How to Hire a Legal Accountant

Posted on March 15, 2022March 15, 2022 by admin

The financial world can be a confusing place for the average person. New tax laws come and go with little warning, leaving people wondering what will impact them in their personal lives or business decisions like selling investments property or claiming deductions on taxes due to home offices? Accounting firms stay up-to-date regarding these changes so that when clients come into contact, they can provide guidance based on current information rather than outdated rules which may no longer apply due to recent alterations made.

You can be sure that you’ll make the right decision if you ask some preliminary questions when hiring someone. This way, not only will your law firm always have an accountant on hand for whatever it needs at any given time but also your taxes are handled professionally so there is less risk of errors or miscommunication about important matters like filed forms with federal agents who may charge hefty penalties should they miss. Pitfalls such as these usually hinge around failing to give attention during interviews which could lead one down the wrong path later once work begins.

Hiring a professional accountant for your law firm saves you headaches from figuring out your financial situation. It also protects your reputation from committing costly mistakes that involve your firm or client. When looking for an accountant for your firm, consider the unique set of needs and regulations that you need your business to meet in terms of accounting. Hiring accountants that don’t have legal accounting experience isn’t a wise idea. It’s like going to a general physician with a heart problem when you can consult with a cardiologist. Before hiring a legal accountant, consider these tips and factors first:

Assess their Industry Experience

Do they approach a legal client like they would a business in a different industry? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to reconsider. A legal firm is an entirely different beast that requires a unique approach. Lots of things are needed to be taken into consideration to prevent harming your reputation or worse having your firm disbarred. This is why your prospect account should treat your firm differently than their other clients. Check how long have they been practicing as a legal accountant. Their industry experience will help you determine if they are fit for the role.

Consider the extent of your control

Accounting fees differ depending on a law firm’s need. Some accountants charge a fixed rate for each task they perform while others charge per hour. Tasks include preparing payrolls, profit, and loss statements or compiling a statement of net worth. Those who charge per hour involves phone call consultation or meetings.

Before hiring a legal accountant, ask yourself which financial tasks do you want to offload from your firm. What level of service do you want your accountant to take over? How much control over your bookkeeping do you wish them to work on? Ensure that you find a full-service accounting firm if you want a comprehensive service. They will handle your bookkeeping and accounting so you don’t have to stress over these parts of your firm.

Tracking matter costs

Matter costs aren’t the same and can be tricky. They are incurred when practicing law and then charged to clients although overhead for firm operations are billed differently. Ask your prospect how they track matter costs as hard and soft matter costs have a different approach for tax purposes. Your prospect should know how to differentiate hard and soft matter costs.

Figure out if they offer audit support

It’s comforting to know you can rely on your accountant when IRS comes knocking at your firm. IRS audits are common to many businesses and your law firm isn’t different. Some accounting firms offer their own offices during audits and provide a representative on your behalf. An audit involves reviewing your financial data. A great legal accountant can provide feedback for improvement, generate growth, minimize costs and determine opportunities to improve your firm’s revenue.

Level of service they provide

An accounting firm will charge you more if a certified accountant handles your bookkeeping tasks. If you need a comprehensive bookkeeping service, go for a full-service firm as they already have an in-house accountant. More so, you need to figure out their availability and how frequently you need them. Some law firms are good with meeting their legal accountant at least once a year for taxes while others insist on meeting regularly to discuss finances.

Determine if your accountant is available for a phone call or if you need to set up an appointment to talk in person. Also, consider your financial knowledge and experience. You may need further advice on your financial status. Some legal accountants only compile data and offer little advice while others are generous when offering advice about keeping your financial records, etc.

Benefits of legal accountant for law firms

Not only do law firm accounting professionals help you with payrolls and bookkeeping, but they can also help you run your firm more efficiently. They can help you get a better grasp of the financial side of your firm. These include your cash flow, revenues, staff efficiency, and attorney compensation in compliance with your local state’s rules and regulations. A legal accountant collects and interprets financial data to help drive your law firm’s growth and stay adherent to rules and regulations. With a legal accountant, they can:

Complete payroll
Record costs
Accomplish tax returns
Oversee financial data
Account for case costs
Differentiate income and expenses

Hiring a legal accountant allows you to systemize workflows in your law firm including tracking billable hours. You should consider fees and see which setup you can benefit from the most in terms of the type of services you need. You would want to create flexibility for your clients and help your lawyers in billing clients more efficiently and profitably.

Legal accountants can also help you choose the right accounting method for your law firm. They help maintain your financial information, process payable and receivable, reconcile ledger and prepare all financial statements. Despite what others believe, accounting can involve far more diverse work than filing taxes. They can save you headaches, maximize your resources and improve your reputation in the legal industry.

Law Firm Accounting Best Practices

Posted on March 10, 2022March 15, 2022 by admin

So you are starting a law firm, congrats! You already know the ropes and establish a client list to support your firm. Now that you got that out of the way, it is time to understand the mechanics of starting and growing a business.

Lawyers and or law firms are all about fluent lawyers and proficient legal counselors. Bookkeeping and accounting aren’t something they dedicate most of their time to. While you may be adept in the legal area, law school curriculums might not have prepared you for managing your law firm where accounting is concerned. Before you entertain clients, your start your firm on the right track by ensuring your accounting should be well managed.

Managing a legal firm is time-consuming yet you need to pay attention to the accounting side of your business. You must familiarize yourself with the accounting concepts you need to impose on your firm. It will allow you to keep tabs on the most recent rules and regulations about your state. Your time is valuable, hence, your processes must be streamlined in all aspects of your business, and that includes your bookkeeping and accounting.

Lawyers are often intimidated by accounting—even for seasoned lawyers. While you’ve spent years honing your skills to become a great lawyer, it is not something that law school taught us about or bookkeeping in particular; this leaves us feeling lost when trying to come up with numbers on our own time and then summarize what was done later down the line.

Bookkeeping vs accounting

The differences between bookkeeping and accounting are clear, but they both serve important roles in helping your business evaluate its worth. Bookkeepers assist with day-to-day operations while accountants provide valuable assistance when it comes time for decisions about the future of your law firm’s funds or how much revenue should be collected from each customer during any given month based on past trends.

Bookkeeping

Bookkeepers keep tabs on your financial transactions and balance the books for your firm's finances. To do this properly though, you must have an attorney who knows how important these details are when running a business as large or complex as yours! Without proper bookkeeping, legal trouble could arise which would be disastrous not only financially but also reputationally. Hence, make sure there aren't any mistakes before your image is ruined everything by finding discrepancies down the road.

Accounting

Accountants are the backbone of any business. They help analyze and interpret financial data, which is then summarized for an organization's benefit in a way that can be understood by everyone from lawyers on the staff down through employees who don't have formal training but still need accurate information about what goes into making decisions at your law firm. A good accountant will always provide both qualitative (things like numbers) analysis as well quantitative reports detailing trends within certain categories or groups based around specific guidelines set out beforehand.

Importance of bookkeeping and accounting for law firms

Accounting for a law firm is critical to the success of your business. This means that you need an up-to-date and accurate financial statement and system, which will also meet obligations owed both internally as well externally (think state bar). Your law firm needs to comply with ethics regulations like any other law firm.

Ethics rules are different depending on the jurisdiction but there are some fundamentals when it comes to law firm accounting. A key example is Rule 1.15 of the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct highlighting the key responsibilities for lawyers related to holding funds in trust, recordkeeping, and informing clients of the receipts of funds or property.

While your practice is your law firm, you must think that your law firm is also a business. Law firm accounting allows you to gather and analyze data and make sound decisions based on the cash flow and what comes out from your firm. Keep an eye on your finances as knowing exactly what your firm is getting (through collections) and spending lets you stay on track.

You are less likely to miss out on revenue as you are on top of your law firm accounting. Furthermore, you can use these sets of data to determine which parts of your practice needed more or fewer resources for growth.

Reputation is crucial in the legal industry. Accounting mistakes don’t just make you look unprofessional, they also risk you losing your clients and possible growth opportunities.

Best Practices in Law Firm Accounting

As in any business, law firm accounting is all about having an organized system. Here are ways you can have an efficient accounting system in your law firm:

Come up with a budget

Setting a budget allows you to set revenue benchmarks, create cash flow and expenses expectations, and make it easier to save funds for huge expenses. There are plenty of ways to build a budget such as listing your law firm’s mandatory expenses and resources, establishing personal and business goals, and projecting your revenues.

Stay consistent

Gather data regularly and make it a habit to do so. It can be easy to procrastinate on getting your financial records until the time to file tax comes. You need to stay ready so you don’t have to do the last minute of finding files. Using efficient bookkeeping practices in keeping accurate records allows you to see your finances. Make sure to review your financial statements regularly. This will not just keep you prepared; it will also help you see business opportunities.

The Bottomline

Following best practices for law firm accounting gives you a mine of valuable data on the status of your firm. You can use financial reporting information to make data-driven decisions that can impact your firm positively.

Although you must understand the basics of law firm accounting, you need to understand that managing your finances can be time-consuming. Hiring professionals allows you to focus on handling cases and nurturing your clients.

SEO Consultant for lawyers: Does Your Law Firm Need One?

Posted on February 20, 2022March 15, 2022 by admin

SEO Consultant for a lawyer can help increase your online ranking as a law firm website. People are relying on online searches to find the best law firm that meets their needs. As a law firm, you must understand that having a solid online presence is key to generating leads and building a reputation. Legal SEO generates traffic as it integrates different strategies to get your website at the top results of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. When people see your law firm website at the top, they are more likely to visit your page, thereby increasing your chances of conversions.

What is Legal SEO?

Legal SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing the elements of a law firm website to increase online ranking on the search engine results page. Ultimately, legal SEO helps you attract more potential clients. Although SEO is a complex and ever-changing discipline, two things remain relevant and constant – the content and keywords. Quality content with targeted keywords that serve your potential audience can help boost your online ranking, build a reputation and generate leads. Nonetheless, legal SEO involves customized tactics, strategies, and techniques to increase online visibility.

Can SEO Consultants for Lawyers Help Law Firms?

It is not uncommon for lawyers to do their digital marketing. However, getting an SEO consultant for lawyers has the needed experience, knowledge, and tools to customize and implement proven SEO strategies for your law firm. The hectic schedule of lawyers makes it more challenging to oversee a successful digital marketing campaign. SEO consultants can help law firms develop, maintain, and execute SEO strategies based on their technical expertise.

How Does Legal SEO Work?

Legal SEO involves auditing your existing digital marketing strategies, coming up with a campaign, and executing strategies. Law firms who get an SEO consultant will typically ask if Legal SEO is effective. The answer depends on plenty of factors such as digital marketing goals and different algorithms. If you are aiming for traction, it can easily be achieved in a short time. Meanwhile, long-term results are dependent on the initial position of your law firm's website. Besides SEO, other ways you can do to generate quality traffic include PPC (pay-per-click), advertising, and content marketing. Choosing which techniques to implement is decided by the SEO consultant who is fluent in analyzing and developing strategies.

SEO vs PPC

SEO and PPC are used to help generate website traffic. While SEO is free and organic, PPC is a paid process. SEO is an effective strategy for long-term goals while PPC is great to gain traction. PPC requires an investment to improve leads or other marketing goals. SEO consultant would suggest balancing SEO and PPC but ultimately, it still depends on your digital marketing goals.

Importance of SEO for lawyers

SEO is important for all businesses regardless of the industry or niche. This holds for law firms. If you wish to stand out from the competition, you need to pay attention to your digital marketing strategy. People are relying on online results to hire services or buy products. When a person looks for a law firm, they will see local results based on their location. It means that you need to optimize your local searches. An experienced SEO consultant will also explore geo-targeted SEO strategies to generate leads within your vicinity. Do lawyers need a website? Not everyone knows about your practice or your law firm. Hence, a website is a great tool to give your potential clients an overview of your law firm and practice area. Most potential clients will visit your website to get a check for your contact information such as telephone number, location, or email address. Having a website builds credibility, trust, and reputation. The National Law Review revealed that 74% of consumers visit a law firm’s website. Nevertheless, a website is just the beginning of your digital marketing. You need to ensure that your law firm website is user and search engine-friendly. Consider your website as your resume that appeals to your potential clients. Even if you don’t have a website, you still need SEO for your law firm. SEO consultants can run an SEO campaign through their social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Implementing Local SEO for lawyers

Local SEO for lawyers is one of the keys to a successful campaign. You must understand that proximity or the distance of the searcher to your law firm has a great weight in influencing the search results. Few effective ways for successful local SEO strategies include adding reviews and local citations. Your law firm needs citations distributed across the web. These citations must be relevant to your niche and preferably, have great DA (Domain Authority) backlinks leading to your web pages. More so, these citations should be contextually relevant citations from legal-specific directories. Besides this, you must also learn how to ask, manage and respond to online reviews. Reviews are trust signals and an important factor for online ranking. You must know how to respond to online reviews whether they are good or bad. How you handle reviews makes or breaks your reputation and credibility. Show professionalism by answering negative reviews quickly and appropriately.

The Bottomline

Google is the top search engine based on its volume and efficiency. Hence, you must invest in optimizing your website for Google. More so, optimizing your website for Google prepares your website for other search engines considering how other search engines have easier and simpler algorithms compared to Google. When done right, SEO for law firms allows you to get potential cases from your website. You must hire the right SEO consultant for law firms with a proven track record and industry experience. Be wary of professionals who quickly claim that they can get your website on the top search engine results in a short time. It may cost your website and or reputation. A successful SEO campaign takes time to generate desired results. Legally SEO can help you achieve your desired marketing goals for your law firm. Contact us today to learn more.

SEO Fundamentals for Law Firm Websites

Posted on January 24, 2022March 15, 2022 by admin

Implementing SEO strategies for your law firm drives traffic to your website and generates clients. Nevertheless, it is not a straightforward process considering the cutthroat nature of legal services. Lawyers have to jump through hoops to market their services and earn the trust of prospective clients. Having a great reputation isn’t enough to generate traffic to your law firm's website and capture clients. Law firms need to take a creative approach and well-thought-out strategies to attract more clients online. Fortunately, implementing white-hat SEO strategies for your law firm website can help boost your online ranking, and ultimately capture the attention of your clients.

What is White Hat SEO?

A white hat SEO technique refers to using strategies that focus on a human audience instead of hacking a search engine algorithm. Any good search engine optimization campaign focuses on white hat SEO, link building, and content management. White hat strategies are searched engine-approved techniques that yield organic search results.

Why do SEO for Law Firm Websites?

Search engines are the main channels for your target audience. Implementing a solid SEO campaign allows law firms to generate quality clients with 96% of people wanting legal advice using search engines. Hence, law firms that have a weak campaign will struggle to attract potential clients on the web. Your target audience uses different search terms to seek answers to their legal questions, compare and contrast law firms and ultimately locate law firms within their areas. Implementing SEO strategies increases your chances of getting found by your target market.

Consider these benefits:

Improve your law firm’s online visibility and ultimately be found by your target clients.
Get ahead of the competition - be it local or national, persuading your audience to choose your service over your rivals.
Enhance your law firm’s reputation through brand management and link-building strategies.
Generate consistent traffic and clients to your firm.

The fundamentals of SEO for Law Firm Websites

Hiring Law firm SEO services allow you to focus on your core competencies, attend to your clients and prepare for your clients. However, whether you are doing SEO for your firm or hiring an agency to build solid strategies, you must understand these SEO fundamentals:

Keyword Research

Your target audience is using specific keywords to find your legal services. Thus, keyword research is an important part of a successful SEO campaign. This is because you need to attract the right kind of audience for your service. It is not unusual for law firms to use broad keywords only to get an inquiry for a service they don’t offer. These scenarios are typically the result of less targeted and specific keywords. You need to focus on the terms that your target audience is using. Specify the keywords based on the services you offer and your geographic location. Using “lawyer in (location) keywords is too broad while using “practice area + lawyer in (location) is more precise. It will target the right audience seeking law firms dedicated to the specific practice area and that offer their services in the specified geographical area.

Website Design

How your website is structured and how easy for your users to navigate it impacts your online ranking. Having a law firm website that loads quickly, is easy to use with easy to find information is a plus for both your users and search engine. You must consider SEO when building your law firm website. Thus, it is advised to work with an experienced web developer who understands SEO and can design a website that serves your target audience and search engines. A few of the things you need to consider include page speed, fonts, images, and other media assets, layouts and structures, call-to-action buttons, internal links, and contact forms. A reliable website designer will build a law firm website that is friendly to your users and search engines.

On-Page Optimization

This strategy refers to the practice of improving web pages using specific keywords to increase online rankings. On-page, optimization involves improving page-specific elements such as title tags, headings, content, and internal links with keywords. The goal is to use your focus keywords throughout your law firm website to signal your users and search engines the summary of your web page. However, you shouldn’t spam your website with too many keywords, else you’d risk having your website taken down.

Off-page Optimization

This term involves any technique that is done outside your websites such as local optimization, review generation, and link building. Local optimization refers to submitting your contact details to local directories including Google My Business, Bing Places, BBB, and more. Submitting your contact details to local directories allows your website to be found by your target clients and makes your website trustworthy and credible. Generating positive reviews can help your target audience decide to get your legal services. This is why you must pay attention to generating positive reviews on your local directories and social media profiles. It is also great that you earn links from respected websites to signal Google that your website can be trusted as a dependable source of information for users.Plenty of things you can do to earn backlinks including guest posting on industry-related blogs, getting featured on local radio stations and interviews, or investing in PR services. Make sure that you generate links from reputable and credible websites to increase your trustworthiness.

Content Marketing

Well-written blogs not only improve your reputation and build your credibility, but they also increase your search ranking. Focus on producing content that demonstrates your expertise and makes sure that your blogs are shared across different platforms to generate more traffic and leads.

The Bottomline

SEO is one of the best ways to generate more traffic and customers to your website. It is why you must invest in solid SEO strategies for your law firm's website. Understanding these SEO elements and practices allow you to make sound decisions whether you are doing SEO for your website or hiring an agency to improve your search ranking.

Personal Injury Claims & Lawsuits: Should You Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Posted on January 13, 2022January 20, 2022 by admin

You might have the option to file a personal injury lawsuit against a party if you are injured or your loved one sustained bodily damage due to another party’s negligence. To successfully file a personal injury claim or lawsuit, you must have grounds to do so. Grounds are defined as a reason or basis for doing something. There are various types of conduct that may hold a person, party, or entity responsible for causing bodily injury or emotional damage to you.

There are three main grounds for personal injury which are negligence, strict liability, and intent. Negligence is when an entity or a party acted without proper caution or care under the situation. For negligence grounds, you must prove that the at-fault entity owed you a duty of care and that they violated this duty of care. More so, you must prove that the party’s violation resulted in your injuries and that the damage affected you financially and emotionally.

In certain situations, a person, party, or an entity may be held responsible for personal injuries caused regardless of specific intent or negligence. This is the strict liability ground. On the other hand, if a person acts maliciously and intently to cause harm or injury to others, they may face personal injury and criminal charges for the illegal action.

How to file a personal injury lawsuit or claim?

Before filing a claim, you must know that not every injured party is entitled to compensation. If you believe you have grounds for a claim or lawsuit, you must find a reliable personal injury lawyer for your case. Winning a personal injury case isn’t a walk in the park, but with the right lawyer, you can get things done. Here’s a rundown on filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit:

Get medical attention - Seek professional help and have everything recorded. These records will serve as your evidence as it shows how bad your injuries are. Although two people may suffer the same injury, their recovery isn’t the same. Factors including age, pre-existing condition, genetics, and lifestyle can play a role in a person’s recovery. You must provide necessary documents that support why you’re requesting the amount of cash. Be thorough about your recovery and the treatment needed. Keep invoices and receipts.

Reach out to a personal injury lawyer - Handling a personal injury case is complex and while you may want to handle your case, it can be rough especially when you’re recovering. More so, a personal injury claim can help you get more compensation.
Notify involved parties- Your injury lawyer will notify the involved parties when you are working with a lawyer. Secure a copy of the notification you’ll send out.

File the claim - You may need to file a claim with your insurance company and the at-fault party’s insurance provider. Your lawyer can guide you through this. Make sure you gather facts such as invoices, receipts, quotes, and estimates. Facts also include documentation of injuries. Include photos of accidents from the scene and police report if necessary.

File a Personal Injury Lawsuit -The case could proceed to a trial if there is no settlement. It is typically beneficial for both parties to settle although it is not always the case. A seasoned lawyer will provide legal representation to help you get the right amount of compensation. Make sure to consult your attorney before doing anything such as accepting any settlement.

Negotiate - Considering to settle? Send a demand letter addressed to the at-fault party’s insurance company. Discuss how their policyholder is liable for your injuries or damage. Detail your injuries, the treatment, and recovery, and the amount of income lost. Include in your letter the amount you want the company to pay and bear in mind that it is just the starting number. Negotiate and let your lawyer guide you through this.

Personal Injury Case Compensation

Personal injury damages are usually compensatory in which the damages are intended to compensate the injured complainant. The compensation tries to put an amount for all the consequences of an accident. Damages such as property and medical bills are easy to determine while emotional trauma, pain, and suffering brought by the injury can be hard to quantify.

Punitive Damages in Personal Injury Cases

Punitive damage is where the defendant's action is deemed specifically outright careless. It is when the plaintiff may be granted punitive damages on top of any compensatory damages award. Most states have set some type of limit on punitive damage awards since it is common for the awards to reach millions of dollars.

Statute of Limitations on Personal Injury Claims

Each state has a statute of limitations on personal injury. Statute of limitation refers to the time limit plaintiffs have to file a lawsuit. In most cases, victims have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury claim. However, it doesn’t mean that the entire case may not be finalized in the two-year timeframe. The two year-timeframe is just for filing and if you failed to file, you may not have a case and won’t receive any compensation. Although it sounds long, two years is a short time. It takes time to investigate, gather evidence, and determine damages.

Work with a personal injury lawyer

You may be tempted to represent yourself but this may end on bad terms. You should save your time and energy by focusing on your recovery. A seasoned personal injury lawyer already understands the complexity and intricacy of a personal injury lawyer.

They already know how to navigate your case and are in control of their emotions. It is easy to get carried away by your emotions when faced with pressure or stress. Your lawyer can prevent you from making hasty decisions and coach you on your cases. They are also proficient in paperwork, and negotiations. Furthermore, they have the resources and connections to help you fight for maximum compensation. Getting a personal injury lawyer saves you important resources as well as allows you to focus on recuperation.

What’s the difference between Medical Malpractice vs. Negligence?

Posted on January 6, 2022January 6, 2022 by admin

The difference between medical malpractice and personal injury is important when you file an insurance claim or lawsuit. It may not mean much to you if you are the victim but it is a big deal for your lawyer. Your personal injury lawyer should understand the difference to obtain a successful outcome in your claim. If your lawyer doesn’t understand the difference between these two and understands the elements that must be present in each case to win, your compensation could be reduced or lose your case.

Medical malpractice vs. negligence

You must grasp the differences between negligence and malpractice within personal injury law. Negligence is where a person’s or company’s carelessness or recklessness caused your injury. The goal is to hold that person or company liable for the damages you sustained as a result of the injury.

Your personal injury lawyer must prove that:

Someone, an institution, or a party has a legal duty to protect your safety;

That they have violated that duty;
That the violation of that duty is the cause of your injury;
You have been injured as a result of that violation.
These four elements can prove negligence, also known as duty, breach, causation, and damages. In a personal injury claim, your lawyer must prove that the at-fault party refused to act or acted in a way that caused you to sustain bodily injuries.
On the other hand, a medical malpractice liability is a personal injury that enables a complainant to pursue a health care professional for injuries they sustained due to medical neglect or error. Your lawyer must prove that your doctor or other health care provider didn’t meet the expected standard of care during your treatment. This definition distinguishes between medical malpractice and personal injury.

Medical Malpractice Standard of Care

The breach of duty for medical malpractice may be subtler compared to personal injury although they have the same requirements. Medical malpractice happens when a health care provider doesn’t adhere to the “recognized standard of care” when treating a patient. This standard of care refers to what the medical provider is expected to do or not in specific circumstances. Essentially, it goes back to negligence. If a person can demonstrate that a medical professional was negligent in the duty of care, a case of medical malpractice may be made.

You can easily provide a case for negligence when someone drove the wrong way and ran you over. Meanwhile, you must show that a medical professional violated the standard of care due to their patient and that the violation worsened the condition or cause additional injuries. The ability to prove the actions of the medical professional resulted in your injuries is important to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. There is a variety of ways your lawyer may establish your medical malpractice.

Your attorney may look for qualified experts to examine your medical records and review the procedures and the treatments you received. The help of an expert witness may also help determine whether your healthcare provider's service and treatment are acceptable standards of care for you. Your attorney may also provide proof that the lack of acceptable medical care and treatments or a misdiagnosis led to your injuries.

Some of the medical malpractice include:

Surgical errors
Misdiagnoses
Prescription medication errors
Missed diagnoses
Delayed diagnoses
Faulty medical equipment
Errors in lab results and reports
Suffering complications after surgery due to failure of sanitization.

You must discuss your original medical condition and existing medical condition with your attorney. Layout all relevant medical records with your lawyer, who may determine the difference between medical malpractice and personal injury when filing your claim for insurance or pursuing a lawsuit. Meanwhile, injuries and complications that don’t warrant medical malpractice include:

Being misdiagnosed due to patients lying about their medical history
Suffering a known side effect from a medication
A patient fails to disclose a previous medical condition and experiences complications after surgery.

A bad result doesn’t always mean that the standard of care wasn’t met. A doctor is unlikely to be liable if he wasn’t aware of a risk. However, if another doctor in the same field using the same resources would have worked differently, you may have a probable cause.

Types of Personal Injury Claims

Different types of personal injury include car accidents, slip and fall accidents, injuries suffered while using a faulty or defective consumer product, and a bite from an attack by an animal. Many other types of accidents can result in personal injuries, making it difficult for you to go back to work to support yourself and your family. Discuss the circumstances of the accident or incident that led to your injuries with a lawyer.

Statute of limitations

Personal injury has different statutes compared to personal injury. You must be conscious of the timeline when filing a lawsuit. Among the pieces of evidence presented when filing a personal injury include photos of injuries, video surveillance, witness statements, medical records, research, and investigation. Your evidence may differ based on your injury. You may present pictures as evidence if your injury is visible. On the contrary, you may need to rely on other evidence including imaging tests, lab results, or witnesses if your injury is internal.

The Bottomline

The right lawyer will help you understand your medical position and determine whether you are pursuing a personal injury or medical malpractice. Medical malpractice is the violation of the duty of care by a healthcare provider or medical facility. When the medical providers’ actions or inaction fail to meet the medical standard of care, their behavior constitutes negligence. If their negligence causes you to sustain or suffer injury, it becomes malpractice.

Elements of Personal Injury Negligence

Posted on December 8, 2021February 8, 2022 by admin

Negligence is probably the most common basis of most personal injury where another individual, party, or entity has been irresponsible or guilty of wrongdoing that harms or injures a plaintiff. Proving someone responsible for your injury often means showing that they have been negligent to safety. If a person breaches the standards of their state and injures another entity, they or their insurance company may be held responsible for monetary compensation related to the sustained injuries. Sustaining an injury doesn’t automatically warrant a personal injury claim. Negligence is often a difficult area of law to define since it involves legal analysis of the elements of negligence. A complainant pursuing a personal injury lawsuit based on negligence must prove that the defendant:

Has a duty of care to the plaintiff
Violated that duty of care
Has actual and proximate causation (an event has a causal connection to the losses that the law acknowledges) linking the violation to the injuries and actual damages or loss.

Besides this, the plaintiff should prove that they suffered economic or non-economic damages due to the injuries. (damages include medical bills, loss of earnings, emotional trauma, and similar losses. The complainant must document and present these factors in their claim to an insurance company or their lawsuit against the negligent party.

Possible Compensation for Negligence

Before filing a claim for financial recovery in a lawsuit or an insurance claim, a plaintiff must understand the monetary compensation they can expect to receive. Every negligent case has unique factors for its potential financial compensation. A few of these factors include:

Type of negligence that resulted in the injuries
Type and severity of injuries of the complainant
Short term and long term effects of the injuries
Loss of income due to the injuries sustained or death

A plaintiff’s financial recovery is different since there are now two cases that have the same factors. The right personal injury lawyer can help you assess your claim concerning these factors. Elements of a Negligence Case A plaintiff must prove all the elements to win a lawsuit for negligence. Among these elements are:

Duty
Breach of Duty
Cause in Fact
Proximate Cause
Damages

Duty

Generally speaking, people have to reasonably protect other people from harm. However, one must remember that although people are expected to not endanger others intentionally, they are not obliged to help those in need. It means that a person isn’t legally required to rescue someone who is drowning. However, if a person tries to perform a duty that is not imposed on them legally, they must provide a reasonable standard of care.

The result of some negligence cases varies on whether the defendant owed a duty to the complainant. A plaintiff should look to laws, rules, or guidelines to establish a defendant’s duty of care. Nevertheless, a defendant may simply have a duty to act “reasonably” in the absence of law. A duty arises when the law acknowledges a relationship between the defendant and the complainant requiring the negligent party to act in a standard of care toward the plaintiff. A judge will determine a defendant’s duty of care.

Violation of Duty

Pre-existing relationships establish a duty of care. For instance, companies must protect their workers from work-related injuries. After the injured person has proven that another party owed them a duty of care, the personal injury attorney must also show that the negligent party breached their duty to the other person. A breach or violation of duty happens when the defendant fails to exercise reasonable care in fulfilling the duty. The jury decides whether a defendant violated a duty of care.

Cause in Fact

In specific cases, a person must assume the risks related to another’s negligence or potential negligence. Hence, consent forms for participation waive liability in case of personal injury in case of injuries. However, even without written consent, defendants can use the implied assumption of risk as a defense. This means that when a person continues to use a defective product knowingly, they may be assumed to perceive the risk and deem it worth taking.

Proximate Cause

Causal proximation relates to the scope of a defendant’s role in a negligence case. A defendant is only responsible for the injuries and damages that the defendant could have anticipated through their action. The plaintiff cannot prove the defendant’s actions were the proximate cause of the damages if a defendant inflicted damages outside the risk scope.

Damages

It is not enough that the complainant can prove that the defendant failed to practice reasonable care. A plaintiff should also show a legally recognized damage and or injury. These injuries can include a physical injury to a person or property. The failure to practice duty of care must lead to actual damages to a person whom the defendant has a duty of care.

Receiving a financial compensation

A case for financial recovery is subjected to legal principles and guidelines. Besides proving that a case meets the five factors of negligence, a complainant may need to provide specific and detailed documentation to support the claim. Time is essential when it comes to receiving monetary compensation. Each state has a different set of guidelines for how long a complainant can file a personal injury claim or a wrongful death claim. Healing and recovering from injuries may take time and may eat up the dedicated time to file a case. Getting a legal representation can help expedite the process as they may act as your advocate and can build your case while you focus on recuperation.

The Bottomline

Sustaining a personal injury or bodily damage isn’t enough to build a case and file a claim. Even if you are confident that the elements needed to file a case are present, you need an expert personal injury for a compelling claim. The right personal injury lawyer can help prove the injury, calculate damages and negotiate for a settlement or win a case to get you the monetary compensation you deserve.

Do You Have a Case? Types of Injuries Under Personal Injury

Posted on November 28, 2021February 8, 2022 by admin

Most people often associate a personal injury with broken bones, lacerations, or physical damages. However, there are many different types of injuries beyond bodily damages. Personal injury law can be classified into four categories -physical, financial, intentional, and damage to reputation. A personal injury involves an injury to a body, mind, and emotions. A plaintiff can file a personal injury lawsuit if the injury sustained was caused by another party's intent, negligence, or reckless behavior. Personal injury damages are monetary compensation that a plaintiff may receive for the harm caused by another party.

The personal injury compensation may be received for the physical, emotional, and property damages that the complainant has suffered due to an incident or accident done by someone. Personal injury law protects people who are injured as the result of another party’s malpractice, intentional act, or negligence. After an accident, you must seek medical attention to assess the severity of your injuries. Victims oftentimes do not realize that minor injuries can cause have a deep impact on their lives.

Once you assess the injury, you may want to talk to an attorney that specializes in the personal injury you sustained. Looking for the right lawyer allows you to get the maximum compensation so your quality of life doesn’t decline due to the injury sustained. As not every injury falls under a personal injury case, it is best to know the typical cases and injuries under personal injury. Consider the following:

Motor vehicle accidents

Car accidents are among the most common causes of personal injuries. Drivers in every state are required to carry liability insurance to protect themselves from such injuries. Motor vehicle accidents include car accidents, bus accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents. You must get evidence at the crash site such as security camera footage, eyewitness statement, road conditions, vehicle examinations, etc. Time is essential in gathering evidence so you need to act quickly to secure the evidence. Talk to a seasoned personal injury lawyer who can investigate and build your case immediately. Insurance and personal injury claims need to be filed within certain time frames. A personal injury lawyer who understands the business and how insurance companies work can negotiate effectively to secure your maximum compensation.

Premise liability

This case can be filed when an individual sustains injuries due to negligence of another individual while on their property. The level of premise liability may depend on whether the individual is a business or social guest or even a trespasser. Among the cases under premise liability include harmful materials or chemicals, slips and falls, poisoning, negligent security, inadequate lighting, and negligent security.

Product liability

Consumer protection laws are enforced to ensure that businesses market products are safe. Nevertheless, there are still defective products that can harm consumers. When a designer, wholesaler, manufacturer, retailer, or distributor sells items to consumers, they are responsible to ensure that the products are safe for public consumption. Product liability cases include auto defects, dangerous drugs, and defective medical products.

Medical malpractice

Medical malpractice can include birth injuries, misdiagnosis, prescription mistakes, surgery errors, and wrongful death. If a medical professional commits a mistake that leads to injuries above, you may pursue a case. Medical professionals or organizations may be forced to provide compensation if they fail to provide an acceptable standard of care. These cases can be technical and extremely difficult that require extensive resources to build the case. It is why you need an experienced personal injury lawyer specializing in this case.

Prescription drugs

Pharmaceutical companies that produce prescription drugs are required to conduct regular rigid testing to ensure that the drugs they offer are effective and reasonably safe. If the company fails to test or inform consumers about the drug's potential side effects, they can be liable for injuries and damages sustained by their consumers.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

Workplace injuries can happen in more dangerous jobs such as construction, mining, truck driving, and the oil industry. Nevertheless, corporate workers can also sustain injuries. When workers sustain injuries while doing their jobs, they are entitled to what is called workers’ compensation. Victims or in case of death, the family of victims may be entitled to compensation for loss of job, medical costs, and personal bills. Worker compensation is essential insurance held by employers to cover medical costs, lost wages, and disability benefits if the victim is temporarily or permanently disabled. Workplace injuries may need a great deal of negotiation with the insurance companies.

Assault/ sexual assault

Any form of assault is a crime. However, victims of sexual assault may choose to bring civil action against the perpetrator. Bringing a civil action allows the victim to receive compensation for the personal injuries sustained due to the assault. These injuries cover medical bills, physical injuries, lost wages, property damage, and long-term emotional trauma that needs rehabilitation and therapy. As this sensitive case can induce shame and anxiety, it is best to consult with a lawyer who can hold the offending parties accountable.

Recklessness/ Special Situations/Intentional acts

There may be a probable case for those who sustained injuries caused by police and firefighters driving to or arriving at the emergency site. The law may ask if the officer disregarded your safety to have caused your injury. Intentional injurious acts can also be grounds for a personal injury case.

Consult a personal injury lawyer

Consulting a personal injury attorney can help review your concern whether you have probable cause. If you or a loved one has sustained injuries or suffered death due to another party’s negligence, recklessness, malpractice, or intent, you may be eligible for personal injury compensation. In determining the damages, the jury considers the nature, duration, and extent of the injury. More so, they will take into account whether injury aggravated a pre-existing condition. They will also consider other factors such as disability, disfigurement, or shortened life expectancy due to the injury sustained.

Personal Injury Law: An Overview

Posted on November 22, 2021November 22, 2021 by admin

People often come into personal injury cases with grave misconceptions that can lead to personal injury claims being favored on less likely terms or lost entirely. The process of pursuing a personal injury claim is more than just presenting a statement about the injury, how it made you feel and how you expect to recover in damages.

Personal injury law applies to any injury that an entity causes another person with the injury due to intent, negligence, or reckless behavior. An action covered by strict liability is also covered by personal injury law. You may pursue claims to recover damages sustained (from medical bills, lost wages to emotional impairment) when these factors are presented:

Auto accidents
Assault
Battery
Construction site accidents
False Accusations
Slip, trip, and fall (unsafe conditions, liquids, snow, and ice)
Medical malpractice
Product Liability
Police Misconduct
Infliction of Emotional Distress
Physical, Mental or Reputational Injury
Wrongfully caused injury
Negligence
Special Situations (Recklessness)
Intentional Acts
Defective Products
Compensable Damage

Before you file a personal injury lawsuit, you must consider whether you have a high chance of winning as not each injury constitutes a personal injury case, and not all lawsuits result in damages. It is because arriving into a settlement may take years in which you may lose more than you can gain.

Coverage of personal injury law

Personal injury law goes beyond bodily injuries. It can be classified into four groups including physical, financial, intentional, and injury to reputation. More so, personal injury can be a combination of these categories.

Physical injury

This is the most commonly associated form of personal injury covering all types of illness, disability, or bodily damage that is caused or worsened by another party’s negligence. Most personal injury cases cover some type of minor to fatal injuries. Bodily injury refers to certain kinds of harm done to the body after an incident including bruises, cuts, burns, nerve damage, and fractured bones.

Financial Injury

At some point, physical injury can result in the financial loss including medical bills and income loss due to inability to work. Nevertheless, financial injury can take place without physical injury. A financial injury can happen a person’s economic stability or property is threatened or devalued due to another person’s negligence.

Intentional acts

You can pursue personal injury claims if someone intentionally harmed you. Cases of assault and battery go into this category.

Damage to reputation

When a person’s reputation is compromised, it can have a substantial financial and emotional impact. Defamation and slander fall under this category. Statute of limitations Plaintiffs have a limited time in filing a lawsuit. This time is called the statute of limitations. Finding the right personal injury lawyer as soon as possible allows you to gain the upper hand. Statutes of limitations are established by law and typically vary according to the type of injury. Many states have certain time limits for different types of personal injury cases.

The period determined by a statute of limitations starts when the complainant discovered the injury or sustained the jury. Alternatively, the statute of limitations starts when the injured have become aware of the injury under the “discovery of harm” rule. You must take this opportunity to find a trusted law firm or legal representation to help pursue a case. As you start pursuing the lawsuit you are no longer limited to a timeframe to present your case.

Personal Injury Damage Compensation

The compensation and type of damages awarded to the injured depend on the circumstances of the accident, the injuries, and how the case is settled. The victim may pursue economic compensation and punitive damages although they are obliged to attempt to manage losses brought by the injury. Among these punitive damages include monetary losses (medical expenses, lost wages, household services), physical and mental pain (loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disability, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of the benefits of a relationship due to injury).

Gaining a settlement

Personal injury cases are settled in an informal settlement and a formal lawsuit. An informal settlement is a negotiation between the complainant and the defendant. The compensation will be awarded when the verdict or negotiation is reached. More severe injuries are compensated with a structured settlement while minor to moderate cases are settled with a lump sum.

A settlement happens if it is clear to all parties involved that the defendant violated a legal duty and the defendant/insurance company may wish to settle outside of court. In return for settlement, the person injured will have a binding promise not to file a lawsuit over the injury. If the plaintiff doesn’t agree to an outside-of-the-court settlement, they may go to court and file a lawsuit. Negotiations can also happen once the lawsuit is filed and settlement can still take place at any time before the civil case is being handed over to the jury.

Finding a personal injury lawyer

The first step you need to do if you’re considering pursuing a case after an injury, accident or incident, is to find a personal injury lawyer. Focus on lawyers with experience representing plaintiffs (claimants) in personal injury cases. Steer clear from insurance company lawyers as may be too used to taking outside the court settlement. They may not fight hard to go after your claim while a seasoned plaintiff’s lawyer can fight tooth and nail to get the best compensation for your injury.

Once you found a law firm, ask which lawyer will handle your case. Discuss your case with your prospective lawyer and ask which certain parts of the case the primary lawyer will personally handle and which parts will be handled by a paralegal.

After you’ve walked through your situation to your lawyer, they may give you an overview of the possible compensation. They will also discuss the difficulty of making the insurance company pay that amount. It is the time when you discuss the various ways you want your case to be approached and whether your lawyer will go for the approach you wish. More so, bear in mind that you can change tactics and approach in the middle of the case especially when you want to wrap things up or the cost of taking your case through the lawsuit process eats up your finances.

Google Core Updates for Law Firm SEO

Posted on November 15, 2021February 8, 2022 by admin

A core update is an important change in the Google algorithm that impacts a large number of indexed pages. These updates are made to improve the experience, quality, and relevance of Google’s search results. Whenever Google performs core updates, it means that your firm can do better or worse in SERP (search engine results page). Knowing when and what these core updates allow us to understand which part of our strategies we need to improve.

Why does Google do Core updates?

Google’s automated systems determine the most relevant and reliable information from billions of pages in their index to match queries. The search engine has ongoing improvements with its evaluation process to return the most relevant results to billions of queries. The substantial improvements that Google makes to its overall ranking processes are called core updates. They inform site owners about core updates as these updates have some significant impact. Attorneys have to follow these core updates in their law firm websites to succeed online. Knowing about these updates allows your law firm website to stay within Google guidelines and improve your rankings.

Impact of Core Updates for Lawyers

Google 2021 core updates provide opportunities for solo practitioners to rank for super competitive search terms. Small firm lawyers can measure up against big law firms provided they have flexible marketing strategies to rank better online. Here are the most impactful Google algorithm updates of 2021 and the tweaks you can do for your strategies

Passage ranking - Google rolled out the passage indexing in October 2021. It is updated the algorithm in February 2021 and called it passage ranking. Google can now use artificial intelligence to index individual passages (paragraph sentences) from web pages. By better understanding the relevancy of certain passages and not just the overall page, Google can find the needed information they can return to users’ queries.

According to Google, 7% of search queries are across all languages.

What can your law firm do about it? Instead of optimizing your blogs and content for passage ranking, you must:

Focus on long-tail keywords – Look deeper in your key phrases and find long-tail keywords you can use to optimize your post. Find those traffic and lead driving long-tail keywords. You can find these long-tail keywords on Google Suggest, Google Related Searches, Keyword tools, and Google Analytics. You can find a bunch of long-tail relevant queries that drive traffic to your website. These long-tail keywords may be relevant to your practice area but not yet targeted by a single page on your website.
Produce in-depth, high-quality content on the topic – Once you found these long-tail keywords, incorporate these key phrases in your content. Consider diversifying your content and include case studies and blogs.

"About this result" update – Google provides additional information to individual search results so that users can assess which results are most helpful to them. Users will see a menu icon that they can tap to learn more about the result or feature and where the information originates. The About this result shares:

If the website connection is secure (uses HTTPS)
The language of the web page.
When is your law firm website was first indexed by Google
Terms that users searched for will appear on the page.
If other websites with these search terms are linked to these pages.
If the search is relevant in many regions.
Websites with a Wikipedia reference will have a brief description of the website.

Learning about a source before opening the results allows users if the site is relevant to their searches or not. It will help in discovering the authoritative and trustworthy yet unpopular website. To optimize this "About this result” consider:

Securing your website. Use HTTPS.
Building quality backlinks. These backlinks can come from local citations, law firm directories, and relevant niches.
Matching the intent of the keyword appropriately.
100% mobile-first indexing update – Google places an emphasis and more importance on mobile-friendly websites. It is a response to the increased use and traffic from mobile devices.
In 2016, mobile-first indexing was introduced. This algorithm refers to Google crawling your web pages according to its mobile version. Google explained that with mobile-first indexing, the mobile version of your website is indexed. It means that if your website has separate URLs for mobile and desktop Google will display the mobile
URL to mobile users and the desktop URL to desktop users. Fast forward to 2019, the mobile website has become the default version for all websites.
Google suggests the following steps to make sure your website is mobile-friendly:

Make your meta tags consistent for the desktop and mobile versions of your website.
Content should be consistent and the same across all platforms. Google advised against the mobile page with less content than a desktop page. You may lose traffic with inconsistent content.
Check your structured data – Ensure that you are using the right URLs in structured data. Your structured data should be present in both versions of your law firm website.

The key here is to make sure the mobile version of your website is consistent with its desktop version.

Link spam Google had its spam core update last June 2021, which had two phases. There haven’t been many details on this update but it is always good to review your backlink profile. Check for possible spam especially if your website offers platforms to users through comments and forums. To protect your website from possible spammer attacks, consider:

Updating your law firm website’s SSL certificate
Checking for security issues via Google Search Console
Conducting Regular cleanups for suspected spammy activities
Using noindex to stop search engines from indexing low-trust web pages.

The Bottomline

Your law firm SEO strategies must be at par with the latest algorithm updates, else, your competition will take the lead. These updates may sound overwhelming and complicated but with the right strategies, you can stay atop of the rankings. Legally SEO can help tweak your SEO plan or implement strategies from scratch. Contact us to learn more.