JC Law's Firm Focus May 2024 6th Edition

JC Law’s Firm Focus May 2024 6th Edition

JC Law’s Firm Focus

BY: JAMES CRAWFORD JR.

A Message from CEO James Crawford

I wanted to give everyone an update as to where we are with growth. Our Fairfax office will be opening this week and Andy, our manager, is up for the challenge. We have high hopes and great expectations for this office. I believe it will be a smashing success.

We are getting close to settling in on a Richmond VA office and expect to do so within the next 30 days or so. That office will be about a 12-15 person office. We will, as usual, focus on Family law, Criminal law, and Civil litigation. We are actively searching for an office manager to run the program.

Our in-house growth here at 999 is expected to happen within the next several months as well. The space on the 1st floor where the “insurance company” is presently placed is where our “diggs” will be. The office is already redesigned and is expected to be finished at or near the end of summer.

That space will house the new Client Account Management team headed by Beth. Aaron Goodwin’s team handling the “mixed” bag of cases through the Civil Department will also be there. I'm really excited about the professional podcast studio slated for that room. It will give us the chance to expand on our commercial podcasting and video growth for the firm.

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JC Law’s Firm Focus

BY: JAMES CRAWFORD JR.

All in all, I'm very happy with the direction and growth of JC Law. We have made some real strides over the last year or so. I'm proud of everyone here for putting their best foot forward!

As we grow down south, we will end up in Charlottesville, Nashville, and Charleston very soon!

YOURLEGALALLY

Operations Update

BY: ELISE CRAWFORD-GALLAGHER

The Heart of JC Law

Throughout my career as a business owner one of the biggest values I’ve tried to instill in my teams is “person-centered business”. Everyone at JC Law plays an integral role in each other’s success. Through their daily work, attorneys and legal assistants are poised to make lasting impacts in the lives of their clients. Our admin staff are providing excellent client support and management while contributing to the growth of the firm.

It’s easy for this mind-set of “person-centered business” to get lost in the very stressful nature of legal work. We have unreasonable, emotional clients who can be difficult to work with. However, I would encourage each of you to remember your “why” and recenter as we progress through Q2 and into summer.

At the beginning of Q3, the Operations team be launching a new managerial training program. Throughout the last year, we have executed individualized management training. As we expand, this 1:1 training is going to be built to accommodate more people at a higher volume. This training will be available to Managing Directors, Supervising Attorneys, Admin Leadership, and anyone who is interested in moving into a leadership role within JC Law. Some topics will include:

-Organizational Behavior and Strategy

-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Integration

-Empathetic Leadership

-Exploring & Integrating Various Management Styles

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Money Matters

BY: ALISON JANE

We are prepping for the opening of the Fairfax office, as JC Law continues it’s much anticipated expansion!

With that comes an increase in the number of transactions that need to be accounted for separately, like efilings. So I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of processing expense requests for ALL efiles in a timely manner. Unlike Maryland, other states have numerous different sites for efiling depending on the county/jurisdiction, so the volume of tracking and reporting increases quite a bit. Your assistance in reducing the amount of follow-up for getting missing expense requests submitted is greatly appreciated!

Controller Alison Jane

HR Happenings

Welcome Aboard!

BY: ANTHONY HAMILTION

The Human Resources Department welcomes its newest members to the team:

Annette Spriggs- HR Coordinator

Kevin Beres- Talent Acquisition Manager

Adam Solomon- Talent Acquisition Specialist

HR Policy Highlights

As of May 1, 2024, all staff are eligible to schedule remote work 2 (two) days per week regularly.

To be eligible for remote work, employees must:

Be an employee for 3 (three) months at JC Law. 1.

Have an established record for successfully performing all tasks, including billable requirements. 2.

Have a record of successful coordination with their manager and team members to ensure sufficient team members are in the office to serve the firm’s needs. 3.

Attorneys and support staff are not permitted to work remotely more than two days per week.

PTO Usage & Billable Hours

In dedication to our staff, the billable hour requirement for all full-time, salaried staff shall be reduced retroactively following the utilization of PTO up to 10 days of PTO in a calendar year. Under this formula, each day of PTO, up to 10 days, shall be credited in the following way:

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HR Happenings

BY: ANTHONY HAMILTION

For Attorneys, each day of PTO, up to 10 days, shall result in a 6.92-hour reduction from their yearly billable requirement.

For Legal Assistants, each day of PTO, up to 10 days, shall result in 4.6hour reduction from their yearly billable requirement.

For Discovery Specialists, each day of PTO, up to 10 days, shall result in a 5.2-hour reduction from their yearly billable requirement.

Attorneys&LAswillneedtoprovide30days'noticeasprescribedinthe employeehandbook.AdminStaffwillneedtoprovide2weeksnotice(or 14days)tosecureapproval.

Employee File Audit

Please be informed that our HR Department will be conducting a full audit of Active Employee Files to ensure compliance with all necessary employment laws and regulatory requirements. As part of this process, you may be contacted by Annette Spriggs, our new HR Department Coordinator. Annette may reach out to request your assistance in securing any missing or needed documentation.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and support in this matter. Your prompt attention to any requests from Annette will be greatly appreciated.

Employee Referral Program

As JC Law continues to expand, we find ourselves in need of additional talent to join our ranks. Who would be better to help us identify topnotch candidates than our very own?

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HR Happenings

BY: ANTHONY HAMILTION

We're putting out a call for employee referrals to fill several open positions across our multiple offices and practice areas. To support this, we now have increased the referral bonuses for attorney positions up to $1,000. ($500 will be paid out after the candidate’s 1st Day of employment, and the next $500 upon the candidate reaching 90 days of employment)

The referral bonus for any other position includes $250 (to be paid after the candidate's 90th day of employment) and an additional day of PTO.

If you know any stellar attorneys, paralegals/legal assistants, or any other professionals looking for an opportunity to build with us, please have them apply online through our website at: https://www.jamescrawfordlaw.com/careers/, then email recruitment directly (Anthony.hamilton@jamescrawfordlaw.com) (kevin.beres@jamescrawfordlaw.com) with their name & contact information

Here are the priority openings as of May/ June 2024

Associate Attorney (Fairfax)

Associate Attorney (Maryland)

Senior Associate Attorney (Maryland)

Junior Associate Attorney (Maryland)

Associate Attorney (Pennsylvania)

Law Clerk (Maryland)

Sales Attorney (Maryland) (Open to hybrid)

Assistant Office Manager (Maryland)

New Client Intake Specialist (Maryland & Pennsylvania)

Sales Attorney (Virginia)

Let's keep our talented team growing!

HR Director Anthony Hamilton

Employee Engagement Committee

BY: ANTHONY GREEN-POWELL

The Empoyee Engagement Committee has added new members. They are Jacquelyn Hawkins; Constance Almond; Makeysha Woodman and Travis Johnson. We are excited to have them and their views on topics that affect us all.

Please reach out to any members on the committee if you have any concerns or questions that you feel need to be addressed.

With the help of Peter Crawford, the EEC is also working on some fun and exciting team-building activities. We are working on a 5K walk/run, with proceeds going to a worthy charity, and a kickball team, just to name a few.

If you have any ideas for team builing activities that you think might be of interest to your fellow coworkers, reach out to any EEC member and share your ideas. Stay tuned!

Sales Spotlight

BY: ZACHERY GROVES

I start our sales message with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for the energy and effort that we are seeing from our intake group. Did you know that the intake group averages approximately 75-95 calls per person, per day? Think about that for a moment! Our intake group comes to work every day with a smile of their face and is ready to tackle the day of attacking the numerous leads we receive and does so with a level of professionalism unmatched in our industry. Kudos to that group, lead by Anthony, in continuously chipping away at the leads.

I also must appreciate the lawyers who work tirelessly on their cases but also find the focus to help secure new business. I make particularly note to Andy, in the Virginia office, who in addition to his many hats as a managing director, has also been an excellent seller.

Selling is an art that we are constantly working on to perfect our craft. Our calling must remain that the more citizens that get access to our legal services, the better we can do for the community. I truly believe this.

This month, we will have additions to the sales department. By the end of May, we will have full time sales lawyers in both Maryland and Pennsylvania, Jonathon Luff and Christina Delane. I also look to expand sellers here in Maryland as some of the new lawyers have interest in doing consultations.

I cannot wait to see our expansion in other markets and implement our sales strategies in many other markets.

Have a great month!

VP of Sales Zachery Groves

Domestic Digest

BY: ABIGAIL BEICHLER

True to JC Law fashion, April was a fast-paced month within the Domestic Department. We saw the implementation and effectuation of our revitalized team structures, which led to some incredibly positive results for our staff. Our team members are hitting their stride, resulting in exceeding our billable expectations 3 out of 4 weeks in the month. Perhaps more importantly, our staff are taking on larger and more challenging matters, in dedication to our clients. Parth was promoted to Associate Attorney. We added several new team members to our ranks and have several more to come in the month of May. We are so pleased to have welcomed six new team members to the Domestic Department in April, namely: Michael LaFluer, Lydia Odiase, Kayla Saunders, Teya Snowden, Naseef Kareem, and Fey Okupe. Finally, Peter and Zack landed a massive case in Wicomico County, resulting in our biggest domestic retainer to date! Way to go guys!

In addition to our above promotion and additions to the Maryland office, we want to take some time to recognize the progress of our satellite offices. We are thrilled that Andy Patzig has formally been promoted to Managing Director of our Fairfax office, which is set to take off in May. Andy has been a tremendous addition to our ranks, and we are so excited to see how he develops the Fairfax office. We also welcomed our newest Senior Associate to the department early in May, Elizabeth Wolfe , in our Fairfax Office.

Despite some unanticipated changes within the KOP office, our PA team continues to make strides in their own development. The effort and dedication of every KOP team member cannot be understated, as each of them finished out the month taking on more responsibility and diving in on behalf of our Firm and our clients.

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Domestic Digest

BY: ABIGAIL BEICHLER

April brought some policies changes to our Department, as well. Late last month, we rolled out our revitalized remote work policy and our new hours policy regarding PTO. I cannot express what a treat it was to be able to meet with all of our staff and see the positive impact that those changes made on everyone. Thank you all for expressing your desires both individually and as a team! We look forward to working together to continue to grow and to benefit each of us and our clients.

Finally, I am happy to report that we have continued our client satisfaction streak. April did not bring any grievances from our clients and continues to see a steady reduction in complaints from clients. Keep giving our clients your all! We are so proud!

We cannot wait to see what May brings to the Department!

Criminal Corner

BY: MARK SOBEL

The past several weeks have been quite busy for the criminal department. In April alone, we retained 59 new matters and hit our revenue goal for the month.

I wanted to highlight a few criminal cases:

Jenni Kafes represented someone in the military who was accused of domestic assault. He was at risk of losing everything if he was found guilty. He was adamant that he did nothing wrong and that he has an extremely vindicative ex. Despite everything, the State’s Attorney’s Office was unwilling to work with Jenni to resolve the case in a fashion where our client would not lose his career. Jenni stood firm on behalf of the client, and they elected to have a jury trial. At the conclusion of the trial, the unanimous Howard County jury stated “NOT GUILTY.” The client is relieved and can now move on with his military career. Great job Jenni!

Angel Campbell was representing a client who was accused of threatening a sitting judge. He was facing separate domestic charges as well. The State was taking this matter very seriously and the client was initially held without bond pending trial. Angel was successful in first securing the client’s pretrial release and then persuading a judge to grant probation before judgment. The client was ecstatic and wrote a very nice review for Angel (although he called a probation before judgment a “PBnJ sandwich”).

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Criminal Corner

BY: MARK SOBEL

Andy did a great job retaining a DC criminal case where our client is accused of shooting a bride on her wedding day!!! Be sure to ask Andy about it when you see him in the office.

Aura and I have been busy assisting clients who are wrongfully on the sex registry list. In the past several weeks, we helped three clients be removed from the sex registry who were left on by the government for longer than originally sentenced. Thank you Aura for your help!

I also want to thank Sindy for stepping up and collecting the A/R owed to us by criminal clients. Her hard work allowed us to hit the revenue goal for April.

Finally, Stephanie had another very busy month juggling all of Angel and Jenni’s clients. I still marvel on the number of calls she fields each day, figuring out all the conflicts in the calendar, and ensuring all the filings are done timely. Great job!

Please reach out if you have any questions about any criminal cases or if you just want to hear some great stories from our cases.

Pulse of Pennsylvania

BY: ELISE CRAWFORD GALLAGHER

The King of Prussia office has been rapidly increasing its cases. The team now has 182 active cases. As a result we’re happy to welcome new team members.

Jonathon Luff has joined the team as a Client Acquisition Attorney. He brings years of experience from running his own firm. We’re so happy to have him on the team.

Anne Gramik has also joined at Legal Assistant/Office Manager alongside Olivia to keep the PA cases in adherence to the Perfect Client Lifecycle standards and support our team. We are so lucky to have her!

Lastly, we are proud to announce the promotion of Attorney Constance Nelson to the role of Managing Director of the Pennsylvania office. She brings nearly 25 years of impressive experience and a passion for family law. It’s been a joy to have her on the team over these past six months and we’re eager to see all she will accomplish in this new role.

Managing Director Constance Nelson

Fairfax Forum

BY: DEAN MALIK

Fairfax Virginia is the newest location for JC Law. The office layout is fantastic and we are waiting for the furniture. In the meantime, Courtney will be joining us as the first Legal Assistant and we hired a great Senior Attorney by the name of Elizabeth Wolfe.

Fairfax presents a great opportunity for this firm due to the demographics and the plethora of big business in the area. Now that Andy Patzig has been promoted to Managing Director, Fairfax will be hiring more senior associates as well as junior and midlevel associates. We will also be looking to add two supervising attorneys when all is said and done. The firm has 42 open cases and expects to continue to grow their case load exponentially.

Managing Director Andy Patzig

Admin Insights

BY: SEAN MCMAHON

Technical Issues?

From time to time, we will experience issues with the technology we have implemented through out the office. When you experience these issues it’s important to know where to go to report these issues. If you experience any issues with: Computers, server, internet, or wifi – You should report these issues to helpdesk@copyquality.com. They normally respond within a couple of minutes. They may call you to work with you to figure out what is going on. They may also need to remote into your pc and take over. It’s important to note that if you delete something from the server on accident that you need to send one of these tickets ASAP so that they can help us recover that document/file.

Printers – You would report physical issues regarding the printer (unclearable jams, broken parts, streaking, or weird noises) to Service@copyquality.com. Make sure to write in a detailed description of what is happening and include any error codes they may have popped up. It’s also important to list the printer number in the email as well. If we are out of toner or paper it is available in the supply room. If your scan jobs are not making it to your scan folder you would report the issue to helpdesk@copyquality.com.

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Admin Insights

BY: SEAN MCMAHON

Phones/RingCentral – Log into support.ringcentral.com/, go to my cases and click on create a case. Fill out the appropriate information including whether you would like to be contacted via phone or email. They will normally respond to you in a few minutes to the next day depending on the priority you placed on the ticket. You can also submit tickets by going to your desk top application and clicking the help button in the bottom left corner. From there scroll down to the "More Help" Section and either click report an issue or contact support.

Practice Panther – Any issues with Practice Panther should be reported to their support team y using their chat feature. Click on the question mark in the upper right corner, then click on “ask us anything.” From there click on “Send us a message.” Write out a detailed report of the issues you are experiencing. You should receive a response from them within a few hours. You can also report urgent or time sensitive issues to our Rep Amber Strong amber@practicepanther.com.

Access to emails/server files/roles and permissions – Please email me or Alison directly for these access issues.

Office Director Sean McMahon

Ethical Esquire

BY: JAMES DICKERMAN

Attorney-Client Privilege Primer

In Newman v. State, 384 Md. 285 (2004), the Court examined the attorney-client privilege in Maryland and discussed its intersection with an attorney’s obligation to maintain client confidentiality pursuant to Rule 19-301.6 (Rule 1.6). Below are the highlights, but you are encouraged to read the case in its entirety (a very entertaining set of facts).

Attorney-Client Privilege/Rule 1.6 Confidentiality

A person may not be compelled to testify in violation of the attorneyclient privilege. Md. Code, Cts. & Judicial Proc. Art., § 9-108. Thus, the attorney-client privilege is an evidentiary rule that prevents disclosure of a confidential communication made by a client to their attorney for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. In comparison, confidentiality, as embodied in Rule 1.6, is an ethical requirement, which requires an attorney to keep information related to the representation of a client confidential. An attorney’s duty of confidentiality is broader than the scope of the attorney-client privilege as the confidentiality rule applies not only to information communicated in confidence by the client, but also to all information relating to the representation, whatever the source. In other words, the attorney-client privilege only protects communications between the client and the attorney, whereas confidentiality under Rule 1.6 potentially applies to all information relating to the representation.

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Ethical Esquire

BY: JAMES DICKERMAN

Rule 1.6 contains specific limited exceptions to an attorney’s duty of confidentiality. The exceptions provide that an attorney can, but is not required to, reveal information the attorney reasonably believes necessary to (1) prevent death or substantial bodily harm, (2) prevent the client from committing a crime or fraud that is reasonably certain to result in substantial financial or property damage in furtherance of which the client used the attorney's services, or (3) prevent, mitigate or rectify substantial financial or property damage that is reasonably certain to result or has resulted from the client’s commission of crime or fraud in furtherance of which the client used the attorney's services. An attorney may also reveal client confidences (1) to secure legal advice about an attorney’s compliance with their ethical or legal obligations, (2) to establish a claim or defense in a civil, criminal, or disciplinary matter involving the attorney’s representation of the client, or (3) to comply with an ethical rule, court order or other law.

Newman v. State

The Court in Newman made the following relevant observations:

The attorney-client privilege is a rule of evidence that prevents the disclosure in a legal proceeding of confidential communications between a client and their attorney in connection with the client seeking legal advice.

A person may not be compelled to testify in violation of the attorney-client privilege.

To make the communication privileged, the communication must relate to professional advice and to the subject matter about which the advice is sought and it cannot be intended for disclosure to third persons.

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Ethical Esquire

BY: JAMES DICKERMAN

Although generally, the presence of a third party will destroy the attorney-client privilege, it does not constitute a waiver of the privilege per se

The test is whether the client reasonably understood the conference to be confidential notwithstanding the presence of third parties.

An important factor is whether the third party occupied a vital role in the attorney’s representation of the client, such as parents or others who are facilitating the relationship between the attorney and the client

The attorney-client privilege applies in judicial and other proceedings in which an attorney may be called as a witness or otherwise required to produce evidence adverse to his client.

The rule of confidentiality in Rule 1.6 applies in all other situations that do not involve the compulsion of law

Rule 1.6 prohibits the disclosure of any information relating to the representation of the client but does not operate to render information inadmissible at a judicial proceeding

An attorney’s disclosure to prevent future harm to others (permissible under Rule 1.6) is not sufficient to overcome the attorney-client privilege in a future proceeding.

The crime-fraud exception applies if (1) a client consults a lawyer for the purpose, later accomplished, of obtaining assistance to engage in a crime or fraud or aiding a third person to do so or (2) regardless of a client’s intent at the time of consultation, uses the attorney’s advice to engage in or assist a crime or fraud.

It is not sufficient that the communication relates to crime, the attorney’s services must be in furtherance of the crime or fraud.

The mere statement by the client of an intent to commit a crime or fraud is not sufficient to trigger the crime-fraud exception

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Ethical Esquire

BY: JAMES DICKERMAN

In summary, the attorney-client privilege protects communications between clients and their attorneys when they seek legal advice. Rule 1.6 requires attorneys to keep information about their representation of a client confidential. The presence of a third party does not necessarily destroy the privilege. In determining whether the privilege exists, the Court will examine if the client believed the communication was confidential and the role played by the third party in the representation. The crime-fraud exception only applies if the communication involves obtaining the assistance of the attorney to engage in the crime.

General Counsel James Dickerman

The Marketing Minute

BY: GARRETT WISSEL

It’s an exciting time for the Media & Marketing Department here at JC Law!

Over the past month, we’ve produced a wealth of new and engaging content that’s been enjoyed by the JC Law community across our website and each of our social media platforms.

In addition to blogs covering a wide breadth of topics, ranging from custody guidelines in Virginia to the the legalization of Marijuana in Maryland, we’re continuing to publish new episodes of our official firm podcast, The Burden of Proof, on a consistent basis.

See below for links to our latest episodes, and keep an eye out for new episodes on our firm website and social media channels!

RECENT EPISODES

Episode 10: Assault Charges in Maryland with Angel Campbell, Esq.

Episode 11: Contemplating Divorce? Here’s What To Do Next with James E. Crawford Jr. Esq.

Follow and Interact with JC Law on social!

Media Director Garrett Wissel