Risk Management & Claims Prevention
Conflicts tune-up: 5 steps to avoiding conflict of interest claims
Every so often, a case about a lawyer removed from a matter or reprimanded for acting while in an “obvious” conflict of interest pops up in the media. These cases make all of us (or at least they should) shake our heads in dismay: Surely everybody knows how to avoid a conflict – don’t they?… Read More »
Categories: Conflicts of InterestLAWPRO Magazine: Avoiding the Unintentional Expansion of Retainers
Here’s the scenario: A lawyer is retained to assist a client with a tort claim and an accident benefits claim. The client, meanwhile, has been informed that the long-term disability (LTD) benefits provided by her employer’s group plan are about to be terminated. In an effort to forestall the termination of benefits, she asks the… Read More »
Categories: Communication Errors, Family Law, Civil LitigationpracticePRO Resource: Voicemail tips
Although not everyone likes it, voice mail is an essential tool. Used properly, it can help you better communicate with and serve your clients. To avoid frustrating clients, consider the following points for handling incoming calls from our Managing a Better Professional Services firm booklet,: Give callers the option to leave a traditional message: If… Read More »
Categories: Communication Errors, Law Practice ManagementLAWPRO Magazine archives: Let’s get talking – A look at communications breakdowns
Humans communicate from the time they are infants until the day they die. At its heart, communication is all about the same thing – whether we speak, write, gesture, sign, listen, or tweet. It’s a way of telling someone something. So why, if lawyers have been communicating for as long as they have, are the… Read More »
Categories: Communication ErrorsFraud warning from a U.S. title insurance company
This is a warning from a U.S. title insurance company, advising that fraudsters are impersonating the company in an attempt to get real estate lawyers to divulge bank account information. This is less of an issue for Canadian real estate lawyers who still handle the transfer of money themselves (rather than using title insurer software),… Read More »
Categories: Fraud PreventionBe the messenger (and don’t get shot)
As our readers know, the #1 cause of claims against Ontario lawyers practising in most areas of law is problems with lawyer-client communication. Considering lawyers’ reputation for verbosity, this statistic seems counterintuitive, at least until you consider that some things are easier and more fun to talk about than others. Fun to communicate with clients… Read More »
Categories: Communication ErrorsFraud emails now referencing the “Lawyer Referral Service”
The Law Society of Upper Canada has advised us that at least one Ontario lawyer has been targeted with a traditional bad cheque scam that indicated that the fraudster found the lawyer through the “Lawyer Referral Service”. This may be a new tactic to convince Ontario lawyers that the emails are legitimate. This particular fraud… Read More »
Categories: Fraud PreventionLinkedIn password breach reported – change your LinkedIn password immediately [Updated]
A post on the TheNextWeb site indicates that a Norweigan IT webite, Dagens IT reported the breach. That site indicates that 6.5 million encrypted LinkedIn passwords have been posted to a Russian hacker site. LinkedIn has responded that they are looking into the breach. To be safe, LinkedIn users should change their passwords immediately. For… Read More »
Categories: Fraud Prevention, Technology