Time Is Money!

KC — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:43:09 +0000

“Talking Law” N°4 : Time is Money !

by KC Anderson

Practicing anywhere in the world, a lawyer’s time is money. When a client hires a lawyer he is paying for two things, time and knowledge. But it is not only the lawyer who creates the service that a law office provides.

A famous American newsman once said “If you want to make certain a job gets done, give it to somebody who is really busy. They’ll have their secretary do it.” Behind a busy lawyer you will always find an efficient team. A law office cannot survive without its staff (support employees). Let’s step inside a fictional law firm and meet some of the team.

It’s Monday morning and our fictional lawyer, Ben Forthwright walks into his law office ready for a new week of advising clients and generating billable hours. Since lawyers often determine their fee (bill) according to how much time is spent working on each case, lawyers refer to the time that they can charge to a client as “billable hours”.

As an associate who hopes to become a partner in the firm, Ben should bill between 1800 and 2000 hours a year. He has heard stories from his grandfather’s time that lawyers used to determine the price of their services based on a fee schedule (a list of prices for different legal services) produced by the Bar Association. But that was a long time ago and now fee schedules are considered to be illegal in the US and a form of anti-competitive price fixing.

Ben takes a look at his schedule for the day. First thing this morning he has a meeting with his staff.

Maria is his secretary but prefers to be called a legal assistant. She really does a lot more than type and answer his phone. She is probably the most critical member of his staff and often knows more than Ben does about how things really work in the legal world.

Alan is Ben’s paralegal. He has a degree from a two year university and has taken a certification examination. He drafts contracts and does a lot of every day work of a lawyer but cannot give advice to clients.

Allison is Ben’s law clerk. She is a third year law student who is doing an internship at the firm. A clerk does legal research and can draft documents for the lawyer. But a paralegal like a law clerk cannot independently practice law.

Important Fact

Notary Public – Unlike most other countries in the world, in the USA a Notary is not a specially trained lawyer. Except in Louisiana, a Notary Public is a person who is licensed by the State to be a witness for a person signing a document. Most banks have a Notary and many legal secretaries are Notaries.

©2006 KC Anderson

Practice, Practice, Practice…

KC — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:13:47 +0000

“Talking Law” N°3 : Practice, practice, practice…
by KC Anderson

A tourist was lost in New York looking for a famous classical music concert venue called Carnegie Hall. He stopped a passerby and asked “How do you to get to Carnegie Hall ?” The passerby answered “Practice, practice practice.” The same can be said of lawyers trying to succeed in their profession. What a lawyer does every day at work is practice law. And the business enterprise of a lawyer is also called a law practice.

When lawyers work together in the same office they often form a partnership or a limited liability company. We generally refer to these types of associations as a law firm. You may recall the John Grisham novel called “The Firm”. The practice of a law firm is usually centered around a certain area of specialty. Let’s take a look at some different areas of legal specialization.

Corporate Law – This is a very general description of a business related law practice. It can include all aspects of the legal needs of a business including forming a business and advising the owners or operators of a business. In fact, if someone says that they are a corporate lawyer, they have not given you very much information. You might want to say something like “Oh really? What kind of corporate law do you practice?” Then you might get a good answer like “I specialize in M & A (Mergers and Acquisitions)” or “I am in-house counsel for …” In-house counsel means that the lawyer works in the legal department of a company.

Commercial Law usually refers to a practice that centers on business contracts and transactions. Other business law specialties include banking law, insurance, securities law (stocks and bonds, etc.), construction law, and bankruptcy law (insolvency problems).

Intellectual Property (IP) – Patents, trademarks and copyright.

Family Law – The legal needs and problems associated with marriage, divorce and children.

Personal Injury, Products Liability and Medical Malpractice – Lawyers who practice in any of these areas may be referred to as Plaintiff’s lawyers. They represent people who have been injured and sue those that they believe are responsible for the injury.

Labor and Employment Law – the rights and relationships between employers and employees.

Real Estate – law related to the buying and selling of land, houses and buildings.

International Law or International Trade – you know.

Criminal Law – crime and punishment. Note, however, that government lawyers who prosecute crime usually refer to themselves as Prosecutors, not criminal lawyers. And lawyers who defend those charged with a crime, call themselves Criminal Defense Lawyers because “criminal lawyer” could be confused with a “lawyer who is a criminal”.

In fact, many people believe that the language of lawyers is always confusing and that the way we talk is criminal. Why we can’t we just use the same plain English as everyone else? Next week we will take a virtual visit to a law office and learn some legal vocabulary for every day usage.

What kind of lawyer are you? What is your legal specialty? What does your practice involve?

Have you ever wondered what those initials after the name of a lawyer or law firm mean ?  Here are some common abbreviations you will see…

Bernard Dane Fotthingham, Esq. – Esquire is a title of courtesy for lawyers

Dewey, Cheatham and Howe, PC – Professional Corporation. A form of limited liability company especially for professionals like lawyers, doctors, accountants etc.

Brainard & Assoc., LLP – Associates (we don’t ever abbreviate associates with “Ass”.) and Limited Liability Partnership, a business organization where the partners liability for the partnership debts is limited.

Souam and Winne, PLLC – Professional Limited Liability Company – a newer form of limited liability company for professionals.

Speak Legal English » Business of Law

Time Is Money!

Practice, Practice, Practice…