By David Daggett on 10/8/2007 1:19 AM

     Momentun Shift

     Last weekend we were at a law school event and got to chatting with a Federal Judge and his wife. The topic quickly shifted to Wake Forest football. The Judge and I are both big Wake Forest fans, and after last year’s stellar season culminating with the Orange Bowl our hopes were high for this year. However, the Deacons got off to a bit of a tough start with a 1 - 2 record.

     Things weren’t looking too good in Wake Forest’s last home game against Maryland. But, it turned out to be a thriller to the last second when our beloved Deacons pulled it out in overtime. Wow - I’m sure glad we stayed ‘til the end!

     This game was really interesting because Wake was way behind 24 - 3 with one minute left in the third quarter, and Maryland was getting ready to score again! But, the Deacons intercepted a pass and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown - the longest in the history of the school. You could immediately feel what the Judge and I dubbed as the "Momentum Shift."

     As we further discussed the "shift" the conversation then turned again. It turned to how the same principle applies in what we do professionally. "Momentum Shift" is exactly we try to do for our clients when they have been wrongfully injured, hurt at work, disabled, or has their land taken.

     The other side is usually bigger and more powerful, so our clients need help on their side. That is where we come in and apply our knowledge, understanding, work, and experience. We try to put the law on their side in order to do what is right, just, and fair. We are proud that our team at Lewis & Daggett takes this obligation so seriously.

     We hope the Wake Forest can use the "Momentum Shift" as the season continues. At the same time, our pledge is to always try to give a momentum shift to those who need our help.

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By David Daggett on 9/24/2007 6:52 AM

     Just a Little Help

     Many people call us and may really just need a little legal help or guidance. In those situations we try to provide you with some help and assistance to point you in the right direction. Please allow me to share with you a little further information that you may also find helpful.

(Attorney Julie Bell Providing help)

     First of all let me tell you it is very difficult for us to say no to somebody who is calling for legal representation. Our attorneys and staff are really the type of people who like to help. We like to be able to help when you call. We like to guide you through your problem and we like to see you get it resolved one way or another. But we also feel that it is fair to tell you the truth regarding your situation and not to send you on a wild goose chase.

     In fact one of the things that we try to do here is refer folks onto other legal professionals in areas that we don't handle. However, we try not to send somebody on if it's a situation that is simply not economically feasible for a lawyer to handle; or, just as importantly if it is not an economically feasible situation for you to hire a lawyer. The reason is that is that it just simply isn't in your best interest and may lead to further frustration and financial strain.

     Certainly we think your situation is important and because of that we want you to feel free to use us as a resource for further guidance or direction either with your specific issue or within the legal community.

     For further information that may be helpful to you we want to provide you with some tips so that you can handle your situation when a lawyer really isn't needed. And remember sometimes as your situation develops it may become more feasible in the future for an attorney to help you out even though at the present time it is not feasible.

     We will very candidly try to give you help and direction so that you know if your situation gets to the point where you would benefit from having an attorney involved. Until then there's free information for you - sort of some self help kind of guidance available on our website or you can contact us and we will be happy to send you brochures and information to provide further guidance.

     We will work hard and continue to work hard in striving to live up to our well known reputation as a firm with a "History of Helping People." Thank you for your time and for joining us again. We really appreciate your giving us the opportunity to further help you and direct you. We look forward to further assisting you as the need may arise.

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By David Daggett on 9/17/2007 6:56 AM

    A Piece of Our Heart

     Hello, and as always, welcome to Lewis & Daggett. We appreciate your taking time to read our firm blog. This week we want to talk to you a little about something that is most important to us. That is our clients and our former clients. It may sound a bit cliché to say you are important to us, so we wanted to talk about this and explore this just a little bit further.

(L & D Front Desk)

     As you know, we are proud of our team here at Lewis and Daggett that includes attorneys, legal assistants, former insurance adjusters, investigators and support staff all working for your best interests. Also, we pride ourselves in our firm motto of "A History of Helping People." But our clients and former clients are probably a little bit more important to us than you probably realize.

     You may have experienced good service with our firm and, in fact, one indicator of the good service that we have done for you is the many families and friends of our clients and former clients that we end up representing and we appreciate that. But what you may not know is that with every client that we represent, literally a piece of our heart goes with each one of them.

     It means so much to us when we hear back from you or when you call in or just tell us how you are doing. One of the things that we hope that we can do is continue our relationship with you so that we can keep in touch with you and so that you can help us to continue to do a good job for other folks.

     We have a number of avenues that we use to try to stay in touch, to learn, and to continually improve. We try to stay in good contact while cases as proceeding. We survey all of our clients at the end of their cases so that we can continually learn and improve. We also stay in touch using e-mail, audio postcards, and electronic surveys. Many of you even participate more actively on our Client Advisory Panel.

     If you are interested in these ongoing updates and participation please click on the "Contact Us" link on the bar at the bottom of this screen to submit your contact information and we’ll be sure to include you in future communications.

     Our Client Advisory Panel is important because it helps us learn a little bit more about how to serve you better, how you think and feel and is a way for us to continue our relationship. Once you're on the client advisory panel, it's actually very minimally intrusive. We won't take up a great deal of your time. We will occasionally send you surveys, contact you for your questions and possibly set up some special events so that we can continue our relationship. We hope that you will find that relationship to be mutually beneficial and it's a way for us to continue to express our feelings toward you and to be able to stay in touch with you.

     We hope that you have enjoyed getting to know our firm. We thank you for your time and thank you for continuing to join us. We really appreciate your giving us the opportunity to further introduce ourselves, to learn more about us and in turn, for us to learn more about you. We look forward to speaking with you further.

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By David Daggett on 9/10/2007 6:57 AM

 Always Learning   

     It is "Back-to-School" time. Do you remember the thrill, anxious anticipation, and nervous excitement of your first days and weeks of each of your school years? What energy you had! What openness to new possibilities! At Lewis & Daggett we believe that we can all share this sense of excitement, and continual learning is actually one of our major firm beliefs.

(Photo form last Friday’s firm meeting)

     Learning is a continual process. Social scientists, doctors, psychologists, and researchers confirm that continued learning is necessary for proper brain function and development. Long term learning affects intellectual, ethical, social and performance development. At L & D we work daily as individuals and as a team to learn new skills, and challenge our brains. Formally, one of the ways we pursue this object is by having firm meeting every Friday morning. These meetings include all of us.

     Our Friday meetings may consist of some substantive presentations, team building opportunities, outside motivational speakers, personal betterment, and sometimes just plain fun and fellowship. We try to share our successes, as well as learn from experiences to make us all better individually and collectively as we progress. For example, we continually update and share efficiencies gained and better results achieved through advances in processes and technology.

     We believe this culture of continued learning betterment is important for each of us as individuals, and makes us better collectively. Our combined progressive intelligence, ethics, motivation, and client focused action plans we believe makes our firm a bit unique. Further, we are committed to continuing future progress and development. We believe this not only makes us better, but also allows us to better serve our clients.

     Members of our L & D team many times find our environment challenging while at the same time welcoming. We believe this makes us all better, more productive, and helps us worked together toward common missions and goals.

     We look forward to opportunities for continued learning, together.

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By David Daggett on 9/2/2007 10:42 AM

       Do Good Things . . .

     Today is a special day here in the Lewis & Daggett family. Today, Mike Lewis’ father, The Reverend Henry A. Lewis, celebrates his 90^th birthday and 65^th year in the ministry. Certainly both of these are significant milestones. What can we learn from him?

     There are many lessons we have and can continue to learn from Rev. Lewis. He tends to stop by the office at fairly regular intervals, and is around enough that he is truly part of our L & D family. We always enjoy it when he stops by, and I always try to pick up a lesson. I may write a book some day on the lessons learned . . . perhaps a fitting title could be "Mike and His Dad - Inter-Generational and Timeless Lessons."

      The first and most immediate lesson is to smile. Rev. Lewis always has a smile on his face from the moment he walks through the door, and continues to greet each individual with a smile. It always makes you feel good in his presence and is very welcoming. More, it is contagious and makes the whole environment better.

     Rev. Lewis is fond of saying something that incorporates some version of "Do good things." Which is usually closely followed by "Good things will happen for you." Wow, what a basic, simple, and a timeless lesson on how to succeed in life.

     Give positive encouragement to others. Rev. Lewis is always good about offering a word of encouragement. Interestingly, within his encouragement tends to be woven a message of high expectation. So, he not only encourages us toward good things and good results, he expects it!

     Oh, did you notice the Wake Forest shirt? Always pull for the home team - win or lose, good years and bad - always let them know which side you are on and pull hard. Rev. Lewis, thank you for always being on our Team! Happy 90^th!

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By David Daggett on 8/20/2007 8:31 AM

There's No Shortcut to Hard Work      

Hard work usually ends up with positive results, and, as we all know, there is rarely a shortcut to hard work. The exciting thing about hard work is how good and rewarding it always feels when the results are reached and the benefits gained.                      

      This past weekend Doug Nauman and I went on a little bicycle ride that included a long climb up to about 3000 feet on the Blue Ridge Parkway. There was no easy way up. Above is a photo we took of ourselves using the cell phone camera at the end my extended arm.   

     Doug and I have worked together for about 12 years, but this is the first time we have taken on this sort of adventure together. Climbing to the top of the mountain was hard, but the reward of the view and the long downhill seemed to make it all worthwhile. That’s just the way it works - you have to put in the hard work in order to enjoy the benefits and enjoy the positive results.

     Hard work certainly applies to working on cases in our office. At Lewis & Daggett hard work comes in many forms including accident investigation, legal research, obtaining and assembling documentation, case presentation, negotiations, and in court hearings when needed. Add to this mix a strong desire to help plus a strong dose of client service and we have the ingredients for positive results.

     We believe that hard work is necessary in order to properly do our jobs. It gives us the opportunity to strive for the best possible results and the most favorable representation. We take these obligations very seriously and will always strive to work hard to fulfill the confidence entrusted to us.

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By David Daggett on 8/14/2007 8:26 AM

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By David Daggett on 8/7/2007 8:26 AM

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