News & Updates
Celebrating Black History Month
Since 1976, February has been designated Black History Month, aimed at honoring the significant contributions of African-Americans to our country as well as acknowledging the significant struggles faced across generations. The American Bar Association has compiled a great list of resources to help lawyers and firms recognize Black History month. The ABA’s celebration of Black Legal Trailblazers includes Kentucky’s own Lonita K. Baker, President of the National Bar Association.
LMICK is proud to support the NBA’s Midyear Conference, coming to Louisville April 27-30, 2023, which will pay homage to civil rights leaders Gertrude E. Rush and Heman Sweatt. We are excited to welcome the NBA to Kentucky and hope to see you there!
Attention: eFiling Update
New electronic filing rules issued by the Kentucky Supreme Court that became effective in late December 2022 merit immediate attention by attorneys and their support staff.1 The new rules apply to all levels of e-filing in the Courts including civil, criminal, domestic, juvenile, and probate cases, and at both the trial and appellate courts levels. To the extent that these the Supreme Court’s eFiling Rules conflict or controvert local court rules, procedures or orders, the Supreme Court’s Rules prevail. Click here for the highlights of the eFiling updates.
Practice Tips
State Medicaid Subrogation Expanded by the United States Supreme Court
Did you see the article in the Kentucky Justice Association’s The Advocate by LMICK’s own Chair of the Board of Directors, Ruth Baxter? The article takes an in-depth look at the Gallardo v. Marstiller decision. Kentucky limits Medicaid recovery to Estates and does not currently make subrogation claims against personal injury Medicaid recipients. This Supreme Court decision, however, opens the door to allow all states, including Kentucky, to explore avenues for recovering medical expenses from personal injury settlements of those who received Medicaid benefits.
Thank you to the KJA for sharing this resource with us. You can learn more about KJA membership benefits, including resources like The Advocate, here.
Mediators, Consultants, and Financial Planners Beware: How to Mitigate Risk When Providing Law-Related Services
Are you a Kentucky lawyer that provides mediation services? Owns a consulting business? Is a certified financial planner? If so, you will want to take a close look at Kentucky’s new professional conduct rule: SCR 3.130(5.8) Responsibilities regarding law-related services. The rule creates a default: to apply the rules of professional conduct to any nonlegal work you perform that falls within the definition of law-related services (Rule 5.8(2)). This impacts how you handle confidentiality, conflicts, fiduciary duties, and more.
A formal ethics opinion on the rule is forthcoming and we will share that with you as soon as it is available. Also, keep your eye out on the 2023 KBA Convention agenda for a session dedicated to this issue and the forthcoming opinion. In the meantime, click here to read LMICK’s article and see how you can mitigate your risk.
Wellness Corner
New Study Demonstrates Connection Between Burnout and Work Environment
A study looking at 4,450 Massachusetts lawyers revealed high levels of burnout (77%) as well as significant rates of anxiety (26%), depression (21%), and suicidal ideation (7%). All of these numbers are higher than average for U.S. adults—something that may not be surprising. However, this study also observed the factors that contribute to a supportive work environment. “Lawyers who reported having a supportive work environment where they are treated with kindness and respect, given flexibility and have access to mentorship had higher satisfaction with life and lower rates of burnout, anxiety and depression.”
This study further demonstrates how important firm culture is for our well-being and mental health. You can find more details about the study in this ABA Journal article. Plus, keep an eye out for one LMICK’s sessions at the Kentucky Bar Association Convention in June which will explore the connection between firm culture, employee retention, and attorney wellness.
Upcoming Events
Free Ethics CLE:
Oyez! Oyez! An Overview of the New Kentucky Rules of Appellate Procedure
March 14, 2023, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
1.0 hour of Kentucky CLE credit, pending approval
LMICK is continuing to offer quarterly CLEs to our insureds in 2023. For our first quarter CLE, we are excited to welcome Bethany Breetz, Counsel at Stites & Harbison and co-chair of Stite’s Appellate Advocacy team, who served as Chair of the Kentucky Supreme Court Appellate Rules Committee, which drafted the now adopted updates.
Whether you routinely handle appellate cases or do so only on occasion, this session is for you! Attendees will gain an understanding of the overall changes to the appellate rules due to the adoption of the standalone Kentucky Rules of Appellate Procedure (RAP), effective January 1, 2023 (Supreme Court Order 2022-49). The session will discuss the rules and commentary provided during the Supreme Court hearing regarding RAP, to give context for the changes and provide appellate practitioners a firm foundation before tackling their next brief. Click here to register, today!
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)!
| Mar. 2-5: | Mid-Atlantic Women Legal Professionals’ Retreat, Roanoke, VA |
| Mar 14: | LMICK First Quarter CLE, virtual: Oyez! Oyez! An Overview of the New Appellate Rules |
| Mar 17: | Kentucky Defense Counsel Spring Seminar, Louisville |
| Mar 30: | University of Kentucky Collection Law Conference, Lexington |
| Apr 19-20: | University of Kentucky Workers’ Compensation Institute, Lexington |
| Apr 21: | Kentucky Justice Association Ethics Day, TBA |
| Apr 26: | KBA/AAML Annual Family Law Conference, Louisville |
| Apr 27-30: | National Bar Association Midyear Conference, Louisville |
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!