Law Practice

Lawyers As Caregivers: Ensuring Client Satisfaction

Lawyers As Caregivers: Ensuring Client Satisfaction

Lawyers are hired to perform services for clients. Whether these services involve drafting a will, negotiating a contract, or providing representation in a criminal defense or personal injury matter, attorneys must do more than perform the task at hand, they must satisfy clients. Most clients perceive hiring an attorney as an act that has serious ramifications, thus requiring attorneys to possess skills that nurture clients over the course of, and often after, an attorney’s representation. Most people do not look forward to an office visit with an attorney. It is perceived as an experience that requires considerable valuable resources such as...

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Avoiding Malpractice: Office Staff Must Comply With The Ethical Rules

Avoiding Malpractice: Office Staff Must Comply With The Ethical Rules

In the last two decades, there has been a growing increase in legal malpractice cases directly attributed to errors made by support staff. Of course, poor relationships with clients are a contributing factor to legal malpractice actions. Support staff may also affect these interactions and must always be careful to observe the ethical rules. Even if a malpractice claim fails, the litigation of the malpractice matter itself causes an attorney and his or her staff to expend a substantial number of billable hours. Malpractice claims typically create stress, anxiety, distraction, and an uncomfortable work environment. An attorney’s support staff member is susceptible...

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Avoiding Malpractice: Mistake Vs. Negligence

Avoiding Malpractice Mistake Vs. Negligence

To some laypersons and even lawyers, acts made mistakenly and acts made negligently may seem similar. However, they are two entirely different things. Distinguishing negligence and mistake is important for purposes of determining professional malpractice. And, of course, no one is perfect, which is why every lawyer wants to minimize mistakes and ultimately avoid any allegation of malpractice. In performing any job, any person may make a mistake. And lawyers are no exception. When lawyers do make mistakes, they may have consequences, both severe and insignificant. Claims for legal malpractice typically rest on the facts of each case. There are some...

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Practicing Lawyers Must Consider The Americans With Disability Act

Practicing Lawyers Must Consider The Americans With Disability Act

The websites of lawyers, like any other business enterprise, are subject to the requirements and mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Attorneys must understand how to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities and prepare their websites for potential ADA scrutiny while avoiding wasting money chasing the illusion of “ADA compliance.” When first enacted thirty years ago, not surprisingly, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) did not include the term “website” as a form of Public Accommodation for Title III. It applies to physical buildings. The ADA, 42 U.S.C. § 12101, originally became effective on July 26, 1990, predating...

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Answering The Question: Why Did I Become A Lawyer?

Answering The Question: Why Did I Become A Lawyer?

Years from now, after you have graduated from law school, you go out for a cup of coffee and, while enjoying it, initiate a conversation with a stranger. Ultimately, this stranger asks  “Why did you become a lawyer?” How do you answer it? Is your response as simple as “I love the law” or “for the money.” Or is it a longer, more well-reasoned response? So what is the best answer to the question "Why do I want to become a lawyer?" or "Why did I become a lawyer?" Because: I possess and convey knowledge of the ability to communicate and negotiate...

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Litigating In The Age Of Social Media

Litigating In The Age Of Social Media

Social media has “deprivatized” society and, as a result, people have varying opinions about the true usefulness of social media. While these opinions may correlate to certain age demographics, almost everyone to some extent finds some use for social media, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Pinterest.  While social media may truly be significantly useful, it presents the potential to have deleterious effects on litigants. The availability of social media’s endless sea of information, much of it unchecked and unverified, presents various challenges for litigators. Litigating in 2020 requires attorneys to review and monitor any types of social media in...

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Using Electronic Signatures In 2020 During The Pandemic

Using Electronic Signatures In 2020 During The Pandemic

In the last two decades, the federal court system has implemented online filing to modernize and streamline (reduce) costs related to time and money. While some courts within the federal system, such as bankruptcy courts, have, in most cases, permitted attorneys and litigants to execute their signatures electronically, documents with original signatures must still be filed with the court. Presently, more courts are adopting and allowing the use of electronic signatures on documents filed with the court. On March 18, 2020, Senate Bill 3533, the Securing and Enabling Commerce Using Remote and Electronic Notarization Act of 2020 (the “SECURE Act”), was introduced...

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Principles Of Professional Conduct – Competence

Principles Of Professional Conduct – Competence

The preamble of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct describes a lawyer and member of the legal profession as “. . . a representative of clients, an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.” One primary principle of the Model Rules is that a lawyer must be competent as a representative of clients. In 2018, the California Supreme Court issued an order that approved 69 Rules of Professional Conduct for California attorneys, rejecting only one. These new rules became effective in November of 2018 and closely follow the ABA Model Rules of Professional...

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How To Write A Client Questionnaire – Criminal Cases

How To Write A Client Questionnaire – Criminal Cases

No attorney relies on an initial in-person interview as the first means of encapsulating the relevant information related to a client. Before an attorney sits down with a client for the first time, a diligent attorney requires a client to complete some type of intake form or questionnaire. A completed new client questionnaire provides an attorney with a checklist and self-screening device designed to obtain, in a short amount of time, the information required to review a client for the ability to pay fees and the absence of any conflict of interest or other potential problematic attorney-client issues that may...

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Writing Interrogatories To Prove A PI Plaintiff’s Case

Writing Interrogatories To Prove A PI Plaintiff's Case

Many, if not most, tort cases arise out of motor vehicle accidents and are based on allegations of an individual negligently operating a motor vehicle. While mundane in the legal world, personal injury plaintiffs must prove each of the elements of negligence. Using interrogatories as a discovery tool can help attorneys develop the facts and identify the evidence necessary to prove each element. First, any plaintiff’s attorney must design interrogatories to ascertain the basic facts about the accident. Any responses by a party to interrogatories relating to any person, event, or condition that is alleged by the defendant to have contributed to the...

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