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Welcome to the Center for Practice Management Website

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The North Carolina Bar Association’s Center for Practice Management (CPM) is the starting point for NCBA members seeking information about technology, practice management, and law firm start up. CPM provides resources to help NCBA member attorneys, paralegals and legal administrators improve efficiency, reduce risk and improve client relations in their law firms.









Center for Practice Management Media
 
Boot Camp 2010 Promo
Considerations for Your First Firm Website / Narendra Ghosh
Covered: Understanding the ABC's of Insurance / William Stroud
Essential Technology for the New Law Practice: Hardware / Catherine Reach
Essential Technology for the New Law Practice: Software / Catherine Reach
Estate Planning / Tim Nordgren
Going Solo or Partnering Up? / Katherine Frye
How Not to Commit Malpractice / Mark Scruggs
Security and Ethics of Cloud Computing / Jack Newton
Staying Inside the Lines: An Ethics Primer / Doug and Deanna Brocker
The Bottom Line: Budgeting Basics
 

    [Thoughtful Legal Management] Web-Based Dispute Resolution Systems Gain Traction (“ODR”)  - May 15, 2012  11:03:30 AM
    ♫ The spheres’re in commotion The elements in harmony She blinded me with science “She blinded me with science!” And hit me with technology…♫ Lyrics and Music by Thomas Dolby and Jonathan Kerr, recorded by Thomas Dolby. This is a guest post by my friend and colleague, Christy Burke, written today for the blog Legal [...]

    [Oregon Law Practice Management] Organizing Paper Files  - May 14, 2012  10:14:26 AM
    Why am I writing about how to organize your paper files when going “paperless” is all the rage?  Because 6,269 views of Setting Up an Effective Filing System tells me there is still a demand for information on this subject. I uploaded Setting Up an Effective Filing System to Slideshare three years ago.  The article first appeared in the [...]

    [Avoid a Claim] Use Google Maps to help clients find your office  - May 14, 2012  9:00:55 AM
    How often do you find yourself giving new clients directions to your office? Google Maps offers a great tool for creating a map that will show clients the location of your office. Go to maps.google.com and type your office address into the search box. Click on the link icon (look for an icon with 3 [...]

    [Slaw: Dan Pinnington] Suggestions on Implementing Appropriate Internal Financial Controls in Your Office  - May 14, 2012  9:00:31 AM

    Ideally, your office should have clearly established internal controls for handling and documenting all types of financial transactions. These internal controls are really just policies and procedures that direct what steps should be taken when various financial transactions occur. Although a lack of internal controls does not necessarily constitute a breach of the Rules of Professional Conduct or By-laws, you may consider implementing internal controls to assist your efforts to comply.

    The following are some suggested internal controls you may consider implementing at your office: Cheque requisitions

    When dealing with cheque requisitions for both your general and trust accounts, consider … [more]



    [PA Law Practice Management] What’s New in the New iPad?  - May 14, 2012  2:37:02 AM
    Interesting that the new iPad, which one would think would be called iPad3, is called, simply, iPad. Well, a rose by any other name may not boast the same stellar video and 4LTE speed.

    [SC Small Firm] Organizing your replies in Outlook  - May 11, 2012  12:09:20 PM
    If you’ve ever tried to find a reply you sent by searching the Sent folder for it, then you know that it’s no easy task! There’s a much easier way to keep track of your replies in Outlook. You can have Outlook automatically save the replies you send with the original message instead. The catch [...]

    [Avoid a Claim] Toronto area lawyer contacted on a “We built a website for you” hacking attempt  - May 11, 2012  11:56:31 AM
    An Oakville lawyer advised us of a new scam that appears to be a brazen attempt to gain access to a law firm’s computers. Someone identifying himself as Mason Saunders called the firm this morning and asked to speak directly to the lawyer by name. He indicated to the lawyer that he was calling further [...]

    [Slaw: Dan Pinnington] Toronto Area Lawyer Contacted on a "We Built a Website for You" Hacking Attempt  - May 11, 2012  11:56:28 AM

    An Oakville lawyer advised us of a new scam that appears to be a brazen attempt to gain access to a law firm's computers.

    Someone identifying himself as Mason Saunders called the firm this morning and asked to speak directly to the lawyer by name. He indicated to the lawyer that he was calling further to a discussion with a clerk at the firm 3 weeks ago. The caller referenced the clerk by name and indicated he had been authorized to create a website for the firm. The caller then asked if the clerk had spoken to the lawyer. "No" … [more]



    [Law Practice Advisor] Book Review: Nicole Black's Cloud Computing for Lawyers  - May 11, 2012  8:26:00 AM
    Writing for lawyers on technical topics must be a challenge. A reader might be aware of the technology and its significance and uses, and looking for practical implementation advice. And, of course, a reader might have nothing more than a desire to learn something she knows nothing about. Those readers would want very different things from the writer.

    When I began reading Nicole Black’s Cloud Computing for Lawyers, I couldn’t tell if she had a target audience in mind, and if so, who it was. She points out that most people already rely on the cloud in some form, and introduces her book with a persuasive case in favor of incorporating (more) cloud computing, which suggested to me that it would be a more general primer on the topic, and I was afraid it would be boring.

    But, she’s very entertaining in the introduction, so I was optimistic. And, rightly so. Nicole does pretty excellent work rounding out her first two, or two-and-a-half, chapters (what some would find quite basic information) with specific industry examples and pointed applications, so although we might be reading what we already know, in a general sense, she includes a bit of extended information, which is consistently worthwhile material.

    I was particularly impressed by her third chapter, on risks and benefits. She identifies the benefits as cost savings, simplicity, scalability, flexibility for the user, flexibility for the developer, encrypted communication, and off-site data back-up. Violating ethical obligations, privacy, security, temporarily losing access to data, and permanent data loss comprise her list of risks. There isn’t anything particularly innovative in there, but I really appreciate how efficiently she addressed each, and again, with examples, and even blurbs, if you will, written by others.

    Varying the perspective is a particularly smart move for a book on this topic. Like Nicole, I am convinced that, as time progresses, the role of the cloud (not just) in law practice will only grow. So, there is a real purpose for educating us. But, it’s still in a fairly nascent stage, and, perhaps inherent to the technology, definitive advice is hard to find on certain aspects, particularly any related to ethical obligations. Reading others confidently express their best practices and safeguards in using the cloud is, in a way, the best available help.

    Although there are 14 ethics opinions on the subject (that’s what Jared told me, anyway), they do not always provide as much guidance as attorneys would like. Nicole provides the quick explanation, which is simply that the technology changes too quickly, often without anticipation, for rules and opinions to provide specificity. Combined with the reassurance from other attorneys who have figured out how to cover their bases, Nicole provides what seem to be the best answers available. And, while the shortcomings can be frustrating, she also explains why the full answers don’t exist (sometimes, yet). Those considerations run throughout the length of the book, but are very well organized and addressed in Stephanie Kimbro’s chapter on ethics (number four), which really seems to be exhaustive of the ethical implications for attorneys relying on the cloud.

    Nicole’s subsequent chapter, on privacy and security, overlaps minimally in substance with Stephanie’s chapter, despite how similar they are. Nicole highlights the basic considerations that are among the web of ethics topics. She offers a very decent framework for making personal assessments to ensure best practices. She also includes the text of Tomasz Stasiuk’s guest post on The MacLawyer Blog, which is a great read. 

    Next, Nicole moves to implementation, which is a little simple, but, I think that mirrors reality. Apart from ethics, privacy, and security, the cloud is pretty simple and direct. There are, however, an overwhelming amount of options and service providers for each. Nicole gives a comprehensive rundown of various service providers, by category, in her final (well, second to the conclusion) chapter.

    I realize now that the reason for the unspecified target audience is that it was unnecessary. Nicole does such a great job at speaking to them simultaneously. The book was a quick, but truly informative, read. Can't go wrong.
CPM CONTACT INFORMATION

Erik Mazzone, Director
8000 Weston Parkway
Cary, NC 27513
(919) 657-1580 direct
(919) 428-3737 mobile
(800) 662-7407 toll-free
emazzone@ncbar.org

Joyce Brafford, Assistant Director
8000 Weston Parkway
Cary, NC 27513
(919) 657-1566 direct
(919) 521-6907 mobile
(800) 662-7407 toll-free
jbrafford@ncbar.org

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