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If we were all lawyers, we wouldn’t need any.  (Excepting, of course, the well-advised and -tested adage situation, “… fool for a client.”)

Frustration between a lawyer and  his/her client often arises from these two issues:

1.  The latter’s lack of familiarity with legal terminology/process and the attorney’s time constrictions towards explaining such.  It’s my experience that people are now self informing themselves before consulting with a lawyer.  That’s a good thing.  An informed client will more likely feel empowered and trust an experienced attorney.

2. Aside from the customary attorney bio(s) on a law firm’s site, there are no qualification verification links.

Addressing the first issue, that of legalese v. commonspeak: Recommendations for a lawyer’s resource page:

Difference Between.  Every day, Difference Between posts (or emails to subscribers) a sample of their incredibly comprehensive content, imparting  eponymous information.  Today’s serendipitous sample is: Difference Between:  Lien and a Levy.

NYS Unified Court System’s Glossary of Legal Terms.  Specific to New York but generally applicable to all States, this succinct, mini legal dictionary allows anyone to look up legal terms used in courts – from documents to procedures. Compiled specifically for the layperson, the NYS Glossary is easy to access, read and comprehend.

The Free Dictionary:  This site holds massive, categorized (legal, medical and financial dictionaries, as well as an encyclopedia, Wikipedia and standard dictionary/thesaurus) links.  (Visually, it could be a laid out a bit more appealingly but it works.  Well.)

On the second issue of qualification verification, potential clients ( having become more self-reliant in their search for quality legal representation) are not making experienced-attorney presumptions.  Post your quals on Martindale, Lawyers and LegalMatch.  From sole practitioner to international law firm attorney, these basic listings by themselves afford potential clients the assurance that their possible attorney of choice is, in fact licensed, experienced and in good standing.  (Obviously, more than 1-person practices vet their partners, associates, of counsels… But how often?)

We can easily drill down to more recommendations and advice on this topic but taking care of these two areas: effecting client self-reliance and quality assurance, is today, mandatory.

BNI: A step ahead.

As always, stay safe.

Are celebrity offenders treated differently from the “average Jane/Joe” offenders? If so, how and why?

There was a general consensus (Congress: take note) amongst us that celebrity offenders are treated differently.  Weaving this agreement, with the how and why,  is no more a perfect example than the  past Friday Tiger Woods incident.  The facts, as we know them to be at this time, are:

1. Tiger Woods was driving his Lincoln Escalade SUV on his property at approx. 2:35 a.m. Friday and somehow hit a fire hydrant and his neighbor’s tree.  His wife, swinging a handy golf club, smashed out the vehicle’s window(s) to, purportedly, rescue her husband.

2. Although police arrived on the scene shortly after the incident, as reported by the Associated Press,  Florida State Troopers have been denied follow-up access to Mr. Woods three times, thus far.

3. At 2:00 p.m. today, via Twitter and his Web site, Mr. Woods, vaguely commented that he had embarrassed his family and “it” would never happen again.

4. His privately retained attorney, Mark NeJame, stated that Mr. Woods had complied with Florida requirements for this type of incident, which calls only for the presentation for review by police of the driver’s license, vehicle’s registration and proof of insurance.

Points 1, 2 and 3, while curious indulgences, don’t raise the questions that Point 4 smacks one over the head with.  I.e.  a) The tree was not on Mr. Woods’ property; the damage, thusly,  was to another’s property.   Did the neighbor simply accept the loss?  b) The on scene police investigation yielded that Mr. Woods was in serious condition and at times unconscious.  An RMA was obviously accepted by police, then why has the follow-up investigation by FSP not been allowed? (We may do things a bit differently here in NY but even as a CYA measure, a detective would have gotten a sign off on that issue.)  and c) Can a private citizen own a fire hydrant in Florida? If not, can Mr. Woods simply blow off the Florida State Police when municipal property is involved?

The voyeuristic appeal of the Tiger Woods case aside, it comes down to a call for fairness.  Had you or your neighbor or your son’s teacher, presumably all “average Joes and Janes”, crashed a vehicle into someone else’s property and taken out a fire hydrant, on the busiest news day, a local field reporter, shivering in her network provided strappy heels, would be busy earning a day’s salary hunting down an articulate neighbor to interview on camera.  On a really slow, uneventful day, she might even be on the scene with police still present, pointedly ignoring her questions.  The camera guy would have, at least once, panned over the offender’s mailbox or front door; wherever the (alleged) defendant’s address is posted. 

So why the difference in treatment?  I don’t think we, and certainly not the Florida State Police, will be satisfied until a complete investigation has resolved the matter.

Perhaps Mr. NeJame is preparing Mrs. Woods with the Bullwinkle defense.  That would certainly explain the club-wielding glass party.  Judge me guilty now, but I would have done the same under similar circumstances.

In the meanwhile, we’re sure the local crime reporters will continue to listen in to police radios, especially in celebrity enclaves. Well, we, along with celebrity news reporter, TMZ,  might as well all understand what is being transmitted.  Below are commonly used (generally) nationwide police 10 codes:

* 10-1 poor reception
* 10-2 good reception
* 10-3 stop transmitting
* 10-4 message received, affirmative, ok
* 10-5 relay this information to ___.
* 10-6 busy
* 10-7 out of service
* 10-8 in service
* 10-9 please repeat your message
* 10-10 negative
* 10-12 standby
* 10-13 civilians present and listening
* 10-15 en route to station with suspect
* 10-18 urgent
* 10-19 return to station
* 10-20 specify location/my location is ___.
* 10-21 place a phone call to ___.
* 10-22 disregard
* 10-23 stand by on this frequency (also “On scene” in some areas)
* 10-27 vehicle registration request
* 10-28 arrests/warrants on driver’s license
* 10-29 arrests/ warrants on the vehicle
* 10-32 gun
* 10-33 emergency traffic follows, hold routine messages
* 10-34 frequency open (cancels 10-33)
* 10-36 what is the correct time of day?
* 10-39 false alarm, premises was occupied
* 10-40 false alarm, no activity, premises appears secure
* 10-41 begin watch
* 10-42 end watch
* 10-45 fueling vehicle
* 10-49 en route to assignment
* 10-50 accident
* 10-51 tow truck needed
* 10-52 ambulance needed
* 10-53 road blocked at ___.
* 10-54 animals on highway
* 10-55 security check
* 10-57 hit-and-run accident
* 10-58 direct traffic
* 10-59 escort
* 10-60 squad in vicinity, lock-out
* 10-61 personnel in area
* 10-62 reply to message
* 10-63 clear to copy info?
* 10-64 message for delivery
* 10-65 net message assignment
* 10-66 net message cancellation
* 10-67 person calling for help
* 10-68 dispatch message
* 10-69 message received
* 10-70 prowler, fire alarm
* 10-71 gun involved, advise nature of fire
* 10-72 shooting, fire progress report
* 10-73 smoke report
* 10-74 negative
* 10-75 in contact with ___.
* 10-76 en route
* 10-77 ETA ___.
* 10-78 need assistance
* 10-79 bomb threat, coroner’s case
* 10-80 bomb has exploded
* 10-81 breathalyzer report
* 10-82 reserve lodging
* 10-83 work school crossing at ___.
* 10-84 if meeting ___, advise ETA
* 10-85 delay due to ___.
* 10-86 officer on-duty
* 10-87 pickup
* 10-88 present phone number of ___.
* 10-89 bomb threat
* 10-90 bank alarm at ___.
* 10-91 pick up prisoner
* 10-92 improperly parked vehicle
* 10-93 blockage
* 10-94 drag racing
* 10-95 prisoner/subject in custody
* 10-96 psych patient
* 10-97 check signal (“On Scene” in CA and other areas)
* 10-98 prison/jail break
* 10-99 wanted/stolen record
* 10-100 dead body
* 10-200 alarm

Bulletin’s site of the week: gizmodo.com. Best tech site online.

BNI Investigators: Street smart; Web savvy.

As always, stay safe.

- Adverse Witnesses

- Cooperative Witnesses

- Debtors

- Clients

- Heirs

The difference between a successful locate and an expensive failure is how much attention and care is given to a case.  Obvious, right?  But it has to be the right attention, which is a tight focus, and the proper care; to detail. 

The starting point in a successful locate is to gather as much information from the originating requestor as possible:

Name: AKAs, Extensions (Jr., III, MD, Esq…), Maiden form, prior marriage form

Address: Last known contact date at this address, form of contact, (e.g. mail, phone… ), contact outcome, ( i.e. returned mail, no response, etc.).

Phone Number:  Last known phone number, cell, landline, Skype, other internet phone.

Personal identifiers: DOB, SSN, TIN, DL#, Medicare/caid recipient? School i.d.?

Contacts: Family, friends, employers, coworkers

Prior lawsuits: If known, to include form of involvement.

Civil records: Is/was the subject married, divorced? Has s/he declared bankruptcy or have judgments, liens… against him/her?

Criminal records:  Almost every state now allows for an inmate lookup.  (If a person is missing for a considerable period of time, there are only so many scenarios, short of a bizarre abduction, to account for this disappearance: a move, death or incarceration.)

A good investigator will then form a profile of the missing subject and conduct an address history search which will generally yield a pattern.  (We’ll get to that in the next para.)  The address history may not contain the subject’s current address. (All databases, from DMVs to privately held, fee-based information companies operate within the limitations of data input regularity.  The subject may not release his/her most current address to an agency.  P.O. box registration is no assurance of a current address either.  If it is a planned moved, one simply has to apply and receive the P.O. box prior to moving and generate forwarding from the old address.)

Having created the profile, the investigator now looks for the pattern.  Is the subject constantly relocating?  Staying within a certain geographical area?  Is s/he beholden to a mortgage?   Has s/he foreclosed?  An address history search will also almost always reveal family member information. 

Once the profile and pattern have been formed and detected, the investigator must decide on a course of action. The approach will determine if the locate will be successful.   Each investigator has his/her own technique but there is a different methodology applied between “friendly” locates and those involving people who’ve intentionally chosen to stay or go off the grid.   A sharp investigator will know how to entice a friendly subject and not tip off an adverse one.   That knowledge comes with experience and skill and a great deal of curiosity. 

As a final step, an investigator may have to physically check an address to verify the subject’s address.  By arriving to this point, all other methods of locating have been exhausted but valuable knowledge on the  subject gained. (The location should be thoroughly researched before heading out to the field.  Showing up on a private road on 2 acres of land in the middle of nowhere is usually not going to result in a productive session.  Suggestion: Google Earth.  There should also be an established strategy to observe the location, discreetly,  within a restricted time span of when the subject’s presence is most anticipated.  If covert observation is not possible, the game plan must be thought out prior to, and include at least Plans A, B and C. )   Below; lack of a plan:

Finally, if your investigator returns with an address, ask that it be “verified”.  If there is  no confirmation that the subject is at the reported location, and the requestor is not made aware of the nonverification, a costly situation for the requestor may result, financially and with regard to negotiation stance.   If  the locate results are not verifiable, (and that occurs, although that number should be in the single digits, percentage-wise, in a competent investigator’s record), the requester will at least have that knowledge with which to make decisions.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Net savvy.

1. Your client’s emergency contacts.

Situation: On numerous occasions we’ve had to locate a client that has moved without notifying his/her attorney. 

Recommendation:  Obtain the complete contact information of at least 2 relatives and 2 friends NOT living with the client.  (Drilling deeper,  obtain the DOBs of the emergency contacts.  This may appear to be a rather aggressive suggestion but,  at least 2 of these 4 contacts should be within the 25 - 65 years old range.  Obtain an email address!  They’re are usually traceable. )

2.  The witnesses.

Situation: I’m sure you’ve all seen a PAR w/a witness listed as “Johnny, 917-555-1234″. (or same, similarly incomplete police report).   No address, no surname and a cell phone that may or may not be active in 2 weeks, let alone 2 years.

Recommendation(s):  Call “Johnny” immediately.  Obviously the first objective is to determine his knowledge of events regarding your client’s matter.  1. Obtain his contact information and an identifier.  (Again we suggest DOB.  Many people are reluctant to release their SSN.)  2. Obtain an emergency contact for him.   3.  Check the contact info every 6  months until the case is resolved. 

3. Professional photographs of the accident scene, especially if citing defect or disrepair. 

Situation:   Several years ago, we had an exterior premises  trip and fall situation wherein we were called to investigate the scene approximately 4 months post-incident.  The injured person made several natural and unintentional mistakes: 1. Not realizing the extent of his injuries, he did not call 911.  There were no on-site witnesses and no responder witnesses, and  2. When he returned a week or so later, after receiving medical attention, he’d taken photos of the accident scene but the shots contained shadows running across the defect rendering it difficult to determine the exact nature and severity of the  defect.   He was to go back and re-shoot the scene but did not.  4 months later, no defect, no repair record.  The homeowner, of course, knew nothing.  Good luck with an area canvass among neighbors.

Recommendation: Send out a professional to photograph the accident scene ASAP.  The defect may “disappear” and there may not always be a repair record. 

From our good friend, http://www.stus.com:

4.  If it seems weird; it probably is.  Check all possible contributory factors.

Situation:  Claimant fell UP the stairs.  She wasn’t carrying bags, wore flat shoes; no drugs or alcohol were involved. No defects, liquids or debris on the ground.

Recommendation: Measure everything.  After taking detailed step and rail measurements, we realized that a) the steps were unequally sized – from the height between them to the protruding lip of each step (which was excessive at the point where she was caused to trip and b) the rail would have been out of reach from her position regardless, with no secondary, wall rail in place.   Rarely do people slip, trip or fall for no reason (unless there is an underlying medical condition.)

5. Always check to see if drugs and alcohol were involved. (Defense)

Situation:  Building maintenance crew member claims to have fallen off of a defective ladder.  The ACR showed extremely high bp readings; 3 taken at 15 minute intervals by responding EMS.   Beyond what would be expected even in a stressful situation.

Recommendation: Check the medical history.  The individual was on Lipitor and had not taken his medication as prescribed for several days preceding his fall.  (He’d also commented to several co-workers earlier on the day of incident that he was feeling “dizzy”.)  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ladder, the area surrounding it, nor was he working at a height requiring specialized safety equipment.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Net savvy.

As always, stay safe.

First, a primer from those legal marketing gurus at The Rainmaker Institute:

Now. let’s identify and resolve several common challenges to achieving your firm’s elevated financial objectives:

Challenge 1:  Legal advertising rules are so onerous (especially in NYS) as to make almost all legal marketing ads appear the same. 

Resolution: Study your competitors’ advertising and do something different.

DON’T use tired phrases such as “25 years of combined experience”, “our competitive team of attorneys” and “we’re here to help you”.   

DO use unique phrasing, e.g., “Injured? Before you talk to an insurance adjuster or hire a lawyer, email or call us for our free pamphlet/book/DVD on what to do if you are injured.  An informed client does better for himself.”

CHALLENGE 2 :  Differentiating yourself from the rest of the legal crowd.

Resolution:  Write a book (even one of 10 pages). 

DON’T make it full of terms that laypeople don’t really understand, such as “former prosecutor” or “I’m a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association”. 

DO initially use self-publishing companies.  (LuLu and Cafepress come to mind.)  They will accommodate you with everything from POD (print on demand), PQN (print quantity needed) to issuing copyright-protecting ISBNs ( International Standard Book Number).  Include your contact info on the inside back cover.  (Don’t presume people will Google you.)

CHALLENGE 3: Taking on C and D quality clients to pay the rent.

Resolution: Curb the number of these cases you take on.  It’ll expend time better spent on bigger cases.

DON’T take on more than you can handle. There is a marketing ROI standard that has withstood the test of time: 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients. (This includes repeats, referrals, networking… )  Also, don’t immediately offer a free consultation in these cases.  Do you really have the time?

DO make potential C and D clients work for your representation.  If they are serious enough, they’ll take the time to educate themselves by going through your materials (have a packet handy) and make it absolutely clear that you are a legal advocate, not the Library of Congress or the help desk to be called 10 times a week.

CHALLENGE 4:  Making yourself appear to be King/Queen of the Hill in your niche field.

Resolution:  Let the words speak for you.

DON’T declare yourself an expert. (Let your writing, appearances, bragging rights… do it for you.)

DO publish a monthly newsletter.  List your highest award settlements (obviously observing the client privacy regs).  Keep yourself  in the public eye.  Create mini videos (about 3 mins. is the average online attention span) addressing your area of law without appearing as an “As Sold On TV” commercial.  Put several vids up on your site.  Offer to speak, gratis,  as an expert (don’t use the word) on radio, tv, online shows.

With the long holiday weekend coming up, there’ll be plenty fo time to review this marketing advice.  It works.   I published this post, I’m prepared to back it up.  Just email editor@beaconbulletin.com  and we’ll send you a free marketing checklist.

BNI Operatives: Street smart: Web savvy.

Have a safe, healthy and relaxing Fourth!