News & Updates

Kentucky Law Update

KLU season is well underway, and we’ve loved seeing you in Owensboro, Covington, Ashland, London and Paducah. We look forward to being in Lexington (10/24), Pikeville (11/14), Bowling Green (11/21) and Louisville (12/5) in the coming weeks. Along with Yvette Hourigan of KYLAP and Laura Day DelCotto, of DelCotto Law Group PLLC and Chair of the KBA Well-Being Committee, LMICK is presenting a program on how to ethically and practically “pause” your practice. Join us to get a head start on your required ethics credits for the 2024-2025 CLE season and learn about the ethics and business considerations around taking time away from your practice. Click the following link to register for the upcoming law updates.

Our Home is Your Home

LMICK recently added to its footprint by leasing some contiguous office space that contains a corner conference room. With this added space, LMICK has 3 conference rooms that we are happy to make available to any of our insureds who need accommodations for mediations, meetings, depositions, etc. If you find yourself needing office space in the Hurstbourne Road and Linn Station Road area of Louisville, please give us a call to make those arrangements.

Volunteer Opportunity

The images depicting the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene are heartbreaking. With record-breaking tornados and flooding here at home in the recent past, we know far too well the long, hard work that goes into clean up efforts. The legal issues and needs abound after a natural disaster. North Carolina was hit particularly hard by Hurricane Helene. As previously posted by the Kentucky Bar Association, there is an opportunity for lawyers from other states to provide pro bono legal services.

Alice Neece Mine, North Carolina State Bar Executive Director, explains, “We are anticipating an unprecedented need for lawyers to help victims of the storm with the many legal problems that will arise including landlord/tenant issues, consumer fraud, and most specifically FEMA applications. To this end, we have obtained a ‘Katrina order’ from the NC Chief Justice that permits lawyers licensed in other states but not in NC to temporarily register with the North Carolina State Bar to provide pro bono legal services to indigent residents of NC who are victims of Helene. [Here is] the form to file with our membership department to obtain permission for this limited practice. Once registered with us, we will share the lawyer’s name and contact information with Legal Aid of NC and other non-profit agencies that are working on the legal aspects of disaster relief. They will contact the lawyer with pro bono service opportunities.”

Please reach out to the North Carolina Bar Association if you are interested in assisting.

Practice Management

Disaster Planning

Hurricanes Helene and Milton remind us of the importance of planning for when disaster strikes. We lawyers should do more planning than most because of the fiduciary duties we owe to our clients. This seems a great opportunity to remind you of some disaster planning tips and strategies. LMICK provided a disaster planning series with 5 installments after the tornados and flooding here in Kentucky in December 2021 and July of 2022, respectively. Below are links to those 5 disaster planning installments. If you didn’t put any plans in place then, please start that work. We’ve all seen what mother nature can do. We must take every advantage we can to manage what she throws our way.

• Disaster Planning Series #1: Back-ups for your Who, What, When
• Disaster Planning Series #2: Checklist: Preparing Your Agreement with Your Back-Up Attorney
• Disaster Planning Series #3: Checklist: Preparing Information for Your Back-Up Attorney
• Disaster Planning Series #4: Your Client Dies During Litigation. Now What?
• Disaster Planning Series #5: Ethical Considerations and The Cloud

Are you Using AI in your Law Practice?

For weeks, LMICK has been talking to you about AI. KBA E-457 makes clear that Kentucky attorneys have an ethical duty to keep abreast of the use of AI in the practice of law. SCR 3.130 (1.1, Comment 6). LMICK has been encouraging you to experiment with AI and consider whether you should be using AI in your practice. If you choose to use AI in your practice, LMICK considers it a best practice to include a statement in your client engagement letter (and we know all of you are using engagement letters) to advise your client that you may use AI in working on his / her matter. KBA E-457 advises that there is “no ethical duty to disclose the rote use of AI generated research for a client’s matter unless the work is being outsourced to a third party; the client is being charged for the cost of AI; and/or the disclosure of AI generated research is required by Court Rules.” Yet, advising a client up front about your potential use of AI is an easy way to inform and manage your client’s expectations in that regard.

Frankly, it is likely that clients will start demanding that you use AI in your work for them and putting such a provision in your engagement letter demonstrates that you are a step ahead. Below is a simple sample provision for you to tailor for use in your client engagement letters.

In the course of providing legal services to you, we may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and tools to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our representation. AI may be used for various purposes, including but not limited to legal research, document review, and analysis of legal data. We assure you that the use of AI will be conducted in accordance with applicable laws and ethical standards and will be subject to rigorous security and confidentiality protocols. By signing this engagement letter, you acknowledge and consent to the use of AI technologies as part of our legal services. If you have any concerns or would like to discuss the implications of this, please let us know and we are happy to address them.

Now, for the fun fact . . . the above provision was generated in about 5 seconds using ChatGPT. We prompted ChatGPT for a provision to be used in an engagement letter that addresses the use of AI in the representation of a client, including securing the client’s consent. As with all your uses of AI, you must check and double check what is generated and tailor it appropriately. This is, however, an example of how you might use AI in your practice even if not using it for substantive legal matters. You might as well start somewhere in your explorations of AI and how it might benefit your legal practice. There are a myriad of AI platforms other than ChatGPT, so explore a few of them to decide which one you might like best. Of course, Westlaw and Lexis have legal-centered products that are very sophisticated, but there are several free platforms that can be used as described above.

Speaking of Engagement Letters – What is the Scope of your Engagement?

It is important to define the scope of your representation in all of your engagement letters / retainer agreements. When appropriate, the letter should also speak to what the engagement does not entail if there are corollary or adjacent matters for which the lawyer is not retained. This point was recently reinforced in an appellate case from Wisconsin. Though not a Kentucky case, the guidance is beneficial. In the case, the Wisconsin appeals court upheld a ruling in favor of the attorney in a legal malpractice case involving an allegedly time-barred underlying personal injury suit. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s entry of summary judgment for the attorney because the engagement letter/agreement between the lawyer and the client specifically limited the scope of the representation to the client’s workers compensation claims.

Importantly, the engagement letter/agreement specifically excluded third-party claims from the representation. Relying on the specific language of the engagement letter, the court rejected the client’s position that the attorney had a duty to inform the client of a potential third-party claim. The court relied on the facts that the agreement notified plaintiff of the possibility of such third-party claims, informed him that the attorney was not representing him with respect to such claims, and instructed him what additional steps would be needed to have attorney take the representation with regard to any third-party claims. In the absence of an attorney client relationship as to the any third-party claims, the attorney prevailed. Having a well-crafted, and appropriately limited, engagement letter is often a key defense against a malpractice claim.

In case the specific limiting language of the subject engagement letter could be useful to you in crafting your own such language, you can find it below.

I understand the firm is being employed solely to prosecute a worker’s compensation claim on my behalf and that the firm has not been employed to bring actions against third parties as a result of my injury, the date of which is set forth above, nor is the firm being employed to prosecute any employment related claims arising under state or federal law. I acknowledge and understand that if the firm was to be employed to provide representation as to nonworker’s compensation claims that a separate fee arrangement shall need to be agreed upon to compensate the firm for prosecution of such other claims.

Michael Freunde v. Jeffrey M. Berzowski and DiRenzo & Bomier, LLC, No. 2023 AP 764 (Wis. App. August 7, 2024). Remembering our earlier encouragement to experiment with AI, consider using it to give you more suggestions for limiting language in your engagement letters. Not all courts would rule as Wisconsin courts did with these facts. Courts in Illinois, for example, would have likely ruled against the lawyer and found a duty to advise the client of the right to pursue third parties. Nonetheless, having a well-crafted engagement letter seems a best practice.

ANOTHER REMINDER: New Members of the Bar Coming Soon – Add Them to Your Policy

A group of new lawyers will be added to the Bar this fall after taking the bar exam in July. It is a rite of passage we have all endured and survived. Many of you have “lawyers in waiting” working in your offices or maybe hiring newly admitted lawyers in the coming weeks. Don’t forgot to add those lawyers who are new to your practice to your LMICK Policy. It is a quick and easy process to accomplish that task. Click here to add your new lawyer(s).

Remember too that SCR 2.116 Supervised Practice, which allows law school graduates not licensed in any jurisdiction to practice in Kentucky under supervision while awaiting results of the bar exam, may be a tool your law firm can use to serve your clients. If this might be a Rule you want to take advantage of, click here to make sure you are fully complying with SCR 2.116, including the necessary application for same.

Lawyer Well-Being

Give your Health a Boost – Spend Some Time Outside

Fall is here and the weather is spectacular. We’ve had several picture-perfect days in a row and the forecast is for more to come. There are a myriad of health benefits associated with spending time outside. This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but being outside can help us in so many ways.

Don’t let these beautiful fall days pass you by without enjoying a breath or two or ten of fresh air.

Know that Help is Always Available

If you are struggling with grief, sadness, anxiety, depression, or another emotion or stressor that is negatively impacting your daily life, please reach out for help. All Kentucky lawyers are eligible for four (4) free visits with a mental health professional through the Kentucky Lawyers Assistance Program. For more information about the variety of confidential resources KYLAP offers, please visit www.KYLAP.org.

Upcoming Events

We look forward to seeing you!

We are proud to support the organizations that support you and your work! We will be out and about this spring, leading CLEs and sponsoring events. We hope you can join us at one of these currently scheduled events (and make sure to come say hello)!

Oct 18: NKBA Solo & Small Firm Section

Oct 18: KBA New Lawyers Swearing In Ceremony, Frankfort

Oct. 24: Kentucky Law Update, Lexington

Oct. 29: Kentucky Justice Association, Louisville

Nov. 7: Kentucky Land Title Seminar, Louisville

Nov. 8: Kentucky Paralegal Association, Louisville

Nov. 13: NKBA Solo & Small Firm Section

Nov. 13: LBA Annual Awards Luncheon, Louisville

Nov. 14: Kentucky Law Update, Pikeville

Nov. 14-15: Kentucky Justice Association, Louisville

Nov. 19: KBF 8th Annual Judge Edwards H. Johnstone Dinner, Paducah

Nov. 21: Kentucky Law Update, Bowling Green

Dec. 5: Kentucky Law Update, Louisville

We want to hear from you! Have a CLE topic you would like to see? Send suggestions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Need a CLE Speaker? We would love to speak to your group! You can check out our updated list of available topics and request to schedule, here.

Angela Logan Edwards – President/CEO