"What is your win/loss record?"
A prospective client asked that the other day. I tried to give an honest answer and explain why that isn't possible, but apparently he was hell bent on this being the number one factor in hiring an attorney. So hopefully I can explain to you why this is an impossible request.
We haven't represented someone in years who didn't receive compensation. That is because we only take legitimate cases. Does that mean that we won all of those cases? I don't think so because most of them settled and for the ones we did take to trial, we didn't always win every issue. In other words, if we went to trial and got you paid for all of the time you missed from work, had all of your bills paid, but the Judge ordered compensation for you of $50,000.00 when we asked for $60,000.00 would that be considered a win or a loss?
In a similar manner, we represented someone whose stated goal was to receive an offer of $150,000.00. We got him $125,000.00 and his wife told him to take it and avoid a trial. Is that a win or a loss?
Another client got benefits after months of wrangling, but really suffered for six months while we took depositions and the Judge took months to bring his decision. Is that a win or is it a loss because our client suffered?
There is one attorney in town that brags he has gotten compensation for 98% of his clients. But that includes all of the cases that he settles for $500 or some other nuisance figure. Is that a win?
We can tell you that we make goals with our clients, give honest opinions and lose sleep when we are not successful or our clients are suffering. We do whatever we can to win in a timely fashion. The only way we measure a case as a win is by a smile on the face of our client or a past client who refers a friend by telling them what a good job we did. But if you want a scorecard like they have in baseball unfortunately we can' t give that to you.
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