ntd's blog

Famous Employment Law Cases

ntd — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:46:29 +0000

Famous Employment Law Cases

During the 1960s the United States experienced an unprecedented time of social revolution. Previously held attitudes of bias against minorities and woman were challenged in many forms. In response to the calls for justice, the Equal Pay Act (1963) and the Civil Rights Act (1964) were both passed and effectively changed the landscape of labor law as we know it today.

While the passage of these laws was monumental, the proceeding years saw challenges to both pieces of legislation that would alter the scope of both. The following are examples of famous employment law cases.

Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)

Widely considered one of the first employment discrimination cases of its kind, Griggs v. Duke Power Co. was heard before the Supreme Court starting in the winter of 1971.

This case was initiated when a collection of employees from the power company brought a class action lawsuit against their employer, Duke Power Company. The employees alleged that the power companies’ policy of requiring a high school diploma and satisfactory scores on a series of tests in order to achieve promotion to higher paying roles was instituted as a ploy to restrict minority employees from certain jobs at the company.

After a series of appeals, the case was brought to the Supreme Court where it was decided that the Civil Rights Act prohibited employers from barring employees from certain positions based on education level or “testing devices” when the position in question did not reasonably require the candidate to possess either a certain level of education or pass an exam.

Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)

The case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson is significant in the evolution of employment law due to the resulting ruling of what could constitute gender-based discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.

The plaintiff in this case, Mechelle Vinson, a former employee of Meritor Savings Bank, alleged that she was the victim of repeated sexual harassment by her male supervisor during her time at the bank. Vinson also stated that fear of losing her job drove her to submit to this harassment and therefore created a hostile work environment, which she believed was a form of discrimination and therefore a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Prior to this case, sexual harassment could only be tied to a discrimination claim if sexual harassment resulted in material loss by the employee, such as reduction in wages or termination. Because of this precedent and others like it, the district court that originally heard Vinson’s claim, ruled in favor of the bank.

Once Vinson’s case was appealed and eventually heard before the Supreme Court, it was decided that Title VII was not exclusively intended to cover instances of gender discrimination that led to material loss. Rather, the court ruled that sexual harassment in the workplace which created a hostile environment was a form of gender discrimination and was therefore a violation of Title VII.

Alex Morgan v. United States Soccer Federation (2019)

In March of 2019, 28 players on of U.S. Women’s soccer team filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation that cited violations under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The suit takes aim at alleged pay disparities and unequal playing conditions between the men and women’s national teams.

In December of 2019, the team reached a settlement with the federation that addresses the disparities in playing conditions, mostly revolving around fields of play, travel accommodations and medical staff availability.

In May of 2020 the equal pay claims in the lawsuit were dismissed in district court but are currently being appealed. The district court judge that dismissed the case contended that the Equal Pay Act does prohibit pay disparity based on sex but cited the two team’s collective bargaining agreements as the reason for the disparity, therefore ruling out the issue of sex. This case, just like those before will likely set a precedent for how employment laws are applied.

Future Employment Law Cases

The last few years have seen many changes for employment laws on both a state and federal level. From remote workers, to changes in parental leave, minimum wages, pay transparency, the raise of AI in the workplace, and much more, it's important for your firm to stay up to date on the current happenings of employment lawsuits. Additionally, having a constant flow of employment law leads can help your firm increase the chances of representing the next big employment lawsuit like the examples above.

eGenerationMarketing has been connecting consumers to attorneys for over a decade and we are ready once again to help firms seeking to help others by broadening their reach to the online employment law lead generation world.

Sources

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-griggs-v-duke-power-co

https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-meritor-sav-bank-fsb-v-vinson

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/us-women-s-national-soccer-team-settles-some-claims-equal-pay-lawsuit

ntd Mon, 11/04/2024 - 10:46

2021 Employment Laws

ntd — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 22:58:44 +0000

2021 Employment Laws

At the start of the New Year, many states will see new changes to their laws that protect employees. While some of these laws are in response to the pandemic, law makers were still able to focus on passing legislation that addresses a variety of unrelated issues as well. Of the states enacting new protections, three of note are Colorado, Maryland and Minnesota.

Colorado

Passed in May of 2019, the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act will go into effect starting January 1st

This Act is meant to prevent pay disparities and addresses the discussion of wages in both the hiring process and for current employees of a company.

As it relates to the hiring process, employers will be expressly prohibited from trying to obtain prior compensation information from a prospective employee and furthermore cannot discriminate against a candidate who does not disclose this information.

For existing employees, employers are prohibited from taking any retaliatory action against an employee who discloses their wages, presumably to co-workers. Also of note, employers must disclose all advancement opportunities or openings and the associated pay range for those opportunities.

Employers face steep penalties for violating this act to the tune of $500-$10,000 per violation.

Maryland

Throughout 2020 Maryland amended and introduced numerous labor laws. These laws are in response to the economic crisis created by the pandemic and also related to more longstanding workplace issues such as wages, discrimination and workplace safety.

In November of 2019 the County Council for Montgomery County signed into law Bill 12-19, Human Rights and Civil Liberties – Building Maintenance Worker – Minimum Work Week. This law, which covers certain building maintenance workers, requires that a minimum of 30 work hours be afforded to those under the bill’s purview. Montgomery County is Maryland’s largest county, which means this legislation will likely impact a high number of building owners and their staff.

This new law will take effect at the start of 2021 and those found in violation are subject to a number of penalties, including compensation for reasonable attorney’s fees, personal injury and payment of no more than $500,000 in damages for “humiliation and embarrassment”.

Minnesota

The City of Minneapolis voted into law the Freelance Worker Protections Ordinance (FWPO) in the summer of 2020. With an effective date of January 2021, this ordinance places a “commercial hiring party” and an “individual hiring party” under different requirements. A commercial hiring party, which most businesses would be classified under, is required to supply a contract for work to be completed and is also liable for penalties in the event of non-compliance. A first-time violation could result in compensatory and liquated damages, which would mean payment for the services under contract and an additional payment equal to the same amount, which would fall under liquidated damages.

With new legislation on the books, some states may see an increase in violations and employment lawsuits. eGen can help your firm grow its caseload and take advantage of these new laws. For example, with Colorado and Maryland introducing more laws centered on workplace discrimination, your firm may want to consider using a lead generation service to help increase your employment law discrimination cases.

For more information about our exclusive employment and labor law leads, contact us today.

Sources

https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb19-085

https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/ccllims/BillDetailsPage?RecordId=2608

https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2019-00699

ntd Wed, 12/23/2020 - 17:58

What Is WARN?

ntd — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 13:04:57 +0000

What Is WARN?

With unemployment rates projected to reach all time highs in April, many U.S. employees are displaced due to the sudden halt of everyday business across the country. Passed by Congress in 1988, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) is the preeminent piece of federal legislation that sets guidelines for how companies can legally layoff or otherwise reduce a significant portion of their workforce.

If your law firm currently handles employment-related casework, then you are likely familiar with WARN, but a basic review of this Act may be useful for those less acquainted. Note – these basic points are not exhaustive of the Act in its entirety. The Act itself can be accessed here.

The WARN Act applies to businesses with 100 or more full-time employees, or businesses with 100 or more employees who total a minimum of 4,000 hours worked per week.
Except for certain circumstances, an employer is not allowed to shut down a “plant” or institute “mass layoffs” (over 50 employees) without giving a 60-day notice. These layoffs or shutdowns must be expected to last longer than 6 months.
Employers who violate the WARN Act are subject to civil actions such as a $500.00 fine for each day of violation and payment of backpay, including benefits, to the affected employees. The employer could also be ordered to pay a “reasonable attorney’s fee.”[1]

WARN does make certain exceptions for notice requirements in the event of “not reasonably foreseeable” business circumstances or natural disasters. It could be argued that COVID-19 would qualify as “reasonably unforeseen”, but the U.S. Department of Labor has not released any guidelines that would offer employers, employees, or their counsel much clarity on this matter.

However, certain state laws, or “mini-WARN” laws exist in several states and typically offer more protections for employees and put more onus on their employers related to notification of mass layoffs or closures. This intersection of federal and state law deserves further examination, as it could highlight opportunities for employment lawyers, or those looking to explore this area of law for their firm. A summary of three mini-WARN laws are included below.

New York WARN[2]

Applies to companies with 50 or more full-time employees.
Covers mass layoffs or plant closures that affect 25 or more workers.
90-day warning must be issued before mass layoff, plant closure, or certain relocation/reduction in hours.
The NY DOL specifically states that the 90-day warning requirement has not been suspended due to Coronavirus. The NY DOL acknowledges that the NY WARN Act already accounts for unexpected events, so employers are encouraged to provide as much information as possible to the DOL for them to determine if an exception is warranted[3]

California WARN[4]

Applies to companies with 75 or more full-time or part-time employees.
Covers plant closures that affect any number of employees and covers layoffs of 50 or more employees.
60-day warning must be issued before mass layoff, plant closure, or relocation over 100 miles.
Unlike federal WARN, Cal-WARN did not provide any exception for notice due to unforeseeable business circumstances. However, on March 17^th this was suspended to allow for employers to enact mass layoffs or shutdowns without notice starting March 4^th (backdated) through the end of the declared State of Emergency in California. Employers are still required to notify employees as soon as such notification is practical.[5]

Maryland Economic Stabilization Act[6]

Maryland’s version of WARN is unique because it is voluntary, meaning that employers are only held liable to federal WARN. Due to the voluntary nature of this act, the points below are better viewed as guidelines rather than requirements.

An “employer” under this Act refers to companies of 50 employees or more.
A “reduction in operations” is defined as relocation of the workplace from one site to another or the reduction of staff equal to at least 25 percent of the employees or 15 employees, whichever is greater.
It is suggested that a 90-day written warning be issued to employees.
Employers are encouraged to offer Post Termination Benefits and encouraged to consider Special Termination Benefits, such as an allowance for retraining or a formal severance package.

Other states that have mini-WARN Acts or similar statutes include Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.[7]

During these challenging times, employees deserve to know their rights. The often-confusing intersection between federal and state requirements can leave employers and employees alike confused about their options. If your firm routinely handles employment cases, eGenerationMarketing has recently introduced employment law case leads, which will allow any firm to increase the number of cases they have ongoing. For more information on our service, contact us at 617.800.0089.

[1] https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title29/chapter23&edition=prelim

[2] https://labor.ny.gov/agencyinfo/PDFs/WARN%20law%20%20chapter%20475.pdf

[3] https://labor.ny.gov/workforcenypartners/warn/warnportal.shtm

[4]https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=LAB&division=2.&title=&part=4.&chapter=4.&article

[5] https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3.17.20-EO-motor.pdf

[6] http://www.dsd.state.md.us/comar/SubtitleSearch.aspx?search=09.33.02.*

[7] https://www.natlawreview.com/article/covid-19-navigating-warn-act-issues-during-these-uncertain-times

ntd Thu, 04/23/2020 - 09:04

Go for Goals

ntd — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 13:25:43 +0000

Go for Goals

Any successful law firm relies on its employees to carry out firm objectives. Developing clearly defined goals, benchmarks for success, and what success looks like are important steps to eventually accomplishing these objectives.

Establishing goals is important, but laying out the road map to success is of equal importance. Here are some ways you can identify, establish, and track goals for your firm.

What should we track?

Each firm will have different metrics to evaluate. 2019 is all about data, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful by committing to tracking a handful of important numbers. If your office size is relatively small, and employee time is highly valuable, it will not be practical to track every metric imaginable. Instead, focus on 4-5 metrics for each department that you believe will drive success.

To demonstrate this, take the example of an intake department. Here are some metrics it might want to track:

Workload – How many intakes does an individual member of your office process in a day/week/month/year?

Contact Attempts – How many calls/emails/text messages does the intake member make in a given timeframe?

Contact Rate – How many leads does an individual member of your team successfully contact?

Retainer Packets Sent – How many retainer packets does an intake member send out?

Retainers Returned – How many retainer packets are completed and returned? This number will also allow you to calculate the conversion percentage each intake member attains.

Creating Goals

Once you’ve decided what the key performance indicators (KPIs) are for your team, it’s time to establish goals. Goals will look different from firm to firm, but any goals you devise should be realistic, measurable, and have some sort of precedent behind them.

Realistic - Goals should not be impossible. If employees are constantly chasing unreachable goals, morale is likely to sink. It’s also important to keep your ultimate goal in mind. For instance, if you’re a Social Security firm and you want to increase the number of case files you open each month from 30 to 50, you’ll need to decide what level of production each intake member will have to reach in order to advance you closer to the ultimate goal.

Measureable - Having accurate and reliable systems in place to track goals is imperative to maintaining the integrity of your goals. Activity goals like phone time, calls made, contact rate, etc. can be tracked through most business phone system dashboards. Legal CRMs are another tool that can assist you in running performance reports on your employees.

Precedent - If an employee has never processed 3,000 leads in a quarter, then it would be unadvisable to make that a starting goal for your team members. Instead, look back at what the average intake member has handled in the past and decide if that number is acceptable, or if the goal should be slightly raised from the average in order to give your team something to strive for.

Benchmarks

Firms must decide on what timeframe they’d like to evaluate goals. For instance, some businesses will review employee goals on a quarterly basis, whereas other businesses might opt for a bi-annual or yearly review.

Regardless of the timeframe, you should set up agreed upon times where you sit down with your team members to see how they are doing with their individual goals. These meetings are important if you want to make sure that goals are being pursued in the most efficient manner possible.

For instance, if your intake team appears to be working hard, but its number of intakes is down, you might need to find ways to increase the number of claimants your office comes in contact with. Marketing options are plentiful in today’s legal landscape – lead generation companies, PPC/SEO management firms, or outside agencies to run commercials/radio spots are all viable options depending on your budget and target audience.

These meetings are also great opportunities to praise your employees for on track performance. If one of your intake members is leading the team in retained cases, you can highlight the achievement and hopefully gain some insight into what he/she is doing that has brought him/her success. If certain members of your team are struggling, these meetings can be a time where you put in place an agreed upon action plan to increase performance.

Goals are important for any firm, no matter how small or large, successful or struggling. If increasing your caseload is a goal for your firm, reach out to us at eGenerationMarketing today - 617.800.0089

ntd Thu, 04/18/2019 - 09:25

Quirky Marketing Ideas to Inspire Your Firm

ntd — Fri, 11 Jan 2019 15:29:57 +0000

Quirky Marketing Ideas to Inspire Your Firm

Marketing in 2018 evolved at a breakneck pace. Marketers in today’s world have more tools and mediums at their disposal than even before. While commercials, billboards, and other traditional mediums are still viable, companies are looking at unique ways to increase the number of consumers they get their message in front of every year.

As a law firm trying to gain name recognition in your community, there are a number of lessons that can be gleaned from some of today’s wildest marketing endeavors. Below are the three that standout.

1. The King Asks Wendy to Prom

In May of 2018 a Burger King in Lynn, Massachusetts reached across the proverbial fast food aisle to extend an offer to its neighbor, Wendy’s. This local Burger King posted on its storefront sign a message reading “@Wendys Prom?”

Burger King’s twitter account posted a picture of the offer and Wendy’s account quickly replied accepting the offer. Outlets such as People magazine picked up this story nationally. The best part: this stunt cost Burger King almost nothing to create!

Law firms of all sizes need to think about advertising, but smaller operations need to do so with dollars and cents in mind. Hanging signage in front of your office with attention-grabbing messages is an easy way to use the office you own to standout. Even if you work in an office park that doesn’t allow you to display custom messages, break out that social media account and get your digital signage in front of your local community.

2. IHOb

One of the countries most recognizable breakfast chains, IHOP, rolled out a new menu item in 2018: burgers. Realizing that they might struggle to attract foodies to their new burger line, IHOP made the bold decision to change their name to IHOb (International House of Burgers). USA Today, citing YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm, reported that IHOb did in fact increase their “word of mouth” score, but that consumers were not more likely to eat at IHOb as a result of the increased publicity.

The important lesson here is that marketing simply to generate conversation is not effective if it does not produce an increase in business. Any sort of promotional campaign that your law firm deploys should to be quantifiable. Tracking metrics like cost per lead, cost per case, etc., is vital to ensuring that the case leads your campaigns generate are cases at a cost effective rate.

3. Milka Chocolate

Stepping back to 2013, European chocolate maker Milka played a devious trick on French consumers with their “Last Bar” marketing campaign. This campaign sought to motivate Milka’s patrons to “Dare to Be Tender.” Milka took one square of chocolate out of every bar sold in France. The wrapper contained a code that the consumer could enter online in order to have the missing piece delivered to a friend of their choosing, or have the missing piece delivered to the original purchaser.

The idea of sharing chocolate is indeed thoughtful, but it’s also a great way to have your current consumers solicit new customers who might be unaware or indifferent towards a product. Similarly, your law firm is currently housing its best marketing tools – your current clients. Referrals are a cost effective way to turn current clients in to spokespeople for your firm. While the current client is most important, consider subtle ways to solicit referrals, such as including the age old “the greatest complement we can receive is a referral” in documents such as mass emails, mailers, and other materials that are sent out to your current or past clients.

January is a perfect time to reflect on how your firm did in the past year. If you find that business was slow, or you’re looking to take things up a notch, consider something outside of the box. It’s important to remember that not all legal marketing efforts have to be costly, so don’t let a limited budget stop your firm from trying something new in 2019.

ntd Fri, 01/11/2019 - 10:29

Considerations for your Intake

ntd — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:28:23 +0000

Considerations for your Intake

While some individuals will be awaiting your office’s call, others might be slightly thrown off seeing “Law office” on their cell phone at 9:30 AM on a Monday morning. With robo-dials, spam text messages and emails at an all time high, there is a considerable amount of distrust from consumers when it comes to telephonic communication.

It can be hard to get someone to give you 20-30 minutes of their time for an evaluation, but intake is the lifeblood of any consumer law firm. All law firms need to know how to effectively introduce themselves in order to make sure that the steady flow of case leads your office receives are turned in to fee producing cases. Here are scenarios your firm will most likely face and some ideas for how to handle these different kinds of intake.

Request for Contact:

Many law firms in the 21st century receive an electronic communication requesting an evaluation on a legal case. These can come in the form of contact form submissions via your website, a lead generation form that was forwarded to your office, bar association referrals, and other similar platforms. The industry best practice is to follow up with these submissions right away in order to ensure that you contact this person while he or she is most interested in a legal consult.

While immediate contact can be established 24/7, 365 days of the year for large firms, other smaller operations might not get to every request immediately. Regardless of when you contact a new lead, there are things you can do to make sure the first contact goes smoothly:

Ask for permission – When you first contact claimants, you likely do not know what they are doing when you decide to call. Asking your potential clients if they have 5-10 minutes available to talk will make sure your call gets off on the right foot.

Reference Their Information/Request – Consumers get calls to their cell phones soliciting cruises, timeshares and many other offers. It is vital to establish that you’re calling a claimant due to a request that your office received from the consumer. This usually sounds something like, “we received your contact information via XYZ, specifically pertaining to your recent XYZ legal matter.”

Agree Upon a Time to Talk Again – Your intake process might be quite arduous depending on the type of law that you practice or how your law firm is set up. Therefore, if your intake staff is not able to get the full picture of someone’s situation on the first call, it’s vitally important that you ask the intake for an agreed upon time to continue your conversation. With life’s many responsibilities, it can be easy for a consumer to push off commitments that aren’t set in stone.

One important note about online leads (whether third party or from your website) is that while there are ways to ensure that you keep a high number of web leads coming in to your office, you’ll also need a way to quickly and efficiently funnel potentially viable cases up your chain of command towards someone who decides to accept or reject the case.

While this process will look different from firm to firm, a general piece of advice would be to establish some basic questions that your intake staff can ask a web lead to immediately see if they would be a fit for your firm or not. For instance, if you run a Social Security firm and you only accept cases at the Hearing level, you would not want your intake staff spending inordinate amounts of time speaking with someone who has yet to file. In this instance, the member of your office doing the initial phone call should inquire if the individual’s claim has been denied already.

Referral

Referrals are a great way for law firms to get new clients. One of the biggest upsides to referrals is that they are usually somewhat qualified (i.e. more likely to be a case you want to pursue.) If another attorney refers you a case, the referring attorney hopefully believes that it’s a case you would want to take. If a referral comes from a doctor’s office or similar institution, the referring party likely already established that this person would benefit from the help of an attorney. With referrals, it’s safe to assume that there will be a lot less sifting through unqualified prospects.

A cautionary note here: according to American Bar Association Rule 7.3 Solicitation of Clients, an attorney is not allowed to contact a referral that is given by another professional. Due to this rule, you have to wait for the referral to contact you.

When that contact comes, you’ll want to make sure that you reassert your connection to the referring party and explain what’s going on so that everyone’s on the same page. This will sound something like:

“Atticus Finch referred you to us at XYZ Law Firm. We’ve worked with Mr. Finch for a number of years and we refer clients to one another on occasion. If you’re open to this, it would be great to set up a time where we could go over your situation to see if I can be of any help.”

Because referrals come with professional credibility behind them, it’s important to make sure that your first impression is a positive one, or else you run the risk of having your bad first impression reflect poorly on the referring party.

Commercial Leads

Some law firms, particularly firms that handle a wide variety of plaintiff law cases, choose to run commercials to attract new claimants to their office. If you can keep your costs manageable, T.V. can be a viable way to keep your firm busy.

Due to the brevity of most commercial spots (call it, 30-60 seconds), most claimants who phone your office are less likely to be confused as to why they contacted your firm. Commercials that flash words like “xarelto lawsuit” or “talcum powder lawsuit” across the T.V. screen will likely attract callers who have experienced problems with these products, which would be desirable for firms that look to garner class action lawsuit claims.

While the interest level of claimants who call your firm after seeing a T.V. commercial is considered “high,” the merits of their cases are still up to further scrutiny.

Looking at the recently successful lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson, ovarian cancer was cited as the harmful outcome of continuous usage of talcum powder. Keeping this in mind, a law firm interested in acquiring more talcum powder cases would want to sort out what side effects a caller had experienced after usage, if any. Assuming that your intake staff understands what constitutes a side effect of talcum powder verse an unlucky skin reaction, your intake staff can then move to set up another appointment with an attorney who can further qualify the case.

The main takeaway here is that your intake process, when set up around inbound calls via T.V. advertisements, should move quickly because your caller has already taken steps to hire your law firm.

Evaluating Your Own Intake Process

Setting up an effective intake process is a complicated task that every firm must invest considerable time, thought, and money in to. Even the most robust marketing campaign will fall flat without a regimented process for how to deal with inquiries made to your office. Think about calls coming in, but you’re losing potential customers due to off-putting, or ineffective staff.

It can be challenging for law firms to develop an effective marketing strategy while also spending time establishing or rebuffing their intake process. While internal marketing initiatives should always be explored, lead generation services, marketing companies, and other third party options should also be considered. Working with a lead generation company can instantly enable firms to tap in to a national advertising effort, the benefits of which can be customized to fit your offices preferences.

If you’re interested in keeping your law firm busy around the holiday season, but don’t want to overextend yourself with long-term contracts or minimum purchase amounts, today is the perfect time to reach out (617.800.0089) to our team at eGenerationMarketing.

ntd Wed, 11/21/2018 - 12:28

Summertime and the Employees are Leaving

ntd — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 20:36:23 +0000

Summertime and the Employees are Leaving

Summer is in full swing! You might be enjoying the season, but your law firm still needs to maintain a steady caseload in the heat of summer. With the kids out of school and summer vacation plans abound, you’ll undoubtedly have fewer staff in your office each week. Here are some tools and tips to help your law firm stay up and running.

Coordinate Days Off:

Many of our clients run small to medium-size law firms. With fewer staff, each member of your office is essential. You’ll want to make sure that your entire intake team doesn’t head out for vacation during the same week. Imagine the lost profits if case leads are coming in to your office with no one around to follow up!

It is standard practice for business owners to ask their staff for advance notice on vacation days. You can easily keep track of which employees will be out of the office each week by purchasing PTO tracking software. This will help ensure that your firm is still sufficiently staffed throughout the summer months and someone’s always available to handle your incoming leads.

Nail Down Procedures With Your Staff:

Standardized procedures ensure that your firm runs efficiently. For example, law firms process hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of paperwork each year. One missed filing can result in lost cases and upset clients. Your office has likely developed a system for processing paperwork, but if employees who typically handle paperwork are unavailable, someone will have to step in to fill that role.

Take some time to meet with your staff to make sure that everyone knows standard procedures in your office for vacation time and covering each other’s roles. This will cut down on the chaos that can stem from breaks in your standard operating procedures.

Use a Case Management System:

Having a centralized database of all client files and deadlines is critical to making sure that nothing gets missed when you have employees out of the office. The members of your office who interact with your clients on a daily basis need a case management software to record all important client interactions and case updates, especially when you’re short-staffed. The benefit to using case management software is that even if your client-facing employees are out of the office, you’ll still know exactly what’s going on with each open case.

Shared calendars, auto-fill documents and a host of other functionalities are included in most reputable case management platforms. The cost of this software will pay for itself when you consider how expensive missed deadlines or forgotten clients could be.

Let Your Clients Know When Your Office Is Closed:

You might plan on shutting down the office for a week to give your staff some much needed time away. While your employees will appreciate your generosity, your clients might still need to contact your office.

Consider setting up an automated email to respond to anyone who tries to reach you by email and changing your voicemail message to let your clients know how long your office will be closed.

For time-sensitive issues, you’ll need to provide your clients with a way to reach you. Providing a cell phone number or promise of a speedy response in case of emergency will help keep your clients happy and their legal cases progressing smoothly.

Keep On Marketing:

Summer is a time to relax, which can sometimes lead firms to slack on revamping marketing campaigns or looking in to new initiatives. Maybe the individual who handles marketing for your firm is an avid backpacker and decides to trek across Europe for the summer. Who’s going to handle the marketing now?

Consider less time-consuming marketing options if you don’t have the staff available to work on complicated marketing campaigns. These options could include mass emails sent out to your clients/prospects, pamphlets to your local community, or contracting a lead generation service.

Don’t let the summer stifle the progress your law firm has made so far this year! Plan ahead, look into different programs that can efficiently manage your employees’ time, and keep your marketing manageable, but profitable.

If you need a quick, profitable marketing option, consider calling us at eGenerationMarketing (617.800.0089) to speak with our team about the personal injury, workers’ compensation, Social Security disability, and employment law leads we generate in your area.

ntd Thu, 07/12/2018 - 16:36

NOSSCR Atlanta Guide

ntd — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 20:27:48 +0000

NOSSCR Atlanta Guide

Are you heading to Atlanta next week for the National Organization of Social Security Claimant Representatives (NOSSCR) conference? Our team from eGenerationMarketing will be attending throughout the week and we cannot wait to see some of you there!

If you are looking for basic information on the conference, or trying to schedule some last minute plans while you’re in Atlanta, we’ve got you covered. We are not affiliated with NOSSCR.

Conference Venue:

Atlanta Marriott Marquis

265 Peachtree Center Ave NE

Atlanta, GA 30303

Dates: April 25-28, 2018

Events:

Wednesday April, 25th 5:30-8:00 p.m. – eGenerationMarketing Cocktail Party.

Join us for complimentary cocktails and hors d’oeuvres following the conclusion of the days’ sessions. Tickets to the cocktail party will be located at our exhibitor booth throughout the day Wednesday.

Thursday April, 26th 6:00-7:00 p.m. – NOSSCR President’s Cocktail Reception

A great opportunity to unwind and say hello to old and new faces alike!

Friday April, 27th–April 29th - Inman Park Festival

Get a look at “Atlanta’s most spirited and eclectic” festival by heading down to Inman Park for the weekend to watch the parade, tour historic homes, and enjoy the best Atlanta has to offer. This festival is perfect for those traveling to the conference with family.

Saturday April, 28th 1:00p.m. – Great Southern Beer Fest

The conference concludes at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, giving you plenty of time to check out John Howell Park and enjoy the best beers coming out of the south. Tickets are required for entry, so don’t wait on this one!

A Bite to Eat:

Tasty food options are abundant in Atlanta. If you’re in a time crunch you’ll want to know the closest places to grab a good bite. All existing or prospective clients are invited to a free meal with eGeneration. Please email Noah (sales@egenerationmarketing.com) for more information.

Breakfast:

Starbucks – Located inside the Marriott hotel, this tried-and-true classic is an option for a quick coffee or morning breakfast.

Waffle House (112 Courtland St NE) – While it is a chain restaurant, this breakfast spot is just .4 miles from the Marriott and is a good option for a wholesome bite prior to the days’ activities.

Atlanta Breakfast Club (249 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd NW) – This nearby southern breakfast restaurant also offers lunch.

Lunch:

High Velocity – Conveniently located in the Marriott. High Velocity is described as having casual pub fare with 20 flat screen TVs.

Aviva by Kameel (225 Peachtree St. NE) – Located across the street from the Marriott, this is a healthy Mediterranean spot complete with a juice bar and locally-sourced ingredients.

Dinner:

Morton’s The Steakhouse (303 Peachtree Center Ave NE) – One of the country’s most recognizable steakhouse chains. Perfect for those looking for something familiar and reliable.

Crazy Atlanta Travel Restaurant and Bar (182 Courtland St NE) – Promoted as “global street food” with various food and drink options.

Ray’s in the City (240 Peachtree St. NW) – Steak and seafood offerings with live jazz Thursday and Friday. This is a great location for a high-end meal in downtown Atlanta.

We’re looking forward to our time in Atlanta and hope to see you there! Our team will be available throughout the conference to meet with existing clients and those interested in learning more about our lead generation service for Social Security disability representatives. Please email sales@egenerationmarketing.com if you’d like to set up a time to meet with a representative in Atlanta.

ntd Thu, 04/19/2018 - 16:27

3 New Year’s Resolutions Your Law Firm Can Keep

ntd — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:18:22 +0000

3 New Year’s Resolutions Your Law Firm Can Keep

It’s a tradition to make a resolution on New Year’s Day. Many choose to try to lose weight, exercise more often, or be friendly to those around them. Have you ever considered making a resolution to improve your legal practice? January is a great time of the year to evaluate how you did in months prior and what can be improved upon. Here are three resolutions you may want to try at your law firm.

1. Use Math

Math is more than just crunching numbers – it allows your firm to objectively evaluate financial decisions your office makes. One important metric for law firms to always consider is “cost per case,” or CPC.

Cost per case is easy to calculate. You simply look at your total spend with a particular marketing source and divide that total spend by the number of cases you’ve retained through that source.

Budget Spent ______________________ # Clients Retained

Take a Social Security disability advocate or attorney for example. SSD representatives can expect at most $6000.00 in fees from one case, as the vast majority of Social Security legal fees are capped. Nationally, the payout for a successful SSD case was around $3,100.00 in 2017. It wouldn’t make sense to spend $1,000 to sign new Social Security clients via a billboard campaign, as the high costs won’t leave a firm with enough revenue left to pay employees salaries and benefits or overhead costs.

eGeneration recommends keeping an SSD firm’s cost per case around $250-$350. Of course, lower CPCs will leave you more room for profit on each case.

Firms with higher settlements will have more “wiggle room” when it comes to evaluating CPC and determining if an effort is profitable. Personal injury firms usually earn higher revenue from a successful case, so these firms might be able to spend more per case in marketing, assuming they still achieve an acceptable ROI from each case generated. A good rule of thumb is to try to have your CPC be 15% or less of your expected revenue from a case.

2. Invest in Employee Health

More offices across the country are offering employees options to promote their health. These options range from compensated gym memberships to healthy snack options paid for by the company.

Keeping up with work place compensation trends is important to employee retention, but investing in employee’s health can also have benefits beyond keeping your staff content in their roles.

According to Harvard Business Review, wellness programs have saved Johnson & Johnson $250 million on health care costs over a decades’ time. While most law firms are smaller than J&J, a similar type of savings could be experienced for your office. Even adding a few of pieces of gym equipment in an unused office space can do a world of good for your employees’ health and job satisfaction.

3. Stop Wasting Time

You know more than anyone how valuable your time is—how much time has your staff spent filling out redundant paperwork? If your office is still taking the time to fill out the same document manually each day, you’re missing out on time that could be spent resolving leads or preparing for hearings.

Most legal software offer the ability to generate auto-fill documents that will automatically place client information in to the appropriate fields. Common fields include your firm’s name and address, a client’s name, phone number, Social Security number, and more.

Rather than tediously filling out paperwork, you could have your staff devote more time to essential tasks that utilize their talents. eGeneration offers eLuminate, an easy to use software that includes a document generation and auto-fill component, as a complimentary tool for all of our clients.

Resolve to Sign More Cases Today!

One New Year’s Resolution every firm wants to make is to sign more clients and earn more this year. An easy way to do so is by working with a lead provider. eGeneration currently offers high-quality legal leads in four areas of law: Social Security disability, personal injury, workers’ compensation, and employment law.

To discuss our lead pricing and availability, give us a call today at 617.800.0089.

"What's the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs?" Harvard Business Review, hbr.org/2010/12/whats-the-hard-return-on-employee-wellness-programs

"Statistics on Title II Direct Payments To Claimant Representatives' Social Security Administration, ssa.gov/representation/statistics.htm#2014

ntd Mon, 01/08/2018 - 11:18

Incentivizing Law Firm Employees

ntd — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 13:00:49 +0000

Incentivizing Law Firm Employees

A law firm, like any other office, needs to be working towards a common goal. This goal is defined by management and ultimately carried out by each employee at the company.

Defining the goal is important, but rallying your troops to accomplish this goal can prove more elusive. Here are some important considerations and actions you can take to get the most out of your employees.

Where Do We Want to Go?

Each firm will likely have different objectives dependent on what their key metrics are for overall success.

A firm that focuses on mergers and acquisitions will want to increase billable hours. A Social Security disability law firm will want to increase the number of cases it takes each month.

How Do We Get There?

Continuing with Social Security firms – what can be done to increase the number of cases you’re opening and the number of initial applications you’re filing each month?

Client retention starts with your intake staff. Any lead that comes to your office will probably first speak with a staff member.

Some legal softwares allow you to track the number of cases each intake person signs over a given time period. Developing an “average signed rate” for your intake staff will show you what is to be expected.

Incentivizing Your Employees

Once you have the average, you can start raising the bar.

A number of factors such as the client’s disability, your firm’s criteria for taking a case, and expected labor hours to successfully handle the case all influence whether or not your firm will retain a client. Most of these factors are outside of your control.

However, you can influence the ability of your intake staff to retain a desired case. Phone demeanor, knowledge of the industry, and highlighting your firm’s credentials will all help increase the likelihood of a claimant signing your 1696.

An intake specialist who is rewarded for hitting or exceeding a set goal will outwork an intake specialist who is paid the same, regardless of their performance.

Steven Taylor’s blog on the American Bar Association’s website quotes Teunis Wyers formerly of Wyers, Haskell, Davies as saying, “If we all have a stake in what each other makes, then everyone’s quality of life and income is enhanced.”

Wyers makes a valid point. So how do you give each member of your team a stake?

Salary Increase:

Salary increases show your staff members that you value their contributions. If someone is adding to your bottom line, you should reward them with a consistent increase in pay.

What happens if an employee becomes complacent in their role and no longer produces at a level that justifies their salary?

Bonus Structure:

Bonuses can be offered for reasons ranging from length of time at the company, profitable work during the year, or positively impacting company culture.

The biggest advantage of bonuses is that they can adjust to changing circumstances within the company or with an employee. If the company is having a down year, you can reduce bonuses accordingly. If the employee isn’t meeting or exceeding baseline goals, the bonus amount can reflect the year’s work.

Bonuses offer the most clear-cut incentive to continue to perform at a high level and offer less of a commitment from the company to continue paying a higher salary. Bonuses are usually a “win-win” for both parties.

If you consistently reward intake staff that sign more cases each month, you’ll notice that other employees aspire to rise to that same level of success. Moreover, you’ll ensure that those most deserving of extra financial compensation receive it.

Rewarding success that adds to the profitability of your firm will be money well invested.

ntd Mon, 10/16/2017 - 09:00