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- How To Start a Solo Practice: Practical Tips to Start Right
- Savvy Social Media Strategies to Build Or Expand Your Business
Ari Kaplan, author of Amazon.com bestseller The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development
Co-Sponsored by MSBA Young Lawyers

SATURDAY ONLY
- New Uniform POA Act And Its Implications
Richard F. Lindstrom
- Family Law Case Law and Legislative Updates
Bryan Renehan, Esq. Brodsky, Greenblatt, Renehan & Pearlstein, Chtd.
- How to Settle Cases with Insurance Companies
Jim MacAlister, Esq., Saiontz & Kirk
- Child Support Guidelines Updates
Paul J Reinstein, Esq., Sasscer Clagett & Bucher LLP
- Proof of Injury in Low Impact Auto Accidents
Jim MacAlister, Esq., Saiontz & Kirk
- Practice Before the Office of Administrative Hearings
Hon. D. Harrison Pratt, Administrative Law Judge

SATURDAY ONLY
- Debunking HIPAA Urban Myths
Randi Kopf, Esq., Kopf HealthLaw, LLC
- Business Organizations for Your Small Business Clients
Stuart H. Levine, Esq., Towson
- Understanding the Legal Concerns of Soldiers and Veterans and Their Effect Your Practice
Joseph M.Owens, Esq.,Columbia, MD ; Michael P. May, Esq., Law Office of Michael P. May
- Soldier and Sailors Civil Relief Act Immigration Law: Its Impact on Criminal and Family Law
- Immigration Law and its Relationship to Family and Criminal Law
Cynthia B. Rosenberg, Esq., Rourke & Rosenberg, LLC and Mary Ann L. Berlin, Esq., Baltimore City
- Intellectual Property Law and Your Small Business Clients
Abby Bhattacharyya, Esq.,Law Offices of Bartunek & Bhattacharyya, Ltd.

SATURDAY ONLY
- Social Media 101
Jonathan C. Weetman, Esq. Weetman Law, LLC
- Managing Your Online Presence
Bruce Godfrey, Bradley S. Shear
- Ethics of Social Media
Randolph S. Sergent, Esq. Senior Director and Assistant General Counsel, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
- Social Media as Evidence
Barry J. Dalnekoff, Dalnekoff & Mason, PA.; Jennifer Louise Merrill, Dalnekoff & Mason, PA
- Can You Keep Them From Talking?:Social Media and Juries
The Hon. Dennis Sweeney, (ret) Circuit Court, Howard County

SATURDAY ONLY
- Get Paid, Not Burned!
Glenn Grossman, Bar Counsel, Attorney Grievance Commission and Alvin I. Frederick, Esq., Eccleston & Wolf, PC.
- Practice Tools for the Modern Lawyer
Irwin Kramer, Esq, Kramer and Connolly
- Tips, Tricks, and Apps for Smartphones
Jeffrey P. Nesson, Esq, Owings Mills (Droid); Shikha Parikh, Esq. Compliance Counsel, P.C. (I-Phone)
- Practicing in the Cloud
Steve S. Stern, Esq., Legal Technology Solutions, LLC
- Sites, Tools and Gadgets that Improve Productivity
- 60 Practice Management Tips in 60 Minutes
Renee Lane-Kunz, Esq., Chief Operating Officer, Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler; Eric L. Hightower, CLM, SPHR, Ingerman & Horwitz LLP; Becki L. Young, Esq, Law Office of Becki L. Young, PLLC
- Maintaining Wellness and Balance in Your Law Practice and Your Life
Steve Rakow, Esq., Worcester County
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Copyright 2010 Maryland State Bar Association. 520 W. Fayette St. Baltimore, MD 21201
How To Start a Solo Practice: Practical Tips to Start Right
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2010
8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
If you are considering starting a solo practice or have just recently started solo, then this is the program for you. It will offer practical and useful information designed to give you information you need to start as smoothly as possible. It will help you prepare for some of the more detailed programs at the Solo and Small Firm Conference.
8:00 AM – 8:30 AM
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Business Aspects of Starting A Solo Practice
Steven Manekin, CPA, Ellin & Tucker, Chartered
Topics will include budgeting and financial issues as well as practical management tips to make it work.
9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Building a Rewarding Practice: How to Get and Keep Clients
Julie E. Landau, Law Office of Julie E. Landau.
Tips include selecting areas of practice, determining your legal strengths and weaknesses, determining and maximizing referral sources, client development, where clients come from and what marketing tools a new practitioner should use. Learn how to choose clients and keep them happy.
10:45 – 11: 45
Technology For New Solo Practitioners
Timothy S. Faith, Esq, Towson, MD
Technology has leveled the playing field for solo practitioners and although starting a new practice is never easy, using the right technology can help.
11: 55 – 1:00 PM
How to Avoid Grievance and Malpractice
Keith R Truffer, Royston, Mueller, McLean & Reid, LLP
Learn what steps to take as a solo practitioner to minimize your risk of legal malpractice and prevent problems before they happen
Family Law Case Law Updates
If you practice family law you know how important these updates are for your practice. This session is one of the Solo Conference's most popular and is presented each year to keep you up to date.
Speakers: Bryan Renehan, Esq., Brodsky, Greenblatt, Renehan & Pearlstein, Chtd.
How to Settle Cases with Insurance Companies
Getting the best settlements for your clients is critical but not always easy. In this session you will hear tips on how to get the best settlements for your clients when dealing with insurance companies. This is always important but even more true in a difficult economy.
Speakers: Jim MacAlister, Esq., Saiontz & Kirk
Child Support Guideline Changes Updates
Effective October 1, 2010, there will were changes to the Child Support Guidelines. Learn how these changes will affect your clients.
Paul J Reinstein, Esq., Sasscer Clagett & Bucher LLP
Practice Before the Office of Administrative Hearings
Knowing how hearings work will go a long way to getting the best results for your clients. In this session you will learn the types of cases heard before the OAH, the differences in procedures, the differences in evidence, OAH forms, how to request transcripts, see sample copies of decisions, learn time frames for filings and issuing decisions and how to work with the Clerk's office.
Hon. D. Harrison Pratt, Administrative Law Judge, Office of Administrative Hearings
Debunking HIPAA Urban Myths
This presentation by a health lawyer experienced with HIPAA will give you the current laws and amendments, the applications and interpretations of these frequently misapplied federal regulations. It will focus on aspects of the laws that are pertinent to everyday legal practice and debunk those HIPAA urban myths. Learn the facts about HIPAA for your clients and yourself.
Some of the HIPAA Urban Myths
- No one goes to jail for a HIPAA violation
- You can't get a medical record because of HIPAA
- My company manufactures widgets, we don't care about HIPAA
- I'm too small for the government to be bothered with and/or I don't need to comply b/c the government doesn't have the time or manpower to check
- We are not a covered entity so we don't have to worry about HIPAA
- Childrens' school medical records don't fall under HIPAA
- Emailing from my business computer are private communications
- I can sue you for a HIPAA violation
- HIPAA only concerns privacy
- If I get caught I'll just retire
- My corporation will protect me from a HIPAA violation
- I asked my doctor not to tell ___________ but he did it anyway- let's sue him
Topics to be included:
- Who or what entity is covered by HIPAA
- Obtaining or shielding medical records
- What are actionable HIPAA violations
- When can an employee be fired for violating HIPAA
- Who has liability when there is a HIPAA breach
- What are the administrative actions and civil money penalties for a HIPAA violation
- How a HIPAA violation can become a criminal or civil legal action
- What documents need express HIPAA "consent" or "authorization"
- What is defined as Personal Health Information (PHI) that requires HIPAA protection
Randi Kopf, Esq., Kopf Health Law, LLC
Business Organizations for Your Small Business Clients
There are many choices that small business owners need to make when choosing an entity. Each of these choices creates different consequences and it is important that you know the advantages and disadvantages of each to make sure your client does not make a costly mistake.
Stuart H. Levine, Esq., Towson
Immigration Law and its Relationship to Family and Criminal Law
With more and more immigrants, immigration law is rapidly expanding to include many other practice areas, most noticeably, criminal law and family law. Hear a criminal law and family law practitioner how these areas can overlap with immigration issues in many cases and what you need to know to help your client.
Cynthia B. Rosenberg, Esq., Rourke & Rosenberg, LLC;
Mary Ann L. Berlin, Esq., Baltimore City
Intellectual Property Law and Your Small Business Clients
If you think that Intellectual Property Law is just for big clients and big firms, you may be doing your small business clients a great disservice. Many solo and small firm practitioners have small business clients who are inventing and creating new products and devices. This session will help you learn about invention submission companies and the problems inventors run into when using them.
Abby Bhattacharyya, Esq.,Law Offices of Bartunek & Bhattacharyya, Ltd.
Managing Your Online Presence
This session will discuss how to use Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and other types more effectively. It will focus on security issues and the do's and don'ts of Web 2.0.
Bruce Godfrey, Bradley S. Shear
Ethics of Social Media
There is a saying that technology moves much faster than our ability (or willingness) to create rules for the new methods. This is true for Social Media and our Rules of Professional Responsibility. How are our current Rules addressing these new technologies? What do we need to consider when using these new forms of communication? Where are the potential minefields? This session may not have all the answers but it is a good place to start.
Randolph S. Sergent, Esq. Senior Director and Assistant General Counsel, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
Get Paid, Not Burned!
Setting and collecting fees is always a task that instills fear and loathing in practitioners. It is even more true with a bad economy. Here how to make certain that you know how to set your fees and collect them without getting into trouble.
Glenn Grossman, Bar Counsel, Attorney Grievance Commission ;
Alvin I. Frederick, Esq., Eccleston & Wolf, PC.
Practice Tools for the Modern Lawyer
Has technology leveled the playing field for solo and small firm lawyers, or trapped us in a web of complex options and gadgets? Learn how to cut through the clutter, implement the most important new tools of the trade, and put technology to good practical use in marketing, case and time management.
Irwin Kramer, Esq, Kramer and Connolly
Tips, Tricks and Apps for Smartphones
Come and get tips and ideas on how to use your I-Phones more effectively in your practice. Also get apps that you can use to make you more effective, efficient and just plain cool.
Jeffrey P. Nesson, Esq, Owings Mills (Droid) ; Shikha Parikh, Esq. Compliance Counsel, P.C. (I-Phone)
Practicing in the Cloud
What is Cloud Computing? Is it really new? (No.) Do solos need to know about it? (Probably, yes) This session will tell you in plain language exactly what it is , how we have been using "cloud computing" technology for quite some time and how expanding our use of the newer aspects will help us save money and be more efficient.
Steve S. Stern, Esq., Legal Technology Solutions, LLC
60 Practice Management Tips in 60 Minutes
Sometimes the difference between a successful and unsuccessful practice is not the legal skills of the practitioner but the management skills. This is just as true for solos and small firms as it is for larger firms. Being a solo practitioner is not an excuse for bad management. This session will give you practical tips that you can use on Monday after the conference to improve the management of your office – even if that is just you and a computer.
Eric L. Hightower, CLM, SPHR, Ingerman & Horwitz LLP;
Renee Lane-Kunz, Esq., Chief Operating Officer, Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler;
Becki L. Young, Esq, Law Office of Becki L. Young, PLLC
Maintaining Wellness and Balance in Your Law Practice and Your Life
Lawyers are great at taking care of everyone else, but too often neglect themselves. Come learn from a lawyer who can teach you how to not only have a successful law career, but also how to take care of yourself at the same time. You will learn how to have both a successful and fulfilling law career, and to have a more balanced, fit life.
Steve Rakow, Esq., Worcester County
Proof of Injury in Low Impact Auto Accidents
It is easy to prove that a client has an injury when there is a serious accident with serious and obvious injuries. But how to do you prove your client is injured when the injuries and destruction are not so obvious. Learn how you can prove that your client has been injured in a low impact auto accident.
Jim MacAlister, Esq., Saiontz & Kirk
Understanding the Legal Concerns of Soldiers and Veterans and Their Effect Your Practice
Soldiers and veterans are facing many legal concerns and problems outside of what may be considered "military" law. There are many practice areas that will come into contact with soldiers and veterans. This session will explore the other practice areas that are being affected by these soldiers and veterans.
Joseph M.Owens, Esq.,Columbia, MD ;
Michael P. May, Esq., Law Office of Michael P. May
Social Media as Evidence
There are many positive ways to use Social Media to expand your practice and connect with colleagues. There are some very dark sides to this Social Media especially in many legal areas. Learn how practitioners are using these new media gather evidence. Learn how to protect your case and client as well as gather information to make your case.
Barry J. Dalnekoff, Dalnekoff & Mason, P.A.; Jennifer Louise Merrill, Dalnekoff & Mason, P.A.
Can You Keep Them From Talking?: Social Media and Juries
How do the new technologies such as Facebook, email, Twitter or other social media work with the established rules related to juries? What changes will have to be made? Judge Sweeney was the judge in the Sheila Dixon trial and had to deal directly with this issue. Hear his perspective and how it will affect how your case may be impacted.
The Hon. Dennis Sweeney, (ret) Circuit Court, Howard County
MSBA 12th Annual Solo Conference Schedule by Track Topics
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM Welcome and Introductions
LEGAL UPDATES AND TIPS |
EXPANDING YOUR LEGAL KNOWLEDGE |
SOCIAL NETWORKING:
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE NOT SO FRIENDLY |
TECHNOLOGY AND PRACTICE MANAGEMENT |
How To Settle Cases With Insurance Companies
James K. MacAlister |
Immigration Law And Its Impact On Family And Criminal Law
Mary Ann Berlin
Cynthia B. Rosenberg |
Social Networking 101
Jonathan C. Weetman |
Practicing In the Cloud
What it means
Why you should care
Steven S. Stern |
Proof of Injury in Low Impact Accidents
James K. MacAlister |
Business Organizations For Your Small Business
Stuart H. Levine |
Ethics of Social Media
Randolph S. Sergent |
The Modern Lawyer
What the Modern Lawyer is Using Now
Irwin R. Kramer |
Practice Before the Office of Administrative Hearings
Hon. D Harrison Pratt |
Understanding the Legal Concerns Of Soldiers And Veterans
Joseph Owens
Michael P. May |
Social Media as Evidence |
60 Practice Management Tips in 60 Minutes
Renee Lane-Kunz
Eric L. Hightower
Becki L. Young |
Family Law Updates
Bryan Renehan |
Intellectual Property Law and Your Small Business Client
Abby Bhattacharyya |
Can You Keep Them From Talking? Social Media and Juries
The Hon. Dennis M. Sweeney(ret) |
Maintaining Wellness and Balance in Your Law Practice and Your Life
Steven William Rakow |
Child Support Guidelines Updates
Paul J Reinstein |
Debunking HIPAA Urban Myths
Randi Kopf |
Managing Your Online Presence
Ralph L. Sapia |
Tips, Tricks and Apps for Smartphones
Jeffrey P. Nesson (Droid)
Shikha Parikh (I-phone) |
New Uniform POA Act And Its Implications |
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Trouble Free Fees:
Know How to Set Them and Get Them
Glenn Grossman
Alvin I Frederick |
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Tools and Gadgets for Your Practice
Stuart H Levine
Nicholas B. Proy |
MSBA 12th Annual Solo Conference Schedule by Time
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM Welcome and Introductions
8:45 – 9:45
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60 Practice Management Tips in 60 Minutes
Renee Lane-Kunz
Eric L. Hightower
Becki L. Young |
How To Settle Cases With Insurance Companies
James K. MacAlister |
Immigration Law And Its Impact On Family And Criminal Law
Mary Ann Berlin
Cynthia B. Rosenberg |
Social Networking 101
Jonathan C. Weetman |
Practicing In the Cloud
What it means
Why you should care
Steven S. Stern |
9:45-10:05 |
COFFEE BREAK |
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10:05- 11:05 |
Maintaining Wellness and Balance in Your Law Practice & Your Life
Steven William Rakow |
Proof of Injury in Low Impact Accidents
James K. MacAlister |
Business Organizations For Your Small Business
Stuart H. Levine
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Ethics of Social Media
Randolph S. Sergent |
What the Modern Lawyer Is Using This Year
Irwin R. Kramer |
11:05-
11:25 |
COLD DRINK BREAK |
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11:25 - 12:30 |
Trouble Free Fees:
Know How to Set Them &Get Them
Glenn Grossman
Alvin I Frederick |
Practice Before the Office of Administrative Hearings
Hon. D Harrison Pratt |
Understanding the Legal Concerns Of Soldiers
Joseph Owens
Michael P. May |
Social Media as Evidence |
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12:30 - 1:45 |
LUNCH |
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1:45 - 2:45 |
Tools and Gadgets for Your Practice
Stuart H Levine
Nicholas B. Proy |
Family Law Updates
Bryan Renehan |
Intellectual Property Law and Your Small Business Client
Abby Bhattacharyya |
Can You Keep Them From Talking? Social Media and Juries
The Hon. Dennis M. Sweeney(ret) |
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2:45- 3:45 |
COOKIE BREAK |
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3:00 - 4:00 |
Tips, Tricks and Apps for Smartphones
Jeffrey P. Nesson
Shikha Parikh |
Child Support Guidelines Updates
Paul J Reinstein |
Debunking HIPAA Urban Myths
Randi Kopf |
Managing Your Online Presence
Ralph L. Sapia |
New Uniform POA Act And Its Implications |
Social Media 101
This is a basics of social media session. This session will answer the questions: What is social media? What are the various types of social media? How do they work? How can you use them? What are the pros and cons of using them?
Jonathan C. Weetman, Esq. Weetman Law, LLC