Back Bitting under cutting competitors

By Traffic Tickets

I have been helping clients out in traffic court several years now in the Charlotte Metro Area. It has been brought to my attention that certain Attorney's are slashing their representation fees are at an all time low. Although I can understand that in the current economic climate that clients may not be able to afford the Attorney's fees that they were once able to pay but fees for our services need to be reasonable. We are not running discount 99 cent stores, we have overhead, employees, malpractice insurance, dues,  student loan, and cles expenses.

Over the past six (6) months, I have heard clients say that other Attorney's have offered to provide them representation on traffic matters at $50.00 a pop. Even if you are a semi-retired Attorney or one who works from home, this price is that it does not even cover your costs as an Attorney: driving record, file, gas to court and back, NOR does it even account for your valuable time as an Attorney. 

My comment to the Attorney's who are offering their services way below value is that they are ultimately running themselves out of business in the long run because they will be loosing money on the front end. In most cases your traffic clients will not be repeat clients who will come to you every month or every year for that matter. So your pricing is attracting deal seeking non-repeat clients who will likely never use you for another ticket or any other legal service.

Quality vs. Quantity 
If you are operating on the presumption that quantity is better than quality, you are way off. You can handle 10 traffic tickets in one day at $50 a piece and make $500.00. The problem with this number is again you are working your cases at a loss. When you operate at such a low price what value you are offering to a client? Are you reviewing their driving record before you go to court? Do you know how an out state driver will be affected by certain convictions and pleas in this state? In my experience Volume Attorneys or Firms are not concerned with the welfare of their clients or their well being and only the bottom dollar. My fees are competitive with what the normal fees for what traffic representation should be in my area and I have never had a complaint regarding these services and have assisted countless clients avoid points on their license, avoid increased insurance rates, and save their License from suspension or have it reinstated. At the end of the day I am confident that the quality of the service I provide my clients is extremely valuable. The volume firms will make a dent in my potential client pool, but they will soon be out of business and I will still be here as I have been several years now.

Confessions of an Solo!
 

The many functions and duties of a solo practitioner

By Bankruptcy Attorney

If you haven't realized yet being solo Attorney involves more than the practice of law. Most solos have a small or no support staff. Even if you are fortunate to have one to two staff members you will still wear more hats than you would like.
As a solo you are:
1. Office manager, including but not limited to scheduling (yours and your staff), reviewing the work of others, putting out occasion office fires (figuratively).
2. Financial Director and responsible for budgeting, bookkeeping, raising capital, managing payroll, slashing costs when necessary.
3. Marketing Director--coming up with creative, new, and continuous ways to market your firm and your services to the public.
4. Customer Service Manager--making sure client relationships are well maintained and that they are satisfied and will return and refer others. It is more cost effective for you to be able to maintain your client base vs. having to seek new clients every year or couple of months.
5. Attorney---drafting the pleadings, meeting with clients, attending court, and makings sure your work product is something that both you and your clients will be satisfied with.

Being solo is no small feat. The skills and knowledge you will gain are invaluable. The headaches and the obstacles will seem monstrous. But if you can overcome the inconsistency between the his and the lows, eventually you will either pave a path down prosperity or use the skills you have garnered into another career or position.

Good Luck Solo!

If you would like to join the solo list serv please follow the link here http://groups.google.com/group/solo-practitioners

THE DIFFICULT CLIENT

BY BANKRUPTCY ATTORNEY

We have all had to deal with that difficult client who does not return your phone calls, will not provide you information or documents, does not show up to meetings. These type of clients make our jobs a lot harder and more frustrating. If only these clients could realize that they are hurting their own case by acting this way.

Here are some ways you can protect yourself:

1. If you can collect a substantial retainer upfront. These kind of clients wont return your phone calls under certain circumstances, let alone if they owe you money.
2. When they are setting the appointment ask for as many documents, things you feel will be necessary for that type of case. Typically flakes will come to the appointment unprepared and unwilling to fill out any forms. This is  a red flag that they are lying or have someone to hide.
3. Be thorough with the questions you ask them during the initial meeting. If they do retain you go over some of these questions to see if their story changes.
4. They fail to return important phone calls and or emails concerning their case. When a client is playing disappearing acts that either means they are not serious about their case or they are lying about something.
5. When the client does call or email its for unrelated matters and at awkward times. This type of client expects you to solve all of their problems even the ones outside of the scope. They are expecting something that is truly unrealistic and do not ever feel that you will be able to fully take care of their case in the "best way."

 Keep your eyes and ears open. Learn from experience and spot those difficult clients from afar so that you can keep them away and stop them from wasting your time. Good Luck SOLO on your journey.

North Carolina Puts a new spin on the collateral resource Rule

By Tax Attorney

The basic collateral resource rule allows plaintiffs to receive the full amount of their medical bills from the defendants without discounting the bills with payments from insurance and other resources. 

THE NEW LAW

North Carolina House Bill 542, recently signed into law by Governor Bev Purdue, makes several significant changes to North Carolina law. The newly enacted Rule 414 of the North Carolina Rule of Evidence states that evidence of medical expenses is limited to evidence of the amounts actually paid by the PLAINTIFF to satisfy the bills, as well as the amounts actually needed to satisfy any unpaid and outstanding bills.

DISCUSSION 

Under this new collateral source rule, if your client has insurance or other means to pay the medical bills, the potential defendant will receive a credit for that against the total medicals. For example if your client’s hospital bill was $5,000  but his/her personal insurance paid $4800 of the bill leaving a balance of only $200, then you will only be able to count the amount that is unpaid in your medicals demand, i.e. $200.

As someone who does not normally take on personal injury claims, I find myself turning down the new cases that may pop up. It simply is not worth it as this point. Insurance companies are tightening their belts and settling for pennies on the dollar, even in cases where their clients are 100% at fault.

So until next time solos Good Luck on your journey! 

IRS WITHHOLDING EXEMPTIONS WHAT SHOULD YOU CLAIM?

People often come into my office once they owe a IRS or the State unpaid taxes and If they are a W2 employees? ... http://p.ost.im/p/erFVHN

Competition and Rivalry

By Bankruptcy Lawyer

As if being a solo was not hard enough with the stringent rules we have to follow, the client headaches, stressful workdays, income fluctuations but ah-ha we have to at times deal with the condemnation of older practitioners who feel that we do not have our place in "their world."

My experience is similar to that movie "Mean Girls." A group of solos in one particular practice area approached one of the Attorneys I associate with and stated that they were working to run me out because they did not like my fees or my advertising. These older solos have more clients than I do and charge more money. They felt as though I was cutting into their competition. All I can do is laugh. This is so childish that I don't feel that it should be worthy of a post; however, the backlash that i have received while practicing this particular area of law by other Attorneys and court officials has made me think that I am damned if i do and damned if I don't. I have to make a living and need to advertise to get the clients in and I can not justify charging more money than I do because it's simply not feasible for me.

So what do you do when your competition is systematically trying to run you off and file motions against you? and get other Judges and Court officials against you? You throw the wolves a bone. Although I think it was really immature for the wolves in sheep's clothing to not approach me personally, I will give them one concession, which is to not publish my fees. Although the publication of my fees are not against any ethics rules. BUT I will continue to advertise and do what I need to do to get my clients in.

Solos need to stick together and not work to tear each other down.

Good Luck Solo you will need it, there are hungry wolves out there searching for blood!

Rule 11 Sanctions

By Bankruptcy Lawyer

There is Federal rule which is a little more detailed and each state has their version of the Rule. In a sense it is a rule that provides Sanctions against Attorneys for filing frivolous claims and pleadings. The movant (persons requesting sanctions) must meet the standard and show the court the following:

Either:
"In analyzing whether a pleading, motion, or other paper meets the first certification requirement under Rule 11, the Court “must determine: ‘(1) whether the [party] undertook a reasonable inquiry into the facts and (2) whether the [party], after reviewing the results of his inquiry, reasonably believed that his position was well grounded in fact."Kohler Co. v. McIvor, 177 N.C. App. 396, 402, 628 S.E.2d 817, 822 (2006)

OR 

"T]he Rule 11 movant’s subjective belief that a paper has been filed for an improper purpose is immaterial in determining whether an alleged offender’s conduct is sanctionable.” Id. (citing Taylor v. Taylor Prods., Inc., 105 N.C. App. 620, 632, 414 S.E.2d 568, 576–77 (1992))."


Further, a brief is required in North Carolina to accompany the motion laying out the grounds for sanctions.

In Federal Court an addition requirement must be met:
"A motion for sanctions must be made separately from any other motion and must describe the specific conduct that allegedly violates Rule 11(b). The motion must be served under Rule 5, but it must not be filed or be presented to the court if the challenged paper, claim, defense, contention, or denial is withdrawn or appropriately corrected within 21 days after service or within another time the court sets. If warranted, the court may award to the prevailing party the reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred for the motion."

Please keep in mind it is extreme burden to meet whether you are in state or federal court and should only be used in extreme cases. The court does not favor these motions and more often than not will not award them.