The Retainer Agreement is one of the most important contracts that you’ll ever draft or sign as an attorney.  Not only do Retainer Agreements protect clients from overreaching by unscrupulous lawyers, but they can immunize lawyers against malpractice claims and non-payment by clients.  Moreover, from the terms of the Retainer Agreement to its design, a Retainer Agreement is a reflection of your practice and the way you do business – making it a potential selling tool for your firm.

The 21st Centruay retainer Agreement is presented by:

Carolyn Elefant, a Washington D.C. attorney with her own firm, creator of MyShingle.com and author of Solo by Choice: How to Be the Lawyer You Always Wanted to Be

Program materials include sample agreements, clauses and phrases with a compilation of relevant ethics rules and opinions for all 50 states.

**Special bonus** Sample website privacy policies, web disclaimer language and checklist of issues to address in law office policies.

For Windows users, any time you see a blue screen with white writing, you know that something very bad is happening to your computer.  Generally, the first sentence will let you know a problem has been detected and then Windows will try to shut down in order to stop whatever bad thing from happening to continue.

In fact, if you get a blue screen with no writing; or a white grid – that’s commonly known as the “Blue Screen of Death”.

I have been aware of my computer acting up for about a month.  I’ve seen the signs before – and so knew what was coming.

I’ve had my most recent Windows PC – an eMachine – for just over 6 years.  Prior to that, I’ve had two other PCs since the inception of LegalTypist back in 2001.

What I learned when the first one failed was that you really do need to have it all backed up all of the time.  “Most” of your stuff really means “not the most recent stuff” and if you are only doing a full back up once per week… it hurts.

That’s when I took out a Mozy account and have used it ever since.

What I learned when the second computer failed was that you really shouldn’t just download stuff – and that even if you trust the code, sometimes new code doesn’t play well with existing code – and when that happens – YOU lose.

Since I saw the writing on the wall, I have my new computer ready to be brought up to speed.  This time, before I load any data but after I’ve loaded all my working programs -  I’ll be making a ghost copy of the hard drive.

That’ll mean that next time my computer fails (and there will be a next time) – I just have to load the current data and not all my programs (again).

Live and learn.

1. http://ow.ly/bfHl6 DIY Triple Monitor Stand
2. http://ow.ly/bl7T6 Tips for Surviving the Marathon of a Busy Legal Practice @slaw_dot_ca
3. http://ow.ly/ax9dd Reading: 4 Key Security Setups To Safely Connect To Public Wireless Networks
4. http://ow.ly/bdGz9 Google Confirms Gmail Is Down for 400,000 Users
   
5. http://ow.ly/bdd3m Wore these @SueanneShirzay earrings all weekend. They go with anything!