Articles
Question: How can I get rid of old files and save storage costs?
Answer: The question is a great question! Unfortunately, the answer is not always simple. Here are some observations, however, that might put the issue into perspective.
1. Bring in outside people to do this task; do not disturb the normal flow of your office procedures and current work flow. Engage a disabled person. This provides the person(s) so engaged with an income s/he might not otherwise have and you can generally pay a lower rate than for other folks.
2. Consider using a photocopy machine. Some large companies provide the scanning capability and do not charge a fee unless and until a photocopy is actually made. Scanning and placing files into a .pdf format is not deemed printing photocopies.
3. Begin with the oldest files first, reduce storage space and thereby save on real estate costs.
4. Be sure to have a lawyer or someone with the requisite knowledge review the files and remove all original documents before destruction of the files after scanning.
5. Consult the Rules of Professional Conduct and ethics opinions of your jurisdiction to verify the time for retention of files. After this date and your scanning process, destroy the files.
6. Do more than merely place files and old boxes into a dumpster. Consider hiring a file storage house to shred your tossed files.
7. After all this, consider the following observation by a colleague: “I am in the arduous process of scanning older files and so far, this is what I’ve found out: I have scanned 9,261 pages which is about 270 Mb of data. This is 179 files (about 130 client matters), which fit into about 5 1/2 bankers’ boxes. All of these files were scanned into .pdf format. I have created an archive spreadsheet in Excel, so it is easy to track a document’s location.
Obviously, at this rate a CD is the optimal storage media, because a DVD would basically be too much. Good luck, it’s pretty time consuming.”
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Are lawyers more or less ethical than taxi companies? The rules of professional conduct in most States require that only one client be billed at one time. In other words, if your agreement with client A says that you will bill them for the time spent on their matter, and you have a similar agreement with client B, then you can bill only one client for each minute of time. (more…)
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September 27, 2005
New Business Advice Column for Attorneys Launches in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
Readers of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly opened their papers yesterday to find a new business advice column for attorneys, written by one of the country’s top law business experts, Ed Poll, JD, MBA. CMC.
The column can also be read on the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly website www.masslaw.com.
Ed Poll is a leading authority in the field of law practice management and the President of Law Biz Management Co., a firm that consults with and coaches lawyers and law firms throughout the United States, Mexico, and England. He is the author of several best-selling books on the topics of law practice management, including his new book, Selling Your Law Practice, just released in September.
Poll first became involved with disaster preparedness as a result of 9/11. At the time, many of his large firm clients found themselves unprepared for disasters. Poll launched a roundtable of these firms to create a template for future preparedness. As a result, many of these larger firms are now better prepared for larger disasters.
Yesterday’s column reflected some of Poll’s lessons, both past and present.
For more information on Ed Poll, please go to www.lawbiz.com or call 1-800-837-5880.
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When discussing flat or fixed fees, it seems to me that the number of hours to be devoted to the matter is irrelevant. If you compute the flat fee based on the number of hours you anticipate and, further, you include that in your discussion with the client (suggesting that the fee will increase if the anticipated number of hours exceeds the estimate), the picture begins to look like hourly billing. Traditionally, hourly billing fees require deposit of retainers into the trust account first, then withdrawal and deposit into the general account once the fee has been earned.
The real issue, I believe, is when the fee is earned. Whenever earned, however you describe it, it’s yours and MUST be withdrawn from the client’s trust account. Otherwise, it’s commingling which violates the RPCs. (more…)
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Question: When can a flat fee or a retainer be placed into a general account or withdrawn from a client’s trust account?
The answer generally is not found in the Rules of Professional Conduct, though some ethics opinions of local bar associations come close to helping us. The answer generally is found in your engagement agreement.
What do you provide in your agreement? Almost anything (except unconscionable or unreasonable fees) can be negotiated and approved, even with 20/20 hindsight judicial review.
Thus, if you charge a flat fee and agree that it is earned on receipt, it will probably be accepted. I think the better practice, however, would be to deposit the flat fee into a clients’ trust account and then withdraw it on the happening of an event such as a date certain, the filing of a complaint, the signing of a settlement or merger agreement or some other event specific.
Even retainer fees can be deposited into a general account if the agreement says that the retainer is not for work to be done in the future but for the lawyer being engaged (and therefore not available to another party, either an adversary or a third party unrelated to the current situation — because of the attorney’s lack of time …). In other words, there is a valid charge for engagement and therefore not being available to others. Opinions I’ve seen on the subject suggest that the retainer for this purpose must be “reasonable” …. If you were Edward Bennett Williams, famous Washington, D.C. lawyer who could get things done in the Halls of Congress with one phone call, the amount could be higher than if you were Edward Poll … Again, however, this is a matter of negotiation and detailing in the engagement agreement.
If you were to receive a retainer for future work, the better practice would seem to be to put this into your client’s trust account. However, I would suggest that the engagement agreement provides for transfer of funds to the general account on the happening of a specific event, such as the filing of a complaint, or 10 days subsequent to the date of a monthly billing statement or other event or date certain.
As with many things concerning fees, the answers are not clear. There is i) common sense; ii) open and clear negotiation with the client; and then iii) after-the-fact review. Hopefully, you don’t reach the third stage!
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How much can you say on a listserv?
In a discussion amongst family law lawyers on a listserv, I just ran across one of the more interesting questions. The facts, as I understand them, are that a request for an expert was made on a listserv; a recommendation was made in response; and then a third comment criticized the referred expert. Participating on the listserv, though quiet during this interchange, was a judge before whom the case was to have been heard the following week!
Is this an ex parte communication? (more…)
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From a news release, we have a new idea:
“…
Professional Legal Management WeekSM (PLMW) provides a forum for recognizing those in legal management for what they do and the role they play in the success of the organization, and in its service to its clients and those who work in the organization.
The objectives of Professional Legal Management WeekSM are:
* To provide awareness, understanding and education about the legal management profession, and
* To increase knowledge of the diverse roles within the profession.
Professional Legal Management Week will be observed annually during the first full week in October:
* October 3-7, 2005 … “
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A recent survey reported by Larry Bodine suggests that most law firms require their associates to have business development skills and, more importantly, to bring in new business.
“But ironically, 57% of law firms fail to provide them any training to generate new business,” according to Larry Bodine, a noted marketing guru.
I have no quarrel with the survey results, but the results are directly contrary to my own experience in talking with managing partners and others at larger firms. Frankly, this is one of the facets separating large and small firms. The latter lives and dies on the ability of all their members bringing in some, if not a lot of, new business.
This highlights, however, another area of great change in The Business of Law(r)!
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Check out the contract you signed with your credit card company and your merchant account organization. (more…)
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Yesterday, I suggested very practical reasons why lawyers should not impose a surcharge for the use of credit cards by clients. Today, Linda N. Wisotsky, an experienced family law practitioner, suggests the legal reason why we should not impose surcharges on the use of credit cards by clients. (more…)
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