News
What Was He Thinking?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
The best trial lawyers and negotiators are those who can pick up and play to the emotions of the people they are dealing with. But in order to successfully do so, you…
Read MoreFree Paperless Office Webinar
- Filed Under: Practice Management
We had a sellout crowd last week for our Tech Tuesday Paperless Office and E-filing training program. Steve Best of Affinity Consulting and Jody Stewart and Jason Hodges from the Administrative Office…
Read MorePublic WiFi Just Got a Little Safer for Lawyer Use
- Filed Under: Practice Management
A few days ago I posted about the ethical propriety of using free Gmail for confidential legal communications. Another somewhat unsettled issue is the ethical propriety of a lawyer using a public…
Read MoreE-filing Giving You Fits? We’ve Got Help!
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Unfortunately, e-filing is now mandatory and there’s no going back. If you are struggling to develop the skills and procedures needed to implement e-filing in your office, or if you want to…
Read MoreI’m sorry, you’re breaking up!
- Filed Under: Practice Management
As lawyers – like the rest of the general public – have come to rely more and more on mobile phones to communicate, we frequently find ourselves either being unable to hear…
Read MoreThe Deadline is Approaching – Are You Ready?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Regardless of your feelings about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare, its provisions are slowly but surely being implemented and there is an approaching deadline that law firms need…
Read MoreStatewide Pro Bono Week Activities Include A “Poverty Simulation” For Lawyers To Experience Firsthand What It Is Like To Be Poor
- Filed Under: Press Releases
Montgomery, Ala., September 13, 2013 – This year’s Alabama State Bar Pro Bono Week activities, held in conjunction with the nationwide observance October 20-26, will focus on what it is like to…
Read MoreFree Email Accounts: Surefire Ethics Violation for Lawyers
- Filed Under: Practice Management
The last time I checked, 986 practicing lawyers in Alabama have an “@gmail.com” address registered with the bar and published in the bar’s online database as their office email address. Many more…
Read MoreDoes Your Firm Need Cybersecurity Insurance?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
As seems to be happening more and more frequently, my credit card company recently cancelled my current card and sent me one with a new number because the old one had been compromised in a data breach. Hackers had gained access to the computer system of one of the merchants I charged something with and, suddenly, my account number was out in the wild and available for sale to the highest bidder.
In this case, it’s just an annoyance; I’ll have to update my information with a couple of online vendors and memorize a new set of numbers, but at the rate I charge things that won’t take long. I’m not out anything and neither is the credit card company. The merchant, on the other hand, has, to put it politely, more than a little egg on its face. I’ll have to think twice before I buy anything there again.
This incident, the second one I’ve experienced in three years, points up how prevalent hacking into what are supposed to be secure computer networks has become. Law firms should not assume that they and the confidential information their networks house are not already targets, too. In some instances confidential legal information can be equally as valuable, to the right purchaser, as a large block of credit card numbers.
Although Alabama currently remains one of only 4 states which does not have a law requiring notification in the event of a loss or theft of personal information, there are lots of good reasons why lawyers in Alabama should tighten up security for their computer networks and consider obtaining cybersecurity insurance to protect themselves in the event that their computers are lost or stolen or their computer networks are breached.
State Bar Young Lawyers’ Section Elects Officers And Executive Committee; Montgomery Lawyer Heads Group
- Filed Under: Press Releases
Montgomery, Ala., September 4, 2013 – The Alabama State Bar Young Lawyers’ Section (YLS) elected new leadership for the 2013-14 year. Montgomery lawyer W. Christopher (Chris) Waller, Jr. was installed as president.
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