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July 2015
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JULY 2015
FEATURED ARTICLEBreakup Tips for the Broken Attorney-Client RelationshipBy Colin G. AndriesMy client sent me a bill for the time he spent working on his case. It was officially time to break up.
TECHNOLOGYAttorney Rating Systems: Should You Play? Part 2By Stacey L. RombergPart 2 of the article on attorney rating systems.
Product Note: Amazon EchoBy Nicole BlackCan this device help you become and stay organized?
TAPAs: Workforce Hiring and Managing TipsBy Jeffrey Allen and Ashley HalleneTechnology news and tips to help you become more efficient and effective. This month: all about your workforce, including hiring and managing tips.
SUBSTANTIVE LAWDefine Your Real Estate Law PracticeBy Dean AltermanHow to think about differentiating your practice from the others.
Trial Practice: A View From the BenchBy Joseph S. KieferAn excerpt explaining how to litigate better from a judge's point of view.
Demand Letters: The Lingua Franca of AttorneysBy David J. CookLearn to think about demand letters in ways you have not previously considered.
Ten Motivational Quotes on Servant Leadership
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July 2015
http://www.americanbar.org/publications/gpsolo_ereport/2015/july_2015.html[7/20/2015 10:21:12 AM]
By Dr. Artika TynerWhat is servant leadership, and how can it change how you practice law?
Should You Play? Part 2
Product Note: Amazon Echo
June 2015FEATURED STORIES
Leverage Your Professional Brand Online
Product Note: Apple Watch
TAPAs: Use PowerPoint for Fun and Profit
May 2015FEATURED STORIES
Using Copywriting Techniques to Write More Persuasive Appellate Briefs
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GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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Breakup Tips for the Broken Attorney-Client Relationship | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Breakup Tips for the Broken Attorney-Client RelationshipVol. 4, No. 12 Colin G. Andries
Colin G. Andries operates a solo practice in Portland, Oregon.
As any new practitioner knows, it can be hard to find paying work. So, early in my practice, when I received a referral for a relatively simple landlord-tenant matter (at a reduced rate), I was just happy for the work. Maybe a little too happy. I ignored what I now know to be two very big red flags—litigation with a previous attorney over fees and (very) unrealistic expectations.
Barely a month into my representation, I was frustrated. The client frequently changed his settlement demands, making negotiating with opposing counsel almost impossible. He refused to provide discovery, and he routinely contacted me to discuss, at length, various concerns—communications that he later complained were too expensive. Of course, these are not unusual attributes of a client. But, then my client sent me a bill for the time he spent working on his case. After deducting what he owed me for my work, I still owed him money. It was officially time to break up.
All client relationships come to some sort of an end—the case goes to trial and a verdict is returned, a settlement is reached, or the deal is closed. However, if you are in private practice long enough, you will eventually encounter a client whose representation must be ended before it has run its normal course. Sometimes, the reasons for withdrawal are obvious (e.g., inability to pay, conflict of interest). But sometimes a client will not show her true colors until weeks or months have passed. Resignation (or withdrawal) as someone’s legal counsel is difficult and must be handled carefully to protect you and your (soon-to-be-former) client.
The RulesUnder ABA Model Rule 1.16(a), an attorney shall withdraw from representation when: a) their representation will result in a violation of the ethical rules or another law (for example, there is a conflict of interest); b) the lawyer’s mental or physical condition materially impairs the ability to represent the client; or c) the client has discharged the attorney.
In contrast, ABA Model Rule 1.16(b) provides for when a lawyer may withdraw. These situations include, but are not limited to, when the client insists on taking action considered repugnant or in fundamental disagreement with the attorney; the client has failed to fulfill an obligation to the lawyer and the client has been given notice of such failure; or representation would place an unreasonable financial burden on the attorney. Additionally, an attorney may withdraw if other “good cause” exists. ABA Model Rule 1.16(b)(7).
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Breakup Tips for the Broken Attorney-Client Relationship | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Watch for Red FlagsCertain clues may indicate the relationship is heading south. This begins at the initial intake. Common red flags include: the client who has had multiple lawyers, a client reluctant to pay a retainer to get started, or even the potential client that struggles to communicate with you and constantly reschedules appointments. In each of these situations, there could be a reasonable explanation. The key is to notice the warnings and understand why it is happening so that, in the future, you don’t get stuck.
As the representation continues, watch for additional danger signs. First, are you getting paid? A client unwilling, or unable, to pay a bill is a clear indicator to evaluate the attorney-client relationship. The decision to take a case pro bono should be the attorney’s, not the client’s.
Second, is the client verbally or physically abusive to you or your staff? Life is too short to not be treated professionally and with respect. You are often helping a client through one of the worst experiences of his or her life, but that is no excuse for abusive behavior.
Third, the client has threatened to complain to a bar. In some states, a bar complaint is not a per se conflict of interest. However, a lawyer’s desire to avoid bar discipline could cause a personal conflict limiting the lawyer’s ability to properly represent a client.
Finally, if the client is unresponsive to requests for discovery, information, or other materials, or is generally unresponsive, this can severely impair an attorney’s ability to do his or her job. As an officer of the court, you have a duty to your client, but you also have a reputation, and you can be held liable in some situations for failing to respond properly. If your client is not assisting with the representation and providing you with what you need, it is time to reassess. In addition to explaining what you need, why you need it, and when you need it, document the issues and inform the client. Providing representation that is not your best because your client is not participating in his or her case is not in the best interest of this client or your future clients.
How to WithdrawIf you come to the conclusion that the relationship must be severed, remember that the goal is to withdraw quickly and without professional or business repercussions from the client, the bar, or the court. ABA Model Rule 1.16(d) states, “Upon termination of representation, a lawyer shall take steps to the extent reasonably practicable to protect a client’s interests, such as giving reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering papers and property which the client is entitled and refunding any advance payment of fee or expense that has not been earned or incurred.”
Provide NoticeAppropriate notice first provides the client with an opportunity to change his or her behavior. Second, it provides the client with a warning that termination is on the horizon. Finally, notice is evidence that the attorney has behaved professionally and is not leaving the client in a bind should there be questions about the attorney’s motive or timing by the bar or a judge.
Move PromptlyABA Model Rule 1.16(b)(1) states that withdrawal may be made if “withdrawal can be accomplished without material adverse effect on the interests of the client.” As such, the attorney should not wait until the last minute to move to withdraw. This is beneficial to you and your client—the client has more time to find new representation, and you are able to move on. The closer a case moves to an important hearing or deadline, the less likely the court will grant permission to withdraw.
Notify the Court and Opposing Counsel of the WithdrawalIn a court proceeding, an attorney will need permission from the court to withdraw. In a transactional matter, if there is opposing counsel, the attorney will need to notify opposing counsel of withdrawal and who they can contact for further information. Withdrawing attorneys, however, cannot wholly disregard the relationship, as ABA Model Rule 1.6 provides that attorneys still have a duty to the
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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Breakup Tips for the Broken Attorney-Client Relationship | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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client and must maintain client’s confidences.
Provide Information to the Client Upon Approval to WithdrawProvide clients with all information they will need to move forward on the matter. This information includes, but is not limited to the following:
The client’s file. While you have worked on the file and can often keep a copy, the file itself belongs to the client and should be promptly returned.A letter officially ending the relationship.A final accounting of the trust account and a check for any prepaid money still left and unearned.
Advice for the Non-Lead AttorneyIf you are a first- or second-year associate working with a partner, it is unlikely that it is your place to terminate the relationship. However, you have a responsibility to speak up. You may be the first to recognize if a client is unresponsive with discovery or is particularly challenging in communication.
If issues come up that cause concern, notify the primary attorney and discuss what your role is and how to respond. If you are the litigation associate in charge of discovery, it might be appropriate to contact the client directly to tell them they are missing important deadlines and the potential consequences. Or, it could be that the primary attorney wants to handle all communications. The key is to provide the primary attorney with all information.
Post-Termination IssuesAlways act professionally and respectfully toward your client. In many circumstances, the client understands the reason for the termination, and maintaining professionalism could result in some form of future business. After several years as a solo practitioner, a large majority of my business comes from referrals from other attorneys, friends, family, and past clients. If the client has not paid a bill because he or she ran out of money, treat that client professionally and do not embarrass him or her. And when that client’s friends or family need help, that client is more likely to give you a good recommendation.
In an ideal world, you would be a great fit for each client that walks through your door. But just as personal relationships don’t always work out, not all attorney-client relationships are a good fit. You may need to terminate a relationship. Remember that the goal is to handle the situation efficiently and professionally. Paying attention to the ethical rules and common professionalism will help get you there.
Note
“Breakup Tips for the Broken Attorney-Client Relationship,” by Colin G. Andries originally appeared in TYL Magazine, June 2015, available at www.americanbar.org/publications/tyl/topics/client-development/break-up-tips-broken-attorney-client-relationship.html. 2015 © by the American Bar Association. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
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Attorney Rating Systems: Should You Play? Part 2 | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Attorney Rating Systems: Should You Play? Part 2Vol. 4, No. 12 Stacey L. Romberg
Stacey L. Romberg is a Seattle attorney focusing on business law, estate planning, and probate. For further information, please see Stacey’s website at www.staceyromberg.com.
This article is the second of three installments designed to provide insight into recent ethical opinions governing attorney rating systems as well as specific factors attorneys should consider in deciding whether to participate in these systems, and if and how to respond to online criticism on these websites. Click here to access the first installment.
How did Washington’s recent ethics opinion describe the ethical limits to participating in attorney rating systems?What ethical limits should an attorney consider when a fellow attorney provides an endorsement, and then requests a reciprocal endorsement?
In my previous article in this series, I discussed Utah State Bar’s recent Ethics Advisory Opinion 14-04, which addressed the issue: “What are the ethical limits to participating in attorney rating systems, especially those that identify “the Best Lawyer” or “Super Lawyer”? In this article, I’ll explore the Washington State Bar Association’s 2014 Advisory Opinion 201402, which provides ethical insight into an attorney’s “participation in online social media profile websites.”
What Are the Ethical Limits to Participating in Attorney Rating Systems? Washington State Bar Association: Advisory Opinion 201402The Washington opinion focuses on websites featuring attorney profiles and rating systems, such as Avvo. The opinion describes the website at issue as follows:
Lawyer claims her “profile” on a social media website that is designed to provide personal and professional information about lawyers to nonlawyers and other lawyers. The website permits lawyers to post, inter alia, their contact information, education, practice areas, experience, and articles. It is not possible for Lawyer to disclaim her profile after claiming it. The website also generates a numeric and descriptive rating for each lawyer who claims his or her profile, as well as for some lawyers who have not claimed their profiles. The numeric and descriptive rating are affected, at least in part, by the amount of information that a lawyer provides and the lawyer’s participation on the website. The website does not disclose how it determines the numeric and descriptive rating. It is possible for a less-experienced lawyer to obtain a much higher
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Attorney Rating Systems: Should You Play? Part 2 | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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rating than a much more experienced lawyer by simply providing more information about the lawyer’s practice. Enrolled lawyers can also attach specific “peer endorsements” to another lawyer’s profile. Visitors to the website can also attach publicly viewable “client ratings” to a lawyer’s profile. Peer endorsements affect the rating, but client ratings do not.
Relying primarily upon Washington Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1 and 7.2, the Washington opinion states, “If Lawyer determines that the website’s numeric and/or descriptive ratings of lawyers are not based upon the lawyer’s performance or merit and the website does not disclose how the ratings are calculated, then the lawyer must not participate in the website.” This conclusion, to some degree, parallels the standard articulated by the Utah Bar.
As explained in my prior article, “Avvo discloses much less information about the basis for its lawyer ratings than does Super Lawyers or Best Lawyers in America, stating: ‘The Avvo Rating is based on all of the background information in a lawyer’s profile. However, we do not disclose how we weigh this information, primarily because we don’t want anyone gaming the Avvo Rating system.’”
In reviewing the Washington opinion and comparing it to Avvo’s clear language declining to disclose the basis of its numerical calculations, it is difficult to imagine how an attorney in Washington can claim his or her Avvo profile and otherwise participate on the Avvo website while remaining in compliance with the ethical rules. Because many Washington attorneys have already claimed their profiles on Avvo and other similar ratings websites prior to this opinion being issued, the Washington opinion provides the following guidance: “If, after claiming her profile, Lawyer determines that the [website fails to meet the Washington standard], then the lawyer must limit participating to ensuring that information is accurate and should consider posting a disclaimer, if it is reasonably feasible to do so.”
What Ethical Limits Should an Attorney Consider When a Fellow Attorney Provides an Endorsement, and Then Requests a Reciprocal Endorsement?Attorneys occasionally log on to various ratings websites, endorse their colleagues, and then request that their colleagues endorse them in return in order to enhance their ratings. The Washington opinion cautions lawyers against reciprocal endorsements as follows:
Lawyer may only endorse another lawyer if the endorsement is accurate. RPC 8.4(c) (prohibiting deceptive conduct). Lawyer must not endorse another lawyer unless she has sufficient knowledge about the other lawyer to provide an accurate statement. Lawyer must not provide an endorsement to another lawyer simply because that lawyer agreed to endorse Lawyer. Doing so would be giving something of value (i.e., an endorsement) for recommending the Lawyer’s services. RPC 7.2(b).
The two recent ethics advisory opinions issued by the Utah State Bar and the Washington State Bar Association indicate that attorneys may well be violating the Rules of Professional Conduct by choosing to participate in attorney ratings systems. Hopefully, and in all probability, additional state bars will weigh in on this issue to provide further guidance. Disciplinary decisions will likely be coming down the pike that will shed further light on what is ethically permissible. With this information, attorneys need to shift their analysis regarding participation from “What’s in it for me?” to “What do the rules require?” Attorneys may feel a need to participate in these rating systems in order to market their practices, or perhaps may have a desire to correct the errors that tend to be rampant on unclaimed website profiles. However, this need is clearly outweighed by both the necessity of compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct and the accompanying desire to promote clarity, transparency, and professionalism in the way lawyers market their practices. Attorneys should exercise significant caution when choosing to participate in any rating system. Lawyers need to meticulously examine the details concerning how those ratings are determined. Does sufficient disclosure exist to enable the public to readily understand exactly how the rating is calculated? If the answer to that question is no, then the answer to the question of whether an attorney should participate should also be no.
Endnotes
1. Utah State Bar, Ethics Advisory Opinion Committee, Ethics Advisory Opinion 14-04, §1.
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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A subscription to GPSolo eReport is included with your $45 annual dues payment to the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. You can join the Division by visiting the ABA membership website or calling the at 800-285-2221.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
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Jeffrey M. Allen, Editor-in-ChiefGraves & AllenOakland, California
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Attorney Rating Systems: Should You Play? Part 2 | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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2. Washington State Bar Association, Advisory Opinion 201402, page 1.
3. As explained in my prior article in this series,
Avvo creates profiles for attorneys that may contain information about their educational backgrounds, bar memberships, practice areas, contact information, etc. Avvo will not delete a profile upon request, unless the lawyer is no longer in practice. Lawyers can only add to or correct the information on their Avvo profile by ‘claiming’ it. Once an Avvo profile has been claimed, a lawyer can never unclaim it.
4. Avvo’s website states, “If you add information to your profile, you may well find that the Avvo Rating increases.” Please note that any website language quoted in this article is accurate as of the date this article was written, but may have been subsequently revised.
5. Washington State Bar Association, Advisory Opinion 201402, page 2.
6. Utah State Bar Ethics Advisory Opinion 14-04 §10 states,
We conclude that a lawyer’s participation in any rating system and use of that rating in the lawyer’s advertising is permissible where: (1) the comparing organization has made appropriate inquiry into the lawyer’s fitness; (2) a favorable rating from the comparing organization is not for sale and may not be purchased by the lawyer; (3) the lawyer ensures that the methodology or process used to determine the rating is fully disclosed and explained using plain language and is conveniently available to the public; and (4) the communication disclaims the approval of the Utah Supreme Court and/or the Utah State Bar. Statements that explain in laymen’s terms, and do not exaggerate the meaning or significance of professional credentials, are permissible.
7. Washington State Bar Association, Advisory Opinion 201402, page 2.
8. These sorts of reciprocal endorsement requests also occur in relation to other websites such as LinkedIn.
9. Id. at page 3.
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Product Note: Amazon Echo | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Product Note: Amazon EchoVol. 4, No. 12 Nicole Black
Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York, attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, coauthors Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, and coauthors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikiblack, and she can be reached at [email protected].
Neither the ABA nor ABA entities endorse non-ABA products or services. This review should not be construed as an endorsement.
Computers and mobile devices are now part of our daily lives. We interact with these tools constantly throughout the day, seeking information, creating and reviewing documents, collaborating and communicating with coworkers, and keeping track of our busy lives.
Typically this information is obtained and input using a keyboard, but an increasingly viable and user-friendly option is simply to speak to a device and obtain information using voice-commands. Siri and Google Now are two examples of this method in action. But a newer, and very interesting, entrant into the marketplace is the Amazon Echo, which was just recently made available to the public for $179.99. (Shipments started on July 17th.)
I was intrigued by the concept of the Echo, so a while back I requested an invitation that allowed me purchase one at a special price ($99.99) for Amazon Prime members. My Echo arrived at the beginning of June, and over the last month I’ve been using it regularly. I’ve found it to be an incredibly useful and easy-to-use device. I am convinced that the Echo will help to pave the way toward the smart homes and offices of the future.
The first thing you’ll notice when you use Echo is the impressive accuracy of the voice recognition software. It is the rare occasion when my Echo interprets the input incorrectly. In fact, the device is able to interpret my voice commands even when music is playing, although if multiple people are speaking at once, it can present a problem. In most scenarios, though, it works very well.
Right now it’s located in my kitchen, so I typically use it to play music via Pandora or Amazon Prime music (you can also play radio stations), to compute measurement conversions, and to add items to our shopping list. But it has a vast assortment of additional functions that would also be useful in a law office.
For starters, you can add items to your to-do list and can use Echo to determine upcoming events on
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your Google calendar. Also useful is the ability to set timers or alarms. You can ask Echo to tell you the current time or the time in another time zone, to set an alarm, to snooze and stop the alarm, and to start or stop the timer.
Echo can also provide useful information about your environment. So, using Echo you can obtain the current weather or the weather forecast and traffic conditions for a set route that you’ve entered into the Amazon Echo app on your mobile device or computer.
You can ask Echo to provide a Flash News Briefing based on the stations that you’ve chosen. It offers news updates from a large number of sources including NPR, BBC, and ESPN. You can also have the latest news headlines read to you. And if you’re a sports fan, you can request all sorts of sports news including the latest live scores, completed scores, or the date of an upcoming sporting event for many different sports, although not all are covered.
Amazon Echo also integrates with IFTTT, the popular third-party service that helps you automate your workflows across devices. If you use Belkin WeMo or Philips Hue in your office, you can use Echo to turn lights on or off, or dim them to a specific level.
And, last but not least, you can reorder office supplies using Echo. This only works for Amazon Prime members and only applies to certain items, but depending on what you’re trying to order, it might very well simplify the reordering process.
These are just some of the ways that you can use Echo in your office. Over time, as the product improves and more integrations are added, the possibilities are endless! So if you’re looking for a more streamlined way to interact with your computer and are willing to use a newer entrant into the market, Amazon Echo might be just what the doctor ordered.
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GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
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TAPAs: Workforce Hiring and Managing Tips | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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TAPAs: Workforce Hiring and Managing TipsVol. 4, No. 12 Jeffrey Allen and Ashley Hallene
Jeffrey Allen is the principal in the Graves & Allen law firm in Oakland, California. A frequent speaker on technology topics, he is editor-in-chief of GPSolo magazine and GPSolo Technology eReport. Recently, he coauthored (with Ashley Hallene) Technology Solutions for Today's Lawyer and iPad for Lawyers: The Tools You Need at Your Fingertips. In addition to being licensed as an attorney in California, he has been admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He holds faculty positions at California State University of the East Bay and the University of Phoenix. He may be reached at [email protected]. You may also get updated technology information from his blog: jallenlawtekblog.com. Ashley Hallene is a petroleum landman at Alta Mesa Holdings, LP, and practices Oil and Gas law, Title Examination, Due Diligence, Acquisitions and Oil and Gas Leasing in Houston, Texas. She maintains a diverse solo practice on the side. Ashley is the coauthor of the technology overview Making Technology Work for You (A Guide for Solo and Small Firm Attorneys) along with attorney Jeffrey Allen. She has published articles on legal technology in GPSolo Magazine, GPSolo eReport, and the TechnoLawyer Newsletter. Ashley is an active member of the American Bar Association’s General Practice Solo & Small Firm Division, ABA’s Young Lawyer Division, the Texas Young Lawyer’s Association, the Houston Young Lawyer’s Association, and the Houston Association of Petroleum Landmen. She frequently speaks in technology CLEs and is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Technology and Reviews Department of the GPSolo eReport.
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1. When to HireAs your business grows, this question will inevitably crop up from time to time. Whether you are a new lawyer, a seasoned one-man show, or growing small firm, it is important to be able to identify the right time to grow your staff. You should start looking when you foresee a need, usually when the legal work starts to interfere with your business work. For example, if you find yourself spending all of your time answering calls, consulting with clients, drafting documents, etc., and this leaves you no time for networking, marketing, or looking for ways to improve your practice, then it is probably time to look for some help. The same analysis goes for your staff. If you find that the associates or partners are having billable hours eaten up by administrative tasks, it may be time to look for a new staff member. Next, you need to look at whether you have enough billable work to cover the new person’s salary. The average salary for a legal secretary is around $49,000. You need to have enough money coming in to cover that, or at least have a good understanding of how hiring the staff will free up enough time that you and your staff can turn into billable hours to cover the salary.
2. When to Contract OutIf, after reviewing your upcoming billable work, it does not appear that you need to take on a full-time or part-time permanent staff, then consider using a contractor or virtual assistance to bridge the gap while you are growing. Virtual workers and outsourced legal services providers can help you increase your productivity for less than it might cost to hire full-time staff. These days your options for virtual assistance go well beyond the telephone answering service. You can outsource a litany of tasks and services, including:
Virtual receptionists, such as Ruby Receptionists, to answer phones, return phone calls, and conduct client intakeVirtual transcription service, such as Amazing TranscriptsVirtual typists, like SpeakWriteVirtual administrative assistants, including FancyHands.
If you are concerned about the ethical implications, you should check your state bar rules and the ABA Model Rules for guidance, including Comment 6 to ABA Model Rule 1.1 on lawyer competence, which recommends a lawyer obtain informed consent from the client before retaining outside lawyers, and that the lawyer should reasonably believe the outside services will contribute to the competent and ethical representation of the client. According to the comment, some measures of reasonableness of the decision to retain outside lawyers include factors such as their education and experience, the nature of the services they will be performing, and the legal ethics rules in their jurisdictions.
3. Where to Look for CandidatesIf you are going to post an ad, you have to post where the candidates you want will look. If you are looking for an intern, you would go to the local law school. If you are looking for an experienced paralegal though, you probably do not want to start at your local paralegal training program. Most companies today advertise through a variety of online career sites, but each of these sites has a fee to post:
LinkedIn sells a 30-day posting for $495.00, a 5-job pack at a 20% discount, and 10-job pack at a 40% savings, but your job location cannot be edited once your job is posted.
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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Glassdoor offers employers a do-it-yourself 30-day job listing for $99–$249 in the United States depending on your city.Monster offers 30- and 60-day job posting options. Pricing for a single job posting for 30 days starts at $375, 60 days for $395, with discounts when purchasing in bulk.Career Builder offers a single-location job posting pricing beginning at $419 for 30 days only. The single location extends to a 30-mile radius.Simply Hired is $99 to sponsor one job for 30 days, comparable in price to Glassdoor’s 30-day single job posting, depending on whether you are in an area that gets that rate. Employers can expand visibility to include Simply Hired’s partner network for $199 for 45 days and access communities on niche sites and blogs.You can try Craigslist, which charges anywhere from $25–$75 for a 30-day posting, depending on the location selected. It is easy to post and even easier to apply, but be prepared for a high volume of unqualified applicants that may end up wasting lots of your time.
Boxed item: If you think it’s expensive to hire a PROFESSIONAL, wait until you hire an AMATEUR.
4. What to Look for in a CandidateThis starts with a good job description in your job advertisement. You need to be specific in terms of what you are looking for and clearly define the tasks and duties of the position. Avoid vague sentences like “law office seeks paralegal.” Instead, use descriptive words like “Small, fast-paced law office seeks experienced paralegal to interview clients and witnesses, draft pleadings, and prepare trial books. Must work well under pressure and be able to adapt as practice technology changes.” When it comes to interviewing potential candidates, you should ask open-ended questions such as “What would you do if client x called while I was out of the office?” so you elicit the candidate’s thinking process as well as information on their abilities. If you work with other lawyers and support staff, have one of them interview the candidate too—the person may end up working staff other than just you. Listen carefully to the candidate’s responses, and try to get an understanding of the person’s experience, talents, and potential chemistry with you and others in the office.
5. Set Aside Time to Train the New Hire in Office Procedure, Culture, and Client ServiceStaff training is critical to providing quality service. No amount of experience will render a perfect candidate if they are unfamiliar with the workings of your office. Every law office runs a little differently, and every lawyer has a unique means of communication.
There is a lot to consider when growing your practice, beyond just bringing in more clients. With a little thought and careful planning, you can increase your billable potential and foster a positive work environment.
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Define Your Real Estate Law Practice | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Define Your Real Estate Law PracticeVol. 4, No. 12 Dean Alterman
Dean Alterman’s varied career includes eight years as a real estate agent and three years as chairman of a county planning commission. He has practiced real estate and business law in Portland, Oregon since 1989. After working for three other firms (one of which closed its doors forever twelve weeks after he arrived), he opened his own office in 2006, growing it to a four-lawyer firm and then becoming a founding partner of Folawn Alterman & Richardson LLP in 2009, where he now works. He frequently gives presentations and publishes articles on real estate topics
From How to Build a Real Estate Law Practice, Chapter 2
Formulate Your Practice GoalNow that you have decided to build a real estate practice (or you have decided to stick with tax law, but you like this book so far), you need to define what your practice will be. At this early point, don’t define your practice too exactly, but have some idea of what kind of work and what kind of clients you want. Set your practice goal down in writing. It may change—for one thing, the clients you want may not come in the door or may not exist in your marketplace and you may have to change clients or marketplaces—but you need to have at least a starting point. My starting point 25 years ago was something like this: “I want as clients people who have made a commitment to sustained investment in commercial real estate.” Within that sentence I was saying that I was seeking as clients (a) people, rather than impersonal institutions, who (b) had a buy-and-hold, long-term approach to investing (c) in income-producing real estate.
I am not suggesting that my one-sentence description is the best there is. It was the right description for me, at that time, in my market area. It still is. From that sentence, I have built a practice that brings me, on average, one new client every week and one new matter every business day of the year. Your sentence doesn’t need to be my sentence. The important thing is that you have a one- or two-sentence description of what you want your practice to be. Here are some samples of market descriptions that a real estate lawyer might adopt:
I will be recognized as the local expert in wineries and vineyards.I will advise purchasers and sellers of high-end homes.I will advise office landlords and tenants.I will represent owners’ associations in condominiums and subdivisions.I will advise property owners and represent them in condemnation actions.I will become the expert in property line disputes.
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Consider Your Market Area: What Real Estate Work Is Available?Consider your market area when you pick your goal. My friend in winery law is in the middle of Oregon’s wine country—his practice area is perfectly suited to his location. He has kept his general agricultural practice, including advising farmers and food processors (where there are farms, there are processors) on federal and state laws and regulations. It wouldn’t make sense for him to have the goal to represent landlords and tenants of high-rise office towers: the tallest office building for rent in his town has only six floors, and there isn’t enough office leasing there to keep one lawyer busy. By contrast, my city has many office towers, with several dozen different owners, but no vineyards—it wouldn’t make sense for me to try to build an agricultural practice here.
If you want to represent buyers and sellers of high-end houses, then you need to be in an area with a lot of high-end homes. If you want to represent owners’ associations, then you should be in an area where subdivisions have homeowners’ associations. If work that fits with your practice goal doesn’t exist in your ZIP Code, then you should change one or the other.
Make Four Groups to Define Your Practice GoalsWhen you have defined your practice goal in a sentence or two, try the exercise of breaking down legal fields into four groups:
Work that you want to be known for doing and will actively solicit.Work that is outside your primary focus but that you will do if it comes in, whether from current clients or from new clients.Work that is outside your primary focus that you will accept from your real estate clients but won’t try to take on as single-engagement work from others.Work that you do not want and will decline or refer out.
For example, if you adopt the practice goal of “I will advise office and retail landlords and tenants,” you might complete this exercise as follows:
I want to be known for advising office and retail landlords and tenants, negotiating and drafting leases, and handling commercial evictions.I am also willing to handle the purchase, sale, exchange, and refinancing of investment real estate for my regular clients and also for others, but I won’t actively solicit or market this work to new clients.I am willing to handle property tax appeals for my regular clients and to assist with their estate plans, but I will not solicit this work or (usually) take it on as a one-time engagement from someone who is not already my client.I will decline or refer out work involving domestic relations, personal injury, and criminal law.
If you’ve been out of law school for several years, you may already have some real estate clients when you start your own practice. Good! You are starting your new practice with a ready-made group of clients to whom you can market your services. You will be telling your clients that you are defining your practice to focus on real estate, and you will have a chance to define your practice area not just to yourself but also to your existing clients. If your clients think of you as a real estate lawyer, they will be more likely to think of you when a friend asks them to recommend a real estate lawyer. And referral networks can be powerful: the longest referral chain in my practice is from a client A, who referred B, who referred C, who referred D, who referred E, who referred F. Client E referred client F to me 20 years after I first worked for client A.
Your existing clients can also help you define your practice area. Ask them how they view your practice. What real estate situations do they send to you? What real estate work are they sending to other people? Their answers to these questions may give you a sense of how to redefine your real estate practice so that your clients send those matters to you instead of to other lawyers.
Just because you are defining one field to be your practice area does not mean that you must turn down work in other areas. Rather, it means that you are deciding what you wish to become known for doing—what will make your office telephone ring. You are taking the first step toward sending a clear message to the clients you want to have that you are prepared and qualified to work for them.
There may be many types of work in the second and third groups: work that you are willing to do, but that you won’t actively develop. For example, your office building owners may have estate planning needs. It makes sense for you to develop the expertise to handle those needs or to develop
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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Define Your Real Estate Law Practice | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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a good working relationship with a lawyer who does have an active estate planning practice and who doesn’t advise clients on real estate matters, rather than to turn this work away altogether. It’s a field that is closely linked to your practice area.
The fourth group is the one to be most particular about. Among the many reasons to turn down work in certain practice areas are two very important ones. The first is that you should turn down work in practice areas that you simply don’t like to handle. If you take on projects or disputes in fields that you don’t enjoy and that aren’t related to your main practice area, you’re going to put off handling those matters and will develop unhappy clients. The second is that you have an ethical obligation under Rule 1.1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) to take on only those matters that you can competently handle. I discuss your ethical obligations to take on only projects that you can competently handle in Chapter X, Section A. You don’t do yourself or your client any favors when you take on a project that you don’t know how to handle and where you can’t associate with a lawyer who has the skill and expertise to manage it.
Provide a Plus Factor When You Learn a Second Practice AreaTo provide more value to your real estate clients, you can add a plus factor: Define your practice as real estate with the addition of a practice area, or a specialty, that allows you to provide added value to your clients. You can be more valuable to your real estate clients if you are confident in your knowledge of the tax laws that affect real estate investors, such as the basics of partnership taxation (larger properties are often purchased by limited liability companies that elect to be taxed as partnerships), depreciation, and depreciation recapture on sale. If you handle the purchase and sale of investment property, then you must know the ins and outs of Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code, which allows tax-deferred exchanges of investment and business real estate.
You can also study and use a legal field in the second group—the work that is outside your primary focus but that you want to do and will handle if clients bring it to you—as a way to add a plus factor to your primary practice area and differentiate your services from the other real estate lawyers in your community. If you regularly advise clients who are buying and selling land, one way in which you can provide your clients with a plus factor is to become grounded in land use and zoning regulations. In my city, many lawyers practice real estate law, and many practice land use law, but only a few lawyers practice both. Their plates are always full with work from developers who look to them to handle the acquisition of a development site and to obtain the entitlements (permits) from the local government that will allow them to develop the property as they wish. These developers know that they can engage one lawyer to handle both pieces of work and eliminate the chance that their real estate lawyer and their land use lawyer will contradict each other before the government that is to issue the zoning approvals.
Note
This material is excerpted from How to Build a Real Estate Law Practice, 2015, by Dean Alterman, published by the Section of Real Property, Trust and Estate Law of the American Bar Association. Copyright © 2015 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
Endnote
1. The friend I wrote about in another chapter really does enjoy his winery-related law practice immensely.
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Did you find this article helpful? Do you think more information like this would help you? More information is available. This material is excerpted from How to Build a Real Estate Law Practice, 2015, by Dean Alterman, published by the American Bar Association Section on Real Property, Trust and Estate Law. Copyright © 2015 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission of the author. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. Click here to purchase the book.
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Trial Practice: A View From the Bench | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Trial Practice: A View from the BenchVol. 4, No. 12 Joseph S. Kiefer
Joseph Kiefer is currently a litigation attoryen at Steptoe & Johnson in Phoenix, Arizona, where he serves primarily as a national counsel defending insurers and product manufacturers in complex commercial and civil litigation matters. Joe has tried hundreds of cases as a civil litigator, prosecutor, criminal defense counsel, and trial judge in the US Air Force Reserve. He was recently appointed to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals as an appellate judge.
From From the Trenches: Strategies and Tips From 21 of the Nation's Top Trial Lawyers, Chapter 1
As an attorney, I have had an opportunity to try numerous cases, both civil and criminal. I have served as a prosecutor, criminal defense counsel, and civil defense counsel. Consequently, I have had an opportunity to participate in trial practice in many different roles. Over the last several years, I have also had the opportunity to serve as a trial judge, adding another unique perspective on trial advocacy. This experience as a trial judge has allowed me to observe courtroom proceedings without the same pressures and constraints as the trial advocates. Without a stake in the outcome, other than serving justice, the experience has given me the chance to analyze what works and what doesn’t, as I have the opportunity to serve as fact finder on a variety of issues. The sum total of theses advocate and judicial experiences has taught me that different players involved in courtroom proceedings see the process in different ways. The trial advocate who understands these unique roles and perspectives is better prepared to satisfy the varied interests and complexities of courtroom advocacy.
For example, lawyers and fact finders often see evidence in different ways. What I thought was important as a trial advocate wasn’t always what carried the day when I had the chance to obtain juror feedback. Additionally, as a judge, I sometimes have a different view of what is important and necessary to reach a decision than what I thought the judge would want to know when I was the trial attorney. Most often lawyers are very successful at identifying key issues, but presenting cases and arguments in the most effective way possible involves another level of advocacy. The trial attorney generally evaluates evidence for how it fits into the legal structure of a case: what has to be proven, supported, disproven, or discredited. A fact finder, however, often operates on how evidence makes them feel. This is likely more true in jury cases than bench trials, but presenting matters persuasively involves more than just facts and elements. This is not to suggest that lawyers should ignore the legal requirements of their cases and play only to passion and emotion, but tying everything together into a digestible, understandable, and convincing framework is the key.
Throughout this book, accomplished advocates have shared various tools and techniques to assist trial practitioners in honing and refining their skills to reach the maximum level of persuasion. In this chapter, I offer five guidelines for successful trial practice: Be Prepared, Be Persuasive, Be
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Personable, Be Professional, and Be Persistent. Five simple yet effective recommendations that I believe allow trial attorneys to optimize their courtroom presentations and attain the highest level of advocacy. These recommendations are general in nature and provide a broad perspective on life as a trial practitioner. They are founded on hundreds of criminal and civil trial experiences in various roles capturing both the high and low points of trial practice. I don’t profess that everything noted in the following pages is the gospel of trial advocacy. I know of no such gospel. Trial advocacy is an art, sculpted over time, and performed by many talented people with different skills and abilities. There is no single way to successfully try a case, but there are some basic principles that, if observed, will give you a solid foundation for truly outstanding trial work.
Be Prepared“Este Paratus,” that famous Boy Scout motto “Be Prepared,” headlines the list of trial advocacy techniques. It almost goes without saying (but it is so important I’ll say it anyway) that success in virtually any endeavor is directly related to the preparation that went into the task. Some people seem to be able to “wing it” and achieve success with no apparent preparation, but I maintain that most often there has been some degree of preparation that went into that successful performance. Preparation, however, is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. “Preparation” conjures up visions of slaving over mountains of law books deep into the night, but it can actually come in many different forms. It may consist of arguing alone in the car while driving to work or mentally reviewing evidence while in the shower. It may be years of extemporaneous speaking in a variety of environments aside from the law that allows someone to perform without appearing to have prepared at all. The key to success is being prepared. The form of that preparation is many and varied.
But why is preparation so important? Certainly it leads to a keen understanding of the case, but I believe preparation leads to several ancillary benefits that are just as important as knowing the case. First, preparation creates a sense of confidence that allows you to perform at your best: “Self confidence is considered one of the most influential motivators and regulators of behavior in people’s everyday lives. A growing body of evidence suggests that one’s perception or self-confidence is the central mediating construct of achievement strivings.” Consequently, to the extent confidence is a self-perception, you can convince yourself to be confident through preparation. Preparation will allow you to know the case well, and the comfort you derive from knowing the case leads to greater confidence.
Some people are naturally self-confident and can leverage that self-confidence in court. Others develop self-confidence through years of practice and experience, which gives them a strong basis to believe in themselves. Preparation can also generate self-confidence. It can serve as that experience even when you haven’t tried tens or hundreds of cases. The extent to which you know the case, have anticipated what may occur at trial, and evaluated those scenarios in planning all serve as quasi-experience—the idea being that you have been there and done that before. To be honest, even the most confident people can experience self-doubt in new and demanding environments, but preparation helps takes the edge off the nerves and allows you to function at optimal levels. Confidence allows your mind to focus on the matters at hand and not become overwhelmed with worry about what you may not know. In this mental state, you are best prepared to respond to the demands of trial. While confidence is certainly a benefit that comes from preparation, guard against overconfidence. As noted, confidence to a large extent is a self-perception. Consequently, it is possible to fool yourself, at least on the surface. Additionally, a false sense of confidence can cause you to prepare less as you mistakenly believe you have everything under control.
By providing confidence and freeing your mind, preparation also allows you to remain flexible during trial. Don’t confuse “preparation” with “plan.” While preparing often leads to the development of a plan, the real benefit of preparation is the ability to respond quickly to changing environments. Football teams prepare all week to face an opponent. Sometimes the game plays out consistent with the plan, and teams perform consistent with their past tendencies. Other times, however, the opponent reveals new approaches that were unanticipated. The more you know about your case and the more productive work you have done in the pretrial stage allows you to better respond to the myriad of unexpected issues that inevitably arise.
I once tried a sentence rehearing in a truly tragic baby-death case. A young woman had amazingly hidden her pregnancy from co-workers and friends for several months. One evening she presented to the emergency room with stomach pains. At some point while at the hospital, she went into a restroom, delivered the baby on her own, and left the baby in a wastebasket. The baby was later
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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found dead. The original trial ended in a verdict of guilty to premeditated murder. After three trips up and down the appellate courts, however, the case was ultimately affirmed as a negligent homicide. Based on the maximum sentence available for that offense, as compared to the actual sentence adjudged for the original murder conviction, the case required a sentence rehearing. Given the passage of time in the appellate process, this rehearing occurred nearly three years after the original trial. There were numerous issues related to the presentation of evidence in front of a completely new jury (this jurisdiction had jury sentencing at the election of the defendant with evidence presentation). My co-counsel and I spent hours researching case law, reviewing the previous trial record, tracking down witnesses, and refining our sentencing presentation. At the time of the rehearing, the defense lodged numerous objections to various types of evidence we had developed. We lost some of those motions, but our preparation allowed us to very quickly and efficiently transition to alternate means of evidence presentation. The preparation we had undertaken provided a high degree of flexibility and an ability to respond effectively to a rapidly changing evidentiary environment.
Finally, preparation helps prepare you for the next case. In my early days as a trial practitioner, I researched and reviewed every issue I thought could reasonably come up during trial—evidentiary objections, motion issues, witness impeachments, jury instructions. Not just the obvious, but even tangential matters. This was a time before extensive use of computers in court, and consequently, I had stacks of cases and outlines neatly arrayed around counsel table at the ready to address whatever might arise. These stacks were incredibly unwieldy, but they gave me comfort. The stacks I used during trial represented the issues I properly anticipated and prepared to address. The stacks I didn’t use represented the matters I knew I could handle if needed. They reassured me that I had been thorough in my trial preparation. Over time the stacks dwindled. Digital media took their place, thankfully, but also my baseline of knowledge increased with each case I tried. Both the used and unused stacks served as my head start in preparing for the next case. The moral of the story isn’t to research every theoretical possibility that may arise at trial; you have to use some common sense and conform your preparation to the relevant issues in the case. But preparation elevates your knowledge base each time you prepare. This is to some extent true even with the cases that never make it to trial.
Preparation is a hallmark of an effective trial advocate. While the amount of time spent preparing may decrease the more cases you try, it doesn’t mean you are not preparing. Some of the preparation was simply done in the context of previous cases. Seemingly winging it may work for an issue or case here or there, but in the long run you will have forfeited the opportunity to create a broad foundation of substantive and practical knowledge that can be activated in each case you try. Eventually, lack of preparation will catch up in the more complex and difficult cases down the road. Even though I have been involved in hundreds of trials as an attorney and judge, I can honestly say I have learned something about the substantive law or trial practice in each experience.
Be PersuasiveI know it sounds obvious, but I continually come across counsel who perform the mechanics of the trial process—voir dire, opening, witness examinations, argument—but never really get to persuading. They argue with passion. They have mastered the art of voice inflection and body movement to enhance their presentation. But they never seem to get to the heart of why certain facts really matter. For example, many younger counsel, well schooled in the art of oral recitation, have great command of prepared arguments—but if they are asked a question during a motion hearing about why a particular fact is important to an issue, the wheels begin to come off. When I serve as a trial advocacy instructor, I often employ an exercise to emphasize the need to really highlight what is important in a case. I will take a witness examination or argument and walk through it question by question or point by point and ask counsel why a particular fact, statement, question, or comment is important. It is not that every single word spoken at trial needs to be the silver bullet that wins the case. It is more a matter of forcing advocates to really break down what matters.
One of the dangers for advocates comes from the preparation phase of trial work described above. Attorneys generally live with their cases for many months or years, especially the bigger cases. Over time, the attorney evaluates all of the angles and issues and makes a determination as to what to present and what to discard. The attorney then shows up for trial and faces motions that further limit the evidence he or she intends to present. By the time the matter is tried to a fact finder, the evidence is merely a subset of everything the attorney knows about the case. The attorney, however, often fails to make this adjustment. Consequently, when it comes time to argue a motion or the merits, advocates will sometimes shortchange the “why” of particular facts and make assumptions about what the fact finder knows. The “why” is more apparent to the attorney who has worked with the case for months or years than to the judge or juror who only has a subset of the total facts and has only experienced them over a period of days or maybe weeks. Trial practitioners must master the ability to tell the story from a limited set of facts and really emphasize why things matter, without being condescending.
Once you have evaluated the various aspects of your trial presentation, be it a witness examination, opening statement, or argument, and have considered the “why” of each piece, you still need to test it for the desired impact. Chapter 6 in this book is dedicated to mock juries and focus groups, which
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are great ways to test one’s case, but not everyone has the means to employ these methods or a case type that justifies it. Testing, however, can come in many forms. It can take place within the trial team, with other attorneys or even nonattorneys in the firm, and, where appropriate considering confidentiality issues, even with others outside the firm. Give a few people a snapshot of your examination and find out what they took from it. Through this process, themes that resonate with the audience will emerge and can serve as the overall framework for your presentation.
Consequently, once you have the information gathered and evaluated for persuasion, you still need to optimize your organization for effect. Convincing someone to accept your position is about the information you present as well as how you present it. Typically lawyers identify what the law requires them to prove or disprove, and they then set out to fit pieces of evidence neatly into the elements. For many years, research indicated that is how jurors went about reaching verdicts. More recent studies, however, have uncovered the importance that themes play at trial. It is not simply whether facts A, B, and C fit into elements 1, 2, and 3. According to the more recent “story model,” “jurors use episode schemata—generic knowledge structures abstracted from prior experience—to remember and organize trial evidence into a plausible story.” This is particularly true as trials have grown more complex and dependent on scientific and technical information, but any case can benefit from the effective use of themes.
By way of example, I tried a criminal matter as defense counsel a number of years ago. The case involved illegal steroid trafficking and use by a military member. It was the kind of case that could possibly have been disposed of through nonjudicial proceedings, but the senior rank of the defendant caused the government to pursue a criminal prosecution. At trial, I extensively used a theme from Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice, arguing repeatedly that the government went overboard in its pursuit of my client and was blindly seeking its “pound of flesh.” This theme was highlighted in various ways throughout the presentation of evidence. In argument, I described the scene from the play that references the “pound of flesh” without giving the ultimate conclusion in Shakespeare’s work. (In part because I wanted to leave them hanging just a bit, and in part because Antonio is essentially freed on a legal technicality discovered by the wise and clever Portia.) In the end, my client was vindicated. Following the proceeding, two of the jurors tracked me down to find out how the play ended. I had uncovered a theme that resonated with them personally and impacted how they viewed the case.
The fact finder in many respects is seeking to create order from chaos. The attorney has lived with the case for months or years, but the jury is receiving the information for the first time, in an unfamiliar environment, with many rules and strictures. The attorney understands the nuances and implications of the evidence, but the jury will likely require organization and highlighting to fit everything together. Themes play an effective role in this process. If you have truly evaluated and prepared for the case, you will be able to see the matter from many different perspectives and identify the themes that can be used to most effectively present your case. Investigating facts and fitting them into elements of a crime or claim is one level of advocacy. It is another level to create a comprehensive presentation that incorporates the facts into a narrative story that grabs and convinces people.
Be PersonableGiven the suggestion of being personable in courtroom proceedings, I know some people will want to stop reading at this point. Countless war stories champion the scathing cross-examination of the other side’s key witness. People often credit this type of approach with winning the case and creating their flawless trial record. What if, however, you could conduct that scathing cross-examination the whole time with a smile on your face? Oxford Dictionaries offers the following synonyms for “personable”: “pleasant, likable, amiable, engaging.” While these adjectives don’t seem synonymous with what we commonly think of as successful trial advocates, I submit that the personable trial lawyer can achieve outstanding results. The lawyer archetypes we see on television, in movies, and in literature reinforce the concept of the brash, loud, and aggressive advocate. I am not suggesting that you refrain from working aggressively and passionately for your client, but all too often we take or make things personal in the courtroom, which at times keeps us from fully engaging everyone involved in the trial process. I believe if we strive to be personable, it will make us better trial advocates and professionals.
There are a few ways to be personable. First and foremost, be genuine. But what if you are brash, loud, and aggressive by nature? That’s OK. You may need to smooth some edges, just like a more genteel advocate may need to be more direct at times. The point is to not stray too far from who you really are because people will sense it. Find ways to accentuate your positives and deemphasize your weaknesses. As Shakespeare wrote, “to thine own self be true,” but many forget the rest of the passage, “and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” The latter half of the quote is what is really important for trial practice because in trial settings advocates are seeking to be believed and trusted. Certainly you want to be true to yourself, but through this genuineness you can convey credibility and trust to others. At the same time, anything forced is just that, forced. All the trial advocacy tips in the world can’t change who you are and attempting to copy someone else’s trial demeanor will likely lead to frustration and disappointment.
During one of my early product-liability cases, I had the task of cross-examining one of the key experts for the opposing side. I had conducted numerous direct and cross-examinations of experts over the years in criminal cases, but I was still relatively new to civil practice and my law firm. That shouldn’t have made much of a difference, but it was just enough to leave me slightly unsettled.
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Taking my lead from a senior partner who instructed me to “really go after” the expert on cross, at one point I was on the tips of my toes leaned forward nearly yelling a full octave higher than my normal voice. “A” for effort, but “F” for execution. I understood the strategies commonly used to “go after” experts and really test them. I had done it many times before with great success. Nonetheless, in this instance, when I tried to assume a persona not my own, my performance became forced and unnatural. When I tried to incorporate my perception of someone else’s style or expectation, my natural abilities and past experiences were overcome by the facade I was presenting. At some point, I realized how over the top I had become and salvaged what I could of the examination. The moral of the story is that there is no single trial demeanor that works for everyone in every circumstance. The art of trial work is understanding your strengths and developing the ability to maximize those attributes in the context of the trial process.
The principle of genuineness is also important for those who serve in supervisory roles. Over time in the courtroom we all develop the way we like to try a case, from motion practice to presentation of evidence to cross-examination of witnesses and objections. Usually these traits are founded on past positive experiences, and often they are the product of what someone taught us. Through time and experience, however, we have had the opportunity to refine these skills and adapt them to our own demeanor and style. Consequently, when you ask younger attorneys to approach things in a certain way, consider whether you have accurately assessed their ability to pull it off. Do they have the demeanor to assume the approach you’ve recommended, and have you clearly explained your expectations? Many things are subject to interpretation such as “go after” this witness on cross or really hit this point in argument.
Being personable also incorporates the concept of reasonableness. The old adage “you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar” is great advice if your objective is catching flies. If we change the quote to catching “allies” and honey and vinegar become metaphors for reasonableness and unreasonableness, the principle becomes more applicable to trial work. People will believe those they trust, and people will trust those they view as reasonable. Reasonableness allows the advocate to look neutral while they are aggressively advocating for their client.
During one of my early cases as a senior prosecutor, a senior defense counsel approached me during a recess and said, “You are the most dangerous kind of prosecutor—the reasonable prosecutor.” We have the notion of the prosecutor who bangs on the desk and demands justice. In fact, there is an old adage that roughly states, “If you have the facts, pound the facts; if you have the law, pound the law; and if you have neither, pound the table.” There is a time and place for all things, and when it is time to advocate strongly on behalf of your client, I encourage you to do so with zeal. From my perspective, however, if you yell and scream and waive your arms at every turn, at some point the audience will begin to tune you out. There is an art to finding just the right balance of fervor and reasonableness, and while no one can tell you the exact combination for every situation, recognizing the need to modulate your tone and expression is the first step in mastering the art.
Finally, don’t be afraid to concede an issue when it makes sense to do so. It is truly refreshing when counsel agree or compromise on an issue. It is not necessarily the advocate’s job to make the judge’s life easier, but it is incredibly time consuming and draining to have to adjudicate every single issue that comes up during trial. It leads to numerous inefficiencies and takes energy away from the things that really matter. There is no doubt that our trial system is adversarial, and each side is responsible for identifying its key issues that need resolution by the court. There are also many issues, however, that arise during trial that at the end of the day simply don’t have a great impact on the ultimate result. I once had a counsel who wanted to brief how much time I would allow for a lunch break. In fairness to him, we were in the middle of a key witness’s testimony. I had tried to go as long as I could to complete the examination, but it simply got too late, and we needed a lunch break. It was just one of those cases where every single issue was a dog fight. After the case, I had a chance to meet with the counsel, and I simply asked his view of the import of some of the points he contested. About three issues into this exercise, the light seemed to click on that maybe every issue was not critical to or even supportive of his case theme and theory. Through our discussion, he seemed to realize that adversarial didn’t necessarily mean there had to be a fight every time someone opened his or her mouth, and he could be more selective in choosing his battles for maximum effect.
The moral is to be an advocate, fight for your client, contest those issues that need to be contested, and ensure you have an appellate record for matters that may need to be reviewed. I’ll even give you to err on the safe side and argue maybe just a little more than you need. At some point, however, be willing to see the forest for the trees. Remember as noted above that trials are more often about themes than individual discrete facts and figure out how to get from A to B persuasively and reasonably.
Be ProfessionalOur society today is filled with caricatures of legal professionals. I use the term “caricature” because for dramatic effect they tend toward extreme exaggerations of the best and worst qualities of what we expect lawyers to be. Television, movies, and books portray lawyers as either the most intelligent, eloquent, organized individuals on the planet or narcissistic, dependent, bumbling fools. Every so often we find a character more toward the realistic center of the spectrum.
One time as a younger practitioner, I met with an older woman client to prepare a will. Just before finishing the appointment, she looked at me with all seriousness and noted that none of the people in the office looked like the people on the television show JAG. After scooping my pride off the floor, I
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humbly apologized that we were not all TV or movie stars. This lighthearted moment helps reinforce an aspect of our current legal and social environment—perception can be reality or at least create expectations for those involved in the process.
The challenge for “real” trial attorneys is finding the balance between meeting these public expectations while at the same time remaining true to the tenets of the law and ethics. How do we achieve impassioned advocacy without overly playing to the masses? I have provided some suggestions in this regard in my recommendation of being genuine and reasonable. Make no mistake, there are times in the trial process where attorneys need to pull at the heart strings of the fact finder and hammer themes that resonate with the audience. Skillfully moderating and maximizing this effect separates the true trial professionals.
As all trial practitioners know, trials are not scripted. While we work to plan and prepare for every eventuality, unexpected issues will inevitably arise. No director sits off to the side and tells us to cut and do it again when we make a mistake in argument or fail to really drive a point home in cross-examination. Despite our general recognition that real courtrooms are not fictional screen sets, many lawyers nonetheless play the part and play to the crowd.
Impassioned advocacy, persuasive techniques, and convincing fact finders to accept your theory of the case are all elements of successful trial practice. There are even times when demonstrating resolve to your client has its place, but not to the detriment of the legal process. At times lawyers fall into the trap of treating real-world courtrooms like movie or television sets, but really, who can blame them? Many courtrooms have become sets.
I sat as the judge in a sexual-assault jury trial last summer. During closing argument, the defense counsel unexpectedly turned to me and very demonstratively asked me to admonish the alleged victim, who was sitting in the gallery. The defense counsel claimed the alleged victim had “flipped [him] the middle finger.” Needless to say this was an unusual and ill-advised comment in front of the jury. Determining whether the event actually occurred was almost impossible. I couldn’t help but think there was an element of gamesmanship at work, that this was a parting shot at the government’s key witness. After excusing the jury, I first addressed the defense counsel’s decision to comment on the issue, true or not, in front of the jury. I then reminded the gallery of the proper decorum for courtroom proceedings, whether or not the incident had occurred. After tying up additional legal issues, such as an instruction to the jury (neither side requested a mistrial), we proceeded with the case to verdict. The takeaway is to certainly try your cases with passion and use the means at your disposal to achieve a positive result, but remember that you are an officer of the court and expected to conduct yourself professionally at all times.
Most often these types of situations arise when someone is “forcing” drama in the courtroom. Our society applauds the shocking, extreme, and outrageous, and sometimes real-world court cases lack the sensationalism expected by the public. In some situations, trial attorneys play to the public expectation. I say avoid the temptation. Use impassioned advocacy to make your point, but recognize that a legal proceeding is a real-world matter and not a made-for-TV movie (despite media coverage of several cases in recent years).
Being professional not only corresponds to courtroom demeanor but also time constraints. Respect the court’s, jury’s, and other parties’ time. From a judge’s perspective, while every effort is made to provide a full and fair hearing on each issue, the reality of trial practice is that there is limited time to complete tasks. Judges will generally allow presentation of matters within reasonable limits, but if every issue in the case is treated like the crime of the century, something has to give. The judge at some point has to start moving through the issues making judgments about what is important.
Consequently, be reasonable about the number of contested issues and matters filed and help narrow the field to what really counts. Motions in limine provide but one example of overlitigating. It is not uncommon these days in more complex civil cases for the parties to submit 50 or more motions in limine. In fact, because of this practice many courts have started to limit the number of motions that may be filed. Most of these motions can be resolved by meet-and-confer sessions between the parties. Nonetheless, they are frequently filed anyway, and the court is only notified of any agreements at the last minute before trial.
The motion in limine issue presents collateral effects throughout the trial. As the number of motions in limine increase, so does the likelihood that the judge will simply defer them to trial. It becomes too inefficient to take evidence and argument on 50-plus motions in a pretrial hearing only to have to readdress the issues at trial when there is more context to the case. If a more manageable set of motions is submitted pretrial, however, the court will be in a better position to resolve or at least provide helpful insight on these limited, manageable issues. In this way, the parties have a better sense of what to expect at trial and can better prepare their presentations.
Please don’t take this to mean judges give short shrift to certain contested issues, but the practicalities of a system with limited time and resources is that some matters receive more attention than others. Also, I encourage you to preserve matters for appeal where necessary and create records as needed, but be discerning about what falls into that category.
As a final matter on professionalism, please be responsive. In a 2008 ethics study, lawyer neglect and lack of communication was the number one issue noted by respondents. It leads to a greater number of bar complaints and discipline than almost any other issue. Responsiveness, however, doesn’t begin and end with client contacts. Attorney responsiveness is also an issue with the court and opposing counsel. Be respectful of all involved in the process, both in and out of court, especially with deadlines. I ask you to guard against the following common tendency, which I myself have
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unfortunately practiced at times over the years. A deadline is set and is months away. Like anyone, we tend to do what must be done today and leave for another day the things that we can. As the deadline approaches, the parties get together and seek an extension. Often the court grants the extension trusting that the parties need what they ask for and will be diligent in moving the case forward through whatever claimed obstacle necessitated the delay in the first place. As soon as the extension is granted, the parties put the case aside and move on to something else. It happens over and over again in a vicious cycle of procrastination. Often the extension has been granted because some circumstance arose that needed to be addressed, and that process was going to take time. Yet it is all too common that little or no work occurs on the case immediately after the extension is granted. It is as if we breathe a sigh of relief, but then forget to keep breathing further life into the case and instead ignore things until the next deadline has to be moved.
I am not opposed to extensions as either a trial advocate or judge. Take them when you need them. Unexpected events routinely arise in litigation and trial practice. Our failing is more in how we respond after the extension than the need for the extension in the first place. Our response of putting the file aside for months is often what leads to the second and third extensions. Many people involved in our court system complain about the time it takes to get cases to trial, but most often we are our own worst enemy in that regard. Professionalism comes from serving many entities in the trial process, including clients, the court, the public, and even the opposition, and from being considerate of people’s time, expense, and circumstances.
Be PersistentThe key to many of the issues outlined above is experience. Recognizing and understanding the proper balance of zealousness and reason comes from time spent making those decisions and then evaluating the outcomes. Consequently, it is imperative to be aggressive in seeking trial opportunities. Job selection can have a significant impact on the number of cases available for trial. Those filling positions in prosecutor or public defender roles will likely have more chances for trial work, but those jobs may not be the ideal environment for every would-be trial advocate. Even large- and small-firm attorneys need chances to develop and practice their craft. Circumstances for newer attorneys in private settings, however, vary widely based on firm structure, mentorship, case type, and client desires.
Market forces are also a factor significantly impacting trial opportunities. The current environment is marked by steady declines in the number of cases being tried with increases in total lawyers in the bar. Over the period 1990–2008, for example, U.S. district court cases decreased nearly 50 percent while at the same time the number of lawyers in the United States rose 53 percent. Those numbers include, as well, senior counsel who have a history of trying multiple cases a year and want to continue in that mode, even with the shrinking total number of cases. Factor in the rising costs of litigation, and there is even less incentive to take cases to trial or staff them in ways that will provide training for junior lawyers. Consequently, only the truly committed and aggressive advocates will find their fair share of trial opportunities.
Younger attorneys must be steadfast in their commitment to trial practice and seek out trial opportunities in a variety of ways. One such vehicle is pro bono work. The problem is that all too often lawyers take on pro bono cases to meet firm requirements or expectations without really leveraging the practical experience those cases can offer. Again the key is aggressiveness in your efforts. One or two pro bono cases likely won’t generate the type of trial experience necessary to help you develop as an advocate. Like most endeavors in life, you will have to be diligent in your efforts to reap real benefits.
In addition to being persistent in seeking trial opportunities, also be aggressive in seeking feedback, and seek it from those that will be constructive but honest. There aren’t always good opportunities for real trial feedback. In my judicial practice in the Air Force Trial Judiciary, judges meet with counsel after cases to provide constructive feedback on advocacy techniques and methods. Care is exercised to avoid discussing deliberations, but the process provides an opportunity for candid review of counsel performance. Most civilian legal systems don’t have the time or opportunity for this type of feedback.
When you have the chance to perform in a trial setting, jurors may be a source of feedback. Rules differ greatly on what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate communications with jurors after a case has finished, so consult your state and local bar rules. In instances where posttrial contact with jurors is permitted, however, it can be a good source of information on what worked and what did not.
Senior attorneys involved in the case can also be a good source of feedback, but again you may have to be aggressive to get it. With the decline in the number of trials, even those serving in the capacity of a senior or “first chair” lawyer may have less experience than their counterpart of 10 or 20 years ago. Consequently, they may not have the same foundation of knowledge from which to mentor you or they may be less comfortable evaluating your performance given their level of experience. Nonetheless even a frank discussion about the case and your role in it may help both you and the senior counsel further develop trial skills.
Finally, use self-reflection to evaluate your trial performance. Feedback in the trial process is different from many other professions. Certainly you want to “win,” and a successful outcome provides some measure of feedback on how you did. But given the myriad of dynamics involved in trials, it can be difficult to take too much from the result alone. People define win and success in different ways, and
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there simply may have been factors outside of your control that had an impact on the ultimate result. You need to be able to break down your role in the case and analyze what you did, how it seemed to work within the context of the case, and what could be improved upon the next time.
Note
This material is excerpted from From the Trenches: Strategies and Tips From 21 of the Nation's Top Trial Lawyers, 2015, edited by John S. Worden, published by the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division of the American Bar Association. Copyright © 2015 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
Endnotes
1. Daniel Druckman & Robert Bjork, Learning, Remembering, Believing: Enhancing Human Performance 173 (1994).
2. Robert J. MacCoun, Experimental Research on Jury Decision-Making, 30 Jurimetrics J. 223, 226 (1989).
3. William Shakespeare, Hamlet act 1 sc. 3.
4. Charles M. Kidd & Kevin P. McGoff, Top Ten Ethics Problems for Lawyers, U. Mont. L.R. (2008).
5. Brandon Gee, As Jury Cases Decline, So Does Art of Trial Lawyers, USA Today, Feb. 5, 2011.
6. Am. Bar Ass’n, Legal Profession Statistics, Demographics, http://www.americanbar.org/resources_for_lawyers/profession_statistics.html (click on Total National Lawyer Counts).
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Did you find this article helpful? Do you think more information like this would help you? More information is available. This material is excerpted from From the Trenches: Strategies and Tips From 21 of the Nation's Top Trial Lawyers, 2015, edited by John S. Worden, published by the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. Copyright © 2015 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission of the author. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. Click here to purchase the book.
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Demand Letters: The Lingua Franca of Attorneys | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Demand Letters: The Lingua Franca of AttorneysVol. 4, No. 12 David J. Cook
From Collection, Demand, and Commercial Letters for the General Practitioner, Chapter 1
The Importance of Demand LettersA demand letter that includes a collection demand presages a lawsuit. A prima facie element of a cause of action might constitute a pre-suit demand. “The filing of a claim is a condition precedent to the maintenance of any cause of action against the public entity and is therefore an element that a plaintiff is required to prove in order to prevail.” DiCampli-Mintz v. Cnty. of Santa Clara, 55 Cal. 4th 983, 990, 289 P.3d 884, 888 (2012). “Notice [of the warranty claim] must not only be pleaded; it must also be proved.” Metowski v. Traid Corp., 28 Cal. App. 3d 332, 339, 104 Cal. Rptr. 599, 602 (Ct. App. 1972)
Some leases, contracts, and statutory or administrative rules and regulations require a pre-filing demand letter. The demand letter goes into evidence. It is a prima facie element in the case. If the demand letter is sent registered mail, the signed returned receipt card, the receipt from the post office, the letter, and the envelope are all admitted into evidence. A demand letter ends the matter if the recipient either complies or resolves the claim.
A demand letter initiates a lawsuit. The first contact in nearly every litigation file is a demand letter. Some letters are worded well, but many are not. An insulting demand letter might infuriate a party that seeks retribution in the ensuing civil litigation. Pinching an old Italian expression, revenge is a dish best served in court. Attorneys assume an unforgiveable risk in infusing a letter with mean-spirited language. While the attorney might seek personal gratification in insulting the addressee of the letter (the respondent) the attorney is representing a client, who may not appreciate being associated with counsel who is mean, hateful, vindictive, or worse.
In the orb of entertainment law, for example, thousands of IP infringements rise in the east followed by thousands of cease and desist demand letters that set in the west. Pirate Bay, the Swedish file-sharing site, posted online the “cease and desist” letter but continued to offer the latest movies, songs, books, and video games.
The demand letter serves many purposes. It might convince a party to comply with a contract, thereby preventing a lawsuit. Good demand letters explain a party’s position so that the recipient can consider a negotiated compromise or choose to litigate the dispute. Demand letters either make the phone ring or not.
Demand letters might flush out a previously undisclosed bankruptcy that surfaces in the response
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Demand Letters: The Lingua Franca of Attorneys | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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that encloses the First Meeting of Creditor notice. National and multinational vendors designate a “lockbox address” for the place of payment in the commercial invoices. This is the address of the seller’s bank account. Bankruptcy courts have routinely held that the bankruptcy notice to the lockbox address is the notice to the creditor, even though the bank fails to turn over the bankruptcy notices. The response to the demand letter bearing the bankruptcy notice might constitute first notice of the bankruptcy. It is better to know at this time that the addressee (respondent) has filed bankruptcy than to have the addressee filing contempt of court charges against the sender for violating the bankruptcy automatic stay. This notice is important because any notice of the bankruptcy is deemed notice of all key due dates, such as the date to file a proof of claim and the date to file suit to exempt the debt from the discharge. These dates are set in stone.
Some demand letters break the ice. In response to a demand letter, the lawyers begin talking with each other to better understand their respective positions. A dialogue early in a case either opens the door to settlement or helps parties quickly recognize that immediate settlement is not an option. In sending out a demand letter and anticipating some type of response, the sender should establish a protocol that enables the addressee to easily communicate with the sender. The sender should expect the phone call that might kick off a dialogue that could lead to an amicable resolution of the claims. Conversely, making stilted or crippled attempts at communication through voice mail, ignoring e-mails, or being personally inaccessible (in a meeting, out to lunch, unavailable, etc.) defeats the purpose of the demand letter. The demand letter is the key to the door of communication between the parties. When settling a case, talk is less costly than litigation.
Demand letters notify the addressee of a potential claim and put the addressee’s (respondent’s) insurance carrier on notice. In nearly all liability policies, the insured is required, under penalty of forfeiting coverage, to notify the carrier of the claim. In “claims-made policies,” which are common in the malpractice market for attorneys, demand letters accusing the attorney of an error are turned into notice to the insurance company by the end of the day or hour.
Demand letters are subject to immediate dissemination among the addressee principals, partners, spouses, financial institutions, associates, and other parties who are legally entitled to notice of any potential claim. A demand letter that has informed the recipient of a claim surfaces in the annual report by the auditors who are issuing a financial statement. The fact of the claim is subject to compulsory disclosure under federal securities laws.
Demand letters are required to notify manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers of claims of defective products, warranty claims, and infringement claims. The contract, warranty, or terms and conditions might impose precise timing and other requirements for making a written demand under a defective products or warranty claim. These rigorous requirements are in the “fine print” section; the “terms and conditions” are also found online. Many warranties require that written notice be received within a specified period of time, and moreover, that written notice must be directed to a specific addressee and possibly, or most assuredly, the mail stop.
Depending on the particular type of insurance, some policies require time-sensitive written notice of the claim accompanied by proof of loss and supporting documentation. Insurance policies are unforgiving. Noncompliance with a technical term just hands the insurance company an excuse to deny coverage or reject a claim due to its tardiness. This is a big deal because the casualty that is “uncovered” is a disaster.
Because there are always divergent opinions on a complicated topic, attorneys are rarely absolute guarantors of their legal opinions. A 5–4 Supreme Court vote does not suggest that the minority was wrong but only states that it disagreed with the majority. It is commonly understood that attorneys are not guarantors of the outcome of any case, particularly volatile jury trials. As any sophisticated investor knows, an opinion from an attorney that describes the tax treatment by the IRS is only valid if the IRS agrees. However, none of these homilies apply to attorneys who face the mundane task of delivering a demand letter. Unlike in litigation or complex transactions, attorneys must guarantee that the demand is correctly drafted, framed, and delivered, consistent with the contract or law, to the addressee (respondent). Failure is not an option. In nearly every case, the demand letter is the shot over the bow. Attorneys should expect a return volley.
Demand Letters That Trace the Respondent or Suggest That the Respondent Skipped TownDemand letters that bear on their envelopes “address correction requested” or “please forward”
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
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Demand Letters: The Lingua Franca of Attorneys | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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compel the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to inform the sender of the addressee’s new address and even deliver the letter. Conversely, the USPS returns demand letters that bear the notation “Moved . . . n.f.a. [no forwarding address].” The USPS pastes a yellow “sticky” on these letters that reads “Nixie . . . return to sender,” “not deliverable as addressed,” or “unable to forward.”
Returned mail suggests that the sender’s records might be inaccurate or outdated or that the addressee (respondent) has moved. If notice of the pre-suit claim is essential to a lawsuit, return of the mail might offer the defendant an exit from liability. This is called a pass. Getting the address correct is getting the message delivered.
Returned mail suggests that the addressee (respondent) might have gone out of business, left the community, or absconded, all of which influence whether civil litigation would be a viable investment. Returned mail means that the addressee (respondent) is gone from the address and never to be found.
If the addressee (respondent) left a moving address (which are good for about six months), the sender should receive notice of the new address. Given that a demand letter might constitute a condition precedent to filing a lawsuit, this new address will save the case from an ignominious and avoidable disaster. The fact that mail bounces when delivered to the last known address is bad news by any standard.
Bounced mail informs the attorney that the initial address is unusable. Should civil litigation proceed, the attorney will endeavor to confirm a new address for service and notice requirements. If the addressee provided a forwarding address, counsel will immediately have a new address for service of process. If no new address can be found, the fact of bounced mail suggests that the defendant is long gone. Saving the returned mail therefore secures a wealth of information that will streamline future service of process.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) and the states that follow the federal rules mandate service of process in 120 days or the party might face dismissal of the case. If the case is filed on the cusp of the statute of limitations, the dismissal, even if without prejudice, could be disastrous. Bounced mail signals that a particular address is probably bad, which prompts the attorney, at the outset, to do a skip trace and locate a verifiable address. Likewise, in filing an application for additional time to serve the summons and complaint, the attorney can demonstrate to the court that the defendant is difficult to serve because mail to the last known address “bounced,” and presumably the defendant is a potential “skip” and additional time is required. Absent the academic ascending the bench, most judges, even hailing from a criminal law practice, have firsthand experience with “bounced mail” and appreciate its implications. Always keep the “bounced mail.”
The Medium Is the MessageClients hire attorneys to write demand letters and are enormously gratified that their attorney has put their demand “front and center” before the addressee (respondent). Within a few days after the receipt of the demand letter, clients call their attorneys for a status report. “Did the debtor call you?” “What did you say?” “Are we making progress?” “If the debtor does not pay, what are our next steps?”
Aside from its content, a demand letter speaks volumes about the party making the demand and, more importantly, its author. A well-written, professional, and thorough demand letter tells the addressee (respondent) that the sender invested good money in the demand process and will continue to work to ensure a favorable outcome. Some attorneys enjoy a reputation as zealous advocates of their client’s interest. If such an attorney is the author of the demand letter, the addressee will do well to respond to, and not ignore, the demand letter.
Does spelling count? This is the wailing cry of every pre-digital third-grader. Demand letters require perfect spelling, grammar, syntax, organization, and clarity. Spell check, grammar check, and proofreading are de rigueur. First impressions count for everything. Neatness counts. Good bond paper counts. Perry Mason’s eloquence is wasted if the jury is fixated on his untied shoelaces. A sloppy demand letter is the equivalent of showing up late for the big meeting or standing in court with lint on one’s shoulder or a tear in one’s clothing. Sloppiness degrades the solemnity of the demand letter and suggests that the attorney is careless. It also distracts from the message.
Clients hire some attorneys because of their reputation in the community, their pedigree, or the fact that they are expensive. Which attorney the client hires is part of the message. Hiring the priciest attorney in town to write the letter can suggest that he or she will devote great resources to accomplish the goals of the demand letter. The reputation of the attorney then delivers the message that “I spend whatever is necessary.” However, it can also suggest something else. The recipient of the pricey demand letter might conclude that the sender is misguided or foolish for spending on a marquee attorney when a storefront attorney just down the street could have written the same letter for a fraction of the cost. In this case, the pedigree of the attorney communicates the message that “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
How Demand Letters Benefit the Respondent
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Demand Letters: The Lingua Franca of Attorneys | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Demand letters might compel the addressee to call up the party to discuss the claims, including settlement, or to offer a differing point of view. Aside from serious issues arising from the federal and state Fair Debt Collection Practices Act(s), which regulate consumer collections, commercial demand letters originating from attorneys and collection agencies are daily fodder: “Pay up or I will sue.” Even though a claim is due and payable and the creditor has the right to file suit immediately, the debtor’s settled expectation is that the creditor will write one last letter to demand payment before filing suit. In some states, a party must write a demand letter as a condition of recovering court costs. If a customer writes a bad check, the merchant can recover three times the face of the check if that merchant made a timely demand that incorporated a statutory warning.
Facing treble damages, many customers make good on the bad check. The demand letter is the last clear chance to resolve a case.
Note
This material is excerpted from Collection, Demand, and Commercial Letters for the General Practitioner, 2015, by David J. Cook, published by the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division of the American Bar Association. Copyright © 2015 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.
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Did you find this article helpful? Do you think more information like this would help you? More information is available. This material is excerpted from Collection, Demand, and Commercial Letters for the General Practitioner, 2015, by David J. Cook, published by the American Bar Association Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. Copyright © 2015 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted with permission of the author. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. Click here to purchase the book.
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Ten Motivational Quotes on Servant Leadership | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Ten Motivational Quotes on Servant LeadershipVol. 4, No. 12 Dr. Artika Tyner
Dr. Artika R. Tyner is a passionate educator, author, sought-after speaker, and advocate for justice. Her recently released leadership book, The Leader’s Journey: A Guide to Discover the Leader Within, provides indispensable tools for leadership development (ABA GP|Solo, 2015). At the University of St. Thomas College of Education, Leadership & Counseling, Dr. Tyner serves as a public policy/leadership professor. She trains graduate students to serve as social engineers who create new inroads to justice and freedom.
Advancing social change begins with recognizing that we each have the power to serve and lead. According to Robert Greenleaf, who coined the term servant leadership, this exercise of power “begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” Our challenge is to tap into this transformative power and leverage it to promote the betterment of society.
This type of leadership is essential for addressing the social justice challenges of our time. For instance, according to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, every hour 50 young women are infected with HIV/AIDS. One in nine people worldwide remain hungry. These are present-day challenges; however, this does not have to be our reality in the future. Greenleaf described these type of social issues as evidence of a leadership crisis. This occurs when a true servant leader fails to pick up the mantle of leadership. As a servant leader, you can work to end the spread of HIV/AIDS. As a servant leader, you can end hunger in order to ensure no person goes to bed hungry. This is a call to service. How will you move from inaction to strategic action?
Servant leadership compels individuals to take action, which is a moral imperative to exercise the values of empathy, compassion, justice, and equity. Together we can advance a shared vision of justice. The exercise of servant leadership offers practical, innovate solutions for advancing social change by creating a community-centered model where each person is called upon to leverage his or her gifts and talents to make a difference in the world.
These quotes will challenge you to discover the leader within. This is a journey of discovery where you must seek to find your calling and purpose. A key question to consider is: What will your leadership legacy be? This question focuses on whether your leadership will positively impact the lives of future generations.
A servant leader also empowers others to lead their own change. A servant leader’s success is not measured by title, rank, or position. Instead, the servant leader’s accomplishments are reflected in the sense of agency developed in the lives of others. Ask yourself: Does your leadership cause others to experience personal and professional growth?
1. If I am not for myself, who will be for me? When I am for myself alone, what am I? If not now,
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Ten Motivational Quotes on Servant Leadership | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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when? —Rabbi Hillel2. Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college
degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3. Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. —Archbishop Desmond Tutu
4. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. —Mohandas Gandhi5. Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed. —Rabbi
Heschel6. My life is my message. —Mohandas Gandhi7. One does not regret having helped another. —Kenyan Proverb8. If you can’t feed one hundred people, then just feed one. —Mother Teresa9. I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. —Maya
Angelou10. Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth. —Shirley Chisholm
Which leadership quotes inspire you to serve and lead? Please post in the comments.
Note
Click here for information about Dr. Tyner's brand-new book on leadership!
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GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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A subscription to GPSolo eReport is included with your $45 annual dues payment to the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. You can join the Division by visiting the ABA membership website or calling the at 800-285-2221.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
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Division Announcements | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Division AnnouncementsVol. 4, No. 12
Call for 2015 Difference Makers Awards NominationsNominations are due by July 31, 2015
Please review the Awards Summary and Instructions before submitting an Awards Application.
The ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division (ABA GPSolo) announces a call for nominations for its annual Difference Makers Awards Program to recognize extraordinary lawyers who “make a difference” by breaking down barriers for women, people of color, and people with disabilities, regardless of sexual orientation.
The annual difference makers awards program recognize extraordinary lawyers who “make a difference” by breaking barriers, through community service, through pro bono work, and through service to the profession.
Winners will be honored during the 2015 Solo & Small Firm Summit: Strategies for Success at an Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 25, at the InterContinental Boston in Boston, Massachusetts.
Difference Maker Award
This award honors a deserving individual who is an attorney or nonattorney: (a) who has made a difference in the local community, and (b) who lives in the local geographic area where the Division is meeting and where the Difference Makers Awards program is being held.
Making a Difference Through Service to the Profession
This award honors an attorney living or deceased who made a significant contribution to the legal profession through service to the profession (i.e., frequent activities in bar associations, committees and services).
Making a Difference Through Community Service
This award honors an attorney living or deceased who made a significant lifetime contribution to the local community through community service. (Not necessarily through bar work or pro bono work per se).
Making a Difference by Breaking Barriers
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This award honors an attorney living or deceased who broke barriers for gender, color, disabilities, or sexual orientation.
Making a Difference Through Pro Bono Work
This award honors an attorney, law firm, corporate legal department, government attorney office, or institution in the legal profession that has made an outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and disadvantaged. (Recognizes an outstanding local attorney or group that does pro bono work).
If you have any questions, please contact the Division at (312) 988-5648; fax (312) 988-5711 or via e-mail [email protected].
Council Member-at-Large VacancyThe 2015–2016 Division Council will elect a new Council Member-At-Large at its 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois on August 1, 2015, to fill an unexpired four-year term through the conclusion of the ABA Annual Meeting in August 2016. Nominations must be received by the Division Secretary, Stephen Williams by July 20, 2015, via hand delivery; mail c/o ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, 321 N. Clark Street, 18th Fl., Chicago, IL 60654; email at [email protected]; or fax at 312-988-5711. No special form of nomination is required, and self-nominations are acceptable.
Division Delegate to House of Delegates ElectionThe 2015–2016 Division Council will elect a new Division Delegate to fill a three-year term, which will conclude at the 2019 ABA Annual Meeting. Nominations must be received by the Division Secretary, Stephen Williams, by July 20, 2015, via hand delivery; mail c/o ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, 321 N. Clark Street, 18th Fl., Chicago, IL 60654; email at [email protected]; or fax at 312-988-5711. No special form of nomination is required, and self-nominations are acceptable.
Brown Bag SessionsSAVE THE DATE
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Central
GPSolo’s Virtual Brown Bag Sessions are short, informal educational events on timely topics organized by committees and held entirely by teleconference as a Division member benefit at no additional cost. The sessions are held monthly, normally last one hour, and are held during lunch hours. Due to the informal nature of the programs, and the fact that accompanying written materials may not always be prepared and distributed, the Division does not offer continuing legal education credits for these programs.
Some past Brown Bag Session topics included:
Information Security in the Modern OfficeTop Strategies for Crafting a Better Resume in a Tough Legal MarketThe Future of Legal ServicesSo You Want to Start a Law Blog . . .An Introduction to Practicing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claim (CAVC)Build a Stronger Relationship With Your Plans: Dos and Don’ts of Being a Group Legal Services ProviderDepositions: Preparing, Taking, and DefendingPractice Management Tools and Cloud Services for the Solo and Small FirmFreelance Attorneys: An Innovative Approach to Solo and Small Firm Practice and Profit GrowthIs Your Retirement Plan Right for Your Small Business?The Lawyer’s Guide to Financial PlanningExpanding Your Practice With Limited Scope Representation
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
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A subscription to GPSolo eReport is included with your $45 annual dues payment to the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. You can join the Division by visiting the ABA membership website or calling the at 800-285-2221.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
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Division Announcements | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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You can access these sessions and more on the Division’s website.
Hot Off the Press SeriesSAVE THE DATE
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Central
GPSolo’s Hot Off the Press series, featuring a new book publication release and author, presented by the Book Publications Board, is an extension of the Brown Bag Sessions, and is held entirely by teleconference as a Division member benefit at no additional cost. The sessions are held bimonthly on the third Wednesday, and normally last one hour during lunch. The content of the program is based upon the author’s book published by ABA Book Publishing. The Division does not offer continuing legal education credits for these programs.
The Hot Off the Press Series has previously included:
The Leader's Journey: A Guide to Discovering the Leader WithinFrom Law School to Lawyer: Tools, Procedures, and Steps to Grow Your PracticeBusiness Divorce: Understanding Its Dynamics and Formulating SolutionsThe Lawyer’s Guide to Financial Planning
You can access these sessions and more on the Division’s website here.
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Division Meetings | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Division MeetingsVol. 4, No. 12
2015 ABA Annual MeetingJuly 30–August 2, 2015
Swissotel Chicago
Chicago, IL
Save the date for the ABA Annual Meeting! Be sure to attend GPSolo’s events including our CLE Showcase session, “Minding Your Business: Successful Advising of the Small Business Client”; attend fun networking events such as the Keithe E. Nelson Memorial Military Law Luncheon; Military Dining Out; and participate in a variety of committee meetings.
You don’t want to miss the Solo and Small Firm Lawyers Caucus on Sunday, August 2, to examine issues being addressed by the ABA that are of interest to and that impact solo and small firm lawyers; to discuss issues of concern to solo and small firm lawyers; and to meet other ABA members and network with colleagues. The caucus is complimentary!
Also, the 2015–16 Division Council will elect a new Division Delegate to fill a three-year term, which will conclude at the 2019 ABA Annual Meeting. Nominations must be received by the Division Secretary, Stephen Williams, by July 20, 2015, via hand delivery; mail c/o ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division, 321 N. Clark Street, 18th Fl., Chicago, IL 60654; email at [email protected]; or fax at 312-988-5711. No special form of nomination is required, and self-nominations are acceptable.
Visit our website for more information. We look forward to seeing you there!
2015 Solo and Small Firm Summit: Strategies for SuccessSeptember 24–26, 2015
InterContinental Boston
Boston, MA
You asked for a concise format to reduce the amount of time away from your practice. So new this year, GPSolo has consolidated the CLE sessions to four exciting plenaries with high-profile national speakers. This one-day conference engages and informs attorneys at all levels of practice. This unique event provides an all-in-one environment for education, networking, expo and idea sharing. You don’t want to miss it!
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This year’s theme is “Strategies for Success.” Today more than ever, we need to ensure a competitive advantage by being on top of new developments in marketing and technology. You will also learn more about the rise of elder abuse and how to help your clients if you suspect it. More importantly, you will leave this summit feeling inspired by our keynote speaker.
The purpose of this summit is to give you an opportunity to explore tools and resources needed to be an effective practitioner. By networking and sharing your knowledge with others, you will receive a unique perspective on what it takes to be more successful.
Don’t worry, we are still offering the following programs:
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) trainingDifference Makers Awards LuncheonRegional Bar Leaders DialogueGreen Room
For more information, please click here.
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
Visit the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
More publications from the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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A subscription to GPSolo eReport is included with your $45 annual dues payment to the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. You can join the Division by visiting the ABA membership website or calling the at 800-285-2221.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
Kimberly Kocian, DirectorAmerican Bar AssociationSolo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
Jeffrey M. Allen, Editor-in-ChiefGraves & AllenOakland, California
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CLE | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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CLEVol. 4, No. 12
Please visit the Events & CLE page on the Division’s website for CLE teleconferences that GPSolo produces and cosponsors.
Upcoming GPSolo CLEOut of Left Field - UCC Article 9’s Application to Non-Lending Transactions
Date: July 28, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Credits: 1.50 general CLE credit hours
To a general practitioner, the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and its commercial laws are frequently encountered but may seem mysterious. While most are familiar with the application of the UCC to “standard” transactions, the UCC’s application to other kinds of matters may come as a surprise to many. This program is designed for attorneys with a general practice who need to keep current with how the UCC affects a broad range of daily business practices.
Expert panelist and member of the permanent editorial board for the Uniform Commercial Code, Steve Weise, will discuss common issues, recent developments, and updates to the UCC with specific attention given to real-world examples and best practice guidelines.
To register for this teleconference, please click here.
Estate Planning: What You Need to Know Personally and Professionally
Date: August 5, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Credits: 1.50 general CLE credit hours
No matter how large or modest the estate, everyone needs a good plan in advance. Unfortunately, we can’t predict accidents, illness, or how long we will live. Good estate planning involves providing critical guidance and peace of mind for your clients. Join our experienced panel as they provide valuable advice on preserving the maximum amount of wealth possible.
To register for this teleconference, please click here.
Prenuptial Agreements: Not Just for the Rich and Famous
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CLE | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
http://www.americanbar.org/publications/gpsolo_ereport/2015/july_2015/cle.html[7/20/2015 10:24:47 AM]
Date: August 12, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m.
Credits: 1.50 general CLE credit hours
This webinar will include information about the steps you can take to protect your clients, their assets, and children.
Although prenuptial agreements have long been deemed a luxury of the rich and famous, ordinary couples are now encouraged to inventory premarital assets. Prenuptial agreements are known for preserving personal and business assets, providing protection from community debt and future inheritance. Additionally, individuals must consider whether this is a simple request of their partner or if they could face legal implications associated with duress.
This program will address logical financial decisions for first-time couples and for second marriages to protect savings and the well-being of minor or adult children. Join our esteemed panel as they outline what agreements can and cannot provide for LGBT legal issues and same-sex cohabitation.
To register for this teleconference, pleaseclick here.
The Law, the Ethics, and the Science of Litigating With a Diminished Capacity Client
Date: August 20, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET
Credits: 1.50 general CLE credit hours
A rapidly growing concern of practicing attorneys is serving clients with diminished capacity. This issue becomes even more difficult as the attorney contemplates the testimony of that client in a hearing or trial. Join our panel of multidisciplinary experts to discuss the who, what, and how of representing diminished capacity clients in litigation. The panel will discuss the types of cases in which clients with diminished capacity may be necessary witnesses; the ethical and professionalism issues involved; the tactical and practical considerations; and the scientific and medical concerns that attorneys should contemplate.
To register for this teleconference, please click here.
Counseling Farmers, Ranchers, Agribusinesses, and Food Entrepreneurs on Insurance
Date: September 15, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET
Credits: 1.50 general CLE credit hours
This program will provide the fundamental building blocks for counseling farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, and food entrepreneurs on insurance.
Faculty will give an overview of insurance issues related to various segments of the food and agriculture industry, principally:
Farm owner’s Comprehensive Liability Policy and Commercial InsuranceInsurance for the farmstead or business operations taking place in a homeFood insurance (e.g., food products liability insurance, food contamination and recall insurance)Federal reinsured crop and livestock insuranceInsurance for the farmstead or business operations taking place in a homePrivate livestock and equine insuranceWorker’s Compensation Insurance and disability insuranceBusiness insuranceEnvironmental insuranceUmbrella policiesSpecial riders/issues with agricultureInsurance review/audit
To register for this teleconference, please click here.
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
Visit the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
More publications from the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
Disclaimer
A subscription to GPSolo eReport is included with your $45 annual dues payment to the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. You can join the Division by visiting the ABA membership website or calling the at 800-285-2221.
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Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
Kimberly Kocian, DirectorAmerican Bar AssociationSolo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
Jeffrey M. Allen, Editor-in-ChiefGraves & AllenOakland, California
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About GPSolo eReport
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CLE | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
http://www.americanbar.org/publications/gpsolo_ereport/2015/july_2015/cle.html[7/20/2015 10:24:47 AM]
Overview of Intellectual Property Law Affecting Farmers, Agribusinesses, and Food Entrepreneurs
Date: November 19, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET
Credits: 1.50 general CLE credit hours
This webinar will cover intellectual property issues affecting farmers, ranchers, agribusiness, and food entrepreneurs.
The discussion will include:
An overview of intellectual property regulation in the United States and a history of its developmentComparative analysis with European Union regulation of intellectual propertyInternational treaties regarding intellectual propertyOverview of copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret lawAgriculture biotechnology issuesInfringement cases, including saving seed litigation
To register for this teleconference, please click here.
Visit our Events and CLE page for additional upcoming programs.
ABA CLE Premier Speaker SeriesABA Members can now earn free continuing legal education credits through ABA programs featuring today’s most influential legal practitioners. The ABA introduces a free monthly CLE Premier Speaker Series. Earn up to 18 hours of CLE credit as part of your ABA membership. The CLE Premier Speaker Series is just one of the ways that we’re increasing the value of membership and advancing the legal profession. For more information, visit www.ambar.org/premierCLE.
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Division Book Release | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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Division Book ReleaseVol. 4, No. 12
The Leader's Journey: A Guide to Discovering the LeaderBy Dr. Artika R. Tyner
Leadership is a journey often mistaken for a destination. The Leader’s Journey: A Guide to Discovering the Leader Within provides guidance and inspiration for that journey. Reading this book will provide the reader with inspiration on how to lead effectively, build new bridges, and establish a vision for the future. This is the foundation of leadership growth. In three parts the book explores core values of leadership and how these values inform your understanding of leadership. This is the beginning of “knowing.”
Part 1: Leading Change—Planting People, Growing Justice (Why Lead?)This section focuses on your personal mission and vision. Since leadership is about influence, this section explores how you can influence change in the global community, organizations, professional associations, and beyond.
Part 2: Your Leadership Qualities (What Makes You a Leader?)This section provides key insights on core competencies of leadership. Effective leadership requires developing the necessary tools to lead change.
Part 3: Your Leadership DNA (What Is Your Individualized Leadership Style?)This section offers an opportunity for critical reflection by exploring your individualized approach to
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Division Book Release | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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leadership. It provides an introduction to an array of leadership styles in order to gain insights on how you lead best.
This collection of quotes serves as a source of inspiration and guidance on your leadership journey. Each quote functions as a critical reflection tool. As you take the time and reflect on each quote, you will gain new insights. This type of reflection provides an opportunity for you to strengthen your leadership skills and share these lessons with others.
ISBN: 978-1-63425-165-5Product Code: 5150480June 2015, 176 pages, 6 x 9
GPSolo eReport is a monthly electronic newsletter of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division that combines elements of Solo, The Buzz, GPSolo Technology eReport, and GPSolo Law Trends & News. Its purpose is to to put clear, comprehensive, cohesive, useful, and timely information into the hands of Division members.
Visit the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
More publications from the Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
Disclaimer
A subscription to GPSolo eReport is included with your $45 annual dues payment to the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. You can join the Division by visiting the ABA membership website or calling the at 800-285-2221.
Copyright information
Advertise with us
Thomas Campbell, Managing EditorAmerican Bar Association321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60654-7598Phone: 312-988-5990Fax: 312-988-6135
Kimberly Kocian, DirectorAmerican Bar AssociationSolo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
Jeffrey M. Allen, Editor-in-ChiefGraves & AllenOakland, California
List of GPSolo eReport Editorial Board Members
About GPSolo eReport
Subscriptions
More Information
Contact Us
SoloSez Popular Threads | Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division
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SoloSez Popular ThreadsVol. 4, No. 12
SoloSez is the Internet discussion forum for solos and small firm lawyers. As the ABA’s most active email listserv, SoloSez features approximately 2,000 solo and small firm email subscribers discussing everything from tech tips and legal opinions to what to wear to court.
The popular threads for June 2015 are:
Computer Upgrade Question
Do You List Your Fees on Your Website?
Law Partner Compensation Alternatives
LawPay Credit Card Processing
Party Refuses to Sign Settlement Agreement
Subscription Plans for Clients
For Past Popular Threads, click here.
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