Fri, 25 May 2012 21:55:50 -0500WeeblyFri, 04 May 2012 10:25:41 -0500http://www.gloverlaw.ca/1/post/2012/05/lawyers-retain-each-other-for-quick-advice.htmlLawyers at large firms often talk about how nice it is to walk down the hall and have a quick chat with one of their colleagues about a case.

If you are a corporate lawyer, you can get a snapshot from one your firm’s employment lawyers about an employment law question, or ask someone in your litigation department to quickly assess whether litigation is a viable option.

Lawyers at smaller firms, or practising solo, presumably, don’t have that option unless they want to refer their client directly to a specialist. But sometimes a file just needs a quick look, and if you don’t have any lawyers in your office with the expertise you want, you may be out of luck.

Jacqueline King has been addressing that need by providing what she calls “private pre-trial” work. King is a litigator at Shibley Righton LLP, a mid-sized firm in Toronto and Windsor, Ontario. She has been retained by a number of lawyers at smaller firms, or firms that don’t have her specialized expertise, to take a quick look at their pleadings, affidavit or brief of law, often before a pre-trial, and spend a few hours with the file. She isn’t retained by the client directly, but is instead retained by the lawyer  to provide a second opinion on the case.

Much like what a judge would do at a pre-trial, King doesn’t spend days researching every angle and pouring over all the facts in great detail. She will spend a few hours with another lawyer’s work, and see if he or she has missed anything.

                        "It just gives someone a second look. Frankly, it is not as helpful for the big firms because they can walk down the hall and ask one of their 432 partners."

Darryl Glover, who has a general practice in Toronto and Ajax with one other lawyer, has retained King in this way. He hadn’t heard of other lawyers doing this before but it worked well for him:

                        "It is nothing heavily creative or innovative, it is just getting a second opinion, it is just fairly unique to our industry in that people don’t tend to do that that much outside of their firm."

Glover thinks this is likely to become more common as lawyers at smaller firms or practising solo are increasingly interacting electronically with other lawyers to get informal opinions on a file:

                       "I think all of that lends [itself] to somebody saying ‘instead of just [getting an informal] chat room opinion…why don’t I actually take a step further and have [another lawyer] review what I have and get an opinion on it?’"

Lawyers at large firms may also be interested in whether this becomes a trend – since giving a quick opinion to your colleague down the hall may not add to your billings, but doing it for the small firm practitioner down the street just may.

King estimates this kind of work now makes up to 20 to 30 per cent of her workload.

As Glover notes:

                        "I think it would be nice if there was actually a facility where there was an availability of people who were interested and willing to do this type of work."

Wilbur, T. (2012, April 27). Lawyers Retain Each Other For Quick Advice. (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from http://lexpertblog.com/2012/04/27/lawyers-retain-each-other-for-quick-advice/.
]]>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:41:28 -0500http://www.gloverlaw.ca/1/post/2012/03/do-i-need-a-will.htmlThis is a question we often hear.  But there is more to the question that we might think.  A will is only one of the three document prepared for clients in order to ensure their wishes are respected in the case of incapacity or death.  In terms of who needs a will, we all do as it allows us to appoint the person of our choosing to manage our affairs after death.  Whether we have a large estate or not, a will streamlines the estate resolution process and lessens the burden for the loved ones we leave behind.  For people with young children, a will allows for the suggestion of a guardian in the case of the death of both parents.  This is extremely important as family members may otherwise argue over who would be the best person to look after the children if this is not clear.

In addition to the will, we provide a Power of Attorney for Property.  This document allows for someone to step in and manage our financial affairs in the case of absence or incapacitation. It can be general in nature or for a specific purpose or time frame. The third document is the Power of Attorney for Personal Care. With this document we appoint the person of our choice to make medical decisions in the case that we are not able to speak for ourselves. Clearly, this is important to have in place prior to any incapacitation occurring.

At Glover & Associates, we simplify the process by having clients complete a questionnaire that coaches them through the process of determining the details of all documents.  By starting with the questionnaire, we are able to determine your needs and wishes and we can usually complete the signing process with only one personal attendance at our office. At that appointment, we make suggestions, answer questions and fully execute all the paperwork so our clients can rest assured that their affairs are in order.

]]>Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:04:55 -0500http://www.gloverlaw.ca/1/post/2012/01/first-post.html_Glover & Associates is excited about the launch of our new, user friendly website! We hope that our client's will navigate through our website and find a wealth of useful information. We have also incorporated some new features, including our Forms tab where client's can download documents, fill them in and send them back to us easily and quickly. We also modified our Links tab to make it more appealing and user friendly. Here you can be linked to resources that we use in our firm. ]]>