February 18, 2025

Tullio Corradini

Trusted Legal Source

One Lawyer’s Trash Might Be Another Lawyer’s Treasure

One Lawyer’s Trash Might Be Another Lawyer’s Treasure

Attorneys often get referred all kinds of instances as they establish their procedures. In some cases, legal professionals will choose the situation for by themselves, and other situations, legal professionals will refer the operate to another attorney given that they do not believe that a issue is worthwhile or maybe for the reason that it is not inside of the attorney’s apply region. Nonetheless, in my have expertise, attorneys must get a careful glance at issues they may not assume have appropriate benefit, and a person lawyer’s trash can be another lawyer’s treasure underneath the proper situations.

In my job, I have routinely been referred matters that other lawyers have turned down. Normally, possessing a subject turned down by a different lawyer is a significant purple flag about a file. Absolutely, there will have to be a explanation why prior counsel turned down a make any difference, and this either relates to the merits of the issues, the sum of income that may possibly be recovered or other challenges. Ordinarily, the more lawyers that have turned down a file, the more difficulties a file might have, and I have found shoppers arrive to my firm right after being turned down by three or much more prior attorneys.

On the other hand, lawyers normally like to get the job done on less difficult situations, and could not be willing to spend the minor bit of effort that could be desired to turn a stinker circumstance into a goldmine. For instance, I was once involved in a private damage situation that was turned down by 3 other attorneys. The shopper tripped and fell, and he experienced signed a release promising that he would not sue. Both for the reason that of the launch or due to the fact of evidence issues in the scenario, 3 lawyers turned the client down.

Fortunately, a fourth attorney took the situation and filed the lawsuit virtually the day right before the statute of constraints expired. The lawyer went on the offensive and attached the launch to the grievance, arguing that defendants ended up at fault for additional brings about of motion other than negligence for producing an aged and infirm human being indicator the launch. In the conclude, the defendants did not even file a movement to dismiss centered on the launch since of this argument, and a concern of all the attorneys who turned the situation down was by no means recognized.

The scenario proceeded fairly ordinarily, and following a year or two of gentle matzoh ball litigation, the matter settled. The fourth lawyer who finished up deciding to acquire the circumstance manufactured far more dollars on the scenario than an average person would will need to stay super-easily for a calendar year. Completely, the fourth attorney was possibly really satisfied that he took a minimal little bit of chance and determined to operate on this situation even even though so a lot of attorneys experienced turned it down in the earlier.

Yet another time in my vocation, I took a case that had been turned down by a couple other attorneys my customers went to prior to me. The matter not only necessary a lawsuit from some major organizations, but some exceptionally significant law companies ended up also positive to get concerned. Moreover, in order to get in the litigation, my shoppers would need to have to argue an exception to a normal rule somewhat than depend on the rule alone, which is in no way a relaxed location to be in litigation.

In any case, I painstakingly put in a lot of several hours putting alongside one another our papers given that I knew that I had to make a resounding impression on my adversary in the initial occasion if I had any possibility of resolving the circumstance promptly. The exertion paid out off, and my adversary attained out to test to settle the subject just about immediately right after the papers had been filed. With a acceptable amount of energy, and only various months of hold off, my business acquired an really generous payout for our energy. I wish I knew all of the legal professionals who turned down the file so I could notify them how improper they were, and how a very little bit of work turned this file into a goldmine.

Of program, for all of these stories of good results at being capable to produce a profitable circumstance out of anything that seemed like garbage, I also have tales of staying bogged down in litigation by pursuing matters other lawyers turned down. I have taken issues on contingency which were being turned down by prior counsel and then I ended up litigating them for several years with only a small payout for my endeavours. I know some folks who finished up with absolutely nothing right after pouring means into files that were being turned down by other attorneys who maybe experienced sufficient knowledge to know that a circumstance did not have legs.

Even so, attorneys need to very carefully overview all of the probable matters that land on their desks to see if there is a different way of approaching a make a difference that may well have been missed by prior counsel. In this way, what just one law firm considered was rubbish can switch into a goldmine for other counsel.


Rothman Larger HeadshotJordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Company, a complete-assistance New York and New Jersey law business. He is also the founder of Pupil Financial debt Diaries, a site speaking about how he compensated off his pupil financial loans. You can attain Jordan via e mail at [email protected].