Attending this 3.5 hour seminar can earn your firm up to a 7.5 percent credit on your CNA professional liability insurance premium for three consecutive years, and may provide continuing legal education credit — including ethics credit — in applicable jurisdictions. Application for accreditation of this program in New York is currently pending.

Discussion Topics:

Lay of the Land: A topical discussion of recent legislation and case law affecting the practice of law in the jurisdiction, including changes to procedural and ethics rules.

Litigation Risks: Covers some of the key pitfalls, including client/engagement screening; managing client expectations; and explaining fee arrangements, changed circumstances affecting outcomes (such as court rulings) and the application of professional judgment in devising litigation and settlement strategies.

Missed Deadlines: A common problem, but the causes are more complex than simply failing to calendar filing deadlines. We’ll review why and how these errors occur and discuss strategies to minimize these problems.

Electronic Documents and Discovery: The use of electronic documents is pervasive in all businesses and areas of practice. In this segment we’ll discuss the legal issues associated with handling electronic data, including case law, legislation and amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure affecting the conduct of electronic discovery.

Transaction Representations: Depending on applicable law and practice in the local jurisdiction, we'll discuss either business transaction or real estate closing representations, focusing on obligations to clients; risks of multi-party representations and potential conflicts of interest; the need to consider and communicate business risks to clients; and the risks associated with high-volume, low-fee representations in these practice areas.

Lawyer Impairment: A difficult but important issue faced by many law firms is dealing with the business risks associated with lawyer impairment due to illness, emotional distress and drug or alcohol dependencies. We’ll discuss methods to minimize both interruptions in client service and liability risk when faced with such problems.