News & Updates
LMICK Welcomes Jessica Beavin!
When you call the LMICK office, you may hear a new voice on the other end. Meet Jessica Beavin, LMICK’s new Operations Manager. Jessica will be supporting several areas of LMICK’s operations and will often be your first point of contact when reaching out to the office. Jessica lives in Middletown with her husband, Nick, their 2 dogs, and a cat. She also has a horse who is stabled in Goshen, KY. When she is not at work, she is either visiting her horse, walking her dogs, hanging out with family/friends, or reading a book. We are excited for Jessica to add her talents to our team and continue LMICK’s great service.
New Year, New Rules!
Several new Kentucky court rules and requirements took effect on January 1, 2023, impacting appellate and family law cases. The Kentucky Bar Association has a full rundown with links to the administrative orders in the January eNews.
Additionally, the eFiling roll out continues. Consumer cases must be eFiled effective January 1, 2023. Electronic filing by attorneys in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals is now permitted, but not yet required.
Federal practitioners will also want to review amendments to the Federal Rules effective December 1, 2022, including updates to certain disclosure requirements under FRCP 7.1. Click here for a summary of the amendments.
Important Update: Kentucky Dept. of Corrections Privileged Legal Mail Procedure
Attorneys wishing to send inmates in a Kentucky DOC facility privileged legal mail must follow new procedures, effective January 1, 2023. Any mail not in compliance on or after April 1, 2023 will be rejected. Learn more about the requirements here.
State Office Rejecting Certificate of Divorce or Annulments (VS-300)
The Office of Vital Statistics has released a memo to all circuit court clerks in the state addressing issues with VS-300 forms. The memo states the office will be rejecting VS-300s that are missing information, not fully legible, contain handwritten information in an area required to be typed, or is scaled to an unacceptable size. For more information, contact your local circuit clerk or Heather Robinson, Vital Events Supervisor, Office of Vital Statistics (502-564-4918).
Practice Tips
Social Media: Friend or Foe?
Social media can be a tricky platform to navigate as a practicing attorney. The right content and approach can increase your internet presence and can generate additional business, if targeted to the right demographic for your firm. If you follow us on social media, you likely have seen LMICK’s participation in the healthy coke challenge. (If you missed it, click here for a good laugh!) Fun, light-hearted posts not only generate views but help lawyers acknowledge that we are more than our profession—which can be a key to finding wellness and balance.
The wrong approach, however, could have unintended consequences, including breach of confidentiality, creation of a client relationship, and more. If social media pages are maintained by an attorney or a firm for the purpose of generating business, the page likely falls under the advertising rules and at least the initial page creation should be submitted to the advertising committee for approval. For some general social media tips, check out this article from The National Law Review.
Wellness Corner
Tips for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions
Did you know that people who set New Year's resolutions are 10 times more likely to actually change their behavior than those who don’t make resolutions? The same study also found that people were more successful with approach-oriented goals (changing eating or sleeping habits) than avoidance-oriented goals (cutting out a specific item). If you are already struggling with your resolution, reframing it might make a difference. Instead of avoiding caffeine, adjust it to drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning. Or, instead of saying your goal is to avoid committing malpractice, you could resolve to be proactive in risk mitigation using our 30-Minute Malpractice Checkup. Click here for more tips on keeping your New Year’s resolution.
Upcoming Events
Mid-Atlantic Women Legal Professionals’ Retreat, March 2-5, 2023
We are proud to support the Mid-Atlantic Women Legal Professionals’ Retreat, hosted by the Lawyer Assistance Programs in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Join other women lawyers and legal professionals for a weekend of CLEs and wellness programming at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. For more information and to register, click here!
We look forward to seeing you!
LMICK is proud to support the organizations that support you and your work! We will be out and about this fall, leading CLEs and tabling events. We hope you can join us at one of these currently scheduled events (and make sure to come say hello)!
| Jan. 18-21: | Kentucky Worker’s Compensation Seminar |
| Feb. 9-10: | Kentucky Bar Association New Lawyer Program, Lexington |
| Mar. 2-5: | Mid-Atlantic Women Legal Professionals’ Retreat, Roanoke, VA |
We want to hear from you! Have a CLE topic you would like to see? Send suggestions to
Need a CLE Speaker? We are currently scheduling ethics CLEs for 2023 and would love to speak to your group! You can check out our updated list of available topics and request to schedule, here. Keep in mind that spring fills up quickly as everyone scrambles for ethics credits before the deadline!