HSA accounts are an increasingly popular for small, medium and even large businesses. The reason being is HSA plans aren’t complicated to set-up and have certain tax advantages. By providing employees with HSA insurance, associates and employees have more control over who they can choose as their primary provider as well as other benefits.

Law firms can benefit from creating health savings accounts which offer a greater amount of flexibility. By establishing such a benefit program, employees have access to affordable health coverage that includes them in the decision making process about their health care services they receive.

What is a Health Savings Account?

Health savings accounts were first established in 2003 as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. The new plan was a replacement for the Medical Savings Account system.

Employees can fund their assigned HSA account as much or as little as they want. Contributions can be made on a pre-tax or after-tax basis and the amount employees deposit each month can vary.

Employers do not own the accounts and have no responsibility for how employees manage their HSA funds.

Seek a plan that suits your employees, your business and your personal goals for the future without focusing entirely on the rate (i.e., price per employee). And, most important, avoid…shopping pitfalls…and you’ll vastly increase the likelihood that you’ll end up with a comprehensive benefits program that will help you retain your top people, attract fresh talent and maintain a healthy level of productivity. –Forbes

However, employers can contribute to their employees’ HSA accounts as much or as little as desired. This makes for an ideal solution when seeking a type of group health care plan.

Another advantage is employers are not required to make equal contributions to every employee’s account because different “classes” can be established.

Establishing HSA Accounts for Your Law Firm Employees

When your law practice establishes HSA insurance, it allows employees to pay a small premium because of a higher deductible. The contributions your employees make are tax deductible and funds spent on qualified medical expenses are tax free.

Here’s how you can get your law firm employees into health savings accounts:

1      Find a qualified HSA health insurance plan. Enroll your employees into a QHDHP or HDHP, a qualified high-deductible health plan. The Internal Revenue Service sets the guidelines for minimum and maximum deductibles. These amounts change annually and are based on the rate of inflation. Speak with a licensed insurance agent to determine which HDHP you firm qualifies and which HSA plan will best fit your employees’ needs.

2      Enroll employees who elect to participate in the group HSA. Like most other group health plans, your law firm must have a certain percentage of employees participating in order for the group health insurance plan to remain in effect. The good news is, employees who have coverage through their spouse’s health insurance plan do not count against your law practice’s plan when calculating the percentage of participation. By contrast,  most traditional insurance company plans requires at least 75 percent of all eligible employees participate in the group health insurance plan. However, this percentage isn’t universal and does vary based on your state’s laws and the insurance carrier.

3      Set-up accounts for each eligible employee who opts-in to the group HSA. The process can be simplified by mandating every participant to open an account at a particular institution. Employees will receive a checkbook and a debit card that can be used for qualified medical expenses. Access to their accounts will be available online, so each participant will have to set-up an online profile to see their balance, contributions, expenses and more information.

For more information about how to best manage your law practice, or to inquire about litigation financing options, contact us at 877-926-4287 or send an email to info@AmicusCapitalServices.com.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recently ruled that employers may not prohibit employees from making critical statements on social media platforms when those statements fall under the protected speech umbrella. Statements that highlight concerns about work conditions or that are made in an attempt to organize colleagues is considered protected speech. Below are a few social media policy guidelines that will help you avoid running afoul of the rules:

Protected vs. Unprotected Speech

Before creating your social media policy, make sure you understand that the NLRB considers any constructive and collaborative discussion about work conditions protected speech. On the other hand, employee social media posts that are libelous or reveal confidential information is considered unprotected speech.

Get Specific

Your social media policy should provide a detailed description of what is expected of employees.  For example, you might specify that speaking about clients or active cases is prohibited even if identifying information is redacted.  To avoid any confusion, you should also define what “active case” means and provide a timeframe. You might state that active cases are defined as those cases closed no later than six months ago.

Get Guidance

Use your current employee policies and company culture as a guide when creating a social media policy. If your firm has a highbrow reputation to protect, you might ask employees to refrain from participating in uncouth online activity while identifying themselves as an employee of your firm.

Control The Platform

If you want to encourage your employees to use social media, you might provide a company blog or twitter handle for them to use. But be sure to lay down the rules and curate all content.

Expensive e-discovery can easily cut into a law firm’s budget and profits. That’s why implementing a smart strategy for reducing e-discovery costs is the first line of defense for most law firms. Below are a few tips on doing just that:

Cooperate with Opposing Counsel

Require that attorneys meet with opposing counsel to identify what information they hold. Once that’s determined, specify how the opposing counsel should preserve that data and then figure out the cheapest way to collect it.  Meeting with opposing counsel several times throughout the life of a case can have huge cost saving benefits for e-discovery.

Sample Data

Before ordering a collection of data, the attorney should sample the data to determine its quality and estimate how much it will cost to retrieve it.

Do It Yourself

If your attorneys understand e-discovery, you can avoid the costs of hiring an expensive outside consultant and use free and cheap software tools to collect the electronic data. Unfortunately, one drawback of this DIY method is that if an attorney is less than well versed in e-discovery you could end up wasting more time and money.

Limit Data Collection

Attorneys should limit their e-discovery to just the data that’s needed for their case. And when there is a large amount of data needed, only collect the specific amount of data necessary at that time.

Hire Unbiased E-Discovery Firm

If you decide to forgo the DIY method, hiring an e-discovery firm that is unattached to any particular product can save costs. An unaffiliated e-discovery firm will help you find the software tools that will work best for your needs.

Whatever methods you use to reduce e-discovery costs, make sure you implement them early in the life of your case.

There’s a lot of buzz about the drastic drop in law student enrollments across the country, which in the short-term is having a negative impact on law schools. But could a reduction in the number of lawyers have a negative impact on your law firm’s future?

According to an article in the New York Times, law schools are facing a 38 percent decline in law school applicants. And some law schools who’ve been hit the hardest, reducing tuition, firing staff and accepting applicants they would normally reject has been their first line of defense.

After the normal dropout of some applicants, the number of those matriculating in the fall will be about 38,000, the lowest since 1977, when there were two dozen fewer law schools, according to Brian Z. Tamanaha of Washington University Law School, the author of “Failing Law Schools.”

Citing the fact that the internet has made legal knowledge easily accessible, some analysts have praised the drop in law school applications.  But others have pointed out that too much of a drop could leave many law firms ill equipped to tackle emerging and complex legal issues directly related to the rise of technology and the internet. To avoid being sidelined by a shortage of attorneys with important skills, law firms should take the following steps:

1. Keep an eye out for new laws impacting emerging technologies. Areas such as intellectual property and cybersecurity has created new opportunities for many law firms, but only if they’ve positioned themselves properly.
2. Invest in growing practice areas. Even if your firm doesn’t have the cash, taking out a law firm loan can help you expand your practice areas and expertise.
3. Invest in emerging attorneys.  Don’t kill your law firm’s future by cutting your new associate hiring too deeply. Many of the most recent law school graduates will be best prepared to help usher you into new thriving practice areas.

While it’s true that today’s legal market is tough, it will eventually bounce back. By investing in thriving practice areas and talented new attorneys, you’ll be prepared to benefit from the future boom times.