Author: JMF

As a follow up to my previous post about search engine optimization about starting a law firm, I wanted to share some interesting news.  Apparently Microsoft’s Bing has teemed up with China’s major search engine, Baidu.

The search engine prognosticators appear to feel that this is a major step for Microsoft to compete with Google.  As I posted, Google still has a large market share in the search engine department, but Bing has been making in-roads.

It may just be me, but I don’t tend to focus on Bing much for law firm search engine optimization purposes for my website, flanderslawfirm.com.  Maybe I should?

I wanted my readers to be aware of this case, Attorney Grievance Commission v. Gregory Raymond Keiner, where an associate attorney, in preparation for opening a law practice, was disbarred in Maryland for destroying client files and information from the law firm he worked at.

According to the grievance commission report linked to above, Keiner was an associate attorney at the Law Offices of Evan K. Thalenberg from 2002-2008.  He worked as a litigation associate in what appears to be a busy and successful lead paint, personal injury law firm.  The disciplinary commission opinion states that he was making $268,7000 in annual income in 2008 – the year he planned to leave the firm and open his own law practice.  He was attempting to bring clients with him and purposely falsified client files in the possession of the firm before doing so.  The opinion states that he deleted information such as the blood level toxicity reports on several children so that it appeared they did not have poisoning.  The opinion also states that from approximately June 2008 to March 2009, Keiner altered or deleted client documents and files in an effort to make it appear that the cases were weak in terms of whether his firm should handle them.  Three judges voted to suspended Keiner while the majority of four voted in favor of disbarment.  Keiner argued that his misconduct was caused by depression and alcohol dependency, but judges did not find that the dependency caused a “serious and debilitating mental condition.”

When I first read a article about the opinion at BNA.com I was surprised that an associate trying to start his own law firm would be disbarred for trying to take client files with him.  It seemed a bit steep.  But, when you go read the opinion, it becomes pretty clear that what Keiner was doing was in violation of Maryland criminal and ethical law and that his actions were, in my opinion, over-the-top unethical.

I wrote a post here in the past about opening a law practice and informing your clients of your move when you start a law firm or relocate to a new state.  There are clear rules on what needs to be done in this type of situation and the rules certainly have nothing to do with destroying client information and stealing client files from your old firm.

This case should be a lesson on what not to do for any attorney out there who is thinking about starting a law firm.

Starting a law firm means working efficiently with your time.  After all, most practicing attorneys bill-by-the-hour and, at a certain point, using your time in most efficient fashion means earning more money.

To that end, most law firms have developed a system of using prepared forms.  The form file is a place where hard copies (or, as is more likely in this day in age, digital copies) are commonly stored.  Often, the the staff – paralegal, admin, and other support – will be responsible for the maintenance and storage of the forms file.

Examples of documents that would be in a form file in a family law practice are a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, Summons, Certificate of Service, Petition for Provisional Orders, Petitions for Restraining Order or Domestic Relations Order.  All of these are documents that are used often in a family law practice.

Once the attorney has drafted these documents to his or her liking and in compliance with the law, the forms can be saved and stored for future use.  The forms will have the basic legal information that must be in every document.  For example, a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage will contain things like a caption, the cause number, jurisdictional requirements, a general statement for reason for divorce (“irretrievable breakdown”) and other pertinent legal information.  As an aside, if you are not sure what is required in a specific form, your local law library is sure to have many such forms in horn books or pre-prepared for the general public.  The forms will not contain basic client information like names, addresses, age, date of birth, social security numbers, etc.  That information can be plugged into the form by staff after the initial client interview.

I often conduct the initial client interviews when the client first comes in.  Assuming the client is going to hire me and pay me a retainer, I either take down their information myself or have someone on the staff do it.  I also have pre-made intake forms that ask basic client questions like name, address, etc.  Once I have conducted the interview, I will then ask the staff member to make a basic divorce form packet for me so that I can review it and then file it with the court.

Using the form file in this way saves a great deal of time and is very efficient.  The client is also happy because his legal documents get prepared quickly and he can sign the documents quickly. Using a forms file also means that you prepare documents more quickly and may be able to meet a quickly approaching court deadline – like a statute of limitations. Attorneys certainly do not want to be working from scratch when they are under a tight deadline.

Knowing how to work quickly and efficiently is the name of the game.  Knowing how to start a law firm and what it takes is an essential part of running a thriving law practice.  Over time, efficiency becomes more and more important as your schedule gets busier and busier.  Being very busy is a blessing and curse.  However, having a forms file will always be a good thing.

If anybody would like to post on this topic, I’d welcome the discussion.

I was combing through the ABA blawg listings when I came upon a popular article listing link. Doing a quick perusal on what was popular, I noticed an article that asks “if you had to do it all over again, would you choose law school?”  Certainly an interesting topic.

Now, I generally hate these kinds of backward thinking, retrospective articles or blog posts. They cheapen things.

I will admit don’t always like practicing law.  At times I have hated it.  There is nothing I hate more than a client who calls constantly for no other reason than to have someone to yell at.  That sucks.  I also hate opposing counsel who seem to enjoy rubbing my nose in the dirt because they can. That sucks.

But, I refuse to look back on my decision as a mistake.  Practicing law can be a lot of fun.  I don’t have any experience as in-house counsel or working in the public sector.  I’ve never been a prosecutor.  I don’t know much about politics.  But, all that stuff sounds interesting – and it’s out there if I want it.

For now, what I do want is to run the show.  I want to build something.  I want success and I want failure.  That is life.

I was riding my bike this morning and I had the thought:  “if BIGLAW offered me $100,000 right now to come work for them, would I take it?”  The answer, I am happy to say, was emphatically “no”.  Furthermore, the answer is no because I still like being a lawyer.  I will admit that I have only been at this for 3+ years, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of somebody coming into my office, asking for my advice, paying a retainer, and letting me be of service to them.  What other professions gets to do that?

Talking with my family members who are not attorneys, I know that they don’t always like their jobs.  I know they have also had some bad jobs where they are mistreated, bored, under-paid, and over-worked.  Guess what?  They are not lawyers.  They are just people grinding it out and using their chosen degrees.  I’ll be the first to admit, work can suck.  Plain and simple.  As my dad says, work is a four letter word.

Despite all of this, I can honestly say that I am excited about starting a law firm and trying my darndest to make it.  Maybe I won’t.  Maybe I will give up and regret the decisions I have made.  But, I doubt it.  There are times in life when you get that little feeling that what you are doing is right.  I know that, for me, starting a law firm is right for me and having a law degree was a good decision.

So, let’s here from you:  would you choose law school again?

As a legal blogger and somebody who is still wrapping his mind around the virtual world, I wanted to clue readers in on a great article in the Minnesota Bench & Bar on Social Media for Lawyers.

I don’t have much to say other than it’s a good article on the issues (confidentiality, conflict of interest, possible litigation) involved with lawyer use of social media.  I won’t add commentary, go read the article for yourself.