Press

Although cyber attacks can happen to any business, certain industries may be more likely to be targeted — particularly those that access or store a lot of sensitive client or customer data or information. Shavon J. Smith, a Washington, D.C.-based business attorney and founder of SJS Law Firm, works with small management and IT consulting firms that contract with big businesses and are therefore given access to their information, but are viewed as less secure because of their size.

In 2009, Black attorneys represented 1.71% of law firm partners. Today, Black attorneys represent 1.81% of partners. According to the National Association for Law Placement 2017 Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms, “women and minority partners remain fairly dramatically under-represented in U.S. law firms,” with women minorities being the “most dramatically underrepresented group” of all.

Managing the day to day operations of a small business can be a never ending set of tasks. One way to avoid getting overwhelmed is to get annual legal checkups. Check out this podcast with Darryl Maxwell, a Managing Attorney at the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, and Shavon Smith, founder of The SJS Law Firm, PLLC, as they discuss the components of a successful legal checkup.

Throughout one’s legal career you will get advice aplenty: Take this bar, work in Big Law, don’t work in Big Law, go into this practice area, don’t practice in this city. The list foes on. But there is one piece of advice I have heard in every stage of my career from lawyers of all stripes: do pro bono work.