Program Description:

Solo and small firm practitioners wear many hats. They run the office and manage all of its information technology – file storage, email, web site.  They may supervise paralegals or contract attorneys.  They practice law but also need to be attentive to developing new clients.  Each of these and other roles comes with ethics issues.  Email, file storage, and law firm web sites implicate issues of competence, confidentiality, and potentially the attorney-client privilege.  Supervising paralegals or junior attorneys implicates supervisory ethics and conflicts of interest.  Client development also implicates a range of ethics issues.  It can be a lot to manage, even in larger firms.  This program will provide you with a practical guide to major ethics issues for solo and small firm practitioners.

- Ethical issues for small law firms and solo practitioners

- Technology – storing client files in “the Cloud,” email traps, and remote networks

- Pooled Resources – shared office/meeting space, shared support staff, shared technology

- Client Development – web sites and lawyer biographies, email/newsletters, social media, advertising and more

- Paralegals – training and billing, confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege

- Co-Counsel – ethical responsibilities when practicing with other lawyers

Faculty:

Thomas E. Spahn is a partner in the McLean, Virginia office of McGuireWoods, LLP, where he has a substantial practice advising clients on properly creating and preserving the attorney-client privilege and work product protections.  For more than 30 years he has lectured extensively on legal ethics and professionalism and has written “The Attorney-Client Privilege and the Work Product Doctrine: A Practitioner’s Guide,” a 750 page treatise published by the Virginia Law Foundation.  Mr. Spahn has served as a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility and as a member of the Virginia State Bar's Legal Ethics Committee.  He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and his J.D. from Yale Law School.