ALPS 411 is a multi-authored blog from the ALPS Corporation featuring expert staff and guest writers with a focus on making lawyers safe and successful in their practice.

Share Your Legal View

Share Your Legal ViewThe best way to get to know your stuff is to write about it. At ALPS 411, we give you that opportunity.

Share a practice management tip, opinion, advice for young lawyers, or an interesting story from your legal career.

It's up to you - lend your voice to our thriving law practice forum!

 

 

 

 

Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to submit to ALPS 411. Our blog manager will review your content and contact you when its scheduled to post.

Sincerely, The ALPS 411 Crew


Thank You For Sharing

About ALPS 411

ALPS 411, a blog for the legal community, businesses, and entrepreneurs, is published by ALPS Corporation and its family of professional service companies. This forum is designed for the exchange of information and ideas regarding risk management, professionalism, ethics, international law, and technology in the practice of law. Staff and guest bloggers provide helpful and useful information on practice management, malpractice avoidance, claims, underwriting, finances, marketing, social media, legal IT, e-discovery, career development, and more.

Write for ALPS 411

Are you an experienced legal or business blogger or an expert in one of our topic areas? Interested in directing traffic to your own blog or website? If so, the publishers of ALPS 411 are always open to quality, informative guest posts and in recruiting new regular contributors.

Let us know whether you're considering a single post, a series of posts, or if you would like to contribute on a regular basis. Send a pitch for what you would like blog about, along with samples of any existing published blogs, to our administrator via email.

Submission Guidelines

Guest posts should range from 500-1,200 words providing relevant information concerning the practice of law, best business practices, or any of the topics listed in the About section above. Submit your posts in the body of an email to our administrator or as a Word document (no PDFs). Guest posts must be 100% original content. Note: it is okay to cite and/or provide links to other resources.

Guest blog submissions must include the following information: Your full name, Title, Email, Law Firm or Company Name, Address and Telephone Number. You may also provide a bio in a separate document.

Guest posts to ALPS 411 are unpaid. Your content, however, will be exposed to a thriving blog community of current subscribers and mentioned on our social media channels, all while providing you with opportunities to augment your vitae and direct traffic to your own blog or website.

Tips on Writing Guest Posts


Use of Content

When you submit a guest post, you grant ALPS 411 and ALPS Corporation an exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual license to publish online any content you create for us, whether text, video, audio, or any other medium, with attribution. Online publication includes websites, email, or other Internet-based media. You also grant us a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual license to publish offline any content you create for us, whether text, video, audio, or any other medium, with attribution. Offline publication may include printed, recorded, or other tangible media.

Legal Information

Links

ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs

ABA Tech Overviews & Charts

ARMA International

ASU Legal Forms Library

Electronic Discovery Reading Room

Freivogel on Conflicts

SANS Security Policy Project

Sedona Conference

Sample Forms

Disengagement Letter for Unpaid Fees

Employee Confidentiality Agreement

Letters of Closure

Notice of Attorney Departure

Estate Planning Waiver - Joint Representation

Vendor Confidentiality Agreement

Client Intake Form

Articles

Rules Regarding the Billing & Collection of Fees

Insurance Applications Say More Than You Might Think


The Ins-n-Outs of Tail Coverage


Ask the Right Questions When Purchasing Malpractice Insurance


When It Comes to File Retention Planning, Don't Overlook File Storage Concerns


The Basics of File Retention & Destruction

"Well, What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate"

Thinking Through the Decision to Hire a Contract Attorney

The Hazards of Board Memberships


Counsel for Those Considering Establishing Of Counsel Relationships

Two Quick and Easy Calendar Tips for the Busy Practice

Contact Us

Contact us today to experience the ALPS difference.

Call Us: (800) 367-2577 or (406) 728-3113

E-mail Us

Fax: (406) 728-7416

Corporate Headquarters:
Florence Building
111 North Higgins Ave, Suite 200
Missoula, MT 59802

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 9169
Missoula, MT 59807-9169

Disclaimer

Blog Disclaimer

ALPS Corporation presents the information on the ALPS 411 blog as a service to its insureds and members of the general public. While the information on this site concerns legal and other issues, it is not intended as legal advice or as a substitute for the particularized advice of your own counsel. Anyone seeking specific legal advice or assistance should contact an attorney. Use of this blog and blog site is not intended to and does not constitute, in any manner, an attorney-client relationship between ALPS and the user.

This publication could include inaccuracies or typographical errors. The materials on this blog and blog site are not intended to and do not constitute legal advice, do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ALPS Corporation or any of its employees, and are not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up-to-date.

This publication is provided as is without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

Links Disclaimer

Some links within the ALPS 411 blog and blog site may lead to other sites that we believe may be useful or informative. The ALPS 411 blog and blog site do not incorporate any materials appearing in such linked sites by reference. These links to third party sites or information are not intended as, and should not be interpreted by you as constituting or implying our endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation of the third party information, products or services found there. We do not maintain or control these sites and, accordingly, make no guarantee concerning the accuracy, reliability or currency of the information found there.

Trademark and Copyright Infringement Policy


You agree not to infringe copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other proprietary rights. By posting any content, you represent and warrant that you have all right, title, and interest to such posted content, including but not limited to any consent, authorization, release, clearance or license from any third party (such as, but not limited to, any release related to rights of privacy or publicity) necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the content, and that posting such content does not violate or constitute the infringement of any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of privacy, right of publicity, moral rights, or other intellectual property right recognized by any applicable jurisdiction of any person or entity, or otherwise constitute the breach of any agreement with any other person or entity.

You further represent and warrant that you are who you say you are, that you have not submitted fictitious, false or inaccurate information about yourself, and that all information contained in the posted content is true and your own work or work you are authorized to submit, and that the posted content does not contain any threatening, harassing, libelous, false, defamatory, offensive, obscene, or pornographic, material, or other material that would violate any other applicable law or regulation. You agree that you will not knowingly and with intent to defraud provide material and misleading information. You represent and warrant that the content you supply does not violate our Terms of Use. ALPS will take down material in response to a notice of copyright infringement and ALPS will take reasonable steps to notify the party whose allegedly-infringing content was taken down, including providing a copy of the complaint. ALPS may terminate the posting privileges of repeat infringers, and provides detailed instructions as to how to file a counter-notification.

Copyright Complaints

Notice and Takedown Procedure

It is our policy to expeditiously respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This page describes the information that should be present in these notices. It is designed to make submitting notices of alleged infringement to the ALPS Designated Agent as straightforward as possible while reducing the number of notices that we receive that are fraudulent or difficult to understand or verify. The form of notice specified below is consistent with the form suggested by the DMCA. 

It is expected that all users of any part of ALPS site will comply with applicable copyright laws. However, if ALPS receives proper notification of claimed copyright infringement, our response to these notices will include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity and/or terminating subscribers, regardless of whether we may be liable for such infringement under United States law or the laws of another jurisdiction.

If we remove or disable access in response to such a notice, we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the owner or administrator of the affected site or content so that they may make a counter notification pursuant to Sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the DMCA. We may also document notices of alleged infringement on which we act.

Designated Agent

ALPS's Designated Agent to receive notification of alleged infringement under the DMCA is:
Bradley D. Dantic, Esq.
111 North Higgins Ave., Suite 200
Missoula, MT 59802
Email: bdantic@alpsnet.com

Upon receipt of proper notification of claimed infringement, ALPS will follow the procedures outlined herein and in the DMCA.

Infringement Notification

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide ALPS's Designate Agent (listed above) the following information in a written communication (preferably via email):

1.    Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;

2.    Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit ALPS to locate the material;

3.    Information reasonably sufficient to permit ALPS to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an email address at which the complaining party may be contacted;

4.    The following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law";

5.    The following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate, and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed"; and

6.    A physical or electronic signature of the owner or a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Please note that you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that material is infringing your copyrights. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.

Counter Notification

A provider of content subject to a claim of infringement may make a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the DMCA. To file a counter notification with us, please provide ALPS's Designated Agent (listed above) the following information in a written communication (preferably via email):

1.    Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled;

2.    Your name, address, and telephone number;

3.    The following statement: "I consent to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the [insert the federal judicial district in which your address is located]";

4.    The following statement: "I will accept service of process from [insert the name of the person who submitted the infringement notification] or his/her agent";

5.    The following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that the affected material was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled"; and

6.    Your signature, in physical or electronic form.

Upon receipt of such counter notification, ALPS will promptly provide the person who provided the original infringement notification with a copy of the counter notification, and inform that person that ALPS will replace the removed material or cease disabling access to it in 10 business days. ALPS will replace the removed material and cease disabling access to it not less than 10, nor more than 14 business days following receipt of the counter notice, unless our Designated Agent first receives notice from the person who submitted the original infringement notification that such person has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on our system or network.

Repeat Infringers

In accordance with Section 512(i)(1)(a) of the DMCA, ALPS will, in appropriate circumstances, disable and/or terminate the posting privileges of users who are repeat infringers.

Accommodation of Standard Technical Measures

It is ALPS's policy to accommodate and not interfere with standard technical measures used by copyright owners to identify or protect copyrighted works that ALPS determines are reasonable under the circumstances.