YourABA October 2019

Legal Delivery

There are other ways

by Dennis A. Rendleman, ABA Ethics Counsel, ABA Center for Professional Responsibility

There is an ongoing flurry of activity regarding “access to justice” and “the future of the legal system.” In 2013, Washington state established Limited Licensed Legal Technicians (LLLT). Originally limited to family law, the program is exploring further expansion into consumer law.

Technology

5 musts in the age of machines

by Mark Jackson, ABA Legal Technology Today

Beneath the streets of Westminster in London, Winston Churchill and his team led the British war effort. That workspace, known as the Cabinet War Rooms, has been preserved just as it was when the government closed it down in 1945. Not only is this an incredible artifact from World War II, but the exhibit also shows how people worked 75 years ago. Paper, maps and telephones were the tools of the day.

Practice Technology

Using bots can streamline some law firm work

Lawyers are under increasing pressure from clients to boost efficiency while streamlining workflows, and automation is the key to doing more with less. By automating routine processes, firms can perform more billable work without hiring more people. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) isn’t just a way of cutting costs, it is also a largely untapped avenue for law firm growth.

Election

ABA Legal Fact Check: Can the Electoral College be abolished?

A. This spring, numerous candidates for president expressed support for either abolishing or changing the Electoral College, which ultimately picks the U.S. president. The National Archives reports that over the past 200 years more than 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College – without any becoming law.

Practice Management

5 top trends impacting the legal profession now

Blane Prescott, a management consultant and CEO of MesaFive LLC with more than 30 years of experience working with the legal profession, says he’s often asked, “when do law firms change?” He says his answer, jokingly, is always the same – never. “Law firms, like most organizations, only change when they have to,” says Prescott, whose company is based in San Francisco. “It’s easy to ignore change when your profits are up. But most changes in the profession coincide with downturns or recessions that go way back to the 1960 recession, which prompted firms to move to monthly billing from the then-standard yearly billing.

Health

Nodding off? Prioritize sleep for better performance.

Lawyers are typically high-achieving people for whom sleep often becomes one of many sacrifices made along the course of professional advancement.

Practice Technology

4 ways your website is driving away clients

Your website can be an effective way to bring in new clients – if it’s done right. To help determine whether your web presence attracts (or drives away) potential customers, a seasoned website developer recently authored “What Does Your Home Page Say about Your Firm,” in the latest issue of GP Solo Magazine.

Death Penalty

Death penalty attorneys honored, ABA program reaches milestone

The American Bar Association conducts many programs that advance and advocate for the legal profession. Another of the ABA’s core goals is to promote the rule of law. One area where the association fulfills this mission, and with life-or-death consequences, is through the Death Penalty Representation Project.

Cybersecurity

Experts weigh in on waking up to cyber threats to 2020 elections

The 2020 presidential election campaign is well underway, but the fallout from cyberattacks during the 2016 election continues to reverberate.

Professional Development

Negotiate to win

In their new book, “Negotiation Essentials for Lawyers,” Andrea Kupner Schnieder and Chris Honeyman took a very practical approach. It was to “take everything we have learned about negotiation, select only the parts that matter most to attorneys, and then make them as fast and easy as possible for very time-constrained legal practitioners to apply.”

Practice Technology

Remember your ethical duties when it comes to encryption

Email and other forms of electronic communications have become everyday communication tools for attorneys. They are fast, convenient and inexpensive, but also present serious risks, particularly in the area of confidentiality. It is important for attorneys to understand and address these risks, and the role that encryption plays.

Courts & Judiciary

ABA asks High Court to adopt a flexible rule for profit payouts in trademark cases

The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief yesterday with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to resolve a long-standing split among federal circuit courts over when to award profits in trademark infringement cases.

Legal Delivery

New ABA survey of regulatory innovations to close the justice gap

The ABA Center for Innovation released today an interactive online catalog of state regulatory innovations that relate to access to justice issues and delivery of legal services.

Rule Of Law

ABA president: Due process concerns at U.S.-Mexico border

by ABA President Judy Perry Martinez

Last month I visited a new, temporary immigration court at the U.S. port of entry in Brownsville, Texas. It was built specifically to hear cases of men, women and children who have fled violence in their home countries to seek asylum in the United States and were returned to Mexico to await their U.S. court appearances.