A banker’s box can house around 2500 sheets of paper, and weighs about 25 pounds.  A typical USB thumb drive can hold over 200,000 pages of documents, which, printed, would weigh one ton.   Add to the avoidance of expense and administrative burdens the following: over eighty percent of what we file traditionally never gets looked at again and we typically spend over an hour a day looking for missing information.

In a thoroughly prepared and easy to understand video, New Orleans attorneys Dane Ciolino and Ernie Svenson discuss what a “paperless office” is, why switch, basic strategies and technologies, how to keep your digital files organized and searchable, and some information on how to optimize your system to enable “anywhere-access” to digital files.  Take a look by going to http://www.digitalworkflowcle.com/ and clicking on the video link.  The video lasts an hour.  It’s worth the time!

Current major sources of activity include filed civil actions (US v. BP et al., other civil actions in the states (Louisiana, primarily), and Multi-District Litigation), NOAA’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment and other federal activities, and the Gulf Coast Claims Facility being administered by Ken Feinberg.  Legal remedies include penalties and other remedies under the Clean Water Act, certain state pollution control acts, and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and, for those directly harmed, economic damages, loss of profits and earning capacity,  personal injury and wrongful death damages, natural resource damages, and other.   If you have been affected by the spill and have questions, please feel free to contact this law office.

Lawyers who use the “cloud” (or online data storage systems) to store client information would do well to take heed.  While state bar associations and the ABA Commission on Ethics generally deem “cloud” storage of such information acceptable, they all emphasize that lawyers must take reasonable steps to ensure that the process does not compromise client confidentiality.  Lawyers who store in the cloud should take steps to ensure that the system is secure and that client confidentiality will be maintained.  Richard Stockton, cochair of an ABA Technology for the Litigator Committee, advises lawyers to investigate whether firewalls are used and to determine whether it is necessary to encrypt information when sending data to the cloud.  They should also understand what would happen to stored data if the vendor goes out of business.

Have a hack-free and bountiful 2012!

Vet Applauded by Court, Mentors After Completing Program

Afghanistan with … issues that can manifest themselves in criminal acts great and small, and that steering them toward treatment they may have initially rejected will benefit society in the long run.”  ABA Journal, November 2011.  Although the programs typically exclude violent offenders and some others, many are eligible.  The program typically takes eighteen months (including counseling, attendance at AA meetings or the like, and random drug and alcohol screens) and can be “a very hard program.”  But the rewards, for participants, their families, and society, can be significant.  Nationally, 70% of defendants  finish the program and 75% are not re-arrested for at least two years.

I am proud to be a military and Iraq veteran and a former assistant district attorney.  If you are a veteran or have a loved one who is and you have questions about these courts, please feel free contact me.  I would be pleased to speak with you.

“The Legislature implemented a new law requiring Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) to file an annual report with the Secretary of State’s Office or face administrative dissolution. This is the first year LLCs are required to file an annual report with the Agency.

….

“The filing deadline was April 15, 2011 and has been extended until December 5, 2011.  While approximately 50,000 LLCs have filed, over 40,000 LLCs have not filed as of today.  LLCs may file their annual report by visiting the Business Services page of Secretary of State’s website at www.sos.ms.gov.  There is no fee for in-State LLCs to file their annual report.  Should you need assistance or have any questions, contact the Business Services Division of the Secretary of State’s Office at (601) 359-1633.”

In addition, please let this Office know if we can help with LLC issues of any kind.  We are ready to assist!

Mississippians will be asked to vote yes or no to the following questions:

•          Should the term “person” be defined to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or equivalent thereof?
•          Should the Mississippi Constitution be amended to require a person to submit government issued photo identification in order to vote?
•          Should government be prohibited from taking private property by eminent domain and then transferring it to other persons?

This writer fully agrees with the Secretary of State that “Mississippians [must] educate themselves on not only their candidates, but also these initiatives prior to the election.”   He adds, “For an initiative to pass, it not only must receive a majority of votes cast (fifty percent, plus one), it must also receive 40% of total votes cast.”

The Secretary of State adds a point with which this blogger disagrees.  He encourages every voter “to vote all the way to the end of the ballot,” adding that “these initiatives need to be determined on their merit, and not a technicality.”  For voters who decline to vote on these initiatives because they feel they lack sufficient information, declining to vote yes or no is not a “technicality.”  I say, gather information, but, if you do not and feel insufficiently informed, take a pass.  The ramifications of an ill-informed vote could be – to borrow one of my older son’s favorites – “severe.”

The better option is to learn about the initiatives, and then cast an informed vote.  A great source of information and comment appears at www.sos.ms.gov/elections/initiatives.  Take time to read these discussions prior to the election.

New Law Office, Photo Taken Oct 18, 2011

I am happy to report that my new law office building is complete! Hats off to Walker Thrash and Kevin Thompson of Bellegrass Builders for delivering a first class product and for coming in six weeks early and under budget! Look for a grand opening announcement soon. Meanwhile, here is a photograph taken October 18, 2011.

The Mississippi Rules of Professional Conduct (“MRPC”) allow “unbundling.”  MRPC 1.2 (c) states that “a lawyer may limit the objectives or scope of representation if the limitation is reasonable under the circumstances and the client gives informed consent.”   The MRPC require that legal services, unbundled or not, be provided with competence, thoroughness, and preparation (as to unbundled services, preparation within agreed limits).

Of course, there are certainly risks.  Ask anyone who has tried to represent himself or herself in a lawsuit.  Nevertheless, obtaining “unbundled” legal assistance may be better than obtaining none at all. For both attorney and client, fees may be reduced because the attorney is eliminating expenses related to portions of the legal work.  The key is to understand the benefits and risks by asking the attorney to explain each of those throughly and to capture the explanation in writing.

Stephanie Kimbro comments, “The practice of unbundling is not appropriate for every client or every legal problem. However, when handled correctly, the practice provides greater access to justice for individuals who otherwise might not seek full-service legal representation.”  See her article at The Ethics of Unbundling .