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P.I. is like sales...just like trying to sell a treadmill at the Sports Authority. You have to convince the guy that this treadmill is going to make them shit golden eggs. P.I. is the same thing. But in law, we have ethical rules. So you can't make outlandish promises.

Being a PI attorney, you need to be an expert in professional responsibility for your state. You need to understand that you'll get bar complaints. Hell, I was admitted in one state in early November and I already have a bar complaint. Just answer it. 95% (just throwing a number out there) are thrown out. The other 4% go to a board and then you're found to have not violated it. It's very rare to actually be found guilty. Mine was basically because we had a lunatic that we respectfully told we're not taking her BS case and she wouldn't leave. I had to become a little more FIRM about asking her to leave, for the safety of our office. I ended up calling security to have her removed. Then she filed a complaint for professional discourtesy.

All B.S.

Anyway, my firm doesn't do P.I but my boss basically told me that if I bring it in, he'll look at it and decide whether or not to take it. The cases we have aren't slip and falls--they're false arrest, malicious prosecution, etc. Stuff that would bring a big payday but doesn't cost that much.

How do you get clients? You have to talk to randoms. Randoms on the train. Randoms at Chipotile. Talk to the guy pumping your gas. Hand your card to whoever you engage in conversation with. When they know someone who just had aluminum debris fall on his head from 8 stories up, he'll think "OH SHIT, I have a guy who you can call!" and they'll call you.

Then when they call you, and you set up a meeting, you wear your nicest suit and nicest shoes. You dress as if you have an interview with a Second Circuit judge. Then you convince the guy that YOU are the guy who will make him shit golden eggs and only you.

I hope to post more in this thread as I learn more. As I'm a new attorney, I'm open to all advice and I hope we can all work together.

But I think the best thing to do is not to find some shyster who runs a P.I. shop. The best thing to do is to find a firm that does other work, a boss that trusts you, and try to venture out.

Aren't false arrest and malicious prosecution civil rights cases, not personal injury? Though admittedly my sense is that they have a lot of similarities in practice.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Aren't false arrest and malicious prosecution civil rights cases, not personal injury? Though admittedly my sense is that they have a lot of similarities in practice.

True in the sense that a lot of times when you file a suit for false arrest or malicious prosecution, it's going to be lumped in with a racial discrimination or racial profiling cause of action. But lets say you're in NY county, you're shopping and a cop/security arrest you without reasonable or probable cause. On top of that, you're case is dismissed in criminal court. You're probably not going to file any type of real civil rights claim in Federal court or even based on NY human rights law really. You'll have a good case for false arrest, you'll likely throw malicious prosecution in there to see if it sticks, you'll definitely try assault and battery, so it's all lumped in there in a boring old state action.

You're right. It's definitely civil rights but a lot of these cases have a fine line and mixes both.

Ah, that makes lots of sense, thanks. (A lot of people do try for federal court, which is why I wondered. Those 1983 attorneys fees.)