Legal Malpractice Pitfalls: Retainer agreements, cybersecurity, technology, AI, and use of nonlawyer assistants

Jeffrey Cunningham | McAngus Goudelock & Courie LLC

Jeff Cunningham’s practice focus runs the gamut of professional liability exposures but with a particular emphasis on lawyers. He defends lawyers and acts as outside General Counsel to solo to mid-sized law firms across the United States. For over a decade, Jeff has defended industry professionals in a wide range of professional liability, ethics, and professional disciplinary matters. His extensive background in civil litigation includes commercial disputes, varied malpractice claims, D&O liability, employment and labor law, catastrophic personal injury, premises liability and products liability. With an emphasis on simple systems of risk management, Jeff brings a holistic approach of protecting his clients before problems occur.

A reluctant social media “thought leader,” Jeff has an audience numbering over 26,000 followers on LinkedIn and other social media platforms. He produces a weekly newsletter and daily blog, Point One: A Bite of Ethics a Day Keeps Legal Malpractice Claims Away, as well as the world’s only ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct-based meme page, The Model-Rule-Meme-A-Day. A life-long learner and teacher, Jeff presents over 15 Continuing Legal Education courses per year on varying topics of law firm risk management and ethics.

A graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Jeff prepared for his legal practice serving as a Cadet Second Lieutenant/Platoon Leader, the First Battalion Honor Court Representative and the Editor-in-Chief of The Brigadier newspaper. As a Fulbright Scholar, he nurtured his love of travel and languages during a year-long fellowship in Germany. Jeff also traveled extensively before and after school, working on his German, Yiddish and Hebrew and studying the law across Europe and in Israel. At Fordham Law, he was an Associate Editor of the Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law and earned the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award magna cum laude for pro bono work. Jeff also gained valuable early litigation experience as a legal intern with the Queens District Attorney’s Office and the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York Criminal Division.

Prior to joining MGC, Jeff served as outside counsel to small law firms and defended professional liability cases as partner at a national AmLaw 200 firm.

Frank Xavier Wukovits | Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi

Frank Xavier Wukovits practices with the firm’s Tech, Privacy, & Data Innovations and Corporate & Securities Groups.

Frank dedicates his practice to working with entities at the intersection of law, business, and emerging technologies, ranging from startups, emerging growth companies, private companies, and Fortune 500 companies to private equity funds, venture capital funds, corporate VCs, family offices, and angel investors that invest in those companies.

Frank works with entities across the entire corporate life cycle, including strategic planning and decision making prior to formation, governance, corporate counseling, venture capital, debt and equity financings, series funding, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and integration.

From artificial intelligence and cloud computing to legacy systems, Frank often guides clients on complex matters involving corporate compliance, cybersecurity, privacy, integration, analytics, and digital forensics. Among other things, this includes identifying and mitigating risks to an organization’s core business functions, leading vulnerability and risk assessments, investigating and responding to data breaches, protecting organizational assets and systems, and implementing effective security protocols, policies, and procedures.

Frank also negotiates and drafts agreements involving application development, end user licenses, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), secure cloud computing, mobile computing, information technology, data licensing, e-commerce, AdTech, marketing tech, insurtech, and healthcare with service providers, vendors, partners, developers, business associates, manufacturers, suppliers, customers, and other entities. Frank’s experience in complex healthcare transactions includes, but is not limited to, strategic planning and negotiation of documentation for the organization, management, financing, merger, acquisition, and integration of healthcare facilities. Frank’s healthcare transactional experience is buttressed by his experience litigating highly contested federal and state healthcare legal issues.

Frank’s speaking engagements include seminars and presentations for board members, executives, in-house counsel, managers, industry experts, attorneys, and law students in the realm of artificial intelligence, data security and privacy, risk management, current and trending issues, threat analysis, cost benefit analysis, and compliance.

Prior to joining CSG Law, Frank litigated complex disputes in federal, state, appellate, and arbitration proceedings ranging from contract disputes to class actions and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claims.

Alyssa Johnson | Barron & Newburger, P.C.

Alyssa Johnson is a Senior Counsel of Barron & Newburger, P.C. She works in the firm’s Attorney Risk management Practice Group and the Consumer Financial Services Law Practice Group and practices out of the Wisconsin office.

Alyssa Johnson has over a decade of extensive experience representing a wide range of professionals in liability matters, including legal malpractice cases, as well as claims alleging violations of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. She counsels lawyers on risk management and also handles a wide range of consumer defense claims.

Alyssa is an active participant in the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Ready.Set.Practice. New Lawyer Mentoring Program. The program matches new lawyers that have been practicing five years or less with a lawyer that has six years or more of experience within the legal profession to provide mentor and mentee relationships. She is the Chair of the Lawyers Professionalism and Ethics Committee of the Defense Research Institute (“DRI”).

Alyssa was selected by her peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for Professional Malpractice Law, 2021 – 2023. She also was recognized on the Rising Stars list by Wisconsin Super Lawyers Magazine, 2017 – 2022.

Alyssa lives just outside of Milwaukee, Wis. In her spare time, she enjoys testing her fitness in a variety of activities like Olympic weightlifting, CrossFit, running, biking, and yoga.

Noah Fiedler | Barron & Newburger, P.C.

Noah Fiedler is a shareholder of Barron & Newburger, P.C., a co-leader of our Attorney Risk Management Practice Group, and the leader of the firm’s Wisconsin office.

Noah helps lawyers and law firms. He counsels his clients on the best – and most effective – practices to avoid disciplinary complaints, negligence claims, and other losses. Noah has wide-ranging experience defending lawyers in malpractice, fiduciary duty breach, defamation, and misrepresentation claims and in disciplinary proceedings. He regularly counsels and educates lawyers and firms across the country on ethics, liability, and risk management topics.

Noah has developed numerous law firm risk management resources, including Attorneys Risk Management, which provides resources, education, and counselling to lawyers across the country. Noah is a proud member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers and teaches Professional Responsibility at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

In his free time, Noah plays golf, cheers for the Badgers, Packers, Brewers, and Bucks, coaches his daughter’s and son’s volleyball teams.

While in law school, Frank served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Esther Salas, United States District Court, District of New Jersey, as well as the Honorable Thomas J. Walsh, Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Civil Part. Frank also interned for the Federal Trade Commission, the Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Section of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, and a Fortune 500 company ranked as one of the world’s largest IT management services firms.

Frank received his Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law, with a concentration in Data Privacy & Security; Masters of Engineering from The George Washington University – School of Engineering & Applied Science, with a concentration in Cybersecurity Policy and Compliance; and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Colgate University.

Session I – The Legal Mal Silver Bullet: Retainer Agreements | 1:00pm – 2:40pm

• Applicable ethics and ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct | 1:00pm – 1:30pm
• Legal malpractice and other risks | 1:30pm – 2:00pm

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

• Best practice building off of the ABA sample engagement agreement | 2:10pm – 2:25pm
• Looking to the future – engagement agreements (and risk) of tomorrow | 2:25pm – 2:40pm

Session II – Mitigating Liability in the Arena of Cybersecurity, Technology, and AI | 2:40pm – 3:50pm

• Prioritizing cybersecurity internally and externally | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

Break | 3:10pm – 3:20pm

• Discovering and adopting technologies to improve efficiencies and workflows | 3:20pm – 3:35pm
• Vetting and learning to use artificial intelligence as a tool | 3:35pm – 3:50pm

Session III – ABA Ethics Opinion on Use of Nonlawyer Assistants | 3:50pm – 5:00pm

• Model Rule 5.3 | 3:50pm – 4:20pm

Break | 4:20pm – 4:30pm

• Overseeing nonlawyer assistants with prospective clients | 4:30pm – 4:45pm
• Potential concerns with nonlawyer assistants and the unauthorized practice of law | 4:45pm – 5:00pm