Dirk Derrick (00:00):
Welcome to The Legal Truth, the podcast created to provide you general legal information about South Carolina law, lawyers and the legal process. And hopefully prevent you from being surprised by the unexpected.
(00:14):
We will answer many of the questions I've been asked during the past 35 years about South Carolina personal injury claims, and workers' compensation claims. We will also discuss existing laws, and proposed changes in the law, and how they affect you. My name is Dirk Derrick. I'm the founder of the Derrick Law Firm, and I'm your host.
Voiceover (00:35):
Please see required ethics disclaimers in show notes.
Dirk Derrick (00:42):
Thank you all for joining the Legal Truth Podcast. I'm here with co-host, Pearl Carey. Pearl, I'm glad to have you.
(00:49):
We're here today to talk about the truth about what you should know before hiring a personal injury lawyer. This topic, I am giving my personal opinions, based on 35 years of practicing personal injury law. And of course people have the option to ask anything they want to. But we refer cases out to people, and this is the kind of information I want to know when I refer cases out.
(01:12):
We cannot ethically compare ourselves with any lawyers, so I'm not comparing myself with anyone. I am just going to tell you some questions you may want answered, and know the truth so you won't be surprised down the road. So these are the questions that, if I was seeking a personal injury lawyer, knowing what I know now, these are the questions I want answered for me.
Pearl Carey (01:35):
Absolutely. Thank you so much for that introduction, Dirk. I'm so excited to be here yet again. And without further ado, let's get into our questions.
Dirk Derrick (01:43):
All right.
Pearl Carey (01:44):
So first question, do you handle the cases you advertise for, or do you send them to another lawyer and take a cut of the fee?
(01:53):
In other words, am I hiring your firm if I call you up, or am I hiring somebody else?
Dirk Derrick (01:58):
Yeah, as a personal injury lawyer who does advertise, and as a owner of a firm, there's a business model that I could just cast out advertisements for large areas of practice areas. And when people call in, I can associate another law firm to carry the heavy weight in that case. That is a business model that is used.
(02:27):
We do not use that.
Pearl Carey (02:28):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (02:28):
We advertise for cases that we handle in-house.
Pearl Carey (02:35):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (02:35):
We have about 250 years of legal experience. 35 years are mine. And if we advertise it, we done handle the case ourself.
Pearl Carey (02:45):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (02:45):
With the following exceptions. If we get in a case, and there's some kind of specialty defense, or cause of action that may arise after we're in it, if it's something where I feel like there's an attorney in South Carolina who has kind of niched that area, I'll bring them in the case with us.
Pearl Carey (03:03):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (03:04):
But anything we're advertising, if you see our website, our social media, anything that we are advertising, we handle it in-house.
Pearl Carey (03:13):
Gotcha. So what I'm hearing from you is that whatever we're advertising for, we have attorneys in house that are ready to handle those cases.
Dirk Derrick (03:20):
That's correct.
Pearl Carey (03:20):
Perfect. That's good to know.
(03:22):
So what actual work goes into getting all of the facts for a pending personal injury case? Because I know we always talk about the importance of honesty, and getting all of the facts. So what kind of time period should I expect on my investigative team, really getting all those facts?
Dirk Derrick (03:38):
That's a good question. If you go back in time for the first 25 years of my practice, the first three years I worked with another firm. Then I hung my own shingle and I was a solo practitioner. And I did everything.
(03:51):
I managed the business, handled the cases, did a lot of the work on the cases myself. One of the biggest frustrations was the lack of time to do what I wanted to do in every case.
(04:06):
And in 2009, when I started trying to build a firm, one of the driving reasons for building the firm, and making it bigger, and hiring more people, was to allow us to do things thoroughly and quickly. Everyone we represent, they want the real value of the claim. They want it now, and they want to be given five star customer service. Across the board. And that takes manpower. So we've built a firm, and I know the timeframe, and the lack of timely movement of a case is a complaint that the public has had against personal injury lawyers for a long time.
Pearl Carey (04:49):
Yeah, people don't want to wait.
Dirk Derrick (04:50):
Nope. So we set up a process where, for every case that comes in, you have an attorney plus me as supervisor attorney, and then you get four paralegals from day one. And we're jumping on the investigative part of this case within 24 hours.
Pearl Carey (05:07):
Wow.
Dirk Derrick (05:07):
I think we've got seven or eight independent private investigators that we call as soon as we're hired, so that we can get out and get the evidence before it gets forgotten or disappears.
Pearl Carey (05:19):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (05:19):
So we jump on it quickly. We have a paralegal who works with a lawyer, and her only job is to investigate the case from a liability standpoint, and to talk, be the liaison with the private investigator, and to investigate insurance coverage.
(05:35):
So our goal around here is, after 45 days, we know all the insurance that's available. Unless it's a case like a trucking case, or a premise case where they won't give us that without litigation. And within 60 days we want the first line of the investigation done. And that includes talking to the defendant, taking photos of the place where it occurred. If it's a car accident, take photos of the vehicles.
Pearl Carey (06:03):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (06:03):
Pull the data box out the car to see what the data shows, as far as the speed at the time of the wreck, if that's applicable. And do all the investigations as to the liability portion of the case within 60 days.
(06:16):
There are some cases where the evidence is owned by the other party. And the only way we can get it is litigation.
Pearl Carey (06:26):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (06:27):
But before we file litigation, we'll talk to our clients and say, hey, they got A, B and C, we think that can add value. We need to file suits so that we can subpoena that information.
Pearl Carey (06:35):
So you're kind of saying it's all up to the client at that point too, to say if they want to move forward with subpoenaing that information, or?
Dirk Derrick (06:41):
That's right.
Pearl Carey (06:42):
Okay, gotcha. So I know you said that you have the attorney, you have a paralegal, and then you have a private investigator for each case from day one. Is there any person, within this process, that's overlooking everything throughout filing a claim?
Dirk Derrick (06:56):
The lawyer on the file is the team leader. I believe that a lawyer should build the case. The same lawyer who starts off with a client will be the lawyer who tries the case at the end.
Pearl Carey (07:07):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (07:08):
With assistance of other lawyers.
Pearl Carey (07:09):
Gotcha.
Dirk Derrick (07:10):
But that lawyer, his or her first responsibility is to develop a relationship with our clients. And kind of become a teammate with our clients to build their case.
(07:19):
Working with that lawyer is a team of paralegals. Investigative paralegal, records and bill paralegal, insurance and liens paralegal, medical liaison, who are talking to our clients every two weeks to get an update from them. We have a demand paralegal. If it goes into litigation, we pick up a litigation paralegal. So that lawyer has a team of people to work with them so that we can expedite the investigations necessary to build the case as fast as possible.
Pearl Carey (07:50):
So I know you talked about the medical liaison kind of calling every two weeks to check up with your client. So if I am a client, how often should I expect to follow up with my attorney?
Dirk Derrick (08:01):
Well, I told you that clients in the past have had trouble with personal injury lawyers dragging their feet on working up the case. Their biggest complaint about lawyers is they don't answer a phone call.
Pearl Carey (08:11):
Really?
Dirk Derrick (08:12):
They don't return phone calls.
Pearl Carey (08:14):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (08:14):
They don't keep them updated. So we have set up systems where we have a medical liaison that's talking every two weeks with them.
(08:22):
Our lawyers are also talking to them at least once a month.
Pearl Carey (08:25):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (08:25):
They will have the ability to call our office, and talk to somebody on their team immediately.
Pearl Carey (08:32):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (08:33):
And if their attorney's in court or in a deposition and can't talk to them, he or she will call them back within 24 hours. It's very, very important to me that our clients know that we want to communicate with them, build a relationship with them, and keep them advised.
Pearl Carey (08:48):
Absolutely. So you're saying no matter what, there will be someone who's willing to talk to a client at one point or another.
Dirk Derrick (08:53):
Oh, absolutely.
Pearl Carey (08:55):
Perfect. Well that's great to know.
(08:56):
So I know that you said that there's going to be one lawyer on my case from day one. So how many cases can I expect my lawyer typically to be handling on a daily basis?
Dirk Derrick (09:04):
That's a good question. And if you look at business models, personal injury law firms, that is a very important question to ask at a law firm before you retain them.
Pearl Carey (09:14):
Really?
Dirk Derrick (09:14):
Not to be surprised.
Pearl Carey (09:15):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (09:16):
I can tell you that at the time of this taping, our attorneys are between 40 and 50 cases each. That's lit and pre-lit.
Pearl Carey (09:27):
Oh, okay.
Dirk Derrick (09:27):
So all of those cases aren't in litigation.
(09:31):
As a business owner, as a personal injury law firm owner, there are different business models. What we're trying to do is build custom cases with every fact that can increase value. And in order to do that, you have to have attorneys who have time to think, investigate, and work with our clients to build the case.
Pearl Carey (09:53):
Yeah, and I'm sure focus on each case, and give it its due diligence. I know that you said that your attorneys in specifics call their clients about once a month. Is that pretty standard across the board, or does it differ?
Dirk Derrick (10:04):
I can't speak for other law firms how often they call their clients. I know that when I started trying to build the firm in 2009, after working on my own for a long time, I know that the complaints that people have about personal injury lawyers are, they don't return my call. They don't keep me advised. They're not doing anything on my case. They want me to settle the case, or I'm not sure that I'm getting offered a fair value. And all of it takes too long.
Pearl Carey (10:32):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (10:32):
That's their complaints. So we've tried to answer those with our systems and processes.
Pearl Carey (10:37):
So kind of switching gears a little bit toward dealing with insurance companies for a particular case. How does my attorney determine the value of my case, when the insurance company makes an offer?
Dirk Derrick (10:48):
Well, insurance companies have, for years, had the leverage of uncertainty that they've held over the head of our clients. And you can look at jury verdicts. You can look at settlements that other law firms, or you have gotten, and those are the only two ways that were available the first 30 years I practiced.
Pearl Carey (11:12):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (11:14):
Problem with jury verdicts, is that you're looking at different facts regarding different parties, tried by different lawyers, for different injuries. And you just can't compare that case with this individual case.
(11:30):
The problem looking at settlement values, and what cases have settled for, all you're getting there is what an insurance company's willing to pay on that. And insurance companies don't get to set the value of a case. The value of the case is what a jury, in the county you're in, would give this particular plaintiff, with these specific facts, what the award would be if you presented every fact that exists. That adds value to the case.
Pearl Carey (12:02):
So what you're saying is it's not what the insurance company just offers. This doesn't determine real value of a case.
Dirk Derrick (12:08):
No, no.
Pearl Carey (12:08):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (12:09):
I think the biggest mistake is to think what insurance companies voluntarily pay is the real value. If somebody tells you that the value is two times your medicals, that has nothing to do with real value. The reason we started doing focus groups is to be able to show our clients the best evidence possible as to what the real value of their particular claim is. So we now do focus groups before we file a lawsuit.
(12:42):
If we can get most of the facts, show it to our clients. Does that mean that's the exact number we'll get at court? Nope. But it's two juries telling us what they think about these facts and these damages.
Pearl Carey (12:55):
And I think what you said in our last podcast was that it's indicative of a range. And it can kind of give your client an idea of what they might get.
Dirk Derrick (13:01):
That's right.
Pearl Carey (13:02):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (13:02):
So we do that before. And if there's a case that's got a hundred thousand dollars worth of insurance, and the insurance company's offered us 50, and in the past they said $50,000, that's all we done pay you. If you want any more, file a lawsuit and find out what a jury's going to say two and a half years from now.
Pearl Carey (13:19):
Oh, okay.
Dirk Derrick (13:20):
So then the client looks at the lawyer and says, well, is that a fair offer? Well, the lawyer's going to say one of two things. He's going to say, no, let's try the case.
Pearl Carey (13:31):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (13:31):
And the client may or may not give him permission. But there's uncertainty. Or the lawyer may say, well, it sounds fair. It could be more, could be less, but you take a chance. And it really leaves the client that feeling of uncertainty.
Pearl Carey (13:48):
I can't imagine that's a nice place to be in.
Dirk Derrick (13:51):
No. And it causes anxiety to a point to, okay, I'll take it. Because the insurance companies always have that leverage on them.
Pearl Carey (13:58):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (13:58):
We done drag you out three years, and there's uncertainty. So by doing the focus groups early on, we give the client the comfort of knowing what these 12 people are saying. And then we use what they say, let's say the example I was giving you. A hundred thousand in coverage, they've offered 50. We focus group it, two juries come, both come back at $200,000. Number one, our client says, okay, we'll try it if we got to try it.
(14:29):
Number two, we take those results and we send them to the insurance company.
Pearl Carey (14:34):
So they can kind of see what a trial might.
Dirk Derrick (14:36):
And say, that insurance company has a duty to act in good faith, or they can be sued for bad faith insurance practices. They have a duty to protect the assets of the at-fault party.
Pearl Carey (14:46):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (14:46):
So now we're offering to settle for the policy limits, and if they don't pay us, we don't go get a verdict. These two juries say it's worth $200,000. They are subjecting their insured to a $100,000 judgment on top of their insurance, if we get 200,000.
Pearl Carey (15:04):
Wow, oh wow. Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (15:05):
The duty to act in good faith, that makes them take a very good look at whether or not they're making a reasonable decision. And whether or not they done stand by it. That has helped us get policy limits in cases like this, without even having to file a lawsuit.
Pearl Carey (15:20):
So at the end of the day, after the insurance company makes the offer, who kind of gets the final say? Does the client get to say, hey, I want to take the offer, or I don't want to? Or does the attorney make the final decision?
Dirk Derrick (15:33):
The client.
Pearl Carey (15:33):
Gotcha.
Dirk Derrick (15:34):
I've made it completely clear with every attorney that works at our firm that the client is the boss in the final decision. Now we're going to build the case the right way. But when it's all said and done, we're going to show the clients all the good, all the pros, all the cons. We done show them what focus group members say about it, but we're gonna give the final say so to the client. People have different degrees of risk that they would take. What I would do on a case is not necessarily what a client would do on a case.
Pearl Carey (16:08):
Yeah, it differs. I'm sure.
Dirk Derrick (16:09):
I'd usually try to avoid even telling the client what I would do personally, because I've set, I've seen these things for 35 years. I got so much in my head that may make a decision. I don't want to influence my client in a negative way. I want them to make their own decision based on their case.
Pearl Carey (16:31):
And you want to maintain that transparency and honesty.
Dirk Derrick (16:34):
That's right.
Pearl Carey (16:34):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (16:35):
Now if they say Dirk, what would you do? I'll tell them. But it's entirely left up to the client. It's their case. If they want to try it, we try it. If they want to sell it, we'll sell it.
Pearl Carey (16:47):
So if I'm a potential personal injury client, what can I expect a law firm to charge me if my case is successful or unsuccessful?
Dirk Derrick (16:53):
Good question.
(16:54):
It should be a question that everyone asks from their lawyer before they sign a contract.
Pearl Carey (16:59):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (17:00):
Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee. I saw one not too long ago that had a retainer on the front end of it. I've not heard of that lately. Most of them work on a contingency fee.
Pearl Carey (17:11):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (17:11):
The biggest thing you want to know before signing a contract is, what is the fee? Does it ever go up? What cost am I paying? What happens if I lose? And will you ever take more money than I take? If you get the answers to that, you won't be surprised at the end.
Pearl Carey (17:31):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (17:31):
I'll tell you, our firm, we charge a flat one-third fee. It does not go up when we file a lawsuit. The reason we don't increase it, is because I know, from watching 400 focus group juries, that there are some facts that I may have to file a lawsuit to go get, that greatly increase the value of a case.
(17:53):
And if I tell my client, hey, I want to file this lawsuit pretty fast, because I want to go find out these five facts, I don't want my client to think, oh, he's trying to make another 7% on me. He wants to go from a third to 40%. When that's not what I'm trying to do. What I'm trying to do is get the maximum amount of money for my client by getting all the facts.
Pearl Carey (18:12):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (18:13):
So we stay at a one third. Our cost, we don't do soft costs. We don't do phone calls. And mailing and stamps, all that stuff.
Pearl Carey (18:22):
And retainer fees, right.
Dirk Derrick (18:23):
We don't do retainer fees.
Pearl Carey (18:24):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (18:25):
We charge costs for those things that we write checks to third parties, while we're building your case. And that can be medical records. That can be, if we get in litigation, depositions, court reporters, that kind of stuff. It's hard cost.
(18:41):
And if we're an unsuccessful, and we don't have to do this very often, we would eat the cost. If our client does not collect, we don't get paid any fees, and we can eat the cost ethically.
Pearl Carey (18:52):
So that's it.
Dirk Derrick (18:52):
So we eat it. They walk out the door, they hadn't lost anything.
Pearl Carey (18:55):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (18:56):
The final thing is, I think an important question for potentials. We have a policy where we never take more than our client. Let me tell you where that situation comes up.
(19:05):
Somebody hires us, they got $750,000 worth of medical bills, hospital. We jump in, it's bad damages. Liability looks good, and we find out we got $25,000 in insurance, and they're stuck with this big bill. We could say, hey, you don't have enough insurance. We're not interested.
(19:25):
We don't do that unless they want to handle it themselves. But they got this huge bill on them and if they do or don't have health insurance, there's going to be somebody wanting money to pay these bills.
Pearl Carey (19:37):
Absolutely. I'm sure that can create a difficult situation for the client.
Dirk Derrick (19:41):
So you say 25,000, I got three quarters of a million medicals. I got these problems. How are we going to get this worked out?
Pearl Carey (19:49):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (19:50):
If we stay involved, we will negotiate all these bills. And when we get them all reduced and there's X dollars left, we will reduce our fee as far as we need to, so that our client's put more money in their pocket than we get. I mean, we're not going to say, well, we're entitled to a third.
(20:12):
There's times when we just waived a fee because we got into a situation. They don't happen often, but before somebody hires a lawyer, they ought to ask them, worst case scenario. Worst case scenario, something blows up, am I done owe you money when it's all said and done? Worst case scenario, this case blows up and we find out that there's nothing to recover, or there's very little to recover, or you don't just be fees and costs, and I don't get anything. So that's a good question for people to ask lawyers before they hire them.
Pearl Carey (20:46):
Right. Absolutely.
Dirk Derrick (20:49):
Now, again, that does not happen.
Pearl Carey (20:53):
Often.
Dirk Derrick (20:54):
Very often.
Pearl Carey (20:55):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (20:55):
When we do intake on cases, those cases, a lot of times we'll have that discussion. The front first part about is an insurance case. We got to go find insurance coverage, or collectability, because the damages are so large. But they do happen. They do happen sometimes.
Pearl Carey (21:12):
So how far into a case would you kind of know that? Could it have been years, or how does that typically work?
Dirk Derrick (21:18):
We know about the coverage fast. Like I said, we're using no coverage within 45 days.
Pearl Carey (21:23):
Okay.
Dirk Derrick (21:23):
There's been cases that evidence can come out in litigation. We had to file lawsuit to go find some facts, go find them, and they're bad facts.
Pearl Carey (21:34):
Oh, okay.
Dirk Derrick (21:35):
Cases are kind of like living organisms. If you think about it as having a life of its own.
Pearl Carey (21:41):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (21:41):
That living organism, the strength or the weakness is determined by one fact sometimes. You can have a case that you feel good about, and then you take a deposition of this witness and he kills you.
Pearl Carey (21:54):
Oh no.
Dirk Derrick (21:55):
I mean, he kills the case. Or it substantially weakens it.
Pearl Carey (21:59):
Right.
Dirk Derrick (21:59):
And then you can have cases that you kind of struggling along. Then you find the smoking gun.
Pearl Carey (22:04):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (22:04):
First case I ever had in my life, I found a smoking gun while taking a deposition in Chicago. And I'd made an offer to settle for $50,000, and I found the smoking gun. And I told the attorney on the other side, my offer is now 500,000.
Pearl Carey (22:17):
So you probably thought this is what it's always going to be like.
Dirk Derrick (22:19):
There's a Perry Mason moment for all those people who are over 40, who know who Perry Mason is. But that doesn't always happen.
Pearl Carey (22:25):
Right, of course not.
Dirk Derrick (22:26):
But if you start digging, digging, digging, you can often find things that increase the value. But you can also find things that decrease the value.
Pearl Carey (22:34):
So in the beginning you might not initially know. It might just take some time.
Dirk Derrick (22:37):
That's right.
Pearl Carey (22:37):
Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (22:38):
And if it goes downhill and it bombs, the case bombs, they run it by a focus group and focus group says, this case is a bomb, we'd have to cut our fee. And we do that. We are in it with our clients.
Pearl Carey (22:51):
So, this podcast has been about the truth, about what you should know before you hire a personal injury lawyer.
(22:58):
Dirk, do you have any last points that you'd like to add before we sign off?
Dirk Derrick (23:02):
Yeah, I mean, I've given my personal opinions about things. Not comparing our firm with other firms. But I do believe that it makes a better relationship with a law firm if the client knows what they're getting for their price they're paying, before going into a relationship with a lawyer, or a law firm.
(23:26):
All lawyers aren't the same. All law firms aren't the same. There's different business models. And I believe that in order to avoid surprises and bad feelings, you should have the information we've covered today. You should have it before you enter in that relationship. I think the most important thing, or one of the most important things in representing somebody is trust. They've got to trust me and my firm. And I've got to trust that they're telling me the truth. And there's got to be trust both ways. And without it, it makes it a difficult job to properly build the case.
(24:12):
I think it's important, from a trust standpoint, for the client to know going in, what is it going to cost me? What's worst case scenario? What's best case scenario? What systems and processes does this firm have to build the case, and to get me the real value, and to do it in a timely fashion? It's easy to say that we're going to give you money that you deserve or we're gonna get you real value.
Pearl Carey (24:36):
Of course. Yeah.
Dirk Derrick (24:38):
But you need to know how they define real value. How do they define what real value means? How does that lawyer define timely fashion? What's the team I'm going to work with? How many lawyers do they have here in South Carolina building the cases for trial? How many support staff does that lawyer have to build my case? All of that stuff.
(24:58):
When are they gonna call me? How often can I communicate? Can I pick up the phone and talk to my lawyer anytime I want to? Am I hiring a lawyer, or am I hiring non-lawyers? I mean, all that stuff, if you know it on the front end, you'll build trust with that law firm. And I think it's very important.
Pearl Carey (25:15):
Absolutely. And I thank you so much Dirk. I learned so much during this podcast. And I really hope that our viewers, and our listeners did as well. Thank you again.
Dirk Derrick (25:23):
Thank you Pearl. Pearl, the podcast girl.
Voiceover (25:27):
Thank you for joining us on The Legal Truth Podcast. If you have questions that you would like answered on a future episode, please send them to [email protected].
(25:37):
If you would like to speak to us directly, call us at (843) 248-7486. If you find the podcast valuable, please leave us a five star review, and share The Legal Truth with your neighbor, friend, or family member, who is seeking reliable information about a South Carolina personal injury, or worker's compensation claim.
(25:56):
Dirk J. Derrick of the Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers is responsible for the production of this podcast. Located at 9011 North Main Street, Conway, South Carolina.
(26:08):
Derrick Law Firm Injury Lawyers has included the information on this podcast as a service to the general public. Use of this podcast and any related materials does not in any manner constitute an attorney-client relationship between Derrick Law firm, injury lawyers, and the user.
(26:19):
While the information on this podcast is about legal issues, it is not intended as legal advice, and should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your particular state. Anyone seeking specific legal advice or assistance should retain an attorney.
(26:33):
Any prior results mentioned, do not guarantee a similar outcome. The content reflects the personal views and opinions of the participants in the podcast, and are not intended as endorsements of any views or products. This podcast could contain inaccuracies. The information contained in this podcast does not constitute legal advice, and is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or up-to-date as laws continue to change.
(26:51):
In this podcast, you'll hear information about focus groups. Please note that not all of the firm's cases are presented to a focus group. Additionally, when speaking about juries or jurors in relation to a focus group, we are speaking of focus group participants, and not actual trial juries or jurors.