Sensei is very excited for our CEO, Michael Maschke, who is now a member of the Fairfax Law Foundation’s Board of Directors!

About the foundation: The Fairfax Law Foundation is the 501 (c)(3) sister organization to the Fairfax Bar. Since its founding in 1982, the Fairfax Law Foundation has proven itself to be both an exemplary and necessary non-profit organization in Northern Virginia, providing Fairfax County residents with direct access to the legal community. Through both educational and charitable activities, the Fairfax Law Foundation remains true to its motto of “Equal Justice For All.”

The Fairfax Law Foundation works tirelessly to improve the public’s understanding of and access to the justice system — whether that be through law related education for minors, pro bono programs, or raising funds for the Fairfax County Law Library. The Foundation’s pro bono program is spearheaded by a full-time Director of Pro Bono Activities — the only such position in the Commonwealth of Virginia; the program works with volunteer lawyers, law students, and paralegals to provide legal assistance to those who could not otherwise afford quality and thorough representation. Of equal importance to our pro bono program is our law related education, which seeks to teach minors about the justice system — engaging them on the “right” side of the law in an effort to ensure they grow up to be law abiding, productive citizens. The Foundation puts on a number of events per year which seek to raise both awareness and funds for the organization.

The mission of the Foundation is to:

• Provide law-related education to our youth and community
• Provide direct legal assistance to the indigent and those with special needs
• Promote access to and improvements in the justice system

See more here.

“The Ransomware Epidemic and How to Protect Your Law Firm” by Sensei’s Sharon Nelson and John Simek was featured in the May 2018 edition of the Oregon State Bar Bulletin. 

Excerpt: Remember the good old days of ransomware? You would get an e-mail saying that you owed the IRS money and could pay it via a helpfully included link. Lots of people did this because it was only a couple of hundred dollars. And who wants to duke it out with the IRS? The same dull-witted people fell for the e-mail claiming that someone at your home had downloaded music or movies illegally (much more likely true than the first scenario) and you needed to pay a fine so no one would come after you (or your spouse/child) for a much greater sum. Again, the price was relatively small and many people paid.

The likelihood that a lawyer would fall for these primitive versions of ransomware was small. Fast forward to the days of Cryptolocker which began in 2013. This ransomware Trojan attacked computers running Microsoft Windows, propagating itself by getting a user to click on an attachment or a link contained in an e-mail. Click on the link or attachment and “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner” the malware invisibly downloaded and began to encrypt your files. The malware encrypted files stored locally on the computer system as well as on any mapped network drives, such as those files on your server, connected flash drives and other external USB drives.

Sensei is excited to be a scorecard sponsor of The 18th Chipping in to End Domestic Violence Charity Golf Tournament hosted by Cooper Ginsberg Gray LLC. The tournament this year will be held on October 1 at the Bull Run Golf Club.

About the tournament: Since we started the golf tournament over eighteen years ago, we have raised over $390,000 for the abused women and children at the Artemis House (Fairfax County’s Only 24 Hour Domestic Violence Shelter – operated by Shelter House).

Your generous support enables the Artemis House to continue their efforts in assisting victims of domestic violence.  The Artemis House offers a safe, confidential location and supportive counseling to victims of domestic abuse in addition to offering psycho-educational programs on domestic violence, helping connect individuals to services needed, and providing a time to gather themselves emotionally and resume functioning in society.

See more here.