The Small Firm Section of the JBA supports solo practitioners and other attorneys practicing in smaller firms. Attorneys meet monthly for lunch, and to introduce themselves and their practices to other practitioners. The “host attorney” provides lunch at the host attorney’s office and the attorneys briefly discuss their practices and recent interesting cases. This way, the members get to know more about the other attorneys’ practices and know what kind of cases the other attorneys are handling so they can either ask questions or refer clients. Further, since the lunch travels, the member attorneys can give directions to referred clients on how to find the other attorneys’ offices. The group allows members to bounce ideas off each other and share practice tips, which range from who is selling good copiers to recent case developments and the best software or Internet sites.
The group also usually discusses some specific facet of small firm practice. For example, a lunch at appellate specialist Rebecca Creed’s office focused on the recent divergent cases involving Proposals for Settlement under Fla. Stat. §768.79, and the current ability in the 1st DCA to require both joint offerees to accept proposals for settlement as a result of Clements v. Rose, 982 So.2d 731 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009). (Note that the Supreme Court has indicated it will resolve the conflict among the DCAs since it recently granted review of Attorney’s Title v. Gorka, 989 So2.d 1210 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008), which conflicts with Clements). The group attorneys discussed various form proposals, the strategy in using these proposals for settlement, and the rapidly changing appellate law on this topic. Outlines on the Proposals for Settlement discussion may be obtained from Eric Kolar at [email protected].
During a recent lunch at Chair Eric Kolar’s office, computer expert John Gibbs and the attorneys discussed how firms are backing up their data. Again, the attorneys had varied opinions on the best method. Some lawyers back up on a DVD or hard drive, some use off site backup. Some lawyers do not trust off site backups because of potential problems in accessing data, being held hostage for money by providers or the potential for breaches of security. John Gibbs taught the group that the average failure rate of a hard drive is 5 years and that burned DVDs do not necessarily last forever, and need to be recopied. Having a backup plan in place is critical to ensure all data is being backed up and to check the backups to ensure the backups actually were created. Mr. Gibbs also discussed the importance of having multiple copies of data at various locations to prevent loss in case of theft, fire or hurricane, and updating computers and hardware.
The next meeting is June 10 at State Rep. Charles McBurney’s office Downtown. McBurney will give a legislative update on the new bills passed in the legislature and the group will discuss the legislation. If you are interested in joining the group, call Eric Kolar at 396-0009 or e-mail Eric Kolar at [email protected]. To RSVP to Representative McBurney’s lunch email [email protected] or call 798-0002.