Soft Skills

About The Different Types Of Attorney’s Fees

About The Different Types Of Attorney’s Fees

This is a quick summary of the common types of fee arrangements used by lawyers. Any fee must be reasonable, and the client must agree to it and all other provisions of the fee arrangement. Consultation: This is a fixed or hourly fee that clients are charged for their first meeting with an attorney where the needs and goals of the clients are discussed and the attorney ascertains whether he or she can satisfy and achieve them on the client’s behalf. Many attorneys, such as bankruptcy and personal injury attorneys offer free, first-time consultations. Contingency: This fee is based on...

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About Fee Agreements And Costs

About Fee Agreements And Costs

This week's blogs feature topics related to legal fees. In April 2020, the national average cost of attorney’s fees where an hourly rate is charged is $225 per hour. The minimum cost is $100, and the maximum is $1,000. The average range is from $100 to $300. The type of fee arrangement that an attorney utilizes is often based on the type of legal issues that a client presents for resolution. Attorneys must base their fees on a clearly communicated and memorialized fee agreement negotiated at the beginning of their representation with clients. Regardless of whatever a local state bar’s rules...

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Learning The Soft Skills – The Three Phases Of Negotiation

Learning The Soft Skills – The Three Phases Of Negotiation

The Oxford Dictionary provides a good, basic definition of “negotiation,” simply defining it as a “discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.” Another more, specific definition is that negotiation is a “dialogue between two or more people or parties intended to reach a beneficial outcome over one or more issues where a conflict exists concerning at least one of these issues.” Scholars describe the process in different ways. They divide the negotiation process into various stages, including anywhere from three to five phases. The California Desert Trial Academy treats the “art” of negotiation as a soft skill. Soft skills are those skills...

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Reconciling Priorities In The Attorney-Client Relationship

Reconciling Priorities In The Attorney-Client Relationship

The California Desert Trial Academy supplements traditional law school curriculum with both hard and soft skills, as well as the values and historical perspective that equip students to be lawyers on the day that they graduate from the CDTA. We help students develop the interpersonal skills necessary to serve clients. This includes the ability to effectively communicate with clients to fully understand their needs, goals, and expectations. When anyone hires an attorney, he or she has expectations about what the relationship will produce whether money damages, specific performance of a contract, criminal defense, or other remedy or service. Clients also have specific...

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How Long Should An Attorney Retain Client Records?

How Long Should An Attorney Retain Client Records?

Physical space may not be as great an issue in the digital age regarding the storage of client files, but the fact remains that the storage of client files is necessary for some time. But how long? Each state’s Rules of Professional Conduct specifically describe trust account records and for how long they must be kept by an attorney. A state’s ethical rules typically prescribe, as suggested standards, minimum periods for retaining client files that pertain to certain practice areas, with exception of trust account records. Attorneys are free to choose a longer or shorter term of retention of client files....

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Amenities Of The Attorney-Client Relationship, Part Two

Amenities Of The Attorney-Client Relationship, Part Two

Attorneys must remember certain rules of thumb when interacting with people publicly and professionally. They must behave as if anyone is a prospective client while never forgetting former clients. Of course, current clients must be treated no less exceptionally. The following are some useful rules of thumb for any client interaction. Current Clients *When talking to clients, give full attention to the client, especially during telephone conversations. *It is important to understand the client’s dilemma as the client understands it. Perhaps more importantly, it is important to know the client’s expectations. *Over the course of any conversation with a client, intermittently repeat and summarize...

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Amenities Of The Attorney-Client Relationship, Part One

Amenities Of The Attorney-Client Relationship, Part One

The following tips are related to certain amenities that attorneys must offer prospective, current, and former clients. Attorneys must present themselves to the public in a courteous, dignified, professional manner during the workday whether they are in court, in a meeting, or even casually at lunch. Prospective Clients *Always carry enough high-quality professional business cards. Be prepared to deliver a concise yet comprehensive answer to the question: “What kind of law do you practice?” *Be prepared to deliver brief, summaries of the law to the questions asked by prospective clients whether on the phone, at the courthouse, or at a dinner party. These...

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Lawyers, Guns, And Money

Lawyers, Guns, And Money

Whether down on their luck, innocent bystanders, or just stuck between a rock and a hard place, people tend to turn to lawyers to help solve their problems. Attorneys expend a great amount of hard work serving their clients. They deserve to get paid like any other service provider. There will always be clients who, for whatever reason, whether because they are wary of lawyers or perhaps because they are just a little dishonest themselves, will look for any reason to justify (rationalize) not paying their legal bills in a timely way, or at all. Happy, satisfied clients tend to pay...

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Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 2

Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 2

The skills learned by law students are obviously useful to them as attorneys but are also transferable to any type of business enterprise. This is the second part of an article on those skills learned in law school that are universally transferable. The following is based on the book, “The Road Not Taken,” by Kathy Grant and Wendy Werner, the authors outline the skills obtained from the typical tasks, such as studying and participating in Moot Court competitions, associated with law school. Strong motivational skills This may include the ability to work under pressure, the ability to complete projects, and the ability...

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Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 1

Transferable Skills Learned In Law School, Part 1

Lawyers learn many skills in law school including hard skills, which include the knowledge of the substantive law, and soft skills, which include analytical, managerial, and interpersonal skills. Not every law school graduate may find that he or she wants to use a law degree to practice law. Fortunately, as will be discussed in this blog in the coming year, law students learn many skills in law school that are transferable to almost any business. The following is based on the book, “The Road Not Taken,” by Kathy Grant and Wendy Werner, the authors outline the skills obtained from the daily...

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