The average fall out rate of the possible client to sign your retainer is approximately 30%.  Now, if that 30% were tiny cases which may be insignificant to your firm fine. But, what if within those claims is just one valued at $1 million or over?  That puts a new perspective on the 30% fall out rate.  Why take a risk such as this when obtaining the signature on the retainer is so simple to delegate to hero in gaining signatures.  A true master of the human spirit.

I met with two claimants yesterday.  A husband and wife.  They had already received a verbal offer from the adverse insurance carrier of $50,000.  Now what would you do as an attorney who was asked "should we take the offer$50k already offered?"  Well, I'm not the attorney.  They didn't ask the attorney this question.  The clients were ver sophisticated and didn't want to sign for fear of losing any portion of the offered $50K.  The woman had already had 5 surgeries.   She was severly injured.  Wheelchair bound.  Claimed she failed to engage her safety harness.  Hadn't left her home since the accident, but for treatment.  Was very athletic.  Had grandkids she couldn't visit with.  Her husband was very much in the same position, but had to care for his wife as he wasn't as seriously injured.  

Do you think they signed?  Yes they did.  Without so much as a call to the attorneys office, who was closed by then.  They signed because they trused the man sitting at their dining room table. 

We have a 110% sign up rate because we sign cases that we didn't even initially go out to sign.  The prospective new client may have had a prior injury, or an injury between the date of the accident they called your firm about and our meeting.  Or I may sign up a passenger which the attorney didn't know about prior to the meeting.  Often times while at a prospective client's home I will sign a friend or relative who is at the meeting who wants to share about their previous legal claim when they are in the presence of someone who is obviously capable of helping them too.

You have found him! I am Ron Schwalbe, CA license number PI15716.  I am an investigator who signs up law firms clients in the field.  Whether that be at the client's home, their office, or at the Hospital.  I have met homless injury victims in public parks, in dark alleys, and at McDonald's.  Many personal injury victims have lost their home, so I meet at a Motel, if they are lucky enought to afford a room there.  Many are concerned about having an unfamiliar person come to their home, so we set up a time at a coffee house, such as Starbucks, Peet's coffee, or some other place that is convenienct for the client.  This is something that I have done since entering the personal injury field while I was in law school here in Orange County.  My investigation carreer started in 1986, after an injury I sustained while on the job as a Construction Superintendent for the Ayres Hotel chain which I had been working for during and after my undergraduate studies at The University of Southern California.  Later, while working at Rutan & Tucker, the biggest firm in Orange County, I was assaulted by a San Bernardino County Sheriff. I know the feeling of being a victim of a serious injury.  I can relate to the victims of personal injuries.

Many investigators are a bit rough around the edges.  God bless them for that.  Its tough out there, especially in these trying times.  They may have law enforcement backgrounds and are used to taking directions and following those directions to the T.  They aren't generally able to ADAPT to changing circumstances in the field without calling in to the main office.  However, Ron Schwalbe is a self starter.  I have had so much experience signing new clients in the field, there litterally is not a circumstance or scenario that I haven't come accross.  And, certainly, there are circumstances where the attorney must intervene to answer a clients pressing concern.  But that is a last resort.

While working at Allen, Flatt, Balidis, and Leslie I worked as an inhouse investigator and handled over 100 claims as a pre-litigation assistant.  I have been deposed many times.  I have stood as witness during trial.  So, I have a great idea of what the entire legal process is.  I know what the attorney needs to begin working on a claim.  You can TRUST that I will get the job done right and represent your firm well. 

There are a few schools of thought on this.

"I MUST sign up my own claimant."  Many solo practicitoners feel they MUST sign up their own client.  There's no one else to do it.  That is the definition of the solo practitioner. If an attorney meets with their own new prospective new client at their home, office, or other mutually agreeable location, that attorney is setting themself up for failure.  A claimant will expect this one on one, immediate response treatment for the duration of the claim, and through litigation.  An attorney who sets this tone from the beginning will trip up somewhere along that long ride.  The claimant will, at some point, be disappointed by the attorney and often times this attorney will be subbed out.  That is, the attorney will be substituted out, for another attorney, who appears more capable.

The other school of thought is that the solo practitioner looks like a LARGER firm when she/he has the ability to send someone out to do tasks such as having the claimaint sign a retainer and authorizations for the client.  Who better to do this than an investigator.  The investigator meets with the victim, obtains evidence crucial to the claim, photographs the scene, vehicles, injuries, and current physical condition of the claimant.   Later, should the claim go to trial, the investigator can testify on behalf of the claimant, and in the interest of justice as to what they witnessed in that first meeting.  This is very beneficial to the claim.

As in many aspects of life, this is a financial choice.  "A penny saved is a penny earned" mentality only goes so far.  However, you get what you pay for.  Most likely, the claimant will negotiate your fee lower when you are in his place of power, ie. their home or office. 

And, there is the the view that you have to "spend money to make money."  If you are in court, and can't meet with the claimant until the end of the day, or at the end of trial, you most likely will lose that claimant.  Claimants are impatient and there are plenty of other attorneys  out there that are more organized than yourself.  If your competitors are sending out investigators to sign up their new clients up, you better think twice before you veto that idea yourself.  If you are in court, in trial, on vacation or otherwise unavailable, you may miss out on that once in a lifetime life changing case.  Another attorney, sending out an investigator to sign that claimant is spending money wisely.  Locking in that new claimant as their client.  Your competitors are most likely out there advertising the heck out of their firm.  Can you compete with that?  You better!

Lastly, the investigators fee comes out of the settlement at the end of the claim.  There is no cost to the attorney, other than up front costs.  They will later get  reimbursed.