South Carolina Trial Law Blog

It’s the time of year to take stock.  Looking back at the year we’re finishing and the year ahead. One of my goals is to get cases prepared and moving as quick as possible. Cases don’t do any good sitting in the filing cabinet. So here are the goals:

• Demand Packages are prepared and sent out within 30 days of the client finishing treatment.
• If we need a questionnaire, future costs projection, vocational report or other expert report, the demand package is sent out within 60 days of the client finishing treatment.
• Within 30 days of the demand package being sent out, the case is settled or suit is filed.
• When we file suit, we bring a motion to put the case on the trial roster within 6 months.
• Discovery is answered within 15 days of receiving it.
• We never ask for more time or a continuance.
• We don’t grant the defense’s requests to delay the case from going to trial.
• Every client is called every 30 days (at a minimum). Every client is called by a lawyer every 60 days (at a minimum).

What we want to do is maximize the number of client touches, but minimize the number of times we touch the file. What are we going to do to make this happen?

• Do better intakes, getting copies of the client’s driver’s licenses and the answers to nearly every question that would be asked during discovery.
• Identify what the problem areas are on most cases and come up with appropriate solutions for the most common problems.
• For problems that can’t be determined with a flow chart, have a system set up to identify what the facts are so that I can make a determination quickly regarding what we need to do on the case.
• Order incident reports and emergency room records at the beginning of the case.
• Do a review of the parties at the beginning of the case, to include getting the driving records of both parties (if appropriate), doing a google search on all of the parties, doing an insurance company search for prior suits, doing a myspace and facebook search.
• Keeping contact with the client and ordering records as the client finishes with treatment.
• Standardizing the way that medical binders are kept (in .pdf format), updated and reviewed.
• Standardizing the way that medical treatment is summarized and identifying any problems (pre-existing injuries, non-related treatment) up front.
• Standardizing pleadings, discovery and motions, so that they can be generated and modified easily.
• Scanning of documents and good use of .pdf’s to control the case.
• Identify the appropriate experts early in the process.
• Work on standardizing model questions, cross exams, openings and closings.
• Document generation to quickly generate the appropriate documents.
• Work on customizing the case management system to provide the information that is needed to get out high quality work.
• Determine the processes involved in putting a case together and clearly defining in detail exactly how that case will be put together.
• Refining the processes in putting the case together, staying in contact with the client and keeping the client informed.
• Once the process is defined, convert building a case to task based system, instead of a case based system. That allows cases to be put together by people friendly secretaries instead of paralegals and allows for easier training and more consistency of work product, allowing paralegals to do the work that they are most suited for.

It looks like we have our work cut out for us. It should be an interesting and exciting new year. I’ll keep everyone posted on how we do converting.

Goals and a plan of action do indeed pave the "road to success". Will be interested in your quarterly review. Clearly a lot of thought went into your 2008 goals.

Good luck. It would be a pleasure to work opposite plaintiff attorneys who couuld acheive goals such as those you have set for yourself.