From ordering your morning coffee to buying a house to hiring a personal injury attorney, you always have a choice between sizes. The decision you make lies in the answer to this question; Is bigger always better?
“My dad taught me an important lesson about large firms early on,” says Bennett Lessmann, co-managing partner at KL Injury Attorneys in Boca Raton. “As a kid, I went to his accountant’s office, which was very small with just one guy. I asked my dad, ‘Why don’t you go to one of those nice big offices downtown instead?’ He said: “How do you think they pay for those nice buildings? It comes from their clients.’”
Big law firms tout large settlements and talk a big game, but you might find smoke and mirrors if you take a deeper look. When searching for a personal attorney to fight for you and get the maximum result you deserve, boutique-sized firms are far superior.
Why do people think bigger personal injury firms are better
It’s easy to understand why people assume larger firms are more successful. Large firms, especially in the “BigLaw” category, recruit thousands of candidates from the nation’s best law schools. These flashy firms appear to have every resource imaginable at their disposal. Some people find these firms impressive and assume they have the power to sway judges and achieve results through sheer magnitude.
But that’s simply not the case.
Large firms have one advantage: They can handle a wide range of legal work. That means you may want to hire a larger firm if you’re involved in a class-action lawsuit that involves hundreds of plaintiffs and requires significant staff support. But if you or a loved one was injured from an accident, you don’t need that type of law firm. You need individual attention from a personal injury lawyer who knows your name and your story.
At bigger firms, you get lost
The No. 1 complaint we hear from clients is that attorneys at big firms don’t talk to their clients. In fact, personal injury victims tell us they rarely hear from their attorney until the end of the case, if at all. Then, like a small cog in a large machine, these clients often wait months to get their settlement check.
“I hear from clients constantly who worked with larger firms before switching to KL. They often say: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a lawyer . I don’t even know who my lawyer is,’” says KL’s Founding, Co-Managing Partner, Bennett Lessmann. “They can’t get answers, and they feel lost in this system that lawyers should be making easier to navigate.”
Consider these factors:
- Many “Big Law” firms require that attorneys work a minimum of 80 hours a week. That sounds like a lot, but when each lawyer has dozens of cases to manage at a time, they struggle to give each case the attention and priority it requires.
- Access to information has changed dramatically due to today’s technology. Larger firms used to have the advantage, but today, small and large firms have the same access to resources. The only difference is smaller firms have more time to devote each individual case when investigating on your behalf.
- Lawyers at larger firms have almost no direct contact with clients or their case files. Most of the time, their paralegal or office staff handle the majority of the work on their behalf. This can lead to errors in the investigation process, which is critical in the early stages of the case.
At boutique firms, your story matters
Unlike overloaded large firms, smaller firms like KL Injury Attorneys never take on more work than we can effectively manage. And our attorneys always speak directly with you directly, explaining the process and ensuring you feel comfortable along the way.
At KL, we are committed to:
- Overly communicating to ensure you understand every step of the process
- Advocating for you as though you are family
- Giving thorough attention to case file
- Paying settlements as quickly as possible
At KL, our co-managing partners Bennett Lessmann and Ian Kleinman collaborate on every case and build close relationships with everyone who walks in the door. Constant communication is the heart of our process. Because the legal system is complicated and frustrating, we go out of our way to keep clients informed.
Our attorneys and paralegals at KL treat everyone like family. And when it comes to defending family, we take things personally. Bennett goes to court on behalf of clients and doesn’t put up with opponents who try to harass or embarrass them during trial. “I’m their voice, so when it’s time to stand up for them, that’s what I do,” he says.
According to Ian Kleinman, large “cookie-cutter” firms often leave settlement money on the table because they wait up to a year to engage with clients and review their case information. By then, it might be too late to recover critical evidence or conduct a proper investigation.
The Bottom Line
Unlike KL, bigger law firms are all about quantity over quality. They require an endless bounty of cases, operating like ever-turning machines that can’t possibly give your file the attention it deserves.
KL has the resources and the time to thoroughly investigate your case from the moment we receive the file. We understand that time is of the essence and securing a witness statement or surveillance footage could make all the difference–so we act fast.
Our boutique law firm works diligently and communicates with you through every step of the process. We are your personal advocates who will fight for your right to seek the compensation you deserve. If you think you have a personal injury claim, contact KL today.
