This is very good advice. The first two to three years, there's no way to know the extent of what you don't know. You're going to be drinking from a fire hydrant regardless, but immediately trying to diversify when you don't have to is like trying to lap up the ocean.
It was a blood bath this year. Essay's were Fed Con Law, Crim Law, and Commercial Paper. None of those had been tested in a very long time and Commercial paper had never been tested at all
Because you're taking it with a bunch of people who failed the first time. I took NY in July and Texas in February. The vibe in February is much more relaxed as well.
Okay, got it. I thought you were suggesting that one taking the bar the first time should wait to take it in February.
I have a hearing set in a WC claim for tomorrow, a 2nd setting. The insurer hasn't retained counsel, they haven't really responded to our e-mails or our demand, and every indication is that we're moving forward tomorrow unless they come in at the last minute and give us a stout offer. We filed our hearing request in December. We sent discovery (they haven't responded). They've made one initial offer way back, but that's it. I'm really just wondering if the Judge is going to let us go forward with the other party not even showing up.
Yep. Frankly, I tell our newbies to "know their role." Make the company money and learn your trade. The associates that immediately start spouting new ideas or business concepts usually don't last long. Your first 3-4 years should be spent becoming a good lawyer, not trying to generate business. Everyone wants to be a rainmaker immediately but the best way to make it rain is to sound like you know WTF you are talking about. Originating clients and work will follow if you are good at what you do.
You'll get a default judgement in favor of your client for what you're asking for if the insurance company doesn't show
I'm leaning towards agreeing with bertwing. This is super rare it seems with an employer/carrier to just not show up. Had a hearing this morning before chancery court on approval of comp settlement involving minor child.
Yea, I figured we would just get the default judgment, but the Judge's assistant said she might reset the hearing to give the insurer another chance...(I mean...wtf!?!?). The adjuster called this afternoon and we took the hearing off the calendar. Fortunately, she gave us everything we wanted plus $4k in assessed fees.
Nice. Probably got a reminder about the hearing the day before and about shit herself You don't want to get a default judgment as an adjuster.
Her reminder was me calling and leaving a message saying "the hearing is tomorrow and I'm ready to go forward, but the judge's office told me to give your dumb ass a call because you don't have an attorney..."
had a comp adjuster tell me yesterday that if i don't allow her to do a recorded statement with my client she was going to deny the claim in its entirety. pissed me off.
That seems wildly inappropriate by the judge's office. Then again we have a recent SJC decision that bends over backwards to protect pro se parties to the point the judge acts as their attorney in practice.
at "wildly inappropriate." The judge got the end result without wasting unnecessary court time or hanging the defendant adjuster out to dry. It sounds like he remembered what it's like to be a lawyer.
my friend is getting sued he got in accident with motorcycle and he was driving an uninsured vehicle (big problem, looking into maybe filing bankruptcy to stay and discharge the civil action). For this one case I'm a defense lawyer. The Plaintiff's lawyer IS an insurance defense lawyer doing a favor for his friend, the driver of the motorcyle. opposing counsel is a friend of a friend. weird case.
You say "uninsured vehicle." Does your friend have any kind of liability insurance? Is there any UIM? It doesn't seem like filing a preemptive bankruptcy would be the best route.
haven't gotten to the bottom of a lot of it. but i will be soon. I don't think the Plaintiff has UIM. I think my client has insurance on some of his other vehicles but not on the vehicle he was driving at the time of the incident.
Get the policies. Just because that given vehicle wasn't insured doesn't mean that he does not have sufficient liability insurance for bodily injury. For example, I know a standard policy for a major carrier includes coverage for "the ownership, maintenance, or use of: your car, a newly acquired car, or a trailer and the maintenance or use of a non-owned car; or a temporary substitute car." Either way, make a claim with his carrier to at the very least get defense costs covered under a reservation of rights.
Yea, we ultimately got everything we wanted from the adjuster by applying the pressure that we were going to go in front of the Judge and get the adjuster hammered. We avoided having her retain an attorney, got assessed fees, etc. Now, hopefully we can just settle the claim in the next few weeks.
yah i realized that after i said that earlier. I have a case where a guy was driving someone else's car and i'm getting $ from the drivers policy. actually its a wrongful death case but still . but i talked to my client and he says he didn't have coverage on any of his cars at the time. case was filed in august 2014 wasn't served until march of this year. called court theres a motion for extension of time to serve and an order re same i'm getting a copy of file. you have 120 days to serve after filing here
Just read the will Smith thread. The immediate jumps to conclusions just make my head spin. Investigation isn't done? he needs to fry. No clue where the body was or how it was positioned? Clearly Smith was going for a gun. No clue who else was on scene? Shot in front of kids. Defense attorney defending his client? Piece of shit. Eating with police chief? About his father's death. Just makes my head explode that people haven't learned that the initial reporting or even getting just one side of the story probably doesn't bode well for the definitive and absolute statements being made. Arrest the guy and sort that shit out later. But the rush to judgment on admittedly incomplete information has such a Salem Witch Trials feel for me. Fucking ridiculous.
No I'm not sure why they insist on suing. I'm probably gonna offer like 5k which he thinks he can borrow, if they don't take it we'll take it to verdict as I think plaintiff was going 20mph+ over the speed limit and may have been intoxicated, if they still get big verdict then they'll have to start garnishing his wages, at that point we might file for chapter7
I don't find that all too surprising. I bet the majority of first-time takers in February were part time students and/or from lesser law schools.
Here's the breakdown from Florida. From what I know, it was mostly people who graduated early not part time students. The surprising numbers are how bad both UF and UM's students did. Pretty much every "big" school other than FIU and FSU had a 10%+ drop in their passing rate. UF's was almost 30%
yah we called opposing counsel and told him. he's doing a personal favor for his friend the Plaintiff and won't back down.
File an offer of judgment for whatever he can afford as soon as you find out for sure there's no UM. It'll piss the judge off when he finds out they're wasting the court's time on principle. If opposing counsel has an ounce of sense, a favor to a buddy isn't worth losing credibility with a judge. Remember, though, that an OJ becomes a judgment if accepted. So, make sure your client can pay what you offer. I say all that without knowing the MS rule on OJ's so check that first.
Before you do all that, make for damned sure your guy isn't trying to hide his assets. Once you're completely certain of that (beyond just him telling you), paper trail the fuck out of letting opposing counsel know he doesn't have any money and any judgment beyond "x" will result in bankruptcy.
MBE is changing. Hitting on more nuances. Becoming more of a reading comprehension. Florida is a beast. Day 1 is Florida law with essays. Students study the 10 different Florida topics that are usually tested. February hit on Commercial Paper Article 3, Federal Con Law, and Con Crim Pro. Not exactly Florida law essays.
The looks on people's faces as they read the essays were priceless. Thank god I never have to go through that shit again
i agree. does the guy know that his insurance company will give him a defense? or just be a boss and start trying to bring in business. start dedicating 5-10 hrs/week to being out in the community and meeting people who could refer you business at some point. not saying you have to start telling them to send you biz right away, but if your goal is to be an equity partner or start your own firm, you need to start meeting people and not focus 100% on making another dude a lot of money.
No offense, but I'm not sure you're the best person to be giving advice on this, Mr. "is it cool to run your own cases?"
I mean, you ought to be doing that shit anyhow. If your goal is to be an equity partner, you damn well better be a good lawyer first. The way to develop your skills is working under someone who helps you develop those skills. But if you think you are going to make equity partner without having made the firm money as an associate, you are sorely mistaken. You can originate as many matters as you want but unless you deliver quality product and results, you will not get any return business.
well he's under the impression that he has no insurance coverage. I'm getting to the bottom of this. If he does have coverage I'm probably going to tell him to use his insurance to get an insurance defense lawyer.
As I dig into it, I’m finding out more. He had 2 cars at the time of the accident. One was insured and one that was not insured. The incident involved the vehicle that wasn’t insured. I’m getting a copy of the policy of insurance that covered the uninvolved vehicle. If it does have language that would cover this accident then I’m going to make his insurance company afford him a defense and give him an insurance defense lawyer to defend the claim. I probably have no business defending a MVC claim. I think I could do a good enough job, but if he actually has insurance, then I’ll let some seasoned insurance defense lawyer that’s been doing it 20+ years take over. ' I've never had a reservation of rights issue come up in a case. If they defend under reservation of rights and then decide there is no coverage what happens.
My entire goal right now is answering everything with something other than "I don't know. Let me look that up."
I've been at this firm for over two years and I still find myself in that position. It's not that I haven't learned a lot, but rather that instead of people asking me if I know if the statute on retirement and alimony uses this particular language, it's "is there case law out there [read: find me case law] that allows us to dismiss this action entirely because....." So then i go down the rabbit hole. Sometimes I make a solid argument. Sometimes I have to talk my boss out of arguing that a 12(b)(8) motion to dismiss for another action pending isn't a fatal defect to subject matter jurisdiction.
I've been practicing for over 3 years now and still have pretty much no idea what I'm doing. I've learned a ton, and feel comfortable handling my own cases, but still realize how little I know. Fake it til you make it
I've been out 5 years, I've taken probably close to 100 expert depos, tried 17 cases, and I learn something new practically every day. It's great to focus on generating business, but you aren't going to generate business for long if you can't actually practice law. Your best cases aren't ever coming from a chiropractor, they're coming from other attorneys and they know who can handle a case and who can't. Insurance companies also know who can try a case and who can't and its reflected in the offers you get. Spend your time studying the law, watching good trial lawyers, and you'll get to where you can not only generate business, but maximize it when you do.
But at the same time, the public is learning. Just (3 hours ago) got the verdict back on our Attempted Murder trial we've had this week. Spoke to jurors after... "No doubt your client did it, but the State didn't prove it."
Exactly. Although I don't work in Big Law it appears that someone who can generate business is still useless if they're an idiot at law. And what does "tried" mean in civil? Heard that the other day but didn't want to ask.