Defense Digest

Message From The Executive Committee

As you, our clients, know, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin has grown significantly over the last ten years and again over the last five years. We have added new offices, new young lawyers, new senior lawyers, and new areas of expertise. Our goal has been to expand our geographic reach, to strengthen our practice groups, and to add areas of expertise while all the time maintaining our core concentration as a civil defense litigation firm. I am very comfortable telling you that this firm tries as many cases to verdict as any firm that services the geographic areas where we are located. However, we are still not satisfied.

We want to be your first choice when you are confronted with a litigation matter that requires a real trial attorney, whether the case at hand is a single plaintiff personal injury case, whether the case at hand is a complicated commercial matter, or whether the case at hand is the first of its kind in a potential emerging area of mass tort litigation. We also want to be your first choice when you are confronted with a piece of litigation that you would prefer never see the inside of a court room, whatever the reason. Many of our lawyers are experienced in the court room but are equally experienced in resolving matters on terms and within time frames favorable to our clients.

The question that arises with any business that grows quickly and grows by adding employees from outside is whether that business can continue to maintain the same level of service on which it established its reputation. We believe that we have collected as skilled a group of trial lawyers as exists in any civil defense firm. However, if we are going to be the first firm that you call when a matter arises that needs our expertise, it is also necessary that we provide you with a level of service that exceeds that of our competitors and is consistent from office to office. We continue to take steps internally to make sure that we are providing you with the level of service that makes you want to utilize us on a repeated basis. However, as we have grown, it is safe to say that not all of our lawyers started here, that not all of our lawyers have learned their trade here, and that not all of our lawyers have the same experience. Therefore, I encourage you to call me if you have any question about the service or the lawyering that you believe you are receiving. The most discouraging thing to a law firm is to learn after the fact there was a client or two who was dissatisfied with the work of a particular lawyer and as a result stopped using that law firm. We value all of our relationships with our clients. Many of those relationships are over 25 years old and some are going on 40 years old. We like to add to our client base but want to preserve all of our client relationships.

Every month, at least twice a month, we conduct internal training. That training touches upon areas of service, areas of technology, the development of trial skills, developing legal issues, and occasionally the fundamentals of the practice of law. We would like nothing better than to hear from you about matters of importance to you. I certainly appreciate receiving the praise and thanks of our clients when good work is done. However, we would also like to know if there is a particular case with which you were dissatisfied, either with the lawyering or with the degree of service provided. What you tell us will help us to formulate topics for our internal training. In addition, it helps us to know whether our lawyers are doing as good a job as we believe they are.

I know that I speak for Phil Toran (the head of our Professional Liability Group), Pete Miller (the head of our Employment and Workers' Compensation Group), and Kate McGrath (the head of our Health Care Liability Practice Group), when I invite you to call any one of us should you be dissatisfied in any way with the service or lawyering that you receive from one of our lawyers. Our goal is to be the best law firm in the venues where we are located. Our goal is to satisfy all of our clients. You can help us achieve that goal. Please call. I can be reached at (215) 575-2748 or tabrophy@mdwcg.com.