Respect the Money

Many lawyers get bogged down trying to be "personal injury" lawyers by taking in cases that are then put on the back-burner while work is done on billing cases.  There are plenty of law firms with this problem, and what happens is that small cases get pushed back and eventually let go.

I was always taught to "respect the money," even if it is a small amount.  Sure, it's easy for a lawyer to get excited over a client with $300,000 in medical bills, but the case with $3,000 is just as important to that client.  My goal in practice is to push all my cases to a speedy resolution, because my clients deserve it.  My firm may not be able to do as much with a fee of a grand, but anyone who has been hurt knows that the money is still important.  Ask your attorney if the money is important, and then ask when you go to trial.

[This blog was originally published to my blog Fender Benders Have Value on January 5, 2012.]

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

One blog and one blog only

For those of you that may read this blog or others that bear my name, you may feel a little deja vu.  As a young lawyer starting my practice, I thought the way to get clients was to publish lots of blogs with very specific audiences in mind.  I have had a speeding ticket blog (because I handle many speeding tickets), a personal injury blog, a DUI blog, and even a blog on my website.  These avenues would be great to round up business, if I kept them updated.

Problem was, I never got on my different blogs to post new information.  I blog often, and update Facebook pages and twitter feeds, but when I can't get around to my personal injury blog for a month, it defeats the purpose.  Instead of looking like a lawyer that has his act together, a blogger with an empty blog looks like somebody with the best intentions but no follow-through.  Enough of that for me.

I am therefore consolidating my blogging to this post, since it's my favorite.  What this means for you the reader is that I will be reposting my content from other locations and Esquire by Day will act as my single source of written material.  Having a single blog will give me the chance to blog often and keep things up to date.  So, I apologize in advance for the regurgitated material you will find, but ultimately I believe this will be a much better source of information and window into my practice.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

Musicians and Performance Enhancing Drugs

I am a baseball fan.  Grew up with it, and still have my first glove from way back in my childhood.  Having never played in college or professionally, I missed the first-hand accounts cropping up regarding “performance enhancing drugs,” but I know I wouldn’t have liked them around.  Competition is about being the best you can be, not trying to gain an edge  by taking steroids.  So, when talk about Barry Bonds’ home run record and the dreaded “asterisk” came up, I got to thinking...

Musicians are avid drug users.  Sure, not everyone who every picked up a trumpet or guitar shoots heroine, but a good many popular ones have.  Charlie Parker, famed alto saxophonist in the 1930s and 40s, continuously pawned his sax for drugs.  He also happened to be an amazing musician.  For years after his untimely death, jazzers shot heroine in hopes of playing like “Bird.”  Louis Armstrong before him smoked plenty of weed, as did many jazz musicians of his day.  In fact, a jazz concert was not complete if the musicians weren’t high; that’s just what they did.

Fast-forward to the 1960s and the Kool-Aid Experiments in San Francisco.  Would anyone seriously argue that the Grateful Dead would have been as influential without their psychadelic drug use?  Look at Led Zepplin; heroine and cocaine helped them get to where they landed.  Even today’s Green Day admits they are better high on something.

So as I was thinking, I could not help but wonder to what extent these drugs enhanced the band’s performance in the same way steroids does to athletes.  Is it fair that we force our clean high schoolers to compete with pot heads and dope fiends?  How is the playing field level if some out there are willing to risk their own life for the sake of fame?

Many of these bands are in the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame.  It seems maybe we should put an asterisk by their records to dissuade youngsters from following suit like we do with professional sports.  The goal is to teach our children, isn’t it?  I have the sinking feeling that such a mark is more likely to be a badge of honor for bands, so perhaps the whole idea should be scrapped...

[This post was originally published to my website jdduncanlaw.com on October 30, 2009.]

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

Change of Scenery

I am practicing in my firm's conference room this afternoon.  No, my office isn't cluttered, being cleaned, or missing furniture.  I am in the conference room for a simple change of scenery.  We just purchased a new table for the conference room, and I really like how open the design is.  There are no awkward corners to wheel around, and behind me are two big windows of the world outside.  Not that we are sitting on the 28th floor of some tower in Buckhead, but it is nice to get some sunshine into a workspace.  The conference room is also clear of stuff.  We have chairs, the table, a rug, and a couple of small shelves to house supplies.  It's amazing to me how my brain can be energized by working in an empty space.

No, this is not a profound essay about how my inner genius shows himself in the conference room.  My point is far more elementary.  As a small firm attorney, we have more clients that all want us to be intimately familiar with their case (and rightly so!).  It's easy to miss the forest for the trees in my practice, and sometimes a little change of pace is just what I need.  With a new perspective comes new eyes, and I can often catch some different argument by leaving the office.  To get work done, all I require is a phone and wifi.  So long as I have that, I can go pretty much anywhere.  I urge you to find a way to mobilize your practice as well.  You will be surprised by how efficient you can be in a new location.

As I write this post, I should also note the drawbacks with changing up your work location.  In the past hour, I have had staffers in and out wanting to chat about why I am here instead of my office.  Changing behavior can make people uneasy, so expect to explain yourself.  Obviously, the same could be said for taking the old laptop down to Starbucks.  Different distractions, but a new environment will carry with it new activities to ignore.  For a week, practicing in a new place may not work.  But for an afternoon, it might be just what you need to clear your head and get some work done.

My partner has always said that he could practice out of the trunk of his car if he wanted.  This sounds strange, but we should be mindful that practicing law need not be done in a brick-and-mortar office.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

Limitless

A recent video on the news has me  thinking about Bradley Cooper in Limitless, the recent movie about a pill that allows its user to access the full potential of his mind.  The story I'm referring to is a dog that only has his front two legs.  I have no idea how he lost his back to legs, but nothing got this dog down as he simply learned how to get around with only the two.  I had seen dogs with three legs before, and I have met one in particular that had one in front and one in back, but the set up this little guy had just seemed much more difficult to move with.  I mean, his entire back end is totally unsupported, but he keeps it off the ground as he walks through life.

What was so inspiring to me about this dog was not only his resiliency, but refusal to limit himself.  How many of us, if dealt a similar card, would pity ourselves and stop doing activities we love because we don't think we can.  Never mind that's just our brain talking to us.  The brain is a powerful organ, but it is also deceptive.  You see it in sports all the time:  enter talented athlete, put in a bag of nerves and self-doubt, and you come up with a failure at the highest levels (see Vince Young, for example).  This is your mind limiting you.  Your mind lies to you.

I see it all the time, not just in the gym, but in my professional career.  Some young attorney thinks he can't possibly try a case against an older opponent for no comprehensible reason.  He just thinks he can't do it, so he doesn't do it.  He gets beaten, and is OK with it.  The concept of the movie is interesting, but I believe you can harness your potential not by some drug that allows you to access other parts of your brain; you just need to let that limiting factor go and not be afraid of what you might accomplish.  Don't believe the lies you tell yourself.  Empty your cup, and don't fear success.  Whether you train for a marathon or a jury trial, what you really need to train is your mind.  That organ can help you immensely, but you must allow it to without letting the lies in.  I may not be the most brilliant lawyer to pass the bar, but I refuse to put a limit on myself without jumping in feet first.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

There is no free lunch

If you have been reading my posts, you know that I have recently started exercising in a meaningful way to improve my fitness as well as my productivity.  As part of my daily routine, I read through a few web sites to help me design a workout plan and to find psychological guidance in my new endeavor.  There is one point that I have been dwelling on recently that applies to the practice of law (and probably most lines of work) that I discuss today.

In the fitness arena, there have been numerous fad exercises that claim to create a shortcut to fitness.  I could list off a number of gadgets and gizmos that are sold to help in this regard, but we can't forget about those "Six Minute Abs" videos and the like that market to the consumer by claiming that results can occur far quicker than a more traditional approach.  We flock to these devices because who wouldn't want a six pack with minimum effort?  Body gel that claims to melt fat off my body is far more appealing than running six miles to the same effect.  Only those with eyes open see these products for what they are.

This idea permeates our society:  how can I get rich quick, fall into a promotion, or land a job way out of my league?  Buy lotto tickets, sleep with the boss, etc.

What these questions fail to address is what one might do once their hopes and dreams are realized.  I see this every day practicing law with other attorneys.  Read this primer, and that's all you'll need to know about "x."  Really?  You mean I don't actually have to lay a foundation of legal knowledge with which to understand said primer?  Many lawyers take personal injury cases that shouldn't because they figure it's the best get rich quick scheme going.  They file crazy complaints and ask for ridiculous sums of money just because the numbers look good.  Never mind these lawyers have no idea how to evaluate a case, quantify damages, negotiate with insurance agencies, or actually try the case to a jury.  Why do they not know these things?  Because they do not study.  They do not put the hard work in to understand what it takes to handle a PI case properly.  They figure asking for $10 million, they might trick the adjustor into cutting a check for $500,000.  Never mind whether the case is actually worth that amount sitting on $500 in chiro care.  This wastes time and clogs the justice system.

I do not suggest that PI cases are typically over-quantified.  There are legitimate reasons why a case might be worth $10 million and juries should award accordingly, but not every case is worth that figure.  What I suggest is that many try to find the easy way to reach their goals.  Injury cases offer many the hope that they can make big money with minimal effort.  Unfortunately these cases become lotto tickets for lawyers.  The harsh reality is this:  if your goals are worth reaching, respect them enough to put in the work.  Call yourself a PI lawyer?  Put in the long hours to work a case properly.

As in fitness, true strength comes from hours of work and preparation.  There are no shortcuts to Olympic Gold, no easy path to the Super Bowl.  Just hard work.  If you want to be a good and competent lawyer, you must put in the effort to justify your hourly rate.  There is no free lunch at my firm, so don't ask.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.

Take Time for Yourself

There never seems to be a day where a deadline is not staring back at me as I sit at my desk and begin work.  With the varied types of law my firm practices (personal injury, criminal, family, real estate closings, etc), it doesn't take much to decide working at my desk all day is the way to go.  How else will the work get done, I ask myself, and pound away at my keyboard furiously for eight to ten hours and then go home just to do it all again the next day.  That's how the past two years of my practice have been for me.  This year, the spare tire around my middle tells me perhaps I should change my routine.

Since I began practicing, I have probably put on a good 15 pounds from sitting all day and eating quick.  This has made me lethargic as the day passes by, especially after lunch time.  I began to notice that concentration in the afternoon was difficult, and I was simply not happy with myself as a result.

I decided enough was enough, and joined the gym near my office.  Now I am taking my lunch hour at the gym and eating smaller meals during the day to stay alert.  The change in my work product has been dramatic.  Before, my ten hour work day typically generated maybe two hours of quality.  With a workout routine, I can now get more work done without having to stay in the office to the wee hours.  My energy level is up, my billables are up, and my happiness has skyrocketed.

It's easy to work in a small firm and assume you just can't afford the luxury.  Let me tell you this:  you cannot afford NOT to take care of yourself.  Take a walk, go for a jog, lift some weights, do anything that clears your mind.  You will be amazed at how productive you become.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.