How Staying on Top of Your Workflow Can Prevent Ethics Mistakes

Law practice management programs that keep track of staff responsibilities and communications with clients can help attorneys avoid ethical transgressions.

A continuing legal education course produced by the New York State Bar Association’s General Practice Section revealed the top ethical mistakes attorneys make and how to avoid them.

Jordan Turk, a legal technology adviser and family law attorney in Texas, told attendees that one of the biggest reasons clients file grievances is because they haven’t heard from their lawyers or believe their cases aren’t progressing. Establishing a policy on how to return calls and emails and including that policy in the fee agreement can help lawyers avoid antagonizing clients in this way.

“Pull down those emails and correspondence and save everything on your cases,” said Turk. “Use technology to your advantage here, with programs that will automatically save your pleadings and your emails.”

Software, or simple checklists, can also keep track of timelines and filing deadlines. Many programs offer timeline trackers and a client portal, which will help collect evidence while allowing the client to see the work you are doing.

“Having a system that says who is responsible for what in your office will make a huge difference,” Turk says.

The next most common area where attorneys can get into ethical problems involves excessive fees and financial accounting. Turk says a lot of attorneys are sanctioned for charging unreasonable costs such as $1 a page for scanning documents.

“Don’t make your printer a cost center. It’s only costing you staff-hours, not paper and ink,” she said.

Managing client funds is a serious responsibility and commingling of accounts or misappropriation is another area of concern.

When using payment services like Square or Stripe, the processing fee will reduce the deposit amount of a retainer. A $5,000 payment through Square will result in a $4,850 deposit in the trust account after fees. This can look like a theft of client funds.

The lawyer has two choices: adding money to the trust account to compensate for the fees or using a legal payment software in which processing fees come out of the lawyer’s operating account and the client deposit is untouched.

“It keeps is clean for you and helps keep you comply with your bar,” Turk adds.

Turk encourages attorneys to check the licenses of opposing counsel and new lawyers added to the case, noting she adds it to her checklist or workflow timeline.

“You would be absolutely shocked at the number of people who try to practice with a revoked or suspended license.  My paralegal has caught a metric ton over the past 10 years that I’ve been practicing. It’s wild!” she said.

Finally, Turk says that managers and supervisors must be responsible for the output of the staff and from firm-sponsored artificial intelligence.

“[AI] is an area where a lot of attorneys are falling into trouble and having some problems. Technology can help with running systems to supervise staff, your workflows and your deadlines. You want to supervise, not micromanage them.”