SERVING OUR CLIENTS' LEGAL NEEDS
In over 30 years of combined legal experience of our founding partners, we have learned well that not only does every client have inimitable needs, but that almost every matter requires a distinctive strategy. Our approach to the concerns many of our clients face with respect to legal services is to provide exceptional value for service to our clients of the highest caliber law, a fair and unique billing structure, and an investment in cutting-edge technology - all for the benefit of our clients.
We started this firm in recognition of the fact that the practice of law is changing. Clients are consistently looking for ways to minimize ever increasing litigation expenses and to develop relationships with firms that can handle a wide variety of legal needs - both litigation and transactional oriented. We constantly seek out ways to meet these clients' needs. We have developed a keen ability to promptly analyze a matter in order to separate routine cases from complex litigation and understand that routine litigation does not always call for high-budget litigation strategies. We customarily participate in alternative dispute resolution processes, where appropriate and when we see the opportunity for cost-saving benefits to our clients. In fact, one of our partners is a court-approved mediator, arbitrator and referee and sits on a panel of private mediators and arbitrators for purposes of keeping up with and further developing the latest alternative dispute resolution methods and strategies.
Our founding partners both have distinguished themselves in the legal community. Both graduated from "top ten" law schools, with strong prior academic backgrounds. Both previously practiced in one of California's largest law firms, gaining exposure to a myriad of legal practice areas and experience handling sophisticated legal issues throughout the California courts and with clients seeking widely varying legal services.
Through our comprehensive exposure to
the practice of law and the wide range of client legal services we provide
to our clients, we have
developed a keen sensitivity to the challenges of our clients. We
understand and are equipped to cost effectively handle cases from the most
routine to the most sophisticated. For example, our vast experience
handling routine consumer claims for those in manufacturing industries, has
placed us near the top of the learning curb and allowed us to develop and
utilize standardized systems in order to deeply minimize fees where appropriate.
Somewhat conversely, our experience successfully handling some of California's seminal cases in exceptional areas of law, has provided us with the know-how and ability to develop and implement comprehensive legal strategies to triumph in high liability and complex matters.
We believe strongly in the benefits of the collegial nature of the practice of law, yet we do not charge our clients for internal conferencing and collaboration. Although we have found a better legal product often results when two or more legal minds analyze and discuss the issues surrounding a particular matter, we view a firm's ability for its lawyers to collaborate as a function of an efficient, professional services organization yet not a basis to bill for two or more lawyers working on the same issue. The collaborative nature of the practice of law is why a client hires a firm of thoughtful, well-educated lawyers like those at Kaplan Lee LLP.
We routinely access the major on-line legal research databases, but based on the benefits of negotiated flat-rate programs, we are able to pass cost savings to our clients for routine electronic research. From the day we opened, Kaplan Lee LLP has invested an inordinate amount of resources in technology, a commitment and practice that continues to this day. We are entirely networked. We enjoy high-speed internet access. Our library is substantially electronic. We subscribe to most of the on-line services that provide court forms and/or electronic filing service. We have the capacity to send and receive e-mail communications remotely and safely and to access our internal documents remotely. We have the ability to file and serve court documents both via telefax and e-mail. In terms of technology, we have committed ourselves to stay ahead of the curve in all respects.
Quite simply our policy is this: we provide peak caliber legal work, defined by our clients' needs, and we bill only for the work necessary to guarantee the highest value for our clients' money.
