Read the scenario below (it can also be found on page 215 of your textbook). The setting is a law office with boxes full of hundreds of 3”x5” index cards containing client records. Before taking the position with Owen Mason, Ethan had worked for a sole practitioner who had been practicing for thirty years. This attorney used somewhat outdated methods for scheduling and keeping track of client information. For example, he maintained a set of 3-by-5 cards, each containing all the personal information about a client. He also maintained a set of cards for opposing counsel and their clients, and copies with the names of the opposing parties that could be checked for conflicts of interest. In the scheduling system, a separate file was kept by Ethan, with the important dates for each case, which could be pulled out daily. The related file could then be recovered from the file room and put on the attorney’s desk. These systems were increasingly difficult to maintain accurately, which sometimes led to serious problems. In one incident, Ethan scheduled an appointment with a prospective client for one of the new associates in the office. The new client was suing someone who happened to be an existing client of the firm. However, the card for the existing client had been accidentally removed from the file. As a result, when Ethan searched the files, he did not discover the conflict, and informed the associate that the opposing party was not in the client card file. The associate accepted the case, reviewed all the case documents, and received a substantial retainer. But once the conflict was discovered, the firm was not able to represent either client. For this assignment, prepare a memorandum stating the reasons why the attorney sh
ould switch to an electronic database. Detail the potential ethical problems that could be avoided by using a database to keep client records. Explain how a database could have prevented the client conflict described above. Submit an essay that adheres to the following guidelines: Submit your essay to the “Go Digital” Dropbox, by Sunday, 11:59PM (Mountain). Courts are recognizing the benefits of a paperless office and are changing their processes, such as filing, to accommodate. Use this assignment to investigate the various filing processes required by courts in your state as well as the federal court processes. Research and compare the procedures for filing documents with a court in your home state and one federal court. Your assignment should consist of a comparison analysis between state courts and federal courts. Conclude with the advantages and disadvantages of e-filing court documents. Submit an essay that adheres to the following guidelines: You may use your text or the Internet as a reference, but remember to cite your sources. Submit this essay to the “Federal & Local Filing” Dropbox by Sunday, 11:59PM (Mountain). Here is the prompt that will launch our discussion for the week. Be sure to select the Discussions page to the left under Week 5 to start posting: Technology is here to stay and growing exponentially by the minute. Once upon a time, books were kept on tangible bookshelves, and legal offices were occupied with upright filing cabinets filled with numerous paper documents. Computer technology brings many changes that decrease the amount of paper that a legal office uses. For your assignment, feel free to use previously covered chapters as well. For your class discussion, answer the following: