AI tools used in the legal industry raise important ethical and professional responsibility considerations, including issues related to confidentiality, competence, and the unauthorized practice of law. Law firms utilizing AI technologies should ensure that they adhere to ethical guidelines and use these tools responsibly and ethically. Your firm partners may want to develop a policy of oversight and review before encouraging attorneys to use AI tools.

Microsoft Copilot is an AI tool primarily designed to assist software developers in writing code. It provides code suggestions and auto-completions and helps developers with common programming tasks. The applications for Microsoft Copilot for lawyers are focused on very large law firms that will use Copilot to develop in-house processes and procedures. Copilot is less relevant for a small law firm.

ChatGPT, on the other hand, is designed for natural language understanding and generation. It’s trained to have conversations with users, answer questions, generate text based on prompts, and perform various language-related tasks. Although it is early, there will be lawyers who employ ChatGPT to assist in drafting legal documents such as contracts, briefs, pleadings, and letters. ChatGPT might aid in legal research by generating relevant case citations, statutes, regulations, and legal precedents based on the queries or context provided by lawyers. Soon, AI may help lawyers analyze large volumes of documents, such as contracts, agreements, and discovery materials. AI, like ChatGPT, could help lawyers in writing responses to client inquiries, providing general legal information, and explaining complex legal concepts in plain language.

SECURITY

AI steps up the need to ensure all security measures are being taken to keep client-privileged data secure. Your firm has a cyber security plan in place, and in the event of an issue, all data is backed up and recoverable.  The local FBI field office can be reached at (754) 703-2000. Cyber-attacks can be reported here: https://www.ic3.gov/  Monitor your backups daily and we perform test restores.

  • Ensure your firm has a highly-rated firewall with a subscription to keep it updated. Get notifications of any suspicious activity.
  • LCC strongly recommends your firm also employ multi-factor authentication on all secure systems and websites.
  • LCC strongly recommends your firm employ secure passwords!
  • Education is the best defense against a cyber-attack.
  • Schedule a phishing test and share the results later this month.

Let’s schedule a time to discuss your concerns about using AI in the practice of law and how to keep data secure with AI threats.

A Law Firm Management Checklist: Stay Healthy, Be Pro-Active

If you haven’t done so already, reduce density:
– Close offices or at least reduce density to allow social distancing.
– Enforce a ‘no guest’ / ‘no client’ policy for the office until the pandemic is over.
– Communicate with cleaning services to step up the level of daily cleaning of the office environment, with a focus on deep cleaning of shared surfaces (desks, tables, doorknobs, kitchen appliances, bathroom door locks, etc.). Provide hand sanitizer in multiple locations.
– Upon their return to the office, remind employees to clean laptops, keyboards, screens, computer mouse and telephones with disinfectant wipes often (do not use cleaning products directly on these surfaces).
– If an employee reports cold/flu symptoms or if an employee is in a high-risk group, advise them to stay home and to follow up with their healthcare provider. Deep clean any impacted area where there may have been contact. Identify those who have been in contact with them so that they can self-isolate and monitor their own health.

Preparing to Work Remotely
– Communicate an emergency plan: Create a written emergency plan that outlines how employees should communicate with managers; where they can receive updated information about employee policies and expectations; how to secure corporate assets and respond to customer inquiries, and more. Distribute a written plan and give your staff the opportunity to address any specific concerns.
– Test and deploy remote work options: confirm staff can access data and applications concurrently and securely.
– Employ cloud-based collaboration tools, such as Zoom and Slack, work for everyone.
– Confirm telephone solutions that include inbound call coverage and the ability to forward calls to staff.
– Provide clear guidance on what is expected from remote workers.

Best Practices for Making Distributed Teams Work
– Proactively communicate. Send short, proactive progress updates to your teams even when daily meetings aren’t required. By sending these short updates throughout the day, you keep your staff in the loop with regards to what you’ve been doing.
– Assume people are working asynchronously. Consider using the chat program Slack to communicate, which ensures all communication is documented and searchable for coworkers who might be checking on things later in the day.
– Be patient. Unless a decision needs to be made immediately, give people time to respond to queries because they might be working on a different schedule or caring for children who are not in school.
– Keep records. After meetings, what’s discussed and decided should be summarized into issues and notes for those who were not present or just to keep a record for the future.
– Maintain work hours. Ensure the whole team has at least five hours of overlap in their working hours to allow people to be in touch at least part of the day and prevent slowdowns on critical issues.
– Share screens frequently. Zoom has screen-sharing capability.
– Have face-to-face meetings at least once a week. Especially at a time when people are feeling so isolated, it’s important to communicate expressively and give non-verbal cues via video conferencing. It fosters stronger connections and helps to be more responsive.
– You may want designate a “scribe” to keep notes in a Slack to summarize team meetings.
– Have everyone one on board. Everyone needs to use the same tools and processes and commit to documenting work in the same way.
Client Service
– More than ever, give the best service possible to your clients. Reassure clients that you are operating and will deliver on projects, goods and services. Do not assume your clients know your availability or capability to continue to provide service.
– Discuss any adjustments to timelines with clients. Even if you don’t know what to expect, communicate your plan and let them know you will stay in touch as deadlines approach.
– Ask clients whether they want to communicate via phone, email, text or instant message so that you are on the platform they are using. Offer video conferencing too.

Finance
– Understand your essential monthly operating costs. Understand what expenses will decrease in the current environment.
– Develop an aggressive and conservative cash flow schedule based on receiving 80%, 50%, or 30% of revenue and of what is currently owed to the business.
– The federal tax deadline has been extended by 90 days. This will provide you with additional liquidity for several months.
– Don’t make impulsive decisions about what you think will happen in a year from now. We just don’t know. Do stay abreast of the latest epidemiological and economic outlooks.
– Consider reduced hours or offering reductions in pay to “protect the good of the group.”
– Various government agencies will be providing bridge loans and other financial instruments to support small businesses while the navigate the near term impact of the pandemic.

Communication
– Be honest: No one knows when we can go back to work.
– Be compassionate: Acknowledge that people are afraid for their own health, their families and the community at large. Acknowledge that working from home (and, for many, now with kids at home) creates a new rhythm for everyone. All this change is stressful.
– Show leadership: Consider a positive message about staying in the moment, adapting to change, preparing for the future.
– Be available: Encourage staff members to reach out to you directly if they have questions or suggestions.
– Stay focused: Make sure the team knows what their priorities are/should be.
– Use the downtime wisely: Take the opportunity to get to things that are always on the back burner. Clean house (i.e. update contact information, organize finances, review and clean up document libraries and billing systems).

Now is the time to prepare your law firm for the growing Corona virus epidemic.
In response to the current public health emergency, state and local governments across the country are requiring employees to work remotely to reduce the spread of the Corona Virus. Soon, this will be the case in South Florida too.

Legal Computer Consultants can help your law firm develop an emergency plan that includes technology solutions for remote access and communication strategies to ensure your employees, partners and clients have the essential information and tools they need.

How to prepare your law firm:

    1. COMMUNICATE an emergency plan: All businesses should have a written emergency plan that outlines how employees should communicate with managers, where they can receive updated information about business hours and employee expectations, how to secure corporate assets and respond to customer requirements, and more. The plan should be distributed, giving staff the opportunity to address any specific concerns.

    2. TEST remote work options: Consider off-premise collaboration tools for employees. Employ telephone solutions that include voice, video conferencing and messaging to keep employees working effectively. In addition, provide managers the training they need to manage their teams remotely and clear guidance on what they should expect from remote workers. Confirm your entire staff can concurrently access information they need to respond to customer demands remotely, including encrypted data.

    3. SECURE your network and backup data: Responding to an emergency highlights the importance of implementing strong cybersecurity solutions and training your staff on ways to protect company data and assets.

    4. DEPLOY collaboration and communication tools: Improving remote work abilities is possible with the help of cloud-based collaboration tools. Whether team members use a tablet, mobile devices or desktop computers, employees can continue to stay connected and remain productive even when they’re not in the office.

    The time to act is now!
    Contact Legal Computer Consultants today to discuss how we can support your emergency planning efforts.

    Stay safe and let us know if LCC can help prepare your law firm.

    Peter Rabbino
    Mobile: (954) 937-4528
    Dade: (305) 371-4522
    Broward: (954) 680-3760
    WPB: (561) 296-4522
    peterr@legalcomputer.com

    www.legalcomputer.com
    Legal Computer Consultants (LCC)provides comprehensive technology solutions exclusively for South Florida attorneys and their staff.

law firm hurricane preparation

How should a law firm prepare for hurricane season?

Cloud computing changes how your firm can continue to work after an extended loss of power, a natural disaster, denied building access, or experiences other business interruptions.

Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity‘ planning enables your firm to weather the storm and get back to business as quickly as possible.

  • How quickly can your law firm can get back to business after a disaster?
  • Can you improve your firm’s security of important client files, minimize damage and get back to business?
  • Does your firm have a plan for denied building access, extended loss of electric power and worst-case scenarios?

The answers depend on emergency planning done today.

When should you being preparing?

NOW!

The goal of business continuity planning

  • Maintain access to; existing client files, case management databases, calendars and the ability to create new work product,
  • Maintain time and billing and general accounting functionality, and
  • Maintain telephone and email communication.

A comprehensive plan includes

  • Office and staff preparation checklists,
  • Failover systems in place and tested, and
  • Hardware replacement and systems restoration checklists.

Preparation tips before a hurricane strikes

  • Create an Emergency plan. Determine the critical components of your business and make contingency plans for every aspect.
  • Confirm you are properly insured. Consider business interruption insurance that covers you even if your business doesn’t suffer physical damage, but loses income because of a disaster, such as closed roads or loss of power.
  • Protect critical data; test backup systems and store the copies of digital and paper data off-site. Consider a fireproof safe for vital documents, software licenses, and media.
  • Finding reliable technical support after a disaster hits our community may be difficult. Be confident the technical support people most familiar with your systems will provide reliable service before and after an emergency strikes.

 

When a hurricane warning is issued

  • Confirm a recent full back up of the system, including the operating system and e-mail.
  • LCC recommends off-site backup service providers, but if your firm still uses local media, make sure it is stored in a safe place. Duplicate media should be stored in multiple off-site locations.
  • Confirm computer and printer hardware is plugged into an appropriate Uninterruptible Power Supply (U.P.S.). Properly shut down and turn off the server, computers, monitors and printers and unplug sensitive electronic equipment from the wall.
  • Store computer equipment away from the windows and off the floor.
  • Special precautions should be taken with network servers.
  • Safety is the highest priority. Heed official evacuation warnings and find the safest location to ride out the storm.

What to do after a hurricane

  • The electrical supply may be unstable and have unusual surges and flickers. LCC recommends U.P.S. equipment to protect sensitive hardware.
  • Verify the system is completely dry before turning on any hardware.

Relevant web sites