Contra Costa Lawyer, July 2012

Contra Costa 

Lawyer Volume 25, Number 4 | July 2012

Technology & Law Practice Management From Office Systems to Marketing Everything Solos and Small Firms Need to Run an Effective Practice

Perry A. Novak

Senior Vice President–Investments

UBS Financial Services Inc. 2185 N. California Boulevard Suite 400 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 925-746-0245 perry.novak@ubs.com

Naming the bricks in the “Wall of Worry.”

There is an old saying that financial markets climb a wall of worry. It is cited as a reason, or an excuse, for taking no action in the face of heightened risk. As I see it, these are some of the bricks in the wall right now: • • • • • •

Rating Agency Downgrades Bank Sector Liquidity Financial Deleveraging Slowing of Corporate Earnings European Credit Crisis Political Instability in the Middle East

• • • • • •

U.S. Debt Ceiling Extension 2012 General Election Expiring Bush-Era Tax Cuts New Healthcare Tax Liability in 2013 Weakening US Economy Continuing Housing Crisis

Understanding the risks can help investors better prepare themselves for the future.

To read my current analysis of these risks, please visit my website for recent issues of Financial Outlook, and other UBS research reports.

To discuss how we have helped clients prepare to weather these potential risks, please call for a complimentary consultation. I look forward to speaking with you.

Trusted advice, caring support, prudent financial solutions.

Best regards,

ubs.com/team/thenovakgroup Neither UBS Financial Services Inc. nor any of its employees provide legal or tax advice. You should consult with your personal legal or tax advisor regarding your personal circumstances. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. ©2012 UBS Financial Services Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC . 6.00_Ad_BW_7.1875x9.625_KW0214_NovP

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JULY 2012

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CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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New Beginnings

Brown Church Gee LLP

Michael K. Brown Terence N. Church Audrey A. Gee Katherine F. Wenger Marilyn Morris

A fresh approach to legal services Walnut Creek | Silicon Valley www.bcglegal.com

The old ways of doing business aren’t working.

We at Brown Church & Gee have created a better way: a new, lean structure that allows our creativity and experience to combine in a way that brings our clients the most value.

Our creativity means we’re not your typical lawyers.

We’re entrepreneurial thinkers who see the law as a tool for inspiration and visionary thinking. That vision is grounded by our experience. We come with a track record of breakthroughs that have protected and grown our clients’ bottom lines for decades.

Our clients impress us with their courage, vision and passion to grow stronger in these unprecedented times. That’s why we’ve created a law firm that frees us to partner with them to achieve it.

Brown Church & Gee LLP is a business law firm Corporate | Real Estate | Intellectual Property | Employment Litigation | Transactions | Outside General Counsel 100 Pringle Ave., Suite 310 Walnut Creek, CA 94596. Tel. 925.943.5000 181 Metro Dr., Suite 400, San Jose, CA 95110. Tel. 408.463.1100

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Contra Costa 2012 BOARD of DIRECTORS Audrey Gee President Jay Chafetz President-Elect Stephen Steinberg Secretary Candice Stoddard Treasurer Kathy Schofield Ex Officio Richard Alexander Philip Andersen Amanda Bevins Denae Hildebrand Budde Nicholas Casper Alison Chandler

Elva Harding Janet Holmes Rashmi Nijagal Alan Ramos Dana Santos James Wu

Lawyer Volume 25 Number 4 | July 2012

The official publication of the

B A R A S S O C I A T I O N

features START here: From Office Systems to Marketing Contributors: Kristen Bargmeyer, George S. Cabot, Gary Vadim Dubrovsky, Aaron Feldman, Matthew M. Hart, Andrew Lloyd, Jane Louie, Luis M. Montes, Spojmie Nasiri, Ivette M. Santaella, Steven Thompson

CCCBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Lisa Reep | 925.288.2555 | lgreep@cccba.org CCCBA main office 925.686.6900 | www.cccba.org

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Jennifer Comages Theresa Hurley

Membership Coordinator Section Liaison/ Education & Programs Emily Day Coordinator Systems Administrator and Fee Arbitration Coordinator Barbara Tillson LRIS Coordinator

Major Trends in Urban & Suburban Law Firm Office Space Design

by Jeffrey S. Weil

Kerstin Firmin

Communications Coordinator

How and Why You Should Become Your Market

Contra Costa Lawyer 925.901.0185 925.930.6000

925.351.3171 Patricia Kelly 925.258.9300

BOARD LIAISON Candice Stoddard Craig Nevin

925.942.5100 925.930.6016 David Pearson COURT LIAISON 925.287.0051 Kiri Torre 925.957.5607 Stephen Steinberg 925.385.0644 PRINTING Marlene Weinstein Steven's Printing 925.942.5100 925.681.1774 James Wu PHOTOGRAPHER 925.658.0300

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by Austin Holian

EDITOR EDITORIAL BOARD Dana Santos Mark Ericsson CO-EDITOR Matthew Guichard Nicole Mills 925.459.8440

20

departments 25

Your CCCBA Membership

34

Civil Jury Verdicts | MAtthew Guichard

36

inns of court | matthew talbot

38 Classifieds

Moya Fotografx 510.847.8523

The Contra Costa Lawyer (ISSN 1063-4444) is published 12 times a year - 6 times online-only - by the Contra Costa County Bar Association (CCCBA), 704 Main Street, Martinez, CA 94553. Annual subscription of $25 is included in the membership dues. Second-class postage paid at Martinez, CA. POSTMASTER: send address change to the Contra Costa Lawyer, 704 Main Street, Martinez, CA 94553.

The Lawyer welcomes and encourages articles and letters from readers. Please send them to: Kerstin Firmin at kfirmin@cccba.org.

The CCCBA reserves the right to edit articles and letters sent in for publication. All editorial material, including editorial comment, appearing herein represents the views of the respective authors and does not necessarily carry the endorsement of the CCCBA or the Board of Directors. Likewise, the publication of any advertisement is not to be construed as an endorsement of the product or service offered unless it is specifically stated in the ad that there is such approval or endorsement.

On the Cover: David S. Pearson, guest-editor of this month’s Contra Costa Lawyer

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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START HERE 1

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Choice of Entity

From Office Systems to Marketing Everything a Solo or Small Firm Needs to Know to Run an Effective Practice.

page 9

Office Systems

Screening Clients 2 page 9 Law Office Software page 13

page 11

Getting Paid

Credit Cards

page 15

7

4

page 17

Legal Research

Storytelling & the New Media Jury page 28

page 18

9

Social Media Marketing page 29

Insurance page 32

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Contributors 1 George S. Cabot practices with PremierCounsel LLP in

San Francisco and Lafayette after having practiced with Morgan Miller Blair in Walnut Creek for over 17 years.

George has practiced transactional business law for over 25 years and is recognized by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization as a Certified Specialist in Taxation.

2 Spojmie Nasiri is the principal attorney at the Law Office of Spojmie

Nasiri, which practices immigration law exclusively. Her many pro bono and volunteer activities include the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of California, Davis, the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford University, the Afghan Coalition in Fremont, as well as the Lawyers in the Library program for the Contra Costa and Alameda County Bar Associations.

3 Matthew M. Hart is a solo practitioner with offices in Antioch and

Walnut Creek. He focuses on Estate Planning, Trust Administration, Probate and Business Formation.

4 Aaron Feldman is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and Southwestern

University law school. He has been practicing law in the Bay Area for 25 years, primarily as a solo. His practice emphasizes Special Needs Planning and Probate/Trust matters. His office is in Lafayette, CA. 5 Luis M. Montes is the principle of the Law Offices of Luis M. Mon-

tes, you are invited to call at 510 . 749 . 1036 or email at lmmbuslaw@ gmail.com with questions, comments or recommendations.

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Dubrovsky Law is a boutique law firm in San Francisco, 6 California, that offers innovative solutions to complex family law matters. Established by Gary Vadim Dubrovsky as a result of his passion for advocacy, Dubrovsky Law guides individuals through various issues, including divorce, annulment, separation, property division, child custody, visitation, move-aways and alimony/spousal and child support.

Kristen Bargmeyer is a bankruptcy attorney whose practice, Barg- 7 meyer Law, is devoted to the representation of individual and small business debtors in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies and in settlement negotiations and voluntary workouts.

Steven Thompson and Andrew Lloyd are the co-founders of Liti- 8 gation Media Group, LLC, a legal visual presentation and trial technology consultancy firm, located in Walnut Creek and San Jose. For additional information, please call 408-884-4900 or visit their website at www.litigationmedia.com.

Ivette M. Santaella’s practice includes Estate Planning, Family Law 9 and Elder Law. She has been licensed in California for 24 years. Her Estate Planning practice includes preparing wills, trusts, health directives, Durable Power of Attorney, etc.

Jane Louie is an Insurance and Financial Services Broker, and a Certi- 10 fied Family Business Specialist of MassMutual Financial Group, a Fortune 500, 160 year old, insurance and financial services company. You can reach Jane at jlouie@financialguide.com

Choice of Entity 1

let proof - the attorney could still be liable for the E&O of associates on a theory of negligent supervision.

by George Cabot

Partnerships

he selection of the form of entity under which to practice law is different depending on whether the lawyer is a solo practitioner or in partnership with other lawyers. In California, a solo lawyer can practice as sole proprietorship (i.e., no entity), or a corporation, while groups of two or more lawyers can form a partnership (preferably the limited liability partnership (LLP)) or a professional corporation. Lawyers cannot form limited liability companies by virtue of the prohibition now codified in Section 17375 of the Corporations Code.

For partnerships, i.e., law firms with more than one owner, the choice is between the LLP and the professional corporation. The LLP is a special form of general partnership available to attorneys, accountants, architects, engineers and land surveyors. Partners in an LLP are entitled to the same type of limited liability protection enjoyed by corporate shareholders.

T

Solo Practitioners For solo practitioners, the choice is between ‘sole proprietorship’ and corporation. A solo attorney cannot form an LLP because by definition a partnership must have at least two partners. The liability profile of a solo attorney varies significantly depending on whether the attorney employs associate attorneys.

If the lawyer is truly “solo”, i.e., does not employ any associates, the corporate form offers little liability protection, because the lawyer will always be personally liable for his own Errors and Omissions (E&O) and will almost certainly have to personally guarantee major contracts, such as bank loans and leases. However, a corporation may offer liability protection against other types of liability, such as trade debt.

Thus, the true “solo” attorney will not achieve significant liability protection by forming a corporation, making the sole proprietorship a reasonable alternative.

If the solo attorney employs associates, a corporation should be formed to limit the attorney’s liability for E&O of associates. However, the protection is far from bul-

A professional corporation is a corporation which meets additional requirements specified in the Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act (Section 13400 et seq. of the Corporations Code) and the Business & Professions Code. However, to achieve this protection, the owners of both LLPs and law corporations must maintain malpractice insurance or other forms of security against E&O claims.

The choice between the LLP and the professional corporation (and between C corporations and S corporations) comes down to various tax and other considerations. Once the corporation offered better tax treatment of fringe benefits and qualified plans over other entities, but tax law has evolved to the point where there are few differences. Both are subject to an $800/ year “minimum franchise tax”, although the corporation may also be subject to California income tax, with the amount varying depending upon whether it is classified as a C corporation or an S corporation for income tax purposes. As a general rule, the LLP provides the best of both worlds, providing the same liability protection as a corporation, but better tax treatment and a legal framework better suited to the law firm dynamic. The employment status of partners is an important practical consideration. The owners of a law corporation are classified as employees for payroll tax and other tax

purposes, whereas partners in an LLP are classified as self-employed persons. Among other things, this means that the firm will not be responsible for income tax withholding or payroll tax on the partner’s compensation. Instead, the LLP partner will be responsible for paying his/her own self-employment tax and making quarterly estimated tax payments against his/her income tax liability. •

Screening Clients

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by Spojmie Nasiri

W

hether you are a seasoned attorney or new to the legal profession, you can never be too careful in creating a systematic approach to screening clients.

Establishing and implementing an effective client screening system can significantly reduce the risk of a grievance or malpractice claim.

Failure to screen clients appropriately is a common factor in malpractice claims, a very distressing experience for any attorney, particularly a new practitioner. One of the most effective ways to screen clients is to be an active and effective listener.

The following is a list of some of the issues to keep in mind before agreeing to represent a new client.

Clients who cannot afford to pay for your legal services At one time or another in their careers, all practitioners will consider taking on a client who may or may not be able to afford legal services.

Some practitioners think it is better to get paid something, rather than not take a case at all. As tempting as this may be, I would advise caution when considering representing clients who cannot afford your legal services from the onset. During the initial consultation, one of

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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Screening Clients, cont. from page 9 the issues you should discuss with potential clients is their ability to pay for legal services. The client has a right to understand the financial obligations involved in legal representation and you have a right to know if the potential client has the ability or inclination to pay for your legal services. If a potential client does not have the means to afford your legal services, you have some choices: you can (a) refer them to the local bar association, where they may be able to find legal service providers on a sliding scale, (b) take the case on a limited scope basis, thereby providing discrete legal services that the client can afford to pay on an item by item basis, (c) take the case on its merits, knowing you might not be fully paid, or (d) refuse the case, as collecting the fees will be time- consuming and difficult, if not impossible.

Potential Clients who are close friends or relatives Although friends and relatives can be a good source for referrals, especially new attorneys establishing their practices, there are a few nuances to keep in mind. When the potential client is a close friend or family member, as attorneys, we find it difficult to say no to them because we feel we owe it to them to assist with their legal matter. However, the risk in representing close friends and family members is that there is a tendency to take on legal matters which may be outside our normal scope of practice. Furthermore, it may be also difficult, if not impossible, to provide the client with impartial advice, as it is often problematic for the attorney to maintain the necessary detachment. Lastly, due to the close connection, family and friends may not fully disclose personal information pertinent to their case.

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Clients with unreasonable expectations or time frames When screening the client, carefully consider the client’s expectations and your ability to reasonably fulfill their expectations given the facts of the case and the law. It is very challenging to satisfy a client with unrealistic expectations. In addition, one should also avoid making statements that would cause a potential client to have unreasonable expectations. The time to deal with a potential client’s expectation is at the onset of legal representation. Honestly assess the client’s legal matter and advice accordingly, even if there is a potential risk that your advice may lead the potential client to seek legal representation elsewhere.

Clients with legal matters inappropriate for the size and scope of your law practice As tempting as it may be to take every case that comes through your office, you can never be too careful in undertaking a matter that is beyond your area of expertise or more complex than matters you are reasonably able to handle. When deciding whether to take a case, consider whether you have the skills, expertise and more importantly the time needed to devote to the matter. If you decide to take on a case that is outside the realm of your normal everyday practice, be prepared to crack the books and seek advice from other attorneys who are more experienced in the area of law pertaining to the case. By planning carefully, doing appropriate research, and seeking advice from other experienced attorneys, you can avoid malpractice claims and damage to your practice and reputation.

When turning down potential clients, take the time to fully explain to them why you cannot represent them in their legal matters, but

don’t stop there. Take the extra step of referring the client to another attorney who might be able to assist them or the Lawyer Referral Service of your local Bar Association.

If the potential client cannot afford an attorney, the Lawyer Referral staff can offer self-help resources or refer the client to a free or reducedcost community organization. From personal experience, when unable to take a client’s case for any reason, I have taken the time to make the client feel that while I was not able to handle the case personally, I still cared about their legal matter by taking the extra step of providing the client with other options for legal assistance.

Clients Who Want to Change Their Current Lawyer If in the course of your interview with the potential client, you determine that the prospective client has had problems with several other attorneys, it is a major indicator that you are likely to have problems with this client in the course of your legal representation. It is best to avoid any problems by respectfully declining legal representation.

As many experienced attorneys have told me, the single most important factor to consider when screening clients is to “listen to your gut.” If, after utilizing an effective screening process which includes all of the above factors, your assessment of the potential client is not favorable, you should consider declining to represent the individual in their legal matter. It might just be a bad fit, but it might be something more. Avoid the temptation to take the case, despite having a bad feeling during your initial screening due to the need to work or because you feel compelled to help the individual. By taking the time to spot some of the above-mentioned issues during your initial screen of potential clients, you can avoid potential grievances and malpractice claims. •

Can’t Help a Client?

Call the CCCBA’s Lawyer Referral Service at (925) 825-5700 Scan this QRcode with your smart phone to learn more:

The CCCBA has many community services including the Moderate Means Program and Limited Scope Representation. Call us to learn more or scan the QRcode below.

Office Systems

AT&T, subscribers can get Unified Messaging Fax Plus. This combines their voicemail with a dedicated fax number and integration with their AT&T cell phone. Paying $30 or $40 a month for a dedicated fax line is expensive for two faxes. With Unified Messaging Fax Plus subscribers have a dedicated fax number and faxes are received as PDFs via e-mail. This allows attorneys to file faxes with their electronic case file and eliminate paper. Of course they can always print the PDF if they need a hard copy. Additionally, a splitter can be used on a landline so that if something needs to be faxed, attorneys can use their landline and an all-in-one laser printer. The cost difference between regular voice mail and voice mail with fax is about $10 a month, which is cheaper than a dedicated line yet retains the same flexibility as a dedicated line.

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by Matthew M. Hart

N

ot considering your website, the first impression a client usually has is the call to the office. Some attorneys have tried to keep costs low by using a cell phone as their only phone. Because call clarity is paramount when speaking with a client for the first time or any time, I recommend a landline as your primary number. If you want to be able to receive calls on your cell phone there are many ways to route the call, from simple call forwarding to more advanced options.

When ordering phone service, consider paying $15 to get a “premium number”. By paying the onetime $15 charge, you will get an easy-to-remember number for your clients like 597-9999 or 754-2000.

The other great feature with Unified Messaging Fax Plus is integration with a cell phone. By linking

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CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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OFFICE SYSTEMS, cont. from page 11

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an AT&T cell phone and AT&T Unified Messaging the attorney has to deal with only one voicemail box.

When people call the office, they hear the Law Office greeting and then leave a message. At that point the message light on the phone and the cell phone alerts to a message.

The attorney can then check the voicemail using either a cell phone or landline. Similarly, when someone sends a fax, an alert arrives on both the landline and cell phone.

When people call the cell phone, on the other hand, they hear a personal greeting but an alert goes to both places. This allows the attorney to deal with one voicemail box rather than two, which saves time. Finally, by upgrading to Unified Messaging Fax Plus, users get business class voicemail on their cell phone and landline, and with the extra storage, their messages don’t get deleted early like they do on most cell phones.

One of the temptations to save money is to use Voice Over IP. Generally, when you use something like Comcast Business Class or AT&T U-Verse for voice you are not using a traditional land line but all of your phone calls are going over your internet connection. The problem can be that if your internet goes down you lose all internet types of communication such as email as well as your voice line. Even if you lose communications for only a few hours it can be the most critical few hours of your career. In my experience, I have had 3 outages of my internet over the last 4 years whereas I have never had a land line outage.

Moreover, if there are issues with your business router (one of the outages I describe above) or a virus/ worm outbreak on the internet your communications can be affected.

If you are a heavy cell phone user or you get poor cell reception in certain areas of your office, there is a great thing called a micro-cell tower that can boost your signal.

All of the major cell companies offer them to their customers. You pay a one-time fee for the equipment and, once installed, you will have full cell connection within a 300 feet radius of your office with no loss of signal. The micro-cell is locked to the phone numbers you authorized to use it.

Regarding phone equipment, consider a two-line phone even if you are starting with one line. At some point you may have to install a second landline to be able to handle multiple calls and conference calls. If you plan on having staff in the near term consider the AT&T model 1070 business phone. It has a four-line capability and intercom features for up to 16 handsets. This allows for good expansion at a modest price.

Furniture is the next hurdle to opening an office. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for furniture. Sometimes you will get a lead on slightly used high quality furniture. Craigslist (www.craigslist. org) is a great place to find offices that are trying to liquidate their furniture. Look for the higher-end names such as Herman Miller and Steel Case etc. Try and stay away from cheaper generic office furniture from places like Staples and Office Depot. In a pinch the store brands will work but the quality and longevity doesn’t match the name brands.

Copiers can function as your fax and computer printer. However, before signing a lease, really think about your needs. When every penny counts as you start a law office, pricey leases can really put a strain on the budget. Conversely, even though the $99 inkjet printer that copies and faxes looks like a great bargain, you need to consider the quality of output and cost of consumables. Most companies will put the expected yield of ink/toner on their websites. Do some math and figure out your best option. If you need color, get an all-in-one that uses separate ink/toner cartridges

for each of the colors. Finally, keep a spare toner on hand and be wary of re-fill services. One leaky cartridge can ruin your printer and your day.

Finally, postage meters are a common sight in law offices. You can only rent, not buy, them. Services such as stamps.com have a monthly fee. Instead of monthly fees buy packs of stamps at Costco (or similar stores) and use a digital postal scale. Next to the scale keep a chart that tells you how many stamps to put on an envelope based on the weight. You can find such charts on the U.S. Postal Service website, at http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/ notice123.htm. If you mail a lot of items that go over 13 ounces then a postage meter may be your only option instead of going to the post office. •

Law Office Software

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by Aaron R. Feldman

U

nfortunately, law office software is too big a topic to cover comprehensively in a short article.

That written, I will do my best to give you some key tools for making good decisions about software for your practice. I have been practicing law for (gulp!) nearly thirty years, most of it spent as a solo or in a small firm (5 or fewer attorneys). I have tried many products and continue to search for something newer and better. We have come a long way from those early word processors and DOS commands. The main thing I have learned over the years is that no software is ever going to do everything the way you want or think it should. All software comes with strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, lawyers must decide what works best for their practices.

The obvious starting point is to define what lawyers and law firms want from their software. What I am

always looking for is ease of installation, use and reliability. The three categories of software I will focus on can be classified as billing software, case/practice management software and accounting software. The latest trends have been toward integration and cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) models.

Billing Software I often find myself teaming up with other solos in litigation. My biggest pet peeve with billing software is the limitation on users/licenses. If Ted is helping me with a case and I need the client to see Ted’s time, do I really need to pay for a user license if Ted never uses that software? Unfortunately most time/billing software suffers from this limitation.

Easy Time Bill is the one product that does not restrict the number of timekeepers. It is affordable and very easy to use. While billing is its focus, it does offer practice management features, including calendaring, task assignment and conflicts check. Other billing software includes TimeSlips, Tabs3 and Time Matters (Lexis), but these products will limit how you identify people working on a case. Most of these products allow you to enter time manually or to run a timer to track your time. Another now common feature allows for electronic delivery to the client, which can save staff time, money and may even promote faster payments from our grateful clients.

There are also a number of cloudbased billing software options.

Bill4Less is one billing-only cloudbased solution, but there are others.

In addition, there are out-sourcing service solutions to have a third party prepare and transmit bills.

Practice Management Billing is great, but as lawyers we need more than just billing software. We need to track contacts, cases, calendars and tasks. Many products integrate all of these features

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LAW OFFICE SOFTWARE, cont. from page 13 with time and billing software.

The major products in this category are Lexis’ Practice Advantage, Abacus and Amicus Attorney. Lexis even enables a direct tie-in to its legal research software (for a price!). I have used both Practice Advantage and Abacus in the past. Both are easy to use and like most software have the potential to do more than we as mere lawyers can learn or integrate into our daily practice. The question I am often left pondering is, am I paying for more than I can use? When I look at my overhead can I honestly say that this program or that is really money well spent?

Be wary of any product or bundle that includes long-term contracts.

Most of these products offer online demonstrations that will give you a chance to see how a product will work in your environment.

A relatively new type of product for attorneys to consider is SaaS (software as a service). The big 3 in this group seem to be Rocket Matters, Clio and MyCase. What makes these products unique is that they are cloud-based and can be accessed from any computer, anywhere you have internet service, even from a tablet or smart phone. Each of these charge a monthly fee per user and the fees vary from Rocket Matter at the top down to MyCase as the least expensive. I have also been assured

—

Unfortunately there are too many products out there and not enough space here to discuss them all. Another hybrid product is Credenza which functions as an overlay on top of Outlook and provides billing and case management functions. One neat feature is the ability to link contacts with your e-mails.

Credenza will prompt you to bill if you send an email to a client contact that you have forgotten to bill.

It also is a monthly fee-based service.

Accounting A law office is a business. That’s just a fact of life. If you are going to run any business, then you must be able

to track your finances. I can remember meeting with a client whose business was struggling (Ok, failing) and the client, while professing to be business savvy, knew nothing about QuickBooks. That explained everything.

While there are other products, QuickBooks dominates the field and is likely to be the product your CPA can most easily access for preparing your taxes. QuickBooks will run a variety of reports that will tell you instantly where you stand and how you compare to last year.

What QuickBooks does not do well is offer detailed time billing for invoicing clients. So you need both QuickBooks and a billing software program. QuickBooks also links with your bank account to easily reconcile your bank accounts.

CONCLUSION Assessing the pros and cons of the myriad law office software available out there is like taking a trip down a rabbit hole. There are a multitude of products from which to choose. The process of sifting through them is daunting, overwhelming and sometimes even exhilarating. It is hard not to be seduced by features that seem great, but which you may ultimately never use. The key is to look around at the options and at the same time look at your practice and your overhead to determine what products are the best fit for your office. •

Wanted —

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You handle the estate, we do the contest.

Cases, except conservatorships, often handled on a contingent fee basis, but can be hourly. Referral fee where appropriate.

Pedder, Hesseltine, Walker & Toth, LLP oldest partnership in Contra Costa County (since 1955)

p 925.283-6816 • f 925.283-3683 3445 Golden Gate Way, P.O. Box 479 Lafayette, CA 94549-0479 AV Martindale-Hubbell

12

that I can have “inactive” users that I will not be charged for if I want to show other attorneys on an invoice.

Like all software products, they each have their strengths. Rocket Matter has taken a lead on document assembly whereas MyCase seems to be geared more toward client communication (enter an event and by clicking a box the client is automatically notified; click another box and they are notified that their attendance is required.). These cloudbased products also offer lawyers the holy grail of a paperless office.

Documents can be uploaded and then accessed or shared with clients automatically. If one of these services sounds like it may be a good fit, many of the SaaS products offer a 30 day free trial.

JULY 2012

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS HUBERT LENCZOWSKI, J.D., M.A.* LENCZOWSKI LAW OFFICES C. JOSEPH DOHERTY, J.D. * Adjunct Professor of Taxation of Mergers and Acquisitions, Golden Gate University School of Law, LL.M. Taxation Program

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Getting Paid

our clients. We want to solve their problems. It is easy to get caught up in the facts, but then overlook the important responsibility of setting client expectations at the very first meeting. Fees and costs should be discussed early.1 Moreover, the discussion must then be followed in writing, communicating the details clearly and concisely.

5

by Luis M. Montes

L

awyers, like most business people, often have difficulty getting paid for the professional services they have rendered. In theory, we have an advantage in that the ability to hold funds in trust should ensure a 100% recovery of billing. The reality is different and sometimes alternative procedures must be used.

Communicating with the Client It is surprising how shy we attorneys can be about asking for a healthy retainer. Don’t be afraid to request a reasonably large retainer for your service, appropriate to the scope of the work for which you are being retained. One recommendation is to frame a picture that helps you focus on your goals (e.g., a new car or an overdue vacation) and hang it on the wall immediately above where your client sits. Before asking for the retainer, take a deep breath, glance at that picture, and ask. It makes it easier. This way, you accurately communicate to the client the possible scope of the litigation expense, and at the same time appropriately visualize the value of your time to the client.

When considering an effective strategy to getting paid, we must consider three main elements: Staying focused on our individual goals, communicating with the client, and following a standardized billing procedure.

Staying Focused We must keep in mind that every one of us expended a formidable amount of time, effort and resources to become an attorney. We have goals, many and varied, that are personally and professionally important. If you doubt this, take a moment to write them down. Also, remember that you are worth your fee and deserve to get paid.

Trials, hearings and discovery are expensive tasks, quickly generating high fees. Clients will only know how expensive these items are if the attorney has appropriately explained the time and costs involved. When possible and if ap-

One of the most important initial steps to ensuring the recovery of our fees is to appropriately guide client expectations regarding fees and costs. As lawyers, we want to help

ConServAtorShiPS ProBAteS CriMinAl DefenSe David B. Pastor

CCCBA MeMBer SinCe 1977

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propriate, make a list of the expenses the client might incur during litigation, so that the client knows what to expect and is not caught off guard. Keep track of these expenses and communicate them to your client as soon as you know what these expenses are likely to be. Insist on receiving all anticipated trial (hearing) fees and disbursements 30 days in advance, to be held in trust. This is a tricky balancing act, as we need to protect the client and protect our business. However, failure to manage these events can create upset for the client and risk payment for these services. Funds held in trust accounts (IOLTAs) get depleted quickly. Depletion should prompt a cover letter with the bill asking the client to replenish the retainer, or consider putting an evergreen retainer provision in your contract..

The communication should include a clear statement of the account balance and amounts billed. Be firm and reasonable.

Keep your clients informed about their billing. Always send out monthly billings with few exceptions.2 One is if you have a big win or loss - the best practice is to bill immediately. Further, clients tend to pay their accounts if they are frequent and smaller. Waiting too long to bill and having the client receive a big bill can result in client panic and confusion, which is not an ideal situtation for the client or the attorney.

—

Wanted — Conservatorships think

Matt Toth

as in Pedder, Hesseltine, Walker & Toth, LLP

oldest partnership in Contra Costa County (since 1955)

p 925.283-6816 • f 925.283-3683 3445 Golden Gate Way, P.O. Box 479 Lafayette, CA 94549-0479 AV Martindale-Hubbell

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

13

GETTING PAID, cont. from page 15

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Get the work done and get it billed! It’s easier to demand payment when you have just accomplished something tangible. It was suggested to me by a partner at a large Silicon Valley firm to send a bill whenever one accomplishes some significant or positive outcome for the client. It works, largely because the client is clear on the tangible result or task that has been accomplished. While many clients have no problem paying for value, it is difficult for anyone to pay for services they are unclear have been rendered.

Keep the client informed. Educate clients on how to get the most for their legal dollar. Give your clients an ongoing cost benefit analysis of their situation. If the client feels that the time they spend with you was time well spent, they are happier, and happier clients are more likely to pay their bills.

Standardize billing procedures Generally all law practice procedures should be standardized, but especially billing procedures. Draft an accounts receivable collection procedure to track your client billables, with the goals of a) ensuring accurate billing, and b) of getting paid. The procedure should, at a minimum, be monthly. Allow time for you to personally call accounts that need attention; and allow you or your assistant to track each account. The standardized billing procedure must be scheduled, preferably in your practice’s calendar.

For instance, every Tuesday you or your legal assistant should print off an accounts receivable listing.

Keep it by your phone or readily accessible on your computer desktop. When your client calls, look up their name on the listing and talk to them during that conversation about their account. On your law practice’s default calendar, mark off

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JULY 2012

an hour every week to deal with your accounts receivable. Do not allow anything to interfere with that hour. Invest that hour in yourself and stay focused on your goals. If you don’t value yourself enough to get paid, your clients won’t either.

It is very easy to “bury your head in the sand” and blindly send out your bills to clients wishing the bills will be paid. Experience shows otherwise, call the client.

Getting paid for the practice of law may be more challenging than other businesses, thus we need to stay focused on our goals. Our clients are not open checkbooks - they need to be able to budget their litigation expenses, and we need to personally communicate with them so that the bills are paid in a timely manner. To accomplish these goals, we need to put in place the tried and true procedures above to successfully manage our client relationships and our cash flow. • 1

But not too early - In 1994 the State Bar of California conducted research on former family law clients. Some respondents felt that their lawyers mentioned fees too early in the process, leaving a perception that the lawyer’s priority was only to squeeze money.

2

Set a minimum monthly billing policy; e.g., always send a bill where billing exceeds $200.00.

List of links and resources, which you may use to expand the information in this article: • Guerilla Tactics on Getting Paid - The Canadian Bar Association http://www.cba.org/cba/ practicelink/mf/PrintHtml. aspx?DocId=1838

• Schedule Your Routine to Be More Efficient - allBusiness http://www.allbusiness.com/sales/sellingtechniques-strategicselling/4019429-1. html#axzz1w8fLdz9n • The top 10 things youo can do to avoid a legal malpractice claim - The Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success http://lawyersuccesstips. com/?p=457

Credit Cards

6

by Gary Dubrovsky

H

aving just decided to open a practice, where do you begin? “I guess I need one of those credit card swipe machines … I think they use a phone line, so I need one of those. Maybe I can use the same line as my fax machine …

Wouldn’t it be great to accept credit cards from clients ‘on the go,’ using my phone? Or maybe through my computer?” Meanwhile, in another part of the brain: “Client funds that I haven’t earned yet belong in an IOLTA. The State Bar people can walk through my doors at any moment and demand to see my books … Can I even charge client retainers to credit cards?” This article will address these questions.

First, the mechanics. There are five players involved in every single credit card transaction: (1) the attorney, (2) the attorney’s bank, (3) the credit card processing company or merchant services company as they are sometimes called, (4) the client’s bank, and (5) the client. When you decide to accept payment from your clients via credit card, you are the merchant. As a lawyer, you’ve already set up two bank accounts, your business operating account; and your IOLTA. If not, do so immediately before you read any further.

Your client, on the other hand, has a bank that agreed to extend a certain amount of credit to her, and thus the bank is ready to give you that money should you ask for it.

The way you ask for it is through a merchant services company – the middleman. As with every middleman, this one wants a cut of the transaction. Ensuring these transactions don’t run afoul of the rules governing our profession will be your biggest hurdle.

You have several decisions to make here: (1) which company to use for merchant processing; (2)

which credit cards to accept; and (3) whether you will be accepting credit cards only for fees already earned or to fund deposits for advanced fees and advances on costs; in other words, will you be asking the merchant processor to handle money that belongs in your IOLTA or not?

Decision #3 is most crucial because, if your answer is “yes,” you must ensure 100% of the amount you charge to your client’s credit card is deposited straight into your IOLTA, and your business operating account is used to pay any processing fees/charges to the merchant processing company. You do this by telling the merchant processor that you are an attorney and require a dual-account setup whereby all funds are deposited straight into your IOLTA and all fees/charges/ etc. are taken out of your business operating account. Otherwise, you run afoul of rule 4-100 of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Very few merchant processing companies offer the dual-account setup; “Intuit Payment Solutions” and “Merchant Warehouse” are two companies that will. I use Intuit because they have competitive fees, no contracts, do not require you to buy or lease any equipment, and will even give you the latest version of QuickBooks as an added bonus. I did purchase a card swiper (about $40) that plugs into my computer via USB and is fully integrated with QuickBooks, allowing me to use one piece of software to manage my business finances, bill my clients, conduct credit card transactions, and manage my trust account.

And speaking of fees, you will see everyone advertising rates as low as 1.xx%. Don’t be fooled; you will end up paying much more than that. This has to do with what’s known in the industry as the “Three Tier System.” Transaction fees are based on the interchange rate, the type of credit card that’s being used, and whether the card is swiped or keyed-in at the time of the transaction.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

15

CREDIT CARDS, cont. from page 17 The interchange rate is the rate banks pay for moving money around; it is a constant for our purposes here. On top of that, the merchant processor will add its own markup which is highly variable and subject to negotiation. “Qualified” rates are charged for swiped cards that are basic, personal credit cards offering no points or cashback incentives to the consumer; these have the lowest transaction fees (which are the ones being advertised.) You will not find many of these cards being used in the real world. “Mid-Qualified” rates are charged for all keyed-in cards and cards that offer some sort of incentive to the consumer. And, finally, the highest rate is charged on “NonQualified” transactions, which are mostly business and governmentissued cards. This is an over-simplification of what is in reality a very complex, Byzantine fee structure that is not meant to be understood by anyone.

The bottom line is this: the transaction fees you will pay for accepting credit cards from your clients are NOT the primary reason for choosing one merchant processor over another. Once you figure out which one is willing to set you up on the dual-account system I described above, your next worry is whether they will require you to sign a contract for a specific term, whether you will have to buy or lease any equipment, and whether they have any other fees or charges.

I no longer accept AMEX from my clients. The reason is the same one that makes it a great credit card from the consumer’s perspective: in the event of a disputed transaction, they stand by the consumer 100% without giving you an opportunity to tell your version of the story or to produce a signed receipt.

At least when it comes to attorney merchants, AMEX will not inquire into the validity of the transac-

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JULY 2012

tion. Instead, they automatically issue a chargeback, leaving you to deal with your client on your own.

Meanwhile, you may have already done the work for the client and even paid some filing fees or hired experts. Additionally, they charge a 3.5% rate, which is one of the highest.

What do I do to protect myself in case a client disputes a charge? If the client is in the office and hands me a credit card, I do a “swiped” transaction and print out a QuickBooks receipt which my client signs.

Most often, though, my clients are not physically present in the office to hand me the card. In this case I have them complete a One-Time Credit Card Authorization form where they write in the amount they want me to charge, their name, credit card number, billing address, which is signed and dated. Most clients complete the form in their own handwriting, which I retain for my records. (Be advised that you as a merchant are under strict provisions regarding privacy and theft, so be sure to read each credit card company’s merchant requirements for handling of credit cards, to ensure that you are compliant, and that everyone in your office is compliant. If you wish to avoid some of the issues and requirements referenced in this article, you might consider whether a service such as PayPal makes sense for your practice.)

A few clients are on a payment plan where they’ve agreed to allow me to charge their credit card a certain amount of money on a particular date every month. These clients complete a Recurring Credit Card Authorization form with all the same info as with the one-time authorization, plus the recurring term.

It specifically references the original fee agreement, since it is essentially a modification of the original terms, and allows the client to write in the day (or days, if they want me to charge their card on two separate occasions every month). Intuit allows me to automate this process

via an online account including the transaction receipt which the system e-mails to me and to my client.

The result is fewer things for me to do manually, the clients are billed on a more regular basis, and my accounts receivables remain low.

Finally, everyone is happy. It’s a beautiful world. • Guidelines for Attorneys Do you have questions about client trust accounting? The State Bar of California offers guidelines on its website on proper account set-up and maintenance.

Visit www.calbar.ca.gov/ Attorneys/MemberServices/IOLTA/ Guidelines.aspx to learn more, or scan the QRcode below:

7

Legal Research

by Kristen Bargmeyer

A

re you looking for a good value in legal research?

We all need information and for those of us watching our overhead, legal research databases can be prohibitively expensive. Luckily, there are some legal research resources that can help a solo or small firm get the information they need for less.

My first and only virtual award goes to Google Scholar for most improved legal research. This is currently my favorite database because it is free, easy to use, packed with data, and as convenient as your closest computer. The cases are up-to-date and the search engine is easy to use. Google Scholar has a “how cited” option that shows every case that cites the target case.

Unlike the costly databases, Google

Scholar leaves the analysis to us and does not offer indicators like flags or symbols to indicate positive or negative treatment in the citing case.

Can you feel that renewed power of analysis? Maybe you should take a walk and cool down a little. In true Google form, there are add-ons and apps of varying costs that will help you with pin cites and writing memoranda and other important lawyerly things.

If you are looking for practice guides, treatises, or compiled legislative histories, the local law libraries will save you time and money.

They also often offer free access to the most used elements of Lexis or Westlaw (law journals, primary sources, and shepardizing/key cites.)

Some of these aren’t in Contra Costa County but you can put the money saved towards your transport costs and a hearty meal.

Contra Costa Law Library Free and open to the public. There are three locations, one of which is probably close to you: Martinez, Pittsburgh, and Richmond. Hours and information can be found at http://www.cccpllib.org/ UC Berkeley Law Library Free and open to the public. Most major databases are available on public computers in the law library, plus access to related databases from related areas, for example Haas’ business library.

JFK Law Library $5.00 fee for daily use or you can get memberships by the semester or year. Great resources and convenient for many. Member of the CCCBA Solo and Small Firm Section are allowed access to the JFK Law Library without cost. The library maintains a list of the members of the section for reference.

San Francisco Law Library Free and open to the public. A bit far away but if you have a presence in San Francisco they have a great program that is free for firms under 10 attorneys that includes free emailed documents from the library’s Hein Online database and librarian assistance researching challenging issues.

A full listing of Bay Area law libraries can be found at www.sflawlibrary.org/ index.aspx?page=35 Scan the QRcode to the right to visit the page.

Law libraries are worth the trip not only because they can save you money in resources but also because, if you talk to the librarians, they can save you time. The librarians are smart and well-trained.

They can often help you find thorough information on a topic much more quickly than you might on your own. •

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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Major Trends in Urban & Suburban Law Firm Office Space Design

by Jeffrey S. Weil The law firm industry is currently undergoing a significant transformation affecting both large and smaller firms, urban as well as suburban, that cuts across all subcategories of legal specialization. There are a number of issues simultaneously impacting the legal industry ranging from increased cost efficiencies, major changes in technology, cultural differences between attorney age groups, as well as the globalization of industry and commerce including law firms.

Heavy wood paneling, solid mahogany or oak furniture and dark interior motifs are being replaced by light, steel, glass, transparency, a high-tech feel and openness. While the dark wood of the past may have conveyed the somber, serious and traditional image to our parents and grandparents, today and tomorrow’s generations of clients and attorneys are definitely looking at the bright side of business and life.

Workstations have a lower height to increase the open feeling, interior glass sidelights let the exterior natural light into the working areas, and lighter, brighter tones dominate the law firm of the future. Transparency, white or light colors, light pine,

of increased importance. The image the firm intends to convey plays an important part in designing the client areas such as reception and conference rooms. This is important throughout the law firm’s layout with regard to how it is viewed by staff and attorneys. For multi-locational attorney firms, uniformity in design throughout their offices comes into question. Are the same carpet and workstation specifications required for all offices or are there geographical or client factors involved which might dictate some degree of individuality?

First impressions are paramount, whether it be the class and location of the building, ease of parking or public transportation access, the lobby dĂŠcor, main lobby signage, tenant floor identification, double-

left: Designed by ID Architecture, www.idarchitecture.com right: Designed by Gensler, www.gensler.com

At the same time, there is a greater understanding by architects, design gurus, attorney administrators and partners on the importance of design, layout, decor and functionality of the law firm office on recruit-

Image, Color, Materials, Finishes

ment, attorney retention, client and staff satisfaction, competition within the same legal subsector and increased bottom-line profitability.

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JULY 2012

smoked or clear interior glass all impact the overall image of the space.

Greening, environmentally conscious office furniture made of recycled materials or designed for recycling at the end of its life are also

door entry off the lobby versus an entryway down a multi-tenanted hallway, the reception area, station and receptionist all impact the visual and emotional senses of clients and opposing attorneys alike.

Designed by Gensler, www.gensler.com

Generational Differences Senior law partners now approaching their 50’s to 80’s (and higher) have an entirely different set of cultural parameters than the newest generation of law school graduates just entering the legal profession. In-between are the attorneys in their 30’s and 40’s with yet again a different set of backgrounds and expectations. Generational and cultural changes are reflected in law office design and layout. Just as the traditional dark wood paneling is increasingly replaced by lighter tones, so do changes in technology and cultural attitudes affect the office space. For instance, high legal assistant to attorney ratios are being supplanted by recognition of the tech-savvy generation who may find it quicker to prepare much of their paperwork themselves - paperwork formerly done by assistants.

For those with young families, having a healthy work-life balance is

important, leading to smaller, more efficient office space and resulting in a lower cost of doing business.

Flexibility in Law Firm Office Design For the most part, law firms today are in a state of change. Larger firms consolidate, smaller firms merge, and attorneys leave larger firms to start their own practices. Changes in the economy also play a role, with specialty fields that were formerly lucrative such as those related to new residential development being outpaced by specialties focused on legal aspects unheard of twenty years ago. How can a firm prepare for unforeseen growth or shrinkage, especially when due to the high cost of tenant improvements most landlords are requiring longer term leases in order to recoup their upfront investment?

Law firm space can be designed anticipating change from the onset, using separate pods with their own

entrance potential and life-safety and exit requirements. Integrated into the overall layout, such pods can be sublet or partially terminated in the event of downsizing without a major impact on the main space retained. For expansion potential, expansion options or first right of refusal or offers can be negotiated into the initial lease. Subletting to smaller law firms or individual attorneys who are willing to pay for the benefit of sharing the receptionist, use of the conference rooms, etc., may give the firm interim income and control over future expansion space.

Size of Attorney Offices Traditional tiered office sizing, with senior partners in spacious corner view offices, mid-level attorneys in private offices ranging from 120 to 250 square feet, and associate attorneys in smaller but still private offices have morphed into a variety

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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LAW OFFICE DESIGN, cont. from page 21 of new office sizes and configurations. Some law firms are opting for the ‘one size fits all’ concept with senior and junior partners and associates all having the same size office.

This allows for greater flexibility as lawyers move up in seniority, as major renovation of existing offices is reduced or eliminated. In general, and industry-wide, office sizes have shrunk significantly over the past two decades. Some firms are placing new associates in workstations versus private offices, or converting a former partner corner office into an office shared by three associate attorneys who prefer collaboration with their fellow lawyers to the isolation of their own office.

Space Metrics In general, with much variance depending on specific circumstances, corporate law firms, which used to average 850 ft2 per attorney, shrunk to 750 ft2 a few years ago, and can now measure 600 - 650 ft2 per attorney. Litigation practices might average 750 ft2 per attorney, and heavy litigation with dedicated war rooms might top out at 1,000 ft2 per attorney. For every 8 to 10 partners, one 6 to 8 person meeting room might be a reasonable ratio.

The furniture manufacturer Knoll participated in a law firm retreat and found the following from its Employee Survey: • Where do you work? 48% of workers spend some time working from home. 17% spend time working at clients locations. 19% spend time working in other locations.

• Where do you feel more productive: 67% feel most or some-

Designed by Gensler, www.gensler.com

There is an increase in collaborative space where teams of attorneys can congregate for the duration of a specific case or project and then dissipate into new collaboration groups for the next project. Informal nooks where small groups of attorneys can meet to discuss common clients or brainstorm can be facilitated using modern technology, including Wi-Fi and electron-

ic screens, so multiple people can view the same documents, all without the formality of utilizing a conference room.

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what productive working at home. 98% feel most productive at the office.

• When you collaborate with others, where do you meet?

Private office: 39%; Conference room: 41%; Open shared space: 85%

Conference Rooms Numerous factors, such as the size of the firm, the type of law practiced, the accessibility to conference facilities within the building or office complex, and the culture of the firm, affect the number and size of conference rooms, as well as the infrastructure and layout design within each conference room. Image plays a key factor as well, with many medium and larger firms still placing one of their main conference rooms directly off the lobby, often with interior glass to show off the exterior view.

Larger firms may have a conference room center where a number of conference rooms are clustered off the lobby, with adjacent coffee or lunchroom facilities and easy access to restrooms to avoid having to route visitors through the firm’s working areas.

In the past, it was common for senior attorney partners to have spacious private offices large enough for their own conference table and chairs. This is being replaced by a realization that nearby common conference rooms use space more efficiently, resulting in less-spacious partner offices and bottom-line savings. Multi-national law firms or those catering to multi-national clients may opt for teleconferencing facilities within one or more of their conference rooms. Strategically placed cameras and large flat screens allow for real time video conferencing. New technology by Polycom and others allow almost any location to be used for teleconferencing, while Skype and similar applications make it affordable for firms of all sizes. Wireless capability and electric connectivity at the conference table are increasingly

Conference room furniture has undergone significant transformations. While the conference table of the past still exists, some firms have transitioned to smaller, portable tables on wheels which can be set up for use as a conference or training room, to name just a few configurations.

Law Libraries Once the hallmark of a law firm’s heritage, bookshelves with rows and rows of law text, regulations, interpretation and rulings used to line many hallways. Major firms had entire law libraries with thousands of square feet of bookshelves, law books dating back to the 1800s, and ample space for research. However, over the past twenty years those symbols of firm stability have been almost entirely replaced by online resources. There is a growing realization that not only are most law libraries seldomly utilized, and that they may now portray oldschool thinking not in line with modern technology, there are also economic considerations. Just a 500 ft2 space can cost the firm $150,000 at a $30/ft2 annual rent figure over a 10 year lease. If this amount was invested in technological upgrades how much more efficient would attorneys and legal assistants be in accessing legal information online?

Mobile devices allow research from almost anywhere, while wireless connections facilitate printing and collaboration. There is also a growing use of legal outsourcing, either in the form of legal staffing companies or offshore research.

File Rooms Most law firms have not completely escaped the avalanche of hard copy files, although many firms have scanned documents and sent substantial amounts of materials to either off-site storage or paper shred-

Designed by Gensler, www.gensler.com

important so participants can access iPads and laptops.

ders. Different law specializations and various requirements may impact how much on-site hard copy paper filing is required. There are significant time savings and convenience associated with digital files.

Digital files allow for easy access, full-text keyword search, and file sharing, just to name a few advantages. On top of this is the cost savings of not storing unnecessary files in costly office rental space. Technological advances, including document management systems and high speed scanners will continue to reduce on-site storage demand.

Lunchroom / Café The size of the law firm and its particular culture, accessibility to nearby restaurants, and the firm’s attorneys and staff have a significant impact on the size, design, quality, location and intended usage of inhouse lunchrooms. Small firms may be satisfied with a small kitchen setup, while major firms may have private partner lunchrooms with other eating facilities for staff and associate attorneys. The Café concept with barstool seating, countertops, wiring for laptops and flexible configu-

rations for informal collaboration meetings can enhance the usability of the lunchroom.

Telco / Computer Rooms Law firms, along with most of corporate America, have seen their telco/computer rooms shrink in size as equipment has become smaller, more powerful and efficient. Smaller firms may not require 24/7 cooling due to diminished heat loads of new hardware. Other law firms may outsource their computer room operations entirely, taking advantage of potentially significant savings and increased reliability, using third-party providers located off-site.

Parking For some attorneys, not having a reserved parking space may be a deal breaker. On the other end of the spectrum, it may be equally important for environmentally conscious attorneys to have access to an electric charging station for their Leaf or Volt. Downtown firms where clients arrive by cab or private driver

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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LAW OFFICE DESIGN, cont. from page 23 have vastly different parameters than firms catering to employees or clients dependent on public transportation. Firms with elderly clientele may be particularly conscious of life-safety and handicap access.

Strategic Planning / Lead Times Depending on the size of a law firm and state of the particular office submarket, a lead time for firms requiring 5,000 - 10,000 ft2 can range from 9 to 18 months, and for firms requiring 10,000 - 30,000+ ft2 beginning the process 18 to 30 months before lease expiration provides the front end lead time sufficient to position the firm strategically to take advantage of its specific submarket and market conditions. Landlords may find it mutually advantageous to lower the rental rate two to three years prior to a lease expiration if the current rent is above market and provide significant tenant improvements in exchange for the financial security of a longer lease extension, thus avoiding a potential future vacancy, and enhancing financing value or salability of the property. A longer lead time allows serious consideration of opportunities that might arise unexpectedly

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such as the merger and relocation of a major nearby law firm, offering modern plug and play legal space at potentially favorable economic terms.

What Value is a Law Firm Tenant Specialist?

The benefits of having extensive experience in law firm representation and the industry nuances enhances value for the client. Understanding law firm design trends, privacy and security issues, as well as industryspecific considerations all serve to simplify the process, reduce or eliminate ‘surprises’ and benefit the client both financially and logistically.

In almost every instance there is no additional cost to the law firm client in availing itself of this specialized expertise as in most regions leasing fees are paid by the landlord.

Conclusion Whether your law firm practice is part of a multi-national top ten organization or a one-location firm with less than five partners, your industry is undergoing significant technological, cultural and structural changes that have an impact on almost every segment of the le-

gal industry. Understanding these changes will become increasingly important in attorney hiring and retention, client satisfaction, staff retention, improved efficiency, and the bottom line now and in the future. • Jeffrey S. Weil, SIOR, CCIM, MCR.h is a Senior Vice President with Colliers International. Mr.Weil received his BS and MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and has specialized in office leasing and sales in the San Francisco Bay Area subregion of Contra Costa/Alameda Counties since 1976.

One of his specific focuses, as one of the very few 100% Tenant Rep specialists, is in the exclusive representation of law firms, including long-range strategic planning, lease restructure, expansions, renewals, relocations and owner-user purchases.

No landlord representation whatsoever and no conflicts of interest. His website is www.officetimes.com, and daily blog on commercial real-estate at www.blog. officetimes.com. He can be reached at 925-279-5590 jeff.weil@colliers.com The information furnished has been obtained from sources we deem reliable and is submitted subject to errors, omissions, and changes. Although Colliers International, Inc. has no reason to doubt its accuracy, we do not guarantee it. All information should be verified by the recipient prior to lease, purchase, exchange, or execution of legal documents.

Your CCCBA Membership Take advantage of everything we have to offer!

The Contra Costa County Bar Association’s mission is to represent its members and to advocate on their behalf; to educate its members and the public concerning the law, the legal profession and the judicial system; to provide a means of communication both among its members and between its members and the public; and to provide services that will support its members in their legal practice.

by Lisa Reep Executive Director

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND NETWORKING Join one or more of our 21 Sections and network with other practitioners who share common interests. We also offer regular opportunities to interface with members of our local bench. For more networking opportunities, attend our informal mixers to connect with attorneys and other professionals. Learn more about our sections: www.cccba.org/attorney/sections

COMMUNITY SERVICE The CCCBA sponsors numerous community service opportunities. These include our annual “Food From the Bar” drive, our ongoing Education Outreach Program including regular court tours during the academic year, our consumer-focused free legal workshops, our annual Court Scholarship Program and more.

Find out more: www.cccba.org/attorney/build-your-practice/volunteer.php

CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CCCBA, together with its Sections and Committees, offers frequent seminars, courses and forums that fulfill the State Bar of California’s MCLE requirements. These include our annual MCLE Spectacular as well as many section-sponsored events throughout the year. Check out our online calendar for upcoming events - you can browse events and register online at www.cccba.org/attorney/calendar

LAWYER REFERRAL & INFORMATION SERVICE The Lawyer Referral & Information Service (LRIS) provides referrals to attorneys who have met specific experience requirements. Nearly 5,000 client consultations are scheduled with members of our LRIS each year. Special malpractice insurance rates are available for solo practitioners participating on our LRIS. For information on LRIS membership and malpractice insurance, call (925) 686-6900 or visit www.cccba.org/attorney/lawyer-referral-network

PUBLICATIONS Our highly regarded magazine, Contra Costa Lawyer, is published monthly, 6 times per year in print, 12 times online. Each year, we also publish a pictorial Membership Directory. E-mailed “News & Upcoming Events” broadcasts are also sent to our members every Tuesday morning.

Check out the latest issue of our magazine: www.cccba.org/attorney/cclawyer

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How and Why You Should Become Your Market

by Austin Holian

W

hat do the following names have in common? Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Ford, Evel Kneivel, Larry Sonsini, Christopher Dolan, John Wayne, Gloria Steinem, George Lucas, Clarence Darrow, Jackie Robinson, and Martha Stewart.

When these names are mentioned we associate them with their feats and what makes them remarkable.

To varying degrees this is what attorneys should think of when they think of their footprints in the marketplace. These people have done what I call “become their market.”

I strongly believe that becoming your market can be a key factor in your growth and success. Here are some measurable strategies, tactics and tips that I have seen work to help people accomplish this:

Be Active in Associations, Groups and Organizations This applies to bar associations, your professional groups such as Chambers of Commerce, industry specific groups, and pro bono organizations.

Take advantage of the myriad of member benefits available to you.

Your personal involvement will pay off. Take it a step farther and set some goals for involvement.

At the very least, join at least two groups before the end of 2012. As an example, if you are involved in intellectual property law, join the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).

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Once you have settled in as an active member, begin volunteering your time and talents. Do you love to write? Contribute articles to the associations’ newsletters. When there is a call for committee members, raise your hand and devote your time. If you are lucky enough to be comfortable with public speaking, get out at a meeting or a conference and display your expertise.

The point is to use your strengths and do what’s comfortable. I have found that serving on a committee really put me in the midst of people with whom I wanted to do business. I still have relationships with several committee members with whom I’ve served from more than ten years ago.

Use the Press to Your Advantage After fifteen years in the legal press, I can attest to the advantages of becoming close with beat reporters and editors in your practice area.

Reporters and editors truly value a consistent and reliable source, especially at 4:00 pm on the eve of a breaking story. One of my friends is a legal recruiter and she has appeared in the Bay Area legal press several times over the years to comment on career trends or offer her opinion on firm moves. A by-product of her availability is that her name and her company’s name have become top of mind.

In addition, once you are quoted more and more you can begin to use these articles as material for your

own website, email newsletters, blogs and social media outlets.

Give Social Media Time & Attention The future is now. If you are not getting involved with social media as a tool to increase business for you and your firm, you should know that it is highly likely that your clients and prospects are. Furthermore, the generation that is coming out of law school these last few years use social media as regularly as we used to use rotary phones.

Social media deserves its own article. For now I will offer some thoughts and tips on three of the more widely used tools.

There are more than 120 million people on LinkedIn. I often suggest that people concentrate on three areas within LinkedIn to maximize their activity and visibility. First, you should complete, update and maintain your individual profile.

This includes requesting recommendations from people. Secondly, research the kinds of LinkedIn Groups you want to become involved with and join in. And lastly you should take advantage of the Company Pages on LinkedIn for your firm.

LinkedIn is constantly adding tools and features you can use to interact on either of these three levels of involvement. For instance, you can post an interesting article on your personal profile, ask and answer questions within your Groups, and even post a poll on your Com-

pany Page. One tip about Groups: if you don’t see a Group in your area of interest, LinkedIn makes it very easy to create your own.

Twitter, the famous microblogging service, is a social media platform where you can follow and be followed by whomever you wish, You are able to distribute, or tweet, messages, ask questions, post articles of interest and interact with clients and prospects as long as your messages are 140 characters or less.

One person I follow must send out a dozen messages daily, and whenever I think of attorney blogging, his name comes to mind. What’s more, you can set up your Twitter feeds to appear on your LinkedIn home page as well, which provides much more exposure to you and your messages.

Of course, the ubiquitous Facebook platform is another way for you and your firm to get exposed to clients and prospects. I will admit that I think Facebook is more for personal and family life but I do know some attorneys and law firms that have devoted some time and energy to their Facebook pages.

Conclusion

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Storytelling & the 8 New Media Jury

by Steven Thompson & Andrew Lloyd

I

n today’s courtroom, litigators’ paramount concern is keeping the jury’s focus on the facts and evidence introduced in a case. Static photos, flipcharts, chalkboards, foam core boards, and separate pages of documents will certainly help convey your points, but a modern jury expects and responds better to a more visual and dramatic experience. By riding the wave of multimedia presentation technology that is changing litigation in America, and by learning how it can apply to your practice, you will more effectively present your case in ADR, hearing, settlement conference or at trial.

Think about the impact of multimedia on a jury. Over 52% of our nation’s jury pool is made up of individuals from Generation X (born between the mid-60’s and 1980) and Generation Y (born between 1981 and the late 90’s). These teens to mid-40 year olds get their information primarily from the Internet, radio and television. They perceive the world through handheld computing products, smart phones, and personal video, audio and gaming devices. They are more likely to zone out during a rambling presentation -- no matter how eloquent -- than they are during a succinct statement punctuated by electronic visuals. These individuals are accustomed to receiving information visually or in 10-to-30 second sound bites. Combine that with more and more baby boomers adopting this technology in their everyday lives, and you have a huge, wellinformed jury pool that is new media and gadget savvy. They expect a significantly different courtroom experience, a trend that requires litigators to rethink their old triedand-true courtroom tactics. As a

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result, multimedia use in today’s courtroom is reshaping how trials are conducted in the U.S. Multimedia usage during the litigation process has a scientific foundation. Several studies confirm we learn visually. According to the Logical Memory Section of the Wechsler Memory Scale, people immediately forget as much as twothirds of what they hear. As it pertains to information presented to professionals across a multitude of industries, the Weiss-McGrath Report concluded that memory retention increased 100% after a visual rather than an oral presentation.

Even more astounding, when visual and oral presentations were combined, memory retention increased a phenomenal 650% over an oral presentation alone. That certainly looks like scientific proof of the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” And if we upgrade that to a new media environment, a multimedia presentation could be worth a million words. Imagine the positive impact that might have on a jury.

Jurors learn and process information during the course of a trial differently and it generally falls into one of the following learning patterns: • Seeing the data pictorially, graphically or via motion pictures • Hearing the data in person or via audio recording • Reading the data • A combination of the above The key point is that today’s juror has the capacity to process information via several senses and methods. Savvy attorneys are realizing that they no longer litigate in Perry Mason’s courtroom. In order to connect with each juror, they recognize a need to appeal to the diverse range of perceptions and learning processes through multimedia presentations.

With hundreds of multimediawired courtrooms around the

country, attorneys are engaging trial technology consultants to help them manage the technology and tell a better, more effective story.

The science and technology of telling that story are becoming just as important as the art of telling it.

The following are some examples of modern multimedia storytelling techniques: • Simplifying complex engineering, medical or mathematical evidence with powerful, easy-tounderstand 3D visual computer models • Transporting the jury back in time with vivid computer animated recreations of an accident or crime scene to help them experience the sights and sounds of the event • Presenting a “day in a life” through a series of well-orchestrated photographic images and digitized video • Displaying a colorful graphic rendering of objects, processes and diagrams • Projecting both static and animated timelines in attention-grabbing color • Showing computer-projected documents and photographs with the ability to draw the jury’s attention to something specific by enlarging key sections or making real-time, on-screen annotations • Playing a digitized surveillance video that morphs into a 3D computer animation • Viewing and listening to a video or audio deposition synchronized to the scrolling transcript • Watching a Video Settlement Documentary on a DVD produced for a mediation or settlement conference that combines many of the abovementioned media types into a 10-to-15-minute television “documentary” format Employing such presentations during ADR, settlement conference or trial gives an attorney storytelling powers like never before. Pairing

the trial technology consultant’s skill, creativity and talents with the attorney’s knowledge of the law and litigation can make the difference between winning and losing.

It boils down to this very important fact: jurors and judges base their decisions largely on who tells the best and most believable story.

Creating and articulating the clearest account of the facts by appealing to the human senses is critical to inspiring the jury to reach a decision in your favor. Attorneys who utilize multimedia tools achieve greater results and ultimately prevail in more cases. •

Social Media Marketing

9

by Ivette M. Santaella

T

he standard ways of marketing our law practices - yellow pages, radio or TV ads - have given way to less expensive or no-cost solutions with the same or better results - social media. We hear so much about social media, but what exactly is it?

According to social media experts Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, social media is “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”

Web 2.0 is a loosely defined intersection of web application features that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, usercentered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. The three main types of social media are: 1. Blogs and microblogs, e.g. Twitter; 2. Content communities, e.g. You Tube; 3. Social networking sites, e.g.

LinkedIn, Facebook.

Technologies used for marketing on these social media sites include blogs, wall-postings, email and instant messaging.

As attorneys we are guided by the California Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1-400 Advertising and Solicitation. In addition, Wendy L. Patrick’s article titled, “Advertising in the Electronic Age”, published in the November 2010 California Bar Journal, states that “State Bar Formal Opinion 2001-155 concludes that attorney website information relating to employment availability qualifies as a communication under California Rule 1-400(A), but not as a solicitation under Rule 1-400(B).

As a communication, the website information must comply with the restrictions governing permissible content of communications. The applicable regulations govern not only the words on the website, but also the sounds and images.”

The Importance of Websites & Blogs Websites Having an effective website is an important part of your sales strategy, while getting ‘hits’ on your website is an important part of your marketing strategy - driving traffic to your website.

An effective website should make a visitor feel that you understand her problem and can solve it. It should introduce your services, highlight your expertise and be able to close the sale. If your site does not market or sell, it is ineffective. Visiting an effective website, the visitor should understand: 1. Why they are on your website: A brief explanation of your services - your value proposition - should be at the top of the homepage; 2. Where to look on the website: Some websites have busy homepages. Having too many options is confusing to visitors and causes them to lose interest. Instead, the homepage should direct visitors

to pages where they can find an answers to their concerns.

3. Tell your visitor what to do: Provide a call to action, such as “Call for a free consult” or “Click here to get more information”. Show confidence on your website and the visitor will have confidence in you.

There are user-friendly tools to help you build your own website for free. All you need is time and patience. There are many platforms you can use called ‘open source’, developed specifically for free use.

There are three primary open source platforms for website development: Wordpress, Joomla & Drupal. Once you have built your website it needs to be hosted on the Internet.

Some good hosting sites that are reasonably priced are GoDaddy.com or HostGator.com.

Now Blog!

A blog is a personal journal published on the Internet. It consists of entries, referred to as posts, displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first. Blogs can be the writings of a single individual or a small group, usually focusing on a single subject.

Blogs have become a very popular form of marketing and therefore get more ‘hits’ than websites. They are favored by search engines and many of the latest online tools. This is due to the thousands of individual posts that accumulate with time and cater to search engines. Blogs are similar to websites but the information is organized differently.

Blogs also have a ‘subscribe’ function, called an RSS feed. When the blog is updated with a new post, the update is sent through the RSS feed, usually via email, to the subscriber, helping you maintain consistent contact. The main value add of blogs is that it integrates different platforms, e.g. your LinkedIn or Twitter profile.

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MEXICO MCLE STUDY IN STYLE

Marketing, cont. from page 29

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) It is important to get ranked high on search engines like Google so that visitors can find your website easily. There are various things you can do to achieve a high ranking. For example, Google gives high ranking to sentences and paragraphs, so it is best to avoid hidden text and bulleted lists. Needless to say “Keywords are Key!” Research and pick about 10-12 primary keyword phrases and use them.

Google Analytics

JOI N U S! OCTOB ER 6 - 1 3 , 2 0 1 2 Come join the CCCBA for our annual MCLE trip to Mexico.

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Significant others and children welcome at this family friendly resort!

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Now that you have set up your website, it is helpful to know who is visiting the site so you can evaluate the site’s effectiveness. Google Analytics is a great tool for this purpose and it is free. With Google Analytics you can see: • Who is visiting your website; • What keywords were used to find your site; • How much time visitors spent on the site; • Which pages were of interest; • The visitor’s geographic location and so on and so on...

Go to www.google.com/analytics for information on how to sign up for an account.

Driving Traffic to Your Website Email Marketing

automatically to an email subscriber. The three most popular autoresponder providers are aWeber, Infusionsoft and Constant Contact.

Start a Podcast Imagine being featured in the iTunes Music Store! It is possible with a Podcast. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate your expertise to countless people. iTunes is not just a source for music, but also for information.

Visitors on iTunes can subscribe to your Podcast and when you post a new one, they will be automatically notified. If they are subscribed to your Podcast when the visitor logs on to iTunes your latest podcast automatically downloads. Also, since podcasts are in audio format, most people will be listening on their MP3 player when they are working out, driving to work, or shopping.

Social Media Twitter Twitter is an online micro-blogging service, a form of blogging where users exchange posts of up to 140 characters, often including links or images, known as ‘tweets’. A typical tweet consists of a teaser sentence or two, followed by a link that your followers can click for more information. An effective way to market on Twitter is to write a list of tips that can be tweeted automatically via platforms such as SocialOomph. com or HootSuite. Using such services, you can schedule tweets to go out once a day for 200 to 300 days.

Email marketing is a powerful tool for your business. You can contact your audience many times over while building rapport and trust by offering valuable information or updates on relevant issues in your area of expertise.

LinkedIn

A great tool to manage emails is an email auto-responder. It is a platform that manages your email marketing efforts and can upload prewritten emails that are sent out

When you update your LinkedIn profile, it is announced to your LinkedIn network. The site is also a great resource to make announce-

LinkedIn is a professional social networking site. It can assist with your marketing efforts through status updates, recommendations, rankings and keywords.

ments, such as a seminar you may be hosting. Your status update is displayed at the top of your profile, under your name and photo. LinkedIn has more profile information than other social media platforms - so take advantage of it and use it!

Think of it as your online resume.

Recommendations are read often on LinkedIn. One way to get a recommendation tactfully is to write a recommendation for someone who truly deserves it. Upon receipt of an email stating that you wrote them a recommendation on LinkedIn, they will have an opportunity to reciprocate. The email states “[T]he recommendation has been posted to your profile. Why not return the favor and recommend XX back”.

Finally, one of the most powerful features of LinkedIn as a marketing tool is that you can do searches by job title. By including specific keywords in your LinkedIn profile it will help increase your Google ranking. Try not to use common generic terms as too many other people are using them. Instead, try using specific and technical terms.

Facebook Facebook has three different ‘facilities: Profiles, groups and pages. You only need to understand the different facilities and how to utilize them to your advantage. Profiles are for individuals, while Groups are for multiple individuals with similar interests. Pages are designed for businesses. An individual with a facebook profile can build a page and become the “admin” for the page.

Facebook pages can have multiple admins that you can easily add or remove as your business changes. A Facebook page is fully indexed

by Google and other search engines.

Since Facebook is such a huge website it ranks high on Google and can help you improve your own search engine ranking.

The title of your Facebook page is the most valuable piece of informa-

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31

Social media marketing, cont. from page 31 tion from a search engine optimization (SEO) perspective, so include a few keywords beyond your name.

Conclusion When selecting which media to use, make sure you spend the necessary time and effort to maintain a churn of information. Select one that you will enjoy participating in but that will provide results. Be patient as results take time, but will be well worth the effort. Activity will keep your Social Media and Marketing effort alive and interesting. •

Insurance

10

by Jane Louie

W

hether lawyers are starting a business, growing their business or transitioning business as a sole proprietor or a corporation, there are two major assets that need protection and financial investments: 1. Human Capital: The people of the company, including Founders, Partners, Professionals, Staff, and their families.

2. Business & Property Capital: The things of the company, including business liability, workers compensation, real estate, and automobiles.

When it comes to putting together the right coverage, with the right carriers, for the right price, it’s important to talk to your Broker periodically as your needs change.

Leverage the plan features, discounts, flexibility, coverage growth, guarantees, convertibility, portability, underwriting levels, ownership, voluntary/supplemental, tax advantages, pricing options (modes, fixed, renewable, increasing), and payment options (employer paid, employee paid, or the combination),

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and how they are integrated with the business and individual agreements. What follows is an overview of coverage and services to consider: Human Capital: Protection and Growth Founders, Owners, Partners and Executives • Funded Buy/Sell Agreements - buyout funding in case of disability, death, divorce, discharge, dissolution.

• Deferred Compensation - extra retirement benefits beyond qualified plans • Executive Bonus Plans - incentive plan • Key Person Insurance - business recovery when a key employee dies.

• Business Overhead Expense - reimburse overhead expenses while owner recovers.

• Retirement - Profit Sharing, Defined Benefits, Defined Contribution, Pension, Annuity • Supplemental Executive Retirement • Business Succession: Closely Held Business Evaluation and Audit; Business Succession Planning; Family Business Succession Planning; Mergers and Acquisitions; ESOP Strategy Planning • Estate Planning - tax strategy, legacy planning, asset distribution, funded trusts – Revocable and Irrevocable • Philanthropy, Charitable Planned Giving - for community and cause, legacy planning, and tax strategy HR, Benefits Consulting & Administration • International Benefits Consulting • COBRA Administration • HIPAA Compliance • Integrated HR Services - Human Resources Admin, Compliance Audits, Training, Payroll Administration, Recruiting & Staffing • Mergers & Acquisition

Employee Benefits • Medical, Dental and Vision Individual or Group of 2 or more people - guaranteed, no medical underwriting, HSA • Short-term and Long-term Disability Income Protection - income protection, 7-days after an injury or illness, compensation to retirement • Life Insurance - with equity cash value asset option - fixed or increasing living and death benefit, supplemental savings, education funding, and retirement • Long-term Care - individual and joint - up to $400/day, compound growth, pooled or life-time • Flexible Spending Accounts - pre-tax expenses for day care, health, transportation • Retirement - 401K, 403B, 457, SEP, Simple IRA, Safe Harbor, Profit Sharing, Matching, Pension, etc.

• Education Funding - Tax-free, from pre-school to higher education. Augment financial aid.

• Employee Travel - replace documents, assist with emergency medical referrals, evacuation, and security, transportation.

• Employee Assistance - 7x24 confidential support, guidance, counseling, and resources • Estate Planning - tax strategy, legacy planning, asset distribution, funded Trusts - revocable and irrevocable • Charitable Planned Giving for community and cause, legacy planning, and tax strategy Business and Property Capital: Protection and Growth Business Risk • Professional Liability / Errors and Omission • Workers’ Compensation - those with employees • Directors & Officers Insurance • Trustee insurance • Global Exposures • Employment Practices Liability

• • • • • • • • • •

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Elder Law is

Until there’s a cure, people with the disease will need caregiving and legal advice. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, approximately one in ten families has a relative with this disease.

Of the four million people living in the U.S. with Alzheimer’s disease, the majority live at home — often receiving care from family members.

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925.256.0298 www.YoungElderLaw.com 1931 San Miguel Drive, Suite 220 Walnut Creek, California 94596

Northern California Mediator / Arbitrator 16 years as Mediator 25 years as Arbitrator 33 years in Civil Practice

Plan for the Worst. Hope for the Best. Prepare for Rest. • Jane Louie and Todd Friedman with MassMutual are CCCBA Member-Only Benefits Providers. They offer discounts on their products and services to CCCBA members. To see a listing of all of our Member Only Benefits Providers and the discounts they offer, please visit our website at www.cccba.org > Assistance & Services > Member Only Benefits. You can also scan the QRcode below:

The average survival rate is eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s — some live as few as three years after diagnosis, while others live as long as 20. Most people with Alzheimer’s don’t die from the disease itself, but from pneumonia, a urinary tract infection or complications from a fall.

Roger F. Allen 510.832-7770 Ericksen, Arbuthnot 155 Grand Avenue, Suite 1050 Oakland, CA 94612

rallen@ericksenarbuthnot.com

• Training includes Mediation Course at Pepperdine University 1995 • Serving on Kaiser Medical Malpractice Neutral Arbitrators Panel • Settlement Commissioner, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties • Experienced in all areas of Tort Litigation, including injury, property damage, fire loss, malpractice, construction defect

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

33

civil jury verdicts The Richmond Police discrimination case went to trial in Martinez before the Honorable Barry Goode.

Stephen Jaffe of San Francisco represented the Plaintiffs. Arthur Hartinger and Geoffrey Spellberg represented Defendants.

by Matthew Guichard

Y

ou must have thought I had given up on my Civil Jury Verdicts column for the Contra Costa Lawyer.

I didn’t, but apparently lots of trial lawyers did, as I received no reports of trials, settlements or arbitration awards for a long time. However, recently I have received a number of reports. Thanks, folks, and keep them coming!

Andy Schwartz of Walnut Creek reported a big verdict he obtained in Federal Court in San Jose. The case involved a shooting by a Gilroy, California police officer of an individual by the name of Gurmit Singh. The officer claimed Mr. Singh charged the officer and tried to take his gun, when the officer was forced to shoot Mr. Singh. The officer was on his cell phone with a colleague at the time of the shooting.

The eight person Federal jury held that the officer violated Mr. Singh’s civil rights by using excessive force and by failing to render emergency medical care after the shooting.

The jury awarded $1.275 million to the Singh family. The jury also found Mr. Singh was 50% liable for his own death. The award was not reduced by that 50% allocation, as the officer violated Mr. Singh’s civil rights.

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Plaintiffs alleged discrimination against the Police Chief, the Deputy Chief and the City of Richmond.

Plaintiffs sought in the neighborhood of $18 million in damages.

The jury found for the defense on all counts.

The case of James Sappington vs.

Henkel Corporation, No. CIVMSC09-02555, was tried before the Honorable Steven K. Austin. Beth Ann Huber of San Rafael represented the Plaintiff. Robert D. Essa of Oakland, and Delia A. Isvoranu of Oakland represented Defendant.

Plaintiff was terminated from his job after a 27 year career as a production supervisor. He brought an action against the company. After extensive pleading practice and motions, five causes of action survived. At trial the Court dismissed the negligence causes of action. Discrimination and wrongful termination survived. The jury returned a verdict in the amount of $200,000.

It appears Plaintiff made a demand of $3.4 million. No information on a pre-trial defense offer was available.

Shahan vs. Shahan, Case No. MSP09-00599 was heard before the Honorable Charles B. Burch. Robert Riordan of San Ramon represented the Plaintiff/Petitioner. Joseph M. Morrill and Konstantine A. Demiris represented Defendant/ Respondent.

The case involved a dispute involving The Shahan Family Trust, dated May 23, 1985. The complaint was filed on May 21, 2009. The complaint involved a petition to

invalidate two amendments to the trust. The contest was based on the grounds the decedent lacked capacity, and undue influence.

Judge Burch found for the Defendant/Respondent. No objections or proposed modifications of the judge’s Proposed Tentative Statement of Decision were filed.

Therefore that decision became final by operation of law. Respondent submitted a Memorandum of Costs in the amount of $47,111.

Stock Trust Agreement, David Stock, Petitioner vs. Riley Stock, Respondent, Case No. MSP09-00299 was heard before the Honorable Charles B. Burch. Jone Lemos of Fort Bragg represented Petitioner.

Matt Toth of the Pedder firm represented Respondents.

The case involved a dispute among brothers as to the disposition of the family estate. Petitioner objected to the way in which the trustee distributed the parents’ personal property. He objected to the sale of the family residence. In addition, he objected to the expenditure of some of the trust funds by the trustee. After a four day trial, the respondent trustee prevailed on all counts. As Stan Pedder stated in his report to me on the case: “You are not your brother’s keeper unless he is the trustee”.

In a local verdict which I read about in the newspaper, a Contra Costa jury awarded a woman $2.5 million for a chicken bone which was stuck in her throat, requiring multiple surgeries. I had to do a little work to get the case information. The Plaintiff Calla Felicity was injured when a piece of pizza with chicken strips contained a chicken bone fragment. The bone fragment became lodged in her throat causing severe injuries. She spent a number of days in the hospital and

underwent a number of surgeries. A $2.5 million verdict in Contra Costa Courts is most unusual. I have no information at press time as to demands and offers prior to trial. If I get that information, I will get it to you next time.

Nick Casper of Walnut Creek reported an interesting settlement.

Yes Nick is Stan’s son, and is obviously a chip off the old block, as he is handling a number of substantial plaintiff matters. The case of George Perasso vs. Bay Counties Pitcock Petroleum, Inc., et al, Case No. C1000382, was set for trial before the Honorable Judith Craddick.

The case involved a serious injury related to an attack on Plaintiff’s dog by an unleashed pit bull. The pit bull was owned by a man who was working at the time at a service station owned and operated by Pitcock Petroleum. Plaintiff was injured when he tried to protect his dog and break up the attack. Plaintiff injured his already surgically repaired right shoulder. He required two additional shoulder surgeries due to his injuries. Plaintiff’s medicals totaled approximately $58,000. He claimed a lost earning capacity of $550,000.

The case settled for $300,000.

On a final note, I recently settled three substantial cases. However, due to the confidential nature of the cases and the settlements, I cannot tell you about them. Sorry about that.

Keep those cards and letters coming, and please write to me about those civil verdicts/settlements of any kind - You can reach me at mguichard@gtplawyers.com — Matthew P. Guichard is a principal in Guichard, Teng & Portello, APC. Please send case information to: 1800 Sutter Street, Suite 730, Concord, CA 94520 or contact him at 925.459.8440 or mguichard@gtplawyers.com

In Memoriam C. Randall Bupp 1950 - 2012

It is with great sadness that we announce that our partner of the past ten years, Randy Bupp, lost his fight to cancer and passed away Thursday, June 7, 2012.

Randy was born in San Bernardino, California, and was admitted to the California Bar in 1975, following his college and law school education at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (B.A. 1971) and Hastings College of Law, University of California at San Francisco (J.D. 1975).

Over his thirty-seven year legal career Randy became a prominent member of the bankruptcy bar, earning respect and praise from judges, his colleagues and his many clients. Randy served as an Adjunct Professor at J.F.K. University School of Law in Pleasant Hill, CA teaching Business Law and Bankruptcy. He also served as a Section Leader for the Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section of the Contra Costa County Bar Association and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum.

Randy joined Bardellini, Straw, Cavin & Bupp, LLP in 2002, after having been a partner in a prominent bankruptcy firm in Oakland for 25 years. His practice emphasized bankruptcy law, in which he represented debtors and creditors, as well as financial institutions in bankruptcy and real property litigation in State and Federal Courts throughout California.

John, Lee & Jim Bardellini, Straw Cavin & Bupp, LLP

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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inns of court a mirror to society, proving that we are nothing more than a vain, selfabsorbed culture more interested in the disasters of our own lives than a genuinely critical look at the arts, restaurants, and other businesses that comprise society.

by Matthew Talbot

O

n May 10, 2012, the Robert G. McGrath Inns Of Court had another fun meeting at the Lafayette Park Hotel. This was the last meeting of the year and Judge Rebecca Hardie’s pupilage group (consisting of Jon Eldredge, David Marchiano, Dana Santos, Scott Isherwood, John Hourihan, Patricia Kelly, Lorraine Walsh, and Tom Nagle) provided a great presentation on Yelp and the legal profession. If you do not know what Yelp is, it is a popular website where customers can provide reviews of businesses. In theory, it is supposed to democratize the review business, taking the power away from the East Coast Ivy League elites that normally parade around as high-falutin’ “critics.” The sad reality is that when medium-falutin’ critics get involved, the reviews tend to be less than helpful.

The average Yelp review might do its absolute best to completely and totally miss the point of a review in the first place. It’ll say something like “I went to this Italian restaurant with my girlfriend. She dumped me there, so I’m going to give the restaurant 0 out of 5 stars!” Or “I tried to go to this store to buy things, but I got in a car accident on the way.

THIS STORE IS TERRIBLE!” Yelp is

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Judge Hardie’s group took that situation and said “Are any lawyers getting insulted here?” So, they analyzed 5 Yelp reviews (some fake, some real) about legal services and the people who really hated receiving them. The first review included a lot of personal and insulting comments regarding a female attorney.

The Inns discussed whether the attorney could bring a defamation action against the reviewer for the comments about her personal life.

Here, the potentially defaming comments were opinions and not facts, so a defamation action might not lie.

The second review was similar to the first in that it included insults regarding the attorney’s skill. Here, the potentially defaming comments included more purported facts than opinion. The purported facts included such things as the amount of times the attorney had been sued by his clients and that the attorney committed fraud against the reviewer. As they included facts, the Inns concluded that this review would be more likely to be the basis for a defamation claim.

Apparently, this was a real review and the attorney did bring an action against the reviewer. The reviewer brought an anti-SLAPP motion, designed to dismiss cases where the intent is to silence a person’s free speech rights. However, the court in this instance did not grant the anti-SLAPP motion. The Inns group had a lively discussion about this unique, modern, and interesting case.

The next review was not against an attorney, but instead a judge.

Why can you even review judges on Yelp? Judges do not need your business and you generally don’t get to judge-shop the same way you can buy clothing, electronics, or food. But hey, if you ever want to disqualify a judge, scour his or her Yelp page first!

Here, the review claimed that the judge was biased and uninterested in providing real justice. The Inns discussed whether a judge could respond to a review like this. The general consensus was that they could.

However, the Yelp’d judge has to do it in a professional and cautious manner. I, for one, can’t think of a situation where any possible definition of “professional” or “cautious” includes “replying on the Yelp site itself.”

After discussing two more reviews, the Inns discussed what can be done, besides legal action, to resolve these situations. You cannot sue the ISP for 3rd party content, generally, but you can try to contact Yelp to get the review removed.

They’ll probably require you to sign up for their Yelp Premium service, which has been very controversial.

Another way to avoid bad reviews on Yelp is to be a good attorney.

Funny how that works out that way sometimes. Return phone calls.

Avoid “trouble” clients. Don’t be addicted to drugs and then embezzle the client’s retainer. Especially that last one, try to avoid that last one.

The next meeting is in September at the Lafayette Park Hotel, but there is a Summer Mixer in late July. To learn more about the Inns Of Court and get involved, contact President Scott Reep at (707) 7840900 or Scott@Solanolawgroup.com

18th Annual

MCLE Spectacular!

Friday, November 16, 2012 Walnut Creek Marriott Breakfast Kickoff Speaker

EVENT SPONSOR

PROFESSOR RORY K. LITTLE

JAMS

Professor of Law, University of California Hastings College of the Law

PREMIUM SPONSORS: LaMusga Company LexisNexis Thomson Reuters Westlaw

Luncheon Speaker

Afternoon Plenary Session Speaker

CARMELA CASTELLANO-GARCIA

President and CEO, California Primary Care Association

SPONSORS

SPEAKERS

JUSTICE GOODWIN LIU

Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court

SPONSORS: ADR Services, Inc. Certified Reporting MassMutual The Recorder Scott Valley Bank

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION CONTRA COSTA LAWYER

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Classifieds

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Diablo Valley Reporting Services . . 40 Margaret M. Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Office/ Professional Space in Central Richmond Probate paralegal to attorneys Joanne C. McCarthy.

2204 Concord Blvd. Concord, CA 94520. Call (925) 689-9244.

Convenient location: Central Richmond/ Nicholl Park. Near to Court House and Contra Costa Health Services. Rear half of building, 3 offices and a conference room. Off Street Parking. $1,150/ month. Call (510) 2370462.

JAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Lenczowski Law Offices . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 MARSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Mullin Law Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Myers Stevens Mello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Perry A. Novak , UBS Financial Services, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Palmer Brown Madden . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 David B. Pastor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Pedder, Hesseltine, Walker & Toth, LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12, 13 Reliable Receptionist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Scott Valley Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Arlene Segal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Steele, George, Schofield &Ramos . . 14 Candice Stoddard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 WestlawNext, Thomson Reuters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Michael J. Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Youngman & Ericsson, LLP . . . . . . . . 19 Zandonella Reporting Service . . . . . 37

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