Attorney Referrals

A Proven Way to Increase Your Income Without Working Harder, Taking on More Clients, or Raising Fees

The Short Version:

Refer your California personal injury and wrongful death cases to our firm and we will take exceptional care of your referral. We will do everything we can to maximize the value of their case via settlement or verdict.  We will keep you updated each month on the status of your referral. At the conclusion of the case and pursuant to California State Bar Rules, we will promptly pay you the promised attorney to attorney referral fee.

Simple, easy, and in your referral’s best interest. Call 800-661-7044 or use our contact form to share your referral info!

The Detailed (and longer) Version:

For the past 25 years, Lisa and I have worked extremely hard to develop and implement almost every type of creative business approach imaginable into our practice to help provide better service, reduce expenses and increase profits.  Using traditional approaches, we’ve marketed our firm and worked hard to develop long-term relationships with other lawyers and clients.

What We’ve Learned is That the Best and Easiest Way for Other Lawyers to Increase Their Income, WITHOUT Taking On More Clients or Cases, is to Make Informed Attorney to Attorney Referrals…We’ve also taken advantage of software and online social media to help automate various tasks and bring in new cases.  Using “outside-the-box-techniques”, we’ve been able to substantially increase firm revenues without adding to our daily work flow or increasing overhead.

While most lawyers understand this concept, few, if any ever properly and effectively put it in to play.

Making intentional and focused new client referrals to other top-rated lawyers in exchange being paid a referral fee pursuant to California State Bar Rules is simple to do and an easy way to increase your revenues.  If done correctly, your referral’s best interest is placed first (you are making a referral to a top-rated firm) and at the same time, you’re creating a long-term passive income business model that can pay off huge returns over time.

The fact of the matter is that most business development experts will tell you that there are only three proven ways for attorneys to increase their income:

You can…

1.  Get more clients.

2.  Increase your fees.

3.  Increase how often a client hires you or add new “backend” services to your practice (basically increase the value of each client to you).

The problem with each of these three solutions is that the first and third require you to work harder.  If you’re like most lawyers, you’re probably already putting in long days (and nights) working on your cases and getting ready for court.  Sure, you can probably add revenue to your firm by bringing in more clients and then working on those files but is that what you really want right now in your life?

Increasing fees is also another approach being taught by the so called “experts”.  But in today’s economy and with the price shopping mentality of consumers, do you really think that raising your rate is going to result in an increase in firm revenue in the long term?  Probably not.

From a general business standpoint, we don’t necessarily have a problem with you implementing the above 3 steps into your practice to build long-term success and wealth.  In fact, we recommend that you indeed do so over time.  Balance your efforts among all three areas and you should be further ahead in 12 months than you are today.  However, remember to keep in mind that if you place too much emphasis on these techniques, you and your staff will be working longer hours to service the additional clients and work.

Lawyers are Fortunate Because There’s Another Option and Solution…

We think there’s a unique fourth option available to lawyers that allows you to increase your income without taking on any new clients, working longer and harder or, raising rates.  There’s a tool many lawyers we know use each and every year to substantially build a lucrative long-term passive income that’s not only encouraged by the California State Bar, but also an approach to building new income streams that place the clients best interest before all others.

We’re Talking About is Attorney to Attorney Referrals

You see, by referring potential legal clients to another competent lawyer who has agreed ahead of time to pay you a referral fee at the conclusion of the case, you can earn more income while working less.  You can leverage your efforts and make a significant return on your time and efforts which if done properly, will allow you to spend more time on your practice and with your family.

We’ve been referring out cases to lawyers who we trust for years in matters including, but not limited to, bankruptcy, criminal defense, estate planning, family law, and business formation.  Each year we generate income from these referrals and in some instances, the referral checks are rather substantial!

In a similar fashion, each year attorneys from around the country refer their personal injury and wrongful death cases to us for analysis and if appropriate, legal representation (we’re selective about the types of cases we agree to take on).  And each year we pay generous attorney to attorney referral fees to those lawyers who were kind enough, and smart enough, to make the informed referral.

The fact of the matter is that California State Bar Rule 2-200 allows for the payment of attorney to attorney referral fees so long as certain requirements are met.  In fact, the court in Moran v. Harris (1982) 131 Cal.App.3d 913, held that attorney to attorney referrals, “assures the best possible representation for a client and the referral fee is an economic incentive to less capable lawyers to seek out experienced specialists to handle a case.”

In all referrals, without exception, not only will the client’s best interest always come first, we also fully comply with all State Bar Rules and pay 100% of the promised referral fees.  That’s our guarantee!

After All, You Don’t Ever Want to End Up Being “Bob”, the Misguided Attorney…

Here’s what we mean…

Bob is an estate planning attorney who receives a call from a client whose father was killed by a drunk driver.  The client is interested in having Bob represent his family and file a civil wrongful death case against the responsible drunk driver.

Almost immediately, Bob knows he’ll be able to help the family.  After all, with a drunk driver defendant, this is going to be an easy case.

Bob agrees to represent the family and is surprised to find a kind and sympathetic claims adjuster who, without much of a fight, agrees to settle this tragic case for the driver’s $100K policy limits.  Bob’s clients are happy with the “policy limits” settlement and a release is signed.  Bob closes his file.  When putting the documents into a box, Bob thinks to himself, “This was easy.  I need to handle more of these cases.”

About a year later Bob gets a call.  It’s attorney Sam “Big Gun” Stealth and he now represents the family that Bob helped in the earlier wrongful death case.  “Big Gun” asks why Bob settled this case for only $100K.  He asked Bob if he was aware of the fact that the defendant driver had sold his software company for $5M dollars shortly after the accident?   He also asked Bob why he hadn’t included the County as a defendant in the claim for allowing such a dangerous unlighted intersection to exist.  An intersection that hosted 5 other serious accidents within the 2 year period of time prior to the fatal accident.

And if that wasn’t enough, “Big Gun” continued to share his concerns with Bob about why a claim wasn’t also brought against the defendant driver’s company for the excessive amount of alcohol that was served at the company holiday party the defendant was at an hour before the accident.  “Big Gun” tells Bob this would have been a multimillion dollar case if it was handled correctly and the release not signed.

Bob’s stomach is tied in knots as “Big Gun” asks for the name of Bob’s malpractice carrier.  Even though Bob gave “Big Gun” the name and policy information, he knew that as an estate planning attorney, he probably wasn’t covered for this type of claim.  Bob then closes his eyes and moans out loud as he hears the phone line go dead.

In retrospect, Bob wishes he never took the case.  He thinks to himself clearly and slowly, “I should have stuck with what I do best.”

Now, a bit more food for thought…

First, don’t become a “Bob”.  When a new personal injury or wrongful death client contacts our office, there are at least 138 steps that we take to review and investigate the potential case within the first week of having the file.  Several of these steps are specifically designed to (1) review all theories of liability; (2) ascertain all potential responsible parties and defendants; (3) and determine all potential insurance coverage and assets for excess policy liability collection issues.

Just as we would not have the first idea of what should be determined and done when completing an estate plan for a new client, most attorneys, like Bob, who don’t practice personal injury or wrongful death law, fail to fully appreciate how much work and effort goes into the investigation, litigation, and trial of a personal injury and wrongful death case.

They fail to truly realize how important the reputation, experience and resources of a personal injury firm are when it comes to handling a substantial injury or death case.

The beauty of attorney to attorney referrals is that in return for very little effort on your part, you can receive a very generous attorney to attorney referral fee which adds to your annual profits.  But there are still problems with referrals…

Many Attorneys Do Not Truly Appreciate the True Value of Getting and Giving Referrals

Over time, some attorneys seem to forget where their new client came from.  Have you ever noticed this?  We sure have.  Especially when making referrals to other lawyers.

The reasons probably include a failed understanding as to the importance of referrals, disorganization, inattentiveness and in some cases, greed and dishonesty resulting in the intentional refusal to pay previously promised referral fees. The fact of the matter is that we’ve referred cases to other firms and for whatever reason, never even received an acknowledgment or thank you.

With several other firms that we have personally referred cases to, getting updated with the case status was next to impossible.  When we called, it was not unusual to talk to a paralegal who had no idea what was going on.  The employee did not know that we referred the case to their firm and did not know that a promised attorney to attorney referral fee was due at the conclusion of the case.

Now granted, we’ve seen many negative referral issues over the past 25 years.  Rather than worry about what has happened in the past, about 5 years ago we decided to use our “experiences” to perfect the attorney to attorney referral relationship.  And that’s what we’ve done.  Please read on.  We think you’ll like what you see…

A Better Referral Solution that Smart Attorneys are Doing Each and Every Week…

Let’s say you get the wrongful death call.  After talking with the client and extending your condolences, you advise the client that you are a specialist in estate planning and it would be in the client’s best interest to have an experienced personal injury and wrongful death lawyer assist them with the case.

You share the name and number of the expert firm and ask the client to give them a call to get their questions answered.  After ending the call, you have your secretary contact us and share the name and number of the potential client (an email or fax works too).  Your secretary calls and lets us know that the client may be calling.  She also lets us know that the client said it would be OK for us to give her a call this afternoon at their home number.

At this point, your office has spent less than 2 minutes on the phone with our staff and the potential client has been professionally “handed off” to our firm.  Your physical involvement with the referral is done and you can get back to your files or family.

Here’s what happens next…

Don’t simply take our word for it. Click here to see what other top lawyers have to say about their experiences with our firm. Also feel free to click here to visit our past client testimonials.

An experienced partner from our firm personally calls the potential client.  An almost instant rapport is made over the phone and an office meeting is set.  Eventually, your referral formally retains our firm and executes a written retainer agreement and related documents which full comply with State Bar Rules regarding attorney to attorney referrals.

In fact, during the initial client interview and while going through the retainer agreement, the attorney to attorney referral fee is discussed in detail with the client.  The client is educated that your referral and trust in our firm to help the client means the world to us.  We explain why the State Bar encourages and approves of referral fees and why we look forward to making a prompt payment to you at the conclusion of the case.  We confirm with the client that the paid referral will come from our attorney fees and will not reduce in any way the amount of compensation the client may eventually receive if the case is resolved in a successful fashion.

The client understands the entire transparent process and is grateful to have been referred to our firm.  She knows and understands that we will take very good care of her and make sure her legal rights are protected to the best of our ability.

After being retained, a confirming letter is sent to you acknowledging your referral and future promised payment of the referral fee upon our successful completion of the matter.

Each month thereafter and at your direction, an email, fax, letter or phone call is made to your office advising you of the status of the case.  Again, the retainer agreement provides us with specific authority to keep you updated with the status of the case.

Look, your referral’s best interest is always placed first.  We put more than 25 years of experience, reputation, and resources hard to work to help maximize the outcome and value of your referral’s case.  Once the case is resolved, a generous 20% referral fee (subject to change depending on the particular case but of course discussed and agreed to at the time of the referral) is promptly paid to you with a detailed letter confirming all final disbursements and copies of all applicable documents.

We also think it’s also important to point out that in our final letter to the client, we specifically recommend that the client contact YOU (the original referring attorney) for all future legal questions or needs. We even include your name and contact information in the letter. Without exception, all prior attorney-client relationships are always respected.

But that’s not all.  It gets even better!

Even though we instruct referrals, in writing, to contact you for all future legal needs, now and then your referral will contact us years later with their new personal injury or wrongful death case.  This doesn’t happen too often but it does happen.

When a past referral contacts us with a new personal injury or wrongful death case that we accept, we will treat this new case just as if it was another new direct referral from you! Regardless of whether or not you even knew about the subsequent case, we’ll take the initiative and contact you about the new case.  At its successful conclusion, we’ll pay you another referral fee just as though this was the first time you referred the client to our firm.  Truly a win-win long-term relationship for all of us!

And Still One More Reason Why You Should Refer The Case…

Insurance companies keep detailed files and databases about which lawyers handle personal injury and wrongful death cases and which lawyers don’t.  Whether you like it or not, claims adjusters and their supervisors know who will avoid litigation and trial and try to quickly settle a case for less than full value.  They also know which lawyers are experienced and passionate about helping injured consumers and which attorneys have the ability and resources to obtain maximum jury verdicts.

We’re very proud of the fact that our partners are each “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell and our firm is listed in the prestigious Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.  Our awards, recognitions, and consistent six and seven figure personal injury and wrongful death case results speak for themselves.

Our secret to success is simple.  We work hard and have a passion for helping people.  We truly enjoy representing injured consumers and helping people and their families put their lives back together.  There’s nothing we take more pleasure in than holding a defendant and his insurance company accountable for our client’s injuries and damages.

Summary

We’re standing by to help your referrals and to make a difference in their lives.  With this thought in mind, please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss the possibility of future client referrals.

If you’re busy and simply want to make an informed referral, just let us know the name of your referral (call or email) and we’ll take it from there.  You can also use the form below to simply make your referral.

We’re looking forward to adding value to your existing practice and client relationships. We’re standing by to give your referrals exceptional legal services.  We promise to keep you updated and to honor our attorney to attorney referral promise.

Tip-  When you are contacted by a potential referral, make sure to ask the referral if it would be OK if we gave them a call.  Let them know that we’re in high demand and in court almost every day.  Tell them that we return calls between hearings, during lunch, or when we get back to the office.  We’ve found that getting your referral’s permission to have us call is a great way to avoid unnecessary phone tag.

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