Attorney Journals, Orange County, Volume 176

ORANGE COUNTY

Volume 176, 2020 $6.95

31 Ways to Dramatically Increase Trust

Trey Ryder

6 Facebook Features for Business Pages

Adrian Dayton Excellence in Client Service in the New Normal

Jeff Wolf

5 Ways to Evaluate, Measure and Increase ROI

Julie Savarino

3 Ways to Raise Your Fees and Still Keep Your Clients

Tom Trush

Preventative Action and Law Firm Decline

Roger Hayse

Tips for Attorneys to Prevent Burnout

Kirk Stange

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2020 EDITION—NO.176

TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 Five Ways to Evaluate, Measure and Increase ROI of Your Firm’s Marketing and Business Development Julie Savarino

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8 Thirty-One Ways to Dramatically Increase Trust Trey Ryder

12 Six Facebook Features for Business Pages You Didn’t Know About

EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor

Adrian Dayton

EDITOR Wendy Price

14 Community News

CREATIVE SERVICES Penn Creative

LAW FIRM OF THE MONTH

16 Bentley & More LLP, Newport Beach Similar Interests Set Them Apart

CIRCULATION Angela Watson PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths STAFF WRITERS Dan Baldwin Jennifer Hadley CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Adrian Dayton Roger Hayse Trey Ryder Julie Savarino Kirk Stange Tom Trush Jeff Wolf 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.

by Dan Baldwin

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22 Three Ways to Raise Your Fees and Still Keep Your Clients Tom Trush

24 Excellence in Client Service in the New Normal Jeff Wolf

26 Preventative Action and Law Firm Decline Roger Hayse

28 Tips for Attorneys to Prevent Burnout Kirk Stange

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5 Ways to Evaluate, Measure and Increase ROI of Your Firm’s Marketing and Business Development

by Julie Savarino

“To survive and thrive, all lawyers, firms, and other professionals must continue to invest in strategic marketing, selling, and related communications. Few firms or individual professionals without an effective marketing and sales program ever survive economic disruptions.” —Ralph Baxter

A

mid the current uncertainty, many professional services firms and providers are questioning the value of their marketing, business development, client development/ sales, client service, and communications (MBDCS) function, investments, and efforts.

Most firms need to save expenses and resources, and they are taking active steps to do so. Yet it should not take a pandemic to assess and evaluate the value of all MBDCS. They should be regularly assessed, reviewed, and evaluated for effectiveness, and not just once a year at budget time. Without strategic efforts to go to market and develop new clients, no law firm or other professional services firm will be around for long.

It is impossible to calculate a precise return on investment (ROI) for anything that is not tracked using metrics. In addition, the ROI of many MBDCS investments is notoriously hard to measure because many marketing and communications investments are designed to build the firm’s image and increase goodwill with clients and contacts. Yet image and goodwill are amorphous, hard-to-assign metrics. As a result, it is hard to measure their ROI with precision. Guesstimates and subjective judgments about ROI are often made but should not be the only way to determine the value and ROI of MBDCS. Below are some ways to evaluate, measure, and increase the ROI from your MBDCS investments and efforts.

aving money on MBDCS time and effort already  Sinvested is a commonly overlooked strategy. How can existing MBDCS efforts be reused to increase utilization, maximize results, avoid reinventing the wheel, and increase leverage and ROI? By using the “res,” i.e., reusing and repurposing, an underutilized strategy for reducing time, effort, costs, and expenses. Even firms that utilize repurposing often do it only on a reactive basis, i.e., only when someone thinks of doing it or has the time.

Repurposing existing content can be accomplished by

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educating all fee earners on how repurposing can benefit them and ways to do so. For example, • Review—Check your document management system and old files to find relevant content that can be repurposed, refreshed, reused, and distributed in other ways for alerts, social media posts, checklists, etc.

• Recycle—For example, popular or existing blog posts or alerts can be refreshed and reused for webinars or social media posts.

• Refocus—Ask yourself, “What existing content do I/we have that can be reused and sent to other clients, markets, or referral sources?”

• Reprocess and Refine—For example, record all remarks fee earners make during nonconfidential presentations and transcribe and convert them into written assets to post and distribute.

• Renegotiate—For example, review high MBDCS costs and expenses, such as listings, rankings, and awards.

Reconsider what you pay for and what is mission critical. Survey and assess how valuable decision-makers think each expense is and eliminate those that are not mission critical. effective approach to measure ROI on MBDCS  Ais nother to determine the most important growth drivers for your firm or practice. Commonly used measures are: • Changes in revenue, with the goal of all MBDCS being to increase revenues for the firm, practice areas, and offices.

• Changes in work in process, with the goal to keep it growing consistently.

• Changes in realization and collections, with the goal to consistently increase the percentage and speed.

Yet these commonly used metrics do not provide precise ROI for the range of MBDCS investments. It is a good time to assess and upgrade the metrics used to measure the ROI of (at least) the most strategically important or highest MBDCS cost centers.

For example, if a large percentage of your annual amount of work comes from existing clients (in the form of more and other types of work), create a procedure to measure the approximate percentage of work you/your firm does from the total available from that client. Most firms and practitioners do not have a system or procedure to regularly measure this critical statistic, and those that do measure it only for their best or key clients. This is a mistake because there is a lot of opportunity with clients who may use you or your firm for one or a few types of work.

Having an ongoing and robust pipeline of organic new  business opportunities and qualified leads is critical to the continued success of every firm and practitioner.

Most firms do not quantify, track, or measure leads, qualified leads, or the cost of sales, i.e., the time and money spent on non-qualified opportunities. A qualified lead is defined as one in which an existing client, prospective client, or referral source communicates an interest in a legal or other area or topic.

Most often, qualified leads come in the form of questions a client or prospective client asks, such as, “Does your firm have a written cybersecurity policy it recommends?”

“Does your firm do FCPA work?” “Are any of your partners experienced in oil and gas?” Clients or prospects ask these kinds of questions because they have (or someone they know has) a need for outside counsel, advice, or representation.

Consider creating a formal client development/sales pipeline that centralizes and tracks all or most opportunities ...

Once a need is identified, it needs to be qualified, which consists of an internal review or assessment of the lead, which answers these (and other) questions in the affirmative: “Are there any conflicts?” “Is this the type of client our firm wants?” “Is this the type of legal work our firm wants and does well?” Then, the only way any qualified lead is converted into new legal work for the firm is if someone in the firm communicates directly with the person(s) who expressed the need. A firm lawyer, fee earner, or another firm representative needs to get in touch, stay in touch, respond appropriately and in a timely manner, follow up, and follow through to develop the lead and relationship into new work or a new client.

Lead qualification and relationship development are jobs and responsibilities that, in the past, were traditionally handled by firm lawyers and fee earners, but this is changing due to the time, effort, skill, and discipline these processes take. Consider creating a formal client development/sales pipeline that centralizes and tracks all or most opportunities.

This can be accomplished using modern technologies that tie to the firm’s existing time and billing, conflicts, email platforms, and new matter intake systems. nother example is to measure the ROI from the highest  AMBDCS cost centers.

For many firms and practitioners, the highest cost center (after salaries) is the total amount spent on producing hosting and attending seminars, conferences, and other events. To ensure an ROI from attendance, before approving funding, more firms are requiring fee earners to plan ahead for any conference or seminar they want to attend and to report back in an automated manner on opportunities, leads, and results after attending.

Measuring the ROI from websites, blogs, and social  media posts is much easier because they live and are implemented online, and the data is already there.

But improvements can be made by creating measurable objectives for any online MBDCS effort in the future.

What can be measured?

• Qualified traffic • Conversion of visitors/readers into prospects • Engagement: What percentage of the visitors/readers are active in any given period?

• Qualified marketing leads (MQLs): How many MQLs were generated?

• Qualified sales leads (SQLs): How many SQLs and MQLs were distributed or sent to fee earners, lawyers, or others to qualify and follow up on?

• Conversion: How many MQLs and SQLs resulted in new business/sales? How long did conversion take? n Julie Savarino is a Best-selling author, award-winning producer and innovator, diversity champion, nontraditional rainmaker, and highly rated and results-producing developer. Measurably increases organic revenue, client and market share, and client satisfaction and value—and improves client experience. Has been called a “secret weapon” by a major buyer of outside legal services. Helps firms, and supports lawyers and other professionals to generate hundreds in new business by using a tenacious and hands-on work ethic to initiate, scope, scale, price, lead, develop, manage, implement, and follow up on strategic initiatives and projects. The above is excerpted from the new book Survive & Thrive Post-Pandemic: A Guidebook for Legal & Professional Services Providers by Julie Savarino.

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31 Ways to Dramatically Increase Trust

by Trey Ryder

C

redibility is everything. If prospects don’t trust you, they won’t hire your services (except in extreme cases). Everything you do either helps or hurts your credibility. Make sure your actions build your credibility, ideally, to the point where your clients trust you without question. Here are 31 steps you can take—and facts you can provide—to increase your credibility.

STEP #1 Treat every prospect as if he’s the most important person in the world. When you give your prospect your undivided attention, you build a stronger relationship because your prospect knows you sincerely want to help them.

STEP #2 Ask your prospect what problem he wants to solve or what goal he wants to achieve. The sooner you focus on your prospect’s needs, the sooner he trusts you—and the sooner he concludes the two of you are working toward a common goal.

STEP #3 Listen carefully so you can determine which points are most important to your prospect. One of the biggest complaints about lawyers is that they offer boilerplate solutions before they have listened to their prospect’s problem. Even if their stories are nearly the same, prospects want to tell you their story so you appreciate the weight they carry on their shoulders.

STEP #4 Offer information about your prospect’s problem and the solution you recommend. The more you educate your prospect, the more your prospect believes that you understand his problem and have the qualifications and skills to solve it.

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STEP #5 Explain how your prospect will benefit from your solution.

First, your prospect needs to understand the solution you recommend. Second, your prospect needs to know how he will benefit from that solution.

STEP #6 Admit a negative to vastly increase your credibility. When you make a statement that seems to be against your interest, your credibility soars. In fact, this method is so powerful that one highly successful copywriter uses the technique in almost every print ad he writes. Near the beginning of the ad, he admits a weakness in his product. Consumers know that no product is perfect, so this writer’s admission immediately increases his credibility.

STEP #7 Swim upstream and your marketing message will rise above the rest. If you’re in a practice area where most lawyers recommend the same solutions, write, and offer an educational article that identifies problems with the oftensuggested solution. Within your document, you can explain how to avoid those problems. But on first impression, your materials appear to argue against your own self-interest, which dramatically increases your credibility. And when you explain how to avoid those problems, you reassure your reader that you have the skill and experience to make sure those problems don’t affect your client.

STEP #8 Give your prospect a copy of your biography because it proves that you have the education, background and qualifications to solve your prospect’s problem or help him achieve his goal.

Your prospect wants to trust you, but most prospects don’t have much, if any, information about your education and qualifications. When you provide biographical information, your credibility increases immediately.

STEP #9

STEP #15

Add power to your biography with a good marketing photograph. In the photo, you should be looking directly into the camera and have a warm, engaging smile. An attractive photo—closely cropped for strong eye contact— serves as proof that you are kind, pleasant and friendly.

Show your prospect comments from clients who have provided written testimonials about you and your services.

Prospects attach more credibility to comments from third parties than on comments from you. To emphasize the importance of testimonials, I tell lawyers that each testimonial from a consumer client is worth $30,000 in legal fees; each testimonial from a business client is worth $50,000 in fees. (A few jurisdictions do not allow lawyers to use testimonials, so make sure you check your bar’s rules of professional conduct.)

STEP #10 Tell your prospect how you have helped other clients in similar situations. Every time you explain a case history, your prospect sees that his is not the first case of this type that you have handled. The more case histories you describe that are similar to your prospect’s, the more your credibility increases in his eyes.

STEP #11 Offer information and advice in plain English. Your prospect finds it hard to trust a lawyer who uses words he doesn’t understand. When you talk with your prospect, speak in simple terms. The more your prospect understands, the higher your level of credibility.

STEP #12 Package your solution so it is attractive to your prospect.

When you offer your prospect a solution he likes, you increase your credibility and make it easy for your prospect to accept your offer.

STEP #13 Allow your prospect to make his own decision without pressure from you. All of us have learned to distrust the salesperson who tries to pressure us into making a decision.

To increase your credibility, tell your prospect that you will provide information and recommend the solution you believe is in his best interests. At the same time, make sure your prospect knows that you will never try to pressure him into making a decision.

STEP #14 Make sure your prospect knows that you are happy to answer his questions now and in the future. The way to build trust and respect is to keep the lines of communication open. If your prospect isn’t ready to make a decision, invite your prospect to call you any time he has a question or when he is ready to move forward.

STEP #16 Show your prospect letters of recommendation from colleagues and professionals. These letters attest to the depth of your knowledge, skill, judgment, and experience—and prove that your colleagues trust you. The more letters you have, the more they persuade. (As with testimonials, check your rules of professional conduct to see if you are allowed to use letters of recommendation in your jurisdiction.)

STEP #17 Provide your prospect with a list of references. Testimonials and letters of recommendation are better than references because the comments are already on paper. Even so, references increase credibility—and the more, the better. Include the person’s name, profession, phone number and email address.

Often, prospects won’t actually call your references. The mere fact that you list them increases your credibility.

STEP #18 Provide your prospect with copies of articles that support the depth of his problem, reinforce the solution you recommend, or both. Generic articles—which you did not write and in which you are not quoted—prove that the problems and solutions you discuss are true. The more respected the publication, the more credibility he attaches to what you say.

STEP #19 Give your prospect copies of published articles you’ve written. Even if the article’s subject is not directly on point, a published article proves that editors respect and trust you as a reliable source of information. Published articles build instant credibility and reinforce that you are an authority in your field of law. The more well-known and respected the publications, the more positively they reflect on you.

The more articles you have, the better.

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STEP #20

STEP #26

Give your prospect a list of results you have achieved or transactions you have completed for your clients. This list serves as proof that you are good at what you do. Whatever service you offer, create a list of 10 to 20 results and describe each case or transaction in two or three sentences. You don’t need to include clients’ names, but the results are more believable when you do.

Consider buying engraved stationery. When professionally designed, engraved stationery is clean, neat, elegant, and high-end. When a lawyer sends me a letter on engraved stationery, I immediately conclude that he is an experienced, skilled attorney.

STEP #21 Before your first meeting, send your prospect a short letter (1) offering information about the service you want to market, (2) answering frequently asked questions, (3) discussing what takes place during your initial meeting, and (4) outlining your fees. When you put your prospect’s mind at ease, he is more willing to meet with you. What’s more, you can quickly get down to specifics because you don’t have to explain your services to each prospect.

STEP #22 Provide your prospect with a list of your competitive advantages—the many positive ways you differ from other lawyers. This list usually relates to the depth of your knowledge, skill, qualifications, and experience.

STEP #23 Give your prospect a written schedule of services and fees.

Prospects trust what they see in print more than what they hear. When you talk about fees, you leave room for misunderstanding. But when you give your prospect a written schedule of services and fees, prospects grow more comfortable and you increase your credibility because prospects have your information in writing.

STEP #24 Make sure your documents look attractive and contain NO typos. Even before your prospect reads your words, your lines, borders, white space, fonts, and photographs create the document’s first impression on his brain. And when your prospect starts reading your words, make sure your documents do not contain typos. Few things hurt your credibility as much as typing mistakes, allowing your reader to conclude that you don’t pay attention to detail.

STEP #25 Use understated graphics. I’ve seen lawyers’ documents that looked as if the lawyer bought a new graphics program, then used one of everything: A star—a lightning bolt—an arrow.

Before long, the document looked like a bad newspaper ad.

Graphics should support your message, not interfere with it.

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STEP #27 Make sure your address label and envelope look clean and crisp. Prospects instantly and subconsciously evaluate what they see, even before they open the envelope.

STEP #28 Make sure your fees seem fair and reasonable. In practice areas where contingent fees are common, they are generally accepted by clients. Now, lawyers in other areas of law are offering to work on contingency. Watch how prospects respond to your discussion of fees. You must be able to explain how you charge so it makes sense and seems fair to your prospect.

STEP #29 Get powerful phone numbers. When the phone company opened a new exchange in Payson, I quickly secured 928-4681000 and 928-468-2000. You look more stable, important, and influential when you have good phone numbers.

STEP #30 Set up a website. Today, if you don’t have a website, prospects and clients wonder what’s wrong with you. If you still haven’t built a website, choose a provider, hire a marketing person, and get busy.

STEP #31 Get your own law firm domain name for your website and email addresses. Lawyers who do not have their own domain names appear to be lightweights. Often, prospects and clients infer that the lawyer is “between assignments” and will get his own domain name when he gets a job. n Trey Ryder specializes in Education-Based Marketing for Lawyers. He designs dignified marketing programs for lawyers and law firms in the United States, Canada, and other English-speaking countries. Trey works from his offices in Payson, Arizona and Juneau, Alaska. To read more of Trey’s articles, visit the Lawyer Marketing Advisor at www.treyryder.com.

6 Facebook Features for Business Pages You Didn’t Know About

by Adrian Dayton

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acebook is one of the most useful and versatile social media platforms out there; it has 2.23 billion monthly users, making it the most widely used platform available. Being as popular as it is, Facebook provides business pages with some fantastic tools that you may not have heard of before. Let’s take a look at six business page Facebook features you may not be leveraging.

1. Interact with Posts from the Brand Page The first feature is the ability to like other pages AS A BRAND. Facebook allows you to like other pages through your brand page, allowing you to give support to partners and other companies you support. On your brand page, you can also feature five pages that you have liked. You can let Facebook randomly choose what these are, or you can hand-select them through the Like As Your Page button.

2. Know Who Has Liked the Page Another great feature is the People and Other Pages option. This gives you a comprehensive list of every single person and business that has liked your page. Its use is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to select parameters, such as date or profile settings, and view the people that fit those parameters. The People and Other Pages option is a great page to check in on weekly to give you the data of how you performed during the previous week.

3. Leverage Facebook Response Assistant Up next is the Facebook Response Assistant. This tool helps save time for teams that don’t have a 24-hour social marketing team. A recent study, by zdnet.com, stated that 44% of consumers that message a Facebook page expect to get a response. And the Response Assistant allows you to do that. It has three options: • Stay responsive when you can’t get to your computer or phone • Show a messenger greeting • Send instant replies to anyone who messages your page.

Examples of how the Response Assistant can reply include: ‘Hi Jane, thanks for your message. We are not here right now, but we will get back to you soon!’

‘Hi Jane! Thanks for getting in touch with us on Messenger.

Please send us any questions you may have,’

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‘Thanks for messaging us. We try to be as responsive as possible. We’ll get back to you soon.’

4. Saved Replies The next tool is very similar to the Response Assistant, it’s called Saved Replies. This feature allows you to write, save, and re-use messages. While this is a great time-saver, you’ll want to be careful about how often you use it. It’s easy to use the instant saved messages to respond to your customers, but your customers may catch on that they are receiving an automated response. If they do catch on, your company may appear too automated and less personable. To combat this, you can do some research on chatbot best practices.

5. Customize Your Feed with Save Post Did you know that the content you like on Facebook can impact what you see on your News Feed? Another way to tell Facebook what content you like to see is by utilizing the Save Post button. This button allows you to store content you may want to view later or perhaps feature on your business page. Facebook will also remind you periodically of the items you have saved. The Save Post button helps you save time and view interesting content at your leisure.

6. Keep an Eye on Competitors with Page to Watch Finally, we have the Pages to Watch feed. If you’ve been using Facebook for a while, you likely know of Facebook Insights, the Pages to Watch feed is found under Facebook Insights. If you have more than 100 likes on your business page you get access to this feature. This feature allows you to track the page likes and activity of other pages on Facebook.

Beware though, whoever manages a page that you add to your watchlist will get a notification when you add them. n Adrian Dayton has made a career inspiring risk-averse professionals to leverage social and digital media to bring in more business. Mr. Dayton has personally trained over 30,000 professionals in 12 countries and is the founder and CEO of Clearview Social, a tool that helps marketers get employees sharing on social media. If you want more firepower to help you convince your lawyers to embrace social media, email Mr. Dayton to receive his latest whitepaper, 10 Ways to Get Risk-Averse Professionals Sharing to Social Media, email your request to dayton@clearviewsocial. com. Originally published on Forbes and reprinted with permission.

Matthew D. Shapiro, William D. Shapiro and Brian D. Shapiro

Making an Impact on Clients and Community Over $250 Million in Notable Verdicts & Settlements Practice Areas

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www.wshapiro.com

Orange County 19 Corporate Plaza Newport Beach, CA 92660 (949) 922-8690

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COMMUNITY news n Berger Kahn attorney David Ezra joins the Super Lawyers Publisher and other Southern California attorneys selected to Super Lawyers “top lists,” for a virtual roundtable focusing on relationship building in virtual legal spaces, Oct. 7 at 3:45 p.m.

DAVID EZRA With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting more than 6.7 million individuals in the United States as of September 2020, law firms, including Berger Kahn, stay safe using nontraditional ways to continue the business and practice of law. However, this new way of conducting business raises important opportunities for discussions on virtual referral relationship building, meeting attorney ranking criteria and virtually developing potential new clients.

Says Ezra, “I am honored to be invited to speak about the ways that the business of law can effectively move forward and adapt during this time of change.” At the private virtual event, Ezra will speak alongside Super Lawyers Publisher Cindy Larson and 2021 selectees from Southern California Super Lawyers “top lists” discussing adapting to the COVID-19 era. n Noonan Lance Boyer & Banach LLP (NoonanLance) announced that partner James R. Lance has received the 2021 “Lawyer of the Year” in San Diego for Real Estate Litigation— Construction from Best Lawyers, the legal profession’s most respected JAMES R. LANCE peer-review publication. Lance, David J. Noonan, Ethan T. Boyer and Genevieve M. Ruch have all received “Best Lawyers” honors. Since it was founded in 2016, Best Lawyers has recognized NoonanLance every year as one of the nation’s leading law firms. James R. Lance’s recognition as “Lawyer of the Year” for Real Estate Litigation— Construction is based on particularly impressive voting averages received during the peer review assessments.

Lance has continuously been honored in the Commercial Litigation and Real Estate Litigation categories and has also received the Best Lawyers distinction for Legal Malpractice Law. In addition to his Best Lawyers’ recognitions, Lance was recently selected to America’s Top 100 Bet-the-Company Litigators for 2020.

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n Hughes Marino, a market leader in the commercial real estate space specializing in tenant advisory services, announced today the strategic addition of Jennifer Hale as the company’s Senior Vice President and PLA Director of the Portfolio Lease Administration and Advisory Service division.

Hale will oversee the company’s global JENNIFER HALE portfolio lease administration services, advising clients with multiple locations around the country and globally with their lease administration, as well as other portfolio services including lease accounting, lease audit and advisory for complex real estate scenarios.

Hale joins Hughes Marino from the Washington D.C. metro region, where she spent 15 years as the top lease administration expert, leading a lease administration team for one of the largest real estate enterprises in the area where she was responsible for the lease administration and oversight of thousands of companies consisting of millions of square feet of space. n Higgs Fletcher & Mack (HFM) welcomes attorney Robert K. Peck to its Business Litigation practice group. Peck’s experience includes working with clients in complex business disputes and professional liability litigation. He has established an exceptional track record of success in court, obtaining significant jury verdicts and arbitration awards ROBERT K. PECK in favor of his clients. “We are proud to welcome Robert to Higgs Fletcher & Mack,” said Steve Cologne, HFM Managing Partner. “I am confident Robert will contribute to the success of our business litigation practice.” Peck earned his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law cum laude and Order of the Coif. In law school, Peck was a member of the San Diego Law Review and served as a judicial extern to the Honorable William Q. Hayes, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. n Jennifer Keller has again been named to the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals’ list of “The Top 100 Lawyers in California.”

This is Keller’s thirteenth appearance on the list. Over the last 12 months, Ms. Keller has received a plethora of awards and honors, statewide and nationally, including: ranked the #1 attorney in Southern California by Southern JENNIFER KELLER California Super Lawyers for 2020; Chambers USA and Chambers Global ranking of lawyers, recommended in General Commercial Litigation and Trials; 2020 Benchmark Litigation “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America”; California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) award for 2019; the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals’ list of “The Top 100 Lawyers in California”; Lawdragon’s “The 500 Leading Lawyers in America”; and Best Lawyers 2020-21.

n Snell & Wilmer is pleased to announce that partner Elizabeth M. Weldon has been invited to join the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. The Fellows is a global honorary society comprised of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding ELIZABETH M. WELDON dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities.

Membership in the Fellows is limited to one percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Fellows are recommended by their peers and elected by the Board of the American Bar Foundation. Established in 1955, Fellows support the research of the American Bar Foundation through annual contributions and sponsor seminars and events of direct relevance to the legal profession. “It is an honor to be nominated and recognized by my peers for my values, as well as for my practice,” said Weldon. “I look forward to the work I will continue to do for my community as an ABF Fellow.” n Wilson Turner Kosmo, the largest certified women‐owned law firm in San Diego, continues to bolster its team of accomplished attorneys practicing employment and warranty law with the additions of Aimee Axelrod Parker, Simone M. Leonard, Rita M. Leong, David M. Middleton, Naomi C. Pontious and Morgan D. Stewart to its Employment, Class Actions and Warranties practice groups. Wilson Turner Kosmo serves as California trial counsel for local and national companies and public institutions. The firm’s 41 lawyers provide litigation expertise in the areas of product liability, employment law, class actions and general business litigation. Established in 1991, Wilson Turner Kosmo’s attorneys are frequently honored for their commitment to the legal profession and the San Diego community. The firm is one of the largest women‐owned law firms in California and is certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms and The Supplier Clearinghouse for the Utility Supplier Diversity Program of the California Public Utilities Commission.

AIMEE AXELROD PARKER, SIMONE M. LEONARD, RITA M. LEONG, DAVID M. MIDDLETON, NAOMI C. PONTIOUS AND MORGAN D. STEWART

n Hartley LLP was appointed as colead counsel in its class action complaint against the country’s largest meat suppliers for conspiring to constrain beef supplies and for artificially inflating domestic beef prices. Cargill, Inc., JBS USA Food Company Holdings, National Beef Packing Company, and JASON HARTLEY Tyson Foods, Inc. conspired to limit the supply and fix the prices of beef sold to grocers and wholesalers. Collectively, the companies supply approximately 80 percent of the $100 billion fresh and frozen beef in the U.S. market. Through a concerted effort of beef price and supply manipulation, the prices paid by direct purchasers were substantially higher than they would have paid in a competitive market. “The country’s largest meat processing and packing companies colluded to reduce the supply of beef and did so at a particularly vulnerable time for buyers,” said Jason Hartley, Founder of Hartley LLP. Hartley LLP filed the class action on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased beef in the United States between January of 2015 and the present. n We are pleased to announce that partners Erwin Shustak and Paul Reynolds have been selected by a nationwide survey of their peers for inclusion in the 2021 27th Edition of Best Lawyers in America©, Erwin for the sixth consecutive year in the area of Financial Services Regulation Law, ERWIN SHUSTAK AND and Paul for the first time in the area of PAUL REYNOLDS © Commercial Litigation. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peerreview publication in the legal profession and being selected is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor and achievement, conferred on less than 5% of all legal professionals in the U.S. Inclusion in Best Lawyers© has the respect of the legal profession, the media, and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal professionals anywhere and is considered the most credible measure of legal integrity and distinction in the United States.

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Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 176, 2020

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LAW FIRM

OF THE MONTH

2020

Similar Interests SET THEM APART Two Friends and Partners with Dual Specialties Create Phenomenal Growth for Personal Injury and Workers’ Compensation Firm

by Dan Baldwin

“

Experienced trial teams and workers’ compensation expertise are the dual specialties that set us apart.

We specialize in assisting injured workers get the immediate care that they deserve, as well as identifying and litigating against third-parties that caused the harm. But we also value hard work with a personal touch. Clients will get me and Keith when they retain our office,” says Greg Bentley, founding partner of Bentley & More LLP. In an amazingly short timeframe, the firm has built a remarkable reputation for handling even the toughest catastrophic injury cases—complicated products liability, automobile accidents, construction site accidents, dangerous road conditions, and others. Staffed with a talented team and backed up by significant trial resources, the firm is often brought into matters late in litigation to prepare for, and succeed at, trial. The firm is also the preeminent law firm handling e-cigarette cases. Bentley tried the first e-cigarette explosion case to verdict in the United States, and since then has handled more than 200 e-cigarette cases across the country recovering in excess of $45 million on behalf of his clients. “It is a terrible industry—unregulated and placing profit over public safety. It’s shocking that these products still explode,” Bentley says.

Keith More says, “Our firm handles workers’ compensation and personal injury in the same office, so the right hand knows what the left hand is doing at all times. This is a huge advantage for our clients.” More’s expertise in handling workers’ compensation includes more than 20 jury trials, and he is often brought in to handle the most catastrophic workers’ compensation cases.

Bentley remarks that his partner is the “King of Comp— an ABOTA trial lawyer handling catastrophic workers’ compensation claims—a lethal combination.”

Bentley & More LLP has served clients for four years and currently employs 36, including 13 attorneys.

A Natural Fit of Personalities and Legal Expertise The two future partners met in Sacramento during “Lobby Day” in 2007. They met casually and, out of their initial conversations, formed a powerful and lasting friendship.

“Keith’s energy was great, and we just hit it off. I could tell he had a passion for life and loved what he did. I’d heard about him, but had never met him. We immediately became friends. We had a lot of mutual interests, including love of family and the law,” Bentley says.

As the friendship grew, Bentley suggested that they do a case together. He proposed what at first appeared to be a

simple slip-and-fall knee injury case they estimated would be worth $20,000. But the client suffered complications— and sure enough, the small case became a big case. They eventually settled for $2.1 million. The outcome of that first co-counsel experiment was so successful they decided to do it again, eventually going to trial together. The original offer was $15,000. Right before trial the other side upped the offer to $150,000. Bentley and More replied with a firm “no.” The jury came back with a $3.8 million verdict.

“Greg got to see me do cross examinations. I got to see him do jury selection and the opening statement. We were two friends working together who quickly got to see how well we played off each other, how well we worked together, and that we could get great results. We knew at that point we were on to something special. We worked on a few more cases together and realized that we had something that was a real good fit. The rest is history,” More says.

Bentley adds, “I loved where I was working, but I wanted to move to Orange County and enjoy a change of lifestyle.

Getting together with Keith seemed like the natural thing to do. We have the same passion for the law, same personal interests, and his expertise in workers’ comp was a good match for my trial team experience.”

From Playground to Real World Law Bentley knew from an early age that he would eventually build a career as an attorney. “I’ve always chimed in when I saw something wrong. As I grew up, and as I argued with my parents and other adults, and did so respectfully and convincingly, people would say that I should be a lawyer.

It was something I just knew I wanted to do.”

A perfect example comes from a fourth-grade experience when a fellow fourth grader was playing marbles with an older and larger sixth grader. Bentley’s buddy won the match, but the sixth grader falsely accused him of cheating and took all the marbles.

“I had no problem sticking up for my friend even though the kid was bigger. I made sure that the winner got his marbles. That set a pattern I’ve followed the rest of my life,” he says.

A case in point was a seven-week jury trial on behalf of a deputy district attorney who was severely injured while riding a motorcycle. Bentley had tried many cases up to that point, including many with seven-figure verdicts, but the complexities of navigating liability of the State for a dangerous road against the fault of the driver who hit his client, intermingled with the pressure of fully and respectfully telling the story of how the devastating injuries forever changed the client’s life, seemed virtually overwhelming.

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One of the best ways to advocate for a client is to get to know them so you can tell their story.

—Greg Bentley, Co-Founder

He says, “As the trial got underway, my confidence grew, I was able to remain focused, and found peace in understanding that I seemingly could take complex issues and break them down into understandable terms.” The jury listened and gave a $31.5 million dollar verdict, which has allowed the client to receive the proper care and housing he will need for the rest of his life.

“From that point on, I knew nothing was too big or complex and relish the challenge and responsibility of handling big cases. I also look forward to receiving the yearly Christmas card from the family showing how he is doing, and trying to live his best life,” he says.

More also knew from an early age that he would find a career in the law. He says, “I have always wanted to be a lawyer ever since I was eight years old. My parents went through a brutal divorce and from then on, I wanted to help people. I also used to stay up late and watch Perry Mason and that inspired me as well.”

In 2019, he handled a cross-over workers’ comp and personal injury claim—arbitrating the union contract case to the tune of $44.1 million dollars. The case involved an iron worker who fell 24 feet from a steel beam, suffering quadriplegia. After settling the PI case for a confidential sum, the comp carrier sought a credit for the net amount received by the client.

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Essentially, the carrier did not want to pay any comp benefits until the net PI settlement was used for the client’s treatment.

But the arbitrator found no credit was due until the carrier paid out $44.1 million in benefits, with the carrier currently paying about $850,000 per year in benefits.

More says, “Every case that I handle involving young adults that are catastrophically injured takes a piece of me, but I know that they need every ounce of compensation to help with their future needs. There is nothing better for me then when a client calls after the case has resolved and gives me an update. You live for those moments.”

Managing Success The partners say their biggest challenge—a positive one—was handling the rapid growth of their new law firm. They had moved into new quarters, but outgrew that space within six months. They then bought an 11,000 sq. ft. building, which includes expansive offices, plenty of room for staff, two conference/deposition rooms, and the Side Bar at Bentley & More, a relaxed, open, multipurpose space that doubles as a lunch spot and a venue for bar mixers, fundraisers, and social networking.

Work Hard. Play Hard.

Bentley says he, his partner, and his staff believe in working hard, but also in finding balance by playing just as hard. That includes sharing time and experience with community and family.

He was past president of Consumer Attorneys of California (2017), the San Bernardino/Riverside Chapter of ABOTA (2015), and Consumer Attorneys of the Inland Empire (20092011). His trial results have been recognized by his peers, having won five Trial Lawyer of the Year Awards. He and his wife have been married 33 years. They have three kids and two grandkids. Bentley enjoys spending as much time as possible with his family. “I’m going through a great stage in my life with the addition of grandkids—it’s super fun!” He is an avid sports fan and loves spending time outdoors running, golfing, fishing, and most water sports. “I work hard and I try to play hard, it’s a good outlet,” he says.

More is an enthusiastic sports fan—baseball, football, basketball, and (especially) hockey. “It’s a great release to go to the games with my daughters, especially my youngest who really loves hockey.”

© Christopher TODD Studios

“Litigation is a team game. We’ve been very fortunate to assemble a great team of attorneys and staff that deeply care about helping clients. From that first phone call to closing the file, we’ve assembled a team that cares and is great at what they do.” Bentley says.

They consider themselves storytellers when representing their clients. “One of the best ways to advocate for a client is to get to know them so you can tell their story. Our role is to guide clients through an uncomfortable period in their lives, often their darkest, get full compensation for their harm, and get answers as to what happened,” Bentley says. “We are a calming influence in a relationship-building process that lasts long after the case is over,” More adds.

In terms of staff management philosophy, they believe in hiring, training, and motivating the best people for the job. But they are adamant in enforcing one key principle—family first.

More says, “I’ve always told everyone in the office to take the time for family. I don’t want you to miss a soccer game, a baseball game, a play or graduation. Family first. We know we’re going to get the work done, but we want to make sure you’re going to be there for your kid and your significant others.”

We are a calming influence in a relationship-building process that lasts long after the case is over. —Keith More, Co-Founder

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He has also developed an artistic side, which he willingly shares with community outreach and charity groups. “I attended a showing some time ago, saw a certain piece and said, ‘I can do that.’ And I could. I started in oils, the most difficult medium. It’s a great release from the law. People said I should sell them. I had a better idea and decided to donate my paintings to charity.” So far, More’s paintings have raised more than $22,000 for charity.

Additionally, every year for the last 10 years, he has served as the live auctioneer for the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association and for the past two years as the auctioneer for the OC Women Lawyers Association and the Constitutional Rights Foundation fundraising events. He has served as the past president of the OCTLA, received Board Member of the Year twice, and Member of the Year once. He has also been

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selected an unprecedented four times as the OCTLA Top Gun in Workers’ Compensation.

The partners could not be more complementary of each other. “We’re strong-willed people, but we respect each other so much personally and professionally that it’s okay if we have differing opinions. We hash it out, logic ultimately prevails, and we move on. It’s been a great four years,” Bentley says. n Contact Bentley & More LLP 4931 Birch Street Newport Beach, CA 92660 (949) 870-3800 www.bentleymore.com

Jan M. Eckermann MD, FAANS Diplomate, American Board of Neurological Surgery Brain and Spine Surgeon

Jan M. Eckermann, MD, FAANS is a boardcertified neurosurgeon with over 10 years of experience in managing complex neurosurgical patients.

We partner with personal injury attorneys to better serve your clients.

Conditions Treated: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Back pain Back injuries Back spasm Neck pain Shooting pain in the arm (cervical radiculopathy) Shooting pain in the legs (lumbar radiculopathy) Sciatica Herniated discs Pinched nerves Chronic pain syndrome Failed back and failed fusion syndrome Traumatic brain injury Concussions Carpal tunnel syndrome Lumbar fusions Spinal stenosis

Dr. Eckermann has two locations: Newport Beach Office 1617 Westcliff Drive, Suite 203 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Phone: 949-514-7456 Fax: 949-209-4687

janeckermannmd.com

Bakersfield Office 2323 16th Street, Suite 407 Bakersfield, CA 93301 Phone: 661-479-7240 Fax: 661-843-7882

3 Ways to Raise Your Fees and Still Keep Your Clients

by Tom Trush

Here are 3 ways you can raise your fees, instantly increase your revenue, and still get your clients’ buy-in: 1. Eliminate frequent or predictable discounts.

While it’s tempting to discount your products or services to increase your client base, doing so can bring big risk. Discounting trains clients to normalize your products or services at a lower rate. So when you raise prices back to normal, the increase seems unfair. After all, your clients know it’s possible to purchase your products or services at a lower rate.

Discounting also deters brand loyalty because it attracts buyers who only make decisions based on price. So they vanish the moment better pricing becomes available elsewhere.

Look at J.C. Penney ... The retailer focuses so much on discounting (even eliminating sales and coupons) that the brand can’t keep customers these days.

Also, understand that numerous studies prove people perceive their purchases as higher value when they pay more. So why cheapen what you offer? Instead, consider adding bonuses to attract new customers and counter objections that might prevent new buyers from trying your product or service.

2. Rebrand to increase perceived value.

It’s only natural that a used car dealership’s perception is different than a luxury brand such as Bentley or BMW. So why not use a disparity like this to your advantage?

In the mid-1980s, Apple faced near bankruptcy before undergoing one of the most well-known rebranding campaigns in business history. The iMac combined high performance with a new, sleek design that paved the way for what is now a collection of premium-brand products.

Your product design, website and social media accounts are all possible places to start rebranding.

In 2013, Birchbox, a subscription ecommerce company for beauty samples, overhauled its website and packaging for their premium rebranding campaign. The logo was updated with a simpler, more modern look, while an interior “gift” box was added to the packaging with color-coded tissue paper (based on items purchased). Last year’s revenues reached an estimated $125 million.

Keep in mind, as a premium brand, you must also create an experience. Le Labo, a luxury perfume brand, handles this task like a pro. Each perfume is hand-blended in front of the customer the moment it’s purchased. The bottle is then dated, and the customer’s name is added. Once brought home, the bottle must be refrigerated for a week before you can use it. This process 22

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doesn’t just create an exclusive product—it creates an experience.

So what experience can you work into your product or service— and could a rebranding effort bring you big benefits?

3. Add your anchor.

A price is only considered cheap or expensive if you have at least one other option for comparison.

For example, walk the medicine aisle in Walgreens and you’ll notice their own medicines look like a better deal because they’re priced lower than the major brands. The additional options create relativity, which is a key component to price anchoring. Basically, the idea is to offer higher (and, in some cases, lower) pricing to make your ideal option look more appealing. Even better if the higher priced item is seen first. Let’s say you offer a $3,000 watch. Compared to your run-of-the-mill Timex, that’s a pricey timepiece. However, what if you display it next to a similar one priced at $12,000? All of the sudden $3,000 looks like a bargain.

In his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini tells how a billiard-table dealer nearly doubled his average table sales by using decoy pricing.

Here’s the excerpt: If you were a billiard-table dealer, which would you advertise— the $329 model or the $3,000 model? The chances are you would promote the low-priced item and hope to trade the customer up when he comes to buy. But G. Warren Kelley, new business promotion manager at Brunswick, says you could be wrong ... To prove his point, Kelley has actual sales figures from a representative store ... During the first week, customers ... were shown the low end of the line ... and then encouraged to consider more expensive models—the traditional trading-up approach ... The average table sale that week was $550 ... However, during the second week, customers ... were led instantly to a $3,000 table, regardless of what they wanted to see ... and then allowed to shop the rest of the line, in declining order of price and quality. The result of selling down was an average sale of over $1,000.

Again, you simply condition your prospects to higher prices from the start, which then psychologically makes them more responsive to your lower-priced products and services.

Try one or two of the ideas shared here—or combine them all—and you’re almost certain to increase your average sales and overall profitability. n Tom Trush is a Phoenix, AZ-based direct-response copywriter who helps entrepreneurs and executives craft lead-generating marketing materials.

Pick up his latest book, Escape the Expected: The Secret Psychology of Selling to Today's Skeptical Consumers, for free (just cover shipping) at www.writewaysolutions.com/blog/free-book-offer.

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Excellence in Client Service in the New Normal

by Jeff Wolf

A

24

fter several months of sheltering at home, staggering business losses, and unemployment, we’re slowly and cautiously reopening the country.

In my coaching and consulting sessions with law firms during the pandemic, we’ve discussed critical issues such as speed, agility, resilience, pivoting, adaptability, prioritizing, change, strategy, scenario planning, transformation, rebuilding, rethinking and much more.

imperative means that we must pay increasing attention to whatever it takes, one-on-one and one-by-one, to earn the love, loyalty, and respect of our clients. Effective client service starts with a comprehensive definition of client service. Current definitions are based on meeting or exceeding client expectations, satisfying or delighting clients, or delivering on time. While these are necessary conditions, they are insufficient to guarantee success.

Excellence in Client Service

Client Trust

As we enter the new normal, excellence in client service will be an imperative! In an era where clients demand high-speed information, the role of the client service function and the attorneys and staff who deliver this service are pivotal. Client service is communication central for day-to-day information on client satisfaction, client relations, and client intentions. The client service frontline is both your first line of defense and, increasingly, your vital early-warning system. Today’s law firms must be experts not only in client relations, problem-solving, and core services, but also experts in gathering, synthesizing, assessing, and distributing data.

Every client contact is a critical data point, a chance to learn something important about a valued client.

It’s safe to say the pandemic has taught us many lessons.

For law firms, a major lesson is that today’s client service function is a profit center, with a huge impact on client retention and future plans. We all need to learn new ways to listen to our clients and expand the parameters of what we listen for. Clients with strong feelings—positive or negative—are the clients who are most likely and least likely to do business with us again.

Service quality is recognized as the marketing edge that can differentiate one commodity from another. The service

I define client service in our new world as the process of building client trust in the delivery of selected services.

Trust forms a partnership. Satisfaction at a transactional level is insufficient. Trustworthiness is needed in order to become a partner and remain a partner. Without trust, no client would enter into such a relationship. I view client service as a series of well-defined tasks that focus on building the client’s trust. To execute this process, every person needs to be trained until behavior that builds trust becomes habitual. There needs to be a reward system in place that is directed toward developing and reinforcing the habit to ensure that it is sustained over time.

The psychology of buying is the psychology of trust.

So, use every opportunity to build trust. Fine-tune the client service process to build trust. Do this continually to ensure success.

Trust is a function of competence and character.

Competence is understanding needs and arriving at solutions that work in the client’s context and constraints.

Character is using the competence to propose a solution that is in the client’s best interest. Clients need to believe that you have the character to use your competence while keeping their best interests at the forefront of your mind.

While initial perceptions of character and competence

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help land new clients, keeping clients is a function of their expectations. A critical element in retaining today’s client is actual service delivery performance, and what firms do to close gaps between expectations and outcomes. Train your people to use the gaps as a way to build trust. The question to ask is, “Where can I invest the next dollar to build the most trust?” The most effective way to build trust is to focus on delivering those services where there is vibrant synergy between the firm’s core competencies and the clients’ needs.

An Exercise to Evaluate Trust—How Well Do You Know Your Clients?

Select one of your major clients. List all of the major services you provide to maintain the trust of that client.

Include benefits you consider over and above the norm.

Include pricing, quality, quantity discounts, delivery of services, problem-solving …list everything. In a column adjoining the services you’ve described, write how well or how poorly your main competitor provides the same services for that client.

If you’re unaware of what services your chief competitor offers, especially extra benefits over and above the norm, you’re at a decided competitive disadvantage. When times get rough like they are now, and the client cuts back legal services, yours may be the first to go or get cut.

Add to the list, services your main competitor has that you don’t. You shouldn’t be surprised at what they are, but you might be.

Now, rethink what you need to stay or become that client’s favored law firm. Think in terms of reinvigorating the relationship. Always remember that trust is the keyword. When your client trusts you, they have faith in you, and that’s the most crucial benefit you can provide. n Jeff Wolf is one of the most highly sought-after legal coaches and consultants in the country. He is an international bestselling author and was named one of America’s Top 100 thought leaders. He has been featured on NBC, CBS, CNBC, and FOX TV and is a commentator for the Legal Broadcasting Network.

As founder and president of Wolf Management Consultants, LLC, he has built a valued practice that addresses the critical problems confronting lawyers and law firms t oday. H e m ay b e reached at jeff@wolfmotivation.com or in his San Diego office 858-638-8260.

California Offices: Irvine, Los Angeles and San Francisco 949.660.8200 | ankura.com

Solving challenges with the right combination of expertise.

Ankura Consulting Group (Ankura) is a specialized independent consulting firm that provides litigation, financial, restructuring, strategic and operational consulting services. Our clients are corporations, legal counsel and government agencies facing the challenges of uncertainty, risk, distress and significant change. We focus on industries undergoing substantial regulatory or structural change and on the issues driving these transformations.

Ankura is comprised of more than 1,500 professionals, including highly experienced eDiscovery experts; financial analysts; economists; certified public accountants; certified business appraisers; merger and acquisition specialists; professional engineers; and information management analysts. We have offices in over 38 cities worldwide.

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Preventative Action and Law Firm Decline

by Roger Hayes

V

irtually every day, the news includes reports of additional law firm closures, layoffs, and compensation reductions.

What is driving these decisions, and what does it mean for your firm?

Without question, catching any developing problem early makes it easier and less traumatic to take appropriate action, increases confidence in management, and enhances the likelihood of achieving real stability.

With early recognition of critical issues as the objective, here are seven early warning metrics. Smart leadership is always keeping an eye on these, but each is worthy of extra attention in today’s marketplace.

Decline in Relative Production Productivity ebbs and flows in any market and proactive management is always seeking ways to prevent dips. But when historically predictable dips turn into unprecedented declines, this is symptomatic of a deeper issue and is rarely the kind of normal fluctuations a firm has planned for. It is time to take note.

Increased Turnover The movement of talent has become a characteristic of the industry. An abrupt loss of key contributors, often beginning with an individual or small group, may hint at decreasing confidence in a firm’s prospects. In the worst case, it may foreshadow mass departures.

Loss of Clients This one is so obvious that it seems elementary to point it out. But it is surprising how often a firm finds ways to reason away a client’s decision to align with another firm. Proactive client communication should catch it before the fact, but the loss of clients is almost always about more than the impact on revenue.

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Tough Credit Terms Decreasing dependence on a line of credit is, for some, part of a strategic approach to cash management. Still, if lenders are becoming more demanding and terms are less viable, the reliance on credit is an indication that resource management is misaligned with reality.

Falling Realization We all know this. Quoted standard rates are meaningless if what is ultimately collected doesn’t cover the cost of doing business. Every firm should have a crystal-clear understanding of what must be realized in order to be profitable. As realization tumbles closer to that known minimum, the market is sending you a warning.

Increased Reliance on Debt This is closely related to realizing stricter credit terms. But plenty of firms were still able to negotiate attractive terms right up to a month or a quarter before they faced closure. If debt is funding operations or draws, it is past time to rethink operations.

Increase in Receivable Age It can be caused by a number of realities, but when the payment of invoices takes longer and longer, it is likely to snowball. More credit is necessary. Credit terms become less tolerable. To collect there may be a temptation to discount value, and so on.

If any of these early warning signs occur, now is the time to develop and implement responsive solutions.

Firms that respond early have a much greater record of successful management of the transitional issues related to these challenges. n Roger Hayse has spent more than 30 years closely advising law firm management and legal industry service providers. His career is highlighted by consistently providing the counsel and leadership critical to successful law firm transitions. Learn more at HayseLLC.com.

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CHOOSE THE TRUE ORIGINAL

Tips for Attorneys to Prevent Burnout

by Kirk Stange

T

he practice of law can be difficult. Dealing with certain clients can be emotionally taxing. It can also be hard at times dealing with the court system and other legal professionals in contested litigation where tensions and emotions can escalate.

For those who own their own law firm, the business aspects of being an attorney can also be challenging. Not only do these lawyers have to provide competent, communicative and diligent legal services, but they also have to worry about running their law practice in a way that best serves the clients and ensures the law firm is not running in the red financially.

Worrying about all of these items can be overwhelming for many lawyers.

While not an all-inclusive list, below are some tips for helping lawyers avoid burnout: • An attorney must be selective about the cases they take.

Some potential clients might be highly emotional and hard to deal with if the attorney were to take the case.

For this reason, it might be better for an attorney to pass on some cases to avoid burnout.

• Some potential clients might not be good payers if the attorney takes the case. In these instances, an attorney might be better to pass on the case. It is usually much better for an attorney to have a limited number of high-paying and manageable clients, than to have a larger number of bad-paying and unmanageable clients. In rare circumstances where a bad-paying and highly difficult client hires the firm, it might be best to withdraw from the case—so long as you are complying with the rules and not prejudicing the client.

• Lawyers need to have great paralegals/legal assistants.

Lawyers also need administrative staff to help their practice excel. If an attorney tries to do it all, it can be easy to become overwhelmed. An attorney should figure out what they are good at, and where they have weaknesses, and surround themselves with good employees who can help fill in the gaps.

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Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 176, 2020

• Most attorneys could benefit from having excellent practice management software. Practice management software can help keep an attorney organized. It can help ensure that all court dates are docketed, that all client documents are retained on the cloud and that the business aspects of the firm (from budgeting, bank accounts and conflict checking) can easily be managed in one place.

• While attorneys might not like to have to monitor things like accounts receivables and billable hours, to avoid burnout, this can be important. Otherwise, attorneys can spend a lot of time burning the midnight oil on cases where they are not going to be paid. When an attorney is working on matters where the client is not paying, this can prevent them from taking new cases where they would be paid. When an attorney is spending a lot of time on matters where they are not receiving payment for their time, this can lead to frustration, financial hardship, and burnout. It can also result in significant worry about whether the law firm can make payroll and other financial obligations.

• It is also essential to stay highly organized. Staying organized can lead to less stress and burnout. Many state bars recommend sending monthly status letters to clients. If attorneys did this, it would help keep them organized in terms of their cases. It would also help keep clients informed about their case status. When clients feel as if their lawyer is updating them, clients generally are much happier. When clients are happier, this usually results in the lawyer experiencing fulfillment.

Other lawyers might have other tips. However, the tips above are worthy of consideration. n In 2007, Kirk Stange founded Stange Law Firm, PC with his wife Paola and has worked diligently to grow the firm to what it is today. In addition to practicing law, Kirk spends time educating attorneys and other law professionals at CLE Seminars through the Missouri Bar, myLawCLE, the National Business Institute and other organizations.

To learn more, please visit www.stangelawfirm.com.

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Attorney Journals Orange County | Volume 176, 2020

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