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Sokolove/Co-counsel
CO-COUNSEL
2010 Significant Verdicts and Settlements
Join Our 2010-2011
SETTLEMENT CASE TYPE
CO-COUNSEL FIRM
S O K O L O V E M E A N S S U C C E S S . Volume 5, Spring 2010 National Campaigns
$4,250,000
Birth Injury/Medical Malpractice
Nursing Home Neglect & Abuse
The Case for Outside Ownership of U.S. Law Firms by Michael J. Skoler
$3,000,000
available in our national 2010 – 2011 Birth $2,500,000
I’m not a lawyer. But if I were, what to the justice system as officers of Home campaigns that start in June 2010.
$1,000,000
yielding great results and qualified cases.
that four-fifths of the civil legal needs $750,000
comprehensive online resource for parents of birth injured children. The site includes a $525,000
listing of treatment facilities and resources by state, video blogs by our head legal nurse Kathy McGinn, in-depth coverage of issues $500,000
and news by our bloggers, and information $435,000
Participation in these campaigns is on a aren’t already motivated by profits just state-by-state basis with our contributing co-counsel firms receiving all leads generated $420,000
for their state. Call us at 1-800-305-4009 to find out if your state is available in the It also ignores the fact that most U.S.
Birth Injury/Medical Malpractice or Nursing services to a broader range of clients.
• Wage & Hour
• Workers’ Compensation
Sokolove Law is currently investigating potential litigation and case generation opportunities for injuries/losses arising from the following: Forced Placed Insurance Policies
Increased risk of muscle damage, including rhabdomyolysis, in Unfair or deceptive lending practices involving the use of lender patients taking high doses of the cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor, placed insurance policies. These unilaterally imposed policies often Excerpted from The American Trial Lawyer (Winter 2010)To read the article in its entirety, please visit sold generically as simvastatin. In severe cases, rhabdomyolysis provide less coverage at exorbitantly high rates, to the financial www.sokolovesuccess.com/who-we-are/news-overview.html can lead to kidney damage, kidney failure, and death.
benefit of the lender. In some instances, predatory lenders may force place homeowners’ insurance even when the borrower does Reprinted with Permission, 2010, The American Trial Lawyer Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants
not need it or has provided proof of insurance. Serious complications — inflammatory reactions, death of surrounding tissue and muscle, and the need for early replacement — of metal- Radiation Overdoses
on-metal hip implants. This includes the recently withdrawn DePuy Claims of patient overexposure to diagnostic radiation caused by Orthopaedics’ ASR hip implant, which has been linked to a high early flawed hospital procedures, lack of appropriate operator training or supervision, defective or improperly designed internal settings or by identifying new areas of practice.
on CT machines, and/or lack of manufacturer safeguards. Radiation Avelox®
overdose may increase a patient’s risk for long-term health issues, Reports of rare but potentially life-threatening risk of liver injury, to raise existing partner capital, secure including liver failure in patients taking the antibiotic drug Avelox Call us to discuss these and other opportunities. Zocor® is a registered trademark of Merck & Co., Inc. Avelox® is a registered trademark of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 1-800-305-4009
SokoloveSuccess.com
Business of Law Blog. SokoloveSuccess.com YazTalk.com Leverages Social Media to Build Engagement
Nursing Home Reform: Still Seeking Accountability By Janet Wells
NCCNHR has been advocating for nursing home residents for 35 Opposing tort reform is just one of our key public policy initiatives.
In January, Sokolove Law launched YazTalk.com, a social Web community dedicated to educating and uniting women who suffer from the serious side effects of the oral contraceptives YAZ®, Yasmin®, and Ocella®. One of the site’s key objectives is to use years against an industry that exerts a powerful influence in state Our current legislative focus is on prohibiting nursing homes from social media to engage this audience in a way that suits their lifestyle.
legislatures and Washington. And yet we still continue to receive five enforcing predispute arbitration clauses in nursing home and assisted or six calls a week from families whose loved ones are being abused living admissions contracts. Stressed-out families, of course, are in YazTalk community host Kate Meredith encourages women through her blog posts and videos no position to negotiate over these clauses. to become knowledgeable about the health risks of these drugs and to discuss their symptoms.
The invitation to write this column coincided with just such a call The arbitration industry has been weakened by public exposure of Her frequent posts provide information about factual warning signs and resources.
from a distraught daughter. Her mother lives in a “Five Star” nursing its ties to businesses, but it is not going away. It is critical to pass home where she may have been physically abused and drugged with the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act (S. 512, H.R. 1237) The YazTalk.com community also empowers women by providing a forum for personal stories antipsychotic drugs. The doctor at the nursing home dismisses the to invalidate predispute arbitration agreements. and candid videos, and encouraging conversation via email, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
daughter’s concerns, and the administrator threatens to discharge hermother if the daughter insists on discontinuing the drugs. The state The House and Senate judiciary committees passed the nursing Since the launch of YazTalk.com, traffic to this Web site has increased more than 50 percent; regulatory agency says the nursing home isn’t violating any laws.
home arbitration bill in 2008, and members of Congress need there has also been a significant increase in Web leads. Due to the increased awareness urging from their constituents to support the bill. Passage will stop Unfortunately, the nursing home is in a tort-reform state, where around the YazTalk brand through its online display ads, the firm generated more leads for nursing homes from telling American families that they will not be the civil justice system has been closed off to elderly nursing home Yaz cases in February from related Web sources than previously recorded in one month. held accountable for any harm they do.
residents and their families by limits on noneconomic damages. Site visitors can also ask her questions directly, subscribe to periodic email updates, and State and local consumer groups in NCCNHR’s advocacy network stream blog posts as they are added on.
Janet Wells is public policy director of NCCNHR, formerly the National Although YazTalk.com and its social media strategy are still in their infancy, it’s clear that both hold promise for deepening engagement We believe few Americans would support tort reform if they Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform. NCCNHR is the only national understood it meant that many nursing homes would never be held organization whose exclusive mission is improving the quality of long-term accountable for egregious, avoidable injuries to those they love. care and protecting residents’ rights. “We have an obligation to young women who have taken this drug and are concerned for their health to provide them with the most extensive information outlet to share experiences, to let them know they are not alone in their concerns, and to inform them Co-counsel
of their legal rights when considering a YAZ, Yasmin, or Ocella lawsuit,” says Jim Sokolove, founder of Sokolove Law LLC.
SPOTlight The Branch Law Firm
Albuquerque, NM
Meet Isabel Stewart — CUSTOMER CONTACT SUPERVISOR
litigation: one of its high-profile cases Giving a Voice to Clients
In her role as Customer Contact Supervisor, Isabel Stewart is says Isabel. “The lead qualifying process has become more like always seeking to strengthen the relationship between our clients practitioner. Today, his firm, The Branch and Sokolove Law. She often brings with her the voice of the Law Firm, is nationally recognized for its client to roundtable discussions on improving existing marketing This close engagement also helps uncover new client insights. For involvement in a leadership capacity in a to negotiate the settlement of one example, says Isabel, “We are also tweaking our process to better meet communication demands from clients.” After noticing a Isabel started off the year with an interesting venture. With sizeable number of requests for emailed contracts, Isabel and her Albuquerque lawyers, co-founded the New Mexico Women's Bar, which the company’s recent launch of YazTalk.com (a social Web team implemented a system to enable electronic contracts. “A currently has more than 300 members.
community), she assembled a team of five women case managers case manager can now email a contract to the client while they whose age matches the Yaz target demographic. These case are on the phone, review the contract together, and provide managers, whose role is to screen leads before they are sent to instructions on mailing the contract to our office,” she says. This co-counsel for further review, are dedicated to the YAZ®, approach has shortened the lead-to-case time by a whole week.
relationship,” says Branch. “I commend the staff for their hard work in providing During Isabel’s five-year tenure at the company, her role has “We want to create a peer-to-peer experience for clients evolved from a Client Services Representative to a Customer Phen®, Rezulin®, Baycol®, Vioxx®, and for always being available to assist us.
contacting us about their injuries from theYaz drug,” says Isabel.
Contact Supervisor who manages a team of 17 case managers Having a team of women case managers responding to these who focus on medical and pharmaceutical injuries. It’s this inquiries has helped the team establish trust quickly, which adds depth of experience brought by in-house resources like Isabel an extra level of comfort for young women seeking legal consult.
that helps Sokolove Law to best meet the needs of our “Our case managers are on a first-name basis with our clients,” Omniflox®, Norplant®, Rezulin®, Baycol®, Vioxx® and Avandia® are registered trademarks of Abbott Laboratories, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert, Yaz® and Yasmin® are registered trademarks of Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ocella® is a registered trademark of Barr Laboratories, Inc. Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Merck & Co., respectively.

Source: http://www.sokolovelaw.com/for-lawyers/who-we-are/~/media/SokoloveLaw/Content/For%20Lawyers/Newsletters/SokoloveLaw_ForLawyersNewsletter_0410.pdf