Tag Archives: lawyer

Law Firm Marketing

Posted on September 4, 2011 by admin| 1 Comment

Referrals are critical component for generating the work for the law firms. It reminded of the importance of networking, and those who build strong referral partners are often very successful.  Word of mouth and referrals continue to be cited by consumers as the primary way, but the Internet has recently changed the referral process. Clients  view the Internet as a valuable information resource, and in virtually all cases, the Internet will be used to provide additional perspective and details which will affect decisions.

After receiving a referral the Client decides to research the provider being referred before contacting him/her.  Even when a Client receives a strong referral, often they will still “Google” the lawyer or law firm and look for their website. What they find may help or hurt their’s chances. A referral in itself helps Client to make the decision but Client will make evaluations based on the information collected from internet and other resources, all before they contact him/her. The Client is also likely to research topics or issues pertaining to their situation. Therefore, clients are fairly well-informed (or they believe they are) when and if they call the provider.  When someone asks for a recommended provider, they typically receive several responses. This creates a lot of options, and possible work for the client, and many are willing to do it to make their decision.

As a professional who seeks to build a strong network of referral partners, there are a few things you can do to help yourself:

  1. Deliver a great service that is worth talking about by others. If you do something that others do not, and delight your clients, it will give both you and them something to talk about with others. You will stand out from the crowd.
  2. Your referral partners should know who your ideal client is and how you can help them. Law firm or lawyers should explain their services in detail to their referral partners as as clients.  The lawyer will get the right kind of clients this way.  The happy clients refer a lot of business and create an image for the lawyer.
  3. Make sure you help yourself with your online presence and image. Make sure it reinforces your brand and credibility.
  4. Use marketing and advertising to supplement your referrals so you have both referral business and newly generated business for your firm. This blend will keep you busy and well-fed.

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Business of Law or Practice of law

Posted on July 3, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

For  years, some members of the bar have fought a pitched battle to preserve the practice of law as a profession than a business like any other. Often, this was done with the best of intentions: after all, lawyers are assigned a public trust when licensed. Officers of the court ought to be expected to see the greater lovely. Sometimes, though, the motives were less pure: a thinly guised try to protect cherished revenue streams.
Either way, at this point the battle is largely a rear-guard action. Legal practice is changing, not because lawyers need it to but because clients are changing it for them – increasingly insisting that attorneys utilize the discipline driven by the same market forces to which every other business is subject.
Clients are imposing more sophisticated & varied cost controls on legal expenditures. The increasing need for both predictability & cost containment makes the business case for legal outsourcing as part of the solution more compelling to clients on a regular basis. If legal sourcing vendors offer quality work product, they can expect that, as in IT & back office outsourcing, they will gradually but steadily move up the worth chain.
The expertise of the senior partner, whether through local knowledge of judges & juries or ability to offer high-end strategic advice, will likely never be outsourced. Still, lawyers must understand that, as never before, their work will need the same relentless drive to accomplish more with less that their clients have been dealing with for years. The days of unquestioned year-on-year fee hikes, independent of increased value-adds, are coming to an finish. Adjust your business model accordingly because trying to hold on to sure profit centers in the short term may cost you clients in the long term.
For young lawyers, recognition of the competition that they face from abroad is critical. Clients will become increasingly less tolerant of having to pay premium rates to train them how to do basic tasks. Lifelong additions to their skill sets to provide something uniquely valuable to the client will be a must if wage levels are to be maintained in this surroundings. The responsibility for seeing to it that such opportunities are made obtainable falls to legal educators. Practical training beyond basic writing & research & elective courses in trial & appellate advocacy must be instituted now.

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Outsourcing Legal Support Services India

Posted on June 26, 2011 by admin| 1 Comment

Formal Ethics Opinion by North Carolina State Bar Association

Opinion rules that a lawyer may outsource limited legal support services to a foreign lawyer or a nonlawyer (collectively “foreign assistants”) provided the lawyer properly selects and supervises the foreign assistants, ensures the preservation of client confidences, avoids conflicts of interests, discloses the outsourcing, and obtains the client’s advanced informed consent.

Opinion:

The Ethics Committee has previously determined that a lawyer may use nonlawyer assistants in his or her practice, and that the assistants do not have to be employees of the lawyer’s firm or physically present in the lawyer’s office. See, e.g., RPC 70, RPC 216, 99 FEO 6, 2002 FEO 9. The previous opinions emphasize that the lawyer’s use of nonlawyer assistants must comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct. Generally, the ethical considerations when a lawyer uses foreign assistants are similar to the considerations that arise when a lawyer uses the services of any nonlawyer assistant.

Pursuant to RPC 216, a lawyer has a duty under the Rules of Professional Conduct to take reasonable steps to ascertain that a nonlawyer assistant is competent; to provide the nonlawyer assistant with appropriate supervision and instruction; and to continue to use the lawyer’s own independent professional judgment, competence, and personal knowledge in the representation of the client. See also Rule 1.1, Rule 5.3, Rule 5.5. The opinion further states that the lawyer’s duty to provide competent representation mandates that the lawyer be responsible for the work product of nonlawyer assistants. See also Rule 5.3.

2002 FEO 9 states that, in any situation where a lawyer delegates a task to a nonlawyer assistant, the lawyer must determine that delegation is appropriate after having evaluated the complexity of the transaction, the degree of difficulty of the task, the training and ability of the nonlawyer, the client’s sophistication and expectations, and the course of dealing with the client.See also Rule 1.1 and Rule 5.3.

Therefore, as long as the lawyer’s use of the nonlawyer assistant’s services is in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, the location of the nonlawyer assistant is irrelevant. Rule 5.3(b) requires lawyers having supervisory authority over the work of nonlawyers to make “reasonable efforts” to ensure that the nonlawyer’s conduct is compatible with the professional obligations of the lawyer.

When contemplating the use of foreign assistants, the lawyer’s initial ethical duty is to exercise due diligence in the selection of the foreign assistant. RPC 216 states that, before contracting with a nonlawyer assistant, a lawyer must take reasonable steps to determine that the nonlawyer assistant is competent. 2002 FEO 9 states that the lawyer must evaluate the training and ability of the nonlawyer in determining whether delegation of a task to the nonlawyer is appropriate. The lawyer must ensure that the foreign assistant is competent to perform the work requested, understands and will comply with the ethical rules that govern a lawyer’s conduct, and will act in a manner that is compatible with the lawyer’s professional obligations.

In the selection of the foreign assistant, the lawyer should consider obtaining background information about any intermediary employing the foreign assistants; obtaining the foreign assistants’ resumes; conducting reference checks; interviewing the foreign assistants to ascertain their suitability for the particular assignment; obtaining a work product sample; and confirming that appropriate channels of communication are present to ensure that supervision can be provided in a timely and ongoing manner. Individual cases may require special or further measures. See New York City Bar Ass’n. Formal Opinion 2006-3; San Diego County Bar Ass’n. Ethics Opinion 2007-1.

Another ethical concern is the lawyer’s ability adequately to supervise the foreign assistants. Pursuant to RPC 216, to supervise properly the work delegated to the foreign assistants, the lawyer must possess sufficient knowledge of the specific area of law. The lawyer must also ensure that the assignment is within the foreign assistant’s area of competency. In supervising the foreign assistant, the lawyer must review the foreign assistant’s work on an ongoing basis to ensure its quality; have ongoing communication with the foreign assistant to ensure that the assignment is understood and that the foreign assistant is discharging the assignment in accordance with the lawyer’s directions and expectations; and review thoroughly all work-product of foreign assistants to ensure that it is accurate, reliable, and in the client’s interest. The lawyer has an ongoing duty to exercise his or her professional judgment and skill to maintain the level of supervision necessary to advance and protect the client’s interest.

If physical separation, language barriers, differences in time zones, or inadequate communication channels do not allow a reasonable and adequate level of supervision to be maintained over the foreign assistant’s work, the lawyer should not retain the foreign assistant to provide services.

A lawyer must retain at all times the duty to exercise his or her independent judgment on the client’s behalf and cannot abdicate that role to any assistant. A lawyer who utilizes foreign assistants will be held responsible for any of the foreign assistants’ work-product used by the lawyer. See Rule 5.3. A lawyer may use foreign assistants for administrative support services such as document assembly, accounting, and clerical support. A lawyer may also use foreign assistants for limited legal support services such as reviewing documents; conducting due diligence; drafting contracts, pleadings, and memoranda of law; and conducting legal research. Foreign assistants may not exercise independent legal judgment in making decisions on behalf of a client. Additionally, a lawyer may not permit any foreign assistant to provide any legal advice or services directly to the client to assure that the lawyer is not assisting another person, or a corporation, in the unauthorized practice of law. See Rule 5.5(d). The limitations on the type of legal services that can be outsourced, in conjunction with the selection and supervisory requirements associated with the use of foreign assistants, insures that the client is competently represented. See Rule 5.5(d). Nevertheless, when outsourcing legal support services, lawyers need to be mindful of the prohibitions on unauthorized practice of law in Chapter 84 of the General Statutes and on the prohibition on aiding the unauthorized practice of law in Rule 5.5(d).

Another significant ethical concern is the protection of client confidentiality. A lawyer has a professional obligation to protect and preserve the confidences of a client against disclosure by the lawyer or other persons who are participating in the representation of the client or who are subject to the lawyer’s supervision.  When utilizing foreign assistants, the lawyer must ensure that procedures are in place to minimize the risk that confidential information might be disclosed. See RPC 133. Included in such procedures should be an effective conflict-checking procedure. See RPC 216. The lawyer must make certain that the outsourcing firm and the foreign assistants working on the particular client matter are aware that the lawyer’s professional obligations require that there be no breach of confidentiality in regard to client information. The lawyer also must use reasonable care to select a mode of communication that will best maintain any confidential information that might be conveyed in the communication. Finally, the lawyer has an ethical obligation to disclose the use of foreign, or other, assistants and to obtain the client’s written informed consent to the outsourcing. In the absence of a specific understanding between the lawyer and client to the contrary, the reasonable expectation of the client is that the lawyer retained by the client, using the resources within the lawyer’s firm, will perform the requested legal services.

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