Busy Busy Thursday By Barbara Straczynski 05/14/09
The attendance for the Annual Meeting and Convention has spilled to over 1,000 registrants as the Thursday programs begin. It's been a really busy day so far for this blogger after stopping in at Settlement Strategies, Saving Money On Legal Malpractice Insurance, Research How Do I Find That and Meet the Real "American Gangster." L. Patricia Sampoli, Gerry Baker and Tom Vesper were the speakers at Settlement Strategies where "Tom & Gerry" presented their differing views on strategies. Let's just say they agree to disagree, which made for an interesting debate and program. A discussion of talking with the client about the worth of a case bounced back and forth between T & G, saying things like it is disastrous to talk with a client about the numbers to expect while on the other hand, doing this builds trust--without trust you will never settle the case. I am not saying who said what, but the next time Tom and Gerry are on the program, you should stop by. Program Tip: * You have to be realistic and fluid in your evaluation. Your client may not tell you everything, but the sooner you find out, the better your evaluation will be, and you better find out everything. Example--crime victim tells psychologist and everyone else everything is fine. When the settlement comes in, the common-law husband barges into the lawyers office and says that's not enough. Did she tell you she needs to drink a fifth of bourbon every night to get to sleep and that all the windows in their house are nailed shut? AND, before she goes to bed she goes outside to check all the nails. The client's significant other should have been interviewed for the bigger picture. You must find out everything. A discussion of "prior knowledge" was a key issue in Saving Money in Legal Malpractice Insurance with William W. Voorhees Jr., Brian Baney, Christopher Carey, Robert Hille, Daviano Servido and Shelly Lawson. Attorneys should be mindful that your carrier will not cover any action in which you had prior knowledge. ANY incident that may result in a claim should be reported to your carrier. Do an evaluation for potential problems, be forthcoming--and REPORT, REPORT, REPORT at the end of every year. Some attorneys may think that disclosure will increase their rates. But disclosure, accuracy and conscientiousness demonstrate that you run your business and treat your clients that way. If attorneys take their reporting and disclosure to their carrier seriously, it is understood that this is how they run their business. Information will follow you so don't hide it -- it follows you 3 to 10 years back. Be wary that if you are paying less, you may be getting less coverage. Also, everytime you switch carriers take caution that the coverage is the same and that there are no gaps. Every time you switch carriers, you create potential gaps in coverage, and carriers wil not cover a claim when it becomes one if it was not reported. If looking for a new carrier, compare apples to apples. Do they have the expertise, what is their history, what are their patterns, what is their commitment about insuring during difficult times? Tip and program quote from Bill Voorhees, "I sleep at night because I know I'm going to be protected." Research and How Do I Find That was presented by Kathy Taggart and attendees obtained a wealth of online research tips. Don't trust Wikipedia--a recent decision says "Wikipedia is to malleable to be reliable." If you really want to do thorough research, use a variety of search engines. They all have different programs, they work differently and will give you different results. Rutgers Internet Law Guide does a really good job with legal materials. Select "New Jersey" and that's a good place to start. The site gives you direct links to the actual source. Zimmerman's Research Guide www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/zimmerman Encyclopedia of research questions and it is very law and law practice focused. Legal Services of NJ www.lsnjlaw.org Good common sense answers to questions, clear, plain language. Google Search Tips: *put most important search words first *use quotes for phrases, "+" to include a term, "-" to delete a term. *use "site:" commend to search a single web site -- Example: site:nytimes cheney * use "define:" to get a list of definitions Richie Roberts, who was played by Russell Crowe in the film "American Gangster," was the star to a packed house for Meet the Real "American Gangster." Mr. Roberts was joined by panelists Hon. Anthony Mautone and Robert Brass, but everyone came to hear Richie talk about what was real in the movie and what is was really like in Essex County when he went after Frank Lucas. There was no leaving out the horrendous details as Richie talked about the heroin known as "blue magic" that Frank Lucas brought to the streets and how people were dying. "Frank Lucas killed more black people than the KKK with blue magic," said Roberts. At the time, drugs were so rampant, that no one seemed to want to do anything. "You would see people staggering in the streets, lieing in the streets with needles in their arms." He talked about how Frank Lucas' family were all involved, and after Frank flipped, his testimony resulted in 150 multi-defendant cases. "Frank gave up everybody, every penny and even the guy who ran the pipeline from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand." Lucas utilized all his relatives. They were from North Carolina and called themselves "The Country Boys." Recently a brand of heroin has appeared on the streets called "Frank Lucas." "What goes around comes around," said Richie. As far as the movie and Hollywood, the producers decided to make Richie's character a terrific cop and prosecutor, but a terrible family man. Richie was very disappointed that he was portrayed that way. Hollywood showed Frank to be very family oriented and a good business man. Richie said Frank never wore a suit and had women set up everywhere. Hollywood is Hollywood. Richie made about 25 suggestions for changes at one meeting with producer and director, and they ignored every suggestion. Hollywood decides how to sell their movies. The Criminal Law Section first ran this as a Law Center section meeting several months back. It's been a big hit at the Annual. If they do it again, it's a session worth attending.
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COMMENTS 05/16/2009 - Barbara and Todd, Thanks for your assiduous reporting. It helped to make up for some of the sessions I was unable to attend. Bill Voorhees
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