CGA MOVE REFLECTS LAW FIRM'S DYNAMIC GROWTH

Significant growth has forced CGA Law Firm to leave its North Duke Street home of 24 years and set up shop atop the new CGA Professional Center, 135 North George Street, York. The move was completed January 24, 2005.

CGA will occupy the 17,000 square feet on the top two floors of the four-story structure formerly known as the Bennett-Williams Building. That represents 5,000 more square feet than CGA had at its 29 North Duke Street location. The extra space was necessitated in part by a staff that nearly doubled in size over the past eight years. The ensuing expansion in areas of expertise enabled the firm to develop a broader, more regional client base, with the end result being the need for a larger, more efficient headquarters.

"We're moving to a bigger space in a better building on a vibrant corridor in Downtown York--less than a block up the street from the new Judicial Center," said Frank Countess, a shareholder in the firm. "It has ample parking, great access and it will allow us to more effectively offer the specialized counsel that gives us a distinct advantage in today's complex legal environment."

"CGA Law Firm has been a fixture in downtown York for decades, and it is appropriate that, as our downtown experiences a renaissance, CGA has relocated to a premiere destination, which it has refurbished, at 135 North George Street," said York City Mayor John S. Brenner.

Matthew Jackson, the City's Economic Development Director, was also pleased, saying, "We are proud of CGA's contributions, not only to our legal community, but to the cultural, economic, and civic life of our county seat. North George Street is experiencing a revival as the nucleus of our downtown entertainment district. Our downtown professional class, in large part, fuels these destination venues and other services."

The firm's leadership committee--Sharon E. Myers, Larry Young, and John Flinchbaugh--first saw the need for larger headquarters several years ago, explained shareholder Jeff Rehmeyer. Not only was CGA outgrowing its Duke Street home, but parking was insufficient for a staff that has grown to include 22 attorneys and more than 30 supporting professionals.

More importantly, leadership recognized the need for an office configuration that would maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of CGA's eight primary areas of expertise: business law, residential and commercial real estate law, litigation, bankruptcy and creditor's rights, employment law, estate and trust planning, municipal and school law, and family law.

"Over the years, we have developed distinct areas of specialization," Rehmeyer said. "As more and more of our clients require these specialized services, we have trained ourselves to recognize which of our attorneys is best qualified to handle a specific legal matter, and we refer accordingly."

Following its strategic planning, the firm explored alternatives, including adding onto the rear of its Duke Street home or purchasing adjoining buildings. As that process was underway, Frank Countess began investigation of 135 North George Street because of its location, parking, and amenities. A thorough investigation of all options, directed by Countess, led the firm to choose the CGA Professional Center.

A building partnership, consisting of many of the firm's shareholders, purchased the CGA Professional Center building in June of 2004. Subsequently, substantial time and effort have gone into renovations, upgrades and furnishings, Rehmeyer said.

"Ultimately, this move is a reflection of CGA's commitment to grow, evolve and better meet every legal issue our clients could possibly encounter," Rehmeyer explained. "And we are delighted to be able to continue to serve the community from Downtown York."

At the same time, Rehmeyer said, CGA's growing profile has extended the firm's influence well beyond York County's borders. "Our firm, in terms of size and scope of expertise, is comparable to the larger firms in Harrisburg. Now, instead of losing York County clients to Harrisburg area firms, we find ourselves keeping those clients and bringing in new clients from Harrisburg and other regional areas."

Countess added, "We control our growth now. We have the space to expand in the future, should we need it, which is a great comfort as we evolve. Typically, if you run out of space in the Downtown area, you're stuck."

The firm's new home, built in 1985, is something of a landmark in Downtown York, since it is the first four-story structure encountered by those entering the city from its northern end. CGA will be sharing the building's 35,000 square feet with Wachovia Securities, the first floor's occupants, and additional second-floor lessees. Frank Countess has been coordinating the property management.

The renovation is being overseen by the firm's Build-out Architectural Committee, headed by shareholder Pete Andrews, who also directed the design and construction of the firm's Duke Street home. Rehmeyer, fellow shareholder Craig Milsten and Office Administrator Pat Klinedinst round out the committee.

The renovations have encompassed a near-gutting of the third and fourth floors in an effort, Andrews said, to make the space more efficient and useable. Also, the building now has a true lobby/reception area serving all the tenants. It includes a marble floor, wood work and laminate detail, and a seating area with a media wall featuring a flatscreen plasma TV. "We've tried to make the building nicer, warmer, and more inviting, without going overboard," explained Andrews.

Architect for the project is Terry Slonaker, of Slonaker McCall, who also designed CGA's Duke Street location. Lisa Quinlivan and Michele Rehmeyer serve as the Design Team for finishes and furnishings. Richard D. Poole, LLC is the general contrator

CGA Partner Larry Young facilitated the sale of the firm's former North Duke Street home.

Although the firm's roots can be traced back nearly 100 years, CGA took shape in 1989 when Jon C. Countess, Gary M. Gilbert and Peter R. Andrews formed Countess Gilbert Andrews. That threesome has been practicing together for over 38 years. In 2001, the firm shortened its name to CGA Law Firm.

The firm, which also has an office in East Berlin, proudly points to its 100 percent participation in the York County Bar Association's pro bono program, as well as to the many community groups and organizations it supports both as a firm and as individual citizens.

MINIMIZE YOUR RISK OF IDENTITY THEFT

Whether we like it or not, identity thieves are resourceful. Their methods are as varied as the ways in which consumers need to use some form of identification to initiate and complete transactions. It can all be confusing and intimidating, but consumers need not feel helpless against the expanding threat of identity theft. For most of the tactics used by the bad guys, there are countermeasures for consumers. These measures cannot completely insure that a consumer's identity is safe, but the odds of becoming a victim decline with each protective step taken. What follows is a nonexhaustive collection of safeguards you can put in place to lower the chances that a stranger will do you harm, even as he adds the insult of pretending to be you.

In the Short Term

* Obtain, review, and insure the accuracy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. These reports have information on where you work and live, your credit accounts, how you pay your bills, and whether you have been sued or arrested or have filed for bankruptcy.

* Use random passwords on your credit card, bank, and telephone accounts rather than birthdays, initials, or other obvious passwords.

* Make sure that the personal information in your home is secure, especially when you have roommates, employ outside workers, or have service and repair work done in your home.

* Look into security procedures for personal information at work. You should be able to find out who can access your information, how your records are kept secure, and what the employer's procedures are for the disposal of records.

Good Habits to Acquire

* Unless you initiated the contact or you know to a certainty whom you are communicating with, do not give out personal information over the telephone, through the mail, or over the Internet. Before sharing information with an organization, use a website or telephone directory to check on its legitimacy.

* Remove your regular mail as promptly as possible from your mailbox before a would-be identity thief beats you to it. For outgoing mail, put it into a collection box rather than leaving it to be picked up from your mailbox. Let the Postal Service hold your mail if you are going to be away.

* Yes, it may sound like overkill at home, but it still makes sense to shred or tear up all those discarded charge receipts and similar papers with personal information. There are people out there more than willing to go through your garbage if it means they get to use your credit cards.

* Travel light, financially speaking. Carry only such identifying information, or credit and debit cards, as you will actually need.

* Stay on top of the timing of your credit card bills. A late or missing bill may be a sign that a thief already has taken over your account.

* Approach promotional contacts with a healthy skepticism. Phony offers are too often successful in getting personal information straight from the victim himself.

* Secure your Social Security number. Keep the card itself in a safe place, not on your person. Ask questions and be satisfied by the answers if any person or business asks for your number. There are some legitimate reasons for giving out your number, but it is not a good enough reason when a business simply wants your number as part of its standard recordkeeping.

Cyber Danger

Computers have their own unique set of threats to the security of your identity, but there is good advice for the wary here, too. Update virus protection software regularly. Do not download files or click on hyperlinks coming from strangers. Use a secure browser and a firewall program, especially if you use a high-speed Internet connection. Avoid storing financial information on a laptop but, if you must, use a strong, random password, do not use an automatic log-in feature, and always log off when you are finished.

MORE BUSINESSES ELIGIBLE FOR C-EZ

The Internal Revenue Service introduced Schedule C-EZ, a simplified expense form, for use by small businesses preparing Form 1040. The IRS recently announced that it will expand the number of small businesses eligible to use the form by 15%, or about 500,000 businesses, beginning with tax year 2004.

The greater availability of Schedule C-EZ will be accomplished by doubling the business expense threshold for businesses that can use the form from $2,500 to $5,000. This change could save as much as five million hours of paperwork for small business taxpayers.

BUSINESS LIABLE FOR NOT INVESTIGATING CREDIT COMPLAINT

Four years after Edward opened a credit card account with one of the major credit card companies, he married Linda. Linda became an authorized user of the card, but she was not, as the credit card company would later claim, a co-applicant for the card. Some years later, without telling Linda, Edward filed for bankruptcy. The credit card company took Edward's name off of the account and notified Linda that she was responsible for the balance on the account, which amounted to many thousands of dollars. After she learned about Edward's secretive bankruptcy, Linda left Edward. But when she tried to buy a condominium on her own, she could not qualify for a mortgage because of the big credit card debt that showed up on her credit record.

Linda's efforts to free herself from the effects of Edward's overspending began by getting copies of her credit reports from all three major credit reporting agencies. These reports confirmed her worst fears, showing her as being legally responsible for the credit card balance. Linda notified the reporting agencies that she disputed the fact that she was obligated on the account, and the agencies informed the credit card company of Linda's position.

In response to learning that Linda was challenging her responsibility for the debt, the credit card company was required by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act to conduct an "investigation" regarding the disputed information. The nature and extent of that investigative duty became the focus of Linda's lawsuit under the Act. She filed suit when the company continued to maintain that Linda was responsible for the debt, thereby leaving in place the black cloud over her credit picture.

Linda won her case, with an award of damages for good measure. The credit card company had not satisfied its duty to investigate. After hearing from the credit reporting agencies, the company simply confirmed that the disputed information provided by the agencies matched the account information in its computer system. This cursory review was no "investigation." Federal law required the creditor to look beyond the bare information in its customer information system, such as by consulting underlying documents. In this case, the most important document would have been the credit card application submitted by Edward. As it happened, the company had lost the application, but that did not get it off the hook. Had the company done enough to discover that the key document was missing, it at least could have informed the credit reporting agencies that there was no conclusive proof that Linda was responsible for the credit card debt.

FDIC INSURANCE FOR REVOCABLE TRUSTS

In 2004, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) put in place new rules for insurance coverage of living trust accounts in FDIC-insured institutions. A living trust, sometimes called a family trust, is a formal revocable trust. Its owner specifies who will receive the trust assets when the owner dies. During his or her lifetime, the owner, also known as a grantor or settlor, maintains control of the trust assets and has the power to make changes in the trust.

The owner of a living trust account is insured up to $100,000 per beneficiary if each of the following three requirements is met:

(1) The beneficiary must be the owner's spouse, child, grandchild, parent, or sibling. Not every relative qualifies. For example, cousins, nieces, and nephews do not qualify, but stepparents, stepchildren, and adopted children do.

(2) The beneficiary must become entitled to his or her interest in the trust when the owner dies. FDIC insurance coverage would be based on the beneficiaries who satisfy this requirement as of the time when a bank fails.

(3) The title of the account at the bank must indicate, with terms such as "living trust" or "family trust," that the account is held by a trust.

While insurance coverage is based on the actual interests of each beneficiary, the FDIC will assume that the beneficiaries have equal interests in the trust account unless the trust states otherwise. By way of a simple example, if a father has a living trust leaving all of the trust assets equally to his three children, the account would be insured up to $300,000. The total coverage consists of $100,000 for each of the three qualifying beneficiaries, who would become owners of the trust when their father dies.

PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION AT WORK

In 1978, Congress amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include a more specific prohibition on pregnancy-related discrimination. Ever since then, it has been unlawful for employers having 15 or more employees to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.

The most clear-cut forms of pregnancy discrimination occur when an employer refuses to hire an applicant because she is pregnant or fires an existing employee because she becomes pregnant. But there are more subtle, but no less prohibited, forms of pregnancy discrimination, such as in the areas of accrual and crediting of seniority, compensation, leave from work, health insurance, and other fringe benefits. Although pregnancy is in many ways a unique condition, a rule of thumb for employers is that they may not treat pregnant employees adversely as compared with employees having comparable temporary medical conditions.

If, because of her pregnancy, an employee is temporarily unable to work, she must be treated like any other temporarily disabled employee. This standard does not render an employer powerless to require anything of the employee, but the approach must be even-handed. For example, if the employer normally requires a doctor's statement verifying an inability to work, the same can be required of a pregnant employee.

If the employer has a policy allowing temporarily disabled workers to ease back into work with modified tasks or different assignments, similar flexibility must be shown to the pregnant worker. If an employer generally holds open a job for a certain period of time for someone out on sick leave or disability leave, a pregnant employee is entitled to such treatment, no more or less.

Ironclad rules are more likely to expose companies to liability under the federal discrimination law. A rule requiring a pregnant employee on leave to stay on leave until the baby is born, regardless of whether she may have recovered from the condition related to the pregnancy, invites a lawsuit. Employers also cannot have a policy that prohibits an employee from returning to work for a predetermined time period after giving birth.