ORANGE COUNTY
Volume 170, 2020 $6.95
12 Productivity Tips When Working from Home
Mark Beese
Expect Some “Terror Management”
Cover
Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm Continuity of Care: Reassuring Clients You’re Prepared for COVID-19
Susan Kostal
7 Tips for Hosting Virtual Meetings
Jennifer Simpson Carr Value/Price Equation
Trey Ryder
Managing Remote Employees
Daniel H. Handman
Attorney of the Month
Brent A. Duque Street Justice
The Law Office of Brent A. Duque, PLC., Newport Beach
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2020 EDITION—NO.170
TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 Twelve Productivity Tips When Working from Home by Mark Beese
10 Continuity of Care: Reassuring Clients You’re Prepared for COVID-19 by Susan Kostal
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EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor
12 Community News
EDITOR Wendy Price
ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH
CREATIVE SERVICES Penn Creative CIRCULATION Angela Watson PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths STAFF WRITERS Dan Baldwin Jennifer Hadley CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Mark Beese Susan Kostal Trey Ryder Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm Daniel H. Handman Jennifer Simpson Carr WEBMASTER Mariusz Opalka ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Info@AttorneyJournals.com SUBMIT AN ARTICLE Editorial@AttorneyJournals.com OFFICE 30211 Avenida De Las Banderas Suite 200 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 www.AttorneyJournals.com ADDRESS CHANGES Address corrections can be made via fax, email or postal mail.
16 24 Expect Some “Terror Management” in any Juries that Are Still Going to Court
16 Brent A. Duque, The Law Office of Brent A. Duque, PLC., Newport Beach Street Justice by Dan Baldwin
22 Managing Remote-Working Employees During the Coronavirus Pandemic by Daniel H. Handman
by Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm
26 Value/Price Equation Drives Hiring Decision, Client Loyalty by Trey Ryder
28 Seven Tips for Hosting Virtual Meetings: Coronavirus Cancellations by Jennifer Simpson Carr
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12 Productivity Tips When Working from Home by Mark Beese
As I write this, many law firms are shutting down their physical offices and having professional staff work from home. While most of us have worked from home before, often late at night or on a weekend, many professionals had not worked full time from a home office for an extended period. I’ve been a consultant, trainer and coach for the past twelve years. I work from a home office in my furnished basement. Most of my coaching is conducted over the phone or video. Here are some of the things I learned about being productive when working from home.
4. Minimize distractions
1. Get dressed
5. Manage your time
While it is tempting to work in your jammies, you will be more productive if you “show up for work.” Shower, brush your teeth and put on some decent clothes. Remember that you will be connecting with co-workers and clients via video. While you are in your home, you are still going to work, so you must tell your brain, “Today is a workday, even though I’m not in my office.”
2. Stick to your routine as much as possible
The hardest thing about working from home is maintaining focus, especially in times of anxiety and change. Everything seems to call out for attention. The laundry, children, partners, social media, news, and that pile of random papers—they all want your attention. Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean that you can crank up the Spotify, watch CNN, have Facebook open on the second monitor and play Switch with your ten-year-old, all at the same time. Try focusing on doing one thing at a time. And do it well.
Use your calendar to schedule meetings and block out time for work that requires concentration. Use “time boxing” techniques to assign time on your calendar for important tasks. Schedule time between projects to check on email and texts. Try to stick to your plan as much as possible.
6. Focus, and plan for breaks
If you normally work 8:30 to 5:00, try to keep to the same schedule as much as possible. Even when you are working from home, try to live by the same rules that you have at work. You wouldn’t leave work to go for groceries in the middle of the day, so fight the urge to treat working at home as a working vacation or a busy weekend.
My grandpa used to say, “Plan your work and work your plan.” Consider working in sprints of 60 to 90 minutes, then take a ten-minute break to walk around and clear your head. You can’t effectively focus on work, check email and texts, monitor social media, and deal with external interruptions all at the same time. Focus on one task and do it well, take a short break, and re-focus.
3. Create a dedicated workspace
7. Use your commute time wisely
Find a place in the home where you can minimize distraction and focus on work. Don’t just set up camp at the kitchen table (unless that is your only option and you can take over the space for the next few weeks or months). Clear the workspace from clutter and distractions. This is your “office” where you will expect yourself to be working. Try to avoid the bedroom or high traffic areas of the home, if possible. Make sure you have adequate lighting, seating and room for your laptop and work materials.
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The average worker in the United States has a 30-minute oneway commute. Many have a longer commute. Working at home gives you an opportunity to re-purpose that commute time. Knowing that distractions will pop up when working from home, consider starting your workday when you normally leave the house and end when you would normally return from the office. This might give you an extra hour or so to deal with those non-work activities that arise during the day. This is especially true if your kids are home from school during this time.
8. Build in time to connect with colleagues This is important, especially for extroverts. Many of us will feel a little lost and anxious after days (or hours) of social distancing. Build in time in your day for a phone or video app conversation with a co-worker each day. Find ways to brighten someone else’s day with humor and caring.
9. Use video meeting apps Applications like Zoom (free for small meetings up to 45 minutes), Microsoft Teams (free for a limited time), Skype or FaceTime are great tools that put you “on screen.” Connecting via video may be awkward at first, but it will help you feel more connected and accountable to each other. Before long, it will become second nature.
10. Don’t be too hard on yourself These are anxious times with a lot of changes. You will not be 100% productive on your first day (or days) working at home. Social isolation during the Covid-19 crisis will be hard. If you find yourself wasting time on unimportant tasks or zoning out because of lack of sleep, give yourself a break, find a new direction, and move on. Eat healthy and get exercise. Constantly beating yourself up about how you are falling behind or how you are not doing everything perfectly will only slow your progress.
11. Stop working and shift gears at the end of the day Develop an “end-of-work routine” that helps you transition from work mode to home mode. It may be literally shutting down the computer and putting your phone away. It might be having a conversation with your partner or someone else. It might be putting an “out-of-office” notice on your email. You need to shift from work mode to home mode at some point, otherwise you end up living in work mode, which produces guilt and anxiety (and lowers productivity).
12. Take time to reflect and be grateful In times of crisis and change, it often helps to spend some time to reflect and an opportunity to evaluate what’s working in your life and what’s not. Take some time to re-calibrate and make some changes in your life. Focus on those things that you are grateful for and look for ways that you can help others. n Mark Beese is President of Leadership for Lawyers, LLC, a consultancy focused on helping lawyers and other professionals become better leaders and business developers. He provides training, coaching and consultation to firms in the areas of leadership development, business development and marketing. His clients range from small, single office firms to global AmLaw 100 firms. For more information, visit www. leadershipforlawyers.com and www.designthinkinglegal.com.
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Continuity of Care: Reassuring Clients You’re Prepared for COVID-19 by Susan Kostal The coronavirus outbreak has affected law firms around the country to varying degrees. In cities where the virus is more prevalent, firms have closed offices, asked employees to work from home, and some courts have curtailed caseloads and services. For clients who may already be anxious about their legal matters, this looks like barely controlled chaos. Anxious clients make any engagement more difficult.
Specific Tips for Your Messaging to Clients The COVID-19 pandemic has been a real-time communications lab experiment in how businesses and organizations share important information with their clients and customers. Gina Rubel wrote an excellent post here on creating and deploying a crisis communication plan. Building on her advice, here are some specific tips for messaging to reassure clients your firm is able to respond and meet their legal needs during a crisis.
How are you Responding from a Business Perspective? Clients Want to Know • If your office was or will be temporarily closed for deep cleaning, let the public know. You have everything to gain from sharing this information. Let your clients know the preventative measures your firm is deploying. If you don’t post something publicly, you run the risk that someone else controls the message, you fall prey to rumors, or appear to believe the crisis does not exist. 10
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• If some or all of your lawyers and staff are working from home, let that be known as well. Let clients know you are doing everything you can to keep your team safe and productive, which means their cases will be attended to appropriately. For example, let them know that phone messages are automatically forwarded and will be picked up in a timely manner. Clients will be reassured that you have a plan to protect your workforce, which means that their legal matters will continue to receive the proper attention. • If you are curtailing office access to only essential personnel, let clients know. If settlement conferences or meetings need to be rescheduled or handled virtually, provide a simple reminder to check with their attorney or point of contact before showing up for previously scheduled meetings or events.
Offer Video Conferencing Sure, a phone call or email may suffice to convey information but consider using videoconferencing with both corporate and consumer clients if in-person meetings are not appropriate. Just seeing you in action will reassure clients, even if you are working from home.
Keep Messaging Simple and Clear FAQs are often a great way to communicate. Keep both questions and answers as concise as possible. Use short, declarative sentences. Include helpful links, but do not over-link. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by too much information and too many links. It increases anxiety, rather than alleviates it. That said, do not over-promise. Temper optimism about the strength of your preventive measures to ensure business continuity
with an acknowledgment that this is an evolving health and economic crisis. What you can promise is that you will continue to update clients about your firm’s capabilities and how you are protecting your workforce.
Post Information Where It’s Easy to Find A link on your homepage is the easiest way for consumers and corporate clients to quickly and easily find the information they are seeking. You may have sent out an email to clients, but did it make it to their administrative staff or internal business partners? They shouldn’t have to go beyond your homepage to find it. Here’s an example from Dechert LLP’s homepage:
continuing to service client needs. And keep the door open for continued conversation.
Strengthening Relationships As you work to publish client alerts on what they should be doing to respond to the crisis, remind them what you are doing to ensure your own viability, which in turn ensures theirs. It will help ease their concerns and could very well be a touchpoint to strengthen your client relationships. Here’s a good example of a law firm statement: Stikeman Elliott: “Our Approach to COVID-19” Crisis Evaluation Checklist and Messaging Matrix For more help with your crisis communication plan, download a copy of Gina Rubel’s “Crisis Evaluation and Messaging Checklist” and “Key Message Matrix,” excerpted from her book, “Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers,” 2nd Edition. The checklist is free to anyone who subscribes to Attorney at Work. n
Consider a Personal Message Some firms have issued personal messages from the firm chair or managing partner, or even a short video address. It’s OK to acknowledge fear and uncertainty while tempering that with your stated commitment to respond appropriately. Cheer the hard work that your team has put in to commit to
Susan Kostal is a legal affairs PR, marketing and business development consultant based in San Francisco. She is a contributing editor for Attorney at Work. Susan has covered legal affairs as a journalist for nearly three decades. This article first appeared on Attorney at Work. Reprinted with kind permission. You can follow her on Twitter @skostal and view more of her content at www.susankostal.com.
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COMMUNITY news n Johnson Fistel is pleased to announce that Reed F. Baker joined its San Diego office. Reed will focus his practice on commercial and business litigation. Mr. Baker attended California Western School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree graduating cum laude and in the top 15% of his class. While in law school, Mr. Baker demonstrated REED F. BAKER excellent writing skills, was a published author, and served as the Associate Editor of California Western Law Review. He received the American Jurisprudence award in advanced legal writing, advanced legal research, and trial practice courses. Mr. Baker previously worked as an associate at one of San Diego’s largest and oldest civil defense firms, where he represented Fortune 500 companies and medical providers in various complex civil litigation matters in both federal and state courts. “I am thrilled to join such a reputable firm and look forward to assisting our clients obtain the best result possible,” said Reed. n Reuben Camper Cahn, partner at Keller/Anderle LLP, has become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal associations in North America. Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the U.S. and Canada. Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only and after REUBEN CAMPER CAHN careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers of diverse backgrounds, who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism and collegiality. Lawyers must have a minimum of 15 years trial experience before being considered. Cahn has tried over 100 cases to jury verdict and has argued twice before the Supreme Court (2011, 2018) in addition to numerous arguments before the 9th and 11th Circuits. n Talon J. Powers has been named a partner at the real estate and business law firm Hecht Solberg Robinson Goldberg & Bagley LLP (HechtSolberg). He joined the firm in 2014. Powers’ practice focuses on business litigation and risk management, with emphasis on construction, land use and environmental appeals, purchases TALON J. POWERS and sales, commercial leases, real estate brokerage, and insurance issues. He is a director on the board of Rebuilding Together San Diego, a local nonprofit focused on rehabilitating homes and facilities for San Diego residents in need, and was honored as one of the 2019 “San Diego Rising Stars” by Super Lawyers.
n Brown & Charbonneau, LLP is proud to announce that for the 23rd consecutive year, complex business litigator and jury trial veteran, Gregory G. Brown has again earned the prestigious AV-Preeminent® rating from Martindale Hubbell®. The AV Preeminent® rating is the highest possible rating given to a lawyer GREGORY G. BROWN and is established wholly on a peerreview basis. “I’m really proud to have maintained the AV-Preeminent rating and will continue to work hard each day to do what I can to raise the bar of professionalism and civility in the practice of law,” Brown said. Recent victories for Brown include a successful defense ruling after more than 4 weeks in trial in Orange County Superior Court, in which the plaintiff had sought more than $12,000,000 in recovery, in addition to potential punitive damages. Brown is the Founding Partner of Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, an award-winning business and corporate, litigation and family law firm based in Irvine, California. n Attorney Eric Traut won a $4.1M bench verdict on behalf of a plaintiff who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in an automobile collision caused by an on-duty DEA agent, decided Feb. 28, 2020 by Hon. Phillip Gutierrez. [Rufo v. United States of America #CV 18-2138. With the court finding negligence, ERIC TRAUT breach and causation due to the DEA Special Agent looking at the center console at the time of collision on the 710 freeway, the accident caused permanent disability for the plaintiff, a former SoCal Edison Employee and Long Beach resident. The verdict in Los Angeles Federal District Court followed a three-day bench trial with 14 experts and numerous percipient witnesses. The pre-trial offer was $900,000. Traut has seen that many times the effects of a brain injury do not necessarily appear right away, an element that sometimes discourages or prevents individuals from seeking fair compensation following an accident because insurance companies and defendants tend to minimize or discount the injury. Says Traut of the award for his client, “It is my hope that this verdict brings some semblance of peace of mind for my clients and monetary relief for the family to compensate them for all that they have been through. Without question, Mr. Rufo would return the money in an instant if he could have his former life back again.
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n Sam & Ash, LLP, a personal injury law firm in Las Vegas and Newport Beach made a $1.125M gift to their alma mater, Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law. In addition to renaming the student lounge and rec room, the gift provides support for an in-house bar prep program available to all Fowler Law students, SAMUEL MIREJOVSKY a student scholarship and a named directorship for the law school’s Academic Achievement Program. The gift represents one of the largest donations in the law school’s history. Fowler Law Dean Matthew Parlow officially announced the renaming of the Sam & Ash Student Lounge, made possible by alumnus Samuel Mirejovsky, who co-founded Sam & Ash, LLP. n Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP, a full-service law firm focused on real estate throughout the United States, proudly announces that its band “Castle of Funk” earned the overall and judge’s choice awards at the 9th Annual Law Rocks Los Angeles held on March 6 at the historic Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip. Law Rocks, a fundraising concert series starring legal professionals, raised over $154,000 at the March 6 and 7 Los Angeles tour. This year marked Cox, Castle & Nicholson’s fourth performance at Law Rocks, with funds raised benefiting United Friends of the Children, a Los Angelesbased nonprofit organization dedicated to bettering the lives of foster children and supporting foster youth in their journey to self-sufficiency. To date, Law Rocks has raised over $1.1 million for Los Angeles area nonprofits. “Philanthropy is a core part of Cox Castle & Nicholson’s DNA, and our firm is proud to lend its musical talent to support the mission-critical work of United Friends of the Children,” said Preston Brooks, partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson and board member of United Friends of the Children. “Our appreciation goes out to our friends and colleagues who rock out with us year after year in support of our charitable initiatives.”
n Saxe Doernberger & Vita, P.C. is pleased to welcome three new Attorneys to its West Coast office in Temecula, California. Of Counsel, Melanie A. McDonald brings an abundance of experience to SDV having represented, exclusively, policyholders on insurance recovery matter for more than 30 years. She has successfully represented clients in the recovery of insurance policy proceeds and related contractual indemnity and has prosecuted extra contractual claims of bad faith and violations of state insurance statutes. Associate, Eric M. Clarkson brings extensive experience to the risk transfer and litigation teams at SDV. Having worked on complex civil disputes for state and federal courts, Eric has a keen perspective on how disputes may ultimately resolve and why. Associate, Ryan G. Nelson comes to SDV following a career in the military, having spent several years in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of Captain, serving in a variety of billets as an Artillery Officer.
MELANIE A. MCDONALD
ERIC M. CLARKSON
RYAN G. NELSON
n Signature Resolution is proud to announce Hon. Abraham Khan (Ret.) has joined its panel as a mediator. He will focus on resolving matters related to business and commercial contracts, employment, real estate, entertainment industry, landlord/tenant, eminent domain, civil rights, and personal injury disputes. Judge Khan has more than 30 HON. ABRAHAM KHAN years of case settlement experience. For the past six years, he served as a full-time settlement Judge with more than 1,000 general jurisdiction cases settled in both State and Federal courthouses. Judge Khan has been a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Arbitration/Alternate Dispute Resolution Committee for more than 10 years, and today serves as vice-chair of the committee. He is devoted to legal and judicial education and has lectured and written extensively on judicial settlements. “Judge Khan’s temperament, experience and deep subject matter expertise makes him an excellent addition,” said Dario Higuchi, managing member of Signature Resolution. “He was the go-to settlement officer for many years and we’re thrilled to have him join our panel.”
“CASTLE OF FUNK”
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STREET JUSTICE From the Streets to the Courtroom, this Attorney Brings Genuine Results in Personal Injury
“We’re a genuine group of attorneys and staff who really want to help people. That’s what we do. That’s all we do. And the key word there is genuine,” says Brent A. Duque, Esq., founder of the Law Offices of Brent A. Duque, PLC. The firm specializes in civil litigation in areas such as wrongful death cases, motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, trucking accidents, dog bite incidents, premises liability cases, product defect cases and construction accidents. His firm has brought almost 4000 cases to conclusion during the past 13 years, with a 98 percent success rate. The twelve-member firm employs attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, investigators, administrators and office managers. “I’ve always wanted to help people, especially the people that grew up like I did, with nothing. If you don’t grow up rich, you learn early on how to work hard. I always say, ‘You can’t teach hungry.’ It was always important for me to become an attorney for the underdog and provide equal access to justice for everyone, not just the rich or connected,” Duque says. Duque and his staff most often find themselves representing the underdog in legal “David vs. Goliath” cases. Duque says, “I love to represent the underdog. I love being David and I love the sound of when Goliath hits the ground.”
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A CASE OF “DRIVE-THRU” LAW
One of the firm’s cases proves how hard David has to work and the dedication to client service needed to slay a Goliath. One of the firm’s first cases was a Kentucky Fried Chicken vehicle accident case occurring at the drive-thru window. The property damage wasn’t severe, but the client described a large impact, which resulted in shoulder tears and required her to undergo shoulder surgery. The insurance company offered nothing, stating the vehicles where not going fast enough to cause an injury. The victim was dropped by several attorneys before approaching Duque. He took the case on shortly before the statute ran out. In an example of how Duque and his staff approach every case with genuine interest and care for their clients’ well-being, he invested time to get to know his client and the challenges she personally faced due to the incident. From their conversations, he learned that the impact occurred as soon as the KFC employee handed over the food. Duque realized the case depended on finding the person who handed his client the food two years earlier. That employee didn’t work at that location anymore. Duque called 126 of the 440 KFC locations in California before getting a lead. He found the sister of the employee who was handing his client the food.
JOURNALS
ATTORNEY
OF THE MONTH
© christopherTODDstudios
2020
Attorneys of Duque Law (from left to right): Matthew R. Price, Esq., Brent A. Duque, Esq., and Jordan H. Davidoff, Esq.
From Left to Right: Aldo Figueroa, Danielle Jarvis, Ralph Anaya, Matthew R. Price, Esq., Brent A. Duque, Esq., Jordan H. Davidoff, Esq., Charlotte Morrow, Melissa Gutierrez, and Jana Frizelle.
He obtained the woman’s number and found the one and only witness. At her deposition, the witness actually described two major impacts and remembered the elderly defendant driver say that he accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes, twice. The case settled a week later for the $250,000 policy limits. “I truly honor the trust people put in me and my firm when they have one of the biggest problems they’re going to have in their lives. Like that woman, they come to us hoping we can help them. The intrinsic rewards of helping those people go far beyond any financial rewards. That client still refers me clients to this day,” he says.
UP FROM THE STREETS
Duque, raised by immigrant parents, grew up in La Puente, California. “I was never the best student during school. I was more a product of the streets and that’s where I got my first sense of what justice is,” he says. After graduating from West Covina High School and Mt. San Antonio Junior College, he graduated from Cal State University Fullerton with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. After obtaining his undergraduate degree, he did his graduate studies in Education and Public Administration at California Polytechnic 18
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University Pomona. Inspired by his mother, a teacher, his goal at that time was to become an educator. Duque got a taste of the law during college when he interned at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (East District). The work was a foreshadowing of his future path in life. He taught sixth grade for several years in El Monte, California where his career path began to change. His sense of justice was aroused when standardized testing became the main focus of teaching, which underrepresented Hispanic and other minority students. Although he loved teaching, he knew law was that next step. In 1999 he was accepted at Whittier Law School. His plan was to specialize in education law—a plan that did not work out. “I couldn’t find any jobs in that practice area, so I ended up working at a personal injury firm and I loved it. It was a perfect fit for my personality and my desire to help others. I love to help fix problems,” he says.
NO MORE CHURN ’N BURN
Duque built a successful career and a sound reputation working for a number of firms, but his desire for a more genuine and personal relationship with each client was at odds with the prevailing business philosophy. Too often he felt the “churn ’n
© christopherTODDstudios
SMILIN’ ’N DIALIN’
Putting together the right team to meet the multiple challenges of facing off against some of the giants of the industry was a key element in building the successful firm. “First and foremost you have to hire the right personality for the firm then things will fall in place better. We want people who are hungry. We want people who have not been handed everything in life. We want people with real experiences. That way of life really resonates and people find commonality with our clients,” he says. His management philosophy is to provide the resources each member of the team needs to be successful at their given task. One of those resources is the retraining into the closecommunication style of client contact espoused by the firm. Retraining focuses on spending quality time with the client. Duque discovered that new hires from big firms often haven’t had the time or the encouragement to get to know their clients. The Duque firm approach is to encourage real conversations with the clients—to explore what’s going on and to find out how they’re really feeling about their case, their attorneys and their future. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. The employees feel like they’re being trained on how to be a better person overall and the client learns that their attorney is truly invested in them. They often hear clients say, “No one else has
Brent A. Duque, Esq.
© christopherTODDstudios
burn” attitude was standard procedure. “I felt like things had to be done with more emphasis on getting to know the clients. I wanted to be able to go to their houses. I wanted to see pictures of their families. I wanted to learn how their injuries affected them. I wanted to know what they liked to do before the accident. I wanted to sit down with a client, to get to know them, to have a glass of wine or beer or a cup of coffee and invest the time to learn what they think of life. The law firms I worked for did not see it the same way. To establish my reputation and credibility as a lawyer who would not roll over, I had to start my own law firm and build a reputation for fighting until the end for our clients,” he says. He founded The Law Office of Brent A. Duque, PLC in 2007. Four members of his previous firm made the move with him. At first they operated out of one of the employee’s apartment. Later they moved to offices in Newport Beach where they began to build a substantial client base. He plans on doubling his office by moving into facilities in Newport Beach this year. Duque was determined to build a different kind of law firm, one based on substantial client communication combined with an unrelenting aggressiveness in aiding recovery for them from their injuries and getting them the maximum compensation. Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 170, 2020
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asked me these questions. We’ve talked to several lawyers and nobody’s asked us these questions before.” Duque says, “We have a theme in our office. I want the client to know that we care and are ‘smiling on the other end of the phone call.’ It makes them feel better. It makes them feel more involved and that we really care. We call it smilin’ ’n dialin’. We want our clients to know that we care and that they leave the conversation more informed about the situation than before the call. It’s important to us. We say beat ‘em to the phone. Call ‘em first. Call ‘em often. If you call somebody first, they know you’re on top of the situation. You’re not playing defense after the client calls or has tried to call. We want people to know that they have hired a law office. They haven’t hired a bunch of high school kids trying to settle cases.” The genuine concern shown for clients is reflected too in the number of referrals sent to Duque and his attorneys, which is about 40 percent of their case load. Although most referrals are from past and present clients, a significant number of cases arrive from the offices of other attorneys—a transition Duque has worked toward for years. The firm has established a reputation as people who are as professional as they are easy to work with. They carefully review, analyze, and apply a specific legal strategy for each case referred and make it a policy to get to know the client immediately. “This helps us understand the case and client better. The relationship that we establish with a client is one of trust,” Duque says. Many law firms have referred clients in a number of different ways—from preparing for and attending a mediation only, associating in as co-counsel, or completely taking over the case to trial. The firm pays generous and significant referral fees. Finding, training, motivating and avoiding the trap of micromanaging the right team is the key element to the firm’s success. Duque says, “I am proud to say we have a group of rock stars. Not because we are showy and proud, but because we know what we are doing and we listen and we care. We are a close family. We also use our team’s extensive experience as both insurance defense attorneys and Plaintiff attorneys to win. We know how insurance industries work to de-value claims and create a strategy for each individual to maximize their recovery.” Duque believes in giving back to the community and the firm is active in supporting a number of organizations and causes, including Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), Feed the Children, the National Ataxia Foundation, Little league baseball, AYSO Soccer, Catholic Youth Ministries, and the Whittier Law School Trial Advocacy Competitions. He and his wife, Megan, have two boys, Andrew (8) and Dylan (5), and a girl Blake (4).The family enjoys tennis, taking the kids surfing, camping, playing board games and traveling to other states and countries. They also enjoy pro soccer and Dodger games and having friends and family over for parties and get-togethers. “I make a hell of a margarita,” Duque says. His appreciation of life grows each year. “People who know
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Brent and Megan Duque with children, Andrew, Dylan and Blake.
what it’s like to be hungry, appreciate life the most. Appreciate everything, the wins and the losses. Appreciate your mistakes by learning from them. If your only goal of being an attorney is to make money, pack your bags and do something else. You have to be honest, work hard, and never give up,” he says. n
CONTACT
The Law Office of Brent A. Duque, PLC. 3300 Irvine Avenue, Suite 225 Newport Beach, CA 92663 855 DUQUE-LAW 949-336-4555 www.duquelaw.com
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Managing Remote Employees During the Coronavirus Pandemic by Daniel H. Handman
The coronavirus pandemic had led employers around the country to move employees to remote work, where that is possible. In the highly regulated California workplace, that trend raises several significant questions and possible pitfalls for employers.
Meal and Rest Breaks Unlike offices, homes do not have time-tracking systems and unless your time-tracking is maintained online, it is reasonable to ask how you can effectively track employees’ time so that they are not working off the clock and that they are taking required meal and rest breaks. California overtime and meal and rest break laws apply regardless of whether an employee works at home or in an office. If you have online time tracking software, you should be in good shape. Be sure to make sure employees use it and also that you monitor their time. Employers should be extra vigilant that hours worked are being recorded properly in a crisis like this. But what if you don’t have that software? You may want to have employees send you an e-mail at the beginning and end of the day and at the beginning and end of meal breaks. Supervisors should be told when employees reporting to them are on meal breaks so they can ensure that those meal breaks are uninterrupted. Alternatively, you can ask employees to record their time and send it to you in a daily email, but if you do that, be sure that your supervisors know in advance when employees reporting to them are on meal breaks so that they will not be interrupted. Again, as always, be sure to monitor these entries very carefully. Lastly, send your employees a reminder about your meal and rest policies. You may even want to send copies of your policies to them. Remember, your obligation is to “provide” a meal break and to “authorize and permit” a rest break. Even California courts have recognized that employees bear some responsibility for taking timely breaks, and you should do everything in your power to make sure that they are reminded of that.
Reimbursable Business Expenses Labor Code Section 2802 employers to reimburse employees for “reasonable and necessary” expenses of their employment. What does that mean for remote workers? There are some simple rules and they typically fall in a couple of categories. Cell phones: Employees who use personal cell phones for work purposes should be reimbursed for a reasonable percentage of their bill for work-related expenses. That amount may increase now if you are having employees work directly from home. You should consider increasing such a reimbursement temporarily, 22
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informing employees that you are doing so, and confirming with them that the increased reimbursement is acceptable for them. Internet usage: Employees who work from home should also temporarily be reimbursed a reasonable percentage for any WIFI expenses that are used for work. It may be as simple as taking their bills and dividing the amount of time they worked (presumably 8 hours) by the number of hours in a day (24 hours) to reimburse them for 1/3 of their usage while this period of unexpected remote work lasts. Other expenses: Where does it end? What about furniture, electricity, water or other expenses? There are no reported cases we know of on these issues and because of that, we cannot give a definite opinion. The law, however, makes clear that the only reimbursable expenses are those which are “in direct consequence of the discharge of [an employee’s] duties.” Since we are dealing with employees who are temporarily required to work from home due to entirely unforeseen circumstances, we think it unlikely that these tangential expenses would meet that definition.
Workers’ Compensation There are reported cases of home-working employees slipping on a spill in the basement or getting injured while gardening at the same time as a work call. The truth is that those cases are outliers, but you still need to be cautious. As with your meal and rest policies, you should remind newfound home-working employees of your employee safety policies and instruct them to work in a safe location or let you know if that will not be possible. As this situation unfolds and more and more employees are required to work from home, you will see wrinkles start to emerge in your policies and interactions with remote-working employees. Here are a few guidelines: • First, you are not alone! Everyone is dealing with this unexpected situation for the first time, and we will all learn from it collectively. • Second, keep an open mind. You will undoubtedly get unreasonable requests from home-working employees, and your gut instinct will be to shut them down before they finish. Resist that temptation. Listen to your employees and understand that they are scared, unknowledgeable, and that they are coming to you for advice. • Third, review your policies and make sure that they communicate what you want employees to know. Now is the time for clarity and precision in your communications. • Fourth (and finally), be creative. The cliché has been used far too many times, but we are in uncharted waters and these times call for creative solutions. n Daniel H. Handman, a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office, could spend hours talking about his impressive roster of litigation victories. These include successfully taking more than a dozen cases to trial, numerous favorable summary judgment rulings, and many arbitration successes. Dan’s areas of expertise include discrimination/harassment cases, wage & hour, and employee theft/trade secret litigation. Learn more at: www.hkemploymentlaw.com.
Expect Some “Terror Management” in any Juries that Are Still Going to Court by Dr. Ken Broda
As the coronavirus spreads, and mock trials are being rescheduled, many courts are restricting operations or shutting down completely, and people are rapidly adapting to a new normal of restricted events and “social distancing.” So, what’s with the run on toilet paper? Partly, you could say it is a rational response to the fact that we might be in our homes for some time, and partly, it is simply because everyone else is doing it and no one wants to be the last one to stock up. But, more broadly, the hoarding could be seen as an attempt to assert a feeling of control in an essentially uncontrollable situation. In other words, in the face of an unknown and potentially terrifying future, we can always look at our toilet paper horde and say, “Well, at least I’m not going to run out of that.” There is a psychological concept that explains that response: “Terror Management Theory.” It is the idea that, when there are situational factors that remind us of our own vulnerability and risk, and specifically when we are reminded of our own mortality, we will respond in some predictable ways. We will try to manage that terror by clinging more tightly to that which gives us a feeling of endurance and control. We turn to our cultural values, which might include religion, nationalism, or anything else that makes us feel like we’re part of something larger than ourselves. In that way, the salience of personal morality can make us more conservative, in the psychological rather than political sense. So for any jurors still going to court, or for when they eventually do make it back, it is important to think about how the pandemic will change their thinking.
What Is Terror Management Theory? The idea is based on the writings of Ernest Becker, a cultural anthropologist, and particularly his 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Denial of Death. An article in the publication The
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Jury Expert (Lieberman & Arndt, 2009) is many years old at this point, but still does a good job of explaining and citing the foundational research behind Terror Management Theory. The basic conflict Becker addresses is that we are aware of our own mortality, but also possess a basic animal-like focus on self-preservation. To deal with the resulting conflict, we develop and adhere to complex cultural systems and beliefs in order to manage the terror. The situation, also known as “the human condition,” leads us to turn not just to religion, but also to nationalism, or other fundamental beliefs and philosophies out of a desire to be connected to something that lasts. “By living up to the prescriptions of socially sanctioned behavior,” Lieberman and Arndt write, “one can obtain a sense that one’s existence is meaningful and that we are important participants of a larger, and enduring, entity.” We use that to stave off the existential fear of death. The theory posits that, while the conflict between morality and self-preservation is always present, when we are reminded of it, it becomes more influential in driving our attitudes. The main principle of terror management theory is that when there are cues that push our mortality to the front of our consciousness, like a rapidly advancing global pandemic, for example, that will cause individuals to dig in even more deeply in defense of their belief systems, because those are the only things managing that existential terror. That greater investment leads us to show greater support to those who support our worldview, and to respond more negatively to anyone who might be seen as threatening it. So the principle is that Momento Mori—the Latin expression of “Remember that you will die”—has some predictable psychological consequences.
How Does Terror Management Influence Jurors? Terror Management Theory provides a reminder to consider the jurors’ personal context for viewing your case. If something inside or outside of the case touches them as a reminder of their own mortality, then jurors will become more protective and more conservative regarding their own culture, identities, and beliefs. This is an effect that some observed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks once trials got back into session. They were prone to ‘play it safe’ when it comes to their own values and in-group identities. Of course, there is a dark side to that tendency: As jurors retreat into their own cherished worldviews, they’re also prone to become more hostile to outsiders and others who are different. In sentencing or awarding damages, they may become more favorable to those similar to them and more punitive to those who are not. Researchers have also observed a tendency for those who have been reminded of their own mortality to become more authoritarian, in the sense of becoming more focused on rule-following and order. There is an enhanced concern for fair process and for following the law and the instructions. People are also more likely to think in stereotypical ways regarding others. As if we are conserving
our mental resources as well, it gets a little easier to trust our snap judgments. This process is not necessarily conscious, and people are not necessarily aware that their focus on their own mortality is influencing them in these ways, so it doesn’t work to simply ask people in voir dire if they think that recent events have influenced their views. Instead, it is better to ask about attitudes. Terror management doesn’t involve a new set of beliefs. Rather, these reminders of our vulnerability just serve to add energy to our existing cultural views. So, the advice is to use whatever jury selection tools that are available to find out about these views, knowing that in times of crisis, they will be even more strongly committed and reluctant to set them aside. n Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm has provided research and strategic advice on several hundred cases across the country for the past 21 years, applying a doctorate in communication emphasizing the areas of legal persuasion and rhetoric. As a tenured Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Dr. Broda-Bahm has taught courses including legal communication, argumentation, persuasion, and research methods. He has trained and consulted in 19 countries around the world and is Past President of the American Society of Trial Consultants.
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq. Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee ADR Services, Inc.
To schedule, contact Christopher Schuster: (619) 231-1323 or christopher@adrservices.com
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Value/Price Equation Drives Hiring Decision, Client Loyalty by Trey Ryder
How much can you charge your clients? You probably know lawyers who charge a fortune for their services and their clients happily pay it. At the same time, you probably know lawyers who have to fight for every dollar they earn. What is the difference between these lawyers? Often, it comes down to the value/price equation, which says: Prospects will hire your services—and clients will continue to use your services—as long as they believe that the value they receive from you is (1) greater than the price they pay, and (2) greater than the value they would receive from another lawyer for the same fee. In most cases, unless both conditions are met, you’ll lose clients. How much prospects and clients value your services is the direct result of how well you provide things they believe are important. For example, how do you rate yourself in the following areas?
1. Knowledge, skill and experience. The more you have, the higher your value.
2. Self-confidence. The more confident you appear, the better your clients feel and the more peace of mind they enjoy. 26
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3. Responsiveness. How quickly you return clients’ phone calls. How quickly you finish clients’ work. How quickly clients can see you in your office or talk with you on the telephone. The shorter the time, the higher your value.
4. Understanding and communication. How well your clients understand what you tell them. How well and how often you communicate with clients about their cases. The better the communication, the higher your value.
5. Reputation. The better your reputation, the more your clients value working with you.
6. Results. The better the results you achieve for clients, the higher your value.
7. Relationship. How much clients depend on you? How much clients feel they
can trust you? How long you and your clients have worked together. The stronger your client relationships, the greater your value.
8. Your reception area. A pleasing appearance adds value. A dingy or drab look detracts from value. New magazines neatly arranged, a plus. Old magazines thrown in a pile, a minus.
9. Greeting. A friendly, warm, caring reception is a plus. Cold or impersonal, a minus.
10. Access. If your clients get in to see you quickly, a plus. The longer they wait in the reception area, the lower your value.
11. Office location. The closer it is to clients, the more value they perceive. However, if clients never come to your office, this may have no effect on your value.
12. Parking lot. When parking spaces are easily available, that’s more value for your clients. If your clients have trouble parking, that’s less value. This is just the beginning. Everything in your relationship either adds to or subtracts from the value your clients perceive.
Whether it’s good service, peace of mind, or sports tickets, everything counts. The one element that does not increase or decrease value is your fee. Your fee is your client’s gauge against which he measures your value. Regardless of whether your fee is high or low, the fee itself does not add to or subtract from your value. If you have a low fee, it may be a competitive advantage if other lawyers have higher fees. But if higher-priced attorneys also offer their clients more value, then you’re comparing apples and oranges because what the client receives is not the same.
I had a friend who passed away a few years ago. He was a prominent tax attorney in Phoenix. Just after I graduated from college, our paths crossed, and he invited me to breakfast. From that day forward, I felt bonded to this man because he always treated me as if I were the most important person in the world. Obviously, I was not in this man’s target audience. I was just a kid fresh out of college. But for the 23 years I knew him, I told people about my friend and mentor. I reinforced other people’s perception of his value. This lawyer went to great lengths to add value to his services. The moment I pulled into his parking lot, I knew he would take good care of me because he provided covered parking spaces for his clients. (In the summer heat in Phoenix, covered spaces have a high perceived value.) And the spaces weren’t off in some far corner of the lot. They were the very first spaces outside the building’s entrance. I knew this man had power and influence or he wouldn’t have been able to get those spaces for his clients. What’s more, when I entered his reception area, he served soft drinks in glass tumblers. (You would never find a pop can in this man’s office. He wouldn’t stand for it.) And ice cubes? Only the hard-frozen kind that were crystal clear. The spotlights in his reception area reflected off the ice cubes like sparkling diamonds in a jeweler’s showcase. What did this man charge? The standing joke was that he charged twice what any other lawyer would dare charge. But his clients loved to pay their bills because they believed they had the top tax lawyer in town, and he treated them like royalty. You can do a lot to increase your value to clients. The first things clients notice are speed and accessibility. The quicker clients get in to see you, the quicker you complete their work, the quicker you return phone calls -- all add value to your services. Review the 12 points above and identify where you can increase your value. Remember, not all clients perceive value the same way. One client may appreciate a quick response. To another, speed might not matter. One client may like your covered parking spaces. But to the client who doesn’t come to your office, parking is not important. If you want to make improvements in your value, ask clients what improvements they would value most. Or poll your most important clients to see what value they would like you to add. Client loyalty is the result of value delivered over time. The more value you provide, and the longer you provide it, the more client loyalty you’ll enjoy. For years. For decades. For life. n Trey Ryder shares his marketing method with lawyers through a wide range of publications. In addition, he writes and publishes his free e-zine, The Ryder Method™ of Education-Based Marketing. And he maintains the Lawyer Marketing Advisor at www.treyryder.com. He can be reached at: trey@treyryder.com.
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Coronavirus Cancellations
7 Tips for Hosting Virtual Meetings by Jennifer Simpson Carr
In the first quarter of 2020, we have experienced an unprecedented change in how we communicate. For many, the preferred method of communication has been in-person. Then, on March 11, 2020, coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Institutions across the globe have temporarily closed, from churches in Rome and synagogues in Israel to law firms, schools and universities around the world. In light of these closures and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) guidelines for social distancing, we have compiled tips for how to capitalize on virtual meetings.
1 Test Equipment In anticipation of working remotely, ask employees to test their equipment at home to ensure that they have adequate WiFi, can connect to the company’s video conferencing tools, and confirm that video and audio are working. Consider holding a test meeting.
2 Don’t Assume With five generations currently in the workforce, meeting participants are likely at different levels of comfort with technology. Provide employees with a checklist regarding how to test their equipment. Help to prepare employees with best practices for virtual meetings and provide resources to assist employees who run into difficulty during setup or testing.
3 Set Ground Rules As a team or as a team leader, set ground rules for your meetings to help team members stay focused and to keep the meetings efficient. Rules can include no checking emails, no multi-tasking, and using the mute button unless you are speaking to minimize background noise.
4 Have an Agenda Circulate an agenda in advance to allow participants time to prepare and collect their thoughts as well as any supporting information or documentation. The agenda should include
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the goals for the meeting so participants understand what the group is working to accomplish during that time. It is also helpful to restate the meeting goals at the onset of the call.
5 Be Inclusive Designate a participant or moderator to call on individuals by name to participate in the conversation or share their thoughts. This is especially helpful to engage more quiet, soft-spoken or introverted participants.
6 Find Creative Ways to Engage For larger teams, it may not be realistic to call on each participant by name. Utilize voting or brainstorming tools to allow participants to share their feedback in a streamlined way.
7 Be Supportive We are in uncertain times. Everyone reacts to situations differently and is informed by their own experiences including their cultures, religious beliefs, lifestyle, etc. It is easy to forget that our perspectives and stress levels vary, as do our ways for dealing with challenges. You should offer support and encouragement for your team, acknowledge the situation, demonstrate gratitude for their flexibility, and continue to lead by example from your remote meeting location. On a final note, one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received is to assume good intent. (Thank you, Legal Marketing Association.) View comments, recommendations, feedback and thoughts that your team members share with the belief that they are shared with good intent. This is especially good advice as we navigate today’s reality, which is changing by the minute. n As the business development director for Furia Rubel, Jennifer Simpson Carr leads relationship management with prospective, new and existing clients. She tracks market and emerging trends, supports the agency’s client value proposition, and assists the agency and clients with establishing competitive advantage, winning new business, and implementing strategies that impact long-term business objectives. Learn more at www.furiarubel.com.
L AW Y E RS H E L P I N G OT H E RS L AW Y E RS H E L P I N G OT H E RS
YAHAIRAH ARISTY YAHAIRAH ARISTY transcenDANCE transcenDANCE
Yahairah Aristy volunteers on the Yahairah volunteers on the Board of Aristy Directors for transcenDANCE, Board of Directors transcenDANCE, a nonprofit that usesfor dance and perforamance nonprofit that uses dance andchallengperforto help teens overcome mance to help teens overcome challenges, expand ambitions, and create positive es, expand ambitions, and create positive change. This free extracurricular program change. This free extracurricular program is offered to students from “underserved” is offered to students from “underserved” schools and communities. schools and communities. Students train year-round in various Students train year-round in various styles of dance and work with professionstyles of dance and work with al choreographers to co-create professionan annual al choreographers to co-create an annual summer performance at a professional summer performance at afosters professional theater. transcenDANCE creative theater. transcenDANCE fosters creative expression, teamwork, goal-setting, expression, teamwork, goal-setting, leadership, belonging, and more. leadership, belonging, and more. Yahairah’s passion for helping youth Yahairah’s passion fordancing helpingdrew youthher and the simple joy of and the simple joy of dancing drew her to transcenDANCE. “Through music, to transcenDANCE. “Through music, dance, and the arts, transcenDANCE dance, and the arts,people transcenDANCE helps these young heal from helps these young people heal and fromreally trauma, overcome challenges, trauma, overcome challenges, and become the person they were meantreally to become the person meant to be. The students arethey awewere inspiring.” be. The students are awe inspiring.” Many transcenDANCE students later Many students later return transcenDANCE as alumni and serve in leadership return as alumni and serve in leadership and mentoring roles as choreographers, and mentoring as choreographers, teaching artists,roles and volunteers. teaching artists, and volunteers. The next summer performances will be The summer will July next 31 and Augustperformances 1 and 2, 2020, at be the July 31 and August 1 and 2, 2020, the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San at Diego. Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego. Visit www.tdarts.org to volunteer, Visit www.tdarts.org to volunteer, donate, or learn more. donate, or learn more. Yahairah has served as a Deputy Yahairah has served as2005. a Deputy Public Defender since Public Defender since 2005. Yahairah Aristy is not affiliated with Yahairah Aristy is Firm. not affiliated with the Vosseller Law the Vosseller Law Firm.
After each case, we donate a portion of After each fees case,towe donate a chosen portion of attorney’s a nonprofit attorney’s fees to a nonprofit chosen by the client. by the client.
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