ORANGE COUNTY
Volume 114, 2015 • $6.95
Outsource Your Marketing, Not Your Life
Stephen Fairley
Incorporating Creative Landing Pages to Get Clients
Landon Biehl
McIntyre’s Civil Alert Organized Succinct Summaries
Mergers Have Increased Substantially this Year, but Pay Attention to the Red Flags
Robert Denney
Big Brother, Big Liability
Todd Wulffson and Emily Borman
How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews
Monty A. McIntyre
Travis Haney
Keeping Top Legal Performers on for the Long Haul
Whitney Price
Attorney of the Month Co-Founder of Brown & Charbonneau, LLP
Gregory Brown The Go-To Trial Lawyers for Business & Complex Family Law Litigation
Specialization matters. Having represented more law firms over the last 25 years than any other broker in the region, no one understands their real estate needs better than I do. — JASON HUGHES President & CEO, Hughes Marino
ORANGE COUNTY CORPORATE REAL ESTATE ADVISORS
At Hughes Marino we only represent tenants and buyers – never landlords – so we never have a conflict of interest. Our only fiduciary duty is to our client, the tenant, and we are wholly committed to protecting their interests. If you are not happy with your service or results, then we will give you our commission. Guaranteed. (949) 333-3111 | www.hughesmarino.com
ORANGE COUNTY LOS ANGELES SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SILICON VALLEY
2015 EDITION—NO.114
TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 Incorporating Creative Landing Pages to Get Clients by Landon Biehl
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8 Mergers Have Increased Substantially this Year, but Pay Attention to the Red Flags by Robert Denney
10 Big Brother, Big Liability by Todd Wulffson and Emily Borman
14 COMMUNITYnews EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor
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EDITOR Wendy Price CREATIVE SERVICES Skidmutro Creative Partners CIRCULATION Angela Watson PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths
WEBMASTER Mariusz Opalka ADVERTISING INQUIRIES info@AttorneyJournal.us SUBMIT AN ARTICLE Editorial@AttorneyJournal.us OFFICE 30211 Avenida De Las Banderas Suite 200 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 www.AttorneyJournal.us ADDRESS CHANGES Address corrections can be made via fax, email or postal mail.
ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH
16 Gregory Brown, Co-Founder of Brown & Charbonneau, LLP The Go-To Trial Lawyers for Business & Complex Family Law Litigation by Jennifer Hadley
22 How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews
STAFF WRITERS Jennifer Hadley Bridget Brookman Karen Gorden CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Robert Denney Monty A. McIntyre Landon Biehl Todd Wulffson Emily Borman Stephen Fairley Travis Haney Whitney Price
by Travis Haney
24 McIntyre’s Civil Alert Organized Succinct Summaries
by Monty A. McIntyre
26 The Long Haul: Keeping Top Legal Performers
by Whitney Price
28 Outsource Your Marketing, Not Your Life
by Stephen Fairley
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Editorial material appears in Attorney Journal as an informational service for readers. Article contents are the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of Attorney Journal. Attorney Journal makes every effort to publish credible, responsible advertisements. Inclusion of product advertisements or announcements does not imply endorsement. Attorney Journal is a trademark of Sticky Media, LLC. Not affiliated with any other trade publication or association. Copyright 2015 by Sticky Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from Sticky Media, LLC. Printed in the USA
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Incorporating
Creative Landing Pages to Get Clients by Landon Biehl
S
taying ahead of your competitors in any business scenario is crucial, especially in the legal field. Striving to gain attention from your specific niche or expertise area is what sets any organization or company ahead of their competitors. With the constant updates in SEO and new marketing strategies being released, maintaining an optimum website, with the most current trends and legal “need-to-knows,” becomes even more critical for the success of a firm. Landing pages play a crucial role in how your firm is perceived by the potential client. Questions a firm should ask themselves include: • Is the information presented on my website unique in providing a different viewpoint on an important topic? • Does my landing page provide a “spark,” which allows the viewer to realize the potential my firm has to offer? If your answer to the above questions is “no,” then you might need to consider some important changes to your firm’s website structure. Designing creative landing pages that allow participation and interaction from outside sources besides just potential clients can be a great starting point. The majority of internet users enjoy signing petitions, joining causes, and having a sense of joining forces with a cause they believe in. For example, AT&T advocates against texting and driving. The “It Can Wait” campaign has generated strong community ties and has helped significantly increase perceptions of the corporation, through this creative landing page and campaign.
THE BEST EXAMPLES OF CREATIVE LANDING PAGES Some of the most unique projects that have sparked the interest of New York City safety advocates include the development of the #WalkSaferNYC accident map. The Hecht Kleeger and Damashek Firm made up of personal injury attorneys who represent car accident victims wanted to create a creative landing page that allowed further firm exposure. The map was created to raise awareness for the most dangerous intersections in New York City for pedestrians and motorists alike.
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As a result, the interactive resource page was featured in many news outlets, and received attention from various outlets throughout the United States.
“MY MOM IS A FEDERAL HERO” VIDEO COMPETITION
The Harris Federal Firm represents federal workers seeking compensation. The firm felt a need to raise awareness for federally employed parents on Mother’s Day. As a result, the “My Mom is a Federal Hero” video competition was designed to encourage participation among federal mothers, as well as reward them for all of the hard work they do for their families. The winner received a $1,000 Amazon gift card. The contest went viral and created social buzz via Twitter and Facebook. The firm had a significant backlink increase as a result.
TWO IMPLEMENTATIONS EVERY CREATIVE LANDING PAGE NEEDS A landing page that creatively represents a firm’s strategy, and sincere interest in a particular area, allows for a more powerful impact on those visiting the page, and attracts interest to a particular matter from visitors.
CALL TO ACTION It is critical for a firm to have a “call to action” on creative landing pages. Leaving viewers with information they want to read about is excellent, but with no call to action, you are leaving your potential clients with no way of taking further action. In fact, an alarming seventy percent of law firm homepages do not have a call to action. Leaving potential clients with relevant information, yet lacking any way to allow them to become involved or spark their interest further, is one grey area that many firms can easily avoid. You can combat these barriers in thoughtful ways like inviting viewers to sign a
petition you have created, or better yet, share the creative page you have designed. If the information on your creative landing page sets you apart, and leaves the viewer feeling passionate about the topic, their willingness to share with others is much higher. In the example below, the firm felt passionate enough to participate in a local arthritis event, and included a call to action at the bottom of their creative landing page, encouraging others to participate and/or take a survey designed to generate perspectives on arthritis.
SHARING TOOLS With a call to action in mind, a firm should ask: “Does my site allow for my creative page to be easily shared?” With the large amount of prospective clients on social media today, it’s extremely important for pages to feature social share buttons. Visitors would much rather click a share button, rather than copy and paste a link. In addition, using social sharing buttons allows the website creator the ability to control what text is shared. If you are advocating for a cause, this is a great opportunity to insert a social hashtag that is
automatically shared among those who click share buttons. It’s also an excellent opportunity to visualize who visited your landing page, and also has aligning viewpoints on the subject. Designing creative landing pages will allow your firm to stand a higher chance of gaining a larger number of clients, as website visitors are exposed to the firm’s creative landing pages. Taking an initiative, or standing for a cause, will engage your visitors and encourage interaction with your page, and potentially become clients. Firms should be making all attempts to design and implement strategies that will expand their brand’s outreach, through use of creative landing pages and adding a unique value that industry competitors may not. n Landon Biehl is a Senior Outreach Specialist with www.Consultwebs.com, Landon targets prospects with potential interest in client services and resources. He also helps to create and implement new marketing tactics and campaigns, with a particular focus on building linking partners. Landon can be reached at (910) 386-8920.
Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 7
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here have already been a record number of mergers completed or announced this year. The principal reason, of course, is the picture in the legal profession. For many of the top 200 firms, mergers, which in most cases are really acquisitions, are the major piece of their growth strategy in a flat or shrinking market. For other firms, merger is the alternative to dissolution. However, a look at history reveals that about 50% of all mergers subsequently fail. In many cases the reasons for these failures were issues that were evident beforehand and should have been recognized and addressed by one or both of the firms involved. We describe these as “red flag issues” because they should either be resolved before the merger is finalized or indicate that the firms should not merge. These are the red flags that arise most often. • Although they have agreed to seriously consider merging, one or both of the firms does not make it a high-priority item, dragging their due diligence or the discussions on for an extended period of time. • A major client that represents a significant amount of the revenues—and also probably the profits—of one of the firms announces it is taking its business to another firm. • There are wide differences in the partner incomes between the firms. • The firms have different work ethics as indicated by wide differences in average billable hours. • The acquiring firm requires partners to buy-in and contribute capital while the firm being acquired does not.
Mergers Have Increased Substantially this Year, but Pay Attention to the Red Flags by Robert Denney Robert Denney Associates Inc. has provided management, strategy and leadership counsel to law firms, companies and non-profit organizations throughout the United States and parts of Canada for over 30 years. Bob also serves as an outside director on company boards and has served as an interim CEO in turnaround and crisis situations. For a comprehensive discussion of the merger process, visit our web site www. roberetdenney.com, and click on the article, “A Primer on Law Firm Mergers.”
• One of the firms has a substantial amount of debt while the other firm is debt free. • One firm has an unfunded pension liability and the other firm does not. • The practices do not fit. An example from two litigation firms for whom we performed merger due diligence: One firm was highly profitable and its practice consisted mainly of major, “bet the company” cases for large corporations. The other firm was marginally profitable and its practice was largely commodity litigation with a high percentage of insurance work at far lower hourly rates. Note: They wisely decided not to merge. • Conflicts. Legal conflicts can usually be identified and possibly resolved. However, there can also be business conflicts such as when a major client of one firm says it will withdraw all its work because a major competitor is a client of the other firm. • The major rainmaker in one firm opposes the merger and threatens to leave, taking his/her clients and even an entire practice group. • Different compensation systems. Partner compensation in one firm is based on billable hours or collections while, in the other firm, partners are compensated mainly on origination, regardless of billable hours. Another example: One firm has a formulaic system while the other firm has a subjective system. • “Unproductive partners” whose billable hours or collections are far below those of the other partners in either firm. However, their firm wants them to be partners in the merged firm, or at least be included in the firm, while the other firm does not.
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• Management in one or both of the firms has not informed the other partners that it is in the process of negotiating a merger. Then, with
little notice or time for discussion, presents the merger to the partnership for approval. • The name of the new firm. This has been the “deal breaker” in a surprising number of potential mergers that were called off. When a smaller firm is merging into a much larger one, this is rarely an issue because the larger firm’s name will usually be retained. However, when it would be a so-called “merger of equals,” this issue often becomes extremely sensitive because both firms want their firm’s name to survive in whole or in part. • But the first red flag that can appear is early in the process when the firms are drafting the confidentiality agreement before any information is exchanged. This document should include a stipulation that, if the merger does not occur, neither firm will attempt to recruit lawyers from the other for a specified period, usually one year. This is often referred to as a “cherry-picking clause.” If one or both firms are unwilling to agree to this, it should raise a huge red flag that the merger, if it eventually did occur, would sooner or later fail.
IS YOUR LAW FIRM MAKING THE BEST IMPRESSION?
Negotiating a merger is a complex and delicate process. However, there would be fewer failed mergers, or considerably less time and resource spent on potential mergers that never occur, if firms recognized and addressed the red flags. To paraphrase the old adage: “Look long and hard before you leap.” n
We’ll help you put your best foot forward. From logos and brochures to websites, strategy, writing and beyond, we’ve got you covered! Jenny Strauss, Vice President (215) 460-0835 jenny@skidmutro.com
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Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 9
Big Brother,
Big Liability by Todd Wulffson and Emily Borman
With today’s advanced technology, how much employee monitoring is too much? ike the Orwellian “Big Brother” looming omniscient from the pages of 1984, employers today possess the ability to track virtually every aspect of their employees’ lives—including off-duty activities. Video cameras, email and computer monitoring, Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of smartphones and cars and even drones, are all tools the modern employer has at its disposal. Workplace privacy is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and many employees do not even know how exposed they are. Of course, technology has also given employers increasingly good reasons to monitor their employees. With the advent of the internet and its progeny—instant messaging, smartphones, social networking, online pornography and gambling—and the rise in internet-dependent telecommuting, the potential for workplace distractions and the risk of employer liability for employee misconduct is at an all-time high. The question for employers is how much monitoring is necessary, appropriate and legal. After all, no employer wants to suffer the added insult to injury of firing an individual for misconduct, only to lose an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by the same former employee.
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Privacy Rights of Employees Article 1, Section 1 of the California State Constitution explicitly protects a person’s right to privacy and applies to both public and private employment settings. When an
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employee sues an employer for unlawful monitoring, it usually goes to court as a generic invasion of privacy claim. To bring an invasion of privacy claim, the employee must establish a reasonable expectation of privacy under the circumstances. Courts have been reluctant to determine a reasonable expectation of privacy exists where employees are aware that the employer may intrude upon their privacy for legitimate business purposes. For example, when the employer properly notifies the employee in advance that email and computer activity may be monitored, and that employees’ desks, lockers, backpacks and purses may be searched, courts have generally ruled that no invasion of privacy has occurred. Where the employer’s monitoring goes beyond legitimate business purposes, however, and intrudes on what society may be considered highly personal areas, an actionable invasion of privacy may be found, with emotional distress and punitive damages as a result.
Use of Company Laptops and Smartphones In the modern office, internet access and e-mail have become ubiquitous, and many employees use wireless communications such as a smartphone and laptop in the day-to-day performance of their jobs. Often these devices are provided by the company or supported (financially and technically) by a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policy. The need to secure
confidential information, monitor customer communications and investigate potential employee misconduct has led to an increase in the monitoring of these devices, commensurate with their increased usefulness. California courts have been reluctant to find that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their personal use of an employer-provided computer or smartphone. This is especially true where the employee has notice of company policies that preclude employee rights of privacy in their use of company equipment. In a recent California case on the subject, an employee contacted her personal attorney on a company-issued computer using her company email account. The court found the emails were not protected by either a right of privacy or the attorneyclient privilege. Using the company account and system waived the privilege, and company policies precluded any expectation of privacy. The employer had issued policies that company machines could only be used for business purposes, and that any communications might be monitored.
GPS Tracking The use of GPS tracking devices to monitor employees during work hours has also been deemed by California courts to be reasonable. GPS technology, however, enables employers to monitor employees 24 hours per day, seven days per week. If the employer is tracking its employees outside of work hours, the employer may gain private information about an employee that would be considered an invasion of privacy. It is this type of off-duty monitoring that generates the most litigation. In a recent case in California, an employee of a financial services company told his boss that he was sick and would have to miss a critical meeting with clients that day. Later that same day, at 2:00 p.m., the employer tracked the employee’s smartphone and found that he was lounging poolside at a Las Vegas casino, more than 250 miles away from his home in California. When the employee came back to work, the employer asked why his phone was in Vegas while he was sick at home. The employee said he got better, so he left for the trip. The employer fired him. The lawsuit eventually settled for no money, aside from the legal fees incurred by the employer in defending the frivolous lawsuit. Had the employer used that technology over the weekend, however, the result might have been far different, as the employee had not been notified that there was GPS tracking on his phone and would have had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Employers also use GPS to track the location of company cars. As with the company phone, employers should limit such monitoring to what is necessary to protect the employer’s interest, i.e., only during working hours and/or total mileage.
Employers should also notify employees that company cars are monitored, which in and of itself may deter the misuse of the company vehicle.
Rise of the Drones Although the rise of drones has opened the door to countless possibilities related to monitoring and oversight, the business community has only begun to explore their capabilities. Before adding drone surveillance as an employee monitoring tool, there are several pitfalls an employer should be mindful of, including the perception that drone use is scary and futuristic. In one case, an employer managed a construction site in California, where employees worked largely without supervision. The structure they were building was still a skeleton, with employees installing electrical wires on the top floors before the walls went up. The employer sent a drone up to the fourth floor of the building to monitor the workers, and two employees were having sex during an alleged mutual break. Both employees were fired and sued, arguing that no one on the ground level could see them on the fourth floor, and the company wouldn’t have known of their activities had it not been for the drone. This case settled in the employees’ favor, primarily due to the negative publicity the company would have encountered had their surreptitious drone use become public. Even if the employer had advised its employees of the drones (assuming the employees did not all quit thereafter), a jury might still have found the use of the drone to be unreasonable, similar to night vision, a high magnification lens on a camera or a parabolic microphone.
Best Practices While there are no guarantees that any monitoring of employees will prevent your company from being sued, the following best practices will help minimize potential liability: 1. Assess the need for any monitoring. What conduct are you trying to prevent? Consider hiring a third-party specialist to assess the need for monitoring. 2. Do a cost-benefit analysis. What will the true cost of monitoring be, including the potential lawsuits and risk to morale, and compare that to the benefit of deterring—not eradicating—the misconduct. 3. Have a clear, concise policy that states the need for monitoring, necessary details, and the consequences for getting caught. A good policy will go a long way toward deterring the conduct, and will avoid a majority of the liability risk (although perhaps not the damage to morale caused by Big Brother monitoring employees).
Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 11
4. Make sure a legitimate business interest exists for monitoring. For every level of monitoring or intrusion, there must be a reason consistent with company policy. 5. Ensure that all monitoring, as well as all discipline arising from the monitoring, is performed by trained individuals. They should know and understand the law, and apply your company policy consistently across all similarly situated employees. Technology is key to business in today’s world, but remember to keep your employees’ privacy rights in mind when using it as an oversight tool; no employer should channel Big Brother in the workplace. n Todd R. Wulffson is partner at Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, a leading California employment, labor and business immigration law firm providing litigation defense and counseling to California employers. Wulffson has 25 years of experience counseling and defending businesses in labor and employment issues and has extensive experience representing employers across the entertainment, manufacturing, banking, hospitality, financial services and retail industries. Wulffson focuses on issues related to human resources, and the implementation of proactive measures to reduce risk and cost including substantial experience in the evolving area of Social Media Law. He is a frequent speaker, author and resource to employers nationwide on analyzing employee-related social media issues, preparing social media policies and procedures, and defending actions involving social media liability claims. To contact Wulffson, email him at twulffson@cdflaborlaw.com or call (949) 622-1661. Emily K. Borman is an associate attorney at Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, a leading California employment, labor and business immigration law firm providing litigation defense and counseling to California employers. Borman defends employers against allegations of wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination and retaliation. In addition, she also defends against wage and hour claims whether brought as a putative class action, or on behalf of an individual plaintiff. Borman’s practice strengths include navigating through the difficult procedural hurdles present in class action litigation.To contact Borman, email her at eborman@cdflaborlaw.com or call (949) 622-1661. 12 Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015
COMMUNITY news n Fish & Tsang LLP (F&T), an Irvine-based intellectual property law firm, recently was recognized for its efforts to stomp out MS at the National MS Society - Pacific South Coast Chapter’s annual awards luncheon. Nearly 100 MS champions gathered to celebrate the success of the 2015 Walk MS, and honored top fundraisers, supporters and volunteers. As the first Orange County-based title sponsor for the Irvine Walk MS, F&T’s efforts contributed to the more than $1.5 million raised in 2015. Affecting more than 2.3 million people worldwide, MS is a debilitating disease that interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and the rest of the body. To learn how you can help, please visit www.nationalmssociety.org/Chapters/CAS
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: TOMAS PRIETO, BEAU WALKER, MEI TSANG, ROSIE KIM, BOB FISH, MINYOUNG SHIN, GENEVIEVE HALPENNY, STEVEN CASTANEDA, DANIEL KWOK
n Matt Easton, Partner at Easton & Easton, LLP, received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest “AV Preeminent” Rating recently. The “AV Preeminent” rating is Martindale-Hubbell’s highest possible rating for both legal ability and ethical standards, and is only earned through a strenuous peer review rating MATT EASTON process that is the legal profession’s oldest peer review rating system, dating back to 1887.
Have a Press Release you would like to submit for our Community News? Email it to PR@AttorneyJournal.us
14 Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015
n Celebrating inclusion on the Best Lawyers list for a second year in a row, Eric Traut has been included among the Best Lawyers of America list for Southern California, an esteemed list celebrating only the top 3% of the Bar. Traut was selected for inclusion in the practice area of Personal Injury— Plaintiffs, acknowledging the excellence Eric demonstrates in his practice of law ERIC TRAUT and as a personal injury attorney. Eric has served on many high-profile cases including the Seal Beach Shootings civil case. On the cutting edge of new civil proceedings, Eric is among the very first to utilize the new Expedited Jury Trial method, a technique for which he was recently featured in the Daily Journal, and has given many lectures and seminars on this new, and necessary, trial method to other attorneys. Eric also gives back to the community, having instituted a new annual $1,000 scholarship through the Orange County Bar Foundation for high-performing, low-income students to receive assistance in going to college. In addition, he is a fellow of the O.C. Bar Foundation and donated $15,000 to produce a video describing each of the important programs which help empower underprivileged youth in his home county and is displayed on the Bar Foundation website. Says Traut, “It is an honor to be acknowledged by the finest peerreviewed list in the country for the work I do helping my clients achieve justice following a personal injury or wrongful death.” n Fisher & Phillips LLP recently celebrated 25 years of success in Orange County by hosting a private event held at the Orange County Museum of Art earlier this summer. Reflecting on the firm’s expansion, James McDonald, managing FISHER & PHILLIPS LLP partner and co-founder of the Irvine, office credits the Orange County location as the impetus for the firm’s growth into the Western U.S. market. The firm continues on a path of strategic growth and recently announced the opening of its 31st office on the West Coast. “We were sent to start an office in L.A., but after looking around there a bit we realized L.A. already had plenty of lawyers. Orange County was just taking off as a business center in its own right, and it seemed like a much better place for us to get started,” commented James J. McDonald, Jr., co-founder and managing partner of the firm’s Irvine office. The firm also expanded its practice beyond O.C. to San Diego, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and then to Nevada and Arizona as well.
COMMUNITY news
CRAIG S. SIMON
DAVID B. EZRA
LANCE A. LABELLE
STEPHAN S. COHN
n For the second consecutive year, Berger Kahn has been included in the Best Lawyers of America list for Southern California, an esteemed list celebrating only the top 3% of the bar. Managing Partner Craig Simon was selected for inclusion in the practice area of Insurance Law and David Ezra for Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law, and Litigation—Insurance. New to the list this year, Sherman Spitz is named to the list for Litigation—Insurance, Lance LaBelle for Insurance Law, and Stephan Cohn for Insurance Law. Says Managing Partner Craig Simon, “Berger Kahn congratulates all of those named to the list for their recognition and thanks our shareholders for bringing so much honor to the firm.”
SHERMAN M. SPITZ
n Branded and private label apparel products manufacturer Delta Galil Industries, an Israeli company, has agreed to acquire the P.J. Salvage brand and other assets from Irvinebased Loomworks Apparel for an undisclosed amount. Friedman Stroffe & Gerard, P.C. partner Bryan Friedman and associate Jennifer Stroffe represented Loomworks Apparel in all legal aspects of the transaction. Financial terms of the agreement will not be disclosed. Loomworks Apparel, Inc., doing business as P.J. Salvage, manufactures and distributes loungewear and intimates for women. It markets and sells its products through retail boutiques and department stores in the United States. The company was founded in 1995 and is based in Irvine, California. P.J. Salvage is known for its luxury fabrics that are available in leading high-end department store chains and specialty boutiques. Per FSG shareholder Bryan Friedman, “We have represented a number of clients this year in M&A deals; the market has been very active. We were pleased to help Loomworks Apparel achieve their legal objectives in this important transaction.”
BRYAN FRIEDMAN
JENNIFER STROFFE
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Š christopher TODD Studios
© christopher TODD Studios
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ith more than 400 days in front of a jury, Gregory Brown, co-founder of Brown & Charbonneau, LLP is certainly comfortable advocating for his clients in front of an audience. He’s also used to winning. As a Board Certified Trial Specialist in Civil Advocacy, Brown has spent the last three decades honing his craft as an award-winning business litigator. However, for a trial attorney so recognized and renowned in Southern California, Brown’s easy laugh and candor are refreshingly authentic. Indeed, there’s no bravado, nor pretenses to be found when speaking with Brown. Instead, when talking about his career, he’s the first to admit that he never intended to become an AV Preeminent attorney. He didn’t have childhood dreams of becoming a Super Lawyer, or being named a Top 100 Trial Lawyer, or a Leader in Law, per Forbes Magazine. And he certainly didn’t expect to be named one of the Best Attorneys in America. Make no mistake, the Orange County native is incredibly friendly and witty, but he’s surprisingly open when admitting that success has come as the result of a willingness to learn from mistakes, an innate competitive streak, and a commitment to “keeping the edge of the knife sharp,” he says. Indeed, he attributes his 28 years of success and subsequent reputation as the go-to trial attorney for business disputes ranging from $500,000 to $150 Million, to unrivaled preparation, and a sincere desire to continue to remain at the forefront of his field.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he happens to love the thrill of winning, in whatever he sets out to accomplish. “When I was young, I used to play checkers with my grandfather in Long Beach. He used to tell me I should be a professional of some type. At the time I thought that being a doctor or lawyer were the only options. I knew that I didn’t want to be a doctor, but I didn’t go to college with a definite plan to be an attorney. I actually didn’t think I wrote well enough to be a lawyer. I studied business, and got my degree in Finance, with an emphasis on Accounting,” he says. However, he also earned the equivalent of a minor in English, just in case, and by the time Brown got to law school, his excellent writing earned him a position writing for the Law Review. Brown admits that he’s a natural born competitor, which has fueled his refusal to back down from any challenge. “I grew up racing sailboats competitively in Long Beach and traveled up and down the coast to race from the age of 8 until I was 17. I also played football through High School and I was on the wrestling team. Throughout college, I played intramural football, A-level competitive volleyball, and competed each year in the intramural wrestling tournament and the intramural swim meet,” Brown says. Suffice it to say, his love of competition was far from a passing fancy. To this day, Brown remains a disciplined athlete, having competed in dozens of triathlons and marathons. Furthermore, he’s included amongst the elite class of athletes to have Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 17
EARLY LESSONS IN LITIGATION After graduating from law school, Brown took a position in insurance defense, and dove right into the work. “I was taking a Plaintiff’s Deposition the day I was sworn in,” he recalls. “Six days later, I was in a binding arbitration,” he laughs. Indeed, Brown admits to being so eager for experience that the desire to learn far outweighed any fear he might have about his lack of experience. “I felt like I had a lot to prove when I got out of law school. I was afraid that other people would be smarter or more qualified, so I just wanted experience. I would take anything they would give me,” he says. As such, roughly 13 months into his career, Brown found himself sitting first chair in a trial. “I did my first trial by myself. Most people do 2nd chair first, but I never had that luxury. I guess I learned by watching other people and doing things the hard way,” he chuckles. To that end, he says one of the best lessons he learned early in his career was during that first trial. Suffice it to say, Brown says he learned that no matter what, “You never talk down to the judge!” Moreover, he says that in those very early years, he learned that as a trial lawyer, “You have to expect the unexpected. You have to be prepared,” he says. Incidentally, this lesson was learned during a trial in which Brown experienced the death of his lead expert (the night before he was to testify), missing evidence in a case, and a judge who threatened to declare a mistrial simply because the case was taking too long. As it turned out, Brown would prevail in the case, and it would be the first of many, many more to come. Brown also recalls a memorable quote which would become his guiding philosophy, sometime in the very beginning of his career. “I don’t know who said it, but I had it propped up on my Day-Timer, and it said ‘Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement,’” he says. In the ensuing years, Brown would go on to become Partner and Managing Partner at Kring & Brown, LLP, where he would spend the first 14 years of his career. However, a transition in his practice area would ultimately lead him to form Brown & Charbonneau, LLP in 2002. “My insurance defense practice had become commercial defense, which led to business litigation,” Brown says. In fact, by 2000, his practice had become 90% business litigation, and it remains that way today.
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MATURATION AND MASTERY “There is no magic bullet,” Brown says regarding any singular catalyst for his success. “I like competition, and I like trying to win,” he says candidly. However, he does say that there is no substitute, nor frankly an excuse, for being unprepared.
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“When I am in front of a jury it is imperative that I maintain credibility,” he says. “They must see me as the lawyer who provides the truth. There’s no trying to pull a fast one. I have to know the most about the case—not just my side of the case, but the entire case inside and out. I also want the jurors to believe that I can also educate them,” he says. “Ultimately, I try to ensure that the jurors always look forward to when I get up to speak.” To reinforce his mastery of the facts of a case, Brown never uses opening or closing argument notes. “I don’t want to read, or look at notes. I’m able to do without because I study the facts as much as possible. This enables me to interact and truly connect with the jury. Under no circumstance will I be outprepared for a case,” he says.
“
completed the full Ironman Triathlon, in addition to multiple half-Ironman competitions and Olympic Distance Triathlons.
ULTIMATELY, I TRY TO ENSURE THAT THE JURORS ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN I GET UP TO SPEAK. Subsequently, he says that it was his dedication to being proactive in his preparation which led him to embrace trial presentation technology early in his career. In fact, while representing a Trial Presentation Software company in a trade secret trial, Brown says he had to learn exactly how the software was made in order to clearly understand public domain and proprietary information. “It was an eight-week bench trial in San Diego, and I learned so much during that trial,” he says. As it turned out, he had learned so much that he would go on to launch his own Trial Consulting Company, but soon found that many clients who hired him to help with their presentations ended up hiring him as part of the trial legal team. “What ultimately happened was that I wound up with clients who needed a trial lawyer, and they brought me on board as their attorney as well,” he recalls. “It was great for generating business.” Year after year, Brown continued to deliver impressive results for clients, including a Defense Verdict in a fraud and breach of contract case involving the sale of a division of a public company, where the claims had been estimated at $30 Million, and a recent $2.9 Million Jury Verdict for a client who had been defrauded in the sale of a business. His gift for advocacy does not go unnoticed, as evidenced by the fact that he has converted those he goes up against into his own clients. For example, “Many years ago, I represented an injection-molding manufacturer who was sued by one of Orange County’s largest bottled water companies. The founder of that company was actively involved in the contract and fraud litigation. The dispute was over the manufacture of injection molds to create the plastic valves for 2.5-gallon water
bottles. The case did not settle and went to trial in Orange County. The jury found in favor of our client. 6-12 months later the founder/owner of the bottled water company contacted me to hire me to handle all of their business legal needs. That was in 1997 and we have been doing work for the company and its founders ever since,” Brown says.
Over the course of his career, Brown says that having an open mind has served him incredibly well. Such was the case when Brown & Charbonneau, LLP was born, blending a business litigation practice with a family law practice. Though he admits that at first glance the two practice areas seem wildly diverse, what has evolved is a firm with practice areas which happen to complement each other quite well. For his part, Brown is brought into family law cases both within his firm and into cases other firms are handling when the family matter involves a complex business or financial issues. “At least 3040% of our practice is family law,” he says. Helmed by Michele M. Charbonneau, an experienced family law litigator, who has been practicing law since 1991, the family law practice at Brown & Charbonneau, LLP is equally as successful as the business litigation practice. This is because, at Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, “the handling attorney is the handling attorney,” says Brown. “We do not pass off our cases to many different associates and other attorneys. We provide focused and personal attention to each of our clients. We limit the number of cases we take so that we can accomplish this,” he adds. “We are highly skilled and experienced in getting cases ready for trial and taking them through trial. Opposing attorneys are aware of this fact, which usually results in better settlements since they know they will not out-lawyer us in a trial.” By way of example, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP obtained $5,600,000 for its client in a trial which dealt with community property versus separate property over a family business. “This was a long battle over ownership of a $157,000,000 company between family members,” Brown says. In that case, Brown & Charbonneau, LLP took on five defendants and their firms to win the seven-figure Trial Award.
© christopher TODD Studios
OPEN MIND LEADS TO OPPORTUNITIES
Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 19
Contact: Gregory Brown Brown & Charbonneau LLP http://www.bc-llp.com/ octriallaw@gmail.com 714-505-3000 420 Exchange, Suite 270 Irvine, CA 92602
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EXPERIENCE
As far as the future is concerned for Brown & Charbonneau, LLP, Brown says the plan is to stay the course. “I have spent my entire career working in Irvine. We are experienced, highly qualified attorneys for all types of business litigation matters and complex divorce cases. We are responsive and available to all of our clients. We represent medium to large sized businesses and their owners with shareholder/ partner disputes, or individuals in business-related family law matters.” A member of ABOTA, the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and named one of the Top 5 Business Attorneys in OC, Brown is refreshingly humble when it comes to talking about himself. However, when it comes to raving about his law partner Michele Charbonneau, he’s clearly more comfortable. “I am married to Michele Charbonneau, who is my spouse and my business partner. We are at different ends of the hall, and we are engrossed in our own cases, for the most part. But when we go home at night we may talk about work. I couldn’t ask for a better partner in business, or life. We have five children. Two of our sons are studying for the LSAT and plotting to take over the firm,” he says with a chuckle. In the meantime, Brown’s competitive streak rages on, though these days he’s often incorporating sports and physical activities into family events. An avid snow skier, Brown continues to love sports, and relishes time spent with his family water skiing, paddle boarding, kite boarding, and river rafting. He and Michele are also passionate about travel, with Bora Bora being their favorite destination. Plus, Brown acknowledges with a laugh that he gets his “best kite boarding lessons” in the tropical paradise as well. If it sounds like Brown has found the proverbial keys to the kingdom of personal and professional success, it’s because he’s certainly found something that works. “We are very lucky to do what we love to do. We will continue to do just that—provide premier, personalized legal services, but we don’t have a specific plan to grow just for the sake of growing. If we have to grow to ensure we are always providing quality services we will,” he says simply. n
© christopher TODD Studios
FUTURE OF THE FIRM
» EDUCATION • University of San Diego School of Law, 1987
» SPECIAL LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS • Board Certified Specialist in Trial Advocacy, 2009 • National Institute of Trial Advocacy Certificate, 1997 • Mediation Certification, Pepperdine/Straus Institute, 2011
» AWARDS • Highest Possible “AV Rating” by Martindale Hubbell • Super Lawyers (Top 5% of California Attorneys) • American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) • “Superb 10.0” AVVO Legal Rating • Forbes Magazine “Leaders in Law” • Named “Attorney of the Year” by Rocket Lawyer • “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” by the National Trial Lawyers • “Trial Lawyer of the Year” Finalist by OCTLA • Named “Top 5 Business Attorneys in OC” by OC Metro Magazine • Member of Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum • “Lead Counsel” rated • “Top Attorneys in Southern California” by LA Magazine • Named to “Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers” by Lexis/Nexis • Named as “Orange County Power Lawyer” by Riviera Magazine • Named “Top Attorneys in Orange County” by Orange Coast Magazine • Named “Top Rated Lawyer” by Legal Leaders • Multiple seven-figure verdicts and settlements • Eight-figure post trial settlement • Dozens of authored articles and speaking engagements
How to Handle Negative Facebook Reviews by Travis Haney
F
acebook is an important tool for law firms when it comes to online marketing strategies. With an optimized Facebook presence, you can connect with your community, keep people up to date on your business, drive traffic to your website, and spotlight why potential clients should choose you over competitors. Facebook’s review feature can play a role in this. Facebook gives users two options for describing their experience with a local business. A “rating” of one to five stars. A “review” contains a star rating as well as a written statement. Positive reviews left by former clients can encourage new clients. Facebook displays your Ratings (on a 5-star scale) near the top of your business page. The closer your score is to 5, the more reputable and trustworthy your business appears. Of course, being an open platform, not all reviews will be positive, regardless of your businesses performance. This brings up the question, “What do I do about negative reviews?”
WHAT ABOUT NEGATIVE REVIEWS? First and foremost, don’t panic. A negative review or rating, no matter how scathing, will not likely be the end of your business. When it comes to handling negative reviews and ratings on your Facebook business page, you have a few options. As with most review features, individual reviews cannot be deleted. However, you can click “I don’t like this review” from a drop down menu in the upper right corner of the review post. If the review appears to be spam or without merit, Facebook may remove it. Unfortunately, if the person only leaves a rating without a written review, you do not have these options. If Facebook does not remove the review, you have the option of hiding all reviews on the page. This can be done by going into your Page Info section of your page settings. Next click on Address, then uncheck the box labeled “Show map, check-ins and star ratings on the Page.”
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As you would expect, this also hides the map that displays your office location, number of people that have checked in at your office and star rating from everyone who visits your page. This method is not usually recommended as it also hides a number of positive aspects of your business page and prevents users from leaving new reviews, even positive ones. You can reach out to the reviewers by commenting on their review post. If it is possible to address their review in a friendly manner, they may remove their review or even change it to a positive review.
FOCUSING ON THE POSITIVE Another effective way to deal with negative reviews is to actively seek out more positive reviews (you are already doing this anyway, right?). Positive reviews decrease the weight of negative reviews. Having a few 1-star ratings doesn’t lock your page out of having a high rating overall. It is also worth noting that on your page, Facebook only innately displays the “most helpful” reviews. These are the reviews with the most interaction. If your 5-star reviews have the most interactions, Facebook will display those ahead of the negative reviews. In short, all business pages will likely receive a negative review at some point, often regardless of your businesses performance. Knowing how to handle a negative review can make all the difference. n Travis Haney is a Social Media Consultant with Consultwebs. com, Travis Haney helps clients to take advantage of the many networking and marketing opportunities available through Facebook, Google+, Twitter and other social media outlets. In addition to creating and managing our clients’ social media accounts, Travis regularly creates content for posts and replies to comments and messages. He also collaborates with other team members to advance our clients’ PPC campaigns.
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CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT INSURANCE (CUMIS COUNSEL) Hartford Casualty Insurance Company v. J.R. Marketing, LLC (2015) _ Cal.4th _ , 2015 WL 4716917: The California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal ruling that Cumis fees that were excessive, unreasonable, and unnecessary could not be recovered by the carrier from Cumis counsel. In this case, the commercial general liability carrier initially refused to defend its insured against a third-party lawsuit. Compelled by a court order, the insurer subsequently provided independent counsel (Cumis counsel), under a reservation of rights, to defend its insured in the third-party suit. The court order required the insurer to pay all “reasonable and necessary defense costs,” but expressly preserved the insurer’s right to later challenge and recover payments for “unreasonable and unnecessary” charges by counsel. The Supreme Court concluded that, under the circumstances of this case, the insurer could seek reimbursement directly from Cumis counsel. If Cumis counsel, operating under the court order, sought and received from the insurer payment for time and costs that were fraudulent, or were otherwise manifestly and objectively useless and wasteful when incurred, then Cumis counsel would have been unjustly enriched at the insurer’s expense. (August 10, 2015.)
McIntyre’s Civil Alert Organized Succinct Summaries by Monty A. McIntyre, Esq. Monty A. McIntyre has over 30 years of experience as a mediator and arbitrator. More than 35 years of experience as a civil trial lawyer representing both plaintiffs and defendants in business and commercial, bad faith, brain injury, construction, land use/CEQA, medical malpractice, personal injury, real property and wrongful death cases. To schedule a meeting with Monty A. McIntyre contact Kelsey Hannah at ADR Services, Inc. at (619) 233-1323 or kelsey@adrservices.org
TORTS (GOVERNMENT TORT CLAIMS) Cordova v. City of Los Angeles (2015) _ Cal.4th _ , 2015 WL 4758177: The California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal ruling that affirmed a trial court summary judgment for defendant on the basis that the allegedly dangerous condition (magnolia trees planted in the center median on Colorado Boulevard) did not cause the conduct of the third-party driver that caused the accident. The California Supreme Court ruled that Government Code section 835 did not require the plaintiffs to show that the allegedly dangerous condition caused not only their decedents’ fatal injuries, but also the third-party conduct that precipitated the accident. (August 13, 2015.)
CALIFORNIA COURTS OF APPEAL ATTORNEYS Coldren v. Hart, King and Coldren, Inc. (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _ , 2015 WL 4640041: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s order disqualifying counsel for defendants on the basis that there was an unwaivable actual conflict between the two defendants. The Court of Appeal ruled that plaintiff lacked standing to object
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to defendants’ choice of counsel, and also found that there was no actual conflict between the two defendants, because plaintiff’s action was a direct action not a derivative action. (C.A. 4th, filed July 13, 2015, published August 5, 2015.)
EDUCATION Newark Unified School District v. Superior Court (Brazil) (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _ , 2015 WL 4594095: The Court of Appeal granted a writ petition. In order to harmonize Government Code section 6254.5 with Evidence Code section 912, which has been construed not to effect a waiver of the attorney-client and work product privileges from an inadvertent disclosure, the Court of Appeal construed section 6254.5 to not apply to the inadvertent release of privileged documents. (C.A. 1st, July 31, 2015.)
EMPLOYMENT Connor v. First Student, Inc. (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _ , 2015 WL 4768123: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the basis of the holding in Ortiz v. Lyon Management Group, Inc. (2007) 157 Cal.App.4th 604 (Ortiz). The Court of Appeal reversed because it disagreed with the analysis in Ortiz. The Court of Appeal found that nothing in either the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA, Civil Code section 1786 et seq.) or the Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (Civil Code section 1785.1 et seq.) precluded the application of both acts to information that relates to both character and creditworthiness, and concluded that the ICRAA was not unconstitutionally vague as applied to such information. (C.A. 2nd, August 12, 2015.)
EVIDENCE Newark Unified School District v. Superior Court (Brazil) (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _ , 2015 WL 4594095: See summary above under Education.
PUNITIVE DAMAGES Soto v. BorgWarner Morse TEC Inc. (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _, 2015 WL 4323186: The Court of Appeal affirmed in part and reversed in part a judgment following a jury trial in a mesothelioma wrongful death case. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order granting a partial nonsuit as to the claims of a grandson under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60(c). The trial court properly ruled that plaintiffs had failed to produce sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that the grandson relied upon his grandfather for one-half or more of the financial support for his necessaries of life. The Court of Appeal also concluded that there was insufficient evidence of defendant’s financial condition to enable the jury to make an intelligent assessment of defendant’s ability to pay a punitive damages award. The Court of Appeal therefore reversed the $32 million award
of punitive damages and found that no retrial was required on this issue. The Court of Appeal affirmed noneconomic damage awards of $2 million to each daughter, and also affirmed the jury’s finding that non-party American Smelting and Refinery Company was 25 percent responsible for the mesothelioma. (C.A. 2nd, filed July 15, 2015, published August 5, 2015.)
TORTS Doe v. San Diego-Imperial Council (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _ , 2015 WL 4600256: The Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s ruling sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend to a complaint alleging childhood sexual molestation, because plaintiff failed to file a certificate of merit as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1. The tolling provisions of Insurance Code section 11583 did not relieve plaintiff of the requirement of filing a certificate of merit. (C.A. 4th, July 31, 2015.) Soto v. BorgWarner Morse TEC Inc. (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _, 2015 WL 4323186: See summary above under Punitive Damages.
TRIAL (MIXED ISSUES OF EQUITY AND LAW) Darbun Enterprises, Inc. v. San Fernando Community Hospital (2015) _ Cal.App.4th _ , 2015 WL 4749021: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV). The trial proceeded in two phases. The equity phase was held first, to determine whether the equitable remedy of specific performance was available should plaintiff prevail. The court reserved the issues of breach of lease and resulting contract damages for the jury. The trial court did not make a decision at the end of the equity phase. After plaintiff presented its case in the jury trial, the trial court granted defendant’s motion for nonsuit as to the specific performance claim only. The jury later returned a verdict for plaintiff and awarded damages of $294,819.06. The trial court later granted defendant’s motion for JNOV based upon its earlier nonsuit ruling on the specific performance claim. The Court of Appeal ruled that, in cases involving mixed issues of equity and law, the trial court may not act as a factfinder on issues it specifically reserves for jury determination. In granting the JNOV, the court improperly transformed its equitable finding of unenforceability as to the specific performance claim into a finding of unenforceability as to the legal issue of damages. The Court of Appeal found there was substantial evidence to support the jury verdict for plaintiff on the breach of lease and damages claim, and reversed the judgment and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. (C.A. 2nd, August 12, 2015.) See Ca. opinions at: http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions.htm. n
Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015
25
LONG HAUL
THE
Keeping Top Legal Performers by Whitney Price If you were the principal at an existing firm, how do you ensure top employees are in it for the long haul? While finding jobs for law school graduates may have been difficult in previous years, a recent New York Times article points to several studies indicating a possible uptick in law school enrollments and job placement after graduation, indicating that competition for legal talent may be on the increase. Additionally, the American Bar Association reported that law schools are seeing a “slight rise” in the percentage of 2014 graduates obtaining entry-level jobs compared to 2013 grads—71 percent of 2014 graduates were employed in long-term, full-time positions where bar passage is required or a J.D. is preferred 10 months after graduation. And it’s not just lawyers that firm owners need to be concerned with; legal support staffers play a vital role in keeping law firms running smoothly and efficiently. With ‘people’ being your most important asset, how do you ensure that you can retain great employees once you are established in your legal practice? Whitney Price, vice president and relationship manager at Torrey Pines Bank, has worked with hundreds of legal firms, and draws on 18 years in the banking industry. John Morrell is Chairman and Managing Partner of Higgs, Fletcher & Mack, one of the oldest legal firms in San Diego; and James S. Iagmin of Williams and Iagmin LLP and John Kyle of Kyle Harris LLP, two principals that recently started San Diego-based law firms shared their thoughts on how to ensure employee retention. 26 Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015
MONEY MATTERS, TO A POINT … It seems like money would be the biggest element in retaining top talent, and compensation is a factor, with law firm salaries rising by more than inflation since 1995, according to the National Association for Law Placement. But Iagmin and Kyle agree that money is not the most important consideration. “Beyond paying employees well, law firms need to treat people fairly and give their employees meaningful work that allows them to be their best and make them feel that they’re making a difference,” offers Iagmin. “Money is good but only goes so far,” adds Kyle. “People want to be valued as part of the team and feel like contributing members. People enjoy being part of an entrepreneurial venture.” John Morrell, whose firm has been around for nearly 75 years, said, “we treat people fairly with the understanding that we are in this for the long haul together—it’s not merely an employer/employee relationship. We have a generous family leave program for those at the lawyer level and plan several yearly events that include our employees and their families, such as our yearly San Diego Zoo outing,” said Morrell. “We also believe in an open door policy to support all staff members. It’s important that our employees know they are heard.”
“ With ‘people’ being your most important asset, how do you ensure that you can retain great employees once you are established in your legal practice?” POSSIBILITY FOR GROWTH A mathematical model developed by professors at Kellogg School and the Chinese University of Hong Kong confirms money is not the only motivator. Researchers examined how companies can best motivate workers when cash may not be available to hand out. They determined that promotions can be extremely effective, particularly in smaller companies that offer good odds at making partner. However, in larger firms (often presenting lower odds advancement to top spots), money may be more important. Similarly, a 2014 Towers Watson study cites career growth as the third most frequent reason employees joins a firm and the second most frequent reason for leaving. Price notes that she has seen great success from firms that mentor new talent and stated, “Mentorship and access to managers that are accessible, reasonable and advocates of personal growth through training and education has been an important driver.” She has applied these same growth techniques, which have helped Torrey Pines Bank retain valuable employees. Rachel Cantor with RJC Associates, a consulting firm that provides leadership, career and team development and selection services to law firms, says, “law firms, particularly larger firms, invest heavily in recruiting new associates—only to find that those associates often leave the firm within a few years before they are truly productive.” Tips from corporation hiring managers include: • Take a systematic approach to the onboarding of new employees, identify their goals and aspirations and put together a plan to motivate and support their performance. • Assign a more senior-level mentor to help the new hire become a functioning member of the organization. Law firms that want to convey the importance of nurturing, developing and integrating new hires to the firm’s long-term success should offer incentives for positive behaviors. Cantor states, “Simply praising the importance of activities will not change behavior.” Law firms often invest heavily in technical skills training but may not pay much attention to relationship management, which can have even more of an impact on client retention, satisfaction as well as on individual career success.
FLEXIBILITY CAN PAY OFF Legal firm owners may look to ways to provide flexible work environments and hours, where possible. Flexible arrangements may offer new parents and others the ability to accept an offer and stay with the firm longer, because they feel that their needs can be accommodated through benefits and policies.
Finally, Price suggests, “While positive relationships, competitive salaries, a flexible work environment and value for opinions can help to retain top performers, realize that some individuals may always feel an entrepreneurial pull to break away on their own, and no matter how hard you try, it is often a decision they need to make on their own.”
GENERATIONAL VALUES CAN IMPACT THE WORKFORCE While experienced law firm owners look to retain good employees, the intrinsic values and entrepreneurial spirit of many millennials show that they do not fit into traditional job roles and typically only retain jobs for about 3-5 years. Many business owners have streamlined internal onboarding and training processes in order to utilize their skills and increase productivity before they opt to move on to another firm, start their own practice or do something completely different. As a group, millennials tent to be very entrepreneurial, according to an article titled, “Millennials are Born Entrepreneurs” by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, which states, “Between one half and two thirds of millennials aspire to start their own business.” They’re the most diverse and educated generation and are the first to have grown up with the Internet and social media; they are the largest generation in our country right now, 86 million strong. With younger lawyers looking to start their own firms, baby boomers may be at the point in their careers where they’re ready to step down from leadership positions and work for someone else. This shift in roles could be a win/win for both groups, as more experienced law professionals could share their knowledge and experience and help the millennials through the growing pains of starting a new enterprise and avoid costly mistakes that they may have made themselves.
MUTUAL ACCOUNTABILITY According to a recent Gallup survey of over 1 million employees, the #1 reason employees quit is because they feel “a disconnect or poor relationship with their boss or immediate supervisor.” One of the most significant characteristics of a boss or leader is the ability to create a strong connection and having mutual accountability. The study states that this builds a foundation of trust leading to good working relationships and long-term employees. Oftentimes if there is high turnover, it may be time to evaluate the boss. n For more on Torrey Pines Bank’s legal/professional banking services, please visit www.torreypinesbank.com or contact Whitney Price at wprice@torreypinesbank.com. Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 27
S
ummer is vacation time, so what do you have planned? If you are like most smallbusiness owners I know, you won’t be going anywhere without your smartphone, tablet or your laptop. That’s because you’ll undoubtedly be working.
Outsource Your Marketing, Not Your Life by Stephen Fairley Two-time international bestselling author, Stephen Fairley is CEO of The Rainmaker Institute, LLC, the nation’s largest law firm marketing company specializing in marketing and lead conversion for small to medium law firms. Over 10,000 attorneys nationwide have benefited from learning and implementing the proven Rainmaker Marketing System. Over the last 12 years, he has become a nationally recognized legal marketing expert and been named “America’s Top Marketing Coach.” He has spoken numerous times for over 35 of the nation’s largest state and local bar associations and has a large virtual footprint with his highly successful Rainmaker legal marketing blog and has over 150,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. For more information, please visit www.TheRainmakerInstitute. com or call 888.588.5891.
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If you could change that, would you? Well, you can. If you learn to delegate the things that others can do better and focus on your core competencies. For many years, I allowed my business to control me and dictate my life. I was afraid to take vacations longer than a week because I was certain my company would implode without my physical presence. If things were good, I was flying high, but if we lost a client or didn’t land the “next big deal,” I could be miserable to be around. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I’ve now reached nirvana, and I never, ever allow my business to control me or my feelings. I can’t say that I never feel down if something goes wrong in my company, as I often take things too personally, but the lows aren’t nearly as bad as they used to be and typically don’t last nearly as long. It’s taken several years and a lot of time, energy and hard work to get where we are now. But I’m proud to know that last year was our best year ever, and we are on track to double our revenues this year. I don’t share this with you to impress you, but to impress upon you that we absolutely, positively could have never achieved these goals without two things: (a) a strong, supportive team and (b) written systems we have put into place to help us “run” the business. We have assembled a dynamic team of over 60 people who are truly specialists in what they do. A growing number of law firms are finally recognizing what non-legal companies have known for decades: to build a financially successful business, you must focus on your core competencies and either delegate or outsource the rest of your business functions. As the owner of a small law firm, you are unlikely to have any expertise in accounting or payroll processing, and you may not have a large enough law firm to justify hiring a full-time bookkeeper, so your best option is to outsource that to a company that specializes in that specific area. Not to mention the fact that you didn’t go to law school to learn how to process payroll or to handle employee issues or to deal with difficult clients or run a small business. You went to law school to learn how to practice law and become a technically skilled attorney. A similar parallel can be drawn to marketing—with some notable exceptions. Most of the time labor-intensive parts of marketing can be outsourced, for example: designing and developing a new website, writing content for your blog, running your social media marketing campaigns, improving your Google rankings with search engine optimization (SEO), or sending out a monthly e-newsletter. There are some things you cannot outsource or delegate, like going to lunch with a referral source to solidify the relationship or giving a presentation to a group of potential clients, but for every one marketing activity you cannot outsource there are three or four you can.
5 Steps for Outsourcing Your Marketing Efforts
When it comes to outsourcing your law firm’s marketing and business development efforts, here’s a five-step process we recommend our clients follow: 1. Identify the marketing strategies and business development tools that will work best for your practice area. 2. Analyze your firm’s realistic ability to effectively design and implement the plan using existing, internal team members. 3. Select which strategies your firm will handle internally and which ones you want to outsource. 4. Interview and select an outsourced legal marketing company who can assist you. 5. Set realistic goals and benchmarks. Not all marketing strategies work for all practice areas. How you market a personal injury firm is very different from how you develop business for a commercial litigation firm. Once you have selected which marketing tools you want to use, the next step is to analyze your law firm’s current ability to design, develop, implement and maintain the marketing plan. You must be realistic! The worst thing you can do is try to do it all by yourself or force your staff to do it. If your plan is to “dump” a bunch of marketing activities onto an already overwhelmed office manager because s/he took a couple marketing classes in college, then don’t be surprised when it implodes. In the end either it will only be done half-heartedly and haphazardly or it will not get done at all! If you believe all you need to do is get your two associates to land one new client per month by going to some networking events, then I wish you good luck with that. One of the ways I have seen work is when a law firm dedicates 25-50 percent of one person’s time just to marketing and business development. Any less than 25 percent of their time is probably not meaningful. Give them very specific tasks to do, be sure they have the proper skills and training to succeed, meet with them every week to review their progress, and set realistic, measurable goals they can achieve within a certain time frame. Many attorneys become frustrated when they try to “pull the team together” and get them to “do some marketing.” Then there are the attorneys who try to do it all on their own. They falsely believe they are saving money by handling most or all of their marketing efforts by themselves. However, we have found this is actually the most expensive way to do marketing. Think about this—how much do you charge per hour? $200? $300? $400? More? If you charge only $200 per hour for your expertise and it takes you only one hour to research, write and post a 300-400 word article on your blog, then that one blog post “cost” your business $200! If you do that 20 or more times every month, which is the best practice according to the latest research, that means you are spending $6,000 per month or $72,000 per year just on blogging! Certainly you can find or hire a part-time writer for
less than that. Some business strategy experts would even go further and say it actually costs you twice as much because not only is it taking an hour of your billable time, but that was an hour that you weren’t charging to a client. Either way, that’s a huge expense. If an attorney came to you and said they are launching a brand new practice area and expected to reach a high level of expertise in that practice area within a few months but they were only planning to invest a few hours each week learning about the new practice area, you would probably question either their intellect or their commitment to excellence. Why would you think it’s any different when it comes to marketing your law firm? It takes years of dedication working with thousands of different attorneys, running test after test and trying dozens of different marketing techniques with different practice areas to truly become an expert attorney marketer! I would propose that it’s not something you can truly achieve an expertise in by practicing a few hours a week, any more than you can become an expert litigator by reading a John Grisham novel.
How to Evaluate a Legal Marketing Provider
When working with any outsourced legal marketing company on your business development efforts, here are the questions I recommend you ask to evaluate their services: 1. Do they specialize in working with attorneys in small-to medium-sized law firms? 2. How many attorneys have they worked with? 3. What is their experience working with attorneys in your specific practice area? 4. Do they understand the business of law (how the law works)? 5. What is their knowledge of legal ethics and how attorneys are restricted in how they market their services? 6. Have they researched how prospects “buy” legal services— both online and offline? 7. What is their knowledge of your competitors? 8. How many of your competitors are they currently working with providing the exact same service they are offering to you? 9. Is their service geo-exclusive, or are they offering the same services to all your direct competitors? 10. Do they have the assets to allow you to compete, or are they a one-person show? 11. Is this a “done-for-you” service, or will you or your staff do the heavy lifting? 12. Are you “leasing” their marketing efforts or is it a “workfor-hire” service? Who owns the end product when you part ways? Attorney Journal Orange County | Volume 114, 2015 29
13. Will they be around for the long term? Are they growing or declining? 14. Who will actually be implementing the service (it probably won’t be the salesperson selling it to you)? What are their credentials? Can you speak with them? 15. What are the processes, procedures, protocols and systems they use when implementing the service? 16. How do they measure results? How will you know if they are successful? How long will it take before you start to see results? 17. What are the time frames to develop and deploy the marketing service? 18. Can they give you the contact information for several references?
Three Things You Should Never Outsource
That said, there are certain activities that you and only you, as the owner or managing partner of your law firm, must do. Here are three important marketing efforts that I never recommend you delegate to someone outside of your law firm:
1. Building meaningful relationships with your clients. While you can and should have staff members involved in doing the actual work and even managing the client relationship on a daily basis, you cannot abdicate the relationshipbuilding responsibility with your key clients. 2. Meeting potential referral sources. You need to have a systematic approach to setting up introductory meetings with potential referral sources and following up with them after the meeting. You can delegate or outsource both of those activities. However, the actual face-to-face meeting needs to be conducted with a partner in the law firm. You are the face of your business. 3. Giving a legal seminar to promote your law firm. Presenting to potential clients or referral groups is generally best done by the owner or managing partner of the firm. You can have an assistant prepare your slides and handouts, but unless you have another attorney that has a specialized area of expertise or is a significantly better presenter, you should be the person giving the actual talk. There are many marketing tasks that you can and should delegate or outsource because it’s simply not the best use of your time. But the three listed above are well worth your time because of their potential to deliver a massive ROI. n
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Brian Chase President CAOC - 2015 Product Liability Trial Lawyer of the Year OCTLA - 2014 Trial Lawyer of the Year CAOC - 2012 Trial Lawyer of the Year Nominee CAALA - 2012 Product Liability Trial Lawyer of the Year OCTLA - 2004