Starting a law firm discussed at SBM?event
The State Bar of Michigan Practice Management Resource Center will present a solo and small firm seminar called “Bootcamp: Starting a 21st Century Law Firm” on Thursday, November 13, at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School’s Auburn Hills campus.
The event is scheduled from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m; the campus is located at 2630 Featherstone in Auburn Hills.
The seminar will begin with a videotaped keynote address about fundamental and irreversible changes in the world of law by Professor Richard Susskind. He has worked on legal technology for over 30 years and written books including “The End of Lawyers?” and “Tomorrow’s Lawyers.”
He and other speakers will discuss marketing online and on social media, purchasing malpractice insurance, building a paperless practice as well as billing and trust accounts issues.
The cost is $150 and will include lunch and a copy of the American Bar Association book “Flying Solo.”
To register or for additional information, visit www.michbar.org/pmrc/bootcamp.
School loses appeal over $535K verdict
FLINT TOWNSHIP (AP) — The Michigan appeals court won’t upset a $535,000 verdict for a white teacher who said he was illegally fired for a racial comment at a Flint-area school.
During an exchange about desks, Craig Hecht (Heck) told another staffer that white tables were better and “brown should burn.”
He says he quickly apologized to a black teacher’s aide who heard him at Linden Charter Academy but still was fired in 2009.
Hecht sued, saying black staff at Linden Charter had made racial jokes but were never punished like him.
The appeals court agreed there was evidence that Hecht was treated differently. The school is run by National Heritage Academies.
In dissent, Judge Kurtis Wilder says Hecht wasn’t treated differently because there were no complaints about comments made by black employees.
Audit questions spending on gas cards
LANSING (AP) — Michigan auditors are raising questions about hundreds of thousands of dollars of purchases charged to state government gas cards.
The state Office of the Auditor General has released a report on its review of vehicle and travel services within the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
The audit covers the two years from May 1, 2012, through April 30, 2014.
The report found that people driving state vehicles spent $372,000 on things besides gas over a two-year period.
About 17,000 of the about 55,000 non-fuel transactions during the period were for items listed as “other,” the auditors found.
The state of Michigan’s vehicle policy has many restrictions on the use of gas cards. Food, beverages, maps and towing are among the prohibited items.
The state budget department said it agreed with the recommendation and said it would further limit use of the “services” category for state gas card users “provided such actions do not impact drivers by reducing their access to needed products and services.”
The department said it also would see if it could impose further product restrictions for card users.
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