e-Mail Issues and The Solicitor

By Walter E. Stewart, Jr.,
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Legal Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland

One Monday morning I opened my Microsoft Outlook ®, which I do first thing every morning. I found one hundred and nine e-mails awaiting my attention! Four were actually legitimate - one hundred and five items of junk-mail! Unfortunately, this seems to be today’s norm, rather than the exception, and more and more of these “junk” e-mails aren’t fit to be viewed by children, or mixed company. Isn’t it a wonderful world we live in? If we can ever get the “no call” list approved, I hope they add e-mail addresses to it.

If; however; you receive an e-mail that says it’s from “The Solicitor” it’s not “junk” mail. “The Solicitor” is your quarterly electronic risk management newsletter from Legal Mutual, or a special announcement from Legal Mutual; e.g. a promotion, or more importantly, our golf outing invitation. This is a free risk management service we provide to our member-insureds. Please don’t treat this as “junk” mail, as we publish articles from numerous authors to help reduce the chance of lawyers’ professional liability (LPL) losses, as well as technology and office management issues to assist you. “The Solicitor” should probably be read by all employees in the law firm, but at the least it should be read by all attorneys and the office manager. We’re finding that in some multiple lawyer firms, only the LPL contact person is subscribed to “The Solicitor,” and they forget to forward it to the other interested personnel.

We ask that you subscribe, at a minimum, all lawyers in the firm, and the office manager. To subscribe to “The Solicitor,” you may go to our website at http://www.legalmutual.com and subscribe each e-mail address where it says “Register for Free Delivery of ‘The Solicitor’” on our Welcome Page. This method is designed for entry of one e-mail address at a time. A confirmation e-mail is sent to that e-mail address, which must be confirmed before the subscription is entered. We go through this process to avoid people entering junk addresses in our database. To make it easier for you to subscribe several people at one time, just send a list of the e-mail addresses you want subscribed to wstewart@legalmutual.com, and we’ll enter them for you.

We would appreciate it if you would review how your firm is subscribed to “The Solicitor.” Please add any additional e-mail addresses you feel necessary. We want to make certain that our free quarterly risk management newsletter reaches every attorney insured by Legal Mutual.

“The Solicitor” provides risk management information from a large variety of sources, which has included, but is not limited to:

• ABA (American Bar Association);
• ALA (Association of Legal Administrators);
• Bar Counsel, Mel Hirshman;
• NABRICO (National Association of Bar Related Insurance Companies);
• NAMIC (National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies);
• locally prominent defense attorneys;
• office management experts;
• distinguished specialty attorneys;
• technology experts;
• MSBA (Maryland State Bar Association); and
• Legal Mutual.

Please don’t allow a loss to occur that might have been avoided had the proper information gotten to the proper person!

We are always looking for additional ways to help Maryland attorneys, and to provide the best service possible for your LPL premium dollar. Please send any suggestions for improvement to legal@legalmutual.com.

A newsletter of the Legal Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland.

Please visit our web site at www.legalmutual.com for even more information and features.

STAFF

Walter E. Stewart, Jr.
Executive Vice President & COO

Kay G. Kenny
Assistant General Manager
& Marketing Coordinator

James P. Kreider, CPCU, RPLU
Underwriting Manager

Mary C. Nevius, Esquire
Supervising Claims Counsel

Nancy C. Lilly
Office Administrator

The ONLY lawyer’s professional liability insurance company endorsed by the Maryland State Bar Association.

CONFLICTS ISSUES
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By Thomas D. Murphy, Esquire, Murphy & Mood, P.C.

TIPS FOR STARTING YOUR PRACTICE RIGHT
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By Karren Jo Pope-Onwukwe, Esquire

The IRS is Making it Easier for Retirement Plan Sponsors
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Excerpted from the SSA/IRS Reporter, Fall 2003
Publication 1693 (Rev. 9-03) Catalog Number 15060W

Legal Mutual 2003 Golf Outing
A Tremendous Success!

Did you see the full back page of the August 29th issue of The Daily Record, Maryland Law friday? Did you see “The Business Album” on the 3rd page of the September 13th issue of The Daily Record? Did you see the 8th page of the September 15th issue of the Bar Bulletin? Have you seen the golf outing pictures posted on the Welcome Page of the Legal Mutual website (www.legalmutual.com)? Do you live under a rock?

Legal Mutual, and its corporate sponsors, raised $5,641.00 for the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, during the August 4, 2003, golf outing held at the Hunt Valley Golf Club. The weather actually cooperated, and we had a wonderful day for golf. Everyone truly seemed to have a good time, and the prizes were plentiful, thanks again to our corporate sponsors.

Please take note of these sponsors, and show them you appreciate their community involvement, as much as we appreciate their association with us, by utilizing their services whenever possible. The sponsors were:

Event Sponsor
Legal Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland (410) 296-4101

Event Co-Sponsors
The Daily Record (410) 752-1717
LMI Agency, Inc. (410) 296-4101

Silver Sponsors
Kramon & Graham, P.A. (410) 752-6030
Legg Mason Investment Advisers (410) 454-3109
Onal & Associates, Inc. (410) 768-8700
Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher (301) 627-5500

Bronze Sponsors
Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, P.C. (800) 337-5104
Millennium Printing & Graphics (301) 725-8000
Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, P.C. (410) 539-5040
The Private Bank at Bank of America (410) 547-4172
U. S. Reinsurance Corporation (212) 808-5500
Wright, Constable & Skeen, L.L.P. (410) 977-6522

Automobile Hole-In-One Sponsors
Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro, P.C. (800) 337-5104
Jules Dorner & Partners, L.L.C. (410) 977-6522

$1,000,000 Hole-In-One Sponsors
Legal Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland (410) 296-4101
Jules Dorner & Partners, L.L.C. (410) 977-6522
LMI Agency, Inc. (410) 296-4101

Hole Sponsors
Chesapeake Insurance Group, Inc. (410) 841-5320
CRC Salomon (410) 821-4888
Ellin & Tucker, Chartered (410) 727-5735
HRH Insurance of Baltimore (410) 771-3838
Iliff & Meredith, P.C. (410) 685-1166
Insurance Masters, Inc. (410) 653-9818
Ofcourse Custom Apparel (410) 377-4865
Rossmann-Hurt-Hoffman, Inc. (410) 465-4300
Trela computer Corporation (410) 825-2700

Miscellaneous Sponsors
Al Packer Automotive Group (410) 485-6100
Hunt Valley Golf Club (410) 527-3304
Souris’ Saloon (410) 296-1997
The Crease (410) 823-0395

Thank you! – Thank you! – Thank you!
We couldn't have done it without you!

MISSING CHILD

Danielle Marie Burton

If you have ANY INFORMATION please call:
(540) 785-8861 or (540) 287-4421

Age: 16 Height: 5’ 3” Weight: 105
Last Seen October 13, 2003 at 3:15 PM
Wearing a light colored shirt and blue shorts, carrying a bag/duffel in
Ashleigh-Park North subdivision, Fredericksburg, VA, 22407