James M. McCauley 2021-03-25 04:27:23
Recently I took a test drive at the ALPS website to try out “Vera,” a virtual ethics risk assessment tool designed specifically to aid solo practitioners and law firms toward stronger law practice management practices. “VERA” (Virtual Ethics Risk Assessment) walks you through a short series of questions about areas of your law practice and takes about 20 minutes to complete. Completion of the online questionnaire is confidential and is done anonymously. As you go through the questionnaire Vera also injects some humor along the way, making the exercise fun as well as informative.
Solo practitioners, law firm principals or office managers click on a link which takes them to the survey: https://www.alpsinsurance.com/vera
From there, assessment takers are launched into the tool. The assessment is comprised of 35 questions covering seven specific areas deemed high risk from a claims perspective - Client Intake, File Documentation, Calendaring, the Trust Account, General Risk Management, Cyber Security and Firm Policies & Plans. The assessment is designed to be completed in 20 minutes or less.
Upon completion, an instantaneous, customized report is developed and delivered confidentially via email based on responses provided by the assessment taker. The assessment is scored on a collective and section-by-section basis, thus providing the assessment taker with guidance as to where they are strong and where they can improve.
The report then proceeds question by question, outlining their answer, the best answer, the context for why and guides them on a self-help basis to resources which can aid them in addressing deficiencies or concerns. All of this is communicated intentionally via a conversational tone reflective of Vera’s personality.
Vera’s innovative employment of artificial intelligence was designed by ALPS to help practitioners uncover risk management blind spots simply by providing honest answers to a short series of questions.
What I like about the report generated by Vera is the inclusion of jump links to articles written by ALPS Risk Manager, Mark Bassingthwaighte, on numerous ethics and risk management issues. For example, in the section on “client intake” the report links to Mark’s article “Prospective Clients and the Conflicts They Bring” at https://blog.alpsinsurance.com/prospective-clients-and-the-conflicts-they-bring. Another article referenced in the Intake section of the report is Mark’s article “How to Identify the Potential Clients You Should Say No To.” https://blog.alpsinsurance.com/how-to-identify-the-potential-clients-you-really-should-say-no-to. This article gives tips on effective client screening. Throughout Vera’s report there are links to these resources including sample forms, letters, and conflicts waivers. The report concludes with a section on how to implement firm plans or policies on file retention/ destruction, continuity of business in the event of a disaster or emergency, training staff on the importance of confidentiality, succession planning and selection of insurance products.
Even if you think the risk management culture of your practice is excellent, you should consider giving Vera a try. Vera is free and available to any lawyer or law firm that wants to assess their risk culture, not just ALPS policy holders. Vera will be available to all Virginia attorneys starting on April 15 so that’s the good news—the bad news is that your taxes will be due.
Jim McCauley is the Ethics Counsel for the VSB where he has been employed since 1989. McCauley manages the lawyers of the VSB’s Legal Ethics Department. He is counsel to the Standing Committee on Legal Ethics which writes draft advisory legal ethics opinions, proposes amendments to the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct, and provides informal advice through the VSB’s ethics hotline on legal ethics, lawyer advertising, and the unauthorized practice of law.
Published by Virginia State Bar. View All Articles.
This page can be found at https://virginialawyer.vsb.org/article/ALPS+Launches+New+Law+Practice+Risk+Assessment+Tool+Called+%E2%80%9CVera%E2%80%9D/3985624/701245/article.html.