Professionalism

THE LAWYER’S TOOLBOX By Scott Stevens

How Do I Begin? This is the question new attorneys must ask before beginning their practice. It is not something taught in law schools. Fortunately, Baltimore County Bar Association members Eric Steiner, Bill Alcarese and Sandy Steeves stepped up and helped answer that question with the "Lawyer's Toolbox" presentation jointly sponsored by the Solo & Small Firm and Technology Committees. They discussed the very basics such as budgeting for a practice, considering business entities, and setting up bank accounts. They also went into detail about what technological resources are available to make a solo/small firm practitioner's life easier. All of the panelists emphasized performing a cost analysis prior to starting a practice. Costs and fees sneak in and add up. Getting started, however, may be easier than you think. Other recurring themes in the presentation included: 1. Be Nimble

2. Pre-planning & Managing the Money, and 3. Use Technology To Make Your Life Easier

Be Nimble

Nimbleness is critical when starting out. All you really need to start a law practice in this day and age is a computer and a telephone. Given current technology, these could even be the same device. Also, consult an accountant regarding how to set up your practice for tax purposes. Picking the proper business entity is important for liability protection. Starting out as a sole proprietorship may make the most financial sense for some practitioners. While helpful, you don't need a staff. There are virtual concierge services. But if you do hire staff, make sure you understand if they will be employees or contract workers. If you hire employees, will you offer benefits? The first step is deciding where you want your law office located. Do you want a bricks and mortar office, a virtual office, or shared space like Launch Workplaces. Professional business street addresses can be rented through facilities such as UPS Store or businesses such as Launch. Concierge and answering services may also be available. In addition to the pre-planning cost analysis, new attorneys also need to setup an accounting system. This could be QuickBooks, an accountant, a cloud service, or even just a spreadsheet. The important thing is to set it up and create good habits of keeping track of the finances. Always reconcile your accounts. Credit card transactions can disrupt account levels. However, new attorneys should setup credit card (and maybe even Venmo) payment systems. To be paid promptly, accept payment methods your clientele prefer.

Every law firm will have at least two accounts: the operating fund and the trust/escrow fund. There will be one trust/escrow account. Tracking funds from multiple clients in the one account can be done through software. One very important tip: make sure the bank you use for these accounts deducts any fees that apply to the trust/escrow account from the operational account. There are requirements and considerations. Typically, you will need a Federal Tax ID. (Think social security number for a business.) You must decide if you can afford to purchase malpractice insurance and what risks you will face if you choose not be insured. It was suggested that One Million Dollars of malpractice insurance should suffice for most new attorneys. Coverage should cost about $1,200/year. Stay on a steady billing cycle and use software like TimeSlips. Billing is time consuming, but it must be done.

Finally, will you need or want a small business loan to get started? Be prepared to explain to the bank how you realistically plan to repay the loan.

Pre-planning & Managing the Money

THE LAWYER’S TOOLBOX By Scott Stevens

Use Technology to Make Your Life Easier

Perhaps the most anticipated part of the presentation was learning about specific technology tools that can enhance a practice. Aside from the aforementioned QuickBooks (or similar accounting system), there is:  Clio -- case management system  Zapier -- creates zaps (like macros) to handle repetitive steps  Video conferencing software -- whatever works for the client, but get familiar with Zoom for court hearings.  Websites -- These are easy enough to create on your own, but outsourcing the work to a company like Zest will provide a more polished, professional look.  Basic office software that includes word processing, spreadsheet, and e-mail components.

Microsoft Office offers subscriptions for small businesses. However, you may prefer Google

Docs if you plan to write collaboratively.  Scanner -- MDEC. Enough said.  Scheduling software -- Calendly (free or about $15/month for features) is currently popular.  Cloud Storage -- You will eventually want or need to access a file remotely. Cloud storage will save the day. There are many choices including Dropbox, Box, Sync, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. There are different costs and tradeoffs amongst the storage providers such as encryption level. However, all three offer limited free space. Due diligence when putting important secured files on a cloud server.

 Social media -- You can write your own tweets,

Instagrams, and blog posts, or you can hire someone to do it for you. There are plenty of young adults willing to write on social media for a modest fee. Social media/website should be part of your marketing plan from the start.

Research material -- MSBA members receive free access to FastCase. Google Scholar provides easy access to court cases. For deeper research or more specific topical research, the Baltimore County Law Library offers free access to WestLaw, Lexis Advance, and other resources solo and small firms might need. There is much to overwhelm the new attorney hanging out a shingle. However, after viewing the Lawyer's Toolbox, new attorneys should feel much more comfortable striking out on their own. A recording of the entire program is available on the BCBA YouTube Channel.

PROFESSIONALISM COMMITTEE TACKLES WELLNESS By Ari Kodeck

Wellness should be an important part of our lives. It helps us maintain our lawyer professionalism. Given the pandemic and all of its wellness implications, the Professionalism Committee made wellness one of its priorities this year, in addition to its focus on implicit bias issues. “May-uary” weather would not stop the Professionalism Committee’s Wellness series, although it definitely played havoc. The series began in March with our program on Ergonomics. April Luby graciously hosted an online lesson on how to improve posture while we do our work and when using our large and small screen devices, enlisting our very own David Luby as the living model. Amazing how the pandemic destroyed our postures in a matter of months!

For our second offering, we partnered with the Family Law Committee to engage in a Yoga Nidra. Led by Brooke McCrystle Mulholland, she guided folks through an hour conscious deep sleep which amazingly, refreshed this writer for the rest of the day! If you missed this program and find that you need a mental break, this program is available for your viewing pleasure, any time of day, on the Baltimore County Bar Association YouTube channel. Please take advantage of this opportunity. On April 21st, we offered our third program in the series: A walk-about Towson. The goal was to be active. Get out for 30 minutes and walk, run, or crawl around the Towson area. While the weather forecast was questionable, we enjoyed a fabulous, sunny, spring day with trees and spring flowers in full, colorful, bloom. We managed to finish the walkabout before the skies opened. Unfortunately, the cooler than normal spring weather held down enrollment in our fourth program, so it has been postponed. We partnered with the YMCA to hold an outdoor spinning class. There is always next year! Pandemic be damned, we managed to offer our members an engaging series to break the monotony of another day that ends in “Y”. As always, the Committee thanks Rachel, Amber and Jacob for the hard work they do to make these events run smoothly and efficiently. As the outgoing chair, I thank the members of this amazing organization for being able to serve!