Attorney Journals, San Diego, Volume 185

SAN DIEGO

Volume 185, 2019 $6.95

Law Firm Business Development: Planning Is Indispensable

Mike O’Horo

Tips for Lawyers Seeking Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

Jacob Sanders

Huge Win of the Month

Jesse Gessin, Partner and Jay Barron, Senior Counsel Keller/Anderle LLP, Irvine The Value of a Strong Narrative Choosing the Right Content for Your Law Firm Newsletter

How “Stay Interviews” Can Improve Employee Retention

Corrie Benfield

Crystal Enekwa

Attorney of the Month

Renee Galente Stackhouse Stackhouse APC, San Diego Helping Injured Victims and Military Service Members Rise up From the Ashes

GOING TO TRIAL – NEED EXPERIENCED HELP?

SPECIALIZING IN BET-THE-COMPANY CASES OVER 65 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE REFERRALS/SUBSTITUTIONS ACCEPTED AT ALL STAGES OF LITIGATION, INCLUDING TRIAL • $2.1 million jury verdict for firm client in Doe v. San Diego Unified School District, et al. (2018)(Jason Kirby & Michael Kirby).

• $1.1 million arbitration award for firm clients on cross-complaint after zeroing plaintiff on $6 million damage claim in Step Strategy Advisors v. Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, Inc., et al. (2018)(Jason Kirby lead counsel).

• Michael Kirby received the 2019 Best Lawyers in America® distinction for (1) Bet-the-Company Litigation, (2) Commercial Litigation, (3) Litigation – Real Estate, and (4) Litigation – Securities.

501 West Broadway | Suite 1720 | San Diego, CA 92101 | 619-487-1500 | www.kirbyandkirbylaw.com

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2019 EDITION—NO.185

TABLE OF CONTENTS 8 Law Firm Business Development: Planning Is Indispensable

by Mike O'Horo

10 Tips for Lawyers Seeking Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

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by Jacob Sanders

12 Community News EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor

14 Choosing the Right Content for Your Law Firm Newsletter

EDITOR Wendy Price CREATIVE SERVICES Penn Creative

by Corrie Benfield

CIRCULATION Angela Watson

ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH

PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths STAFF WRITERS Dan Baldwin CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Corrie Benfield Crystal Enekwa Mike O'Horo Jacob Sanders WEBMASTER Mariusz Opalka ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Info@AttorneyJournal.us SUBMIT AN ARTICLE Editorial@AttorneyJournal.us OFFICE 30211 Avenida De Las Banderas Suite 200 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 www.AttorneyJournal.us ADDRESS CHANGES Address corrections can be made via fax, email or postal mail.

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16 Renee Galente Stackhouse, Stackhouse APC, San Diego Helping Injured Victims and Military Service Members Rise up From the Ashes

by Dan Baldwin

HUGE WIN OF THE MONTH

22 Jesse Gessin, Partner and Jay Barron, Senior Counsel for Keller/Anderle LLP, Irvine The Value of a Strong Narrative

by Dan Baldwin

26 How “Stay Interviews” Can Improve Employee Retention

by Crystal Enekwa

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Editorial material appears in Attorney Journals as an informational service for readers. Article contents are the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of Attorney Journals.

Attorney Journals makes every effort to publish credible, responsible advertisements. Inclusion of product advertisements or announcements does not imply endorsement.

Attorney Journals is a trademark of Sticky Media, LLC. Not affiliated with any other trade publication or association. Copyright 2019 by Sticky Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from Sticky Media, LLC. Printed in the USA

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Law Firm Business Development: “Plans Are Useless, but Planning Is Indispensable…”

by Mike O’Horo

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

L

awyers detest creating business development plans. They delay and resist as long as possible, and when their firm finally brings down the hammer, too often they create something pro forma that lets them check the required box, but is of little practical use, and never gets looked at again.

Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower, when he was overall Commander of Allied Forces in WWII, famously said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

What did Ike mean by this seemingly self-cancelling declaration?

It was that the plan, i.e., the tangible, documented result of the planning, is vulnerable to many forces outside your control. The battlefield is complex, and the many moving parts may not move as predicted.

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Markets are no different. The many moving parts include: • clients • prospects • competitors • allies • colleagues • your firm’s leadership • the actions of federal, state, and local governments • new entrants into the market who may introduce disruptive innovations • geopolitical or macroeconomic factors Any of the above could render part or all of your plan obsolete.

If so, why plan?

Planning (the verb) consists of investigation and thinking that cause you to identify and examine these variables, which raises your awareness and gives you a much more complete and useful perspective.

Planning consists of investigation and thinking that cause you to identify and examine [key] variables…

That, in turn, increases your ability to recognize the earliest indicators of change, anticipate their likely effect, and devise an informed response to them. Without going through that rigorous thinking, you’ll continually be surprised by most developments, with little chance to anticipate or respond effectively.

You can avoid most surprises Yes, the world is volatile, and things change quickly and often suddenly. But, if you’re taken completely by surprise by an announcement by your clients or a major development in their industry, it’s reliable evidence that your planning was inadequate.

I don’t mean that planning will make you clairvoyant, only that most big developments are the product of many precursors that, taken together, allow you to make some educated guesses about what’s most likely.

Example: General Motors’ factory-closure announcement, November 26, 2018 To the casual observer, GM announcing in late November that they’d close five plants and lay off 14,000 workers was a shock. I’m guessing that many firms and lawyers who do a lot of work for GM, its suppliers, and dealers experienced stomach-roiling anxiety as a result. “Will our work go away, too?”

However, there are many factors that would have allowed affected lawyers to anticipate this and begin to diversify.

Maybe not the precise “when,” but that it had to happen.

Technology and connectivity pose the question of whether it’s necessary to own an automobile. Look at the perfect storm of confluent events that led to GM’s production cut, and that is transforming the entire industry: • Autonomous vehicles • On-demand ride services, AKA “Mobility as a Service (MaaS)”, e.g., Uber, Lyft. (GM invested $500m in Lyft, 2016) • Online shopping, free delivery. No driving to stores.

• Free or low-cost HD video connections that enable facetime without travel • Declining interest in driving. For people aged 16 to 44, the percentage who have a driver’s license has been decreasing steadily since 1983.

• Migration to cities, where cars are a liability. 54% of people worldwide live in cities. Sources estimate this will grow to 2/3 of world population in the next 15-30 years Anyone aware of even some of these factors wasn’t surprised

by GM’s move.

Consequences of these trends • Auto Insurance Market to Shrink 60% by 2040, 71% by 2050: KPMG • Driverless, Shared Cars to Cut Vehicle Ownership by Half: Barclays (Insurance Journal, May 19, 2015) • Online car buying could shrink dealer networks by almost 50% in a decade (Fleet News, Jan 19, 2018) • Autonomous Vehicles Will Shrink Auto OEM Collision Repair Revenue by Nearly 50 Percent by 2030 (KPMG, May 17, 2017) OEMs will see a 48% dent in their collision parts business as a result of self-driving cars

What should you do?

So, if you’re a lawyer whose work has come primarily from the automotive sector, how should you plan for developing business during the next phase of your career?

When conditions change for your clients, they’ll change for you, too…

You could start by taking the advice being offered to your automotive clients by observers such as Deloitte.

“Carmakers need to make use of the technologies offered

by Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, and data analytics to take advantage of opportunities to manage costs and continue to be globally competitive.”

When conditions change for your clients, they’ll change for you, too, either positively or negatively, depending on your preparedness and response. You can’t keep selling the same services, in the same way.

You must evolve. The good news is that your clients want you to. If you consistently show that you’re paying attention to their business and trying to anticipate their needs, they’ll help you do just that by sharing their knowledge and guiding you to develop the solutions they need.

“But, I’m not in the automotive market” Please, please don’t feel sanguine because your clients’ industries aren’t on the front page of the business press with unpopular announcements. All products, services, companies, and industries go through maturity cycles. (It’s happening in Legal right now.)

Fortunes change. Today’s Amazon is tomorrow’s GM. Pay attention. Be prepared.

Have a plan, but place your trust in the actual planning, not the resulting plan. n Mike O’Horo is the co-founder of RainmakerVT and has trained 7,000 lawyers in firms of all sizes and types, in virtually every practice type. They attribute $1.5 billion in additional business to their collaboration. His latest innovation, Dezurve, reduces firms’ business development training investment risks by identifying which lawyers are serious about learning BD.

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3 Digital Marketing Tips for Lawyers Seeking Traumatic Brain Injury Cases Online

by Jacob Sanders

O

ne of the greatest professional concerns facing personal injury lawyers today is an ever-expanding pool of competition online. By focusing your law firm’s digital marketing efforts on particular types of injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI), you can stand out from your competitors online and establish a distinct presence in search results. Here are three tips for lawyers seeking TBI cases online.

Feature Creative Assets

1. Showcase Your Focus Most lawyers know their ideal client: the one that signs up.

Although you likely have several areas of PI represented on your website and want to attract EVERY potential client with your services, showcasing your focus and dedicating a full section of your website to something specific, like traumatic brain injuries, is important for two reasons.

“Embracing Your Space” and “Fatal Thursdays” are examples of creative assets our firm has developed for our personal injury law firm clients seeking leads for specific injury cases.

• I ncrease visibility—Along with a balanced digital marketing approach to your law firm’s website, search-engine-friendly copywriting on a TBI page can dramatically increase your visibility to those searching the web for TBI legal help.

• Decrease competitors—As we mentioned earlier, most lawyers just want the phone to ring, so they market themselves as the trusted expert in almost every type of injury case under the sun. By picking a few areas of specialization for your law firm and building up quality pages that demonstrate this aptitude and ability on your website, you can dramatically decrease your competition.

Your competition is afraid to focus their marketing—so think of it this way: would you rather directly address an audience of 10 potential TBI clients, or yell at a group of 1,000 people from whom you take every personal injury case imaginable?

2. Focus on Web Design While a beautiful, mobile-responsive website and first page Google results are a good omen for your law firm’s digital marketing future, it’s becoming evident that even these best practices are being bested. Once again, increasing competition in the online legal marketplace is overwhelming clients online.

Too many options on Google can create “analysis paralysis.”

With your website now focusing on TBI cases, you can further differentiate your firm by featuring one-of-a-kind creative assets relating to TBIs.

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If you don’t usually go for frilly things or fancy gimmicks, you should remind yourself that your law firm’s website isn’t designed to sign YOU up as a client. Right now, the people searching for your firm are vulnerable and injured and that person needs your website to help them decide if they can trust you to help them get justice.

Clients don’t choose your law firm from a place of logic— the decision to hire a law firm involves more emotion than rational thought.

By creating a dynamic and well-designed resource page for a specific injury, like a traumatic brain injury, you are appealing to the potential client’s emotional and reactive nature. Compelling graphics that demonstrate the severity, scope, and statistics surrounding TBIs, mixed with quality copywriting, will generate more goodwill, trust, and interest in your firm than any “straightshooting,” meat-and-potatoes presentation of the facts ever could.

If bad design or poor writing is keeping a potential TBI client from signing up with you, you owe it to yourself to focus on TBIs, feature creative assets, and create a TBI webpage with your client’s best interest in mind.

3. Write Your Copy for Conversion There is no magic digital-marketing-silver-bullet that’s guaranteed to bring down high-value cases from the web. If you focus your digital marketing on TBIs, and bring TBI stats to life with creative assets, you still must ensure the words on your TBI page are engineered to convert clients and be seen by search engines.

Below is a simple 5-paragraph template that can help your law firm write a TBI page that converts. Remember, this is just an initial framework to orient your copywriting efforts around TBIs. Once completed, this template can then be the foundation for your creative asset, showcase page, or other TBI advertising efforts your firm may choose to pursue.

5-Paragraph TBI Page Template • Intro to TBIs and PI—The intro should be short and to the point.

Provide a brief definition of TBIs, give a few common causes for them, and state that a trusted legal opinion is necessary in such delicate cases.

• Localize the Text—Mention your legal staff by name, the state and city your law firm is in, your history with TBIs, and any relevant awards or recognition your lawyers have received. End this paragraph with a Call-To-Action with your law firm’s phone number and contact info.

• What is TBI—Here is where you can cite statistics on TBIs, gather facts on symptoms, and link the page with medical resources on

recovery from TBIs. Also list the long-term effects and costs associated with TBIs. • Causes of TBIs—List the most common accidents, and acts of negligence, that can lead to TBIs. You increase your keyword reach here by mentioning other personal injury areas your firm covers.

• How your law firm helps in TBIs— Detail the work that goes into investigating accidents, FAQs dealing with insurance companies, and ensure that clients know the ways medical assistance, treatment, and recovery will take place as they work with you.

End this with another strong Call-To-Action with your number and contact info.

In summary . . .

Your website is a billboard on the digital highways of the Internet, and potential clients are driving by at light speeds. By focusing on specific case types, incorporating strong visuals and thorough copywriting into your digital marketing campaigns, you can capture attention and drive high-value cases like TBIs to your site. n Jacob Sanders is the Marketing Content Strategist at Consultwebs and has worked for many years as a digital marketing coordinator and as a Marketing Director at a personal injury law firm before launching his own marketing consulting agency and joining forces with Consultwebs. Jacob also created and serves as a co-host of our LAWsome podcast series which provides legal industry insights and access to the best experts in law firm development. Learn more at https://www.consultwebs.com and https://www.thelawsomepodcast.com.

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COMMUNITY news  The law firm of Balestreri Potocki

& Holmes is pleased to announce that attorney Daniel J. Brast has joined the firm. Brast has over nine years of experience representing real estate developers and general contractors in complex construction-related disputes. In addition, he has extensive experience dealing with insurance issues related to construction DANIEL J. BRAST and real estate development. Brast has represented developers and builders in all shapes and sizes, from local shops to national corporations.

Immediately prior to joining Balestreri Potocki & Holmes, Brast was staff counsel for a multinational insurance company representing its insureds in complex construction-related claims.  Finch, Thornton & Baird, LLP

announce that partner Chad T. Wishchuk has been unanimously approved for election to the 2019 Board of Directors of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) San Diego chapter. Wishchuk has been an active ABC-SD member for many years and presents frequently to the construction industry association’s membership on topics CHAD WISHCHUK including skilled and trained workforce, apprenticeship, and new California employment laws.

Wishchuk is an experienced litigator and advisor who works with business owners and principals, executive management, human resources managers, and in-house counsel on a wide range of labor and employment matters. The firm’s construction industry clients include general contractors, subcontractors, and sureties.

Beyond the construction field, clients include companies in banking and finance, food and beverage, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, and technology.  Procopio has been named by the

San Diego Union-Tribune as a winner of the 2018 Top Workplaces Award. The awardees are selected solely on employee feedback through the results of an anonymous survey, which measures aspects of workplace culture including employee engagement, alignment of work with mission, and company leadership.

JOHN D. ALESSIO “This recognition by the San Diego Union-Tribune provides confirmation that our sincere commitment to a top workplace culture is being recognized by our employees,” said Procopio Managing Partner John D. Alessio. “Our firm’s success derives from our people.

We’re focused on ensuring a supportive and inclusive culture that allows us to best serve our clients and our community.”

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 Noonan

Lance Boyer & Banach LLP has once again been named one of the 2019 “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News and Best Lawyers.

NOONAN LANCE BOYER & BANACH Since the firm’s 2016 inception, NoonanLance has been continuously ranked on “U.S. News and World Report” and Best Lawyers’ “Best Law Firms” list as a top tier law firm in commercial litigation and legal malpractice defense.

NoonanLance is well-known for its work on large, complex matters where an entire business may be at risk. The firm’s attorneys are among the most experienced commercial litigators in San Diego, having handled a wide range of cases in state and federal court, as well as in arbitration. In perhaps the highest compliment an attorney can provide to one of its peers, NoonanLance is regularly hired by lawyers and law firms to represent them in legal malpractice defense.

“Best Law Firms” rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in the field, and a review of additional information provided by law firms.  Attorney Mauro Colabianchi

of McLaughlin Legal, a San Diego-based firm providing tax litigation and controversy, estate planning, trust administration, tax preparer and CPA defense services for small to mid-sized companies and business owners, is named the new chair of the MAURO COLABIANCHI California Lawyers Association’s Taxation Section Young Tax Lawyers group for the San Diego Chapter. The committee provides education and support for new tax lawyers throughout California.

The Young Tax Lawyers Committee is part of the California Lawyers Association Taxation Section and is composed of an executive board that works with regional chapters. Those groups hold period meetings on current tax developments and facilitate educational talks on noteworthy tax topics while providing networking opportunities to meet fellow young tax attorneys and to meet more senior tax practitioners who often speak at the meetings.

 Fish & Richardson principal

Jonathan Singer has been named a 2018 Life Sciences MVP of the Year by Law360. This is the fourth time that Singer, who heads Fish’s life sciences litigation practice, has been singled out for a coveted MVP award. He was selected from nearly 1,000 submissions.

Singer conducted the winning oral JONATHAN SINGER argument for a stunning reversal of a $2.5 billion jury verdict—the largest patent damages award in history—against client Gilead Sciences. Hailed as one of the biggest litigation comebacks of all time, Fish won a “sparingly invoked” motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) in March 2018 from Judge Leonard P. Stark—wiping out the jury’s December 2016 $2.5 billion willful infringement verdict against Gilead— after proving that Idenix’s patent was invalid due to lack of enablement. Judge Stark called Fish’s enablement evidence “devastating” to Idenix.  California Governor Jerry Brown

has announced the reappointment of CaseyGerry partner, Frederick Schenk, to the 22nd District Agricultural Association, San Diego County Fair Board of Directors. The 22nd District Agricultural Association (DAA) oversees all operations at the state-owned fairgrounds in Del Mar, Calif. A longtime FREDERICK SCHENK San Diego resident, Schenk was originally appointed to the San Diego County Fair Board by former Governor Gray Davis in 2002 and reappointed

by Governor Brown in 2011, serving as board president between 2013 and 2016.

Currently he also serves on the boards of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in San Diego and the American Association for Justice (AAJ). Schenk, who has been with CaseyGerry for more than 35 years, concentrates his practice on products/premises liability, catastrophic injury and asbestos litigation.

 Sidra Zaheer, LL.M. has joined

Klinedinst San Diego office as eDiscovery Counsel. Ms. Zaheer’s practice focuses on complex electronic discovery issues including, consulting on ESI protocols, drafting Rule 26(f) discovery plans, negotiating search terms and the use and parameters for predictive coding. Ms. Zaheer is admitted to SIDRA ZAHEER practice in California and New York.

She is an active and involved member of Women in eDiscovery (WIE), the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA). n Multiple Shustak Reynolds & Partners attorneys have

been named as 2019 Super Lawyers Honorees including Erwin J. Shustak, Managing Partner, 2019 Super Lawyers; Jonah A. Toleno, Partner, 2019 Super Lawyers; George Miller, Partner, 2019 Rising Stars; Kate Bowles, Senior Associate, 2019 Rising Stars; Amber Condron, Counsel, 2019 Rising Stars.

Founded in 1991, Shustak Reynolds & Partners, P.C. is a specialty law firm with a national practice focused in the areas of securities, corporate finance and business law. The Firm operates from offices in New York and California and is comprised of experienced, sophisticated attorneys who have earned a solid reputation as strategic problem solvers, ardent negotiators and successful deal makers.

GEORGE MILLER

JONAH TOLENO

KETHERINE BOWLES

Have a Press Release you would like to submit for our Community News?

Email it to PR@AttorneyJournals.com

ERWIN SHUSTAK

AMBER CONDRON

Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 185, 2019

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Choosing the Right Content for Your Law Firm Newsletter

by Corrie Benfield

M

any of the law firms we talk to do a great job of maintaining contact information for former clients, but they aren’t sure how to capitalize on those connections. An email newsletter can be a great way to maintain those relationships and keep your brand fresh in people’s minds.

A good newsletter should remind former clients that you are knowledgeable, caring and always there to help. But what should it have in it? Choosing the right content is the challenge many firms face in putting together an effective— and share-worthy—newsletter.

Guidelines for Writing Newsletter Content As lawyers, it can be easy to fill a newsletter with recent case results and industry updates, but is that what your former clients are interested in? Chances are, not really.

Instead, fill your newsletter with content that is: Useful and relevant to their everyday lives—A survey by Nielsen Norman Group on newsletter preferences indicated that two-thirds of respondents’ welcome email newsletters that are informative and keep them up-to-date.

You want people to feel like they’re getting something out of your law firm’s newsletter, information they can use now or keep in the back of their minds (or inbox) just in case. Even better, you want content that is so useful that a reader decides to forward the email to others.

Easy to read—Depending on whom you ask, content experts will tell you to write at a sixth- to eighth-grade reading level. This typically means shorter sentences and words with fewer syllables to ensure better reading comprehension.

Particularly in the field of law, it’s easy to slip into jargonfilled legalese. Remember, you’re writing for everyday people, not other attorneys.

If you want to check the reading level of your content, you can view the “readability statistics” in a Word document under the “Spelling & Grammar” check. Look for the FleschKincaid Grade Level rating. (FYI, this article is rated at a grade level of 8.3) 14

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Concise and scannable—Readers spend an average of 51 seconds on a newsletter after opening it, according to another Nielsen Norman study on inbox congestion. This means your newsletter content and design need to be eye-catching and easy to skim.

Break up content with lists and bolded text. And keep in mind when designing that your email newsletter will likely be read on a mobile phone. Make it easy for the readers to quickly find the information they are interested in.

Not too sales-y—Although you definitely want to encourage readers to contact you if they have legal issues, you don’t want your content to come off as a hard sell. The goal is for your newsletter to be a resource and a reminder that your firm is there to help.

If you’re just starting a newsletter, consistency is key. You may want to set a goal of sending it out quarterly, versus jumping into a monthly commitment. Just be sure to stay consistent, and don’t bombard readers with too much of a good thing. The last thing you want is for readers to get annoyed and filter you out.

To stay consistent, it will help to map out a content plan, so you have an idea of what you would like to include in each newsletter for the year.

7 Content Ideas for Law Firm Newsletters For attorneys in some practice areas, such as family law and estate planning, content ideas can come quite easily as clients will naturally have ongoing questions to answer and needs to be met. For others, such as personal injury lawyers, newsletter content planning may require a bit more creativity.

Here are a few categories of content that can help you build a robust newsletter: 1. Newsjacking—If you see a hot topic on the news that has an interesting legal side, jump in and explain it. For example, if Uber and Lyft accidents are on the rise in your area, include a quick explainer on what to do if you’re in a crash involving an Uber.

2. Changes in the law—If a change in the law is going to affect your readers, be the go-to firm for explaining it. For example, warn readers when new insurance laws are going into effect and tell them why the change matters to them.

3. Season-specific topics—Holidays and yearly events are a reliable source of inspiration for newsletter content.

For example, everyone can use a helpful checklist on preparing their vehicle for a summer vacation road trip or a winter storm.

4. FAQs—It’s always helpful to provide the answers to frequently asked questions, and you may already have a lot of this content on your website to repurpose. If you have video FAQs, even better. And use this content to encourage interaction. Ask readers to submit additional questions.

Need a professional writer for your e-newsletter?

5. Inspirational quotes—Your firm has likely helped clients through a very difficult period in their lives. And if you are on Facebook, you know how much people enjoy sharing inspirational quotes and messages. Why not continue to be a source of support and encouragement in your newsletter?

6. Contests and giveaways—If your law firm is hosting a scholarship or any other type of contest, your newsletter is a great place to promote it. You can also plan out giveaways to keep readers engaged. For example, if someone in your firm has season tickets for a local sports team and isn’t going to use all of them, consider putting them to good use in a newsletter promotion.

7. Meet-and-greets—If your firm is sponsoring or participating in a local event, share the news and invite former clients to come by and say hello. It’s a good opportunity to catch up and remind them that you care.

Don’t Let that Email List Go to Waste!

Every email list in your database is an opportunity for marketing. You’ve built good relationships with clients, so don’t let them wither away once the cases are closed. Nurture those connections and possibly make new ones by crafting a useful newsletter that reminds people that you are the go-to law firm in your area.  Corrie Benfield brings a deep background in journalism and legal writing to her role as a Web Content Editor with Consultwebs (Consultwebs.com), where she edits and writes a wide array of content that is search engine-optimized and informative to those in need of legal help. Corrie also has 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor, developing the valuable skill of breaking down complicated information so that it can be easily digested by readers and prompt them to take action.

Unless you have the time, desire and skills, hire people who do!

We can write and design everything from e-newsletters to brochures to websites.

215-550-1435 • penn-creative.com

Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 185, 2019

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STACKHOUSE APC

RISE UP When the odds are stacked against them, Renee Galente Stackhouse helps injured victims and military service members rise from the ashes.

By Jennifer Hadley As Renee Stackhouse (nee Galente) enters her second decade of legal success in San Diego, she’s reveling in a personal rebirth of sorts. As Immediate Past President of California Women Lawyers, a Board of Director of the San Diego County Bar Association, Chair of the Solo and Small Firm Section of the California Lawyers Association, and Faculty member of the acclaimed Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College, Stackhouse has a thriving solo firm, a young son, and niche practices that represent her own evolution as an attorney. “My name Renee actually means rebirth, I’m going through a rebranding, and my clients need help rising from the ashes. Hence, the phoenix logo—it fit,” says Stackhouse.

This evolution began when Stackhouse launched her solo firm Galente Law, APC in 2016. After beginning her career at Thorsnes, Bartolotta, McGuire, she next partnered in the boutique firm Galente Ganci APC. “I wanted a voice; I wanted to find my voice as a professional and as a lawyer,” she says. And she did. When the firm wound down, she opened a solo practice. “Being a solo practice gives me the ability to choose how I run my business, but it also lets me prioritize the other things I want to do in my life, such as for family, medical appointments, time off, and Bar Association involvement. For me, it is freedom. I started my own firm in 2016, and last fall, I amended the name because I decided to use my married name professionally,” she explains.

However, the new firm name and brand isn’t all 16

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that’s changed for Stackhouse. She has also focused on two niche practice areas that are in alignment with her passion and experience. “I’ve seen my law practice clients change over the past two years into two main categories: military clients, and women—though these are not necessarily mutually exclusive.”

Continuing she says, “All of my clients are in a position where something has happened to them and often, they feel like it’s the end of the world, that life is over, and will never be the same. I want them to know that there’s more to it than that; that life might be different moving forward, but it can still be a good life. And it’s my job to get them back to living their best life.”

BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN

“I’ve had a lot of life experiences, which enables me to understand what victims and defendants are going through. My grandparents took me in when I was 2 years old. My mother had her own issues to deal with and I was lucky my grandparents were willing to take on a small child. I’m also a second career lawyer, so I’ve had other jobs, and I’ve battled domestic abuse, dyslexia, sexism, and being so poor I lived off of ketchup packets I took from Arby’s.

I’ve been there. I’ve done that,” she says candidly.

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© Bauman Photographers

All of these experiences make Stackhouse not only a compassionate attorney, but a fierce advocate for those who have been injured through no fault of their own, and those who are facing a complete upheaval of their lives, due to criminal charges. “I especially love representing women and seeing the light in their eyes when they understand that I understand and can give voice to something that is difficult to say out loud. Whether it is the embarrassment of having to go to the bathroom in front of other people in jail, or the way an injury has impacted their sex life, or their ability to be a mom, or their upward trajectory in the office, I love representing women in criminal cases and personal injury cases. I love supporting them through the process, and then helping them grow from and through it.”

By way of example, Stackhouse recalls the case of a young woman who had a difficult brain injury case. “No one else would touch this case. I worked with my client from the time she was a young teen, as she became a young woman. I watched her grow up and got to see where she struggled and where she thrived. We stay in touch, and I’m so proud of what she’s accomplished, and how she’s grown as a woman, and it’s very rewarding that I feel like I got to be a small part of that,” she says.

Likewise, Stackhouse says that helping a young woman who was in the army, and was discharged with schizophrenia, made a lasting impact on her. “The VA assigned her 70% disability. I fought for her, and after almost two years, got it up to 100%, and got her back paid for the time in between,” Stackhouse says.

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Cases such as these are the reason Stackhouse operates her firm on a quality over quantity business model. “I provide unlimited time on each case. If it needs it, I spend it; I listen. I get to know my clients and those related to the case, and I role reverse—two tenets of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College.”

Equally important, Stackhouse provides unlimited caring to clients. Stackhouse says, “I have to know how what they are going through affects them, their life, and their loved ones, so that I can get them back on track. A lot of planning related to the case is also planning related to healing—not for the sake of the case, but for the true sake of healing.”

HERE TO SERVE: MILITARY SERVICE MEMBERS

Stackhouse’s military service practice area is also now accounting for a significant percentage of her caseload, though her roots in service to this community run deep. “I spent a decade of my life as a civilian employee in the military. I grew up working on MCB Camp Pendleton and have a love and appreciation for the military. In fact, the first case I ever worked on was the Pendleton 8 as a law student. It came full circle when I got involved with Trial Lawyers College and was reintroduced to military professionals and asked to work on military cases,” she says.

Today the advocacy she provides for military members is in both administrative actions and criminal defense (courtsmartial) and can sometimes carry over into both the state and federal level. Example cases include her defense of a veteran

who was kicked out of the military for consensual sodomy who was being forced to register as a sex offender. “I had to explain to the state that the actions he engaged in weren’t actually a crime and he shouldn’t have to register. We won, and he doesn’t have to lifetime register now.”

In another case, which Stackhouse took on pro bono, she continues to fight for a man with 19 years and 7 months of service to the Navy, who was kicked out due to self-destructive behavior and alcohol issues.

“He had PTSD, he was diagnosed by the VA, but the Navy refused to recognize it.

We are working to get him medically retired instead of discharged, which cost him a lot of his benefits.”

In other cases, Stackhouse represents military service members in Federal Court cases. For example, Stackhouse has been involved in a case in the line of cases informally known as the Fat Leonard cases.

“In many instances, my clients have been amazing service members, who get wrapped up in whirlwind cases, just because they were touched by bad behavior of others. Their careers are on the verge of being destroyed,” she says.

picked apart, and that it can get very ugly,” she says. Likewise, with criminal defense matters, Stackhouse knows it is her duty to let defendants know of all risks of going to trial. “Don’t get me wrong, I love trial work, but it is costly, and not always in the best interest of the client. So, I have to ask my clients: ‘Can you get ahead of the charges? Do there even have to be charges?’ A win is the best possible resolution for that client, on an individual basis.”

However, when Stackhouse does head to trial, she refuses to cut corners. One of the most effective tools she’s used involves bringing in a psychodramatist, and/ or communications experts. Psychodramatists, she says, help set the stage, and help set the scene. “They are trained in reenactments, and can lead through the process,” Stackhouse says. Likewise, communications experts can prove invaluable in helping clients who have compelling stories to tell but can’t always find the right words. “These experts don’t give them a script or tell them what to say, but help the client gain comfort expressing themselves,” she explains.

These tools have indeed been effective, and Stackhouse’s track record of successfully fighting for her clients has consequently earned her awards and accolades galore. She’s been named a Super Lawyer each year since 2015, a U.S. News & World Report Best Lawyer (2018 & 2019) and Best Law Firm (2019).

She’s also been the recipient of awards such as San Diego’s Best from the UnionTribune, Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s “Adjunct Professor of the Year” (2015), and the Thomas Jefferson School of Law A. Thomas Golden Alumni of the Year Award (2013). Stackhouse also maintains an AV-Preeminent Rating by Martindale-Hubbell.

THE ONLY WIN THAT MATTERS

Although Stackhouse loves being a trial lawyer, loves teaching at the Trial College, and was in fact the first woman to teach at the Advanced Trial Advocacy Course for the United States Air Force, she is quick to point out that going to trial isn’t always a winning strategy for clients. “I am so proud of being a trial lawyer. But as much as I may want to fight tooth and nail, my job is to provide an upfront analysis of the benefits and detriments of going to trial, so that my clients can make an educated choice.”

To that end, Stackhouse references clients dealing with issues such as Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBIs). “I have to make it clear that going to trial will be tough, and it will take a long time. They may be justifiably outraged, but injured victims can and do experience fatigue when litigation drags on.

I have to tell them that they are going to be

Phil, Renee and Gabriel Stackhouse Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 185, 2019

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© Bauman Photographers

Although Stackhouse is definitely in a sweet spot in her career, and elated to be a new mother, that doesn’t mean she’s interested in complacency, or in trying to emulate anyone else’s career path. “I’m really good at what I do. Saying this is something new, as part of my coming-into-self period that I’m transitioning into right now. I pay attention to detail, I have a strong work ethic, and I provide great care for my clients. I constantly work to better my skills, to better represent clients, and push myself to be the best lawyer I can be. I also push the envelope,” she says with a smile.

“I’m non-traditional. If you’re looking for dark polished woods and a library of dusty books, that’s not me. I strongly feel that you don’t have to fit a mold to be a successful lawyer, or to be successful, period. My office is also non-traditional. It feels like a home. I want people to feel welcome, comfortable, and comforted, and that includes myself. I am there hours and hours, so it’s important that it is a place I like being. It also has an outdoor patio, where I often talk with my clients, and they love it. So do my puppy and my baby who are often there with me.”

As feverishly as Stackhouse works for her clients, she also works to support other women lawyers, and her brand-new venture, MSheLE, is poised to launch in early 2019. “MSheLE is a spin-off of ‘MCLE’ that focuses on providing online MCLE and resources geared towards helping women lawyers. It is amazing and terrifying to be launching it,” she laughs.

“The rate at which women lawyers leave the field is incredibly high. Extreme stressors such as being afraid to ask for an accommodation or dealing with clients who only want to deal with male partners, or dealing with postpartum depression, alcoholism, you name it. MSheLE is here to support women lawyers, and to acknowledge that it is hard, and it’s not always perfect, and that is OK. Some of the best lawyers I’ve ever met are going to be involved in helping to educate and empower others. I’m very excited about the future not only for me, but for all women lawyers.” n Contact Renee Stackhouse Stackhouse APC 600 B Street, 3rd Floor San Diego CA 92101 760-224-5226 Renee@StackhouseAPC.com www.stackhouseapc.com

EXPERIENCE

THE NEXT STAGES

» ADMISSIONS • California, 2008

• Military courts worldwide • U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 2008 • United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 2015 • Veterans Administration Accredited

» AWARDS, HONORS AND ACCOLADES • AVVO Rated 10.0 (Superb)

• Best Lawyers “Best Law Firm” San Diego Personal Injury – Plaintiffs (2019) • Best Lawyers in America; Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs (2018-2019) • California Women’s Leadership Association, Women to Watch in 2019 Finalist • Commendation, Commanding General MCB Camp Pendleton (2004) • Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Attorney (2017-2018) • San Diego Business Journal, Next Top Business Leaders Under 40 Finalist (2018) • San Diego Business Journal, Best of the Bar (2014-2016) • San Diego Business Journal, Women Who Mean Business Finalist (2016) • San Diego County Bar Association, Outstanding Service by a New Lawyer (2013) • San Diego Daily Transcript Top Young Attorneys (2010, 2012) • San Diego Daily Transcript Young Influential (2013) • San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association President’s Award (2015) • San Diego Magazine, Latinos Making a Difference Finalist (2013-2014) • San Diego Magazine, Woman of the Year Finalist (2015) • San Diego Magazine, Women Who Move the City Finalist (2013) • San Diego Metro Magazine, Top 40 Under 40 (2012) • SuperLawyers (2017-2019) • SuperLawyers Rising Stars (2015-2016) • Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Adjunct Professor of the Year Award (2015) • Thomas Jefferson School of Law, A. Thomas Golden Alumni of the Year Award (2013)

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Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 185, 2019

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The Value of a STRONG NARRATIVE

by Dan Baldwin

A Huge Win for a Respected Physician’s Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Constructive Fraud and Legal Malpractice Case Proves the Value of a Strong Narrative Strategy for Keller/Anderle LLP

“Trials are a matter of inches. Provided you develop and follow a strong narrative and don’t allow yourself or your team to deviate from that narrative, you’re in a significantly stronger position for earning that ‘big win’ for your client,” says Jesse Gessin, Partner, of Keller/Anderle LLP.

T

he firm’s commitment to that philosophy proved successful in Howard v. Howard, which involved a combination of distinct subject matters: an elder abuse case and a legal malpractice/breach of fiduciary duty/constructive fraud case. The many challenges the attorneys faced included what is often called a “case within a case,” in which the matter being tried depends on a dissection of the underlying legal representation that led to the alleged malpractice. In Howard v. Howard the underlying legal matter involved highly complicated trusts and estates transactions.

The case was well underway when Keller/Anderle was brought in, a situation fairly common with this firm. “One of our advantages is that we’re very flexible and adaptable about taking on a case from the beginning or jumping into a case in the middle and quickly getting up to speed. We often discover that even when we arrive late in the game, we have an advantage because we quickly size up the best narrative, and that is a huge asset during trial,” says Jay Barron, Senior Counsel.

An Orthopedic Surgeon is Cut Out of His Estate The client was John Leroy Howard, M.D., a prominent Los 22

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Angeles physician who was a well-renowned orthopedic surgeon. Although now in his nineties, he maintains a medical practice as an expert in workman’s compensation cases. He had built up a sizable estate, primarily in real properties, which included a 34-unit apartment building in Pasadena, a Hawaiian villa, and other large tracts of ranch land in Hawaii.

In 2011, Howard’s daughter convinced him and his wife to change trusts and estates lawyers and hire a new accountant. He was 87 years old at the time and his wife was in her late seventies. Between 2012 and 2013 the new attorneys created complicated transactions that ended with the daughter receiving the apartment building and the properties in Hawaii. The Howard’s son was disinherited from the family trust as part of the process.

The changes involved two key document signings, one in December of 2012 and one in May of 2013—a total of 60 documents signed. Dr. Howard testified at trial that the documents were never explained to him and that he did not understand what had been done to his prized properties.

He requested a copy of his estate plan in 2016, but the attorneys initially refused at Mrs. Howard’s request.

When Howard finally received a copy of his estate plan, he realized what had been done without his knowledge. He couldn’t remember the transactions.

JOURNALS

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2019

Jesse Gessin, Partner and Jay Barron, Senior Counsel at Keller/Anderle LLP

Mrs. Howard testified that she remembered details about the transactions and fervently supported their daughter who claimed the transactions were legitimate. The family was torn apart with Mrs. Howard moving out of their apartment and filing for separation. Dr. Howard sued his daughter and his former lawyers. Mrs. Howard filed a complaint to intervene in Howard’s civil case, siding with their daughter and the trusts and estates lawyers.

Starting Late, but Working to Finish First Keller/Anderle was brought into the case late when Howard’s former counsel was conflicted off the case after about eight months. Keller/Anderle accepted the case knowing it was likely to be tried on an expedited basis given that the client was ninetythree years old.

Gessin says, “Early on we developed a narrative theory and we stuck to it. Every aspect of trial (opening, direct exam, cross exam, exhibits, experts, closing, and so on) was anchored to the narrative. We stuck to our narrative and that’s one of the key factors of our success in such a big case.”

Barron added, “That’s a tremendous advantage in a trial.

We try to be pragmatic and goal-oriented. We focus on what’s important and what’s needed to advance our client’s position.

There are no half-measures with us. We evaluate what is important and what will help our client win at trial, and then we work to implement that strategy to the fullest.” After Keller/Anderle came on board, Barron immediately worked through the many lingering procedural and discovery issues, litigated multiple pending demurrers, pursued a motion for Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 185, 2019

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trial preference (including filing a successful writ petition with the Court of Appeal), and prepared the case for well over a hundred hours of depositions that were taken in the following months.

The complex case presented many challenges. Dr. Howard had little memory of meeting with the attorneys or signing the documents. Howard’s wife testified that he was not only a participant in the meetings, but he was a driving force in the estate planning changes. His daughter and the trusts and estates attorneys agreed, stating there were many tax advantages to the transactions.

Challenges Complicate a Complex Case Those challenges presented themselves from the very beginning, when some prospective jurors expressed concerns about Dr. Howard signing documents and now claiming he could not remember signing the documents.

The practicalities of the litigants’ age also proved to be a challenge for the legal team. The two elderly litigants could only testify in the mornings for approximately two hours, so their examinations had to be conducted over multiple mornings.

Gessin says, “The age factor presented significant challenges.

Our client had deep memory issues. Although it was clear these transactions did not reflect his intent, there were a lot of ‘I don’t recall’ statements when asked about the circumstances or details. Understanding how to best present Howard’s testimony at trial was challenging. He was good in the mornings, sharp, but he often started dozing off in the afternoon.”

Barron says, “We informed the judge about the age issue and he allowed Howard to testify before lunch on the days he was scheduled to appear.” The attorneys made a serious effort to make sure he followed what was going on, taking time to get to know him, to get to know what he wanted.

“We learned that he had a specific type of Kona coffee he loved. Every morning we brought in a thermos of his favorite coffee and made sure he was comfortable. You want to make sure every client is engaged, comfortable with the process, and knows what’s going on throughout.”

The Court ruled before trial that both sides would be placed “on a clock,” with each side given thirty hours to present their case, including cross-examinations. With approximately twenty witnesses on the witness list and close to fifteen hundred exhibits on the exhibit list, planning out the examination of each witness was extraordinarily difficult.

There was no room for error. “We finished our case with nine minutes left on the clock,” Gessin says.

Four witnesses testified that Howard was advised by the attorneys before signing the documents.

To combat their testimony the Keller/Anderle attorneys focused on the circumstantial evidence that Howard could not have been advised about the transactions before signing the documents. “We did not want the fact that our client’s signature was on the documents to obscure the fundamental 24

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unfairness of the transactions—which left him with few assets in old age—and the complete failure by those closest to him to look out for his interests,” Barron says.

They argued to the jury that their client’s signature was immaterial because documents were never explained to him, never discussed in any detail with him, and he never had understanding of their effect.

The 60 documents signings occurred in two sessions. The firm methodically dissected the notary log book, emails, and attorney billing records to show that in December 2012 Howard was marched into a conference room and instructed to sign documents in an assembly line fashion without being explained what they were. For the May 2013 signing, they showed that the daughter was put in charge by the trusts and estates lawyers to get her parents’ signatures on the documents. There was no meeting or advisement with the attorneys in May 2013.

“We used the circumstantial evidence to prove that Dr. Howard was not advised about the documents he signed despite four people saying they witnessed him being advised before signing them. While the jury ultimately decided for Dr. Howard’s daughter, but against the former lawyers, this split verdict was still a ‘huge win’ for Keller/Anderle, but even more so for Dr. Howard. This multi-million-dollar case appears to be one of the largest legal malpractice jury verdicts in California in the last five years,” Gessin says.

“Dyed-in-the-Wool Trial Attorneys” Members of Keller/Anderle LLP have more than 400 jury trials among them with more than $925 million in verdicts and judgments. The practice focuses on high-stakes litigation, including commercial, intellectual property, securities, bad faith, white collar criminal defense, class actions, and entertainment/sports.

One of the firm’s strengths is the partnering of litigators with trial attorneys when bringing a case to trial. “The skill set needed to effectively litigate a case often differs from the skill set and presence of a strong trial attorney, but both are vital to winning at trial. Jesse and I have complementary strengths, backgrounds, and perspectives, and we worked to ensure those skills and instincts achieved the best result,” Barron says.

“We win cases because we’re dyed-in-the-wool trial attorneys,” Gessin says. n

Contact Keller/Anderle LLP 18300 Von Karman Ave., Suite 930 Irvine CA 92612 949-476- 8700 www.kelleranderle.com

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Asking “What Makes You Stay?”

How “Stay Interviews” Can Improve Employee Retention and Productivity

by Crystal Enekwa

H

iring interviews and exit interviews are a very common, if not completely unavoidable, part of any employer’s business operations. What is less known and less talked about, however, are stay interviews—even though they could be the most important interviews your organization could ever have. This begs the question: what is a stay interview?

A stay interview is simply asking your employees: “What makes you stay?” Their answers almost always prove a useful tool in employee management.

What It Means to Ask Why Employees Stay In essence, a stay interview is a conversation between a manager and a direct report employee which explores those things that foster the employee’s decision to stay with an employer. A stay interview can also cover more discrete issues like why an employee stays within a particular department, on a project, or with a particular manager or supervisor.

Typically formal, these interviews are intended to promote open and honest dialogue with the employee in order to identify what the employer is currently doing right and 26

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uncover issues that could cause an employee to decide to leave.

As a whole, stay interviews work to improve an employer’s organizational structure, develop more effective policies and procedures, and promote increased employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention.

Unlike a hiring interview where the goal is to figure out whether a candidate is a good fit for your company, or an exit interview where the goal is to learn the root cause for an employee’s decision to leave, a stay interview is intended to explore what it takes to keep an employee. The stay interview focuses on current employees that, as far as the employer knows, have not yet developed a reason to leave.

Many employers rely solely on exit interviews to fix employee turnover issues, but the information gained is often learned far too late to make a difference when it comes to the employee that has chosen to leave. In truth, it is very seldom that an employee who has made the decision to leave will give their employer a chance to change their mind. The stay interview occurs before an employee can get to this point and, if done properly, reduces the probability that the employee will get to the point of wanting to leave.

Why Ask “Why?”

When to Ask

One of the most compelling reasons for incorporating stay interviews is the positive impact that they can have on employee retention. There are high sunk costs associated with recruiting and hiring new employees. Once a company makes this investment in a new hire and cannot retain that employee, all of those resources are essentially wasted. If this cycle happens more than a couple of times a year, the costs become astronomical for an employer.

A stay interview is an important tool in staving off this kind of turnover because it provides employers with specific, relevant, and forward-facing information that enables them to retain practices that need to be retained and fix things that need to be fixed. By identifying this information, employers can increase employee job satisfaction, reduce turnover, and improve employee retention.

Another benefit of the stay interview is increasing employee productivity. “A happy employee is a productive employee,” is often quoted for a reason; that’s because it is true. One of the goals of the stay interview is that it promotes employee engagement and satisfaction.

More than the typical employee satisfaction surveys and questionnaires, stay interviews are more intentional, intimate, and interactive. For these reasons, they are usually more effective. Employees are more fulfilled when they work for an employer that cares about their needs and makes a marked effort to engage them in the improvement of company culture. With stay interviews, employers can assess the degree of employee satisfaction and engagement that exists in their company and can take immediate and relevant steps to address concerns in order to promote employee happiness and, in turn, productivity.

Again, the nature of the business will dictate the frequency with which stay interviews can and should be conducted. A good rule of thumb is at least once a year, but it can be more frequent if your business model or turnover history calls for it.

It is important to conduct these interviews around the same time for fairness and efficiency.

Before You Ask Why Even knowing all the benefits of a stay interview, it is important not to just jump into the process. Before conducting stay interviews, you need to ensure that you are implementing the best process for your organization. A few considerations to keep in mind:

Who to Ask The scope of employees with whom you should conduct stay interviews will generally depend on your organizational structure and business needs. While the focus is mostly on key, valued employees, you can choose to broaden the target group according to your needs.

A typical target group for stay interviews are those highly skilled, high-performing, and high-potential employees whose loss and replacement costs your business financially and otherwise. You can also focus on employee groups with the highest rates of turnover, as there may be unknown issues impacting that group.

Who Does the Asking?

It is usual for the stay interview to be conducted by a direct supervisor or manager. This is because an employee’s manager is usually the one that can most readily have an impact on the employee’s everyday working conditions. It is also usually a more familiar relationship, so the employee can be candid and provide your organization with honest and useful information.

It is important to note, however, that the existing nature of the relationship between a manager and employee should be taken into consideration. If there is already a negative or distrustful relationship, you should strongly consider the alternative of using a Human Resources manager or outsourcing to an external agency.

You’ve Asked … Now What?

Don’t just talk the talk. Your organization must have the intention of following through before you decide to implement stay interviews. Once you start asking employees about what makes them stay and what it would take to continue to keep them, they expect to see evidence that there is an intent to do the things that they have suggested. Failing to follow through only leaves disenchanted employees, which may leave you worse off than when you started.

Conclusion The choice to incorporate stay interviews as an entirely new way to engage employees is not an easy one or one that should be taken lightly. But because stay interviews have the potential to positively impact employee retention, happiness, and productivity, you should strongly consider adding them to your operations. However, you should not proceed without considering all the potential implications of implementing stay interviews.  Crystal Enekwa is an attorney at Fisher & Phillips LLP. Crystal counsels and represents employers before state and federal courts in a broad range of labor and employment matters including trade secret protection, retaliation, discrimination, harassment, employmentrelated torts, and wage and hour issues. Learn more at https://www. fisherphillips.com.

Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 185, 2019

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