Contingency fee practices are in danger.  People in Washington and in your State Legislatures want to take away the rights of your clients on injuries, Workers’ Compensation and Social Security Disability. Your practice is essential in protecting the dignity of many deserving people. 

The attack on teachers, unions, the environment and the social fabric of our society extends all the way to contingency fee law firms. Contingency fee law firms represent people in their times of need and help their clients navigate the complex system of government programs for the disabled. It is no surprise that these safety nets and the rules regulating this type of practice are also under attack.

The role of contingency fee law firms is essential. When individuals attack you for handling malpractice claims and medical malpractice cases your response should be, “if the State Prosecutors did their jobs, many class action suits would not have to be filed.  If physicians turned in other doctors who did not practice properly, there would be less malpractice lawsuits.  But they don’t, so the work of protecting and defending people in need is left to the private practice of contingency fee attorneys, who are the last line of defense in protecting the rights of the injured and the disabled.”

We, as a coalition of contingency fee lawyers, do not have the resources to financially compete with the paid lobbyists and corporate donors who work to take away the rights of our clients. We cannot give enough dollars to legislators to convince them to retain the current laws rather than listening to the groups who want to destroy this system.

We do, however, have numbers, and that translates in votes, and that translates into power.  Contingency fee law firms should harness the power of their client base to vote for politicians that have a friendlier, more rational perspective with regard to maintaining the programs that our clients so desperately require. Use them! 

STEP I: Register Your Clients to Vote

Ask every client and every prospective client if they are registered to vote.  If they are not, sign them up.  If you sign up new clients over the phone, send them a voter registration application in the mail.  In most states you can get the voter registration forms from the Secretary of State.  Obtain the forms and then make copies. Ask each client if they need voter registration forms for their spouse or children.

STEP II: Share Knowledge About Candidate Positions

It’s not enough to just register your clients.  They look to their attorney for advice.  The next step is to ask the candidates their position on tort law, the right to jury trial, Social Security Disability and Workers’ Compensation.  Send your clients a letter or include it in your newsletter and inform them of each candidates’ positions on the issues important to your practice and their cases.  

Be clear that no one should vote for a candidate on any one position-be it abortion, gun control, taxes or anything else.  Their legal matter is an important consideration however, and you are the expert that can best inform them of the candidate that will best protect their rights.

When it comes to judges you have an obligation to your clients, the legal system and to society to make sure the best candidates are elected. Our clients don’t know which candidates to vote for, but you do!  I was often asked if I was worried about the consequences if I endorsed a candidate who lost.  The truth is I wasn’t.  I was protecting the causes I believe in. 

At the trial level I want to elect judges who understand the law, respect attorneys as well as the parties involved and move the cases in a judicious manner.  A side benefit turned out to be that most races for judge are very close.  Judges who won that did not receive my endorsement were always fair to me to show that they deserved it in the next election.  Not once has there ever been a negative repercussion.

If the plaintiff’s bar exercised its muscle at the ballot box we would be powerful.  The amount of votes we could generate for candidates who support our positions is staggering.  Sure, money opens doors when you want to talk to a candidate.  Try sending 500 letters from a representative’s constituents when you want to schedule an appointment.  That talks too; especially when they receive newsletters from a lot of attorneys in their district or in their state either endorsing them or endorsing their opponent. 

We cannot raise enough money to compete with the industries we are challenging.  But our cause is just; our clients are deserving and our mission should not be stopped by people more interested in their bottom line than in the amount of people they are maiming and killing.  Start doing something about it!  Are you willing to step up, speak out and take action to begin defending the rights of your clients politically?

Image Credit: CBS News

Your law practice is a valuable asset and is an important component of your financial portfolio, now and for your future.  Lawyers should develop a clear understanding about what will happen to this asset when they retire, die suddenly or become disabled. Too often, attorneys face the loss of the financial benefits of their life's work (their firm)  because they have not planned ahead. 

Even if you are a sole practitioner, your practice is one of your most valuable assets!  It does have value beyond the day to day hours that you put in!

We know one attorney, for example, who became disabled unexpectedly. He struggled to keep the firm going throughout the ordeal, but almost lost it to some untrustworthy associates who attempted to steal the firm's clients. While in various hospitals trying to recover, the last thing this attorney had the ability to focus on was maintaining oversight of the crumbling firm, yet because there was no emergency plan in place, that is exactly what he had to do. 

This disabled attorney did not want to simply close the firm because he understood that significant value would be lost and rebuilding would be untenable.  Rather than closing the firm and losing its value, Attorney Consultant Inc. arranged a high-dollar sale of the firm. This allowed the attorney to focus on getting better while feeling secure in knowing that his year's of work were not lost, and that his future was secure. 

The importance of this story is not that everything worked out great for this particular attorney, but rather that it might not have. He had no emergency plan in place and had his personal circumstances been more dire, he may have lost everything. The lesson is that planning ahead can save you a lot of trouble when disaster strikes--and a lot of money.  

With regard to planned retirement, attorneys who think they will just close their doors one day are giving away an asset they have spent a career building.  For example, prior to retirement, an attorney should learn how to sell the cases on your shelf, your phone number, your web site, your equipment, the referrals that may be coming to you in the future, the goodwill you have garnered throughout your career and yes, even your name.  Your name will bring in cases for years after your retire.  Find the right person to pay your for all of these assets!

That door you are closing is made of gold.  You can't keep your firm going forever, but with clear planning, you can maintain some excellent benefits from it. Don’t let someone else capitalize for free on all that you have created.  

Your firm is an asset.  What happens to it if you die tomorrow?  I have seen it happen.

A competitor will put ads in the newspaper announcing your death and urging clients to retain their firm instead?  That has happened elsewhere.  

Have the parameters in place for the succession of your firm.  Your firm is one of your largest assets. Protect it for your family.  I helped one attorney who suddenly became disabled when an associate decided to leave with about half of the clients. That could be you.  Or you  can plan now to keep your firm intact.  The asset can be protected and you, if disabled, or your family if you are dead, will receive the proper value for your firm.

Don’t think you are immortal. Now is the time to plan for the unlikely.  If it does happen, and you haven’t prepared, it is too late.  What can you get for your firm?  Oftentimes, nothing if you didn’t plan ahead.  A substantial amount, depending upon your earnings, if you did.  Call ACI to discuss the best way to protect your life’s investment.

If a pipe bursts and your office is flooded, everything is ruined, who is in charge? Who calls the insurance company? Who is responsible for finding temporary space? Who rearranges appointments? Who supervises all that must be done? Who reassures clients that their files are not lost? 

Even the most experienced and successful law firms are sometimes faced with surprising and devastating events. Maybe you have just discovered that an employee has been stealing large sums of money from the firm. Perhaps a client has decided to sue the law firm and has threatened going to the press with an outrageous scandal. Maybe there is a real scandal that threatens the longstanding reputation of the firm that you have built.

As a firm’s managing partner, this might be the first time you have had to deal with a crisis of this magnitude and it is probably consuming your every thought. How will you ever get through this without losing face or worse, losing the company? Plus, you can’t ignore your other client and management responsibilities while managing the crisis.

When you have a major crisis on your hands, you have react quickly and there is no room for error. At times like these, it is well worth it to hire an outside professional – someone who can clearly assess the situation without the fear and emotion that you are no doubt experiencing. 

Many law firms now get 35-45% or more of their clients from the Internet. This has opened up a huge marketing opportunity for lawyers like you, but it has also created an equal opportunity for your competition. Just because you have your website, facebook, twitter, google ads and overall online marketing strategy up and running, don’t think you can get lazy about client intake and management.

Now more than ever, when a client contacts you, you have to be ready to act immediately because that client probably is looking at a list of hundreds of other firms that do the same thing that you do. Often, if you are the first to respond, and your response is helpful, caring, informative, professional and genuine, that client will be yours.

Making your Internet Marketing strategy successful means acting with speed when a potential client contacts you. That might mean answering or returning a phone call immediately, or responding to an email within minutes. That’s what people in the Internet Age expect and it happens to be the part of your marketing strategy that is the most cost effective.

Whereas the prospective client who has been referred by a current or former client already has confidence in your ability, a prospective Internet client has little ability to distinguish you from the crowd. That’s your job.

Be attentive. Respond Promptly. 

If you have an info@ email address, make sure someone checks it, at least hourly. It’s simply inexcusable how many law firms do not respond to the general email address that they have listed throughout the Web.

Overall, it’s the same client management and people interaction skills that are required in the rest of your practice that will create success with your online presence. Don’t waste this opportunity!  There are clients out there looking for you and contacting you! All you have to do is respond before the competition!