ALS Awareness Month. Commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, eventually leading to death. For information on fighting this disease, go to the ALS Association website.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This month honors the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans. May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad by Chinese immigrants on May 10, 1869.

Jewish American Heritage Month. This annual recognition of Jewish American achievements and celebration of Jewish American contributions to the United States was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006.

National Mental Health Month. Established in 1949 to raise awareness for the treatment for mental illnesses, to promote health and wellness in homes, communities, and schools, and to dispel misunderstandings about the nature of the disease.

National Youth Traffic Safety Month. According to NHTSA data, eight out of the 10 deadliest days for youth on our nation's highways fall from May through August. Every May, young people nationwide engage in peer-to-peer education efforts to save lives and prevent injuries. Go to the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS) website for more information. 

Why the Use of an Engagement Letter Should Never be Optional (Part I)

Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq.

Engagement letters seem to be one of those pieces of documentation that most attorneys intellectually appreciate the value of and they leave it at that. When it comes to the day to day office practices and procedures, too many attorneys still fail to use an engagement letter on a consistent basis. The excuses run the gamut. I regularly hear the likes of "Repeat clients would be offended," "Engagement letters take more time than their worth, particularly with flat fee work," "They're not appropriate in our practice areas," and "Our institutional clients know what our rates are." Ironically, should there ever be a dispute over the legal services provided; it is the engagement letter that is often turned to as the first line of defense. If this letter is absent from the file, there's a problem and it doesn't matter if it is a fee dispute, an ethics complaint, or a malpractice claim. In short, the essential information that you place in your engagement letters is like buckling your seatbelt. You are taking a necessary step to protect yourself in the event of an unexpected event down the road. 

As the above excuses suggest, too many attorneys seem to view engagement letters as formal documents that read like a contract. While such a document is often called for, particularly with new clients, engagement letters can be far less formal and still be effective. Before digging in to this topic, however, it is important to remember that in the malpractice arena if there is ever a word against word dispute between an attorney and client, the attorney will almost always lose. Without supporting documentation statements like "I told that person that I wasn't their attorney" or "I never agreed to do that additional work" don't fly. Thus, one of the primary goals of an engagement letter, formal or otherwise, is to simply confirm that you and your client are on the same page in terms of expectations regarding what is to be done and who it is being done for. 

What should an engagement letter cover? For first time clients, consider addressing the following issues:  

• Identify who is and, when necessary, who is not the client.  
• Set forth the scope of representation and detail any exclusions or limitations to the work, particularly if unbundling (taking on a limited scope of representation matter). 
• Discuss the rate or basis of the fee, when or how the rate may change, how frequently invoices will be sent, when payment is expected, and who will be responsible for paying. Detail how advances will be handled and what costs and expenses the client will be responsible for and when.  
• Identify any conflict issues involved and discuss and fully disclose the impact to the client if the client elects to proceed with the representation with the conflict in play.With significant conflict issues, consider advising the client to seek outside advice about agreeing to move forward with the conflict in play.

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