This week I will speak about administration as one of the five areas that make up every business as well as discuss additional reasons to use the PNM (Prospective New Matter) Reports we talked about last week. We as lawyers know that matters do not always come in to our offices on the first contact. Often times matters need to be discussed with other people, finances need to be reviewed, documents need to be gathered, etc. So how do you organize all this information that may be only in the very initial stages of the work flow process? You use a system of PNM reports.

In my case, I keep these PNM reports in two different places while we are awaiting the clients’ decision on whether or not they want to hire us to perform legal services for them. One stack is on my desk, and I review it every week to be sure that I am following up with people who have contacted me about prospective cases and communicating to them my ongoing interest in representing them in their case. The second place where I keep these matters is with my secretary, who keeps these PNM reports in alphabetical order. These reports reflect those clients with whom we have made some contact but for some reason a longer period of time has gone by before the client has gotten back to us. The difference between these two stacks is as simple as the ones that I keep have not been in the office that long and the ones that my secretary keeps are ones where we have written a letter to a client about their matter, such as a “non-engagement keep letter” which we will be the subject of a “tip” in the near future.

The other way we separate the two stacks concerns the effort we are putting forth to get this client. If I am still “actively” trying to get the matter into the office, I will keep the PNM on my desk, if I am not actively pursuing it but I have done everything I need to do, then my secretary keeps the PNM form.

Sometimes a prospective client will call me back a month later, three months later, six months later or even a year later, and when that happens I can easily retrieve the PNM form that contains all the information concerning this prospective new matter. After reviewing the PNM form, it is very easy to call the prospective client back and knowledgeably discuss the matter now that they are showing a renewed interest in having me represent them. Often times these phone calls go something like this:

“Hello, this is Jim Wirken. I am returning your phone call. What may I do to be of help to you?”

“Thank you for returning my phone call, you probably don’t remember me but I called you some time ago to discuss my legal matter with you concerning …”

“Sure Mrs. Smith, I remember you. You contacted me on April 4 of this year regarding your personal injury case and you and I discussed the possibility of our firm representing you and you indicated that you would get back to us after you had surgery on your back to let us know whether or not you were still interested in pursuing your possible personal injury case.”

“Oh, Mr. Wirken, I am impressed that you can remember that information from such a long time ago.”

You can see from the above exchange that most clients assume that there is no system in your office for keeping track of such information and are pleasantly surprised when you have the information at your command. Obviously, for all you computer geeks out there, this information can be kept on an electronic PNM form with absolutely no problems. When new client files are opened in our office, the very first thing that goes on the Notes, Facts, Memorandums backboard is this PNM form along with any notes that are pertinent to the intake of the case. If the matter is not opened in the law firm, then the PNM form is filed alphabetically along with all the other PNM forms that never materialized into an active case in the office.

One of the other good things about the PNM form is that it allows you to record what your fee quotation was and what hourly rate has been set if it is going to be an hourly rate matter. Additionally, if you have talked to the client about a contingent fee, the percentages you have quoted to the client with regard to the contingent fee arrangement can be placed on the form as a handy reminder when the matter comes to fruition at a later date.

We are constantly doing three things in our office with regard to these PNM forms. The first thing that we do is I actively pursue them until I know that the matter is actually coming into the office and it results in an active file being open, or the matter is apparently not coming into the office in which case it goes to my secretary for further follow up. Once a month we review the forms that have not resulted in new business and where we have written either a non-engagement keep or non-engagement kick letter and those matters are then put into the permanent PNM file. Once a year, I have a summer intern, often times a family member, go though the PNM’s and simply discard all of the ones that are more than five years old.

You may be asking yourself why I keep the PNM’s, and why I do a five-year “call.” The answer is simple. There was a case some time ago in the state of Minnesota where a client went to a lawyer to discuss a potential medical malpractice problem. The lawyer turned down representation in the matter because the lawyer did not do that type of work. A substantial amount of time went by, and the prospective client went to another lawyer. The second lawyer determined that the statute of limitations had run on the medical malpractice case. When the second lawyer communicated this information to the client, the client’s comment to the second lawyer was, “well that is surprising, the first lawyer that I went to didn’t tell me anything about a statute of limitations.” Well, you can just imagine the light bulb going on above the second lawyer’s head, as he realized that even though his client’s medical malpractice claim was barred by a statute of limitations, there was at least some likelihood that the client’s legal malpractice claim against the first lawyer was not time barred. The end result was a $250,000.00 verdict against the first lawyer for legal malpractice for failing to communicate to the client that the statute of limitation affected her claim even though the claim was in an area that the first lawyer did not practice in. That is an expensive lesson about the use of Prospective New Matter reports and non-engagement letters. Keeping the PNM forms for five years and filling them out properly shows on the face of the document that you informed the party of the statute of limitations, or that you did not but that you have a proper non-engagement letter that you kept a copy of that you sent to the client.

Many of these administrative tips, are going to deal with what I have termed as the eleventh commandment “CYA!” Though shalt cover thy afterside! Having a standardized procedure that keeps track of all prospective new matters will help your firm to process the prospective new matters efficiently regardless of whether the matters become new business or not, and to record exactly what actions were taken and when.

Remember the comment we made in our “tips” about getting clients, about sending letters to people who refer business to you and thanking them for the referral when the matter is received, and again at the time the matter is closed if you have taken it on? The blank on the PNM form with regard to who referred you the case is the perfect place to put that name down to remind you to send a thank you letter out at the time the PNM matter is received, whether you take the case or not, and if you take the case, then another thank you letter goes out when the matter is resolved.

As we go through these tips on administration, you can see that all of these “tips” are inter-connected. All of these administrative tips remind me of the song “the hipbone connected to the thighbone, the thighbone connected to the shinbone, the shinbone connected to the anklebone, the anklebone connected to the footbone, the footbone connected to the toebone come and see the way of the lord!” Remember, that if the space is ordered you are free to live creatively. Also, if the space is ordered, you will get to live efficiently. You can build your law practice and your law firm one case at a time if you make sure that each case is a building block that you set into your firm on a solid base and that cements each case in properly. As we go along with these administration tips I think you will find that the construction analogy is very apropos.

Next week we will talk to you about New Matter Reports that are used to open new files in your office. These reports contain a system of check-offs that make it impossible to mess up in taking on a new matter. I think you will find next week’s “tip” very helpful!

Talk to you next week!

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.