside of nerd circles. Today, when we do so much computing through websites and phone applications, this move seems obvious. It was not at the time. 

Adobe’s second major strategic move came in 2008 when it took its PDF specifications and made them open source. With the specifications free to all, any developer could create software to create or read PDFs without running afoul of Adobe’s copyrights. And developers did. Now there are tons of PDF creation software packages at different price points. Adobe’s Acrobat Pro is still the gold standard and requires a subscription, but there are great alternative options, including free ones. 

What can free do for you? - Creating PDFs  

Ten or more years ago, if you wanted to create a PDF out of a document, you purchased software from Adobe or one of its newly minted competitors. If you’re running recent versions of macOS, Windows, or Microsoft Office, you don’t have to buy anything to create a PDF document of another electronic file. 

macOS users have had PDF creation ability since 2001. PDF creation is a system-level feature accessible through the print dialog box. Select “File” and “Print” (or “CMD” + “P” for keyboard fans), and “save as PDF” is located at the bottom center of the print dialog. Click here for details.  

Windows users have a similar capability in Windows 10. Select “File” and “Print” (or “CTRL” + “P” on your keyboard), select the “Microsoft Print to PDF” printer, and click “Print.” A dialog box will appear asking you to name the file and select a place to save it. Windows can also print multiple PDF files to a single combined PDF file. Just select the PDFs you want to combine in File Explorer, right-click, and select “Print.” The limitation here is the PDFs are combined in whatever order they appear in File Explorer; there’s no re-ordering. 

Microsoft Office, both for Windows and Mac, offers the ability to save most files as PDF, including Word files. 

For iOS users, you have the same ability, but it’s just more hidden. Tap the “Share Sheet” icon in the app and then tap “Print.” When the print preview for the document opens, do a “pinch and zoom” gesture to expand the document. The document will enlarge on the screen. It’s not obvious, but that enlarged document is a PDF. Tap the “Share Sheet” icon in the top right-hand corner and select the app or place you want to save or send the PDF. 

For Android users, the steps are similar to iOS, except instead of a “pinch and zoom” gesture there is a “Save to PDF” option to select from a dropdown menu. 

What can free do for you? - Editing for free 

Besides creating PDFs, you may want to edit, comment on, or otherwise mark them up. Free PDF software has you covered there, too. 

Acrobat Reader – Windows and Mac 

Acrobat Reader allows a user to comment on a document (such as sticky notes, annotations, highlights, etc.) and sign forms. You cannot do any editing for free, unlike Foxit Reader below. However, if you are willing to pay Adobe either $2/month ($24/year) or $10/month ($120/year), you can add either Adobe Export PDF or Adobe PDF Pack features to Reader. Export PDF adds the ability to turn PDF files into native Word, Excel, or RTF files. PDF Pack includes those features plus the ability to convert PDFs to PowerPoints or image files, create PDFs from files less than 100MB, and combine multiple PDFs into a single file. 

Foxit Reader – Windows and Mac 

Foxit Reader published a full manual on what their free Windows and Mac readers can do. With these free packages, you can get a PDF word count, sign and “stamp” documents, comment and annotate documents, fill out form documents, and even add bookmarks, links, and images to the PDF (assuming the PDF is not protected). 

Preview – Mac 

Mac users get a free, decently capable app with macOS. Its Preview app lets users annotate PDFs, fill out and sign forms, and add, delete, or move pages. This covers most of what you would generally want to do with PDFs. 

Generally speaking, you can generate a PDF and comment on it all without paying a dime. 

What costs money 

A couple of power features that legal professionals may need are not available for free anywhere. Those two features are redaction and Bates numbering. This may matter depending on your practice area. If you are not in litigation, neither may matter. But, particularly with redaction, do not tolerate shortcuts. Do not draw black boxes assuming that’s “good enough,” because nationally reported examples, such as the Broward County School Board case show us what happens when you redact improperly. 

Comment 6 to the Supreme Court of Missouri’s Rules of Professional Conduct 4-1.1 admonishes lawyers to “keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice.” This includes having the proper technology, knowing how to use it, and making sure supporting lawyers and non-lawyer staff have access and know how to use it. 

Fortunately, thanks to Adobe’s open sourcing of the PDF specifications, capable PDF software that redacts and Bates numbers doesn’t have to cost the $15/month (or $180/year) for Acrobat Pro DC (Acrobat Standard DC lacks redaction and Bates numbering). While Adobe’s offering includes access to its e-signature platform, which could be valuable during the pandemic, if you just need to redact and Bates number, $15/month could be considered high. Here are some lower-cost options: 

• Windows:  Foxit PhantomPDF Business (redaction and Bates numbering; $180 once or $132/year), Kofax Power PDF Advanced (redaction and Bates numbering; $180 once), and pdfDpcs Professional (redaction and Bates numbering; $107 once). Both Foxit and Kofax make a standard edition but, like Adobe’s, their standard editions lack redaction and Bates numbering. 

• Mac: Foxit PhantomPDF Mac (redaction only; $140 once or $99/year), Kofax Power PDF Standard for Mac (redaction and Bates numbering; $130 once); PDF Expert (redaction only; $50/year); and PDFpen for Mac or PDFpenPro for Mac (both have redaction and Bates numbering; $80 and $130 once, respectively). 

For more information, refer to the PDF software comparison chart in our practice management resources. If you have questions or want information from experts who have implemented these solutions for law practices and legal organizations, members can ask an expert their questions for free via email or during a virtual visit. 

Succession planning is all about leaving a legacy. Lawyers who built their firms from the ground up and who contributed blood, sweat, and tears to the firms deserve to leave their marks. Leaving your legacy requires years of strategic planning and decision making. 

When considering your legacy, you must think about the people who will carry the torch once you retire, the core processes that keep business running smoothly, and how to successfully transition work and clients to those who follow in your footsteps. 

First Rate Players: You can’t plan for succession without planning for those who will succeed you. Early identification of star players provides you with time to mold them into stellar leaders and rainmakers. The sooner you start working with these key players, the more time you have available to help shape them into whom the firm needs them to be. 

Fundamental Processes: Every firm is driven by numerous fundamental processes. Leaving a legacy requires identifying those processes and documenting every step in that process, from client intake to closing letter. Process documentation has immediate benefits. New hire on-boarding is more efficient, and process documentation helps get everyone in the firm on the same page. 

While documenting processes, look for areas of potential improvement and gaps in the firm’s coverage. Ensure there is a backup for each task. Should someone suddenly leave the firm, you don’t want to be left in the lurch. 

Future Transitions: Transitioning work and clients is never easy. The most successful transitions start before retirement is on the horizon. When possible, ensure that every client works with and trusts at least two lawyers in the firm. Your clients must be comfortable with your replacement before you decide to retire. 

Train associates to handle every type of matter that comes in. Work side-by-side on the complicated matters and provide them guidance on how to handle the thorniest issues. Then, when you are ready to retire, they will be ready to handle the workload. 

Succession planning isn’t easy. It requires strategic planning and must be kept in mind with every decision your firm makes. It is never too early to start planning for retirement. 

Missouri Bar members can access white papers, checklists, and charts related to succession planning and process documentation, including the Planning Ahead Guide, at mobar.org/LPM.   

Members can also email their questions to or set up a one-on-one remote consultation with Affinity Consulting Group. 

For example, the rule seeks to prohibit a lawyer who formerly worked for the government from improperly using confidential government information, say for the advantage of a future private client. The rule attempts to limit potential problems without unduly hampering the government’s ability to recruit good lawyers, primarily by loosening the strict imputation rule.

The Rule

It may be helpful to categorize Rule 4-1.11’s lettered subsections. Subsections (a), (b), and (c) are directed to lawyers who formerly served as government officers or employees. Subsection (d) addresses lawyers currently serving as government officers or employees. Subsection (e) applies to lawyers holding public office. Subsection (f) defines “matter” as it is used in Rule 4-1.11.

Subsection (a) prohibits a former employee of the government from representing a client in a matter in which the lawyer personally and substantially² participated when the lawyer worked for the government, unless the government gives informed consent,³ confirmed in writing,⁴ to the representation. Additionally, the former government lawyer is subject to Rule 4-1.9(c), which prohibits use or revelation of information relating to a matter in which the lawyer formerly represented a client.

An example of a scenario contemplated by subparagraph (a) follows. Unless the Missouri Department of Natural Resources gives written, informed consent, a former staff lawyer for the department who, while a department lawyer, worked on a case alleging a company released pollutants into the waterways in violation of state regulations is prohibited, or should be disqualified, from defending the company against those allegations after going to work for a law firm.

In accordance with subparagraph (b), the law firm, which had been defending the company before it hired the lawyer from DNR’s ranks, may continue representing the company if it promptly notifies DNR that the lawyer has become associated with the firm and timely screens the lawyer from any participation in the matter.⁵ The notice is intended to allow the government agency the opportunity to assure itself that proper screening has occurred. Further, the disqualified lawyer is prohibited from receiving any part of the fee directly relating to the representation.⁶ Continued representation by other lawyers in the firm, with notice and screening, is allowed here while it is not in a private practice to private practice scenario, where disqualification is imputed to all the lawyers in the new firm.⁷ The rationale for not imposing strict imputation in the government to private practice scenario is discussed in Comment 4. One factor is the fear that the stricter rule would inhibit government recruiting of qualified lawyers, who might shy away from government service if their future job prospects in the private sector are constrained by the prospect of a firm’s loss of clients due to strict imputation.

Subsection (c) prohibits a lawyer who previously worked for the government, and who acquired “confidential government information”⁸ about a “person” while so employed, from representing a client whose interests are adverse to that person in a matter in which the confidential government information could be used to the material disadvantage of that person. The firm with which the disqualified lawyer is now associated is permitted the continued representation if the disqualified lawyer is screened and is apportioned no part of the fee directly related to the representation.

As an example, if a lawyer learns, while working as an assistant attorney general, that the individual is about to be indicted for tax fraud, the now former assistant attorney general could not use that confidential information, say in settlement negotiations, to the material disadvantage of the individual in the course of litigation while practicing in his or her new firm. Again, the restriction is not imputed to other members of the firm, who may litigate against the individual so long as the former assistant attorney general is screened and apportioned no fee directly from the litigation.

Subsection (d) applies to lawyers currently serving as public officers or employees and addresses conflicts the lawyers may have with former client matters. The lawyers now working for the government are subject to Rule 4-1.7, the concurrent conflict of interest rule. The lawyer is also subject to all the provisions of Rule 4-1.9. Subsection (d) thus counsels a lawyer moving from private practice into government service from handling matters the lawyer participated in “personally and substantially” while in private practice. For example, a private practice lawyer who was defending a client in a criminal case should not continue the representation after taking a position as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the county where the charges were pending.⁹

A more complicated scenario occurs when a lawyer leaves a position as a government employee and moves to another government job, specifically when a public defender moves to a prosecuting attorney’s office. The Supreme Court of Missouri, in State v. Lemasters,¹⁰ discussed Rule 4-1.11 in the context of a lawyer who left the public defender’s office and went to work as an assistant prosecutor in the same county where she had been defending a client against criminal charges. The former client, Lemasters, moved to disqualify all of the lawyers in the prosecuting attorney’s office on the grounds that his former lawyer’s conflict disqualified all of the lawyers in the office.

The court found that Lemasters’ former lawyer, who was a former government lawyer due to her prior position in the Missouri State Public Defender system, was disqualified by Rule 4-1.11(a) from participating in any way in Lemasters’ prosecution. Rule 4-1.11(a)(1) also prohibited the lawyer from revealing any information relating to Lemasters to her new colleagues or using any information to Lemasters’ disadvantage. The evidence showed the new prosecutor had complied with these obligations.¹¹

Lemasters nevertheless argued that his former lawyer’s conflict should be imputed to all the lawyers in the prosecutor’s office. In analyzing Lemasters’ claim, the court found Rule 4-1.11(b)’s conflict imputation language did not apply to the “public defender to prosecutor” scenario because that subsection applies to a job move to a “firm,” a word that does not include lawyers working together as government employees, such as in a county prosecutor’s office.¹² Instead, the court found Rule 4-1.11(d), “which deals with conflicts arising from prior representations by current public officers or employees,” (emphasis in original) applied to the Lemasters scenario. The court noted there was no imputation language in Rule 4-1.11(d) and cited the language in Comment 2, which states the subsection does not impute the conflicts of a lawyer currently serving as a government employee to associated employees, while noting that screening would be prudent.¹³

Rule 4-1.11(d)(2)(ii) prohibits a lawyer currently working for the government from negotiating for a job with a party in a matter in which the lawyer is participating “personally and substantially.” An exception is made for judicial law clerks, so long as the clerk notifies the judge about the job negotiation.¹⁴

Subsection (e) addresses lawyers who “also hold public office” and prohibits engagement in activities in which the lawyer’s personal or professional interests conflict with the lawyer’s “official duties or responsibilities.”¹⁵ Comment 11 notes a public official’s position on policy matters may conflict with a client’s interests. Nor is the lawyer holding public office permitted to “attempt to influence any agency of any political subdivision” for which the lawyer serves as a public officer, except as part of the lawyer’s official duties or as authorized by §§ 105.450 RSMo to 105.496 RSMo.¹⁶ Other lawyers in a firm in which the lawyer holding public office is associated may continue or undertake a matter the public officer would be disqualified from pursuing so long as that lawyer is screened.¹⁷

Subsection (f) defines “matter” for the purposes of Rule 4-1.11. Notably, matter is defined to include decisions involving a specific party or parties, which may be a narrower definition than is found in Rule 4-1.9.¹⁸

Conclusion

Conflicts analysis can be complicated. Supreme Court Rule 4-1.11 specifically applies to a lawyer who leaves government service to work in the private sector, who leaves a private practice to join the government, or who moves between government positions. The rule should be read, and reread, by lawyers transitioning into and away from government service.

Endnotes

1 Sharon K. Weedin is staff counsel for the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel in Jefferson City.

2  Rule 4-1.0(l).

3  Rule 4-1.0(e).  See also Rule 4-1.11, Comment 1, where it is acknowledged that statutes or regulations may inhibit a government agency’s authority to give consent.

4  Rule 4-1.0(b).

5  Rule 4-1.0(k), and Rule 4-1.11, Comments 9, 10, and 11.

6  Rule 4-1.11, Comment 6 clarifies that the disqualified lawyer may receive any salary or partnership share established by independent agreement.

7  Rule 4-1.10, the general rule concerning imputation of conflicts of interest. In most cases, the conflicts of an incoming lawyer are imputed to all members of the firm, without the possibility of screening. Rule 4-1.10(d) specifically carves out an exception to the strict imputation rule for former or current government lawyers and cites Rule 4-1.11.

8  Confidential government information is defined in Rule 4-1.11(c) as “information that has been obtained under governmental authority” and which, at the time the rule is being applied, the government is prohibited from disclosing and is not otherwise available to the public.

9   In re Smith, 29 So.3d 1232 (La. 2010).

10 State v. Lemasters, 456 S.W.3d 416 (Mo. banc 2015).

11 Id. at *420.

12 Id. at *421.

13 The Court confirmed its Lemasters reasoning in State ex rel. Peters-Baker v. Round, 561S.W.3d 380 (Mo. banc 2018), in which a defendant unsuccessfully argued for the imputed disqualification of an entire prosecutor’s office due to his former public defender’s move to that office.

14 Rule 4-1.11(d)(2)(ii); Rule 4-1.12(b).

15 See Rule 4-1.7.  Subsection (e) in Missouri’s Rule 4-1.11 is not found in the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. 

16 Chapter 105, Public Officers and Employees, RSMo.

17 Rule 4-1.11, Comment 10, provides context for the word “matter” as it is used in this subsection.

18 See ABA Comm. On Ethics and Professional Responsibility Formal Op. 97-409 (1997).

You don’t have to be into politics or ceremonial occasions to have seen, understood, and enjoyed the Sen. Bernie Sanders photo and consequent memes from President Joe Biden’s inauguration. If none of those hit the spot, you can create your own of course.

One of my favorites is the photo of Sanders with the words “This could’ve been an email.” I don’t know whether the senator thought that about the eighth inauguration he could attend as a member of Congress, but I’ve certainly been to meetings that felt like they were worthy only of an email at best. I bet you have too.

Meaningful Meeting Building Blocks

Right Size and Right Participants: At Affinity, we have four types of formal, as opposed to impromptu, meetings. I’ve applied our model to examples for a legal organization:

1. Staff meetings that everyone attends, which happen once a month and at which management and team leads give business updates;
2. Team meetings attended by members of a team, such as corporate, litigation, or estate planning, where all team members give updates, share challenges and good news, and address team-wide issues;
3. One-on-one meetings, usually 15-30 minutes long, between a team lead and an individual team member for discussions that don’t affect the whole team; and
4. Client or project meetings, which are external between firm members and the client as part of a case or matter. These meetings vary in length from between 15 minutes to an hour.

The right size and right participants principle means you address the question with the smallest number of meeting participants necessary. You don’t address an individual or team issue at a company-wide meeting. Team meetings and one-on-ones are the venue for that. A project team wants to have its ducks in a row and fix miscommunications outside of the client’s view when possible. Don’t take time out of five people’s day when two people can handle the question. Our exception to these guidelines is that good news can always flow upstream. Who doesn’t like more good news? Good news aside, the best way I’ve found to summarize this principle is that most meetings should have participants and few to no mere attendees.

Meetings are for Making Decisions: Whatever “background information” is a necessary basis for the meeting’s topic should be distributed in advance so participants come to the meeting ready to discuss and decide. The volume of what’s distributed could vary greatly depending on the subject. Maybe you want to hold a meeting about recruiting more clients. I suggest the pre-reading available should include what the firm does now to recruit clients, what those efforts cost, and how successful they've been. People do the pre-reading and come to the meeting prepared to decide on a strategy for the months ahead.

The objection I hear to this approach is people don’t make time to do the pre-reading. No doubt! My response to that is to suggest Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ approach to meetings. The first 30 minutes of each meeting is “study hall” time for participants to complete the pre-reading. That way no one tries to bluff his way through or asks questions preparation would answer.

Even if you invite folks to a “blue sky” brainstorming session, don’t just book a calendar appointment for “brainstorming;” give participants context. I had a college professor who, when handing out the weekly essay prompts, said, “Even if you’re not going to begin writing until the night before it’s due, read the prompts immediately because your mind works on questions without you being aware of it.” I did as he said, and it seemed to work. I have continued to do so ever since. So, don’t schedule a “brainstorming” meeting, but instead a “brainstorming meeting on estate planning services to offer people transitioning from homes or independent living to congregant or assisted living.”

Everyone has Something Else to Do: This is true even of the meeting host or organizer. Run a tight ship. Be respectful of everyone and start your meeting on time. And, more importantly, end the meeting on time come hell or high water. We’re all busy, often booked back-to-back. One or more people have given you the gift of their time. Make good use of it.

What Shall We Talk About: A meeting without an agenda is like cooking without a recipe or driving without a destination. Serendipity may bless your endeavor, but the odds makers bet against you. There’s no need for a detailed plan but telling folks in advance what’s going to be discussed and what questions or problems you expect to resolve helps participants frame their own thinking.

Who Said That: A corollary to points two and four above is that a meaningful meeting should have a scribe or secretary whose responsibility is to record what the group discussed, what decisions the group made, and who agreed to do something and date by which that person updates the group or relevant people. Shortly after the meeting, the scribe sends around notes of the meeting. Remember that a meetings purpose isn’t a gripe session or happy hour; it’s to produce a concrete positive effect.

Possible Perilous Pitfalls

Few meetings will be perfect and many might not satisfy all the meaningful meeting building blocks above. The goal is to make each meeting you can influence at least a little better than the previous one with same participants.

Getting off the starting line is the biggest challenge, but you will encounter hiccups along the way:

Tech Roulette: You’re most likely to encounter this issue with clients or other external participants. Many comparable digital meeting platforms exist: Zoom, Teams, GoToMeeting, Webex, and so forth. If you don’t have a platform, check out the Web Meeting Service Comparison Chart for top vendors in this field.

Irrespective of your platform choice, clients, colleagues, and courts will be using one or more of the alternatives. If your client base tends toward individuals and families, they’re probably most comfortable with Zoom. With businesses it could be Teams, Webex, or Zoom. With courts, I’ve seen Zoom and WebEx. In any event, we’re unlikely to return to plain, vanilla conference calls. The less technologically sophisticated your client is, the more time you’ll lose to tech issues at a meeting’s start. Take that into account when planning and scheduling meetings.

Practice Makes Perfect: I think it was Jack Newton, CEO of legal technology company Clio’s, who commented that COVID compressed five to 10 years of legal tech changes into a few weeks of 2020. If you were a technophobe or tech-naive attorney, you had to figure out webcams, audio, screen sharing and all the rest. You’re better at it today than you were months ago. If you have team members who conduct virtual meetings with clients, make sure they are equipped with the necessary web meeting technology and know how to use it effectively. I encounter many paralegals and legal assistants who meet with clients but lack the audio and video tech to easily participate in web meetings. Make sure people representing your firm to the world do so professionally, just as you would want for in-person meetings.

Quick Tips

Finally, here are some quick tips to encourage everyone’s involvement and best ideas:

• Offer feedback with respect and the intention to help;
• Receive feedback without debate;
• Choose clarifying questions over defensive statements;
• No redundant comments: “I agree with...” or “Like Sally said…”;
• Respect one another;
• Pay attention and engage; and
• One person speaks at a time.

For more resources on opening, building, managing, protecting, and winding down a law practice, visit the The Missouri Bars’ Law Practice Management Resource Center. If you have any questions or want information from experts who’ve implemented these solutions in law practices and legal organizations, visit the Ask an Expert page to email questions or schedule a phone or video call.

Kayla Kemp

Kayla Kemp is staff counsel at the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel.¹

Thankfully, there are an abundance of resources and technological solutions which can be utilized to facilitate practicing during a pandemic. As lawyers, we must be mindful to ensure that as we adapt, we must continue to meet our ethical duties under the Missouri Rules of Professional Conduct (“Rules”). 

Planning for Incapacitation During a Pandemic

Lawyers should be prepared to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, whether that be a natural disaster, pandemic, or some other act of God. Not only do we need to be prepared for abrupt changes to the ways in which we meet with clients or appear before courts, but we also need to be prepared for incapacity, more so now than ever before. Like the general population, our profession’s population is increasingly aging. According to the 2020 American Bar Association Profile of the Legal Profession, the median age of lawyers as of 2019 was 47.5 years old.² Nearly one in six lawyers are 65 or older.³ This is notable because the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warns the risk for severe illness with COVID-19 increases with age. Those who are 50-64 years of age are four times more likely to be hospitalized than the comparison group, which consisted of those 18-29 years old. The risk of death was 30 times higher for those 50-64 years old compared to the comparison group.⁴ Those figures increase with each following age group. Nonetheless, every lawyer must consider the possibility of becoming incapacitated with little to no notice.

Lawyers should ensure that, in the event of incapacity, they are comporting with ethical obligations. One way to ensure compliance is to have a succession plan in place. Rule 5.26 allows lawyers to take an important step in ensuring that representation is not disrupted by sudden incapacity. Now is a good time to consider designating a trustee pursuant to Rule 5.26, which allows a lawyer to choose someone who can take over the lawyer’s legal practice upon an unexpected absence. By selecting a trustee, you can involve that same trustee in your succession plan. By actively preparing for the possibility of incapacity, a lawyer can better facilitate a smooth transition in the event the unexpected occurred. Aside from designating a trustee, a plan should be developed for any event which may keep you out of your physical office. This plan should encompass how your usual means of communication will continue to be monitored. Someone will need to go to your physical office to check mail, voicemails, or faxes. Also, be sure to include clear instructions regarding receiving and retaining client records and property. For additional resources in succession planning, visit The Missouri Bar’s website, MoBar.org.⁵

Mental Health Concerns

The physical threat COVID-19 presents is not the only health risk. On Feb. 19, 2020, the American Lawyer released the results of its year-long “Mental Health and Substance Abuse Survey,” which found that 31.2% of the more than 3,800 respondents surveyed reported they were depressed. Additionally, 64% reported anxiety, 10.1% reported an alcohol problem, and 2.8% reported a drug problem.⁶ These findings predate the onset of the pandemic in the United States.

The CDC released findings noting that in June of 2020 the rates of depression and anxiety amongst adults in the United States were three to four times higher than the corresponding point in 2019.⁷ Approximately 40% of those surveyed reported struggling with mental health or substance abuse. According to the same study, rates of suicidal ideation, substance abuse, and alcohol consumption are steadily rising. Lawyers should familiarize themselves with the mental health and substance use resources available through The Missouri Bar.⁸ Depression and anxiety can result in lawyers neglecting their responsibilities and, therefore, harming their clients. Just as lawyers ought to be proactive in planning for physical incapacitation, lawyers should also be proactive in caring for their mental well-being. A lawyer who is grappling with these serious health issues needs to make every effort to seek help, such as through the Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program (MOLAP).⁹ Through MOLAP, all Missouri Bar members can speak with a licensed clinical social worker by calling 800-688-7859. The program is free and confidential.

Competence Amidst Chaos

The first obligation set forth in the Rules is that of competence. Rule 4-1.1 – Competence – Comment [6] dictates “[t]o maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology ... .”

Keeping abreast of changes to the practice of law necessities brings an awareness of the risks associated with working remotely. Despite the challenges presented during the current pandemic, lawyers have the duty to remain competent. Comment [3] to Rule 4-1.1 provides guidance on a lawyer’s ethical obligation during such a situation as a global pandemic:

In an emergency a lawyer may give advice or assistance in a matter in which the lawyer does not have the skill ordinarily required where referral to or consultation or association with another lawyer would be impractical. Even in an emergency, however, assistance should be limited to that reasonably necessary in the circumstances, for ill-considered action under emergency conditions can jeopardize the client’s interest.

In the event of an emergency, a lawyer may give advice in a matter the lawyer does not possess the skill ordinarily needed to provide such advice. Of course, advising without the necessary skill is only acceptable where referral or consultation with another lawyer is impractical.

Lawyers must continue to educate themselves on technological innovations which can be utilized to virtually serve their clients. Also, lawyers need to stay current on any legal changes that allow them to continue to meet clients’ needs to enter into contracts, update wills, or create personal health care directives.

Remote Notarization

On April 6, 2020, Gov. Mike Parson issued Executive Order 20-08 suspending a statutory requirement that a notary public must conduct such notarization of official documents while the signer personally appears. Executive Order 20-08 was set to expire June 15, 2020; then, Executive Order 20-12 extended remote notarization to Aug. 28, 2020. Subsequently, Executive Order 20-14 and Executive Order 20-19 extended remote notarizations until March 31, 2021.

The practice of remote notarization provides a secure and safe method to execute legal documents. Notarization can occur while utilizing audio-video technology, provided certain conditions are met: 

(1) If the signatory is not personally or otherwise known to the notary, the signatory must display a valid photo ID to the notary during the video conference;

(2) The signatory must affirmatively represent that they are physically situated in the State of Missouri, and the notary must be physically located in the State of Missouri and say in which county they are physically located for the jurisdiction on the notarial certificate;

(3) The video conference must be a live and interactive audio-visual communication between the signatory, notary, and any other necessary persons to allow for direct interaction at the time of signing;

(4) The notary must record in their journal the exact time and software used to perform the notarial act, along with all other required information; and

(5) The document must contain a notarial certificate, a jurat, or acknowledgement, which states that the signatory appeared remotely pursuant to Executive Order 20-14.

Electronic Notarization

While Missouri already permits electronic notarization, which is the use of electronic signatures and seals, Executive Order 20-14 allows for remote and electronic notarization to occur together when:

(1) The notary public is registered as an electronic notary public with the Missouri Secretary of State;

(2) The document must be electronically signed with a software approved by the Missouri Secretary of State; and

(3) The notary must affix the electronic notary seal to the electronic document.

Lawyers should do their due diligence and check with the Missouri Secretary of State to confirm they are using a registered remote notary¹⁰ and the software used to electronically sign the document¹¹ is approved.

Cyber Security

While there are many benefits to utilizing technology to facilitate legal services, there are also risks. For example, Zoom – a platform used to facilitate virtual audio and visual meetings – has had security breaches. In July 2019, a vulnerability in Zoom’s Macintosh desktop client was found which let malicious websites turn on a Macintosh user’s webcam without that user’s knowledge.¹² Then, in January 2020, another vulnerability was discovered. Unauthorized users could enter Zoom meetings that were not password protected and did not have Zoom’s Waiting Room feature – which allows for manual admission into Zoom meetings – enabled. Security flaws such as these are not unique to Zoom. Consequently, when utilizing third-party platforms, lawyers ought to take precautions such as using updated software and taking reasonable security measures.

Rule 4-1.6(c) specifies “[a] lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information of the client.” Comment [15] details the factors to be considered in determining whether a lawyer acted completely by undertaking reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of information related to client representation. The ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 477R, “Securing Communication of Protected Client Information,” which provides guidance as to security measures that should be employed given the ever-increasing cybersecurity threats that exist when transmitting information over the internet:¹³

However, cyber-threats and the proliferation of electronic communications devices have changed the landscape and it is not always reasonable to rely on the use of unencrypted email. For example, electronic communication through certain mobile applications or on message boards or via unsecured networks may lack the basic expectation of privacy afforded to email communications.¹⁴

While cyber security was a matter of grave concern in 2017, the threat of harm has only increased.¹⁵ In 2019, there were more than 5,000 data breaches reported.¹⁶ These breaches amounted to approximately 8 billion exposed records. Educating yourself on the various types of cyberattacks which can leave your client-confidential information vulnerable is the first step.¹⁷

Third-party Service Providers

For those lawyers whose devices are managed by a third party, include explicit terms in your contracts detailing which security practices are to be followed. These security features can include audits that report security status and the health of your devices. The National Institute for Standards and Technology and the Institute for Standards Organization provide best practices for guidance on how to strengthen your network’s defenses. Lawyers should consider including clauses in their contracts which detail how third parties will secure remote access. Methods to help secure remote access to your network include VPNs, multi-factor authentication, and rotating strong passwords. After all, Comment [1] to Rule 4-5.3 – Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants requires lawyers with managerial authority make reasonable assurances that the nonlawyers in the firm and those who work outside the firm act in a way compatible with the ethical obligations of the lawyer.

As technology evolves, so does our obligation to act reasonably under the Rules of Professional Conduct. And as we adapt, we must consider what further efforts we can take to meet our ethical duties. The current global pandemic has shifted our way of life, both at work and at home. It is important for every lawyer to understand the resources available to help alleviate the burden they may feel.

Endnotes

1 Kayla Kemp is staff counsel at the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel. Special thanks to Melinda J. Bentley, legal ethics counsel, whose presentation, “Ethical Considerations for Missouri Lawyers Practicing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Conversation with the Chief Disciplinary Counsel & Ethics Counsel,” was invaluable.

2 Am. Bar Ass’n, 2020 American Bar Association Profile of the Legal Profession (2020), https://www.americanbar.org/news/reporter_resources/profile-of-profession/.

3 Am. Bar Ass’n, 2020 American Bar Association Profile of the Legal Profession (2020), https://www.americanbar.org/news/reporter_resources/profile-of-profession/.

4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19: Older Adults (2020), https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/older-adults.html.

5 The Missouri Bar, Planning Ahead: A Guide to Protect Your Clients’ and You Survivors’ Interests in the Event of Your Disability of Death (2005).

6 Lizzy McLellan, Lawyers Reveal True Depth of Mental Health Struggles, Law.com (Feb. 19, 2020, 11:00 AM), https://www.law.com/2020/02/19/lawyers-reveal-true-depth-of-the-mental-health-struggles/.

7 Czeisler MÉ et al., Mental Health, Substance Use, and Suicidal Ideation During the COVID-19 Pandemic – United States, June 24–30, 2020, MMWR Morb. Mortal Wkly. Rep. 2020;69:1049-1057 (2020). 

8 Coronavirus Resource Center for Lawyers, https://mobar.org/site/content/Lawyer-Resources/Coronavirus_Resource_Center_for_Lawyers.aspx?WebsiteKey=dd54fe1d-87c8-4d7e-9547-e59fcd729541 (last visited Jan. 11, 2021).

9 Missouri Lawyers’ Assistance Program, https://mobar.org/molap/ (last visited Jan. 11, 2021).

10 Registered Electronic Notaries, https://www.sos.mo.gov/RegisteredElectronicNotary (last visited Jan. 11, 2021).

11 Approved Notary Software Vendors, https://s1.sos.mo.gov/Business/Notary/softwarevendors (last visited Jan. 11, 2021).

12 Jonathan Leitschuh, Zoom Zero Day: 4+ Million Webcams & Maybe an RCE? Just Get Them to Your Website!, Medium.com (July 8, 2019), https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/zoom-zero-day-4-million-webcams-maybe-an-rce-just-get-them-to-visit-your-website-ac75c83f4ef5.

13 ABA Committee on Ethics & Pro. Resp., Formal Op. 477R (2017).

14 Id. at pg. 5.

15 Microsoft Digital Defense Report, September 2020, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/security-intelligence-report (last visited Jan. 11, 2021).

16 Rae Hodge, 2019 Data Breach Hall of Shame, cnet.com (Dec. 27, 2019, 4:00 AM), https://www.cnet.com/news/2019-data-breach-hall-of-shame-these-were-the-biggest-data-breaches-of-the-year/.

17 See Melinda J. Bentley, Ethics: The Ethical Implications of Technology in Your Law Practice: Understanding the Rules of Professional Conduct Can Prevent Potential Problems, 76 J.MoBar (2020).

Open
In this section of the website, members will find technology checklists, purchasing guides, tips for finding the best deals on legal technology, and links to Missouri Bar member benefits, including discounts on services and products. Members will also find a guide for starting a law practice and a new lawyer’s guide to the bar.

Build
Tools for marketing, advertising, navigating social media, earning referrals, and, of course, links to articles and relevant ethics opinions on these topics are located under this section. We worked to think of everything bar members may need in one spot, so it’s easy to find, and easy to use.

Manage
This is the most densely populated area of the site, with helpful checklists and whitepapers on practice management; time billing and accounting; documents; e–filing; technology; time management; hiring and firing; working with clients; and limited scope representation. There are also comparison charts to help lawyers navigate software and technology options.

Protect
Lawyers have an ethical obligation to protect client data, and with so many devices being used to access and consume client and matter information, protecting it can be overwhelming. Lawyers owe it to their clients, employees, and law licenses to check out this section. Here, members will also find information for disaster preparedness, cybersecurity planning, and more.

Wind Down
Whether members are closing their practices and planning for retirement or merging law offices for a new venture, in this section of the website they will find helpful checklists to makes sure they have left no stone unturned. Succession planning checklists and guidelines live here, too – and it is never too early to start planning.

Ask an Expert
The resources don’t stop there. If bar members don’t find what they are looking for, they can email Affinity Consulting any question about the management and technology at their firms. While Affinity Consulting can’t provide legal advice, their experts can connect lawyers with the tools and re-sources to help open, operate, and wind down their practices.

Members can also schedule a short consultation with one of Affinity Consulting’s consultants. Best of all? These services are included in your Missouri Bar membership. No extra fees, and no separate login; just the resources Missouri Bar members need to make good decisions and run a successful law practice.

The Law Practice Management Center can be Missouri Bar members’ go-to resource for all their law office management and technology needs. Get started at MoBar.org/LPM.

Endnotes

1 As a Missouri Bar member benefit, lawyers can speak with Affinity Consulting experts regarding legal technology and law practice management questions. At no cost, Missouri lawyers can email their question to an expert or schedule a one-on-one, remote consultation. Learn more at MoBar.org/LPM.