Heard this little nugget from Zig Ziglar, “you must become a meaningful specific rather than a wandering generality.” Sort of applicable to many small firm lawyers no (including the author at times)?
Archive for May, 2007
Good piece about client billing and collections here from the Trib. Some good reminder nuggets:
–”Soft touch” collections…not going to outside collection agencies too quickly;
–Rookie mistake of not having a collection policy;
–Get money up front;
–Evaluate specific relationships…maybe a client is worth a short delay in payment; many companies have periodic cash-flow problems;
–And, it’s not a sale/client unless you get paid!!
Rjon over at How to make it rain posts an interesting e-mail exchange discussing how lawyers should answer the question, so, what do you do?
I’ve had a rash of opposing lawyers lately who have just been horrible in their treatment…primarily causing me to waste time sitting in courtrooms waiting for them. Very annoying. What good purpose does this serve? I’m just trying to figure out these lawyers’ motives…don’t they know that other lawyers are always your best referral source? Don’t they want to have a good relationship with the attorney on the case to get their client a better and more efficient result?
Apparently not. I think it’s typically associates in larger Chicago law firms who essentially don’t have an incentive to produce business nor do they have a motive for an efficient client result. Plus I think so many Chicago lawyers just think we’re in this big city with all these lawyers and they’re not going to see me again. Very short-sighted I think.
Thanks for the great comments on paperless offices. I’ll tell ya what’s keeping us from being 100% paperless…it’s because our two administrative staff persons are both offsite. I don’t have anyone onsite to scan stuff that comes in via snail mail. So if things come in via e-mail or fax, then they stay digital, but if they come in as paper then it’s up to me to scan them in and it’s not always feasible for me to spend my time in that fasion.
Saw this piece about a young lawyer sentenced to 14 days in jail for contempt of court. Anyone know more about it? I see the Judge is Pamela Hill Veal in Cook Municipal One. So it’s the Daley Center arbitration call or collections or forcible entry and detainer maybe? Well, she got out after a day so at least her/lawyer’s Memorial Day weekend wasn’t impacted.
Thought I’d pass on an interesting comment from Cook probate Judge James G. Riley from a recent CBA seminar. He said POA litigation has quadrupled in the last two to three years. Maybe a growth area to get into? This is likely the tip of the iceberg with our aging population, right?
Mostly removal of POA agent issues.
Check them out…http://www.ishereallyalawyer.com/.
I just wanted to share a question and some responses that I saw on the ISBA list serve. This one is fairly common and I’ve read ARDC troubles for lawyers on this issue. A fairly well-known lawyer in the northwest ‘burbs go nailed on this recently.
Query:
I found a letter and draft judgment slipped under the door to my office – marked hand delivered on Friday. However, the letter indicated that counsel had sent a copy of the proposed draft to his client with instructions to show it to my client. While counsel did not directly communicate with my client, I wonder what other feel about this practice.
Response:
The consensus was exactly what I thought: Violation of RPC 4.2. While our clients may share information, documents, correspondence, etc. with their prospective ex spouses, attorneys should never direct their clients to do that behind the other attorney’s back, and worse yet, tell counsel s/he did just that.
