Attorney Journal, San Diego, Volume 144 by Attorney Journals

SAN DIEGO

Volume 144, 2015 • $6.95

Identifying and Grooming High Potential Employees

Jeff Wolf

Three Critical Steps to Building a Prosperous Practice

Kimberly Alford Rice

Lead Conversion: How Attorneys Can Convert More Browsers into Buyers

Stephen Fairley

Are You Losing Business Because of Bad Photography?

Rachel Harmon

Four Reasons Prestige Doesn’t Justify Your Rates: Your Law Firm Proposal Needs Better Differentiators

Chris Sant

ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH

Dave Carothers of Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP

2015 EDITION—NO.144

TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 Lead Conversion: How Attorneys Can Convert More Browsers into Buyers

by Stephen Fairley

10 Identifying and Grooming High Potential Employees

by Jeff Wolf

12 COMMUNITYnews

EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Brian Topor

EDITOR Wendy Price CREATIVE SERVICES Skidmutro Creative Partners

24 Four Reasons Prestige Doesn’t Justify Your Rates: Your Law Firm Proposal Needs Better Differentiators

PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Griffiths STAFF WRITERS Jennifer Hadley Bridget Brookman Karen Gorden

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 Dave Carothers, of Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP Free Trial by Jennifer Hadley

CIRCULATION Angela Watson

CONTRIBUTING EDITORIALISTS Chris Sant Rachel Harmon Stephen Fairley Kimberly Alford Rice Jeff Wolf

by Chris Sant

26 Three Critical Steps for Building a Prosperous Practice

by Kimberly Alford Rice

28 Are You Losing Business Because of Bad Photography?

by Rachel Harmon

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

Annual

RED BOUDREAU Trial Lawyers Dinner

HONORING

ALAN K. BRUBAKER

Wingert Grebing Brubaker & Juskie LLP

2015 Recipient of the Daniel T. Broderick III Award

Saturday, September 12, 2015

326 Broadway San Diego, CA 92101

COCKTAILS: 6:00 p.m. DINNER: 7:30 p.m. Purchase Tickets at: www.neighbor.org Sponsoring Organizations: •American Board of Trial Advocates •Consumer Attorneys of San Diego •San Diego Defense Lawyers

Proceeds from this event go directly to St. Vincent de Paul Village. Over 10,000 homeless children have been helped by this dinner in the past 30 years.

This Event is Generously Presented by: Lawyers’ Mutual Insurance Company

LEAD CONVERSION: How Attorneys Can Convert More Browsers into Buyers

by Stephen Fairley

ow do you help a client who doesn’t know what’s best for them and focuses on the wrong area? I work with hundreds of law firms every year and one of the most common requests I hear from attorneys is, “I need more leads.” Yet when I inquire further into the specifics of their situation, I often find that lead generation isn’t their primary problem—its lead conversion. Let me explain. I was recently speaking with a bankruptcy attorney who claimed he needed more leads to build his practice. I asked him approximately how many leads were coming into his law firm each month. Needless to say, I was astounded when he informed me his firm’s marketing was consistently generating in excess of 100 to 150 new leads every month! Even with modest conversion rates you should be able to generate at least $500,000 annually with this many leads. Yet he was experiencing serious cash flow issues. I kindly told him I did not believe his biggest issue was lead generation; it was lead conversion—converting more browsers into buyers. I walked him through our Rainmaker Lead Conversion System and how it could help him fix his follow-up and convert more prospects into paying clients. Unfortunately, either I did not do a sufficient job of justifying my response or he did not believe me because he persisted in the belief that he simply needed more “qualified leads” and all his problems would be solved. Lead conversion is the most overlooked area at most law firms and it has the potential to significantly increase your revenues this year. Imagine the impact on your firm’s revenue if you improved the rate of conversion by just 10%, much less than the 20-40% increase we have seen when using a formal lead conversion system. I often ask attorneys about their closing rate—the number of appointments they turn into paying clients—and they invariably say that it’s “very high” or “excellent,” but upon

6 Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

careful examination, it tells a different story. I find the majority of attorneys significantly overestimate their closing ratio. Just like practicing law, converting leads into paying clients is a skill that takes practice, but you need to understand how to track your data and analyze it.

THREE MAJOR AREAS TO ANALYZE There are many variables you can consider if your practice isn’t generating the revenues you want, but after nearly a decade of specializing in helping law firms improve their lead generation and lead conversion strategies, I have found there are really three major areas that tell most of the story: • Lead Generation – This is the system of attracting new potential clients to your law firm. You can use both online and offline strategies. Online or internet-related strategies include a website, blog, social media and search engine optimization. Offline marketing strategies include referrals from current and former clients, monthly newsletters, building relationships with potential referral partners, networking, speaking and seminars. It’s important to know that lead generation is the second most expensive thing you will have in your law firm, the first being payroll. You must take a systematic approach to lead generation. Without this, you are reduced to sitting in your office waiting for the phone to ring or a referral to walk in, which is not a good place to be. • Lead Conversion – This is your ability to turn leads into paying clients and is what I will focus on in this article. • Client Retention – How to keep your paying clients coming back for more and/or referring your firm to everyone they know with a similar problem to theirs. The first step in lead conversion is to develop a “universal lead definition” (ULD)—what precisely is counted as a lead, who counts the leads, how you track the leads, and what does

not constitute a legitimate lead. We teach our clients that a lead must meet all three of these criteria: • Someone who has never done business with you before (versus a repeat client). • Everyone who contacts the firm via email, phone, social media, personal referral, internet, networking event, seminar, etc. • They express an interest in your services.

“

THE GREATEST VALUE OF A TRUE LEAD CONVERSION SYSTEM IS THAT IT GIVES YOU DIRECT INSIGHT INTO THE ACTUAL STATE OF YOUR COMPANY...” In order to build a financially successful law firm you must be committed to tracking every single lead and following up with them religiously! Far too many attorneys only track the appointments that show up (and if the truth is told they are not even very good at doing that) or how many of the people they meet with in person who sign up as a paying client at the initial consultation. What they don’t recognize is that is only the fourth stage of lead conversion and there are five stages. Here are the five stages of lead conversion for law firms: • Number of Leads into the top of the funnel • Number of Leads that turn into Appointments • Number of Appointments Who Show Up • Number of Appointments Who Sign Up at the Initial Consultation • Number of Appointments who Sign Up Later No lead conversion system is complete without tracking all five stages. How many of your leads turn into actual

appointments? How many of those appointments actually show up? How many of those people who show up sign up at the initial consultation? And how many people sign up later down the road? Each of these numbers is critical to track because if you know what your conversion rates are at each stage then you can determine where your biggest challenges are and develop a plan to improve. The greatest value of a true lead conversion system is that it gives you direct insight into the actual state of your company and allows you to efficiently automate the follow-up process with dozens and even hundreds of leads. We have helped our clients compete with and beat much larger law firms simply by creating an exceptional follow-up system. Lead generation too often comes down to a firm’s financial ability to “throw money at the problem,” but a lead conversion system can level the playing field and give small firms a true unique competitive advantage.

WHAT IS AN ACCEPTABLE CONVERSION RATE? Conversion rates can differ widely, depending upon your practice area, but in general the lower your average client is “worth” to your firm the higher your conversion must be in order to run a successful firm. For example, if you practice consumer bankruptcy and the average chapter 7 client pays you $1,500 to handle their case you must have a higher conversion ratio than the business litigation attorney whose average client pays them $50,000 to $100,000 in legal fees. For consumer attorneys you need at least a 15-20% conversion rate to run a decent practice. This means for every 100 leads your marketing generates you need to sign up a minimum of 15-20 people. Consumer firms with a comprehensive lead conversion system often experience double this rate, which means they can be very profitable. Think about it this way: if you generate 50 leads per month and close 10% at an average fee of $5,000 per client that

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015 7

means you made $25,000 in gross revenues (assuming 100% collection rates). However, if you increase that conversion rate to 20% you would double your revenues—with the same amount of leads! The key point is that even small increases in conversion rates can make a significant difference in your revenues.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CONVERSION RATE The key to increasing your conversion rate is to fix your follow-up! This is another area where many attorneys think they are doing a good job, but upon further investigation I often find massive gaps in their follow-up process. Too many firms follow the approach of “only taking one bite out of the apple,” that is to say they try to get the prospect to retain at the initial consultation (or worse over the telephone) and if they do not first succeed then they give up and go on to the next person, without ever trying again to get that business. This is a major mistake! When someone doesn’t retain you at the first meeting, rarely does the problem that brought them to you go away on its

own accord. Understand that when they don’t hire you, they are not saying “no,” they are usually saying, “not yet” or “I’m not ready.” But circumstances can change and sometimes very quickly. All of the sudden the legal issue goes from the back burner to the front of their mind and retaining an attorney becomes the most important thing in their world. If you have a system that helps you stay connected with them via email or periodic phone calls then they will more than likely retain you when they are ready versus going to one of your competitors. However, if you fail to fix your follow-up, when they are ready they will likely start the search all over again and you will likely lose this client forever. Let me give you a simple illustration. When an attorney calls me to get some ideas on how to market their law firm I often end up inviting them to attend one of our Rainmaker legal marketing seminars, but often the dates of our seminar conflict with their schedules. It’s not that they don’t want to go, it’s “not yet” or perhaps they are not mentally ready to make the jump to the next level. Either way, if I depended on my memory to follow-up with them some time in the future we would be in serious trouble! Instead we have implemented a comprehensive follow-up system that includes multiple keep in touch emails and automated reminders that help us remember to call that person weeks or even months after the initial call. In addition, we are committed to sending out a newsletter every single month and have been doing so for years. I regularly hear from new clients how they have been receiving my newsletter for 5 to 10 years and finally were ready to sign up and start working with us. Talk about a long sales cycle! It’s a good thing I don’t depend solely on people like that to build my company. The point here is if you have a comprehensive system that follows up with potential clients for long periods of time you will reap the benefits. If you are interested in how a lead conversion system can help your firm fix your follow-up and convert more browsers into buyers I invite you to call our office and set up time for us to talk. n Stephen Fairley is CEO of The Rainmaker Institute, LLC, and the nation’s largest law firm marketing company specializing in small law firms. Over 8,000 attorneys have benefited from applying their proven Rainmaker Marketing System. Stephen is a best-selling author of 10 books and a nationally recognized law firm marketing expert. He has appeared in the American Bar Association’s journal, Harvard Management Update, Inc and Entrepreneur. To receive your FREE copy of his book “Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Attorneys Make” visit www.TheRainmakerInstitute.com, www.RainmakerRetreat.com or call 888-588-5891.

8 Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

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Identifying and Grooming High-Potential Employees by Jeff Wolf

ow do you identify high-potential new leaders? Leaders must be proficient in both hard and soft skills. For years, organizations looked at only hard skills or technical knowledge, such as expertise in strategy or finance. They viewed these hard skills as the most important characteristics of high-potential leaders. However, the soft skills (people or interpersonal skills) are key for the next generation of leaders. Look for these soft skills: effective communication, coaching ability, listening skills, team building capability, facility for building relationships with their staffs and teams and with crossfunctional areas to achieve goals and get work done; a sense of inquisitiveness, a willingness to improve, a tendency to ask a lot of questions, and an understanding of how their actions affect themselves and others. Leadership is difficult and demanding because leaders must help drive results, inspire, guide people and teams, and make tough decisions. Clearly, not everyone has the desire to lead, so the first question appears to be: Does the person want to be a leader? What are his or her goals and aspirations? Does he or she see the big picture versus having a silo mentality? Is the candidate a problem-solver? Does the candidate have the ability to strategically navigate complicated issues? What types of real life experiences does he or she have? Is the candidate honest and ethical? Leaders need to be positive and have a great attitude because they can either impart or sap energy. A leader’s upbeat attitude becomes contagious, lifting the morale of those around him or her. You can always teach skills, but you cannot always teach people how to be positive; they either have a great attitude or they don’t. Observe first-hand how potential leaders work with others and how other people view them. When they stand up to speak

in front of a group, do they exude confidence, present articulate, clear messages, and carry themselves well? They should also have good judgment skills in three discrete areas: 1. People. Can they make sound judgments about people, such as anticipating the need for key personnel changes and aligning people to make the right call? 2. Strategy. Are they flexible and adaptable? Can they make changes when a current strategy isn’t working? 3. Grace under pressure. When they’re in crisis situations, do they remain calm, focused on their goals, think clearly, and develop new alternative strategies? When they make a mistake, do they admit it, let others know about it, and move forward, or do they try to hide it? By admitting mistakes, they serve as role models, communicating that it’s okay to fail and make a mistake. n Jeff Wolf is founder and president of Wolf Management Consultants, LLC, a premier global consulting firm that specializes in helping people, teams and organizations achieve maximum effectiveness. Considered one of the most comprehensive consulting, coaching and training firms in the world, we provide services to organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to international conglomerates. WMC partners with clients to deliver customized solutions that resolve their most significant issues and create a lasting competitive advantage. Jeff’s first book, Roadmap to Success, with management gurus Ken Blanchard and Stephen Covey, is now in its second printing. His latest book, Seven Disciplines of a Leader, captures the distilled insights of Jeff’s 14 years of coaching and training hundreds of leaders at all levels in dozens of industries.

Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, from Seven Disciplines of A Leader by Jeff Wolf. Copyright © 2015 by Jeff Wolf. All rights reserved. This book is available at all bookstores and online booksellers.

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

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Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

COMMUNITY news n Fish & Richardson announced today that it ranked in the top 20 percent of law firms for diversity, according to the 2015 American Lawyer (Am Law) Diversity Scorecard. Fish was ranked 37 out of 220 firms, based on the number of minority attorneys in its offices. The 2015 Am Law Diversity Scorecard is AHMED J. DAVIS comprised of survey results of the Am Law 200 and National Law Journal (NLJ) 250 law firms. “We are thrilled to once again receive such a high ranking for our diversity efforts. We put a lot of effort into recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce, and it’s great to see that reflected in this survey,” said Ahmed J. Davis, National Chair of the Diversity Initiative and Principal of the firm. “Law firms that excel at their diversity efforts understand that it is not merely the right thing to do, but it makes good business sense. But as far as we’ve come, there is always more progress to be made in creating a respectful and inclusive culture that values the diversity of people, experiences, perspectives, talents, and capabilities.” Fish is consistently recognized as one of the country’s top law firms for diversity, and recently was named a 2015 “Top Firm” for Minority Attorneys by Law360. Fish received a top rating of 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) 2015 Corporate Equality Index, which rates businesses for the treatment of LGBT employees in the workplace.

n Allen Matkins has announced the hiring of real estate and finance attorney Richard J. Miltimore in its San Diego office. As a member of the firm’s renowned Real Estate Department, Rick will work on a variety of matters, including those on behalf of lenders, borrowers, purchasers, sellers, RICHARD J. MILTIMORE developers, landlords and tenants in connection with asset acquisitions, dispositions, development and financing, as well as space leases, ground leases and build-to-suit leases. Prior to joining Allen Matkins, Rick was a project finance and real estate associate at Latham & Watkins LLP where he represented clients in transactions routinely exceeding $1 billion in value. This entailed managing all aspects for real property and power plant acquisitions, dispositions, development projects and financings. His experience also includes lease negotiations for office space, bio-medical laboratory space, medical office buildings and data centers. One of his more prominent projects was representing a real estate fund in connection with a multi-billion dollar joint venture to acquire a portfolio of dozens of residential apartment communities across the United States in a single transaction, as well as a similar transaction that closed in multiple stages. Rick received his bachelor’s degree from Pepperdine University and his juris doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law.

n Thomas Jefferson School of Law is among the nation’s top 25 institutions for financial aid support, according to GraduatePrograms.com. The site recently polled more than 10,000 current and former law students to determine what schools provide the best financial aid packages and smoothest application processes. During the last school year, Thomas Jefferson School of Law awarded students $6,629,402 in scholarships, resulting in an average grant of $15,136. In addition to traditional financial aid offerings, Thomas Jefferson School of Law offers guaranteed merit scholarships for first-time entering students. Based on the student’s highest LSAT score and undergraduate grade point average, the scholarships are available for full-time and parttime students.

n Jassim & Associates has moved to the iconic Emerald Plaza building in downtown San Diego at 402 West Broadway, Suite 1120. Attorney and founder Pajman Jassim chose the building for its prestige and proximity to local court buildings. “Emerald Plaza is right in the center of the feel of justice,” NATHAN BATTERMAN & Jassim said. “It’s literally right in PAJMAN JASSIM (L TO R) the middle of the courthouses, and has a professional feel and prestigious presence.” The firm’s new office space is larger, and has a conference room that Jassim attorneys can use for client conferences or depositions. Emerald Plaza is just across the street from the new San Diego Courthouse, which is slated for a fall 2016 completion date.

Have a Press Release you would like to submit for our Community News? Email it to PR@AttorneyJournal.us

12 Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

COMMUNITY news n Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP is pleased to announce that Rupa G. Singh has joined the firm’s partnership, and will continue her business litigation and appellate practice in the firm’s San Diego office. Most recently a senior staff attorney with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Ms. Singh handled civil appeals in areas ranging from employment discrimination to environmental law. RUPA G. SINGH She serves as co-chair of Hahn Loeser’s Appellate Practice. Ms. Singh has represented clients ranging from biotechnology startups to international telecommunications companies in complex contractual, licensing, employment, trade secret, and unfair competition disputes. She is admitted to practice in California and New York, as well as before various federal district and appellate courts. Appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission, Ms. Singh has chaired the San Diego County Bar’s Appellate Practice Section; served as one of the youngest presidents of the Federal Bar Association of San Diego; co-founded and presided over the South Asian Bar Association of San Diego; and served as a vice president of the Lawyers Club of San Diego. Among other honors, Ms. Singh has received distinguished service awards for her civic and pro bono services. She also writes and teaches on topics such as appellate practice, business litigation, and civil procedure. n Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP is pleased to announce that Christina Semmer has joined the firm as an associate. Semmer joins the firm’s employment and business practice groups. Her business litigation practice includes representing companies in breach of contract, business tort, and other complex litigation matters. Her employment law practice includes representing employers in a variety of CHRISTINA SEMMER employment disputes, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and wage and hour litigation. Before joining Wilson Turner Kosmo, Semmer served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Nita L. Stormes of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Prior to her judicial clerkship, Semmer worked as an associate for Faegre Baker Daniels LLP in Minneapolis, representing clients in complex litigation matters. Semmer received her J.D. from the University of Missouri School of Law and her B.A., cum laude, from Macalester College. She is licensed to practice law in California and Minnesota.

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015 13

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Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

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Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP’s Dave Carothers Gives Back to the Community and a BY JENNIFER HADLEY New Crop of Young Lawyers

t is reasonable to assume that any attorney with an astounding 75 jury wins would be eager to boast about his success, but assuming anything has historically proven a risky wager. In the case of Dave Carothers, partner at Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, such an assumption would prove particularly foolhardy and would be proven false within minutes of speaking with the award-winning attorney. On the contrary, Carothers is humble, authentic and devoid of any discernible ego. He is, however, absolutely dedicated to making sure he pays forward the generosity and help he’s benefitted from as the direct result of others’ selflessness and self-sacrifice. In short, Carothers is as real and sincere as it gets, with his success resulting as a by-product of simply “being Dave,” as he would say. Despite the incredible number of jury trials he’s won, he’s never worked as a prosecutor. Instead, he attributes his admirable trial record to the fact that he’s very comfortable with who he is, what his strengths are, and how to talk to jurors, whether they’re Gen Y’ers or Baby Boomers. “Everybody brings their own personality and characteristics to the job. For me, I grew up as a poor kid in L.A. and met a lot of different people and everyday folks in different situations. I learned to talk to people and they felt comfortable with me. That’s what I bring as an attorney. I portray a certain comfort level that makes me easy to talk to—like I could be someone you’re sitting next to on the bus or enjoying a beer with. At the same time, I zealously advocate my clients’ positions and do it in a way that people get it and aren’t offended. I’m respectful and in turn earn respect from others. But it was a long journey for me to get to ‘being me’ and ‘being Dave’ as an attorney. I had to find myself along the way,” he says.

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A MOTHER’S LOVE PLANTS SEEDS OF LOVE FOR THE LAW “I was born in rural Jackson, Mississippi. My mother didn’t want to raise two boys there because of the limited educational and economic opportunities. She put my twin brother and me on a Greyhound bus because she wanted a better life for us. She didn’t even have a high school diploma. We moved to Los Angeles and my mom was a domestic worker. She cleaned law offices on the weekends and when no babysitter was available, she would have us sit in the lobby while she cleaned. For her to have the smarts to hand us law books, such as a Treatise on Contract Law and tell us to read them while we waited for her was incredible,” Carothers recalls. Carothers’ burgeoning love of law was further reinforced upon reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird when he was just 11 years old. “I thought Atticus Finch was so honorable and brave to defend Tom Robinson even though there was no way he would win. He did it because it was the right thing to do. I knew that was what I was going to do,” he explains. His passion for advocacy was instantly piqued, and only reaffirmed through his childhood and life experiences. “I knew I wanted to pursue a profession that allowed me to represent businesses and entrepreneurs.” All the same, Carothers admits that he didn’t think he’d have the means to become an attorney so he decided to serve his country first. He enlisted in the Navy in 1975, but continued to nurture his natural abilities in advocacy, even when he knew it might be hazardous. “I was on the U.S.S. Enterprise, and my rank was basically one notch above the bottom. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday was approaching, and a fellow serviceman wanted to take time off to honor the day. It wasn’t recognized

Judge Norman Epstein is now the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District.

as a holiday at that time and he was being required to submit a chit and explain exactly where he planned to go and what he planned to do on the day off. He came to me and asked me what I thought. I wrote a letter asking why he was being forced to explain in detail exactly what he was planning to do. We never had to explain what we were going to do on Lincoln’s or Washington’s birthday. My senior officer came to me with my letter and said that the request was being honored without the chit, but never ever to write a note to the Captain like that again.” After four years of service, he left the military having earned the Navy/Marine Corp Expeditionary medal for services related to Iran and with two years of college under his belt. Carothers enrolled at California State Dominguez Hills, where he would ultimately meet a second incredibly influential mentor. “Judge Norman Epstein was essential to the beginning of my career and has continued to play an important role in my life. He noticed a lack of African American attorneys in the courtroom and contacted my prelaw advisor to find a handful of African American students that he could personally mentor. I was one of the few selected,” he says. Judge Epstein is now the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District. Continuing he adds, “He helped me get into USC. He would have some of us go to lunch with him, and I would meet this friend, an elderly black man, who he would have

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

incredible discussions with about the law. It wasn’t until years later that I realized it was Bernard Jefferson, one of the first black judges in California and the author of Jefferson’s Bench Book on Evidence.” In addition to the guidance and mentorship Carothers received from Justice Epstein, he was gifted with the opportunity to see just how much his mother had done for him and his brother by moving them out of Jackson, Mississippi, to Los Angeles. “During my second year in law school I was a summer associate at a law firm on Wilshire Blvd. I knew the office looked so familiar, but it wasn’t until a month later that I realized this was an office my mom used to clean. It showed me just how far my family had come within one generation—from cleaning the office to having a son that was a law student working at that office. It was powerful, so anytime I was feeling exhausted from studying, I would remember what my mom had done. She was this tiny woman with twin boys who worked three jobs, and here I was in a beautiful law library. I would say to myself, ‘Come on, Dave, you can at least put in another hour of studying,’” he says with an easy laugh.

SOWING A LOVE OF LABOR LAW “I started off wanting to focus on traditional labor law and unions and actually clerked at the National Labor Relations Board in Region 31. My labor law professor at USC was instrumental to getting my start in employment law, especially with the NLRB and later employment litigation. He emphasized how this practice tries many cases in front of juries, which is what I’d always dreamt of doing. I wanted to be in the action of the courtroom,” Carothers says. By 1985, he would see his dream come to life. “I joined premier civil trial firm McInnis, Fitzgerald, Rees, Sharkey & McIntyre in San Diego right out of law school. They had been around since 1940. A professor told me about the firm because he knew I wanted to try cases. I interviewed and they offered me a first-year job. I was the first African American lawyer at a firm that didn’t get much more Irish or conservative than they were, and I never felt out of place. I worked with partner Tom Sharkey, who had me trying cases within six months of being at the firm. Sharkey was well known in the California legal community and was the best mentor I could have had. I’m still close with him today,” Carothers says with a smile. “Those days were our own little Camelot. It was that much of a fairy tale. I was a young lawyer, trying cases, and it was truly the best experience I could hope for,” he says. By way of example, in 1987, Carothers was involved in Higgins v. Maher as a first chair. “I was a two-year attorney at the time, and it took place in San Diego Superior Court, Court of Appeals. It was an employment litigation case of first impression in California and the Plaintiff alleged wrongful termination in violation of public policy. The Plaintiff, who held significant position within the Catholic

Brent M. Giddens, Dave Carothers, Marie D. DiSante, Mark S. Spring and Timothy M. Freudenberger.

Diocese, claimed he was terminated as a result of discovering and complaining about financial improprieties concerning the Bishop of San Diego. I argued that the Plaintiff was released from his duties due to performance and religious reasons and that based on the separation clause of the First Amendment, a civil court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter. The Trial Court and Court of Appeals agreed. It established the principle that the Bishop has the right to decide who preaches in the pulpit. It was a big case and a proud moment for me.”

FINDING HIS VOICE IN A NEW FIRM According to Carothers, his success in cases such as that, along with his subsequent success at Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, which has been providing legal services to California employers for more than 20 years, can be attributed to being himself. “As an attorney if you aren’t comfortable with who you are, others will see that and your credibility is at risk. If the jury doesn’t feel that you’re authentic, they will never believe your side of the story. I’m not overly technical and I never talk down to jurors. I always need to be me.” It is indeed a breadth of self-knowledge that Carothers spends so much time encouraging others to seek out. “I am very accessible to attorneys in my firm, but I don’t limit my help to attorneys at my firm. I am happy to have lunch with students, to offer advice if they ask for it, or just listen if they

don’t want to hear it. I encourage young and future lawyers not to spend all of their time only hanging around lawyers. That is not who you’re servicing,” he says. Instead, Carothers says that he encourages the attorneys in his firm to “be around business people, build relationships and join many trade associations. I try to give the attorneys in my firm the same experience that I had. I give them the opportunities to interact with clients early on, strategize, and spend time away from their desk,” he says. Part of being himself includes a dedication to giving back to others in additional ways too. “Judge Epstein is an incredible person. He reaches out to do things for people with no agenda and without fanfare. He is so humble and he has no right to be, because he is smart as all get-out, but he is pure of heart. I try to follow that example,” he says. To that end, Carothers’ track record of giving back is lengthy, to say nothing of admirable. He’s held past board memberships with Mercy Hospital’s Finance Committee, Inner-City Games Foundation, Neighborhood House Association and San Diego Police Review Board. He has also provided pro bono counsel to Inner-City Games Foundation. Moreover, in 2014 when his firm launched a charitable partnership with Wounded Warrior Project in celebration of Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP’s 20th anniversary, Carothers was also appointed as chairperson for the initiative.

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

Contact Dave Carothers Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP www.cdflaborlaw.com (858) 646-0007 4510 Executive Drive, Suite 300 San Diego, CA 92121

EXPERIENCE

“It’s a charity that hits home for me and some of my colleagues, and the partnership engaged all employees firm-wide to raise awareness, funds and support for WWP and its mission. I’m happy to report that our relationship with WWP has continued,” he says simply. Carothers is indisputably one of the state’s preeminent labor and employment attorneys, boasting all of the accolades that accompany such status. From an AVPreeminent rating to inclusion amongst Best Lawyers in America, San Diego Top Attorneys, Super Lawyers, membership in ABOTA, and more, there’s frankly not much he hasn’t accomplished. His firm counts more than 40 attorneys in its five offices throughout California, and Carothers has tried and won cases all over the state. But even after 30 years of success, he still looks for ways to be helpful to up-and-coming attorneys, in order to pay back the debt of gratitude he owes his mother and the various mentors who have helped him get where he is today. “By sharing the origins of my passion for trial cases, and my humble beginnings, I hope to inspire other attorneys to give back to the community and to help the next generation of attorneys. There’s no resting on my laurels. For me, I had to find out who and what I was about, and imagine my life being that person. That’s what I encourage others to do.” n

» EDUCATION • University of Southern California Law Center, J.D. – 1985 • National Labor Relations Board, Region 31, Law Clerk – 1983 • California State University, Dominguez Hills, B.A., Public Administration – 1982

PUBLICATIONS • “Avoiding Legal Traps Involving Employment References,” San Diego Commerce – 1997

» WRITTEN OPINIONS • Higgins v. Maher, 210 Cal.App.3d 1168, 258 Cal.Rptr.2d 763 – May 1989 • First Amendment right of Catholic bishop to make ecclesiastical based employment decisions

» PRESENTATIONS • “What’s Trending in the Inland Empire in California Employment Law,” Riverside Employment Law Seminar – April 2015 • “Bullying in the Workplace,” University of San Diego Diversity Committee – April 2015 • “Religious Institutions Employment Law Training,” Religious Institution – May 2014 • “Employment Law and The Provisions of SLS Services,” CSLN 2014 Leadership Conference – March 2014

» CIVICS ACTIVITIES/PAST BOARD MEMBERSHIPS

• Mercy Hospital’s Finance Committee • Inner-City Games Foundation

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

• Neighborhood House Association • San Diego Police Review Board

» PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS/ LEADERSHIP/AWARDS

• Martindale-Hubbell AV© Preeminent™ Rated • Selected as one of San Diego’s Top Attorneys in 2013, 2014 & 2015 by The Daily Transcript • Best Lawyers in America, Litigation Labor and Employment – 2013, 2014 & 2015 • Listed, San Diego Super Lawyers – 2012–2015 • Commissioner to the Fair Employment and Housing Commission - Appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – November 2008 • American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) – 2005 to present • Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Committee member and founding participant – 1999 to present • Continuing Education of the Bar’s CEB Annual Employment Law Update • Frequent lecturer on litigation-related topics • Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, Executive committee – 2001 to present • San Diego office managing partner – 2000-2015 • Chair, Wounded Warrior Project firmwide partnership

» PRO BONO • Provided counsel to Inner-City Games Foundation

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Reasons Prestige Doesn’t Justify Your Rates: Your Law Firm Proposal Needs Better Differentiators by Chris Sant

here you are, in your office, the night before your proposal is due, cursor blinking on your screen. And you’re staring at questions 1 and 2 of the Request for Proposal.

Q1. “What are your hourly rates?” Q2. “How do you justify your hourly rates?”

When I consult with legal clients about their proposals, differentiating themselves is always the hardest part for them. Experience? Great results? Happy clients? Attorney bios? Yeah, they have it, but so do all the other large firms that they’re competing against. So how do you stand out? How do you get the client to choose you? Most importantly, how do you justify those rates? Without a structured process, most clients simply give up. You cite the same things everyone else is citing, hope for the best and then dabble on a little of that magical Biglaw cure-all: prestige. Ah, yes. What is prestige going for these days on the spot market? Can you buy a bucketful? Does it work this way? Not at all. But every RFP that gets sent out gets back a dozen proposals going on and on about the history of the firm and how prestigious it is. To the proposal writer, this makes perfect sense. After all, who is the client to say what is and isn’t prestigious? It’s a matter of opinion. Think about that, though. Is your unverifiable, untestable opinion a solid foundation on which to justify hourly rates in a proposal to the very person who you want to pay them? And is it something you even want to claim? To me, there are six very good reasons why you should banish this word from your legal proposals. Can’t We Just Slap Some Prestige On It?

A proposal is a sales document. So what you say in it does affect the opinions that the reader has of your firm. And a proposal can heighten the dignity of an otherwise excellent firm in the eyes of the client. In the end, though, for a proposal to ring true at all, it needs to reflect the actual character of your law firm. Now, a law firm can certainly enhance their prestige if they’re willing to pay the price to do so. But trying to 24 Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

claim the mantle without paying the price will be quickly found out. Moreover, the client will not appreciate you passing off averageness for the pinnacle of quality. It’s a sham. There are firms that have become recognized as prestigious through decades of unsurpassed results, the highest standards and excellent customer service. And there are firms that have entered the club in a much shorter amount of time, spending what it took with tables at charity dinners and soirees and Monets and other forms of advertising that the legal world considers acceptable. A hundred years on one hand and ten or twenty on the other. Well, heck, if those guys can consider themselves prestigious, why can’t we? We can use the same heavy paper in our Christmas cards and serve the same fancy wine at parties for clients. The problem, though, is that prestige is a specific choice. And if you haven’t been making that choice all along, you can’t justify your rates by citing it now. Nobody will believe you. Why? You Really Aren’t Prestigious

Expensive, yes. Prestigious, no. The sorts of clients who are using RFPs are not stupid. They are Fortune 500 companies. They pay their executives very well. They know what prestige is. Some attorneys argue that they can claim to be prestigious by virtue of their rates. This gets it all backwards, of course. But, even more critically, these sorts need to realize that they really aren’t actually willing to pay the price for prestige. Prestige isn’t measured by how many partners you have who claim to bill $1,000 an hour. It’s found in a culture of adherence to the highest standards, even when nobody is looking. It’s a willingness to forego profits now for the sake of goodwill later. It’s ensuring that even your newest associates and paralegals understand that there is no such thing as routine. No routine email. No routine phone call. No routine filing. The price of prestige is the way the receptionist answers the phone, the way even the UPS guy is greeted in the lobby. It’s the way a young litigator interacts with opposing counsel at the courthouse. In other words, the price of prestige is doing everything it takes to earn prestige. Hourly rates are not part of that equation.

Your Clients Don’t Want Prestige

Still, some lawyers want to run prestige up the flagpole and waive it around for clients to justify their rates. Is that even a good choice? If you choose to present yourself in your proposals as prestigious, does that mesh with the clients you’re trying to win? Does it harmonize with their businesses, values, goals, hobbies? Not likely. When I ask training participants to name some prestigious companies, the same one always comes up first. Try it yourself. Who do you think of? The company most people mention is Rolls Royce. Most people, even wealthy people, do not have a Rolls Royce. Why not? Wouldn’t they like one? Sure. But they have many, many things they want to accomplish before they get around to buying a Rolls Royce. They’d rather have their kids go to the best possible schools. They’d rather have a beach house as a place the family can go have fun together. They’d rather splurge on tickets to take their buddy to the Super Bowl. But a Rolls Royce? They’re happy with their Lexus or BMW or other luxury car. The extra that a Rolls Royce provides—prestige, essentially—just isn’t that valuable to most people. And that’s with their own money. If they rarely get a Rolls Royce for themselves, you can be sure that they absolutely do not buy Rolls Royces for their business. Does Home Depot use Rolls Royce as a company car? Does Staples? So why would you want to sell yourself as the Rolls Royce of law firms when you answer an RFP? And yet a Google search for “prestigious law firm” turns up over two million hits. Clearly, firms are doing just that. This is not to say that you cannot justify your Biglaw rates. But if your clients are pickup truck people, you will not wow them with a Rolls Royce. Instead, you’ll just make them think, 1) you are very, very different from them, and 2) you waste a lot of money on stupid stuff. Does a client want to pay for stupid stuff through your sky high rates? No way. He’ll pay for quality, results, experience and a lot of other things, but prestige isn’t one of them. Prestige Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be

I remember appearing before a judge on a pro bono matter I was handling as a young associate when I was at Simpson Thacher, generally considered one of the most prestigious firms in the world. I had been before her plenty of times before. But this particular time, the things she said made it clear she had no idea we were representing our client pro bono. Now, our client was a sweet, little old lady who had been forced out of her house by unscrupulous predatory lending. And here she was represented by Simpson Thacher, behemoth international law firm, go-to counsel for investment banks and brokerages and insurers. It was all so obvious. (Not to mention it was written on the front of all our pleadings, but judges reading papers is another topic entirely.) At that moment, it became incredibly clear that she had never heard of us before. To me, this was eye opening. Green as I was, I just assumed that judges came from elite schools and students at elite schools knew about elite firms. Nope. The firm name meant squat to her. If it meant squat to her, did it have any value to clients? Maybe at the appellate court

level. Maybe in federal courts more than state. But not nearly as much as most Biglaw lawyers wish it did. And that’s for a firm that’s survived at the top of the New York legal community for a hundred years. Who are those other two million Google hits talking about? Finding Other Ways to Justify Price

There is a vast chasm between a Ford Festiva and a Rolls Royce. This is the area in which you can honestly and proudly describe the character and value of your firm. The critical task in your proposal is to justify your rates by representing your firm well, not by misrepresenting it. This means your rates need more tangible benefits to rest on. Client-centered benefits include your: · Responsiveness · Clear communication · Quality assurance · Project management skills · Operational efficiency · Speed · Alternative fee structures · Experience with their specific industry · Experience with that specific customer type · Expertise · Added value Of course, you need to be able to actually back these up when the client asks for details. If you can’t say something like, “Yes, all our attorneys and paralegals undergo three hours of training in project management, an hour of training in management, two hours of training in quality assurance, and two hours of training in clear client communication,” then you can’t list them in your proposal as aspects that justify your prices. The reality is that most firms get by on their experience alone and they can do that because everyone else is doing it too. But as big clients are moving towards using RFPs, they’re also becoming much more willing to take chances on smaller firms who are willing and able to deliver value in other ways. And as more law firms wake up to the value of a persuasive proposal, fewer competitors will be left playing the me-too game with your firm. In other words, the days of Biglaw rates being justified by experience and a whitewash of prestige are clearly at an end. Prestige has its uses, but very few firms are needed to satisfy the occasional Sultan or Blue Blood. It’s time for you to find a better way to sell your legal services. You need to win more business. For the sake of your firm’s profits per partner, your job, and your family, you need to be more successful. n Chris Sant is the Founder of Chris Sant Consulting which provides solutions based on 20 years of success plus proprietary research into cognitive linguistics and buying psychology. His system produces 35% more wins and 35% more money in 35 minutes or less—with a 1,000% ROI guarantee! To learn more, check it out at LawProposals.com. Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Sant

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015 25

he first half of the year 2015 is drawing to a close and by now “overwhelm” has yet to set in for many lawyers. It is typically this time of year I find my clients eagerly embrace a few practical steps that they may take to yield high impact results in growing and strengthening their client base. The appropriate execution when combined with consistency and persistency can make the difference between a thriving practice and hanging on by a thread. No one-shot wonders here.

EFFECTIVE To the extent lawyers consider the logic, there is no single action which wins the day for building a healthy practice. In relational businesses such as legal services, helping firms to reach “top-ofmind” status among its key audiences (existing clients, referral sources, and prospects) proves to be one of the greatest ‘high impact’ business development initiatives in which to engage. That is what I’m focusing on in this article:

REACH OUT REGULARLY

Three Critical Steps to Building a Prosperous Practice by Kimberly Alford Rice Kimberly Alford Rice is Principal of KLA Marketing Associates (www.klamarketing.net), a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a law marketing authority, Kimberly helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenue. Additionally, Kimberly founded Women in the Law Rainmaker Forum to provide women lawyers guidance in professional and career management issues. She may be reached at 609.458.0415 or via email at kimberly@klamarketing.net

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

With the countless number of ways to connect (email, social media, texting, snail mail, Skype, video conferencing, webcasting, etc.), it has never been easier to get and stay in touch with others. Some individuals still pick up a landline telephone and place an actual phone call. Find out how your clients and key influencers prefer to be communicated with and leverage the available technology to develop a regular means of staying in touch. This could take the form of a monthly e-blast to a different segment of your clients on an issue of particular relevance to them. Or, it could be a program notice for an in-house “lunch n’ learn” on a timely topic which may adversely affect your clients’ business, if left unaddressed. Whatever the means, schedule it into your calendar to make sure it happens consistently. Enlist the support of your administrative team. There are plenty of expert local resources available (just ask us) to assist you in developing a system for staying in touch with a growing number of clients and contacts. Developing and executing a system will make all the difference in the world for supporting your goals and rendering tangible results in growing a practice. Don’t leave your communication with targeted audiences to chance or continue a scattershot approach. As so many have seen, it simply does not work to make a lasting impression or to develop a “top-of-mind” awareness in front of those with whom you wish to connect.

FACE-TO-FACE INTERACTION It’s tough, if not downright impossible, to build and grow a prosperous practice without proactively meeting and cultivating relationships with individuals who are in a position to retain your services. There are a plethora of passive marketing tactics (such as advertising, article publishing, strategic web development) which can be very effective when combined with active marketing tactics (speaking engagements, networking events, organizational involvement), recognizing again that there is no one activity which is the magic bullet.

As the number of networking opportunities has increased, we advise clients to remain very strategic and selective in committing to which events they will attend and in which professional organizations they will become involved. The absolute best events to attend are those at which your “profile” clients will be present. In short, you want to “go where the clients are.” For example, if your area of practice is in management side labor and employment law, the folks who typically make legal hiring decisions may be a VP of Human Resources, Human Resources Director, CFO, or even a business owner, depending on the size of an organization. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to attend and become involved in the same organizations in which those folks are involved. One such organization is the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM). It is there that you will find individuals struggling with a myriad of employment law issues with which you may lend your expertise.

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LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY It bears repeating that it has never been easier to get and stay in front of key audiences than it is today given all the technological tools (read: economical) available. Assuming your firm has a website (and if you don’t, that is a whole different conversation), I encourage clients to upload fresh content frequently. This may take the form of a short article (no more than 750-1000 words), blog posts (no more than 300 words), or even a link to an article you published in a print or digital publication. Study after study shows us that there is tremendous room for growth with online marketing initiatives. It is commonplace that upon meeting a prospect, a possible professional services advisor, etc., we all check out their online bio, whether that is on their website, an attorney directory (like Martindale or AVVO) or even LinkedIn. If you frequently upload new content to your website, you will boost your online credibility, which can increase your retention rate.

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Are You Losing Business Because of Bad Photography? by Rachel Harmon

t’s a common sentiment, you think you’ve done everything possible to build your law business… You have worked hard on building a business that represents your ideals. You have built relationships in your industry. You have a great office space that you have spent time decorating to make your clients feel comfortable. You have hired an all-star staff. You have advertisements in relevant marketing channels. You have created a beautiful website that clearly depicts your firm’s purpose, but you still aren’t signing the cases that you want. This is a frustrating reality for many legal professionals, who have spent an unmeasurable amount of time and energy making their business the best it can be, but are not seeing the expected results. A simple area many professionals tend to ignore is the quality of the images they are posting on their site. In a society so hyper-focused on image and a marketing landscape where consumers have to digest thousands of images per day, your photos have to be top-notch, or you are wasting your time. Marcel Just, director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University, explains how important images are to digital marketing in an interview for Nieman Reports, saying: “Processing print isn’t something the human brain was built for. The printed word is a human artifact. It’s very convenient

and it’s worked very well for us for 5,000 years, but it’s an invention of human beings. By contrast Mother Nature has built into our brain our ability to see the visual world and interpret it.” –Marcel Just, Director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, Carnegie Mellon University

PROFESSIONAL LAW FIRM PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS • Be Personal Stock images always seem like a great idea at the time. They are cost effective, professional, and a stock image exists for almost any situation you can think of. However, stock images are impersonal, and many fall into the fake or cheesy categories. Stock images don’t give a genuine representation of the people behind your firm, making you seem untrustworthy, which is the last thing any law firm wants. Images of actual people sitting in your law firm will always win out. • Be Interesting Your clients are inundated with images through media outlets that flood our inboxes, mailboxes, and social feeds. If your image does not spark any emotion in the viewer, it is worthless. I’m not necessarily talking about an intense emotional connection, but some type of spark that will

TYPES OF IMAGES TO INCLUDE ON YOUR LAW FIRM WEBSITE:

SMILING HEADSHOTS OF STAFF

Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

BEHIND-THE-SCENES SHOTS

GROUP SHOTS OF STAFF INSIDE OR NEAR BUILDING

keep your visitor interested. If your firm is involved in the community, give visitors a glimpse of your staff working hard to help locals. If you have a big case going on or an interview, snap a behind-the-scenes image so clients feel like they get the inside scoop on your work. • Be Specific I have a background in retail marketing; nothing drives me crazier than an image with no subject and distracting background clutter. Make sure that your consumer knows exactly how your image relates to the topic they are reading about. To achieve this, you can blur out the background slightly or take images with a crisp clean background. • Be Current Keeping out-of-date photos on your site signals to visitors that you don’t pay attention to detail and don’t care about being current. These red flags signal to your consumer that you may treat their case the same way. One of the easiest ways to tell if your photos are outdated is by examining the fashion and style choices made in the photos. A good rule of thumb is to update attorney profile images every year or two, and update images when you hire or lose staff members. In addition to the standard photos, continually post images from current events happening at your firm.

Hear Mike’s Story

“Now, knowing what I know now, I am so blessed that I was represented by the Law Firm of Harley & Duarte. Their vast experience in handling cases like mine truly paid off for me.” -Mike Denney, Santa Ana, CA

IMAGES/VIDEOS FOR CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

• Be High Quality The final and most important aspect of any photo is the quality. No matter how personal, interesting, specific, or current your images are, if they are of sub-par quality, you might as well not even have them on your site. A lowquality image on a website demonstrates that the creators are apathetic to quality overall and will likely be apathetic to the quality of a client’s case. The best way to solve this problem is to hire a professional photographer to come to your business and take photos of your staff and your space. n Rachel Harmon is an Analyst for Consultwebs and supports Marketing Consultants by auditing client’s websites and looking for gaps in their online marketing campaigns. She specializes in ensuring clients’ site redesigns, launches, content revisions/additions and other aspects of their online marketing are executed smoothly and in harmony with the firm’s brand. For more information, please visit https://www.consultwebs.com.

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Attorney Journal San Diego | Volume 144, 2015

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