USA/Canada News
Comprehensive Cross-Referencing Protects Attorneys against Ethics Complaints
Today, CosmoLex released version 1.7 of its cloud-based legal billing system and trust account software. The latest update adds a comprehensive contact analysis feature that notifies attorneys of potential conflicts of interest on new cases.
Bar association rules require that an attorney take action if there is a conflict of interest on a matter. This action can range from notifying relevant parties of the apparent conflict to turning the case over to someone who can represent the client without any apparent prejudice. It doesn't matter if the attorney is actually biased by the conflict; the conflict must be reported and action must be taken to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
The problem that has faced attorneys is that such conflicts are not always obvious. The client might have been involved in a matter the attorney handled years ago, a case the lawyer doesn't even remember, and yet the conflict must still be reported.
Law office management software has made conflict checking as easy as clicking a button but until now the checks performed by competing software have been a simple comparison of names against the attorney's contact list. CosmoLex takes conflict checking to a new level by allowing users to set relationships within the context of a matter so an attorney can not only see that he knows a person involved with a case but can see the relationship, for example discovering a witness is the ex-spouse of a former client.
"Thorough conflict checking protects attorneys from ethics complaints and can also save firms money," explains CosmoLex founder and CEO Dr. Rick Kabra. "Most malpractice insurance companies offer discounts to attorneys who implement conflict checking systems."
CosmoLex is the first cloud-based legal billing software that includes a fully-featured trust accounting system. The software is used by hundreds of law firms across the country and is rapidly evolving to cover most front and back office activities at small law firms. Other features added in version 1.7 are contact management, advanced invoice formatting that includes the use of HTML, and easy distribution of payments among multiple matters.
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