Attorneys at Russell, Krafft & Gruber took part in the Community Wellness Expo at the Hempfield Rec Center on March 8. Attorneys Lindsay Schoeneberger, Kathy Krafft Miller and Kim Carter Paterson provided information and answered questions about Wills, Estate Planning, Financial Powers of Attorney and Health Care Directives and Powers of Attorney. Health Care Directives and Powers of Attorney are an important but often overlooked part of health planning. Everyone, regardless of their age or their current health status, should have a plan for what happens if things go wrong. Even though it is unpleasant to talk about, it is much more unpleasant to have an emergency with no plan in place.
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Russell, Krafft & Gruber’s Virtual Office is Open for Business
The past few weeks have been challenging for everyone. We know that each of our clients has been impacted in different ways. As we work to help you with the questions and concerns that arise with new developments every day, rest assured that we are still here to help. Our three physical office locations are
Get Out The Vote (Or Stay In And Vote From Home)
For the first time, you can now cast your ballot by mail. Recently enacted election reform laws now allow all registered voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to vote by mail. Prior to the change in the law, only voters who obtained an absentee ballot, after explaining why they were unable to vote in person, could vote by mail. Now, anyone who wishes to, regardless of whether they are or are not able to make it to their polling place, can vote by mail.
You can check your voter registration status online to determine if you are registered to vote and where your polling place is. You can also register to vote online or by mailing a voter registration form to your county voter registration office.
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Something to Celebrate: Data Privacy Day!
I have been thinking a lot lately about all of the new “holidays” that are being invented. While I am all for celebrating National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day and National Sibling Day, I am having a hard time keeping up. While scrolling through Facebook recently to catch up on all the cute baby pictures my friends have been posting, I saw a notice from the Facebook Privacy Team about “Data Privacy Day.” Turns out, Data Privacy Day is an annual event that occurs each year on January 28th.
This announcement from Facebook got me thinking about how private my online presence is across all of my personal accounts. Although I am very cautious about my social media privacy settings, only allowing my “friends” and approved followers to view my content, I am not so sure about how secure my other accounts really are. So, I decided, to go all in on celebrating Data Privacy Day.
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The Year of Teamwork
At the beginning of last year, I wrote one of my favorite posts about why getting a mentor should be your New Year’s resolution. In a nutshell, that article posited that we live in a world full of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, and one of the best ways to help you through it was to find a trusted advisor. In my view, an essential quality of a great mentor is knowing the limits of their expertise and working as a team with others to achieve the best result for the mentee.
This year I’ve decided to ditch the New Year’s resolution concept and implement a yearly theme, inspired by the Theme System. My 2020 theme is the Year of Teamwork. I want to focus on teamwork because I’ve found that the most rewarding relationships I’ve had are when I’ve been a part of a team, where there’s been give and take by each teammate, all working towards a common goal. These relationships lead to successful outcomes.
I’ve been part of teams for as long as I can remember: little league baseball, my Boy Scout Troop, lacrosse, my family, our firm. I’ve been a part of high performing teams, and teams that fell short of their potential. I think it’s always been my goal to be a good teammate, but sometimes it’s easy to lose focus of your individual role while you’re focusing on the bigger picture.
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Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP has named Brandon S. Harter a Partner of the firm
The law firm of Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP has named Brandon S. Harter a Partner effective January 1, 2020.
Brandon uses an efficient, tech-savvy approach to provide quality legal counsel to his business, municipal, and individual clients. And for Brandon’s clients in the tech sector, his love of technology brings an additional level of understanding about the unique challenges they face.
Brandon’s practice regularly involves handling lawsuits in the Pennsylvania and federal courts. In those disputes, his eDiscovery knowledge provides an invaluable resource to improve his client’s chances of victory. Brandon also serves as a discovery master who is appointed by the Court to help other lawyers resolve their discovery disputes.
Outside the litigation arena, Brandon’s practice regularly includes reviewing contracts and providing advice on employment law and municipal law issues. Brandon’s unique experience and perspective are invaluable to his clients on privacy, data security, and social media issues that increasingly arise for both private businesses and public entities.
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Public Service Announcement: 2020 Date Fraud
In the past, I’ve written about why you should care about legal writing – it can help you avoid costly mistakes. Sometimes the entire legal effect of a document can hinge on something as seemingly inconsequential as a comma. Today’s post focuses on another simple tip, but one that could prevent fraud in various ways.
Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP Welcomes D. Scott Eaby
The attorneys of Russell, Krafft & Gruber, LLP are pleased to welcome D. Scott Eaby to their expanding legal practice. He will serve new and existing clients from the firm’s branch office at 108 West Main Street in Ephrata. Scott has resided in Ephrata, Lancaster County all of his life, and has proudly served families
Five Practical Tips for Responding to Online Criticism
One of the most common issues I am asked about is what a small business can do about online criticism. Here are five practical tips any business can use to help manage their online reputation.
- Know What is Being Said About You
To effectively manage your online reputation, you need to know what is being said about your business. Keep an eye on the platforms that matter most to you. For a professional services business like mine, that means watching platforms like LinkedIn. But for other businesses Facebook, Twitter, or Amazon might be more important. And almost every business benefits from keeping an eye on Google’s reviews.
And try to keep an eye on what is being said in the news because many online newspapers allow comments to be posted after articles. We use Google Alerts to get automatic email notifications when our firm or attorneys are mentioned online.
- Respond, But Remember You Cannot Argue with Crazy
It is important not to ignore online criticism. But you also cannot argue with a crazy customer. Remember that the primary purpose of responding to an online critique is not to resolve that customer’s situation (more on that below). The purpose is so the rest of the world reading the criticism can see you responded in an empathetic and respectful manner. Use some form of “we are sorry to hear you had a bad experience,” but do not use a stock response. Craft each response based upon the criticism leveled. That shows you are aware of the concern and care about it.
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Business Wellness Checkups
Great article from John Stoner, Partner at RKL! We often have the pleasure of working with John on behalf of our mutual clients and he is truly an expert when it comes to business advisors. His article also highlights the need for business owners to take a look at their performance and critically evaluate