Articles Posted in Business

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TechnologyLuddites and technophobes have no place in the modern practice of law, as least not according to recent changes in the rules of professional conduct.   Technology has found embedded itself into the practice of law.

Technology advances are constantly changing the way we practice just as technology is changing our lives in so many other ways.   One law firm recently brought a new associate into the firm and its name is ROSS, the artificial intelligence that does research to help with its research issues.  E-filing is being adopted in every court system.  E-discovery is changing the litigation paradigm.  Cybersecurity has become a concern of every law firm.  And Legal Zoom is dominating the legal services marketplace.

In looking to the future, we must think exponentially.  The law of accelerating returns is bringing more advanced changes and technologies sooner than we can anticipate.   Lawyers can no longer afford to be sluggish in learning and using these new technologies.

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dental officeDentists face new problems with overtime for their employees.  The Fair Labor Standards Act[1] (FLSA) sets forth standards for both minimum wages and overtime pay as well as record keeping for businesses.  Whether your dental practice consists of two employees or a hundred employees spread across three office locations, federal law requires that all dental offices comply with FLSA overtime regulations by December 1, 2016.

Exempt Versus Non-Exempt Employees

In order to determine if you are in compliance with FLSA regulations, the first step is to review which employees are designated as exempt, and not owed overtime wages, versus non-exempt. FLSA rules establish three types of exempt employees[2] which are defined by an individual’s employment description rather than their job title including:

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ransomwareThe Democratic National Committee is not the only victim of computer hacking[1].  In June of 2016, Bloomberg[2] reported on black market access to 70,000 hacked corporate and business servers.  Even LinkedIn was victimized by computer hackers[3] who obtained 117 million passwords.

To further complicate things, these types of cyber attacks oftentimes have a global connection.  On September 28, 2016, one of the FBI’s former most wanted hackers[4] pleaded guilty to conspiring to receive extortion proceeds and illegally accessing computers.  Peter Romar, who had been arrested in Germany and extradited to the United States, was a member of a hacking group known as the Syrian Electronic Army.  The group hacked into the computer systems of The Washington Post, CNN, the Associated Press, Harvard University and many others, then threatened to cause damage or sell data unless the business paid a ransom.

Types of Ransomware

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