Continuing Legal Education Program

Information

Moderated by: Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq., Risk Manager with ALPS
Panel Members: Phil Shanahan, Bar Counsel, Alaska Bar Association, Tim Petumenos, Law Office of Tim Petumenos, and Kate Demarest, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Opinions, Appeals, and Ethics, Department of Law

 
 Program Description: 

 The Plan Comes Together

• Navigate communications between a pro se attorney and a represented opposing party.
• Address concerns related to the use of "reply all" in email communication.
• Examine application permissions on smartphones for work-related tasks.
• Explore the tension between client confidentiality and courthouse security.
• Discuss issues surrounding the filing of disciplinary complaints in the legal context. 

 Down to Business

• Explore the challenges and considerations when a client passes away during settlement negotiations.
• Address concerns related to the use of crowdfunding in the legal context.
• Examine the implications of incorporating the term "minimum fees" in engagement agreements.
• Discuss the responsibilities and ethical considerations associated with deploying generative AI in the practice of law. 

The Debrief 

• Conclude the program with a discussion on the tension between wellness and burnout within the legal profession.
• Explore the benefits and risks associated with deploying communication channels intended to replace traditional email in legal practice.
• Address concerns related to attorney departures, including retirement considerations.
• Examine the utilization of independent contractors and legal staffing companies as solutions to meet staffing needs in the legal field.


Ethics Tonight faculty 

Since 1998, Mark Bassingthwaighte, Esq. has been a Risk Manager with ALPS, the nation’s largest direct writer of lawyers’ malpractice insurance. In his tenure with the company, Mr. Bassingthwaighte has conducted over 1200 law firm risk management assessment visits, presented numerous continuing legal education seminars throughout the United States, and written extensively on risk management, ethics, and technology. 

Mr. Bassingthwaighte is a member of the State Bar of Montana as well as the American Bar Association where he currently sits on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility’s Conference Planning Committee. He received his J.D. from Drake University Law School. 

Phil Shanahan grew up in the Boston area and graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 1993. He moved to Alaska shortly after graduation and practiced as a criminal defense attorney in both state and federal courts.  After a few years in private practice sharing office space with some of Anchorage’s best and brightest criminal defense and family law attorneys, he joined the Office of Public Advocacy.  In 2007 he joined a private criminal defense firm, and opened his own criminal defense practice in 2010.  He is a founding member of the Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and served on its Board of Directors for four years, including one year as a marginally-effective Secretary of the Board. He began his role as Bar Counsel with the Alaska Bar Association in December of 2019. 

Phil is a diehard fan of all Boston sports teams, but realizes he has an ethical duty to work with even Yankees fans (when absolutely necessary). 

Tim Petumenos graduated from Tufts University in 1973 and Georgetown University Law Center in 1976.  Mr. Petumenos has been involved in some of the more celebrated Alaska trials in the course of his career including the Senator George Hohman bribery cases, the McKay murder trials and was lead counsel in the state trial of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill.  His practice also focused on ethics related issues.  Mr. Petumenos served on Disciplinary Hearing Committees for the Bar and was appointed as Special Counsel in connection with gubernatorial ethics complaints during the Palin administration.  Mr. Petumenos litigated numerous legal malpractice cases and has been qualified as an expert witness in legal malpractice cases.  He is a certified teacher with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and has taught trial advocacy on numerous occasions for the Alaska Bar Association, at the Northwest Regional Session of NITA and for prosecutorial agencies. Mr. Petumenos intends to devote much of his future practice to presiding over complex binding arbitrations.

Kate Demarest is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Opinions, Appeals, and Ethics section of the Department of Law. She spent seven years practicing general civil litigation with a strong appellate focus as a trial associate and then partner in the Anchorage office of Dorsey & Whitney before joining the Department of Law in 2017. Kate frequently supports the ethics advice functions of her section and serves on the Lawyers Fund for Client Protection bar Committee.

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