Attorneys
A. About Us
The Counsel Connect Network (“CCN”) publishes legal Web sites, sites that discuss particular legal topics. We also partner with other legal Web sites that place our Web forms and (800) telephone numbers on their site. Our sites and these affiliated sites produce leads from prospective clients, which we then screen to determine if they have a viable case. If they do, we refer the prospective client to a suitable attorney in their area, in exchange for an introduction fee from that attorney.
Within 24 months, we expect to have over 1000 affiliated Web sites, with a typical site producing 20 to 50 actual cases a year (cases as opposed to leads). Accordingly, within two years we expect to be handling approximately 30,000 cases a year. Our business is extremely lucrative, as legal cases often generate significant legal fees. For example, we recently landed a toxic mold case with over 1000 clients to be represented both individually and through a class action, with a settlement value in excess of $20 million; we will receive about 11 percent of that, and that is just one case. Using some very conservative assumptions, we expect to be generating over $100 million in revenues. For further information, see about our company.
B. Overview
We are looking to hire an attorney to screen and refer plaintiff contingency cases. Paralegals and other our personnel would do front-line screening, so you would be brought in only if the case was real and it had substantial value. A lot of this job involves contacting other attorneys in order to establish a business relationship to them, in which we refer cases to them. Prior experience with plaintiff contingency cases is essential. Experience with mass tort cases and/or class actions would be a plus. We prefer experienced paralegals but we will train inexperienced paralegals who are otherwise exceptionally well qualified.
If you are a law firm that handles plaintiff contingency cases and you would like us to refer cases to you, please read this page. If you are a plaintiff contingency law firm that has an usually broad range of view, if you are capable of thinking outside the box, if you handle or would like to handle significant mass tort cases, please read this page.
C. Lead Generation
We do lead generation for attorneys. We find prospective clients and then talk with them to determine if they have a good case. If they do, lawyers we work with refer these clients to an appropriate attorney in their area. Prospective clients contact us through a Web form on a Web site or by calling an (800) telephone number. They visit one of our Web sites or a Web site that is affiliated with us. Those affiliate sites include our Web form and our (800) telephone number on their Web sites and thus provide leads to us which we process.
Most of our cases are plaintiff contingency cases, but we also handle hourly cases, most typically criminal defense and family law cases. Hourly cases have the advantage of paying us an introduction fee very quickly, while contingent fee cases sometimes offer the potential of our receiving a substantial introduction fee. We supply the referrals to a lawyer, whom we call the “referring attorney.” He then makes the referral to another lawyer (the “receiving attorney”) who actually handles the case.
D. Other Web Sites
In addition to posting Web forms and our (800) telephone number on our own Web sites, we will also be posting them on Web sites owned by other companies (“unaffiliated sites”). Within a year, we expect to have made agreements with 1000 such unaffiliated sites. Thus, over time, even though our sites are generating and will generate a significant number of leads each day, these unaffiliated sites will generate vastly more leads than our own sites.
E. The Process
Although every case is different, the process is typically as follows.
- An inquiry comes in from a prospective client. They either call us or fill out a Web form. Eventually they will be able to make a Web call.
- If the case is a contingent fee case, you would screen the case to determine if it is viable.
- After the phone call, there are three possibilities:
- The client does not have a viable case. If so, you tell them in a polite way that we cannot help them.
- The client might have a viable case and you turn them over to our referring attorney, who then further screens the case. Most of the time, you would prepare a short write-up on the case.
- Sometimes it is so clear that the case is a good one that on behalf of the referring attorney, you would immediately contact a referring attorney in our database, or conduct a search for a referring attorney.
- If we move forward, the client is introduced to the receiving attorney we have selected for him or her.
- If we are approaching a receiving attorney for the first time, you would typically prepare the first draft of a referral fee agreement. You would use the model agreement we have prepared. All you have to do is fill in a few blanks and Microsoft Word does the rest. You would then send that proposed agreement to the receiving attorney. Once it is signed, you would file a PDF copy of the agreement on our file server.
- We stay involved in the process until the client signs an engagement agreement with the receiving attorney.
- After that, we back away, since the receiving attorney wants to manage his own cases and does not want us meddling in his cases.
- All referrals are made by an attorney; Juris Informatica does not itself make the referral.
F. Three Levels of Screening
A successful case typically has three levels of screening:
- The paralegal conducts the first level of screening — basic case evaluation, gathering most of the facts, and performing a basic write-up. The paralegal basically decides, “Should this case go to the second level of screening or should be we decide to pass on this case?”
- An attorney (namely you) conducts the second level of screening. Presumably the paralegal will have gathered most of the basic facts, so he can focus mostly on legal theories and perhaps probing the prospective client for additional information. Your primary decision is, “Should this case be sent to a receiving attorney we are affiliated with?”
- The receiving attorney will conduct his own evaluation of the case — meeting with the client, evaluating appropriate records (e.g., accident reports, medical reports), and conducting whatever level of legal research is necessary.
G. Job Responsibilities
Job responsibilities include:
- Talking with prospective clients — Determine if they have a viable legal case and if so, start the sales process that convinces them to go with us rather than someone else.
- Review the case write-ups prepared by the paralegals
- Researching prospective receiving attorneys throughout the U.S., using the Internet and on-line legal directories. Entering this data into our own database
- Contacting prospective receiving attorneys
- Preparing the first draft of a fee splitting agreement between our law firm and the receiving law firm
- Making changes to such agreement, as decided by the referring attorney
- Continual contact with the prospective client until they engage our receiving attorney
- As the client engages our receiving attorney, in some case we might ask you to check in with them once or twice a year, to see how the case is going
H. Desired Qualifications
- Professional experience as a litigation attorney is required. You must have some experience with plaintiff contingency cases.
- Experience with basic case evaluation (liability, causation, damages, does the defendant have the ability to pay) is essential
- Good writer
- Excellent oral communications skills
- Outgoing personality, you like to talk with people, you give good phone
- Persuasive and confident
- Detail oriented
- Good with computers, desirous of becoming more proficient at using them
- You are easy to reach on the telephone. It is important to be available.
I. Writing Samples
Please send us one or more writing samples. The ideal sample:
- is obviously very well written
- discusses a legal topic
- does a case analysis or some legal analysis
- is well formatted — heading, bullets, is easy to read
- is not a boring academic paper, but rarely is interesting and lively.
J. Client Intake Forms
We would like to assemble a library of client intake forms — forms used by paralegals and attorneys while they are speaking with a prospective attorney. Since we will handle referrals of a wide variety of cases — tort, personal injury, medical malpractice, defective drugs and medical devices, automobile accidents — it’s essential to have a library of different forms, depending on the type of case. If you have access to such forms, we would be very grateful if you would send us copies.
K. Location Does Not Matter
This is a telecommuting situation so you can live anywhere. In almost all cases, the paralegal will live in the United States. We might consider someone who lives in Canada if they have had prior work experience in the United States. Those who currently live outside the U.S. or Canada are realistically not a good fit for this position.
L. Microsoft Office 2007
We use Microsoft Office 2007 extensively, in particular three programs:
- Microsoft Outlook — All of us access the same Exchange Server (“ES”) mailbox, and for you to access it, you will need Outlook 2007. Microsoft Entourage (the e-mail software package Microsoft sells for the Mac), for example, is notorious for not connecting well to ES.
- Microsoft Access — Since our data are stored in various Microsoft SQL Sever databases, all of us can access the same data at the same time. Since all of our forms, queries and reports are written in Access 2007, you will need Access 2007. There is no version of Access for the Mac, so if you have a Mac, you will need to run Windows emulation in order to run Access.
- Microsoft Word — We are advanced users of Word and we will expect you to learn styles, bookmarks, automatic sequences, and track changes/blacklining. Your primary use of Word will be to prepare referral fee agreements for receiving attorneys.
Please note that previous versions of Office (such as Office 2003) will not work with Office 2007. So if you do not have Office 2007 installed, including Access 2007, you will need to install it immediately after joining us. If that will be a technical challenge for you, we might not be the right firm for you. Please see our Microsoft Office 2007 page.
M. Frequent Communication
We will need to speak with you on the telephone frequently, most likely a few times a day. Those who seek solely an e-mail relationship should look elsewhere.
N. Please Read
If you are interested in this position, please read:
- Prospective Partners, Jobs and Careers
- Characteristics We Seek
- Our Entrepreneurial Approach
- Prospective Business Associates
- Total Cost of Interaction
- What is the Most Appropriate Form of Communication?
- Responsiveness and Dependability
- The Process Should Go Smoothly
- Total Cost of Interaction
O. When You Respond
When you apply:
- Please include the questions along with the answers; otherwise, we have no way of knowing which question you are answering. If you do not, we will simply write back and ask you to resend.
- Please format your responses. Make it easy for us to read your answers. The best is to copy and paste the answers and responses into Microsoft Word, and then send us the Word file.
- Please include the headings in your responses.
- Please send us a resume.
- If you have a writing samples, please send them.
- In the subject line of the your e-mail, please include the position you are applying for.
- Please send your response to jmitchell@kensingonllc.com, and also send it (including any attachments) to recruiting@kensingtonllc.com.
P. If You Are Interested
If you are interested, please answer the questions below. Many of these questions are computer questions. CCN is an exceptionally advanced user of computers, and it’s important that every professional who joins our firm is highly competent in using them and is keenly interested in becoming more proficient. We have included an extremely comprehensive set of questions. There is probably no person alive who could truthfully provide a favorable response to all of them, not even our Chief Technology Officer. Please do not let these questions scare you, we do not expect favorable responses from you to most of these questions. We have included all of them in order to get a comprehensive view of your computer skills. At the same time, after reading these questions, you might say to yourself, “Realistically, I am not very good at computers.” In that case, it makes absolutely no sense to apply, as we are simply the wrong firm for you.
If “(1-10)” is listed after the question, that means please provide an answer in English and also answer the question on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 = no experience or knowledge and 10 = world class guru.
If for any section you do not use that software package, just say that in your answer to the first question and then feel free to ignore the remaining questions in that section.
In your e-mail, please tell us:
- What is your full name?
- What is your e-mail address?
- Do you have any other e-mail addresses? If so, what are they?
- Please list all of your telephone numbers.
- Which telephone number is best to call you on? As noted below, please state this in your local time and in Boston time.
- Do you have Skype?
- If so, what is your Skype ID? (If you live outside the United States, please install Skype (www.skype.com) now (ideally before you fill out this form), so that when we want to call you after receiving your e-mail, we can do so.
- Where do you live (city, state, country)?
- What is your address?
- James Mitchell lives in Boston, and Boston is the same time zone as New York City, namely the East Coast time zone. When it is 9 a.m. in Boston, what time is it in your time zone? In other words, how many hours ahead or behind Boston are you?
- Briefly describe your education. If you have sent us a resume, then you can just refer us to your that.
- Which professional organizations, if any, are you a member of?
- Which Web sites and blogs topics do you read for professional purposes?
- What other forms of professional development do you engage in, if any?
- What were your LSAT scores?
- What was your class ranking in law school?
- At law school, were you on law review?
- Are you currently a member of the bar of any state in the United States? If you are not but could be (i.e., you let your membership lapse, please indicate that).
- Has anyone filed a complaint against you with any agency in any state that regulates and/or disciplines attorneys?
- If so, what was the outcome of such complaint?
- Have you ever been reprimanded or sanctioned (privately or publicly) by any agency in any state that regulates and/or disciplines attorneys?
- For how many years have you been an attorney?
- For how many years have you done litigation?
- For how many years have you worked on How much experience do you have in working on plaintiff contingency cases?
- How much experience do you have in yourself alone screening plaintiff contingency cases?
- How much exposure did you have in the process of evaluating plaintiff contingency cases — e.g., discussing with an attorney you were working with the merits of a case and whether the firm should take it?
- How much experience do you have in yourself alone evaluating plaintiff contingency cases?
- A substantial part of your job is to decide whether the prospective client has a good legal case, one that a good contingent fee attorney would be interested in taking on. You would be deciding that a certain number of callers do not have a good legal case. How qualified are you to make this initial assessment?
- If we asked you to explain the basic factors in case evaluation — liability, causation, damages, a defendant with the ability to pay — would you be able to do so?
- How much experience have you had in class action lawsuits?
- How strong are your oral communication skills? (1-10)
- How good of a writer are you? (1-10)
- How detail oriented are you? (1-10)
- Do you speak any foreign languages?
- Have your read James’ essay on David Allen?
- How interested are you in learning and implementing David Allen’s system? (1-10)
- We are looking for professionals with an exceptionally high level of personal responsibility. Please tell us your thoughts about how this applies to you.
- We are looking for professionals who are self-managing. How does this apply to you?
- How easy is it to reach you on the telephone? In other words, if 100 people call you in X days, what percentage of them are able to reach you when they call, as opposed to your calling them back?
- How quickly do you return telephone calls?
- How quickly do you respond to e-mails?
- We will most likely need to talk with you at least once a day. What are your thoughts about that?
- Have you read our CEO’s essay on what is the most appropriate form of communication? How do you feel about his statement that in many cases, it makes more sense to have a telephone call rather than sending e-mails back and forth?
- We are looking for professionals with an exceptionally low total cost of interaction. How does this apply to you?
- Do you have your own PC (as opposed to using one at work or at a library, for example)?
- When did you purchase it?
- How much RAM do you have?
- How many monitors do you have connected to your PC?
- Tell us about your computer skills. (1-10)
- How often, if ever, do friends of yours ask you for computer advice? (1-10)
- CCN is an exceptionally advanced user of information and computer technology. Whatever your level of computer skills, we will want you to become more adept at them than you currently are. How interested are you in enhancing your computer skills? How capable are you of learning new software packages?
- If you have a Macintosh and you do not have a PC, are you able to run Windows on your Mac? Do you have to boot your computer to switch operating systems or are you able to run both operating systems simultaneously? Which program are you running to run both OS X and Windows?
- If you have a Mac, have you read our page for Macintosh users?
- What kind of Internet connection do you have (e.g., cable, DSL)?
- How fast is your Internet connection?
- How reliable is your Internet connection?
- Do you have your computer connected to the Internet via a wired connection (such as Ethernet), or do you use a wireless connection?
- Which browser are you using?
- Do you know what a top level domain is?
- What does “http” stand for?
- Do you own any domain names, and if so, which one?
- Which domain name registrar do you use? Why do you use them?
- Is your computer running Microsoft Windows?
- If so, do you have a PC or are you have a Mac that can run Windows?
- Which version of Windows are you running (e.g., XP, Vista, Seven)?
- Which edition of Windows are you running (e.g., Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate)?
- Are you running 32 or 64 bit Windows?
- How often do you use the Command Prompt?
- How familiar are you with the Windows PowerShell? (1-10)
- Do you know how to add or remove programs from the Startup folder? (1-10)
- Do you use any text editor other than Notepad? If so, which one?
- Do you use any file manager other than Windows Explorer? If so, which one?
- If you had a program and were unable to close it through the “normal” way, would you be able to close the program using Ctrl + Alt + Delete?
- How familiar are you with the Windows Control Panel? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in editing the Windows registry? (1-10)
- Which version of Microsoft Office are you using (e.g., 2003, 2007, 2010)?
- Are you running Office on a PC or a Mac?
- When did you start using Office?
- If you are not currently using Office on a regular basis, when did you stop doing so?
- Have you read our page on Microsoft Office?
- Does your version of Office include Microsoft Outlook?
- Does your version of Office include Microsoft Access?
- Have you recorded Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”) modules in Office? (1-10)
- Have you written VBA modules in Office? (1-10)
- Which version of Microsoft Word are you using (e.g., 2003, 2007, 2010)?
- Are you using Word on a PC or a Mac?
- How well do you know Word? (1-10)
- For how many years have you used Word? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using Word? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- How well do you know how to use styles in Word? (1-10)
- Do you know the differences between the three types of hyphens? (1-10)
- Do you know the differences between the three types of page breaks? (1-10)
- Do you know the differences between the four types of section breaks? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use sequences (a type of field code)? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use bookmarks? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use cross references using sequences and bookmarks (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use mail merge? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a custom dictionary (for spell checking)? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use track changes (aka blacklining)? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use compare documents? (1-10)
- Do you know how to insert a hyperlink in Word? (1-10)
- Do you know how to insert footnotes and endnotes? (1-10)
- Do you know how to change views (e.g., go to Draft view to Print Layout view to Outline view)? (1-10)
- Do you know how to customize the ribbon in Word? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in recording Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”) modules in Word? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in writing VBA modules in Word? (1-10)
- Unless you already are an advanced user of Word, we will probably ask you to read a comprehensive book on Word, such as Special Edition Using Microsoft Word 2007. How do you feel about that?
- In general, how interested are you in becoming highly proficient in Word?
- Which version of Microsoft Access are you using (e.g., 2003, 2007, 2010)?
- How well do you know Access ? (1-10)
- For how many years have you used Access? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using Access? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- Do you know how to create tables in Access (i.e., column definitions)? (1-10)
- In defining tables, how many different data types have you used?
- Do you understand the relationship between a parent table and a child table (i.e., one-to-many table relationships)? (1-10)
- What would an autonumber field/column be used for?
- Do you know how to create a query in Access? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a report in Access? (1-10)
- In creating a query, do you know how to link two or more tables to each other? (1-10)
- In linking two tables, do you know the difference between an inner vs. outer join (i.e., and vs. or)? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a query upon a query? (1-10)
- Have you ever created an update query? (1-10)
- Using the wizard, do you know how to create a form in Access? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a subform in Access? (1-10)
- In creating a form, have you used the radio button control? (1-10)
- In creating a form, have you used the check box control? (1-10)
- Using the wizard, do you know how to create a report in Access? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a report from scratch in Access? (1-10)
- In creating reports, do you know how to use sorting and grouping? (1-10)
- In creating reports, do you know how to use subtotals per group? (1-10)
- Have you used macros in Access (e.g., Access macros as opposed to VBA modules)? (1-10)
- Have you written Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”) macros in Access? (1-10)
- If you are not highly proficient in Access, we may want you to read a book such as Microsoft Office Access 2007 Forms, Reports and Queries. How do you feel about that?
- In general, how interested are you in becoming highly proficient in Access?
- Are you currently employed?
- How many hours per week are you currently working in your current job?
- If so, are you planning on continuing with your current position, or would you quit your job to work with us?
- If you will be quitting your position, how much notice do you need to give?
- How soon would you be able to start?
- Once you start, for the first 90 days, how many hours a week are you able to devote to this opportunity?
- After those 90 days, how many hours a week will you be able to provide?
- We want to get a sense of when you would be able to work, stated in both your time and in Boston time. Monday through Friday, when would you be able to work and for how many hours each day? Again, please state both your local time and Boston time.
- On Saturdays and Sundays, when will be you able to work and for how many hours each day? Please state in your local time as well as Boston time.
- Are you looking for a short-term, medium-term or long-term relationship with JI? How long can you commit to working with us?
- Please tell us about family commitments. If you have kids, who takes care of them? Are there other relatives (e.g., parents) that you take care of?
- What else is going on in your life? Hobbies? Board memberships? What other commitments do you have?
- Is there anything else we should know about you?
- Any comments you have on our idea?
- Which topics for new legal Web sites do you think would be particularly worthwhile?
- Are there any areas of the law, particularly in the area of mass torts, that you think we should be paying particular attention to?
- Do you have a blog or Web site? “You” means yourself or a company that you control. If so, what is the URL?
- What questions should we have asked but did not?
- If we or one of our associates sent you an e-mail through LinkedIn, there was a nine digit number towards the end of the e-mail, immediate after their name. It would be in the format of 100-029-987, or something like that. Please list that number if you can find it in the e-mail we sent to you. If you cannot find it, do not worry about it.
- Are there any Web sites you would recommend that someone read to learn more about how to evaluate legal cases?
- Have you sent us a chronological resume?
- Have you sent us writing samples?
- Client intake forms
Name and Contact Information
Education and Professional Training
J.D. and Bar Membership
Professional Experience
Skills
David Allen
Personal Responsibility
Responsiveness
Personal Computers
The Internet and the Web
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Access
Time You Can Devote to CCN
Miscellaneous
Have You Sent Us
Please include the questions in your e-mail; otherwise, we have no idea which question you are responding to. Please include your resume and a writing sample if you have one. Send these to jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com with a copy to recruiting@kensingtonllc.com.
We will respond to every inquiry with 48 hours. Our founders have an impressive track record in starting, managing and selling businesses successfully. We are kick ass, get things done type of people and within 24 months, we expect to have more than 1000 affiliated Web sites. For the right person, this is an extraordinary opportunity.
We look forward to hearing from you!
James Mitchell
jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com
(781) 718-1301
www.jmitchell.me
