How Fast Can You Make Your Case?
I go to a lot of seminars and conferences on how to be a better trial lawyer. There are always better ways to build your case, but they almost never focus on practice management on how to you can build your case faster.
I’ve been talking to Cheryl Leone and she has emphasized this point. Cheryl says “If you have a case that’s worth $25,000 and you get the client $25,000 a year from now, or you get them $25,000 in a few weeks, which do you think makes for a happier client?”
That makes a lot of sense and I’ve never heard anyone say it before. The same amount of money sooner, makes for a happier client. Happy clients make for a better practice and a better life for the lawyer.
So the question becomes, what can you do to have the cases move quicker and resolve quicker? I’m not talking about slamming cases out the door, but what can you do to put cases together efficiently and quickly? Here’s a short list to get started:
- Only take cases that you have a familiarity with and can handle well
- Make certain you get the information you need to prepare the case at the beginning
- Only work with clients that are willing to help their own case
- Standardize documents – correspondence, pleadings, discovery
- Create checklists that your staff can follow on the handling of the case
- Order the medical records as treatment is completed
- Maintain contact with the client, so that you know about changes in the case as it happens.
I think that running a trial practice efficiently is critical.
