volume 28 • number 4 • fall 2013 the quarterly publication of the

Transcription

MAINE
BAR
JOURNAL
THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE MAINE STATE BAR ASSOCIATION MAINEBAR.ORG
VOLUME  28  •  NUMBER  4  •  FALL  2013
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MAINE
BAR
JOURNAL
THE QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE MAINE STATE BAR ASSOCIATION MAINEBAR.ORG
VOLUME  28 • NUMBER  4 • FALL  2013
C O M M E N TA RY
176 President’s Page
– by Bill Robitzek
Lawyers Are Good. Aren’t They?
F E AT U R E S
184 Creating Digital Paper With PDF Manipulation Software
– by Molly Barker Gilligan
190 Search Engine Optimization For The Solo Practitioner And Small Law Firms
– by Ken Matejka
193 Q&A With ALPS President & CEO David Bell
– by Laura Churchman
D E PA RT M E N T S
179 Pro Bono Maine
2013 Katahdin Recognition Programs Of The Maine Supreme Judicial Court
188 New Lawyers Section Report
– by Heidi Pushard
201 MSBA Corporate Patrons
202 Silent Partners: lawyers helping lawyers
On the cover: “River in Maine
with the Colors of Fall season.”
Copyright: Charles F. McCarthy,
Shutterstock.com
204 Jest Is For All
207In The Alternative
– by Arnie Glick
– by Jonathan Mermin
208 Sustaining And Supporting: The MSBA MEMBERS WHO GIVE MORE
209 Classified Advertising
Issue editor:
Andre J. Hungerford
210 Beyond The Law: Heather Sanborn
– by Daniel J. Murphy
214 Advertisers Index: Shopping made easy
Citation note: According to Uniform
Maine Citations (2010 ed.),
“[a]rticles in the Maine Bar Journal
should be cited as follows: Paul McDonald & Daniel J. Murphy, Recovery
of Lost Profits Damages: All is not
Lost, 24 Me. Bar J. 152 (2009).”
215 Supreme Quotes 218 Calendar: KEEPING UP WITH EVENTS
– by Evan J. Roth
President’s Page
Lawyers Are Good. Aren’t They?
by William D. Robitzek
T
he central message I have tried to convey this year to
whomever will listen is, “lawyers are good.” Pretty simple, huh? Not really. The resistance in our communities,
and some would say it is growing, is at odds with the concept
that the legal system is beneficial and that lawyers play a helpful role in navigating that system. One source of this sentiment
is likely that people’s contact with lawyers and the legal system is usually in conflict situations, whether family, criminal,
or civil disputes. At least one of the lawyers there is likely to
be poking and prodding and otherwise making the person’s
situation unpleasant. And then there is the issue of losing the
case because most hearings turn into zero-sum games. We are
also painted with the broad brush of the public’s dissatisfaction
with the legal system generally, with its delays, costs, complexity, and incomprehensibility. Portrayals of the legal system on
television and the big screen certainly don’t help either.
One way we fight this negative stereotype is by doing
“good” in our communities. In the last year I have had the pleasure of speaking with lawyers about the many ways in which
they enrich the fabric of our communities. Whether sitting on
a library board, acting as a Big Brother or Big Sister, building
a home with Habitat for Humanity, or otherwise, lawyers add
value to our communities. It is something of which we should
be proud and which we can honestly use as a force to combat
the negative image.
In the context of the legal system itself, Maine lawyers are
leaders in the country with the contributions they make to pro
bono service and financial contributions to legal aid organizations. Literally millions of dollars’ worth of legal services are
performed for free by hundreds of lawyers around the state.
A small number of them are recognized each year through the
Katahdin Counsel Program, sponsored by the Supreme Judicial Court. This year more than 140 attorneys were recognized
1 7 6 m a i n e b a r j o u r n a l   | fa l l 2 0 1 3
as Katahdin Counsel. But we know that there are many more
who choose not to be publicly recognized for their good works.
I encourage lawyers I know not to be shy about their contributions, and to make sure the word gets out that lawyers are good
people who do good things.
On other levels, there are needs that we can meet. For those
of us with gray hair, or no hair at all, there are young attorneys
who need guidance and mentoring. Some of us older lawyers
are the needy ones as well. With the prospect of transitioning out of practice, some of us need support and succession
planning, which younger attorneys can provide. You may have
noticed the “tombstone ad” (see p. 205) I have run in past issues of the Maine Bar Journal for lawyers who are thinking of
retiring or slowing down, and the offer to try to connect them
with attorneys who might be interested in transitioning their
practices. The response has been encouraging, and I am glad to
say that I have been working with the career-counseling professionals at the Law School to get their graduates out into those
communities that need legal support. It is a slow process, as
many students are under the misperception that a successful
practice cannot exist outside Cumberland County.
In a recent meeting with some leaders of the Lincoln
County Bar Association, we talked about strategies to infuse
new blood into the more rural counties, thereby helping both
the legal community there as well as the public.
But such efforts only touch indirectly the public’s perception that the justice system is not working for them, and that
lawyers are the problem. Creative and aggressive efforts must
be made to help the public understand that the law is complex,
but usually not unnecessarily so given how complex life has
generally become, and that they are always better off navigating through their problems with the aid of a competent lawyer.
The MSBA has worked this past year to make sure that the
Lawyers in Libraries Program emphasized these two points: the
law is necessarily complicated; and you are always better off
with representation. The justice system works better, smoother,
and faster, with competent attorneys helping litigants.
Continued work to increase funding for legal aid will assist
the representation of those who are at or near poverty levels.
But the real nut to crack is those in the working class who do
not qualify for free legal help. Many do not realize the affordability of hiring a lawyer (and the potential for a much greater
financial disaster caused by self-representation). Many do not
realize how to find lawyers. Many do not realize they can hire
lawyers, in an “unbundled” context, and receive help in areas
where they must have help. We need creative ideas and an aggressive plan of attack if we want to begin to fix this. It’s not an
easy fix, but I believe it can be done.
We represent several choices in
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fa l l 2 0 1 3   |   m a i n e b a r j o u r n a l 1 7 7
P. O. Box 788, Augusta ME 04332-0788
Volume 28, Issue No. IV
Fall 2013
for advertising, subscription,
or submission information,
call 207-622-7523
or 1-800-475-7523, or fax 207-623-0083
editor
Kathryn A. Holub • [email protected]
art director
Neil F. Cavanaugh • [email protected]
advertising coordinator
Lisa A. Pare • [email protected]
editorial advisory committee
Andre J. Hungerford (Chair),
David Bertoni, Elly Burnett, Mathew Caton,
Miriam Johnson, Jonathan Mermin,
Daniel Murphy, Margaret Smith
msba board of governors
John F. Loyd, Jr., Esq.
Eaton Peabody
Brunswick, Maine
“For most of my clients who want
to include the University of
Maine in their estate plan,
planned giving is the cornerstone
of their plan. The University of
Maine Foundation staff works
in sophisticated partnership with
me and my clients to help ensure
that my clients’ charitable
intentions are realized in a
smooth and efficient process.”
William D. Robitzek (President)
Anne-Marie L. Storey (Immediate Past President)
Diane Dusini (President Elect)
David Levesque (Vice President)
Albert G. Ayre (Treasurer)
Frank H. Bishop, Jr. (District 3)
Stephen J. Burlock (District 9)
Eric N. Columber (District 10)
Marcia DeGeer (District 4)
Susan B. Driscoll (District 1)
Peter C. Felmly (District 3)
Walter Hanstein, III (District 2)
Jason R. Heath (District 8)
Courtney Homan (District 3)
Phillip E. Johnson (District 6)
Stephen D. Nelson (District 11)
Daniel Nuzzi (District 5)
Chet Randall (Public Service Sector)
Warren C. Shay (District 7)
Lendall L. Smith (In-House Counsel)
Joy Trueworthy (New Lawyers)
staff directors
T
HE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE FOUNDATION
planned giving staff is available to help as you and
your clients consider establishing scholarships or
other endowed funds. Use the Foundation as a resource
to help ensure that your clients’ goals and wishes will
be achieved.
To learn more, please contact Director of Planned Giving
Sarah McPartland-Good, Esq., or Associate Directors of
Planned Giving Daniel Willett or Daniel Williams.
www.umainefoundation.org
Two Alumni Place
Orono, Maine 04469-5792
207.581.5100 or 800.982.8503
75 Clearwater Drive, Suite 202
Falmouth, Maine 04105-1455
207.253.5172 or 800.449.2629
Executive: Angela P. Weston
Administration & Finance: Lisa A. Pare
CLE: Linda M. Morin-Pasco
LRS: Penny Hilton
Communications: Kathryn A. Holub
Membership Services: Heather L.S. Seavey
Production & Design: Neil F. Cavanaugh
Maine Bar Journal (ISSN 0885-9973) is
published four times yearly by the Maine State Bar
Association, 124 State Street, Augusta ME 043320788. Subscription price is $18 per year to MSBA
members as part of MSBA dues, $60 per year
to nonmembers. Send checks and/or subscription
address changes to: Subscriptions, MSBA, P. O. Box
788, Augusta ME 04332-0788. Maine Bar Journal
is indexed by both the Index to Legal Periodicals
and the Current law Index/Legal Resources IndexSelected. Maine Bar Journal articles and materials are
also available to MSBA members at www.mainebar.
org and to subscribers of the Casemaker and
Westlaw computer legal research services. Views and
opinions expressed in articles are the authors’ own.
Authors are solely responsible for the accuracy of all
citations and quotations. No portion of the Maine
Bar Journal may be reproduced without the express
written consent of the editor. Postmaster: send Form
3579 for address corrections. Periodicals postage
paid at Augusta ME 04330. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2013
Maine State Bar Association
www.mainebar.org
Pro Bono Maine
2013 Katahdin Recognition
Programs Of The Maine Supreme
Judicial Court
T
his year, the Maine Supreme
Judicial Court honored 142 attorneys participating in the Katahdin Counsel Recognition Program,
and three individuals participating in
the inaugural year of the Katahdin Law
Student Recognition Program. Collectively, these volunteers have provided
more than 16,000 hours of pro bono
service for their communities. At a conservative estimate of $150 per hour, this
represents approximately $2.4 million
in free legal assistance.
The purpose of the Katahdin Counsel program, the Katahdin Law Student
program, and the corresponding recognition events, is to bring public attention to the important role of pro bono
legal service in maintaining the civil
justice system, and to honor attorneys
and law students who have provided 50
or more hours of service during the past
year. Six Katahdin Recognition Events
were held in Bangor, Machias, Alfred,
Augusta, Auburn, and Portland during
the month of October to recognize participating attorneys and law students for
this outstanding achievement.
Attorneys and law students are invited to participate in this program
each year. Participation is voluntary,
and based on the self-reporting of 50
or more hours of pro bono service during the time period July 1 through June
30 of the corresponding year. For more
information please visit the Judicial
Branch’s website or contact Access to
Justice Coordinator Hanna Sanders at
[email protected].
Pro bono opportunities can be found
by contacting any of Maine’s legal aid
providers, including the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Legal Services for
the Elderly, Pine Tree Legal, and Maine
Equal Justice Partners.
Katahdin Counsel Recognition Ceremony
Cumberland County
FIRST ROW (l to r): Leslie Silverstein, Victoria Powers, Reade Wilson, Stephen Bither, Kimberly Watson, Janet Britton, Dawn Dyer, Karen Frink
Wolf, Hon. Ellen Gorman, Hon. Leigh I. Saufley. SECOND ROW: Hon. Jon D. Levy, William Milasauskis, Daniel Boutin, Andrea Sabin, Susan
LoGiudice, Amber Collins, Katherine Malia, Ariel Gamble Ganon, Melanie Haslip-Stevens, M. Kathleen Minervino, Kimberly Pittman, Daniel Snow,
Jonathan Dunitz, James McCormack, George Dilworth, Kimberly Richardson. BACK ROW: Riikka Morrill, David McConnell, Nolan Reichl, Michael O’Brien, Elizabeth Lancaster Peoples, Maria Jones, David Paris, Matthew Govan, Kelly McDonald, Margaret LePage, Thomas Marczak, Joe Lewis.
Katahdin Counsel Honoree Stephen Bither, Hon. Ellen Gorman,
Hon. Leigh I. Saufley, and Hon. Jon D. Levy.
Katahdin Counsel Honoree Janet Britton, Hon. Ellen Gorman,
Hon. Leigh I. Saufley, and Hon. Jon D. Levy.
Katahdin Counsel Law Students 2013
(UMaine Law Class of 2014)
From left to right: Hon. Jon D. Levy, Kimberly Watson, Katherine Mali, Michael O’Brien,
Hon. Ellen Gorman, and Hon. Leigh I. Saufley.
From left to right: MSBA Governor Daniel
Nuzzi, and Michael Malloy, 2013 Katahdin
Counsel Honoree.
Androscoggin and Oxford Counties
From left to right: Michael Malloy, Sheldon Tepler, Molly Watson Shukie, MSBA NLS ChairHeidi
Pushard, Ted Dilworth, Tom Carey, and Shelley Carter.
Penobscot County
Left to right: Hon. Jon D. Levy, Angela Farrell, Martha Novy-Broderick, Kerry Clark Jordan, Patricia Locke, Hon. Leigh I.
Saufley, Roberta Winchell, Cynthia Mehnert, Audrey Bryant Braccio, and MSBA NLS Representative Joy Trueworthy.
York County
From left to right: Andrea Bopp Stark, Wendy Moulton Starkey, Gary Prolman, Craig Rancourt, Hon. Paul A. Fritzsche, MSBA
Governor Susan Driscoll, Walter Smith, Neal Weinstein, Hon. Jon D. Levy, James Smith, Amanda Ramirez, Angela Thibodeau,
and Amy McNally.
Katahdin Counsel 2013
Eben M. Albert-Knopp
Michelle Allott
Jennifer A. Archer
Christopher Aslin
Stephen D. Bither
Daniel W. Boutin
Lauri Boxer-Macomber
Audrey Bryant Braccio
Nicole Bradick
Zachary William Brandmeir
Janet V. Britton
Andrews Bruce Campbell
Thomas S. Carey
Anne M. Carney
Deborah Meier Carr
Shelley P. Carter
Kerry Clark Jordan
Jane S.E. Clayton
Amber Collins
Eric N. Columber
Thomas A. Cox
Alicia Margaret Cushing
Andrew T. Dawson
George T. Dilworth
Edward L. Dilworth, III
Cynthia J. Dresden
Susan B. Driscoll
Daniel J. Dubord
William P. Dubord
Jonathan M. Dunitz
Dawn D. Dyer
Diane M. Edgecomb
Angela M. Farrell
Jennifer Ferguson
Aaron Fethke
Benjamin E. Ford
Britta J. Forssberg
John P. Foster
Dawn R. Gallagher
Ariel Gamble Ganon
James G. Goggin
Matthew Govan
Darya I. Haag
Brian J. Hansen
Melanie Haslip Stevens
Jennifer G. Hayden
Nora R. Healy
Michal Y. Herzfeld
Melissa A. Hewey
Kelly M. Hoffman
Pamela S. Holmes
Lori A. Howell
Nathaniel R. Hull
Maria V. Jones
Douglas S. Kaplan
Maureen E. Keegan
Christine Kennedy-Jensen
Peter J. Landis
Joyce Leary Clark
Margaret Coughlin LePage
David Levesque
Geoffrey S. Lewis
Joe Lewis
Caitlin L. LoCascio-King
Patricia R. Locke
Susan E. LoGiudice
Dennis L. Mahar
Jane Makela
Michael S. Malloy
Robyn G. March
Thomas Marczak
David B. McConnell
James A. McCormack
Sarah A. McDaniel
Kelly W. McDonald
Amy B. McGarry
Amy R. McNally
Cynthia M. Mehnert
Eric M. Mehnert
William J. Michaud
William A. Milasauskis
M. Kathleen Minervino
Halliday Moncure
Jack Montgomery
Victoria Morales
Riikka E. Morrill
N. Joel Moser
Daniel Murphy
John E. Nale
Thomas J. Nale, Sr.
Alice A. Neal
Thomas C. Newman
Martha Novy-Broderick
Stephen J. O’Donnell
Richard L. O’Meara
Sean Ociepka
Zack M. Paakkonen
David Paris
Elizabeth Lancaster Peoples
Logan E. Perkins
Kim Pittman
Victoria Powers
Robert M. Powers
Gary M. Prolman
Heidi M. Pushard
Amanda E. Ramirez
Craig John Rancourt
Nolan L. Reichl
Kimberly N. Richardson
George Royle, V
Andreea Sabin
Tanya Sambatakos
Kimberly B. Scott
Keith Gerald Shevenell
Molly Watson Shukie
Leslie S. Silverstein
R. July Simpson
Jane Skelton
Charles W. Smith
James B. Smith
Daniel M. Snow
Danielle M. Spang
Heather A. Staples
Andrea Bopp Stark
Wendy Moulton Starkey
Timothy Steigelman
Kelly J. Stevens
Patrick Strawbridge
Sheldon J. Tepler
Angela M. Thibodeau
Jennifer E. Thomas
Joy A. Trueworthy
Anita M. Volpe
Neal L. Weinstein
David A. Weyrens
Russell B. White
Heather T. Whiting
Caroline Wilshusen
Reade E. Wilson
Roberta E. Winchell
Wenonah M. Wirick
Karen Frink Wolf
Creating Digital Paper With PDF
Manipulation Software
by Molly Barker Gilligan
O
ne tool that should be in every
law office is PDF manipulation
software. Most features relevant
to legal professionals are only available
in the paid versions of programs such
as Adobe Acrobat (Standard and Professional), Nitro PDF Professional, Foxit
PhantomPDF, Nuance PDF Converter
Professional, or PDFpen (available for
Mac users only). Attorneys generally
have at least a passing familiarity with
PDFs and Adobe Acrobat because of
the free PDF-viewing software, Adobe
Reader. Unlike Adobe Reader, PDF
manipulation software permits users
to create and manipulate existing PDF
files, essentially turning PDFs into digital paper. If PDF manipulation software
is not already available in your office,
you can download a free trial of Adobe
Acrobat Professional or Foxit PhantomPDF to identify the features you
need and then purchase the appropriate
product.1
PDF stands for portable document
format. In the early 1990s, Adobe Systems, Incorporated developed the PDF
file format. This format permits users
to view “documents in a manner independent of the application software,
hardware, and operating system used
to create them and of the output device on which they are to be displayed
or printed.”2 The PDF format allows
documents to look the same regardless
of whether the document was created
from Word or Word Perfect, Excel or
PowerPoint, or by a Mac or a PC.
Attorneys who practice in federal
court are familiar with PDFs because
of the federal electronic filing system.
United States Court for the District of
Maine’s Local Rule 5(c), Filing and Service By Electronic Means, requires all
documents in civil and criminal cases
to be filed as PDFs, using the Electronic
Case Filing System (ECF). Other federal courts require filings in PDF/A format which is a standardized version of
the PDF specialized for digital preservation of electronic documents.
Electronic filing is only going to
expand and will eventually require attorneys practicing in all courts to create
and manipulate PDFs. Maine’s Probate
Courts have already begun pilot program for electronic filing. The 125th
Maine State Legislature’s Appropriations
and Judiciary Committees requested a
proposal to implement electronic filing
from the Judicial Branch.3 The report,
eFiling Maine: Improving Public Service
and Access to Justice through Technology,
acknowledges that bringing efiling to
Maine is a multi-year project that will
require careful planning. Although budgetary constraints may delay the process,
the benefits of electronic filing and archiving of documents will likely eventually outweigh the detriments.
Beyond being a necessity for those
in certain practice areas, technological
competency is becoming an ethical duty.
The ABA’s Model Rules of Professional
Responsibility state that the requisite
knowledge and skill for competent representation includes keeping abreast of
changes in the law and “the benefits and
risks associated with relevant technology.”4 Unfortunately, attorneys are often
so busy “practicing law” that they tend
to ignore technology instead of developing basic skills.
Corporate clients are beginning to
demand core technology competency.
For example, Kia Motors audits the technological proficiency of associates in law
firms performing work for the company
and reduces bills by five percent until
the firm passes the audit.5 In Kia’s technology audit, associates are given sample
assignments to complete using standard
Microsoft software (Word, Outlook,
Excel) and Adobe Acrobat Professional.
The first assignment is expected to take
less than 20 minutes if certain built in
functions are used, but over five hours
without the functions. Of the nine firms
tested, none passed. This not only illustrates how clients are changing the practice of law, but also demonstrates how
using basic software features can affect
the bottom line by saving money when
used properly and wasting money when
used poorly.
PDFs can be much more than
the file format required by a court. A
full-featured PDF creation and manipulation program, not simply Adobe
Reader, will benefit the management of
your practice as well as prepare you for
the future where electronic filing will
be required in all courts. Regardless of
practice area, software like Adobe Acrobat Professional will permit you do just
about anything with a PDF that you can
with a piece of paper. You can rotate it,
move it within a series, annotate it, put
a sticky note on it, highlight it, copy it,
mail it, fax it, sign it, erase information
on it, and so on. PDF manipulation
software transforms PDF files into digital paper.
Adobe Acrobat Professional has long been the gold standard of PDF manipulation software. As discussed above there
are other products that are beginning to provide the legal industry specific features that have made Adobe Acrobat Professional the top choice for lawyers seeking a paperless office.
Depending upon your needs, a lower cost option may be appropriate but it is important to evaluate software to make sure
it meets the requirements of your practice.
Legal industry specific features of PDF manipulation software enable lawyers to redact text, Bates number pages, create
and number appellate records, and save documents in PDF/A
format; some can even function as trial presentation software.
As a result, developing more than a passing understanding of
the features of Adobe Acrobat Professional or other comparable
PDF software programs is essential to any legal professional.
The following features are particularly useful in the daily
preparation of documents. These examples are all taken from
Adobe Acrobat Professional:
traditional typewriter, or handwrite the information.
The Typewriter tool is found in the Tools pane under
the Content menu, by selecting Add or Edit Text Box.
3. Comments List
Every time you make a change to a PDF document in
Adobe Acrobat Professional, a comment appears in the
Comments List panel under the Comment pane. This
is an easy way to annotate documents with multiple
pages. Using sticky notes, highlighters or even circles
and arrows, your changes are recorded and there is no
chance that a note stuck to a page will get lost. Comments are also searchable and can be printed out. The
Comments List is a great feature for collaboration and
revisions and for annotating transcripts if you do not
have transcript review software.
1. Converting documents to PDF and PDF/A
PDFs look the same no matter what computer you use
to view the file. With Adobe Acrobat you can convert
text, web pages, spreadsheets, or images to PDFs. PDF
format is the preferred way to send documents that
should not be changed. Converting a document to PDF
also removes much of the metadata. Although there are
ways to manipulate the content of PDFs, it is at a bit
more difficult to do than in a word processing document. Saving an existing PDF to PDF/A can be done in
the File menu by selecting Save As, then More Options,
and clicking PDF/A.
2. Typewriter tool
Although in Adobe Acrobat X and later versions it is
called the “Add or Edit Text Box” tool, this tool uses
the icon of a typewriter. The Typewriter tool allows
users to type anywhere on a document and is helpful when filling out scanned or downloaded forms.
This enables users to fill out electronic forms on the
computer without the need to print the form, use a
4. OCR-ing documents for searching
PDFs can be searched for words or phrases. In order to
make a document searchable, it needs to be OCR-ed.
OCR stands for optical character recognition. OCRing a document makes the words on the page searchable. If the PDF was created from Word or another
word processing program, it is automatically searchable. However, if it was created in another way, such
as scanning, it is simply an image of the document.
By using the OCR function, Adobe Acrobat turns the
image into text. While it is not foolproof, and will not
recognize text if it is of poor quality or is handwritten,
in many cases, this feature is a timesaver. The OCR
function is found in the Tools pane in the Recognize
Text menu.
5. Insert/Move pages
The Page Thumbnails icon on the left side Navigation
pane permits viewing thumbnail images of each page
of the document. From that view, you can drag and
drop pages to rearrange them within the document.
You can also move pages from one PDF to another by
selecting and dragging a page from one document and
dropping it in the next. You can also use the function
“Insert Pages” to insert additional pages into a PDF
from a file, folder or the clipboard. You can view Page
Thumbnails by clicking on the Page Thumbnail icon
on the left side Navigation pane.
6.Bookmarks
Bookmarks are also found in the left side Navigation
pane. Bookmarks are useful for navigating through
large documents and for breaking documents into
smaller sections. For example, if you receive a PDF of
various exhibits, you can avoid scrolling through the
entire document each time you need to find a particular item by bookmarking each exhibit. You can view
Bookmarks by clicking the blue Bookmark icon in the
Navigation pane below the page thumbnails. To add a
Bookmark you click on the page in the document you
would like to mark and then click on the new bookmark icon in the Navigation pane.
9. Print to PDF
There is no need to print a document and then scan it
to create a PDF. As discussed above, you can convert a
document to PDF, or you can also print to PDF, like
you would print to any other printer. For example, if
you are reading an article online, rather than printing
it on paper, you can print the article to PDF and save it
on your computer. If you have annotated a document
using Adobe Acrobat, you have the option of printing
it with the annotations or without. You can also just
print the annotations.
10. Page Numbering/Bates Numbering
Once you have arranged the pages in the order you
want, you can add page numbers or Bates number
the document(s). The Header & Footer tool enables
you to number all the pages in a file with a few clicks
of the mouse. If you are creating a record and want R
to appear before the number you simply add R in the
header or footer box before the page number. You can
change the font, size and location of the page number
and can save these preferences for future use.
Bates Numbering is slightly more complex because it
offers more options. You are first prompted to choose
multiple files and put them in the order you want to
Bates number them. You then select where on the page
you would like to enter the Bates number and then
how the Bates number should read. You can select the
starting number, and again the size and font. With
these functions, attorneys and staff will never have to
hand number pages again.
7. Split Document
If you have ever encountered difficulties with emailing
or efiling a large document this tool makes splitting
the document simple. By selecting Split Document in
the Pages menu on the Tools pane, your document can
be split by size, page number, or even by bookmark.
8.Stamp
Users can save an image of their signature as a stamp
in Adobe Acrobat. Using this feature, a signature can
be affixed to a document and, if the user is sending a
fax (using an electronic fax service) or an email it can
be sent without having to print the document. This
increases a lawyer’s mobility because letters can be
drafted anywhere, digitally signed and then sent to the
recipient. Stamp is found in the Comment pane under
Annotations by clicking on the Stamp icon.
11.Encryption/Password Protection
Attaching a PDF to an email is like sending a postcard
through the mail: there is the potential for anyone to
read it before it reaches the intended recipient. Password encryption of PDFs adds a layer of security and
helps preserve the confidentiality of documents.6 By
going to the File Menu and selecting Properties, you
then choose the Security tab and change the Security
Method to “Password Security.” You can then enter
a password of your choice and decide what contents
of the document to encrypt and whether a password
is needed to open, edit or print the document. It is
critical to save the password used to encrypt documents since there is no way to retrieve it if it is lost or
forgotten.
Molly Barker Gilligan is an attorney and practice management consultant. She can be reached at (207) 457-0317 and at mgilligan@
techlawyergy.com.
These are all relatively basic features and just begin to skim
the surface of Adobe Acrobat’s capabilities. If you have Adobe
Acrobat Standard or Professional and are looking for additional
information, Rick Borstein’s Acrobat for Legal Professionals
Blog is an excellent resource.7
PDF manipulation software can save you time and money
and better serve your clients. Investing a few minutes searching
YouTube8 for the PDF manipulation software of your choice
will turn up videos on everything from basic overviews of the
latest version to step by step instructions on using features like
Bates Numbering or form creation, and may lead to greater
efficiency in performing day-to-day tasks. Digital paper is not
a passing fad; skill at creating and manipulating PDFs is necessary for modern legal practice.
1. The latest version of Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Acrobat XI, can be downloaded for a 30 day free trial at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.html. A
30 Day free trial of Foxit Phantom PDF for Business can be downloaded at
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/
2. Adobe Systems Incorporated, PDF Reference, 6th Ed: Adobe
Portable Document Format version 1.7, at 33 (November 2006). The
PDF file format is now open standard, having previously been a proprietary
format.
3. Me. Judicial Branch, eFiling Maine Improving Public Service and Access to Justice Through Technology (July 2, 2012), http://www.courts.state.
me.us/reports_pubs/reports/index.html
4. ABA Model Rules of Prof ’l Conduct Rule 1.1 cmt 6 (2012).
Comment 6 states:
[6]To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should
keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the
benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in
continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject.
Id.. (emphasis supplied)
5. D. Casey Flaherty, Could you pass this in-house counsel’s tech test? If the
answer is no, you may be losing business (July 17, 2013) ABA Journal Website/
Rebels/ New Normal (visited Oct. 11, 2013). As noted in this article, D.
Casey Flaherty, inside counsel for Kia Motors, has partnered with Suffolk
University Law School’s Institute on Law Practice Technology and Innovation to automate the audit and make it available free to law students and
in-house counsel.
6. Encrypting confidential data is one of the “salient safeguards Maine
counsel should adopt in an effort to satisfy the Maine Rules of Professional
Conduct in connection with cloud usage” Me. Prof. Ethics Comm’n, Op.
No. 207 (January 8, 2013).
7. Mr. Borstein’s blog can be found at http://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/
8. http://www.youtube.com
For a complete list of upcoming MSBA Webcasts, go to www.mainebar.org
N
M
L
S
MSBA New Lawyers Section
embers of New Lawyers Section (NLS) continue to be very
active in a variety of projects. The NLS is composed of
law students and lawyers who have been admitted to the
bar within the last five years or who are 35 years of age or under,
regardless of their years of practice. The goals of the NLS are to
connect new and young laws from diverse practices areas throughout the state and to organize and engage professional development
and community service projects. To this end, all committees of
the NLS–professional development, community service, and social
networking–have all been hard at work planning various events and
activities.
Professional Development Committee
The NLS Professional Development Committee will be hosting
a Brown Bag Lunch this month with Justice Levy–we’ve left the
topic choice to Justice Levy–it’s bound to be engaging and informative. The Committee is open to suggestions from members of the
bar as to topics of interest for all lawyers. They are actively seeking
individuals and firms that would be interested in hosting a future
Brown Bag Lunch. A meeting place? Ideas? Suggestions? We’d love
to hear from you!
Social/Networking Committee
Members of the Social/Networking Committee continue to
coordinate a monthly get-together. Gatherings are held on the last
Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at Bull Feeney’s in Portland
(375 Fore Street). Bull Feeney’s generously provides exclusive NLS
discounts for these monthly gatherings. We’d love to have you join
us, and NLS membership is not necessary.
Community Service Committee
The Community Service Committee has spent countless hours
over the past months with projects benefiting both the legal community and individuals in need.
Jazzed for Justice
By the time you read this, the Jazzed for Justice Reception
and Silent Auction will have taken place in conjunction with the
MSBA’s 2013 Legal Year in Review, on November 21. All proceeds
from this annual event benefit the Campaign for Justice. The Campaign for Justice provides services benefiting more than 33,000
low-income Mainers in nearly 15,000 cases annually. For more
information about this invaluable cause, please visit campaignforjustice.org.
For more information on the NLS or how to become involved,
please contact the 2013 NLS Chair, Heidi Pushard, at hpushard@
pushlaw.me or find us through the MSBA LinkedIn page.
Heidi Pushard is a solo practitioner in Lewiston, where her primary focus is family
law and guardian ad litem work. She is a
graduate of the University of Maine School
of Law.
27 Court Street – P.O. Box 246
Houlton, ME 04730
Philip K. Jordan, Esq. and Currier & Trask,
P.A. are pleased to announce that they have
merged the law practice, located at 27 Court
Street, Houlton, Maine effective August 1, 2013.
The firm will do business in Houlton, Maine as
Currier, Trask & Jordan. The firm’s practice in
Presque Isle, Maine will continue as Currier &
Trask, P.A., located at 55 North Street, Presque
Isle, Maine 04769.
Use the buying power of all MSBA members to obtain significant discounts on all of
your office supply and print needs.
The program offers:
• A Core List of products for • Free delivery in Maine
(24-48 hrs.)
savings up to 80%
• More than 40,000 items avail- • No minimum order
able with discounts of up to • A customer service team ready to
support you
15% off already low web prices
• And much more!
To set up an account and/or place an order, contact Office Depot
representative, Joe Guerette, at [email protected] or at
1-207-318-1235.
Image copyright Tim Yuan, 2013. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
COPYRIGHT
&
TRADEMARK
Robert E. Mittel
MITTELASEN,
LLC
85 Exchange Street
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 775-3101
24 Applegate Lane
Falmouth Foreside
Maine 04105
DISCOVER THE MEMBERSHIP ADVANTAGE.
401(k)s BUILT EXCLUSIVELY FOR LAW FIRMS.
The ABA RETIREMENT FUNDS PROGRAM
(“the Program”) was created as an American
Bar Association member benefit in 1963. The
size and strength of the Program’s membership
means you have access to a comprehensive
and affordable retirement plan no matter the
size of your firm.
Call an ABA Retirement Funds Program
Regional Representative today!
(866) 812-1510 I www.abaretirement.com
[email protected]
The Program is available through The Maine State Bar Association as a member benefit. This
communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, or a
request of the recipient to indicate an interest in, and is not a recommendation of any security.
Securities offered through ING Financial Advisers, LLC (Member SIPC).
The ABA Retirement Funds Program and ING Financial Advisers, LLC, are separate, unaffiliated
companies and are not responsible for one another’s products and services.
CN0311-8583-0415
Search Engine Optimization
For The Solo Practitioner
And Small Law Firms
by Ken Matejka
G
© iStockphoto.com
oogle’s US market share for lawrelated search has grown to a
near-monopoly in recent years.
When people search online for legal help
and contact you, there’s an extremely
high likelihood that they found your
contact information through a Google
search. For solo practitioners and small
law firms, being visible on the Web and
being visible in Google are substantially
the same thing.
There are two ways to be visible in
Google: through Google’s Sponsored
Listings, and through search engine optimization (SEO). The Sponsored Listings are the ads you see in the yellow box
at the top of the search results and in the
right-hand margin, usually under the
map. SEO targets the “natural” listings
(or the “organic results”) in the main
content area of Google’s search results
page, under the yellow ads.
Lawyers should be in both the Sponsored Listings and in the natural results
through SEO for the highest volume
searches in your practice area(s), but this
article will focus on getting into Google’s
main content area through SEO.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
SEO refers to things you do to your
website and elsewhere on the Internet to
make your website appear more relevant
for certain search phrases to Google and
the other search engines. The long-term
goal is to get placement on the first page
of Google’s search results, and ideally, in
the top four places of the natural list-
ings (where about 70 percent of Google
searchers click), and to stay there for as
long as you can.
If you were to disregard deliberate
SEO and passively hope that Google
will eventually find your website relevant and important, you’ll likely be disappointed. Your competitors are working hard, often successfully, to convince
Google that they are among the most
relevant search results for your practice
areas and unless you do the same, your
website will get buried in the search results.
The SEO process can take some time
and should be started as soon as possible.
What follows is a general description of
what would give you bang-for-the-buck
in the SEO effort should you not be inclined to outsource it.
The main steps in SEO are (1) selecting your target phrases, (2) working
your target phrases into your website,
(3) creating content, and (4) building
links. 1. Selecting Your Target Phrases
The first step in SEO is to figure out
which phrases you want to target. A
“target phrase” is a search in your community that is very specific to your law
practice, for example, “Maine personal
injury lawyer” or “divorce attorneys in
Maine.”
When deciding what phrases you
want to target for your SEO effort, you
should use the following criteria: (a) select phrases that are important to your
law practice, (b) have enough search
volume to make the effort worth your
trouble, and (c) where the competition
isn’t so extreme that all of your work is
fruitless.
For example, instead of trying to optimize your site for “lawyers” (high volume, but extremely high competition),
you may instead optimize your site for
“Maine child custody lawyers” (high
volume, medium competition). Google
makes competition and search volume
reports available to Google advertisers
but third-party SEO companies can run
these reports for you as well, sometimes
free of charge.
Don’t select too many. Limit yourself to maybe five or six target phrases
so as not to confuse Google and spread
yourself too thin.
2. Working Your Target Phrases Into
Your Website
When you are working on your website to make it clear to Google what you
should be relevant for, it’s called “onpage SEO.” On-Page SEO is a process
whereby you work your target phrases
into the content and meta tags of your
site so that the next time Google passes
through, it understands what your website is about and what searches it should
be relevant for.
For example, if you’re a Maine family
lawyer and you’ve selected 2 or 3 phrases
for which you’d like to be relevant in
Google (e.g., “Maine divorce lawyer”
or “divorce attorneys in Maine”) then
you’d emphasize these phrases as often
as possible on your divorce practice area
page as well as elsewhere on your website without damaging the professionalism of the content. The process of integrating your phrases into your website
needs to be subtle because you’re first
and foremost writing for people, not
Google. Spam-like content can drive
visitors away.
Google says that it considers over
200 different factors when determining
the relevancy of a website for a specific search query. It’s known that one of
Google’s more important ranking factors is a page’s “title tag.” The title tag
is in the source code of your website
and your page title content goes between the <TITLE> tags. Put your most
important target phrases first and try
to limit your title to 70 characters. As
much as possible, make sure that your
keyword-rich title is fairly descriptive of
the page’s actual subject matter.
Also, hyperlinks between the pages
on your website will help Google “crawl”
it. By having good keyword phrases
within the text of the links, Google will
better understand the subject matter of
the pages to which the links connect.
For example, if there’s a hyperlink on
your website which reads: “Click Here
To Learn More About Our Experienced
Family Lawyers” that links to your
“About Us” page, it would be ideal to
have the hyperlink on the words “Expe-
rienced Family Lawyers”, so that Google
knows what the page you’re linking to
is about.
3. Creating Content
The mantra is “Content is King” because Google has made it clear that it
wants your website to be rich in good
content–content that people will read
and share. You create content by writing more specific practice area pages, for
example, by sub-dividing your vehicle
accident page into several pages on the
topics of car accidents, motorcycle accidents and so on.
You also should regularly blog on
topics relating to your target phrases
that you selected in step 1, above. If
your content is good and keyword-rich,
Google should reward you for the effort.
“Social signals” like when a visitor to
your website “Tweets” about one of your
blog posts, comments upon your blog
post, or links to a page on your website from a social bookmarking site all
indicate that people like your content,
making it worthy of higher placement
in Google’s search results.
The reality is that law-related content is seldom shared or talked about
because it doesn’t have the same level of
popular interest that topics like celebrity
gossip, funny videos or sporting events
do. Consequently, social signals for law
firm websites and blogs need to be, to
some extent, artificially created. This is
difficult and time-consuming and a task
that probably should be outsourced.
4. Building Links
The fourth part of SEO is referred
to as “off-page SEO” because it involves
things that you do elsewhere on the web
to convince Google that you’re relevant
for certain searches. This is primarily
the deliberate process of gathering links
gradually, over a long period of time,
from other websites to your own.
Fundamental to Google’s ranking
algorithm is the notion that the more
websites that link to your website, the
more important your website is as an information resource on the web. When
Google perceives you as important for a
particular phrase, it will typically place
When you need
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you higher in its index. Quality links are
important (not as critical as they were a
few years back, perhaps) and some effort
should be made to accumulate reputable
ones.
So how do you get other sites to link to
your website?
Links to your website can be obtained in a variety of ways. Other than
“social signals” referenced in step 3,
above, you can list your website on directories, exchange links with colleagues
who are not in direct competition, post
to others’ blogs, set up accounts in social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, participate in networking sites
like LinkedIn, and publish content to
press release and article sites. The more
sites that link to yours, the more Google
will assume that your site is growing in
popularity and importance, and consequently, growing more relevant.
Conclusion
In closing, a few things should be
noted. First, SEO can be labor-intensive
and time consuming. If you’d rather
practice law than spend hours modifying your pages, creating in-bound links,
or manufacturing social signals, consider outsourcing the project to a company
that specializes in SEO for lawyers. Second, these SEO efforts won’t help
your website overnight. It may be three,
six or nine months before you start noticing any real gains in terms of ranking
on Google’s organic search results.
Third, this is an ongoing process, in
particular the link-building and content
creation, that you will need to keep doing for as long as you want to stay high
up in Google’s search results.
800 482-0958 : 207 725-5581
mcteaguehigbee.com
McTeague Higbee, Case, Cohen, Whitney and Toker, P.A.
4 Union Park : Topsham, ME 04086
Ken Matejka is a California attorney and
president of LegalPPC, Inc. – Online Marketing
for Solo Practitioners and Small Law Firms.
If you have any questions about this article,
please write to Ken at [email protected] or
call him at 415-742-2150. Q&A With ALPS President
& CEO David Bell
ALPS Communications Manager Laura Churchman conducts an interview with ALPS CEO David Bell. ALPS is the Maine State
Bar Association-affiliated professional liability insurer, and a Patron of the Bar.
You’ve lived all over the country and as far away as
Bermuda. What brought you to Missoula, Montana?
I fell in love with the west when I
was young. I came to the University of
Montana as a teenager and knew right
away that Montana was a special place.
I met my wife, Brittany, while we
were both attending UM. She’s
from Conrad, so as we moved to
different parts of the country and
internationally, Montana was always
“home base” and we knew we would
return. When I met ALPS Founder
Bob Minto on one of my trips back
to Montana, we made a connection
and as the opportunity at ALPS unfolded, I knew it was time to come
back home.
How does the lawyers’ professional liability insurance line differ from your previous experiences in
the industry?
ALPS was started in 1988. Now, 25 years later as
you are taking the helm, how has the company
changed?
It has been fun to focus on a single
industry niche. In my previous role as
COO of Allied World, a large public
As I learned about the ALPS story
it became clear that some things have
changed a lot, and some things not at
all. What has changed is the utilization of technology, policyholder
expectations regarding customer
service and a general business model that has evolved over a quarter
century. ALPS has done a fantastic
job of staying ahead of the curve,
and is regularly out front as the
innovation thought leader. What
hasn’t changed is the hallmark of
the ALPS value proposition. We
are a “by lawyers, for lawyers” professional liability carrier committed to making the legal profession
better through risk management
and stable risk transfer. From the
beginning when Bob Minto and
his colleagues started this company, ALPS made a commitment
to provide the broadest coverage
in the marketplace at a reasonable
price. ALPS made a promise to
our policyholders that if you have
a claim it will be handled honestly, promptly and professionally.
Those values are the same today as
in 1988, and will be the same for
many years to come.
What drew you to the insurance industry
originally? What has kept you there?
Like many others in senior positions I found the industry (or
it found me) by accident. I went
to work for Chubb out of college,
mainly because it was a large, highly
reputable organization with an international footprint, and that was
the experience I was looking for
out of school. The “trade” of insurance – focused on the transfer of risk
from one corporate balance sheet to
another – was fascinating. It has been
called the DNA of capitalism. It’s also
an industry full of good people. In my
experience, compared to other financial service industries, it seems to have
a higher concentration of leaders who
came from humble means and are committed to giving back to the industry
and their communities.
company, we had significant resources
and more than 40 different coverage
lines. That did have its advantages, but
I was never able to get “in the trenches”
as ideas were first incubated. At ALPS,
our mission is to provide the best coverage protection to the legal community.
Because of our niche focus, we have
been able to successfully build a culture
focused on customer service and ease of
doing business. I am now able to participate at the grass roots level to help
ensure we live up to the faith our policyholders place in us.
As a non-lawyer, how do you view the challenges
and opportunities facing the legal community of
today?
New issues in the legal community
are constantly emerging. At ALPS, we
have the good fortune to have longstanding affiliations and endorsements
from more state and local bar associations than any other insurance carrier.
As a non-lawyer myself, these relationships are truly valuable for me to gain
a better understanding of what today’s
lawyers are grappling with and to be
able to offer real solutions.
For example, right now, we have
law school students emerging with significant debt and fewer opportunities.
With less “big firm” options they are
increasingly hanging a solo shingle. On
the flip side we have our baby boomer
lawyers reaching retirement age. As they
leave the practice of law, with them
goes some of our most experienced and
knowledgeable legal practitioners. ALPS
is responding by launching ALPSLegalMatch.com, a new tool that will pair
“new” lawyers with soon-to-be retiring lawyers. This tool will help retiring lawyers identify a successor. It will
help new lawyers find a practice, and
will partner them with a mentor during
the transition. The result: for ALPS we
have our best lawyers training our newest lawyers, which make the new lawyers
a better risk for us to insure. For retiring lawyers, they will have a succession
plan using a process that allows them to
pick the right person without months
of painstaking diligence. For the new
lawyer, nothing takes the place of experience and this provides an opportunity
to work with someone and gain the benefit of that experience…as well as potentially take over a practice.
I view this challenge and others like
it as opportunities, and there are plenty
of both on the horizon.
David Bell joined ALPS in May 2012 as the
Chief Operating Officer and transitioned into
his role as ALPS President & CEO in May of
2013. Mr. Bell came to ALPS from the global
insurance company Allied World Assurance
Corp., where he served as Senior Vice President and Global Professional Lines Manager.
Bell is a graduate of the University of Montana in Missoula where ALPS is also headquartered. For more information about ALPS’
liability insurance program, visit alpsnet.com
or call 800-367-2577.
THE MSBA CAREER CENTER IS HERE!
Employers
Job Seekers
• Quickly post job openings
• Manage your job search
• Manage online recruiting efforts • Access job postings • Reach targeted, qualified
• Post an anonymous resume
candidates
Go to mainebar.org and click on Careers
THROUGH YOUR MAINE STATE BAR ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP
WE OFFER INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP BENEFITS PROGRAMS
CUSTOMIZED TO MEET YOUR NEEDS AND COMPETITIVLY PRICED
WILLIS
A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
IN THE INSURANCE AND
BENEFITS MARKETPLACE
Phone: 800 464 1203
www.willis.com
New Book Published in the Maine Law Practice Collection
A Collaboration between the MSBA and MCLE|New England®
Designed for both the lawyer just starting out his or her
practice who needs to learn everything from the first to
the final step and for the experienced practitioner who
may need guidance from time to time on a specific,
complex issue, A Practical Guide to Residential Real
Estate Transactions and Foreclosures in Maine is a new,
go-to resource.
The first book in the collection, A Practical Guide to
Estate Planning in Maine, edited by Philip C. Hunt of
Perkins Thompson PA in Portland, was published in
October 2012 and has been a great success. Additional
titles on the topics of discovery, divorce, evidence, land
use, and Superior Court practice are currently under
development.
Practitioners with expertise and interest in volunteering
on any of the topics under development are encouraged
to contact Maryanne Jensen, Esq., MCLE|New England
Director of Publications, at 617-896-1236 or mjensen@
mcle.org.
The Maine State Bar Association and MCLE | New
England® announce the second book in their ongoing
collaboration: A Practical Guide to Residential Real
Estate Transactions and Foreclosures in Maine.
Edited by Christopher E. Pazar of Drummond &
Drummond LLP in Portland with the assistance of 18
attorney-authors throughout the state, the guide is an
essential reference for handling residential real estate
transactions from start to finish. Among the many
topics covered are:
• the right questions to ask a client at the first
meeting;
• how to work best with the real estate agent to
ensure a smooth transaction;
• how to draft a proper and effective deed;
• the nuances of liens, leasehold interests, and
easements; and
• how to correctly fill out a HUD-1 settlement
statement for a closing
Go to http://www.mcle.org/books-cds/ and click on “Maine”
or click on the QR codes at right.
Real Estate Publication
Estate Planning Publication
Congratulations,
Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley
The Jean Byers Center of Diversity in Maine at the
University of Southern Maine presented Chief Justice
Leigh I. Saufley with the 2013 Sampson Center Catalyst
for Change Award last month. The Chief Justice was
recognized for her efforts to refocus the state’s court
system to better deal with domestic violence and family law, strengthen the special adult and juvenile drug
courts, and provide timely access to interpreters so
that people with limited English will have equal access
to the law.
Save The Date
Jan. 30-31
MSBA Annual Meeting &
Access to Justice Symposium
Portland Marriott at Sable Oaks,
South Portland
June 25-27
MSBA Summer Meeting
Samoset Resort,
Rockport
Aug. 25
MSBA Golf Tournament
Belgrade Lakes Golf Club,
Belgrade Lakes
Sept. 12-13
Real Estate Institute
Real Estate
Institute 2014
September 12 and 13, 2014
Augusta Civic Center
nds,
THROUGH YOUR MAINE STATE BAR ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP
WE OFFER INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP BENEFITS PROGRAMS
CUSTOMIZED TO MEET YOUR NEEDS AND COMPETITIVLY PRICED
MSBA Patrons of the Bar
WILLIS
A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
IN THE INSURANCE AND
BENEFITS MARKETPLACE
Judy Conley
800 464 1203,
The Maine State Bar Association thanks the businesses that have generously supported
the ext. 1103
[email protected]
Association and its member attorneys.
www.willis.com
Financial security close to home
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of Conduct.
Willis, a leading global insurance
provider, offers MSBA members competitively priced individual and group
benefits programs customized to meet
specific needs. In addition to offering
health insurance, it also offers flexible
benefit services.
LLEN / FREEMAN / McDONNELL
AGENCY
LexisNexis provides business softThe Allen Freeman McDonnell agen- ware and solutions, including online
with
a arecap
our plans,
lastin-letter,
summarize
cy offers
variety of of
insurance
legal research,
to the legalrecent
community.
cluding malpractice
art
then discuss our outlook. We also write about an important
by Doug Porter, Associate Portfolio Manager, and provide
you when visiting our new office location in Portland.
ter
ALPS provides professional liability
insurance to the legal community.
that U.S. Employment results remained subdued in June;
offers discounts
of up to 49%
about slowing growth in China; and,UPS
European
economic
on all express, ground and international
We also reported that total operatingshipping
profits
of the S&P500
services.
d less than 1% year-over-year in the second quarter. We
t doubt about the likelihood of Wall Street analysts’ average
ating profits by the end of 2012 of a 12-13% increase in the
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technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the
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For more information about the services offered to MSBA members by the
Patrons of the Bar, please visit www.
mainebar.org or call 800.475.7523.
The ABA Retirement Funds program
is designed to provide unique, full service 401(k) plans to the legal community.
you commentary on economic factors
that
we isconsider
Ringler
Associates
the largest structured settlement
company
in the a
United
oving economic and investment prospects.
Namely,
we said
States with over 140 consultants in more
covery and significant reduction in consumer
than 60 major debt
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hat would improve our outlook.
ts
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Business Services
• Casemaker (free online
legal research)
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Call 1-800-475-7523
The MSBA’s Silent Partners program
offers low-key assistance to lawyers in
dealing with problems in substantive and
administrative areas of the law where
there may be a lack of familiarity or
comfort, where some help and guidance
would benefit both the practitioner and
the client.
The coordinator has a list of attorneys
associated with organizations, sections,
and committees who are willing to
provide help. The program provides
confidentiality recognized by the
Supreme Judicial Court in Maine bar
Rule 7.3(o). We can provide guidance
and assistance in most areas of law.
Admiralty Law
Appellate Practice
Bankruptcy
Business Associations (Corporation/
Partnership)
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Commercial and Consumer Law
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To learn more, call Peter DeTroy,
Esq., Silent Partners Assistance
Coordinator, at 207-774-7000.
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FEDERAL
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
_________________________________
Representing Federal employees in
discrimination, retirement, workers
compensation, and employment cases
in FEDERAL COURT and at all levels
involving the EEOC, MSPB, FERS, OPM,
OWCP, and FECA
John F. Lambert, Jr.
Samuel K. Rudman
Robyn G. March
(207) 874-4000
www.lambertcoffin.com
Jest Is For All
2014 MSBA Benefit
Golf Tournament
Image copyright jwblinn. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
August 25, 2014
Belgrade Lakes Golf Club
Winding Down Your Practice?
Are you planning for retirement or winding down your practice for other reasons? Are you interested in connecting with
a new lawyer who could take over your practice?
The MSBA may be able to help. For more information,
contact Bill Robitzek ([email protected]) who
is coordinating the MSBA efforts on succession planning.
Lawyers And
Numbers
by Jonathan Mermin
S
omething has been bugging me.
Not something of great consequence—but small problems have
the virtue of being solvable.
My small problem is with the odd
practice some lawyers have of writing
numbers in both word and numeral form.
There is one (1) reason not to do this: it is,
with just a few possible exceptions, pointless.
In certain situations there is at least a
glimmer of a rationale for the word (numeral) format. A promissory note for “five
hundred sixty-seven (567) dollars” might
be harder to alter or forge than if it just
said “five hundred sixty-seven” or “567.”
Or a handwritten contract (if such things
still exist) might be less prone to being
misread if it required the parties to give
notice “thirty (30) days” before termination, instead of just “thirty” or “30” days.
More vexing is a statement in a brief
that a witness had testified to seeing “four
(4) armed men get out of the car.” Or that
the defendant had offered up “five (5) deposition dates.” Or this actual First Circuit docket entry: “NINE (9) paper copies
of appellant/petitioner brief submitted.”
This is a funny way to write.
Is there something unclear about
“five” deposition dates that “five (5)”
clarifies? Do we imagine our readership to
include individuals who would recognize
either “five” or “5,” but not both? Or that
a judge could mistakenly assume that by
“five” we intend, not the first MerriamWebster.com definition (“a number that is
one more than four”), but the seventh: “a
slapping of extended right hands by two
people (as in greeting or celebration)”? Or
that a witness who testified to having seen
“four” armed men get out of the car might
have been alerting the jury that she was
about to hit a golf ball?1
No. There is no reason at all to write
“five (5) deposition dates” or “four (4)
armed men.” It makes about as much
sense as it would to refer to the “Equal (=)
Protection Clause.” Look at it this way:
would the number “8,675,318” ever been
written—except in a promissory note or
maybe a contract—as “eight million, six
hundred seventy-five thousand, three
hundred eighteen (8,675,318)”? It would
not be, because there’s no reason for it to
be. Nor should other numbers be written
that way just because they happen to be
small.
Once upon a time, legal documents
were handwritten, or copied on primitive
machines. It may have made sense before the computer age to write “five (5)”
to guard against illegibility. Or to make
a document harder to alter. At least with
a number in a document that had actual
legal force.
But legal documents are no longer
written on parchment or carbon paper.
And no one—not the judge, not opposing
counsel, not the FedEx guy—is scheming
to change the five deposition dates in your
motion to six.
Even if forgery and legibility could
be viewed as legitimate concerns with
documents produced on laser printers and
copied in numerous tangible and intangible locations, most numbers we write
just don’t need to be that precise. Even
if your adversaries had an agent in the
judge’s chambers with access to your expert witness disclosure and the inclination
to change his “16” years of experience to
“14,” or the judge’s vision was such that
under certain low light conditions she
might mistake a “6” for a “4”—so what?
Why take special precautions to ensure
the precision of a number that doesn’t
need to be precise?
What about contracts? Because numbers in contracts may have actual legal
force, should we write that notice must be
given “thirty (30)” days before termination? This is a closer question, as it does
matter that if 30 is the number the parties
agreed to, the contract so indicate.
But does writing “thirty (30)” do anything to advance that cause? My guess is
that any conceivable legibility or forgerydeterrent benefit would be cancelled out
by the increased risk of proof-reading er-
ror—if you attempt to write “thirty (30)”
enough times, one day you may find yourself with “thirty (03).” Proofreading is not
made easier by generating more characters
to proofread and introducing a potential
for inconsistency that would not otherwise exist.
So even in a contract, it should be
unnecessary to write numbers twice. But
custom is a powerful thing; the repetition
somehow looks right in a contract. Logic
aside, a contractual provision for a “30day notice” requirement may strike the
experienced attorney as being inadequate.
So that habit could be hard to kick, even
if it deserves to be kicked. In a brief or
memo, however, or a letter or email, “thirty (30)” just looks silly.
The easy solution to this small problem is to use words for numbers up to
nine, numerals for 11 and above, and decide for yourself what to do with ten (10)
(just don’t do that). Except don’t begin a
sentence with a numeral, and when a set
of numbers refer to items in the same
category—“the resolution passed by 12
votes to 8”—let the general rule yield to
consistency.
1. OK, golfers say “fore,” not “four.” But remember, we’re dealing with a hypothetical reader
who might not realize that “four” and “4” are the
same thing. So don’t tell me that reader necessarily knows “four” isn’t the word one selects when
hitting a golf ball.
Jonathan Mermin is Of Counsel at Preti
Flaherty. He can be reached at jmermin@
preti.com.
Sustaining and Supporting Members
of the Maine State Bar Association
The MSBA offers grateful thanks to these members, whose additional support makes possible some of
the work of the Association on behalf of the lawyers and residents of our state.
2012-2013 and 2013-2014 Sustaining Members:
The Hon. Donald G. Alexander
Deborah L. Aronson
Richard M. Balano
Joseph M. Baldacci
Henri A. Benoit, II
Jens-Peter W. Bergen
Andrew J. Bernstein
Michael T. Bigos
Joseph L. Bornstein
Ronald D. Bourque
C. J. Newman Boyd
M. Ray Bradford, Jr.
Craig Bramley
James W. Brannan
Stephen J. Burlock
Tracey Giles Burton
Brian L. Champion
Edward M. Collins
Eric N. Columber
Alicia F. Curtis
The Hon. Howard H. Dana, Jr.
Roberta L. de Araujo
The Hon. Thomas E. Delahanty, II
Joel A. Dearborn, Sr.
Brieanna G. Dietrich
Diane Dusini
Matthew F. Dyer
Susan A. Faunce
The Hon. Joseph H. Field
Robert H. Furbish
John P. Gause
Benjamin R. Gideon
The Hon. Peter J. Goranites
Stanley F. Greenberg
Carl R. Griffin, III
Kristin A. Gustafson
Walter Hanstein III
Alan M. Harris
Brian C. Hawkins
Naomi Honeth
Philip P. Houle
Anthony Irace
Miriam A. Johnson
Phillip E. Johnson
Daniel G. Kagan
Douglas S. Kaplan
Timothy M. Kenlan
Andrew Ketterer
Robert W. Kline
Daniel S. Knight
Jon A. Languet
Michael J. Levey
Robert A. Levine
Gene R. Libby
The Hon. Kermit V. Lipez
Paul F. Macri
The Hon. Francis C. Marsano
The Hon. John D. McElwee
The Hon. Andrew M. Mead
Janet E. Michael
David R. Miller
Barry K. Mills
Christopher K. Munoz
Stephen D. Nelson
Charles L. Nickerson
Jodi Nofsinger
Daniel Nuzzi
Timothy J. O’Brien
James E. O’Connell, III
Thomas P. Peters, II
Jonathan S. Piper
Judy R. Potter
Jane Surran Pyne
William D. Robitzek
John E. Sedgewick
Warren C. Shay
Steven D. Silin
The Hon. Warren M. Silver
Jack H. Simmons
James Eastman Smith
The Hon. David J. Soucy
Julian L. Sweet
Sheldon J. Tepler
James E. Tierney
Joel H. Timmins
Talia D. Timmins
John S. Webb
David G. Webbert
Scott Webster
Neal L. Weinstein
Tanna B. Whitman
Gail Kingsley Wolfahrt
Steven Wright
Adam B. Zimmerman
2012-2013 and 2013-2014 Supporting Members:
Thomas G. Ainsworth
The Hon. Donald G. Alexander
Justin W. Askins
Esther R. Barnhart
John R. Bass, II
Randall Bates
John J. Cronan
The Hon. Kevin M. Cuddy
Stephanie F. Davis
Joel A. Dearborn, Sr.
Brieanna G. Dietrich
The Hon. Beth Dobson
John P. Doyle, Jr.
Martin I. Eisenstein
Daniel W. Emery
Edward F. Feibel
Jerome J. Gamache
Peter C. Gamache
The Hon. Peter J. Goranites
Bradley J. Graham
Stanley F. Greenberg
Clarke C. Hambley
James S. Hewes
The Hon. D. Brock Hornby
Carly S. Joyce
Mary Kellogg
The Hon. E. Mary Kelly
Christopher P. Leddy
Michael J. Levey
Robert S. Linnell
The Hon. Kermit V. Lipez
James L. McCarthy
Mary E. McInerny
Frederick C. Moore
The Hon. M. Michaela Murphy
William Lewis Neilson
Stephen D. Nelson
Charles L. Nickerson
Daniel Nuzzi
The Hon. Susan E. Oram
James L. Peakes
Paul T. Pierson
Lance Proctor
Jane Surran Pyne
Robert M. Raftice, Jr.
Stephen J. Schwartz
James J. Shirley
Carly R. Smith
Terry N. Snow
Richard D. Solman
David E. Stearns
Sheldon J. Tepler
John A. Turcotte
Michael F. Vaillancourt
Edwinna Vanderzanden
Randall B. Weill
Christopher J. Whalley
Debby L. Willis
Fredda Fisher Wolf
Steven Wright
Joseph C. Zamboni
Sustaining and Supporting membership categories permit MSBA members to make additional financial commitments to the Maine State Bar Association. As established by the
MSBA’s Board of Governors, an individual Sustaining Membership is $75 in addition to a member’s regular membership dues, and an individual Supporting Membership is $50 in
addition to a member’s regular membership dues. For details, please call MSBA at 1-800-475-7523.
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For more information, visit www.preti.com or contact Dennis Sbrega at (207)791-3215.
Elizabeth Miller and David Body:
Encouraging Education
When they met, Elizabeth Miller and David Body were at turning
points in their lives. Miller had decided to pursue a passion:
teaching. Encouraged by her example, Body began working as a
substitute teacher.
Making the financial arrangements that come with joining
lives, the couple began to think of their legacy. They wanted to
encourage students to continue their education so they set up a
scholarship at the Maine Community Foundation. Their fund
will support residents of Portland or South Portland in special
education or ESL classes who wish to pursue further schooling.
Miller and Body will make a difference in someone else’s life
when it truly matters.
Good for you. Good for your clients. Good for Maine.
Contact: Jennifer Southard, Director, Philanthropic Services
[email protected] www.mainecf.org 877-700-6800
Beyond The Law:
Heather
Sanborn
Interview and photos
by Daniel J. Murphy
B
enjamin Franklin, the American statesman, is famously attributed as stating that “beer is proof that
God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Heather
Sanborn, a lawyer and craft brewer, has found her bliss in
making beer. In 2010, Sanborn opened Rising Tide Brewing Company with her husband, Nathan. Since that time,
Rising Tide has received rave reviews and a very loyal following. Sanborn spoke with the Maine Bar Journal about
her interests.
MBJ: Please tell our readers about your interest in brewing beer.
HS: My husband, Nathan, was a home brewer for about
12 years before we started Rising Tide in 2010. He was
brewing beer with an increasing level of obsessiveness.
We were having dinner parties once a week with all our
friends, who could not drink all of the beer that he was
making. People were really impressed with the quality
of his homebrew. He was a stay-at-home dad, and so we
talked about what he was going to do once our son went
to kindergarten. He dreamed of opening his own brewery
and we were able to make it happen.
MBJ: What is the origin of the name for your business, Rising Tide?
HS: The name Rising Tide comes from the concept of
a rising tide lifting all boats. I believe that it is originally
something that John F. Kennedy said in a speech. In the
craft beer industry right now, that’s really what’s going on.
More craft brewers are out there making great beer, more
bars and restaurants are putting in additional tap lines,
more stores are adding additional space to sell craft beer,
and more people are trying it.
throughout the state based on that
proof of concept. It was an important
transition for us to the 900-gallon
batches that we make now.
MBJ:Do you remember the first time you saw
your beer in a retail setting?
HS: I remember the first time that we
were at a bar and folks were able to try
our beer, which was almost three years
ago. It was interesting and humbling
to have folks who weren’t around our
dinner table drinking our beer. Now
that same bar–Novare Res–is one of
our best customers. It’s been great
fun to build that relationship over the
last three years and continue to work
with such great bars and restaurants
throughout Maine.
MBJ: What makes a great beer?
MBJ: Could you describe the growth of the craft
brewery movement that is occurring right now?
HS: In the late 1970s, there were
89 breweries in the country. Now
there are more than 2,500 breweries,
with an equal number of breweries
in planning throughout the country.
In Maine, we’ve seen the same type
of explosive growth. There are more
than 40 breweries in Maine now, with
probably another 10 to 20 in the works.
Really what we’re seeing happen is a
decentralization of beer. People are
very interested in trying new varieties,
experimenting, and innovating. It has
led to a phenomenal explosion in sales
as well, with double-digit growth for
craft beer sales over the last four years
throughout the country, as well as in
Maine.
MBJ: What sets Rising Tide apart from other beer
makers?
HS: We built our own brewery–
rather than contracting with another
brewery to brew our beer–so that we
could control quality from start to
finish. Our beers are well balanced
and informed by traditional beer
styles, but not beholden to them. As a
small family-owned company, we also
emphasize our relationship with other
small businesses. We get our boxes
from a local company in Biddeford. We
buy our glass bottles locally. We source
much of our grain from Maine farms.
We work with other small businesses
in the tasting room too, such as food
trucks, screen printers, and beer tour
companies. This emphasis on working
with other small businesses is also part
of the concept of the rising tide that
lifts all boats.
MBJ: How did you navigate the transition from
home brewing to commercial brewing?
HS: It was quite a step. We started on
a very small scale, as a proof of concept.
We leased a 1,500-square-foot space off
Riverside Street in Portland. We built
basically a gigantic homebrew setup.
Rather than brewing 5 or 10 gallons at
a time as you might in your kitchen,
we started brewing 55 gallons at a time.
We brewed in fermenters that allowed
us to do between three to five batches
at a time over a one- to two-day period.
Nathan did that for a year and a half.
We were able to get our beer into a lot
of the bars and restaurants in Portland,
as well as into a lot of places where craft
beer bottles are sold, such as RSVP in
Portland, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s
and many other independent retailers
HS: A couple of things. I think balance is really important to good beer.
A beer should be very drinkable. It
shouldn’t be a challenge to get it down
just to prove that you have the chops or
that you can tolerate hoppy bitterness.
It should be drinkable, and it should
pair well with food and enhance the
experience of eating a great meal.
MBJ:Right now, how many varieties is Rising
Tide brewing?
HS: We brew three year-round varieties and then a seasonal beer in the
summertime and in the wintertime.
And we have special release beers that
we do throughout the course of the
year as well. So in Maine, where all our
special release beers are available, we
might have between four to six beers
on sale at any given time.
MBJ:Do you have a current favorite among the
beers that you brew?
HS: I never like that question. It’s like
having to choose your favorite child. I
guess my favorite is whatever is in my
glass at that time, which is sometimes
determined by my mood or by the
weather outside. But I really like all of
our beers. We wouldn’t brew them if
we didn’t like them.
MBJ: What are some of the challenges of brewing?
HS: There are a lot of challenges of
brewing and running a brewery, which
I think are the challenges of every
small business. They include managing, recruiting, and retaining really
wonderful people to work with you.
Our employees are our ambassadors
and our face to the world, so nothing
could be more important. Also, we
have to manage our supply chains in
both directions, getting the ingredients
we need as well as sending the finished
beer into the market. We work with 11
different distributors right now, many
of which are small family-owned businesses themselves, across four states. So
it is challenging to stay on top of those
relationships all the time.
HS: It’s really exciting to make
something tangible that you can hold
in your hand and then put it in your
glass. You can drink and enjoy, and
watch other people enjoy. There’s
something fantastic about not just
charging for your thoughts or your
time, but actually selling a product. It
is also just a lot of fun to be able to go
into a bar and be able to order my own
beer.
and record-keeping requirements. My
legal background has definitely been
helpful for that. And trademarks are
an incredibly important part of our
business. I have a little background in
trademark law, so that’s been really invaluable. Trademarks are double-edged
swords for us. We want to protect our
own brands, but trademark law also
really limits what we can call our beers
in this increasingly crowded industry
because others are protecting their
brands too.
MBJ:Any intersection between your legal world
and this new interest?
MBJ: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
HS: Absolutely. We are dealing with
a highly regulated industry, so I am
constantly trying to navigate the rules
at the local, state, and the federal level
regarding labeling, sales, distribution,
registration, excise tax requirements,
HS: I think the best advice I’ve ever
received is from my mom who always
told me to trust my gut and that life
doesn’t always go straight ahead in one
direction. You have to be on the lookout for when you’re supposed to turn
right or left. Generally, you’re going to
get where you’re supposed to go, but
you have to trust that there are going
to be these intersections along the way
that you really didn’t expect. I’ve certainly hit a few of those intersections
along the way and one of them brought
me here, so I’m really glad that she
gave me that advice to trust my gut.
MBJ: What are the rewards of making beer?
Daniel J. Murphy is a shareholder in Bernstein Shur’s Business Law and Litigation Practice Groups, where his practice concentrates
on business and commercial litigation matters.
Beyond the Law features conversations with
Maine lawyers who pursue unique interests
or pastimes. Readers are invited to suggest
candidates for Beyond the Law by contacting
Dan Murphy at [email protected].
HELP YOUR CLIENTS
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SUPPORT THE MSBA
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Association’s Lawyer Referral
Service has a long and proud history of connecting the public with
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Advertiser Index
ABA Retirement funds.............................................................................189
Allen/Freeman/McDonnell Agency..........................................................177
ALPS....................................................................................................... 204
Arthur G. Greene ................................................................................... 206
Berman & Simmons........................................................... inside front cover
Berry Dunn.........................................................................inside back cover
Brown & Burke....................................................................................... 206
Casemaker................................................................................................217
Currier & Trask, P.A. ..............................................................................188
Filler & Associates .................................................................................. 203
John C. Sheldon ..................................................................................... 206
Joseph D. Thornton .................................................................................194
Kelly Remmel & Zimmerman ................................................................ 205
Lambert Coffin ....................................................................................... 203
Law Office of Joe Borstein.................................................................196-197
Law Offices of Stephen Gleit................................................................... 202
LawPay.....................................................................................................183
Lawrence M. Leonard, M.D. .................................................................. 203
Legal Nurse Consulting, Inc................................................................... 206
McTeague Higbee.....................................................................................192
Mittle Asen...............................................................................................218
MSBA LRS...............................................................................................214
MSBA Patrons of the Bar ........................................................................201
Maine Community Foundation.............................................................. 209
Maine Employee Rights Group................................................................195
National Association of Legal Assistants.................................................. 203
Office Depot.............................................................................................189
Perkins Olsen...........................................................................................199
Pine Tree Society .................................................................................... 205
Robert E. Mittel.......................................................................................189
University of Maine Foundation ..............................................................178
UPS..........................................................................................................216
William J. Hall, MD................................................................................189
Willis........................................................................................................195
Mark Your Calendar
MSBA 2014 Annual
Meeting and Access to
Justice Symposium
at the Portland Marriott at Sable Oaks in
South Portland on January 30-31.
Supreme Quotes
by Evan J. Roth
...Sisyphus,
the mythical King of Corinth[,] was sentenced by Zeus to an eternity in
Hades trying “to roll a rock uphill which forever rolled back upon him.”
Huch v. United States, 439 U.S. 1007, 1012 (1979) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting from
the denial of a petition for writ of certiorari) (quoting E. Hamilton,
Mythology 439-440 (1945)).
Justice Rehnquist relied on the Greek myth of Sisyphus to illustrate the unenviable task of federal
district court judges who, in the absence of clear legal guidance, must resolve complex issues
regarding school desegregation, only to watch those very same school districts become resegregated
over time, thus starting the process all over again.
Ostensibly, district court judges should have found solace in the precedent of Pasadena City Board
of Education v. Spangler, 427 U.S. 424 (1976), which held that federal courts had no obligation and
no authority to monitor indefinitely desegregation plans that had gone out of compliance due to
neutral factors.
But the district court judge found no such comfort in Huch v. United States, which involved an
East Texas school district that fully complied with court-ordered desegregation, but then became
resegregated about six years later due to “shifting residential patterns, attendance of some district
students at private schools, and other factors” the district court concluded were beyond the school
district’s control.
As a result, the district court declined to order further relief, but the Fifth Circuit reversed and
remanded for the district court to make additional fact findings. When the Supreme Court denied
certiorari, Justice Rehnquist dissented and took up the cause of the district court, which was being
required to revisit its six-year-old desegregation order without being given so much as a “clue” about
how to correct “whatever mistake the Court of Appeals believes that it made.” Justice Rehnquist
would have preferred to hear the appeal and apply Pasadena in order to avoid the district court
being “condemned to a fate akin to that of Sisyphus.”
Evan J. Roth has 18 years of litigation experience as
an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Portland, Maine. The
views expressed are those of the author and do not
reflect the views of the Department of Justice. Evan
can be reached at [email protected].
MSBA CLE Calendar
Dec 4-5
Bridging the Gap • Live Program: Hilton Garden Inn, Freeport. Dec 13
CLE Credits: Up to 10.5, including 1.5 prof. ed.
Attorney Ethics in Multi-Party Representations • Telephone
Seminar. CLE Credits: 1.0.
Dec 5
MCILS Minimum Standards Criminal Law Training • Live
Program: Hilton Garden Inn, Freeport. CLE Credits: 7.0.
Dec 19
Attorney Ethics and Alternative Fee Arrangements •
Telephone Seminar. CLE Credits: 1.0.
Dec 5
Ethics (Presented by the York Bar Association) • Live
Program: Ramada, Saco. CLE Credits: 2.0 prof. ed.
Jan 13
Exercising, Calculating and Litigating the Elective Share •
Webcast Video Replay. CLE Credits: 1.0.
Dec 6
LLCs Taxed as Partnerships: Drafting and Planning
Considerations • Webcast & Live Program: Hilton Garden Inn,
Freeport. CLE Credits: 2.75.
Jan 15
Bankruptcy 2013: A Primer • Video Replay: MSBA
Headquarters, Augusta. CLE Credits: 6.0, including 1.0 prof. ed.
Dec 9
E-filing in Probate Court • Webcast Video Replay. CLE
Credits: 1.0.
Jan 15
Litigation Institute 2013: Ethical Issues Involved in the Use
of Social Media • Webcast Video Replay. CLE Credits: 1.0.
Dec 10
Elder Exploitation, Abuse and Neglect • Webcast Video
Replay. CLE Credits: 6.0, including 1.0 prof. ed.
Jan 16
Litigation Institute 2013 (Topics to be confirmed) • Video
Replay: MSBA Headquarters, Augusta. CLE Credits: 6.0, including
1.0 prof. ed.
Dec 12
Lawyers Trust Accounts: Management Principles and
Recordkeeping Resources • Live Program: Augusta Civic
Center, Augusta. CLE Credits: 3.75 prof. ed.
Jan 16
Advocacy in Guardianship • Webcast Video Replay. CLE
Credits: 1.0.
Jan 21
Residential Subdivision and Land Development in Maine
2013 • Webcast Video Replay. CLE Credits: 3.0.
Jan 23
12th Annual Employment Law Update • Webcast Video
Replay. CLE Credits: 6.5, including 1.0 prof. ed.
Jan 27
Introduction to Grantor Trusts: A Review of the Rules •
Webcast Video Replay. CLE Credits: 1.0.
PROGRAM MATERIALS ARE NOW ONLINE ONLY.
Registrants will receive by email a link to downloadable program
materials prior to the program. No printed materials will be available
at the program, so registrants are encouraged to review and/or print
their materials in advance.
Please visit www.mainebar.org for the most current CLE schedule.
MITTELASEN, LLC
is pleased to announce that
Maria Fox
has joined the firm.
Maria provides employment law counsel and
litigation services to employers and employees.
She also serves as a mediator and independent
investigator of workplace issues.
85 Exchange Street, 4th Floor
Portland, Maine 04101
(207) 775.3101
www.mittelasen.com
Save the Date
Real Estate
Institute 2014
September 12 and 13, 2014
Augusta Civic Center

volume 28 • number 4 • fall 2013 the quarterly publication of the

Transcription

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