The ABCs of the Remote Law Practice – A Practical Guide for Lawyers and Small Firms

This CLE will focus on running a remote law practice with emphasis on the following: 

 

• Best accounting practices, with a focus on software that allows for remote approval of trust, AP and billing actions

• Technology for remote lawyers and firms, including document storage, why VPNs are bad, and best software

• Establishing a strong communication structure

• Developing a unified structure and delegating in a remote setting

• New economic models for remote law firms (virtual and distributed firms)

• The advantages of the new models over the traditional law firm model

• Leveraging AI for enhanced document management, legal research and contract analysis in remote law practices

• Optimizing client engagement and service delivery through AI-driven virtual assistance and predictive analytics

• Bolstering remote law practices with AI-powered e-discovery and knowledge management

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Presenter Bios:
 
Jacob Stein, Esq. is the managing partner of Aliant, LLP. He specializes in structuring international business transactions, complex U.S. and international tax planning and asset protection planning. Mr. Stein received his law degree from the University of Southern California, and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University. He has been accredited by the State Bar of California as a Certified Tax Law Specialist.
 
 
Mr. Stein has been ranked by Chambers HNW 2019. He is AV-rated (highest possible rating) by Martindale-Hubbell 2018, has been named ‘A Super Lawyer’ by the Los Angeles Magazine and listed in the top 1% of ‘America’s Most Honored Professionals 2019’ by the American Registry.
 
 
Over the course of his career Mr. Stein has represented officers and directors of Fortune 500 companies; Forbes 400 families around the world; celebrities; high-profile entrepreneurs; private equity funds; wealthy foreigners doing business in the United States and many more.
 
He is the author of books, dozens of scholarly articles and technical manuals including his most recent article, Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate, published July 2019 in the Journal of International Taxation. Other recent works include: Income Taxation Under the TCJA, published in 2018 in the Journal of Taxation; Asset Protection for California Residents, Second Edition, 2017, the first and only book in print on asset protection planning specific to California residents. It presents a sophisticated and in-depth look at the law in an easy to read and understand manner; A Lawyer’s Guide to Asset Protection Planning in California, Second Edition; and International Joint Ventures – A Concise Guide for Attorneys & Business Owners.
 
 
Mr. Stein is a frequent lecturer to various attorneys, CPA and other professional groups, teaching over 50 seminars per year. His presentation topics include: Tax Planning for Cross-Border Joint Ventures, A Foreigner’s Guide to Investing in U.S. Real Estate, Creative Planning with Controlled Foreign Corporations, Advanced Asset Protection Planning, Advanced Estate Tax Planning and various courses on trust law. He is an instructor with the California CPA Education Foundation, National Business Institute, Thomson Reuters, the Rossdale Group, Lorman Education Services and many more. For the past ten years, he has been an adjunct professor of taxation at the CSU, Northridge Graduate Tax Program. Mr. Stein is a member of several international legal networks, including: Union Internationale des Avocats, International Practice Group, IR Global, and the International Bar Association.
 
 
Lawrence M. Kohn is president of Kohn Communications. The firm specializes in assisting lawyers and other professionals in acquiring new clients. The firm has assisted professionals in over 1,000 firms – ranging from multi-nationals to solos. He began his consulting practice in 1983. He was a pioneer in the training technique now known as Executive Coaching. The technique has proven to be remarkably effective in helping his clients integrate new skills into their daily routines. He has personally conducted over 33,000 individual coaching sessions.
 
Mr. Kohn is the developer of the unique web app, BizDevCoach.com -using a combination of tutorial and technology to help professionals plan and implement an effective biz dev strategy. He is the co-author of Selling in Your Comfort Zone (Safe and Effective Strategies for Developing New Clients), published in 2009 by the American Bar Association and Selling with Honor (Strategies for Selling Without Selling Your Soul), originally published in 1997 by Berkley press, a division of Penguin/Putnam. He has authored and co-authored over 60 articles about marketing and management. Dozens of the articles and free podcasts are available at www.kohncommunications.com.
 
As an educator, he earned the title of Master Instructor at UCLA Extension, at that time, a title given to only 10 out of over 2500 instructors. In addition to teaching classes in marketing and public speaking, Mr. Kohn taught the course, “Making the Classroom Come Alive” – a required course for UCLA Extension instructors.
 
Mr. Kohn’s business experience covers a broad range of industries. He began his business career in asset-based lending with Mercantile Financial Corp. In 1972 he founded the small business loan department for Foothill Capital. He then formed his own company, Business Loans, Inc. He created and hosted the radio program, “It’s Your Business.” He was the chairman of the board of 3-Day Blinds, the largest independently owned manufacturer and retailer of window blinds in the country at that time. He has had a broad range of clients including JPL, NASA, United Way, Walt Disney Imagineering, Farmer’s Insurance, Lowe Enterprises, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Baker & McKenzie, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright and DLA Piper.
 
Mr. Kohn is active in the community. He is the past chairman of the Board of Governors of Century City Hospital. As a member of the Board of Governors of the City of Hope, he co-founded their Planned Giving Speakers Bureau. He is the founder and current chairman of Team Beverly Hills, the city’s leadership program. He has been appointed to the Order of the City of Beverly Hills, the highest honor given by the city council. He received the Apple Award from Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley for educating parents about private funding methods for public schools. He is a past board member of the Maple Counseling Center of Beverly Hills, past president of the Westwood Elementary Charter School PTA and co-founder of the Westwood Elementary Charter School Booster Club. Currently is charitable activity focuses on providing free coaching for non-profit board members to help them develop their recruiting and fund raising skills.
 
 
Diane L. Camacho is the founder of DLC Consulting Services, LLC. She has spent more than 25 years as a legal manager in San Francisco for firms of various sizes. She started DLCCS in 2013 and has consulted to small firms around the country on a multitude of management and operational issues. She speaks in the legal community on issues such as operations, IOLTA accounting and legal practice management software. In addition, she teaches law office management at the San Francisco State University. Diane is a Certified Legal Manager and holds a degree in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from the University of San Francisco.
 
Diane is deeply rooted in the legal community of the Bay Area. She spent over 15 years on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators, serving as President twice and served as co-chair of the solo and small firm section brown bag lunch for the San Francisco Bar Association.
 
She has a passion to help attorneys and their staff become more efficient. She believes attorneys should practice law, not spend their time in the weeds of running their businesses. Her experience ranges from office build-outs and moves to new technology implementations and law firm start-ups.
 
When Diane is not working with our clients, she loves to travel, read and spend time with her children and grandchildren.
 
 
Michael Bono serves as Of Counsel to Aliant and is a member of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group. He specializes in cross-border business transactions, import-export and a wide array of matters in support maritime-related businesses.
 
Michael’s legal career began almost 30 years ago when he joined the maritime and aviation department of a large U.S. law firm where he handled matters ranging from insurance coverage disputes for London-based insurers to oil spill litigation on behalf of major multi-national oil companies. In the course of his career Michael has handled matters involving vessel finance, charter parties, ship collisions, cargo damage, vessel registration and documentation, salvage, maritime lien rights, wreck removal, towage, marine insurance and shipping regulations.
 
Additionally, Michael has substantial experience in international civil asset recoveries, including all aspects of ship mortgage foreclosures for some of the world’s leading maritime lenders. He’s handled complex ship repossessions across the globe and has experience in challenging jurisdictions such as Somalia, Haiti and Venezuela. Both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times have quoted Michael about nuances of maritime law.
 
Although the focus of his career has been to support those in the global maritime industry (including importers and exporters), Michael has also counselled early stage maritime and technology-related companies on a wide range of business matters including corporate organization, financing for operations, development of business plans and risk management.
 
Regarding his legal education, Michael received his law degree from Loyola University and was then one of twenty attorneys from around the world who are selected each year to study at the Maritime Law Center of Tulane University, widely recognized as the world’s leading maritime/shipping law program. While at Tulane Michael was selected as a member of the Tulane Maritime Law Journal, in which two of his articles were published. Michael’s article entitled “Protective Stipulations and the Single Claimant Exception in Limitation of Shipowner’s Liability Proceedings,” has been cited as authority in the seminal treatise, Admiralty and Maritime Law, by Professor Thomas J. Schoenbaum. Upon completion of his specialized study at Tulane, Michael received the degree of Masters of Law in Admiralty.