The
following is a guest blog post by Julie Brook,
Esq., Legal Editor with the CEB Blog.
The contract binding you and your client is the fee agreement. This is not the time for simple boilerplate and formulaic thinking: Draft your fee agreements with care and attention to the particular case at hand.
As a general rule, attorney and client may contractually agree to the measure and mode of an attorney’s compensation. CCP §1021. Although statutes, case law, and rules of professional conduct may put some substantial limits on fee agreements, they are nonetheless contracts.
Many attorneys prefer to set out their fee agreements in numbered paragraphs. Some attorneys prefer to draft their agreements in a letter that the client signs to indicate his...
Read More »
In
2011, ALPS formalized its commitment to education and risk
management with the advent of ALPS Educational Services (AES). With
over two decades of working in all phases of the professional
liability insurance industry — from underwriting to sales, to
marketing and education — there are real benefits ALPS brings to
our policyholders and the legal profession. Not only does ALPS
provide premier protection to its policyholders, but we have always
been committed to Continuing Legal Education and risk management
programs.
Wow!
My second post here at ALPS411. I was thrilled to be invited back
and decided to follow up my last post on 
The
past few years have been a bit rough in terms of the economy and
there are few signs that things will dramatically improve anytime
soon. The national debt continues to rise and there are still way
too many who are unemployed or under employed. For those who went
into this downturn living paycheck to paycheck, the past few years
have been particularly hard. One lesson that can be taken from all
this is the following. There is value in planning ahead in order to
be financially prepared for the unexpected. So, how prepared are
you? Not surprisingly, I see the failure of an attorney to
appropriately plan ahead, not only as a financial misstep, but a
risk management concern as well.
A
typical law firm is not a place where everyone sits around all day
drinking coffee and catching up on the latest gossip. More often
than not, attorneys and staff are balancing several client matters
at any given time. I suspect many feel as if there is never enough
time because the workload simply seems to never have an end point.
One ramification of this reality can be that attention to certain
seemingly minor details goes by the wayside.
It's
hard to believe that ALPS has been around for twenty-four (24)
years as of this past March 1st. Over that time we have
amassed a lot of experience, mostly good and some not so good, but
on the whole it allowed us to become the best prepared Lawyers'
Professional Liability Insurer in the country to meet the needs of
lawyers in rural areas. During that time we've gotten very good at
defending lawyers when malpractice claims arise and to quote Kenny
Rogers, "We know when to hold-em and we know when to fold-em." I
don't mean to sound glib, but this experience has allowed us to
produce some of the highest quality live CLE events in the country
for our affiliated Bars and thousands of lawyers throughout the
country.
We
have all made referrals. For some, making a referral is almost a
daily occurrence. Lawyers often make referrals after work is
declined. Staff may make them in response to cold calls or to
clients who need a service that the firm doesn’t provide. Referrals
are sometimes made during dinner conversations, at social events,
or after a presentation made to the general public. We may pass
along a name to a family member, a friend, a colleague, and
especially good clients. After all, we do want to make sure our
good clients are well taken care of. Too often, however, referrals
seem to be made without any thought of the potential malpractice
exposure. Is such casualness justifiable? Unfortunately, the answer
may be no.
Love
My Smartphone: What’s not to love about a smartphone,
it’s a great tool for keeping up while on the go. And smartphones
aren’t just phones, they’re computers. The use of smart phones and
other mobile devices like iPads is pervasive, and lawyers too have
embraced these devices. But like all technology used by lawyers, we
have certain ethical duties that apply. State bars have
consistently held that the use of technology, such as e-mail,
cloud-computing and portable devices requires consideration of the
rules of professional responsibility addressing competency and
confidentiality. Specifically, layers using this technology should
be competent in understanding the technology (Rule 1.1
Competence) and how its use might impact the client...
When
discussing past malpractice claims or disciplinary matters with
attorneys, I often hear statements along the lines of “I knew I
shouldn’t have agreed to take that client on” or “That was one of
those no good deed goes unpunished situations.” Effective risk
management begins with client screening, and those statements
strongly suggested that there was room for improvement in that
area. If the above statements ring true for you now and again,
regardless of whether a claim or complaint ever arose, consider
taking some time to reflect upon your own client screening
practices.
We’ve
all seen the ads. Don’t buy from the little guy when the big boys
have so much more to offer. Of course, how many of us truly foresaw
AIG’s troubles, the bankruptcy of GM, the collapse of Lehman
Brothers, or that even a few large insurance companies would buy
small banks in order to qualify for TARP funds in order to shore up
the books. I don’t know about you, but I was not exactly pleased
about the size of all those government bailouts. As I see it, big
definitely doesn’t equate with better, more secure, well managed or
anything else. Big is just that, big. I’m not impressed by the size
of any particular corporation. 
To
describe the 2011 year from the claims perspective one would have
to use words like challenging, exigent, disappointing, and painful.
It was a year that saw attorneys around the country being
challenged by clients and non-clients for the professional services
they rendered. A sign of the times, these individuals or companies
were attempting to abate their own losses largely brought on by bad
economic conditions. As might be expected in a tough economy,
people often seek a deep pocket to try and recoup losses.
Unfortunately, lawyers are near the top, if not at the top, of the
deep-pocketed list. Interestingly enough, a recent 
For
the ALPS underwriters, 2011 proved to be a very interesting year.
As in years past, we experienced new carriers entering some of the
states where we do business, while other carriers left some of
those same states due to adverse claims developments. Competition
remained fierce throughout the year even though claims frequency
and defense costs appeared to be climbing industry-wide.
Predictions of a hardening of the insurance market were heard more
often, however the market remained soft. Overall our continued
coverage premium remained strong and the acquisition of new policy
premium was successful.
Entering
its third year as a member of the ALPS family of professional
services, 
I
have always been blessed with excellent vision. In fact, I
used to play a game with my kids, which was basically to see who
could first read a sign in the distance. I never lost that
one; but they kept trying. Of course, and as is to be
expected, presbyopia finally settled in. While I still have
great long distance vision, trying to read a wine list in low light
has become more than a mild irritant and I’m rather frustrated
about that. If that weren’t enough, well, let’s just say the kids
feel like their comeuppance has finally arrived and a little
ribbing comes my way now and again. That’s ok; I’ll still
claim them as mine. Now, a fair question might be what does this
have to do practicing law? The answer is quite a bit
actually. 
Recently
one of ALPS' Claims Attorneys, Mike Flaherty, presented to the
Knoxville Chapter of the ALA on the issue of suing your clients for
fees. I developed content for that presentation and heard from Mike
that the session was well attended by ALA members. In fact, Mike
was slated for a 30 minute presentation, but because there were so
many questions, he stayed for a full hour. Obviously this is a
burning topic for legal administrators and attorneys right now. I’d
like to share my tips on this issue to help you avoid the risks
that are incurred if you are faced with suing your clients for
fees. In addition to the tips below for collecting your fees, take
a look at 
Stakeholders of
law firms are often taken aback when they learn they are
responsible both ethically and civilly for those individuals
working in or for their firm, including their fellow stakeholders.
A complete analysis of how and why is beyond the scope of this
article. Suffice it to say, you may not be as safe as you think you
are.
Websites,
every business needs one, and lawyers are no
exception. Websites are in wide use within the legal
profession and for good reason. After all, who takes the time
to pick up the yellow pages anymore? Many homes have even
opted out of receiving the yellow pages all together, ours
included. Prospective clients routinely search out lawyers on the
internet and visit their websites. And for business development and
marketing reasons lawyers want prospective clients to be able to
contact them directly. As lawyers, however, we need to be
aware of the potential risks a web presence can create that can
lead to problems down the road. One common misstep that we
repeatedly see is the posting of individual attorney e-mail
hyperlinks on a firm’s...
On
March 9, 2012 a diverse group of experts in the legal profession
will gather at the DoubleTree in Missoula for a full-day Continuing
Legal Education seminar entitled “From the Courtroom to the
Classroom: A Multi-Dimensional Look at the Legal Profession in the
21st Century.” Headlining the event is world-renowned
trial lawyer and educator, Ed Moriarity. Born in Butte, Montana,
Mr. Moriarity has practiced law for nearly four decades in the
American West. He started his practice in Cheyenne, Wyoming and
went on to work with famed trial lawyer, Gerry Spence, as a partner
in his Jackson Hole firm, Spence, Moriarity & Shockey. Mr.
Moriarity and Mr. Spence worked together on many high profile
cases, including the defense of former Filipina...
Powered by Compendium