This is not responsive but I'm curious. You maintain your license but don't actively practice law, correct?
I forget the name but it’s some kind of acronym like MCLE (not the Bar exam) that gives you all 33 credits for like $100.
yeah many years ago I used to use MCLEZ or something like that but it kinda sucks now. Looking for something kinda similar though
wes tegg one of your partner's popped one of my associates in a slip and fall yesterday. I don’t do any PI work but it sounded bad. Feel bad for him. Are you still a member of the Alabama Bar? They have a bunch of free courses available on the website. Not in anything useful, of course, but if your just looking for hours that’s what I would do.
Yeah, I worked with your associate at my former firm (he was in the Huntsville office while I was in Birmingham). Really nice guy. I think that was a tough case to defend on liability.
He really is. Yeah, I think the amount of the verdict was what surprised him. He knew the plaintiff would get something but was pretty bummed it was that much.
Today a client accused me of being racist and colluding with state farm because the offer they received on $4,000 in medical bills and a soft tissue injury was low. Walked them through the process now of filing suit and probably the case having to go to trial. After that they asked me how much I was getting paid on the side. Then the racist allegations followed. I was floored.
How do y’all keep track of low level tasks you’ve delegated to make sure they get done? Last year I asked a paralegal to form a Delaware LLC and qualify it to do business in Florida and Texas. I signed a few documents and never thought about it again. Today I find out she completed the Florida filing but not Texas. She’s no longer with the firm but I’ve had issues like this arise in the past, so I reckon I need to micromanage these things but don’t have a good way of doing so.
any case management software like clio, filevine etc lets you task stuff. but i hate doing it through them. i have word docs for my paralegal and legal assistants with all the tasks i’ve assigned to them. i send them their task lists periodically. they get so long that these days i have to prioritize them. try to give them weekly priority task lists. i delete the stuff they’ve done as I review them. Sometimes I’m not sure if they’ve done something so I go over the list with them , they tell me stuff to delete, and we discuss priorities.
Im thinking I may just start copying my secretary (who I otherwise never use) on everything and asking her to create lists like this every time I ask someone within the firm to do something. I hate this kind of minutiae but at the end of the day it’s on me and I hate looking bad or making mistakes in front of a client, even simple ones. We had a fantastic paralegal who retired in 2021 and the few replacements we’ve hired since then don’t hold a candle. The one that prompted this question even had a law degree
I have no clue how anyone functions without a task list for their staff that they don’t keep up with. I’ve always had to micro manage the shit out of staff or things will slip through the cracks.
I do (plaintiff's) PI, workers comp, and SS disability. I mostly rely on our case management (Needles), and almost everything is streamlined with checklist tasks for staff. The software is old, slow, and feels dated, but it gets the job done for me. I set reminders/calendar tasks for important deadlines assigned and cc staff. For other items not addressed by the standard checklist on a file, I just create a custom task and assign it. I set periodic review on every file, so I'm reviewing about 5-10 files per day spread out. My personal case load is about 150 on average, but I work on a partner's files, and he carries probably 600 active files (but note, these are mostly workers' comp/coal miner cases where each client can have 3-4 claims each, so that number is inflated). Every task/email is documented on the client's file, so it's pretty easy to keep track. With some of my staff, I had to do a ton of micromanaging, but they usually don't last long. Most of my staff are very competent and just get everything done.
Have a personal client that took on a remodeling construction project well outside her experience and skill level. Homeowner is pissed and has a ton of evidence the remodeling job was shit -- doors falling off hinges, poor trim work, cabinets not closing. Legally speaking, well below the standard of care. I've told her she should contact her insurance carrier because they need to be put on notice of a potential claim and her carrier should pay for any legal bills. But, she wants to keep paying me to quasi-litigate it, probably because she doesn't want her premiums to increase. Whatever, she's paying me $250/hour. Maybe she never procured insurance - she claims she did. Her most recent email: "this lady hired me knowing that this was my first remodel job and now is upset I didn't do a good job. I think she's taking advantage of my inexperience and naiveness. I am getting out of the remodeling industry after this - I don't think I should be held responsible for something I've never done before!" Oooo boy where do I even go with that.
I would get the fuck out. Sounds like somebody who has no grip on reality and will point fingers at you when she inevitably gets nailed.
I've extensively documented my file - told her this is most likely going to result in a lawsuit, experts will be expensive, and she's on the hook for the damage. This has been repeated over the phone and in email. Told her numerous times to contact her carrier.
I've had partners that just let their staff go on auto pilot and just expected them to do all sorts of things without much following up or checking on them with catastrophic results. These paralegals that people discuss that just get everything done without much supervision are mythical. Our expectations for paralegals these days are super low.
Hello lawyer friends, I am looking for your perspective on my employer overpaying me on two occurrences and now coming back to try and collect. I was paid extra on my 2/28 and 5/31 paycheck. Based on how I’m reading this (Washington state), it appears that if they do not notify me within 90 days, they are unable to recoup. Is my understanding correct that I am not liable for repayment on 2/28, but am on the 5/31 paycheck? https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=296-126-030#
If my client's auto carrier pays for property damage to his vehicle when the other party is at fault, do I have an obligation that makes my client personally liable if we don't pursue the property damage claim at trial ? Or should the liability carrier intervene and pursue it themselves? We have a trial set early next year where our client's carrier ended up paying for property damage when the adverse should have paid for it. I don't think he came out of pocket much at all for it so pursuing the property damage claim wasn't high on my radar. But I don't want to get some letter after the trial talking about subro and their rights etc. I've seen discussion of these types of subro letters regarding property damage on list serves but I think this is the first time it has come up for me. What are my obligations here?
I already told them to fuck off, so we’ll see where it gets me. Going against a trillion dollar company is always a bold strategy.
RJF-GUMP the only way I can see it being a problem is if the tortfeasor’s PD coverage is less than what was paid by your client’s carrier. If not, they’ll just go to the Arbitration Forums and subrogate that way.
OCs in my golf cart case crashed golf carts into each other , took videos of it which are kinda hilarious, didn't send them to me until a few weeks before trial and way after expert and discovery deadlines, then proposed a trade where I'd let them in and in return they won't object to my use of some pain and suffering witnesses video depos for trial purposes or live remote testimony (they are saying that even though these folks are out of state and 600 miles away they are prejudiced if the video is played instead of them getting to cross them in person at trial). The defendant driver testified he had no time to hit the brakes at all prior to the crash (he hadn't been paying attention). In these videos one of the OCs takes his foot off the gas prior to crashing into the other OC who is in a stopped cart. Also there is no way of knowing what the speed of the carts are in these videos. They obviously can't replicate many of the unknown variable of the crash with any precision. In one of the videos one of OCs throws his hands up in the air in disgust as if "That's it?! That's what she's claiming caused all this pain?! That was nothign!" Which is prejudicial. Also it's funny because one OC is like 45 probably. The other is probably 70. Guess who was getting crashed into? It's funny that they didn't let the 70 year old get crashed into. Also they aren't going near the top speed of a golf cart. Of course their driver says he was only going 4-7 miles per hour. What kind of maniac drives around a golf course at 4-7 miles per hour?
stupid question (god knows I don’t know anything about procedural issues other than my own) - if the OCs made the video, how does the video come in other than by making an OC a witness?
Well I sent the video to my accident recon expert and he said the same thing. Doesn't this make them a witness? The whole thing seems outlandish to me. We're going to file a motion in limine to exclude it.
Judge formally dismissed this case at hearing this morning. Pretty surreal after 6 years to walk a client out of the courthouse as a free man, when he was facing the death penalty. Lot of not so good days in this job. This isn’t one.
LOL. That is absolutely hilarious. (a) No way that comes in; and (b) If it did, that would be fantastic for you.
i've definitely had a shift over the last few years from wanting to get everything struck to sometimes just letting people hang themselves. you want to let this terrible doctor testify for you? i could easily get him struck but maybe it's a good thing that this hack is who you are bringing to the courthouse
how did yall choose who would be crashing into who? was it because the 70 year old might be hurt if someone crashed into him?
I would try to sign up the 45 year old. I had a hilarious case a few years back. Some very wealthy white guys discharging large amounts of tannerite in a very poor overwhelmingly AA area. We claimed property damage. They initially said they were going to do some testing to show how bogus it was. Told them I would object to it unless it was in the same area with same geography/topography. I then warned the lead defense counsel that there were about 50 mobile homes in the area that I didn't sign up the first time, so just let me know when they were going to do it, and I was going to make sure we did this time.