Announcements

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Shifting Landscapes: Adapting Your Firm to Emerging Threats (Live Webinar)
Nov. 21
12 - 2 PM
Sponsored by Lockton Affinity, CNA and The Iowa State Bar Association

SESSION LAYOUT
Section 1: Five Steps Towards A More Professionally Responsible and More Profitable Practice
Section 2: Clients with Diminished Capacity: Rising to the Challenges of an Aging Clientele
Section 3: A Day in the Life of Lydia the Lawyer
Section 4: Cautionary Case Law

SPEAKERS
Theresa Garthwaite, Risk Control Specialist, Lawyers Professional Liability, CNA Global Specialty Lines
Sean Ginty, Risk Control Consulting Director, Lawyers Professional Liability

CLE CREDIT (approved)
2 state hours which includes 2 ethics hours

REGISTRATION FEES
ISBA Members  - $65
ISBA YLD Members (Years 1-3) - $35
Non-ISBA Members - $80
Law Students - Free

REGISTER TODAY

QUESTIONS?
Please contact the ISBA CLE Department at cle@iowabar.org or 515-697-7874.

On Tuesday, November 19, The Iowa State Bar Association will host a free public event as part of the “ISBA People’s Law School” series.

The event will focus on the basics of guardianships and conservatorships in Iowa. Topics to be discussed include:

• Types of guardianships and conservatorships
• Differences between guardianships and conservatorships
• Creation of guardianships and conservatorships
• Powers of guardians and conservators
• Guardianship and conservatorship reporting

SPEAKERS
Jennifer Donovan, Public Guardian, Iowa Department on Aging
Breanna Young, Attorney, Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C. (view bio)

Please help spread the word to your clients, or members of your community, about this free event. With your assistance, we can make this event a success all while further educating Iowans about their rights.

This event will be held at the ISBA Headquarters at 625 E. Court Ave. in Des Moines from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. and live-streamed to local communities throughout the state.

Attorneys who would like to take advantage of ISBA-sponsored CLE offered in overseas locations need to register soon. The deadline to register for the five-day Cuba trip and the six-day Portugal trip is Friday, Nov. 15. The discounted early bird deadline for the London and Scotland trips is Dec. 17.

Listed below are the travel dates for each of the four trips, linked to more information and a registration form:

• Cuba -- Mar. 14-18, 2020
• Portugal -- Mar. 26-31, 2020
• London -- June 8-13, 2020
• Scotland -- June 15-19, 2020

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady recently signed orders amending several chapters of the Iowa Court Rules, most of which deal with attorney professional regulation. Most of the amendments take effect Jan. 1. The list below contains links to summaries of the changes:

• Chapter 34 (Attorney Disciplinary Board Administrative Provisions); Chapter 36 (Grievance Commission Rules of Procedure); Chapter 47 (Court Interpreter and Translator Rules):
    • Order of Adoption
    • Amendments
• Chapter 31 (Bar admission rules)
    • Order of Adoption
    • Amendments
• Chapter 41 (CLE Requirements); Chapter 42 (CLE Regulations)
    • Order of Adoption
    • Amendments

In addition to these changes, the court is also considering amendments to the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct, Chapter 32 of the Iowa Court Rules. The comment period for this rule change has been extended to Dec. 30.

From the Lawyer Weekly

The Young Lawyers Division Parental Leave Task Force recently published a series of articles intended to inform practicing young attorneys of their basic rights related to parental leave. These are now published on the YLD resources page (scroll to bottom).

Subjects include rights under the Family Medical Leave Act, pregnancy and parenthood anti-discrimination laws, workplace breastfeeding and pumping rights and regulations, and information on short-term disability policies. There is also a checklist of considerations to make when selecting a workplace or preparing to start a family, as well as a sample motion and proposed order template for a breastfeeding mother so pumping breaks can be agreed upon by all parties ahead of a hearing or trial.

A community has been launched in the Engage platform where members can view these resources and pose questions related to parental leave policies. You can find this community under the YLD tab in the "ISBA Communities" drop-down menu in Engage.

From the Iowa Lawyer Weekly

The ISBA YLD’s popular “Ask an Advocate” forum is transforming into a more effective way to “Engage” with members of the bar.

This anonymous listserv, intended to provide new attorneys a safe space to ask questions and receive feedback, has recently migrated over to the ISBA Engage platform, which for the last year has housed all other ISBA section and committee listservs.

Current users of the forum were automatically added to the “Ask an Advocate” community in Engage, but now all members of the ISBA are invited to join, to enhance the pool of responses to new attorney questions. The forum will remain anonymous – with questions and comments only shared after identifying information has been removed.

If you are new to Engage, we encourage you to visit our help page and view the "Engage Overview" instructional video to learn how to navigate the service and set up your profile. Instructions on how to download the Engage app are also located on this page. Other how-to information can be found here.

From the Iowa Lawyer Weekly

ISBA members are now able to easily integrate email security and encryption, tracking, reverse DNS lookup and more into their email communications with Trustifi. With law firms becoming increasingly targeted by cyber criminals, this is a crucial service for attorneys who want to protect their businesses and strengthen their cybersecurity infrastructures.

Trustifi not only encrypts your emails, it also authenticates incoming emails and alerts the user when an email is identified as suspicious or fraudulent, a growing problem with the rapid rise of successful phishing schemes that demonstrate criminals are getting better at crafting fraudulent emails.

Trustifi is made available to every ISBA member at a specially negotiated discount of $25 per email account per year. For more information or to register for either the Nov. 5 (2 p.m.) or Dec. 3 (2 p.m.) training webinar, please visit www.iowabar.org/trustifi.

From the Iowa Lawyer Weekly

Fastcase, the ISBA's free legal research software, will soon be switching its platform from Fastcase 6 to Fastcase 7. Fastcase 7 offers many new features, including bottomless search results, an ever-present interactive timeline and updated visuals and search results.

You can register for “Welcome to Fastcase 7” tutorials by clicking here and selecting a date from the drop-down menu.

For help with Fastcase, contact ISBA Member Engagement Coordinator Hank Hanson at 515-697-7865 or hhanson@iowabar.org. Fastcase also has customer service reps ready to help you at 866-773-2782, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 9 p.m., or by email at support@fastcase.com.

From the Iowa Lawyer Weekly

Registration is now open for spring and summer 2020 "CLE Abroad" trips, sponsored by The Iowa State Bar Association.

These immersive and culturally rich programs provide a once-in-a-lifetime travel experience designed for lawyers and companions. You will engage with local scholars, attorneys and artists offering expert commentary on the country's legal and political systems, international relations, art history, architecture and religion. The ISBA is partnering with several other state bar associations to offer these trips, so space is limited.

Register now for spring-summer 2020 programs:
• Cuba, March 14-18, 2020
• Portugal, March 26-31, 2020
• London, June 8-13, 2020
• Scotland, June 15-19, 2020

For fall 2020 programs, you may pre-register to hold a spot:
• Portugal, Oct. 11-16, 2020
• Morocco, Oct. 22-30, 2020
• Morocco, Nov. 12-20, 2020

For questions concerning registration, contact Laura Adams (laura@cle-abroad.com). For questions concerning program itineraries and special requests, contact Dani Perez (daniel@cle-abroad.com) or 858-336-5749.

From the Iowa Lawyer Weekly

New forms are now available on IowaDocs to assist you with practicing Limited Scope Representation (LSR).

Due to increasing client demand for LSR, the Access to Justice Commission recently released a tool kit to help attorneys navigate the rules for providing limited scope service, which includes written agreements and notices to protect the client and the attorney. The ISBA is now including both the tool kit and all related forms in the newest version of IowaDocs.

Forms include:
• Limited Scope of Service Agreement
• Notice of Limited Appearance Pursuant to IRCP 1.404(3)
• Notice of Completion of Limited Appearance Pursuant to IRCP 1.404(4)
• Completion of Representation Letter

To take advantage of these new forms, make sure you update your IowaDocs program today. The ISBA has also recently added information about limited-scope legal services on its IowaFindALawyer.com website.

Chief Justice Mark Cady has signed an order extending the public comment period on proposed amendments to the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct, Chapter 32 of the Iowa Court Rules. The comment period will now close Dec. 30.

Click here to read the order and learn how to submit comments. Click here to read the proposed amendments.

The State Judicial Nominating Commission met recently to approve for publication State and District Judicial Nominating Commissions Uniform Rules of Procedure. There is now a 30-day public comment period before these rules are adopted.

The public may provide comments via email to sjnc@iowa.gov. For more information about judicial nominating commissions, click here.

The ABA Retirement Funds Program will host a free live webinar at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 25, entitled “Understanding an Important Legal Community Benefit.” The ABA retirement program was built by lawyers specifically for the legal community as a competitively priced retirement plan. The webinar will address questions such as:

• What is the ABA Retirement Funds Program?
• What makes the ABA program different from other options?
• Why should you consider the ABA program for your employer-sponsored retirement plan?
• What are the key dates and deadlines to be aware of before the end of 2019?

One of the many member benefits offered by the ISBA, the ABA Retirement Funds Program offers professional fiduciary services, a broad range of investment options and full-service administration. The ISBA has used the ABA Retirement Funds Program to provide 401K options for its staff for the last decade and has been pleased with the program.

Click on this link to learn more about the program, or contact Dwight Dinkla, ISBA executive director at ddinkla@iowabar.org. Register for the webinar here

The opportunity for Iowa attorneys to voice opinions on proposed rule changes related to attorney professional regulation is ending soon.

On Aug. 1, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady released orders requesting public comment on the following:

• The Office of Professional Regulation's Proposed Amendments to the Iowa Court Rules: Chapter 34, 36, 47;
• Amendments to Chapter 32, Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct;
• Proposed Amendments to the Bar Admission Rules in Chapter 31 of the Iowa Court Rules;
• Proposed Amendments to Chapter 41, Continuing Legal Education for Lawyers, and Chapter 42, Continuing Legal Education Regulations.

A recent webinar recorded by Nick Critelli on the substantive changes proposed to Chapter 32 of the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct can be found here (viewing requires email registration). This presentation was sponsored by the ISBA Ethics and Practice Guidelines Committee and will not qualify for CLE credit if you did not view the original live broadcast on Monday, Sept. 16.

Comments on all of these matters are due by Sept. 30. Read the full list of orders and amendments here. There are specific details in each order on how to submit comments. 

ISBA partners with Trustifi to bring email encryption to members!

While emailing your clients is convenient, are you confident that your message is really secure? To help protect both your clients and your firm, the ISBA has partnered with Trustifi to provide a state-of-the-art encryption program that can easily integrate into your email communications.

The ISBA’s partnership enables members to purchase encryption for $25 annually, per email address. If you are interested in finding out more about this service please use the link below to signup for a 60 minute informational webinar on May 9th at 2:00 p.m. https://go.trustificorp.com/iowabar4registration

ISBA partners with Trustifi to bring email encryption to members!

While emailing your clients is convenient, are you confident that your message is secure? To help protect both your clients and your firm, the ISBA has partnered with Trustifi to provide a state-of-the-art encryption program that can integrate into your email communications.

The ISBA’s partnership enables members to purchase encryption for $25 annually, per email address.  If you are interested in finding out more about this service please use the link below to signup for a 30 minute webinar on January 10th at 1:00 p.m.   https://go.trustificorp.com/iowabar