Practice Blawg

New QuickBooks Trust Accounting Guide

Andrea Hable — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:26:03 +0000

A new trust accounting guide, Keeping Client Trust Accounts with QuickBooks Online Essentials (2012), is now posted at practicelaw. Mike Trittipo, the MSBA’s director of technology, has been drafting and editing the guides that walk through setting up trust accounting in in various software programs since 1998, when he started with Using QuickBooks 6.0 for Lawyers’ Trust Accounting. There are currently six guides available, three of which use a QuickBooks product. In addition to setting up your trust accounting in QuickBooks Online, the guide also provides a nice overview of the requirements and general principles of client trust accounting, and is worth a read even if you keep your accounts in a different program.

Something special about the trust accounting guides is that last year we decided to make them available to the public. The change was partly inspired by Minnesota Legal Ethics, which we also published last year, and also motivated by the overarching desire to better the legal profession. You can read more about the decision here.

So, if you want a copy of the guide:

Members can download the guide here.

Non-members go here and fill out the form to request a guide. You will receive an email with a link to download the guide.

The Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board has more general information about keeping trust accounts in Appendix 1 to the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct (Maintenance of Books and Records).

What accounting software (if any) do you use for your trust accounting? Did you get help setting up your trust accounting or figure it out on your own?

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Joint Physical Custody Bill on Governor’s Desk

Nancy Hupp — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:17:19 +0000

Last week we posted about a a bill, HR 322, that would raise Minnesota’s baseline custody presumption from 25% to 35%. Since our post, the Senate passed HF322. The MSBA Family Law Section opposes this legislation. The House had previously passed a version of the bill that set the presumption at 45.1% and only allowed the presumption to be overcome by proving, to a clear and convincing standard, the type of mistreatment that would trigger child protection proceedings. In the end, the House author asked her colleagues to concur with the Senate version; the House did so and the bill’s fate is now controlled by Gov. Dayton, who has not indicated whether he will sign it or veto it.

The Family Law Section Chair has written a letter asking Governor Dayton to veto the proposed legislation. To contact the Governor and express your views, please use this link.

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New Developments in Family Law

Andrea Hable — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:29:37 +0000

Lots happening to impact the practice of family law…

New Rules

Amended family law rules went into effect on May 1. You can read the amendments here.

Of note, the changes update terminology, streamline proceedings, and create three new forms. The changes came out of Divorce Camp 2009, with goals of making the rules reflect current practice in the District Courts and of making the rules more user-friendly for pro se litigants.

New Forms

The new rules require three new forms for all actions pending on the effective date of May 1 and to those filed thereafter.

Parenting/Financial Disclosure Statement
Certificate of Settlement Efforts
Initial Case Management Statement

These new forms are available at the Minnesota Judicial Branch website.

H.F. 322: Presumption of Joint Custody

This controversial bill is currently in the Senate. From the MSBA’s Capitol Connection email and blog:

JOINT PHYSICAL CUSTODY BILL ADVANCES IN SENATE

HF322, a bill that would alter Minnesota’s parenting time baseline presumption, was heard for a second time in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it was re-referred after being altered in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The Judiciary Committee voted to send the bill, which is opposed by the Family Law Section, to the Senate Finance Committee without a recommendation. The version of the bill that passed the House last month would raise the current presumption of 25% physical custody to 45.1%, and would only allow the presumption to be overcome by proving, to a clear and convincing standard, the type of mistreatment that would trigger child protection proceedings. The presumption would therefore override the longstanding “best interests of the child” factors in most contested cases. The Senate Judiciary Committee eliminated most of the House language and set the presumption at 35%.

The Senate Finance Committee passed the bill today and sent it to the Senate floor. If the bill becomes law, a wave of custody modification requests is expected to strain the court system, but no plan has been offered to cover the increased costs, which, because of delayed effective dates, may not occur until the state’s next fiscal biennium.

Future updates will be posted here.

South Dakota recently rejected a similar bill. Consider contacting your local elected official to express any concerns about this bill.

practicelaw Family Law Forms and Advisory Group

I’m working on expanding the family law forms library on practicelaw. Of note:

A few months ago we added a Complaint to Establish Paternity (FAM-300), thanks to Central Minnesota Legal Services. Last week we updated it to reflect the new Rule 314 (Parentage Proceedings).
We are planning to add forms regarding custody outside of a dissolution, adoption (step and international), and third-party custody, plus a few other miscellaneous forms.
The J&D is regularly reviewed and updated. If you have a suggested change, please let me know. The form is here (FAM-680)

We need help with our new forms! We are in need of forms for international adoption and a financial affidavit for child support – if you have one that you would be willing to share, we will edit and format and give you credit on practicelaw.

We would also like to assemble a group of family law practitioners who we (I) can consult from time to time to ask questions as I update our forms. If you are interested in answering questions or reviewing language occasionally, please let me know. You can contact me by email.

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New practicelaw Resource on Starting a Law Firm

Andrea Hable — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:17:15 +0000

Approximately 85% of practicelaw users are in a solo or small firm. With that in mind, over the years we’ve added several practice management resources beyond our core substantive form libraries. Now we’re pleased to provide access to a new Minnesota Lawyers Mutual (MLM) online tool: ”Roadmap to Start and Run a Law Practice.” MLM and the MSBA have partnered to provide access to the Roadmap for all MSBA members even to those who are non MLM insureds.

The Roadmap covers many topics, from choosing a business entity, to establishing prudent office procedures, to developing a marketing plan. One of MLM’s strengths is ethics, thus the Roadmap also illustrates how and where to focus your efforts and how to identify malpractice risks. The process of going through the topics will enable you to think through many of the issues that need to be addressed to establish a safe and successful practice.

This is a valuable resource for lawyers who are starting a law firm or contemplating doing so. Additionally, the site is a great resource for new associates looking to establish prudent practices and start on a path to success. Click here to access the Roadmap. For more information, check out MLM’s Roadmap blog.

For Minnesota-specific startup information, check out practicelaw’s guide to Launching a Law Practice in Minnesota (PM-050). While there, check out Jump Starts, IOLTA accounting guides, and retainer agreements.

As always, we like to hear from you. Let us know what you think of the new resource, and if there’s anything we can add to practicelaw to help you work better.

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Mind Maps Added to practicelaw

Nancy Hupp — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:43:23 +0000

practicelaw is now in the mind-mapping business.

To survive and flourish in tough economic times, lawyers must find ways to practice more efficiently. The first step in handling any client or practice matter is to gather pertinent resources and get a sense of the “forest through the trees.” To this end, practicelaw has added “At-A-Glance” mindmaps (part of our Jump Start series) to its arsenal of forms, checklists, links, and articles. The maps are designed to get an attorney up to speed quickly by collecting resources and showing their interrelationship.

We don’t have expertise in every area of law, but we are very familiar with MSBA practice resources as well as non-MSBA resources, and how they might help an attorney. We started experimenting with this concept several months ago and settled on using mind maps to illustrate the resources available on a couple of topics:

“law 101″ or overview topics of areas of law or issues
“hot topics”
technology topics for lawyers

Last week we posted mind maps which visually depict information and resources available on

We’ve also provided instructions to help you navigate around the maps, follow the links, access information.

The beauty of a mind map is its ability to convey more information, show relationships more easily, and communicate faster than text alone. One of the attorney presenters at the ABA Technology Conference last April showed how he uses mind mapping software as a practice management tool and a litigation aid. Harvard, UCLA, William and Mary are a few of the law schools that have purchased mind mapping software to use with their students. As law schools employ more visual teaching methods, more students graduate and bring to the legal profession a knowledge and appreciation of the ability of visuals to communicate.

In the coming months we will add to our collection. The maps are a great way to save you time in getting up to speed and in finding pertinent resources. Check them out and let us know what you think.

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