Keeping Track of Clients with New Matter Reports
This week’s “tip” in the area of “administration” is New Matter Reports. The title of these reports is hopefully self-explanatory. They provide a listing of important information with regard to opening a new matter that is going to be handled by you and your law firm. If these forms, whether they be hard copy or electronic, are filled out properly, they will be very helpful with regard to the ongoing work that needs to be done to handle the legal matter you have been hired by the client to perform. On the other hand, if you do not use some type of system to put all the information together that needs to be looked at when opening a new matter in your office, you are setting yourself up for difficulties in communication with your client, difficulties in collecting your bill, and even in some cases disciplinary action and legal malpractice claims against you. Yikes! I am sure nobody ever told you that New Matter Reports would be that important, but after we go down the list of all the different ways that you can use these reports, I think that you will see that when utilized properly, a whole lot of problems can be laid to rest in the very first instance when the first new legal matter is opened in your office.
Let’s talk about some of the important parts of this list, and how this information when properly recorded and checked, will help you handle the legal case better, communicate with your client better, help you keep track of what kinds of cases are profitable for you and can keep you out of problems of conflicts of interest and missing important deadlines.
The first area to talk about on the New Matter Report is “Client Information.” One of the most overlooked areas in a lawyer’s practice is to make a determination as to exactly who the client actually is. If you are called upon to represent a business entity, do you also represent the individuals that make up that entity? If you are called upon to represent one partner, what is your relationship to any other partners? If a loan were going to be made by a bank, the bank would make the loan to one entity, but they would end up having personal guarantors on the loan. When you open up a matter in an entity’s name, who is responsible for paying the bill? You need to get personal responsibility for bill payment where you can. The rest of the information under Client Information is pretty self-explanatory except for the social security number, which often times become important if you ever want to go about collecting a bill against an individual.
The next category is “Matter Information.” In our office we always open up the file name by putting the name of our client first, with the last name first and the first name last. If our client is going to be the Plaintiff in a matter we always put right after the name “a v”; which stands for verses. If our client is going to be a defendant in the matter we always put a semicolon after the clients is name with a “v.” after the name of the other party who is the plaintiff. This has been very helpful over the years because often times clients have very similar names or multiple matters in the office, and it is important to try to determine which client file is which for filing and billing purposes. Under the “amount involved,” often times the word “unknown” needs to be put there. If you show a specific dollar amount on a Plaintiff’s matter, it can come back to haunt you. In the “area of practice code,” key that information into your billing system so that you can keep track of what kinds of cases are profitable for you. The “conflicts” checks are important with regard to all opposing parties and you should take as much space as needed to list all existing opposing parties. You should also, if necessary, add an additional page listing any additional parties that need to be checked and cleared for conflicts. Each of these concepts will be followed throughout all of the administrative items that we will be dealing with.
The next area is “Fee Arrangement.” What type of a time rate you are using such as your number one, two or number three rate is important, also if it is a contingency, what are the percentages? In addition, you will note a client’s signature box under “fee arrangement,” when the client signs in that box the New Matter Report itself can become a contract.
The next area is “Billing Procedure,” which directs your bookkeeper as to how the billing is going to proceed.
The next is “Files.” We will be talking about what kind of file cards need to be prepared and what kind of file needs to be opened in a later article. Directions with regard to how the file needs to be opened can be easily checked off here. Most importantly, the case being checked for conflicts of interest can be shown here, including who checked it and on what date the check was done.
The next category is “Firm Administration.” Who the engagement was received from is important. If you have been reading my previous articles, you will know that a letter of “thank you” needs to be sent to the person who has referred you the legal matter. I think you will see later, when we return to some accounting areas, how important this is in terms of who is the responsible lawyer in the sense of whether or not that lawyer is going to get any compensation credit for bringing that piece of business into the office. Also it is important to know how the engagement was received in the office. Just because someone answers the telephone does not mean that it is their piece of business. The prospective client might be calling and have been referred to a particular lawyer, or they might have been asking for somebody and that person was simply out of the office. Under this ‘firm administration” area, those who generate the business for the firm get the appropriate credit for the firm business they produce.
The last category is the category of “Remarks.” Any additional pertinent information that needs to be put here can be put here, but most importantly a statute of limitations date or other important due dates can be placed in this area.
How this form is utilized in our office is very important. Almost anybody can fill this form out in our office, but the form cannot be finalized nor can a file be opened until certain areas of the form are initialed by at least two lawyers. Obviously, if you are in a solo practice, this will not be possible, but still you should have somebody who is competent in your office help you double check each of the areas that need to be initialed. The areas that need to be initialed by two people where possible are as follows:
1. Fee Arrangement
2. Conflict of Interest
3. Responsible Lawyer
4. Statute of Limitations date
I hope it is obvious to everyone why these four areas are important. Nevertheless, let me comment on each of them. It is important that everyone in your office and your client know exactly what the fee arrangement on the file is, and that it has been reviewed and approved. It is very important that conflicts of interest be checked to be sure that there is absolutely no possibility that a conflict exists. It is important that the lawyer who produces the business for the firm get credit because ongoing legal business is the lifeblood of any firm. Lastly, it is crucial to note that the statute of limitations needs to be checked or any deadline that needs to be determined, to be absolutely sure that everything will be handled in a timely fashion and that you will not be committing malpractice.
The particular form that we use in our office is a hard copy form with a carbon copy underneath. The top sheet is white, the bottom sheet is yellow. The white sheet always goes in as the very first item on the Notes, Facts, Memorandum’s backboard when we open a file we place it right on top of the Prospective New Matter report, which we talked about last week. The yellow sheet is three hole punched and put into a three- ring binder of “open matters” in our office. These yellow sheets are transferred over to a “closed file” binder at the time that the file is closed.
Having a system in your office such as the one described above gives everyone ample opportunity to think about the type of matter that you have brought in, whether or not the matter is going to be profitable to you, and what types of deadlines you are facing with regard to being able to get the work done in an effective, efficient and timely manner. If you do not have such a system in your office, start one now!
As with the previous articles, you will see that all of these administration “tips” tie into an overall system of work flow process that allows your office to operate in a systematized way that sets up easily completed tasks to implement the opening of files, to work on legal matters, and ultimately for billing and collecting for the work that you have done. Forcing yourself to set up checks and threshold tasks that must be completed before a file can be opened, ensures that no matter will “slip through the cracks” and come around to “bite you in the backside” because you did not open it properly in your office. Some of the “tips” to follow, such as the use of “blue cards” as reminder cards, also key into these New Matter Reports and we’ll be talking about them later.
Next week we are going to talk about contracts with clients. It is not yet mandatory that a contract be entered into with every client. I believe it is on the horizon. Is it good business? You betchya! I think you will find the information I put into my contracts and the concepts I have with regard to dealing with our contracts very interesting and helpful to you in your practice.
Talk to you next week!
New Matter Report Example
Client Information
Client: _________________________ Date: ___________________
Address: _______________________ __New Client __Present Client
_______________________
Social Security #: _____/____/_______
Business Phone: _________________
Client Number: ___________________
Contact: _______________________
Home Phone: ____________________
Matter Information
File Name: ________________________________________________________
Nature of Matter: ____________________________________________________
Amount Involved: __________________
Area of Practice Code: _____ __
Opposing Party: _____________________________________________________
Name Address Phone No.
Opposing Lawyer: ___________________________________________________
Name Address Phone No.
Fee Arrangement
__Fixed Fee of $_____________
Or Range of $ ____________ To $ _______
__Time Rate________________________________________________
__Contingency of: ___________________________________________
__Fee to be Determined on Basis of Work Done,
Taking into Account all Relevant Factors.
__Other: ___________________________________________________
Estimated Fee $ ___________________
Client Signature: _______ _______
Billing Procedure
__New General Retainer
$ _____________ Per ____________ Effective ________
__Opening Advance of $ ______________________________________
__Billing Instructions for Bookkeeper:
Upon
Monthly Quarterly Conclusion Other
Fee _____ _____ _____ ____
Disbursements _____ _____ _____ ____
Other: ______________________________________________ _____
Files
File Cards Prepared By: __________________ Date: _______________
__Open New File __Include in Existing File __No File
Files Checked for Conflict of Interest By: __________ Date: _________
Firm Administration
Opened By: ____________ Engagement Received From: _____
Responsible Lawyer: ___________ Engagement Received By: _______
Assigned Lawyers: ___________________
Comments: _____________________________________ ___________
Remarks
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Statute of Limitations Date: _____________________________________________
Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.