Since the late 1990s, Joyce Raby has spent a career bringing technology to legal aid. While a booster and believer in technology's potential to improve…

Initiatives provide millions of training dollars to prepare Detroiters for job opportunities related to the Gordie Howe International Bridge project, relocation opportunities for people who live in the neighborhoods adjacent to the future US Port of Entry, and health and air monitoring in SW Detroit. Read more

Kathleen Engel of Suffolk has forwarded an article one of her students, Molly Rose Goodman,  wrote for the Real Estate Law Journal.  The piece is titled The Buck Stops Here: Toxic Titles and Title Insurance, and the cite is 42 Real Est. L. J. 5 (2013).  Here's the abstract:

By failing to properly transfer ownership of loans and mortgages, recording fraudulent documents, and performing unlawful foreclosures, financial institutions and law firms have generated property titles that range from defective to toxic. Those actions evince a systemic failure to comply with longstanding principles of real property law and regulations governing financial transactions. Title companies participated in title services and issued title insurance policies throughout the housing boom and although they did not directly cause toxic titles, many title insurers have ultimately assumed the risk for the bad practices that became the industry norms in the last decade. In this article, I will discuss how title insurers have exposed themselves to liability for toxic titles. 

Every year, law schools crank out twice as many baby lawyers as there are job openings, and every year we hear that the traditional market for lawyers is shrinking. The United States already has more than 1.2 million attorneys, and somewhere around 700,000 jobs.

What is going to happen to us?

Obviously, the value of a law degree is diminishing. With its stratospheric cost, cost , we should start to see a decline in law school enrollment. I bet we’ll also see a steady decline in the compensation most lawyers receive, regardless of their experience. Who among us hasn’t endured increased scrutiny at compensation time? Or felt the impact of firm mergers and the resultant trimming of the old (and not-so-old) “wood”? While far from a new trend, more and more lawyers are abandoning the law for other fields. And it’s no wonder.

InCollapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,Jared Diamondexamines the decline and death of various civilizations. He describes how, in many cases, they knew it couldn’t last, that the course they were on was not sustainable. There just wasn’t enough to go around anymore. But they couldn’t let go and make the changes needed to survive. He describes the predictable competition to be the last ones to survive, the last to starve.

Are We In for a Collapse of Lawyers?

Most of us old farts have been watching this phenomenon at work in the legal profession over the years with increasing dread. We’ve felt the approaching glare of the wolves lurking back in the shadows, coming closer and closer. “But I’m not ready,” we cry. “There’s so much more I have to accomplish, so much I have to offer. And what do those kids know? There’s no way they could fill my shoes.”

We deny and postpone the inevitable retirement to make room for others.

But it doesn’t have to go that way. We all know the ones who figured it out early, pulled it together and took their leave from law practice gracefully. Having significant skills and plenty of oomph left, many have moved on to positions that may have less prominence, but that allow them to use their skills in ways that give back to their community. Churches, schools, volunteer organizations, non-governmental groups and families all can use the old fart expertise. Sure, driving the bookmobile isn’t as glamorous as ruling the corner office, but you do have a chance to meet nice people and broaden your horizons. (Okay, there may not be many bookmobiles left, but you get the drift.)

So, for all us old farts out there, and for those disaffected younger attorneys holding on to the rail of a sinking ship, take a look around. Could be there’s a whole world of opportunity you’ve neglected, or have never given honest consideration. Instead of grasping the tendrils of a collapsing dream, maybe it’s time to take the leap and make a little room for the ones you leave behind.

Letthem be the last to starve.

Otto Sorts has been reading law since before Martindale met Hubbell. Of Counsel at a large corporate firm that prefers to remain anonymous, Otto is a respected attorney and champion of the grand tradition of the law. He is, however, suspicious of “new-fangled” management ideas and anyone who calls the profession the legal “industry.” When he gets really cranky about something he blogs atAttorney at Work.

More from a Curmudgeon’s Perspective

• Curmudgeon’s Survival Guide for Lawyers by Otto Sorts
• Fear of Phoningby Otto Sorts
• Hey, Old Guysby Otto Sorts
• Get Out of the Way!by Otto Sorts
• Decisions Decisionsby Otto Sorts
• The Sound of Silenceby Otto Sorts
• Civil Mattersby Otto Sorts
• Behind the Resumeby Otto Sorts
• Late Again?by Otto Sorts
• A Curmudgeon’s Perspective: Technology Isn’t Everythingby Otto Sorts

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Illustration ©ImageZoo.

There's no arguing that our smartphones are our lifelines - they're our Rolodex, our photo albums, our windows to the digital world. Losing your smartphone isn't just an inconvenience, it could put your personal information at risk. We've compiled some tips to protect your smartphone in general, and actions you can take as a LastPass user in particular.

Get Proactive

Before you're ever put in the position of losing your phone, we recommend taking the time to use good security practices, now:

• Put in a password or pin code prompt. This is typically available in the settings for your smartphone. Remember, alphanumeric passwords are better - and ensure the time for reprompt is no more than a few minutes, if not immediate.
• Keep your apps up to date. Updates to apps can contain important security updates - don't delay in approving them.
• Know the apps you're downloading. If you're not sure about the maker of an app, do your research. Don't share your personal information with apps that you can't verify.
• Enable a device recovery service. This will help you track your device should you lose it, and may help you catch the person responsible if a device is stolen. Lifehacker recommends Prey.
• Set pin code reprompts and autologoff settings in your LastPass apps. These can be found in the Preferences menu of our mobile apps, and will ensure someone cannot easily access your stored LastPass data.
• Use multifactor authentication. Even if you've set your mobile device as "trusted" in your LastPass settings, you can easily revoke access later if needed.
• Back up your data. Ensure you've synced your contacts, photos, and other information so that you have copies of it should your device break or be lost.
• Store sensitive data in LastPass secure notes, not in an unprotected notes app. If you need to record sensitive information on the go, just add a note to LastPass, where you can easily access it, but where the data is protected by a master password, and your pin codes prompts.

Recovering From the Lost Phone 

Time is critical when recovering from a lost or stolen device. The sooner you can take action, the better you can protect your data and perhaps even recover your device.

• Activate your lost phone features. If you enabled Find My iPhone, Prey, or another similar service, follow their steps to active the lost device features.
• Update passwords. Update the passwords for Gmail, Facebook, and other services whose accounts are syncing to apps on your mobile device. Once you update the password, they cannot be synced, or even used in some cases, without re-authenticating with the new password.
• Kill active sessions. In LastPass, open the LastPass browser icon menu, and in the Tools sub-menu select the "other sessions" option. This page will show any active sessions for your account. Kill all sessions that are not in use.
• Remotely wipe data. If you are using iCloud, Google Sync, or another service that allows you to remotely wipe data, you should do so after ensuring you've backed up all data possible.

What are tips or strategies that you've used, or that you recommend? Share with us in the comments below!

Have a question you'd like to see answered by the LastPass team in a blog post? Let us know in comments or send us a note at marketing[at]lastpass.com. If we choose your question, you'll get a Tshirt!

Say hello to Ryan Finlay, the entrepreneur behind ReCraigslist.com, a site dedicated to helping people buy and sell on Craigslist. For the past three years, Ryan has earned his entire living on Craigslist. He's now building a thriving appliance business and writing a blog to chronicle what happens along the way. Ryan has seen a little bit of everything over his thousands of transactions, and is here to field your Craigslist-related questions. He's hanging out for the next hour, so ask away!

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