OUR 5 RULES OF REPRESENTATION…WHY WE HAVE THEM.

At the law office of Keith Short we have 5 rules that all clients must accept before we will agree to represent them.

  1. Never lie.  Lying is the surest way to lose your case.  Get caught lying, exaggerating or omitting information and your case is over.
  2. These cases take a long time.  Be prepared to wait 1, 2 or even 5 years before it’s concluded.  You must be patient.
  3. It’s your case, but we (the firm) are in charge.  We have an obligation to do what’s best for you so we will.  We will talk with you and explain everything, but trust us in the major decisions.
  4. Don’t ask what your case is worth until the end.  We take cases because we believe in you.  Whether your case is worth a thousand or a million dollars, we have the case because we like it and we like you.  We don’t and won’t know what your case is worth until all the evidence is in.  So, asking in the beginning is a bad sign.  Understand that our fates and our fortunes are aligned.  What’s good for you is good for us.
  5. You must cooperate.  You must help us win your case; that means answering interrogatories, attending all of your medical exams, doing depositions, providing information, etc.  If you don’t do your part we cannot win.  An example is below.  It is not our case, but a perfect example of a plaintiff who didn’t help his attorney (himself, he was pro se).  Whether you have a lawyer or not, you have to provide information…you have to work.

In action alleging that defendant terminated plaintiff in retaliation for plaintiff-employee’s statement that he was going to file worker’s compensation claim, Dist. Ct. did not err in finding for defendant on ground that plaintiff failed to prove any damages arising out of defendant’s alleged acts. Dist. Ct. had previously precluded pro se plaintiff from presenting any evidence other than his own testimony (due to plaintiff’s prior failure to respond to any of defendant’s discovery requests, as well as his failure to abide by deadlines to identify exhibits and witnesses), and plaintiff further failed to explain at trial how he determined that he had incurred $133,000 in damages, what he had been paid by defendant, or whether wages he had received from subsequent employers had reduced his claimed damages.  Plata v. Eureka Locker, Inc., No. 16-2030 (May 9, 2017) C.D. Ill. Affirmed