Tag Archive: Law Biz

Digital estate plan

I’ve talked about a lawyer having an estate plan. I’ve talked about creating an estate plan for your law practice; this is an idea first generated by Ellen Peck, retired judge of the California State Bar Trial Court. Now, there is another estate plan to prepare: Digital.

What are you going to do with all your passwords, all your email accounts, all your accounts in social media and all your other accounts that reside in the internet?   

Your virtual life doesn’t end just because you die. And in some arenas, the material you have on the internet cannot be removed or taken down. You may even have money residing in some of the internet residences such as PayPal, on-line gambling accounts, etc. Be sure to appoint or designate someone to be responsible for dealing with these issues. Be sure to write down all the accounts and passwords. And be sure to contact such companies as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, etc. to comply with their policies.       

There is little or no case law to date about planning for digital assets after death, and certainly no precedent of which I’m aware on this. But, for just that reason, it’s time to think about these issues.


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LawBiz® Legal Pad: Collecting Your Fee Begins At the Intake

Ed discusses the factors that influence collection success.
Client selection: you have to get the right client.
You must understand the wants and the needs of the client.
You have to get confirmation of the arrangement between you and the client in writing.
And, check the client’s credit.


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Language is Everything

For growth and expansion, there are two philosophies:

               Trail your growth (conservative), or

               Hire for the future (confident and assertive)

For troubled times, there are two philosophies:

               Slow to hire

               Quick to fire

 Lawyers should do only two things:

               Market for new business:

                              Only they know if they want to represent the prospect

                              Only they know if they’re competent to handle the matter

               Lawyering

                              Only the lawyer is licensed by the state to practice

All else can and should be handled by others


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IOLTA accounts may be in jeopardy

Under current law, clients’ trust accounts are protected under the IOLTA program. The FDIC provides unlimited insurance coverage.

However, unless extended by Congress, beginning January 1, 2013, such unlimited coverage will terminate and the new limit will once again be $250,000 per depositor. All funds held in such trust accounts as well as all funds held, personally, by the same client in the same institution will be considered in the $250,000 limit.

Be careful and review your bank’s regulations and the funds you are holding for the benefit of your clients. Watch Congress for any "lame duck" laws on this and the FDIC and its responsive regulations. You may have to split clients’ funds into two or more banking institutions in order to keep his/her money insured. And you may once again have the responsibility of checking on the financial soundness of the banking institution in which you maintain your clients’ trust account.



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