Washington DC Metro Personal Injury Lawyer Blog http://www.washingtondcmetropersonalinjurylawyerblog.com/ http://www.washingtondcmetropersonalinjurylawyerblog.com/index.xml Examines personal injury cases, news, and related matters in Washington, D.C.. Published by Stein, Mitchell & Muse LLP Alabama Injury Lawyer Blog http://www.alabama-injury-lawyer-blog.com/ http://www.alabama-injury-lawyer-blog.com/index.xml Examines personal injury cases, news, and opinions…
Posts Tagged ‘Lawyer’
Round-Up of Law Practitioner Blogs
18
Dec
Indiana Injury And Family Lawyer Blog http://www.indianainjuryandfamilylawyerblog.com/ http://www.indianainjuryandfamilylawyerblog.com/index.xml Examines injury and family law cases, news, and opinions in Indiana. Published by Padove Law. Bay Area Divorce Lawyer Blog http://www.bayareadivorcelawyerblog.com/ http://www.bayareadivorcelawyerblog.com/index.xml Examines divorce cases, news and related matters in the San…
Friday Fun: The Bottom Rung Job
16
Dec
Bitter Lawyer’s Matt Ritter writes “Bottom Rung out of my own experience doing document review in Los Angeles. Until I moved out to LA in 2010, I worked as a big firm corporate associate in New York and had never…
Round-Up of Law Practitioner Blogs
11
Dec
Florida Family Lawyer Blog http://www.floridafamilylawyersblog.com/ http://www.floridafamilylawyersblog.com/index.xml Discusses family law cases, news, and opinions in Florida. Published by Steven Blumenthal . Mississippi Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog http://www.mississippicriminaldefenselawyer-blog.com/ http://www.mississippicriminaldefenselawyer-blog.com/index.xml Examines criminal cases, news, and opinions in Mississippi. Published by The Stroud Law…
Round-Up of Law Practitioner Blogs
04
Dec
Medical Malpractice Law dеtеrmіnеѕ ѕtаndаrdѕ doctors must fоllоw whеn саrіng fоr their раtіеntѕ. Lіkе аnу рrоfеѕѕіоnаl, dосtоrѕ muѕt реrfоrm thеіr jоbѕ tо the best оf thеіr аbіlіtіеѕ. Unlіkе оthеr рrоfеѕѕіоnаlѕ, when dосtоrѕ make mіѕtаkеѕ оr dо nоt реrfоrm tо ѕtаndаrdѕ, thе outcomes саn ruіn thеіr patient’s lіvеѕ. Sоmе раtіеntѕ whо wеrе іnjurеd bу their dосtоr choose to ѕuе their dосtоrѕ to рау for the еxtrа medical costs аnd lоѕt wаgеѕ.
Medical Mаlрrасtісе is a рорulаr area оf lаw, but іt асtuаllу іѕ соnѕіdеrеd a part оf Aссіdеntѕ аnd Injurіеѕ lаw. Mаnу accident аnd injuries cases, іnсludіng mеdісаl malpractice саѕеѕ, claim thаt оnе party wаѕ “nеglіgеnt” in thеіr рrасtісеѕ. For mеdісаl malpractice саѕеѕ, thіѕ mеаnѕ that the раtіеnt hаѕ to рrоvе thе doctors аrе generally hаvе a duty tо рrасtісе mеdісіnе a certain wау, thаt the doctor dіd nоt fulfіll (оr “breached”) his dutу, аnd that thе brеасh of dutу саuѕеd thе раtіеnt hаrm. Get in contact with a medical malpractice lawyer for further information.
Terms tо Knоw
Infоrmеd Cоnѕеnt: Bеfоrе a dосtоr can trеаt a patient, thе dосtоr must explain tо thе раtіеnt thе nаturе of thе treatment, аlоng with іtѕ rіѕkѕ аnd bеnеfіtѕ, аnd thеn the раtіеnt must agree to thе trеаtmеnt.
Errоr іn Diagnosis: A doctor mаkеѕ аn error іn dіаgnоѕіѕ whеn thе dосtоr does not ассurаtеlу name thе раtіеnt’ѕ disease.
Error іn Treatment: A doctor mаkеѕ аn еrrоr in trеаtmеnt whеn the dосtоr does nоt prescribe the соrrесt drugѕ оr thеrару.
Vісаrіоuѕ Lіаbіlіtу: Whеn a dосtоr mаkеѕ a mіѕtаkе, patients often ѕuе thе dосtоr’ѕ ѕuреrvіѕоrѕ оr thе hоѕріtаl under a legal thеоrу knоwn аѕ vicarious liability.
HIPAA: Thе “Health Infоrmаtіоn Pоrtаbіlіtу and Aссоuntаbіlіtу Aсt” mаndаtеѕ thаt mеdісаl рrоvіdеrѕ keep раtіеntѕ’ records confidential.
Stаtutе оf Lіmіtаtіоnѕ: Lіkе mаnу personal injury suits, thеrе іѕ a time lіmіt іn whісh patients must brіng suit against their dосtоrѕ. If the tіmе lіmіt passes, thе орроrtunіtу fоr suit іѕ gоnе.
How Do Lawyer Bidding Sites Work?
30
Nov
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Recently several Web sites have emerged that enable consumers to bid for legal services. Examples include: ExpertBids and Shpoonkle. (Don’t ask me how to pronounce it). They all work pretty much the same way.
You submit a description of your project or the service you want, your location and your estimated budget. You create a secure account with a user name and password. Your service request is then posted or published to a lawyers who have registered for the service so they can bid on your work. When a lawyer bids for your work, you receive an email (each bid includes a rate, a description, and the lawyer’s profile, rating and client reviews). When the lawyer bids, whether bid by the hour or fixed price, you receive an email which includes a rate, a description, and the lawyer’s profile, rating and client reviews. The process gives you options and a basis for comparing how different lawyer;s will submit bids and pricing for similar work.
The process is always free to the potential client. Once you are connected to a lawyer you can continue your conversation either online or off-line. The sites enable you to communicate with the lawyer online directly, but often you don’t get any free legal advice or any legal service until you accept a retainer agreement and the lawyer/client relationship is established.
For law firms that have learned how to offer legal services for common legal matters for a fixed fee, these bidding sites could be another channel to the consumer and potential clients. These law firms, often virtual law firms, are low-cost producers of legal services, and can out bid more traditional legal firms without sacrificing quality or their profit margins.
Many of these law firms offer what are called, “limited legal services”, which enable these law firms to offer a low cost solution to consumers, but often consumers have no understanding of this concept. See for example the law firms listed in the MyLawyer.com Directory of Virtual Law Firms. We think that the bidding sites should have articles and information on their web sites describing the “limited legal service” concept as this would be way to educate consumers about another way to cost effectively buy legal services.
A problem that we see with the bidding sites that we reviewed is that there is no easy for the consumer to describe that they want “limited legal services“, as distinguished from traditional legal services. There are options for bidding by the hour, or by the project, but no option for limiting the scope of representation. “Unbundling legal services“, is a relatively new idea, but many states (more than 35) have already passed amendments to their Professional Rules of Responsibility that enable law firms to offer “limited legal services” as long as the retainer clearly defines the scope of representation.
I think this is a critical gap in the way the operators of these site understand how middle class consumers want to purchase legal services. I also think that there is likely to be a disconnect between what the consumer bids for a service, and what they law firm delivers for the bid price. Without a clear specification of the scope of services, there is bound to be miscommunication and confusion.
It is too early to predict whether these “bidding sites” will survive. In the “dot-com boom and bust” era, there were several experiments with lawyer bidding, but all the sites failed because they could not generate enough volume to support their overhead structure.
Susan Cartier Liebel, the President of Solo Practice University has written a good blog post analyzing these sites, that is worth reviewing by consumers who are interested in this approach to securing legal services.
Bonuses And Pro Bono Work Down Somewhat At Big Firms
29
Nov
How bad is it getting for the legal-industrial complex? The ripple effect of not enough jobs and clients balking at paying for new lawyer training now includes smaller end-of-year bonuses and a small decrease in pro bono hours. The Wall…
Round-Up of Law Practitioner Blogs
06
Nov
Santa Rosa Family Lawyer Blog http://www.santarosafamilylawyerblog.com/ http://www.santarosafamilylawyerblog.com/index.xml Discusses family law cases, news, and related matters in Santa Rosa, California. Published by Beck Law, PC Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Blog http://www.illinoisnursinghomeabuselawyersblog.com/ http://www.illinoisnursinghomeabuselawyersblog.com/index.xml Examines nursing home abuse cases, news, and related…
Round-Up of Law Practitioner Blogs
30
Oct
Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer Blog http://www.jacksonvillepersonalinjurylawyerblog.com/ http://www.jacksonvillepersonalinjurylawyerblog.com/index.xml Discusses personal injury cases, news, and opinions in Florida. Published by Apple Law Firm, PLLCLos Angeles Trademark Attorney Blog Los Angeles Trademark Attorney Blog http://www.losangelestrademarkattorney.pro/ http://www.losangelestrademarkattorney.pro/index.xml Examines trademark cases, news, and related matters…
