The Litigation Counsellor®

While banks and other traditional lending institutions generally only allow you to pledge your personal assets to secure a loan, the Supreme Court of New Jersey recently held that you can also obtain financing using your anticipated attorney’s fees as collateral.

The decision, which follows similar holdings in other jurisdictions, affirms that you have an enhanced pool of resources you can leverage to get increased funding for your law practice—your future legal fees.

On November 1, 2017, plaintiffs in a class action against 24 Hour Fitness moved for the court to grant preliminary approval of a $1.5 million settlement over allegations that the fitness center chain carried out a fraudulent and misleading sales campaign related to its prepaid memberships.

Jimmy Doan founded The Doan Firm, P.C. in 2005. Since launching his personal injury practice, he has successfully been able to grow the firm by differentiating it from competitors—building what was a small boutique practice into a national powerhouse with approximately 20 office locations throughout the United States. Below Jimmy answers questions about how he managed to distinguish his firm in an extremely competitive field:

In 1985, Stanley Saltzman and Louis Marlin formed Marlin & Saltzman LLP. Beginning as a defense firm, the partners boldly changed directions in the late 1990s—pivoting away from their established hourly practice to represent plaintiffs on a contingent-fee basis in class actions, mass torts and cases involving catastrophic injuries. In the 20 years since moving to the plaintiffs practice, Marlin & Saltzman has achieved more than $850 million in verdicts and settlements on behalf of its clients and established itself as a highly-respected national plaintiffs’ practice. 

In 2007, Greg Coleman launched Greg Coleman Law PC, a plaintiffs’ class action, mass tort and personal injury practice located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Greg Coleman has been selected to The Best Lawyers in America, was recognized as one of Knoxville’s top attorneys in the metropolitan area’s Cityview Magazine and has received accolades for his legal advocacy through the Multi-Million Dollar Verdict Advocates Forum and Super Lawyers. Since inception, his firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for its clients, including a $178.6 million ERISA class-action settlement that required AK Steel Corp. to provide health and life insurance benefits to a group of over 3,000 workers and their spouses.

Plaintiffs Adam Pezen, Carolo Licata and Nimesh Patel filed a class-action lawsuit against social network giant Facebook, Inc. to end the company’s collection, use and storage of its users’ sensitive identity information. The litigation, which is proceeding through discovery in the Northern District of California, is set for a jury trial on October 2, 2017.

Among the hundreds of pending multidistrict litigations across the country, some stand out for the large jury awards they've yielded against major companies like Johnson & Johnson, and some, like the General Motors ignition-switch MDL, for their inability to produce many verdicts at all. Others are notable for their longevity.

President and CEO of one of the largest personal injury firms in North Carolina talks about the importance of treating a law firm like a business to achieve long-term success.

James Farrin founded his own firm, the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin, in 1997. While the practice started with only two employees, today the firm has a staff of over 180 and 14 offices throughout the State of North Carolina. 

Founder of premier plaintiffs’ firm talks about how to select the right business model for your practice, overcome cash flow challenges and manage a diverse caseload.

Darren Penn, a trial lawyer with over 20 years of experience, founded the plaintiffs’ firm of Harris Penn Lowry LLP alongside Jeff Harris and Steve Lowry in 2006. The Georgia-based practice set itself apart by achieving the largest verdicts in the state over the past ten years in five separate categories: products liability, business torts, premises liability, nursing home and medical negligence. Further, the firm has secured over $750 million in verdicts and settlements on behalf of its clients—establishing it as one of the leading plaintiffs’ civil litigation practices in the Southeast.

On Wednesday, November 2, 2016, Wright Medical Group issued a news release disclosing that its subsidiary, Wright Medical Technology, Inc., reached an agreement to settle approximately 1,300 claims surrounding the company’s metal-on-metal hip products for $240 million.

Prominent defective drug and device attorney talks about the skillset, fortitude and passion required for building a nationally respected mass tort practice.

After practicing law for over 20 years and having tried many civil jury trials, Glenn Phillips ventured into the world of mass torts with the Vioxx litigation in the mid-2000s. Since then, he has established himself and his law firms—Phillips Law Firm, PLLC and Sanders Phillips Grossman, LLC—as leaders in the industry. He has been appointed to numerous positions of leadership on plaintiffs’ steering committees, served on science and discovery committees and obtained settlements against drug and device manufacturers in excess of $300 million.

Ex-prosecutor and leader of rapidly expanding plaintiffs’ mass tort firm talks on overcoming fear, taking risks and making the choice to achieve fast-paced growth for his practice. 

Fred Olinde, an ex-prosecutor for the New Orleans District Attorney's office, started and quickly built up a thriving plaintiffs' mass tort practice. Recently, I was able to have a conversation with Fred where he uncovered some of his law firm's secrets to success in the mass tort arena and how he was able to achieve rapid growth despite being new to the field. 

Read what he had to say...

Firmly established owner of time-honored New York City contingent-fee practice provides guidance on how to thwart inevitable, unpredictable cash flows.

Our Deputy General Counsel, Kelly Anthony, Esq., recently sat down with Martin for a one-on-one interview on how he became the owner of Edelman & Edelman, P.C., how to deal with cash flow challenges, the biggest success his firm has had, if it is hard to practice law in New York City and more. Read what he had to say...

Long-time shareholder of preeminent Georgia firm provides insight on how to pursue and build a plaintiffs’ mass tort practice.

This is the second installment of our new monthly series. Read what he had to say...