Law Practice Management Using Daylite 3

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Neil Tyra

When I first opened my solo practice, one of the first questions I confronted was “What am I going to use to manage my practice?” Being a long time Apple Mac fan boy, I knew that it had to be Mac based as that is the only hardware platform I would consider. At the time, there was no iPhone nor iPad to extend the office virtually so my focus was on a package that could run on both my office and home systems. And for at least the initial phase that meant on a laptop that I would carry back and forth to work.

In my previous business life, I had used Filemaker Pro very successfully and thought that that would be my starting point. But while Filemaker Pro is extremely flexible, I felt that the resulting practice management system would have too much of a homegrown look and feel to it and may not be considered “professional” should I expand my solo practice to include associates. Thus, I was looking for a more commercial application that would meet my needs – and that made the choices slim. The more established practice management software packages – such as Timeslips – were not available on the Mac and running them in a Windows emulator was not an option. Similarly, cloud based options such as Rocket Matter were just coming into vogue and I felt not yet mature enough to qualify. I will say that if I had to make the choice today I think that Rocket Matter would be a clear favorite.

In any case, I came to choose Daylite 3 by MarketCircle. Daylite 3 is an all purpose contact/schedule and resource management tool typically favored by sales forces. And while it was quirky and buggy in the beginning, DL3 has now matured and grown to the point that it is an indispensable part of my law office workflow. In it I maintain my contact database, my calendar, my project/case to do lists and action items, email archives, and much more. And with that I am only really scratching the surface of what the software is capable of supporting. I have yet to fully integrate mail merge, forms, pipelines, activity sets and a host of other capabilities. Daylite 3 also has client apps for both my iPhone and iPad that sync over the wireless network so that I always have access to my practice management system. I would like to see all three apps sync via Dropbox or even automatically over the wifi network but for now, manually initiating the sync is not much of a drawback. And I have yet to figure out how to reliably print from the database.

Over the next several post I plan to detail my DL3 workflows and show how I keep everything up to date and with me at all times. I’ll also venture off into how other products such as Dropbox, Hazel, and Text Expander integrate into my practice management. So check back in with me later.

The Trouble With Juries

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Neil Tyra

I have recently had a run of cases which have gone to trial before a jury in both Maryland and the District of Columbia. It is said that only the most difficult of cases make it to a jury because the vast majority of cases are settled before reaching the trial stage. By definition then, once you get to the point that the case is being tried, anything can really happen. There are arguments to be made on both sides and the degree to which the jury believes one side over the other will determine the outcome of the case.

But recently I have been baffled by the verdicts that some juries have returned. In one case I had, a car accident in which my client and her two children were injured, the jury agreed that my client was not at fault, that the other driver caused the accident, that the injuries were a result of the accident, and yet – the jury only awarded the clients money to cover the cost of their emergency room visits. They did not award them anything for the thousands of dollars of additional medical treatment that the clients required and instead essentially said that they did not think that the people were hurt that bad or required the treatment. There was no medical testimony from a defense doctor saying that the treatment was not required. The jury simply chose to ignore that evidence.

In another recent case, a jury awarded my client all of her medical bills – meaning, that they gave her thousands of dollars to pay for the extensive medical treatment she received as a result of the accident she was in. But… they only awarded her a couple of hundred dollars for her pain and suffering. Now if she received treatment for months and her life and routine her disrupted for months, doesn’t it stand to reason that the non-economic damages (the pain and suffering) ought to be consistent with that disruptment? Again, the jury chose to ignore that evidence.

A judge recently laid out her beliefs to me as to why this is tending to be the case more often in her courtroom as follows:

1. CSI Factor – jurors see shows like CSI and conclude that demonstrative evidence can be found to prove just about any fact. In the case of soft-tissue injuries (whiplash, for instance) there isn’t any CSI like evidence and therefore juries tend not to believe that the party was injured.

2. Burden of Proof – in a civil trial the burden of proof is by a preponderance of the evidence meaning if it is 51-49% then the plaintiff has proven her case. But jurors seem to be holding parties to a higher standard more similar to the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt despite instructions not to do so.

3. Juries Don’t Listen – a lot of people who serve on a jury don’t want to be there and resent the fact that they are required to serve. A trial has a lot of procedural dull spots and some jurors simply tune out. They have made up their mind early and don’t hear crucial evidence.

4. Juries Substitute Their Own Experiences – the majority of folks who serve on a jury have themselves at one time or another been involved in a minor accident and walked away without any injury. Often times they simply look at the pictures of the accident and hear the testimony of the parties and conclude that since they themselves weren’t hurt in their own accident that the parties here couldn’t possibly have been hurt in the accident of which thy complain.

5. Juries Assume Insurance Took Care of It – juries are given and instruction and told that they should not consider whether or not the plaintiff’s medical insurance might have paid her bills. This is called the collateral source rule. Attorneys are prevented from mentioning insurance and in fact redact any evidence of insurance out of the medical bills offered to the jury as evidence. All plaintiffs are to be treated as if they don’t have insurance because some do not. And even if they did, the overwhelming majority of them will have to pay their insurance companies back first if the jury awards them any money. But interviews with jurors after trial has revealed that they often take insurance coverage as a factor to consider when determining an award.

So what do we do? The answer has always been if you can settle the case without going to trial that you are far better off. Getting “your day in court” may be emotionally satisfying but the odds are that you will be disappointed once the jury returns a verdict. Unless you have CSI like evidence on your side, then you take your chances with a jury of your peers.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Neil Tyra

That old adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words“, is never more true than when litigating car accident cases. A good photograph of the accident scene can very often make or break one’s case. Yet I can’t tell you how often clients come to me without such evidence. This is even more surprising when you think how many people have smartphones that include cameras. A recent market research study indicates that more and more people are deciding that they do not need a single purpose point-and-shoot camera and instead will opt for a smartphone with that capability. This is’t surprising. And if you consider that most phones now also provide video capability, it is not hard to believe that the demise of the video camera, along with the point and shoot, is upon us.

Why then do so few clients bring pictures with them to their attorney’s office of their accident when they contemplate pursuing a personal injury claim? The obvious reason is that they may be too injured to take photos of the scene. Or else they may be busy tending to a family member or friend who is injured. Clearly, one’s health comes first before the preservation of evidence. Some clients have expressed the opinion that they did not want to appear to be trying to monopolize on the situation for financial gain as the basis for not taking pictures. Still others never really contemplated a personal injury claim at the time of the accident because they didn’t feel they were injured until a day or two later.

Whatever the reason, if you have been involved in a motor vehicle accident, take pictures of the scene, the cars, your injuries, the other driver, everything. Use your phone and preserve the photos as quickly as possible. As a backup, put a disposable camera in your console or glove box in case you can’t find your phone at the accident scene. You can always decline to make a claim. But, better to have them and not need them than to not have them at all.

Don’t Win the Lottery Just Yet

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Neil Tyra

A couple of weeks ago there was a story about a woman in California who came forward as the winner of the SuperLotto Plus Jackpot prize of $23 million just days before the winning ticket was about to expire. Apparently she never checked the ticket and had simply left it in her car. Luckily for her, her daughter recognized her mother’s picture from a surveillance camera and alerted her to her winnings. Why hadn’t she checked the ticket? Perhaps she was going through a divorce…

The story reminded me of one of the more difficult concepts for people to understand regarding the accumulation of marital property particularly when a couple is going through divorce proceedings. In Maryland, marital property is defined as any “property, however titled, acquired by one or both parties during the marriage.” MD Ann Code §8-201(e)(1) This means that regardless of whether or not the property is titled in one person’s name or both, if it was acquired during the marriage it is part of the marital estate. So, if the parties buy a car during the marriage and title it solely in the husband’s name, and finance it with only the husband’s name on the loan, it is still marital property and must be considered when determining the division of marital property. This often astounds people who say, “Wait a minute, how can she have a claim to my car? I bought it, it’s in my name, I paid every penny of the car note.” All that is true and yet your spouse still has a property interest claim in your car. You see, once you got married there is no “you” or “me” in terms of property ownership. There is only “us” or “we”.

This gets particularly onerous and hard to understand when the property was acquired after the couple separated. So in the above example, it is still marital property even if the car was purchased after the separation but before the divorce. Imagine the spouse who moves out of the marital home and subsequently buys their own home, titled and financed in their name. If they are still married, then it is still marital property. Complicating the matter is the question of contribution. Say one spouse moves out of the marital home and the spouse who remains continues to pay the entire mortgage and taxes on the home. When it comes time to divide up the property, the one who remained in the house wants a credit for the “contribution” they paid on behalf of the spouse who moved out. If they paid those expenses with money earned from a job (i.e. earned income) they are not entitled to contribution because they used “marital funds” to make those payments. In other words, “we” paid the bills not “I” paid the bills.

So this brings me back to the lottery example. To help illustrate this issue, I often tell clients not to buy lottery tickets while they are separated because if they win, their spouse has a claim to the winnings. This seems to help them understand the concept of accrual of marital property. Note that this is NOT true in Virginia where couples cease to accrue marital property once they are separated. But it is true in Maryland and the District of Columbia. So the morale of the story is, don’t get any new stuff while you are separated. Wait until the divorce is complete before winning $23 million in the lottery.

The Last Believer: Why I Like Lance Armstrong

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Neil Tyra

www.ngngsports.com

So this has nothing to do with Montgomery County, the practice of law, nor the use of Apple products. OK, maybe a little bit of due process. But I am THE guy, the last believer, the lone sole in the wilderness who seems to think that Lance Armstrong is getting railroaded. Judging by everything that has been said and written about Lance and the assertion (no longer seemingly an allegation) that he cheated along the way to earning seven victories in the Tour de France, there isn’t anyone other than me that stands behind him. But I can’t help it. I like the guy. So perhaps my view is skewed to the point of being absurd.

What I do know is that because of Lance Armstrong, I started to really get into the TDF (that’s what you call it when you are addicted) in a big way. Back when I had my mornings free I got to watch the Tour everyday in realtime when he was riding and winning. And it was mesmerizing to me. It’s an acquired taste. You have to watch it for awhile to understand what you are seeing. But I devoured it. Really enjoyed it. And I have watched it pretty consistently ever since.

And what I have seen is dozens of riders subsequently disqualified for failing one drug test or another. Past winners and others against whom the system to detect performance enhancing drugs and other forms of cheating seemed to have worked as designed. The very same systems and tests that never once revealed the doping or cheating that Armstrong stands condemned for doing. Did he have better doctors and chemists that allowed him to evade detection? Maybe. Perhaps probably. But is he the only one who had the resources to avoid detection? There is really big money in Europe for riders and their teams and you are telling me that some of those teams and individuals couldn’t get the same help to avoid getting caught? Apparently not because they all got caught – except Lance.

In the end, for me it comes down again to whether or not I care that elite athletes are doping or using PEDs. I get it that folks get angry when Babe Ruth’s or Mickey Mantle’s records in baseball get erased by someone who most likely, or in some cases admittedly, had the assistance of drugs that allowed them to achieve outrageous results. Or when a clean athlete gets beaten in the 100 meter dash by a “dirty” sprinter we all feel that that is unfair. But the line between what is legal and what is not in athletics is so razor thin that I don’t really know that there is a clear distinction. For instance, Armstrong is accused of blood doping – having some of his blood removed and stored while he trains like crazy and then re-injected back into his system after his body has compensated for the original loss, thus creating more red blood cells in his system for carrying oxygen during his rides and giving him an aerobic advantage over his competitors. But is that terribly different from professional football players sucking on an oxygen tank to facilitate their recovery so they can get back out onto the field? Or is having a team doctor give you a cortisone injection so you can play with pain much different from having a doctor give you an injection of steroids in order for you to recover quicker from a hard workout?

And the tragedy of all this is now the very fine work that Lance has done through his foundation to aid in the fight against cancer is going to be compromised. He has stepped down from his leadership with the Livestrong Foundation and you can be sure that donations will dry up – if they haven’t already done so. And for what? So some folks can nail Armstrong’s hide on their trophy wall and say they took down this hypocritical icon. Well, jeez, thanks a lot.

Shame on Lance if he cheated. I would like to think that he did not. So I am naive. So what? I know those Tours were no piece of cake to win – with or without help. He still rode straight up these phenomenal mountains and back down at breath taking speeds. And perhaps he did so a little better than anybody else because he cheated. Perhaps. But it doesn’t diminish my enjoyment or appreciation of the effort in any way. So there…

What’s Mine is Mine;What’s Ours is Mine, Too!

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Neil Tyra

One of the most difficult issues to understand in a divorce action is the concept of marital property. Lawyers spend entire seminars, read full treatises, and examine statutes for hours on end to try and understand the nuances of this concept. So it is not surprising that most non-lawyers struggle with the same problem. Most people seem to think that each gets half of all the “stuff”. It’s not that simple.

Maryland defines “marital property” as any property acquired by either one or both parties during the marriage regardless of how it is titled. FL §8-201. In DC, the definition is not quite as specific but the statute does require the court to determine which property was acquired during the marriage regardless of whether it is titled individually or jointly. §16-910. So this means in either jurisdiction, if the Husband purchased a new car while the couple was married and titled it solely in his name, took out a loan with only his name on it to finance the purchase or purchased the car outright, it is still marital property since it was acquired during the marriage and has to be considered when distributing property upon the dissolution of the marriage. Where people get into even more difficulty is when they acquire property after they separate but before they get a divorce. Under those circumstances, it is still considered marital property (not so in Virginia).

This is but one of the many considerations that have to be taken into account when determining the distribution of marital property during a divorce action.

Motorcycles, Accidents, and New Maryland Law

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Neil Tyra

Reading the other day about the youngest brother of Baltimore Raven’s wide receiver Torrey Smith who was killed riding a motorcycle and it made me confront my own desires to get a bike. A little one, mind you, maybe no more than a fancy scooter. I think they look good and certainly would be economic to drive. But the potential for grave damage in an accident persuades me each time to forget about it. That and the fact that it smacks of old guy trying to look cool. And each time I’m driving and I see a crazy guy (usually a guy) flying in and around traffic on one of those speed bikes, my pendulum of desire swings hard the other way because I know death is probably in their future on that bike. But a scooter? How much trouble could that be?

Effective today, Maryland requires all scooters and mopeds to be titled and insured and their operators and riders to wear helmets and eye protections. That might seem like common sense but until now riders could run around on these machines without helmets and no insurance. I had a very good case come to my firm involving and accident between a pedestrian and a man on a scooter. Unfortunately, the adverse driver had no insurance (he wasn’t required to at the time) and the client’s insurance policy would not cover her under her Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage because the scooter was not large enough to qualify as a motor vehicle. Thankfully, that loophole has been closed up with this new law.

Still…I could get a scooter, right and not be thought of as too much of a geek.

Control Your Outcome – What the NFL Referee Lockout Teaches Family Law Clients

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Neil Tyra

NFL Refs – AP Photo

The settlement of the NFL referee lockout generated a sigh of relief throughout the country yesterday as the league and the referee’s union announced an agreement that put an end to the lockout. The workplace dispute resulted in three weeks of disarray, erroneous results, and a real economic impact the the league and it’s followers. The sad part is that the deal that was agreed to was available before the start of the season and could have avoided all of the problems and lost revenue if the parties had only recognized the real cost of their recalcitrance and settled early.

I see this same thing with my family law clients all the time. Like the NFL story, family law matters (divorce and child custody) are extremely emotional confrontations in which the emotion often prevents the parties from thinking clearly and seeing the true cost of the conflict. Many times I walk a client all the way to the brink of trial because they are so hung up with a “winning at all costs” mentality only to have them settle the case on the exact terms that were available months ago. Had they settled on those terms at that time they would have saved an enormous amount of money, time, and emotional investment. I suspect that clients often think you are trying to push them into settling early because you don’t believe in their case or just want to push it through so the law firm can move to the next case. But the fact of the matter is that the earlier parties can settle the case the more control they have over the outcome and the less costly the experience on all levels. Judges often ask clients if they want the court, who knows little about them and has even less interest in the client’s lives, to make decisions for them that will effect their future for years to come or would they rather make the decisions themselves based on all of their own accumulated experiences? Almost always the answer should be the latter. That way, you don’t have to wait for a game deciding blown touchdown call to motivate you to do what you could have done a long time ago.

Rapper Lil Wayne Not Quite the Performer He Thinks He is in Depositions

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Neil Tyra

My son Clark sent me this link this morning and I could only shake my head. Unfortunately, some people think they can misbehave in depositions and court and that it won’t come back to hurt them. Keep in mind that rapper Lil Wayne was the one suing Quincy Jones over a documentary that the latter made about him. So he is trying to win his case rather than playing defense and trying not to lose the case. So it behooves him to put his best foot forward in depositions rather than act like the fool he is shown to be in the video.

It brought to mind some similar deposition moments I have witnessed. The fact of the matter is that you can rarely win your case in depositions but you can certainly lose it. There are a few rules for depositions that I tell my clients:

Always tell the truth. Seems simple but often clients want to embellish their story in the hope that it gives them an advantage. Usually they get caught up in the lie and only hurt their case.
Dress for the occasion. I have gotten away from getting totally decked out in a suit for depositions but you should be presentable and look like you are taking part in a legal proceeding and not going to the gym. Lil Wayne in the video sends a terrible message with what he is wearing.
Keep your cool. Lots of folks think that attorneys are out to trick them in depositions into saying something that will hurt them or asking questions that the client thinks aren’t relevant. While I am sure there are some attorneys who do try and get under your skin purposefully, most do not. They are just there to gather information. And the scope of inquiry (the area in which they can ask questions) is pretty broad – even if you don’t think so. So just relax, answer the question truthfully, answer only the question asked and not anything else, and don’t lose your temper. Certainly don’t do what Lil Wayne does in the video and threaten the other attorney!

Depositions are a necessary part of the civil litigation process. Don’t take them as a joke and try and sabotage the process as done in the video. And above all else, listen to your attorney.

Virtually There!

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Neil Tyra

As a devoted Apple geek, one of the things I wanted to do with my law practice was to make the greatest use of technology in order to leverage my resources and hopefully become and remain profitable. To a large extent I have been able to do just that. But a couple of things lately have caused me to ramp up my efforts to be even more technologically resourceful.

Paperless, A MacSparky Field Guide by David Sparks available for your iPad only via iTunes store. This interactive ibook is chock full of literally jaw dropping ideas for automating the workflow in your law office (or any office) and creating a paperless environment. I had dabbled around previously with a number of the tools and utilities that David uses but had never integrated the entire spectrum into a useable workflow. His ingenious use of a file naming convention, coupled with TextExpander snippets, Hazel automated organizer, Automator scripts, and Spotlight gives the workflow methodology I had been looking for.

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris was a very illuminating book – once I gave it a chance. I bought this book on my iPad some time ago and put it down because I thought the author was pretentious and his approach not practicable. But I picked it up again this past weekend and have completely changed my mind. Tim’s basic premise is to create cash flow that operates with a minimal amount of your direct hands on involvement and a maximum amount of monetary return. Who doesn’t want that? But it is his use of virtual assistants that creates an environment where the work gets done under your direction while you can be virtually anywhere other than the office. My office is and has been virtually ready in the sense that I can access 90% of what I need to run my practice from any Mac, my iPhone, or my iPad. But it’s that last 10% that Tim provides a clear roadmap for doing that has really charged my batteries.

So, I am doubling down to squeeze even more automation through technology to allow me to untether myself from my physical office space. This involves restructuring some of my work habits (more discipline regarding email and multitasking interruptions), better task management and automated reminders, adding new systems to replace my fax (honestly, we put a man on the moon and a robot on Mars but we are still using fax?), getting a virtual assistant (that’s a really big deal), and lots more.

Maybe I will make it down to the beach this week!

MacGomery Law

Practicing law in Montgomery County on a Mac computer