I’m conscious that plenty is being written about navigating Covid19 these days. So I’m taking care to filter out articles and updates that cover what we’ve already pointed to once or twice already.

But this update from Karen Rubin at Thompson Hine summarizes and analyzes things quite nicely. (And having scheduled my own wedding around a major annual legal conference years ago, I empathized with the stress of dealing with an unpredictable crisis affecting such a momentous occasion, as it did her case.) Read more in: “Ethics and risk management: What will the “new normal” look like?” —

• “The public health crisis has of course created potentially ruinous economic hardship for numerous clients, both businesses and individuals. As the Great Recession taught us, the economic situation will result in many different kinds of litigation, and when deals go south or when underlying litigation does not turn out well, clients very often blame their lawyers, whether it’s justified or not.”
• “Here are five things you can do to try to reduce your risk of being on the wrong end of an ethics grievance or a malpractice complaint as we tiptoe toward the ‘new normal:'”
• “Stay in your lane: We’ve noted before that when times get lean — as they are going to become for practitioners in many areas…”
• “Keep the calendar: Year after year, missed deadlines are the most common source of legal malpractice claims…”
• “Document, document, document: Put more in writing. Your clients will continue to be in fast-moving situations, calling on you to move quickly, too. Speed can be an enemy from a risk-management point of view, however. At least memorialize in an e-mail what the client has asked you to do — aka the scope of the engagement. This can be particularly important if you have been directed not to do some aspect that would ordinarily be within the scope of the legal work. Also be clear about who you do and don’t represent, and communicate that in writing.”