legal malpractice insurance made easy
Tags: Virginia CLE
“The Firm Retreat” is a 3-hour, in-person CLE Ethics Program offered free for Virginia attorneys in partnership with the Virginia State Bar.
Each program will show three videos taking us behind the scenes as a law firm holds its annual staff retreat. A panel of your peers will apply the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct to their analysis of the issues presented. During the panel discussions, attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and share comments.
Ultimately, the goal is for you to leave the program with a greater sensitivity of the many ethical issues that can be in play any day of the week, be better prepared to view these issues as learning opportunities, and be more willing to take advantage of these opportunities in order to see that the issues are responsibly addressed and resolved.
The issues raised in Vignette One “The Plan Comes Together” include communications between an attorney proceeding pro se and an opposing party who is represented, concerns with the use of “reply all” when responding to an email, application permissions when using a smart phone for work, the tension between client confidentiality and courthouse security, and issues surrounding the filing of a disciplinary complaint.
In Vignette Two “Down to Business,” the panel will discuss the issues raised when a client dies during settlement negotiations, concerns surrounding the use of crowdfunding, use of the term “minimum fees” in an engagement agreement, and the responsibilities that arise when deploying generative AI in the practice of law.
Finally in Vignette Three “The Debrief” the program will conclude with discussions on the tension between wellness and burnout in the practice of law, the benefits and risks that come with deploying communication channels intended to replace traditional email, attorney departure concerns (to include when an attorney retires), and the use of independent contractors and legal staffing companies to meet staffing needs.
Since 1998, Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq. has been a Risk Manager with ALPS, an attorney’s professional liability insurance carrier. In his tenure with the company, Mr. Bassingthwaighte has conducted over 1200 law firm risk management assessment visits, presented over 400 continuing legal education seminars throughout the United States, and written extensively on risk management, ethics, and technology. Mr. Bassingthwaighte is a member of the State Bar of Montana as well as the American Bar Association where he currently sits on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility’s Conference Planning Committee. He received his J.D. from Drake University Law School.
Emily Hedrick is Assistant Ethics Counsel for the Virginia State Bar, and has held this position since February 2011. She currently serves as a staff liaison to the Standing Committee on Legal Ethics and the Special Committee on Technology and Future Law Practice, drafts advisory ethics opinions, and provides informal ethics advice to members of the bar through the ethics hotline.
Before joining the VSB, Emily was a law clerk fellow at the Supreme Court of Virginia Office of the Chief Staff Attorney. She has a BA in philosophy from the University of Virginia and a JD from the UVa School of Law.
Mary Morgan is the managing partner of the Hampton Roads office of Infinity Law Group PLC, where she focuses on professional liability defense and defense of bar complaints and handles general civil litigation matters. She also handles a small number of criminal defense cases in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Ms. Morgan is a graduate of the University of Richmond School of Law and has practiced in both the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas. She is admitted to practice in all of the state courts of Virginia, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Western District of Virginia, the United States Bankruptcy Court and the United States Tax Court and has tried numerous cases in the General District Courts, Circuit Courts and the United States District Court. Ms. Morgan is the current President of the James Kent American Inn of Court, a past President of the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association, a member of the Board of Directors for the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, a past Chair of the Professional Liability Section of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, and a Past President for the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Virginia Women Attorneys Association. Ms. Morgan also serves on the Board of Directors for Edmarc Hospice for Children, and served for two years as the Chairman of the Board. She frequently lectures on prevention of legal malpractice claims.
