The Attorney's Office Tools
the action, proceeding, settlement, judgment, or award that is the subject of that attorney’s representation of the client. Keep in mind, however, that even if you are able to assert an attorney lien, the debtor-client may still compel you to justify the reasonableness of fees in a trial by way of filing a motion to adjudicate your lien.
Conclusion By ensuring that you are paid for the work you do, you
are keeping yourself in business; allowing yourself and your staff a better quality of life and a sense of accomplishment; preventing clients from taking advantage of you; and sending the message to both the legal and lay communities that you are a detailed professional and a good business person. Also, if you are fairly compensated by your paying clients and have the security of "evergreen retainers" to cover on-going work, you are then in a better position to assess your ability to take on additional paid work and be engaged in more deserving matters on a pro bono basis, while still having the time and peace of mind for a personal life outside the office. I hope that by implementing the strategies of this article, you can further your enjoyment of both your practice of law and your
personal time away from the office.
Biography Mary Ellen Flynn is an attorney and
managing partner of Andalman & Flynn, P.C., located in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland. Her collections law practice includes pre-suit settlements, litigation, and judgment enforcement for a wide-range of professionals and other individuals and small and large businesses in the banking, construction, health care, legal, real estate, retail, property management, and other commercial areas. Her collections practice also has a large concentration in the representation of attorneys and law firms which includes pursuing outstanding fees and costs owed to her attorney/law firm-clients by their clients, enforcing judgments that her attorney/law- firm clients have won, and assisting her attorney/law-firm clients with dissolution of the business relationship when law partners separate. Ms. Flynn also practices in the areas of family law, criminal and traffic defense, and personal injury, as a trial attorney, a mediator and a collaborative law attorney.
Trial Reporter / Spring 2010 53
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