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Law Courts Center
Law Office Management Course Outline
Version February 25, 2012
Name: _____________________________
Date of Course:
Summary of Marks:
Pre-Course Work (15%)
Participation In-course Work (25%)
Post-Course Work: (60 %)
Minus 5% per day late demerit (if applicable)
Total
/100%
Remarks
For continuing professional development reporting purposes to the Law Society of British Columbia, this
seminar is 7.0 hours long. It includes 7.0 hours of training in professional responsibility and ethics, client
care and relations and practice management.
Upon the completion of a seminar, you will receive one of these two types of certificates - attendance or
completion. The Certificate of Completion indicates that you attended the seminar, participated in the
discussions, completed the pre and post course work and achieved a minimum mark of 70%.
Learning Outcomes
1. Explain the duty and ethical obligation that lawyers have in handling clients’
funds
2. Gain an understanding of the responsibilities of trust account operation
3. Understand the basics of handling cash in your practice
4. Understand what it takes to avoid getting mentioned in the Discipline Digest from
a trust accounting perspective
5. Demonstrate the ability to protect your firm from internal and external fraud
6. Explain how to institute an effective file retention strategy in compliance with
LSBC rules and guidelines
7. Develop a recruiting and retention policy for firm staff
© 2012 Law Courts Center For educational use only.
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Course Pre-requisite
This course is open to members of the Law Society of BC, specially to those who work in
small practices. Members of support staff are also welcome.
Primary Teaching Tools
1. Mini-lectures for all seven learning outcomes;
2. On-line access to the LSBC website;
3. Pre-course work for the participants to work on learning outcomes #1, 3 and 5;
4. In-class case studies for learning outcomes #3 and 7 and
5. Post-course work to enable the students to demonstrate the key points to all the
outcomes
Faculty:
Felicia Ciolfitto, Law Society of BC, Manager of Trust Regulation
Mindi Cofman, Law Courts Center Senior Paralegal
Sharon Kwong Wah, Young Anderson Office Manager
Dom Bautista, Facilitator and Course designer
Pre-course work
To facilitate your learning and to make good use of your time with us, we ask that you
submit these before class. [5 questions @ 6 marks = 30 marks]
For your pre-reading: please take a moment to review:
Law Society's Professional Conduct Handbook Chapter 1 Canon of Professional Ethics
1. Go to the Law Society of BC’s website and read the October 19, 2011 Discipline Alert:
Trust cheques must be signed by a practicing lawyer. Draft a memo to staff to explain
and effect Rule 3-56 in your firm.
2. Cite two of the Fraud Alerts and explain how each impacts your firm's practice.
3. Describe what internal and external procedures your firm presently has in place to
deter fraud.
4. Provide us with your staff retention policy.
5. Select one recent news story, legislation or development in your practice area and
discuss how it impacts your firm.
© 2012 Law Courts Center For educational use only.
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Law Office Management Course Schedule
Version February 25, 2012
09:00
Introductory Remarks
09:15
Trust Accounting Basics
10:00
Avoiding the Discipline Digest from a Trust Accounting Perspective
10:30
Coffee
10:45
Avoiding the Discipline Digest from a Trust Accounting Perspective
11:00
Fraud and Your Firm
12:00
Questions
12:15
Lunch
1:00
Law Office Procedures & Regulations: Client Identification
1:15
Law Office Procedures & Regulations: No Cash Rule Case Study
1:30
File Retention, Hard Drive Backup including Cloud Computing Storage
2:30
Law Office: Working in Law
2:45
Human Resource: Recruiting Strategies / Interviewing / Case Study
3:30
Coffee
3:45
Human Resource: Retention Strategies / Establishing Employment
Packages, $, Professional Development and Job Evaluation
4:30
Human Resource: Letting Go / Case Study
4:45
Wrap Up
© 2012 Law Courts Center For educational use only.