The Red Velvet Lawyer

The Bricklayer, the Micro-burst, and the Lawyer Yesterday, I posted some excerpts from an email I got from a former client.  I then sent him the link and said that if I needed to change anything or take it down, he should let me know.  Instead, he sent me even more heart-warming praise.  The prior posting described my representation of a client whose shop and house suffered severe damage during a thunderstorm/tornado that struck a portion of St. Louis.  The insurance company denied his claim, asserting that the damage was caused by water and not by wind.  The policy did not cover water damage, but it did cover wind damage. The company relied primarily on the anticipated testimony of their retained expert.  Later, using a sixth sense, I discovered that the expert had lied about his credentials.  Based on that discovery, the insurance company removed him from their list of expert witnesses. I also learned that his report assumed a certain type of back-fill that

Love your Clients and They will Love You, Too. This past week, I got a very warm email from a former client. The "Re line" read:  "I miss my good friend and attorney."   I had not heard from this client in several years.  But, when he has any type of legal problem, he contacts me. That's client loyalty. Here's a short excerpt from the email that makes me laugh and makes me very proud.   How is the best attorney, this side of the Mississippi doing? I know you jumped ship and moved across the mighty Miss. so that would make you the best in the lower 48? I represented this client in an insurance coverage dispute after a micro-burst during a thunderstorm destroyed his shop and compromised the integrity of his family's house. What did I do over fifteen years ago to create such loyalty? Here's my guess: I provided extremely high-quality client service; I got the client an extremely favorable outcome; I was creative, persistent, r

Appalachian School of Law  Offers Two Courses  Over the Winter Holiday Break  January Intersession Introduction to Natural Resources Law ASL will offer this 2-credit hour course on its campus the week prior to the resumption of January classes (January 6-10, 2014). This intensive course will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9:00 a.m. to noon on Friday.  The course will familiarize students with the legal, business, and environmental aspects of the natural resources law. Although broadly covering natural resources, the course will include a basic introduction to the U.S. legal and governmental system relating to environmental, natural resource, and energy laws, including hard mineral law, oil and gas law, water law, environmental law, energy policy, land use law, renewable energy law, and issues related to climate change and sustainability.  Four faculty members will co-teach the course. More specifically, they have designed the c

"We are living in a moment of time, the first moment of time, when a billion people are connected, when your work is judged (more than ever before) based on what you do rather than who you are, and when credentials, access to capital, and raw power have been dwarfed by the simple question "Do you care about what you do?  We built this world for you.  Not so you would watch more online videos, keep up on your feeds, and LOL with your high school friends.  We built it so you could do what you're capable of.  Without apology and without excuse.  Go."  Seth Godin, The Icarus Deception . My little law school, Appalachian School of Law (ASL), sets itself apart from the crowd in several ways, but perhaps its unique feature is a fearless bet on students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend professional school.  We tell them: "Go."  Our students, often showing a poorer performance on the standardized admission exam, show great promise as they mas