BLN (Wellesley, MA) - Feb 28, 2008

Topic: "Protecting Electronic Client Files"
Speaker: Rodney Dowell, Director of Director of Law Office Management Assistance Program
Place: Rebecca's Café in the Wellesley Office Park, 55 William Street, Bldg. 3, Wellesley, MA 02181 (Directions)

Today, virtually every law practice receives, manages or creates client files in electronic form using computers. And the amount of electronic client files is increasing every day. Are electronic files different than paper files? How should law firms handle electronic files? What are the ethical obligations? What are the liabilities? As practitioners move to the paperLess office, they need to address these significant issues in order to protect themselves and their clients. Rodney Dowell will provide an overview of affordable technology for storage, backup, and archiving of client files. He will also discuss ethic rules related to confidentiality and length of retention of client information as well as risk management strategies.

Rodney S. Dowell, Esq. is the Director of the new Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) which assists Massachusetts attorneys to implement and institutionalize professional office practices and procedures to increase their ability to deliver high quality legal services, strengthen client relationships, and enhance their quality of life. Rodney has recently been a speaker for both the Boston Bar Association and MCLE. He has also authored several articles in the BBA's Solo and Small Section Newsletter. This year he is the co-chair of the BBA's Solo and Small Firm Section, a committee member of the MBA's Law Practice Management Section and an active participant in the ABA's Law Practice Management Section. Prior to starting LOMAP, he was a founding partner at the litigation firm of Berman & Dowell, 1998 - 2007, where he focused on employment law, tort defense, including attorney malpractice, and insurance coverage.

The format will be a one-hour meeting from 8:00-9:00am (arrive at 7:45 for networking). A half-hour of networking after the meeting would be optional.

The Business Lawyers Network (BLN) is comprised of lawyers concentrating in complementary disciplines such as corporate, securities, commercial contracts, government contracts, secured lending, taxes, import/export, immigration, real estate, environmental, patents, trademarks, licensing, etc. Non-lawyer business professionals are also welcome, but the topic and focus of discussion will be geared toward the legal profession.