Who should attend: Lawyers and legal staff looking for smarter tech solutions to everyday law office issues.
Learning level: All levels
I. Avoid a Communication Breakdown: Claims and complaints against lawyers are often caused by communication breakdowns. Communication problems decrease productivity, cause mistakes, and create dissatisfied clients. The growing number of communication channels only compounds the problem. Examine technologies and techniques that will help you improve internal and external communication, lower stress, improve service, generate happier clients, and lower your risk of claims brought against you.
II. Security Is Only As Good As the Weakest Link: The Law Society Rules require lawyers to make "reasonable arrangements" to prevent the disclosure of confidential client information. Furthermore, "reasonable precautions" must be taken to prevent client information from falling into the wrong hands. In a digital world, the exact meaning of "reasonable arrangements" and "reasonable precautions" may be subject to debate; however, it's hard to argue that doing nothing to protect client data would meet the standard. You don't have to be a security expert or techie to protect yourself and your office. Learn how to cover all the bases of computer, smartphone, tablet, email, wireless, and document encryption. We'll also cover the fundamentals of backing up your electronic data. Half the battle is simply knowing what questions to ask and it's not nearly as complicated as it sounds. Establish best practices in your office and discover the inexpensive or free tools that will make sure your confidential information remains confidential.
III. How to Protect Yourself While Exchanging Documents Electronically: Opposing lawyers routinely email versions of a document back and forth during the negotiation process, and many instruments are never reduced to paper until they're ready to sign. This approach is unquestionably fast and convenient compared to mailing or faxing paper documents; however, electronic document exchange presents many issues that practitioners need to be aware of and risks to protect against. In this seminar, you'll learn when it's appropriate to use Word processor files and when it's appropriate to use PDFs. We'll cover how to track your changes in a document and how to ascertain what changes were made by others (even the attempts to conceal those changes). You'll also learn how to add comments and annotations to Word or PDF files, how to lock documents to prevent further changes, and how to avoid including hidden (and potentially damaging) information in the files you're working with (known as metadata). Finally, you'll see that using plain email arguably affords you no reasonable expectation of privacy. We'll also discuss your email encryption options which ensure that only the intended recipient can open your emails and/or attachments.
You may also be interested in Barron Henley's course from the previous day, November 29, Microsoft Office Academy—Unleash the Power of the Technology You Already Own.
Law Society of BC CPD Hours: 6 hours (a minimum of 6 hours will involve aspects of professional responsibility and ethics, client care and relations, and/or practice management)
Course Instructor
Barron K. Henley — Affinity Consulting Group, LLC, Columbus, OH
Pricing
1. The series (all 3 courses)
EARLY BIRD (Register by November 2, 2016 and SAVE) $565
After November 2, 2016: $625
2. Individual Courses
EARLY BIRD (Register by November 2, 2016 and SAVE) $230
After November 2, 2016: $250
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Registration includes an electronic copy of the course materials.
Note: This course will NOT be added to the Webinar Archive.