San Diego Injury Lawyer Blog

The paperless office has been the dream of many San Diego businesses, including personal injury lawyers. The benefits are tangible and real: reduced office storage space, the ability to access file documents from any file right on your desktop, remote access to any office file from anywhere in the world, and the ability to share and communicate with clients instantaneously through e-mail. As data becomes increasingly digitized and the ease of digitizing data also increases, the paperless office becomes more and more inevitable as the next clear method of law office management.

In the past, the hurdles to achieve this goal has been equipment costs, document management, and the transition cost of changing office systems. However, these hurdles no longer exist and creating a paperless office is now very simple--even for a solo practitioner.

The Jurewitz Law Group is now 5 months into its' transition to a "paper-less" office. Bear in mind that "paper-less" does not mean "without paper". Paper has been around for thousands of years and will continue to have a place in the digital office for the foreseeable future. The goal must be to reduce all unnecessary paper by digitizing it and storing it in a central location.

These were our office goals in making the transition:
1. Reduce office administrative time sorting and filing paper in files.
2. Reduce the time used to search paper files for relevant documents.
3. Create a method to better share documents with clients, opposing counsel, etc.
4. Eliminate the need to store closed files, thereby reducing overhead costs.
5. Stay within a budget of $1,000 for accomplishing this goal

All of these goals were achieved. In addition, we attained other goals, including reducing paper, toner, and copying costs.

After reviewing a number of resources and conferring with other attorneys who have done the same thing, here is how we did it.

Continue reading "Jurewitz Law Group Has Gone Paper-less: A Report and How-To Guide" »

Posted by Ross Jurewitz | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Client Service , Law Office Management

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Most San Diegans drive with auto insurance. But most are severely under-insured or don't have the right kind of insurance to do them the most good if they are involved in an auto accident.

Unfortunately, our office usually typically has the opportunity to advise clients of their proper insurance needs ONLY after they've been in an accident and it's clear to them they were under-insured. So, please consider this to be a preemptive public safety announcement to all San Diegans.

1. Do Not Purchase Minimum Insurance. The minimum amount of insurance coverage necessary to drive a car in California is bodily injury coverage of $15K/$30K. This means that, in the event that you negligently cause an accident, your insurance carrier will pay all medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering for those you injured up to $15K per person or $30K per accident. If their damages exceed this amount, then you could be personally responsible for the balance. Obviously $15K isn't much money and automobile accident claims can easily exceed this amount, particularly where there is a claim for wrongful death. It is important that you purchase as much bodily injury coverage as you can afford. This is not only important to protect your assets, but, as the next section will make clear, so that you can maximize your under-insured/uninsured motorist coverage.

2. Purchase As Much UM/UIM Insurance Coverage As You Can. Ok, you're responsible. You purchased as much bodily injury coverage as you can. But the other guy, just assume that he is not responsible and is carrying only the minimum coverage--or no coverage at all! That is why you need to maximize your uninsured/under-insured motorist coverage (UM/UIM). UM/UIM allows you to turn to your own insurance to pay for your injuries which exceed the limits of the other driver's insurance policy. However, you can only purchase UM/UIM coverage up to the limits of your bodily injury coverage. So, if your bodily injury coverage is $100K, that is the most UM/UIM coverage you can purchase. UM/UIM is one of the cheapest components of an auto insurance policy. There is no excuse not to have it.

Continue reading "Automobile Insurance for San Diego's Roads: What You Need" »

Posted by Ross Jurewitz | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents , Client Service

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Progressive Insurance's slippery and underhanded tactics have been profiled before. See here. Here too.

Now comes Progressive's latest dirty trick: offering personal injury settlements in auto accident cases before victims even get a chance to see a doctor.

Here's how the new strategy works:

Continue reading "San Diegans, Beware! Progressive Insurance's Newest Dirty Trick!" »

Posted by Ross Jurewitz | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Car Accidents , Client Service , Consumer Fraud

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The Manhattan Institute is a conservative think tank that pushes a tort-reform agenda as it attacks plaintiffs' attorneys for numerous evils, both real and perceived. One of the primary gripes tort-reformers have against plaintiffs' attorneys is that the contingency fee agreements used so prevalently in litigation--a legal fee agreement where the client pays a percentage of any recovery to the attorney for his services--unjustly exploit clients who cannot afford hourly attorneys' fees and thereby unjustly enrich attorneys at their expense.

So, it's ironic that The Manhattan Institute's PointofLaw website recently published a story describing the findings of a legal fees study performed by Israeli behavioral economists Eyal Zamir and Ilana Ritov. The study, titled, "Neither Saints nor Devils: A Behavioral Analysis of Attorneys' Contingent Fees" found that--contrary to the beliefs of tort-reformers--the vast majority of litigation clients prefer contingency fee agreements to the traditional billable hour fee agreement.

The study reaches a number of conclusions, but the key conclusion is that clients are risk averse. They prefer a fee arrangement where the attorney shares the risk of litigation with them, even if that means the client ends up paying more in attorneys fees for that service. The attractiveness of the contingency fee agreement is that if the client wins, he will recover monetary damages, and, if he does not win, he does not owe any money in attorneys fees ("heads I win, tails let's call it even).

Think about the utility and value of the contingency fee agreement the next time you hear some tort-reform argument, or, worse yet, a tort-reform initiative seeking to ban the contingency fee agreement.

Posted by Ross Jurewitz | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Client Service , Law Office Management

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Jurewitz Law Group, a San Diego based personal injury law firm representing clients throughout California, announces that it has recently moved and opened its' new San Diego office location.

The new office is located at:

The Koll Center
501 West Broadway, Suite 1780
San Diego, CA 92101
Tel: (619) 233-5020
Toll Free: (888) 233-5020
Fax: (619) 233-5030

New and existing clients can meet with attorneys at the new office or, if preferable, at any location throughout San Diego County and parts of Orange, Riverside, and Imperial Counties. Face to face meetings outside Southern California are also possible, but require more lead time.

Posted by Ross Jurewitz | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Client Service

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