Bordas & Bordas Handles Cases Throughout the United States
Our firm has attorneys who are licensed in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas. The majority of our work is in those states. However, we have also handled cases in many other states throughout the country, including Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana and New Mexico just to name some of them.
People may wonder how it is that we are able to handle cases in these other states.
There is a process for being admitted to practice in another state which is called Pro Hac Vice admission. This is a Latin term (so many legal terms are Latin) meaning “for this occasion.” As you might gather from this meaning, the admission is on a case-by-case basis.
In order to be admitted on a Pro Hac Vice basis, a lawyer must demonstrate that he is in good standing with the highest court of the state in which he practices and that he has a lawyer in the state in which he is seeking Pro Hac Vice admission who is sponsoring him and will be responsible for the case along with him.
Our firm is often times asked to represent individuals or companies in other states for various reasons. One such reason may be that an individual or company that is located close to one of our offices is harmed in another state. The individual harmed knows our reputation and the success we have achieved as a result of living in the local area. Thus, they ask our firm to represent them. In this instance, we handle the case and retain an attorney from the distant state to work with us on the case. The good news for our client is that it does not cost them anymore to do this. The fee that is paid to the out-of-area attorney is paid by our firm, not the client.
Another scenario where we are often times called upon to work in a distant state is where an individual, company or lawyer in a distant state has learned of our success in a particular area of the law and therefore wants to draw upon that experience and success. For example, a couple of years ago, I obtained a significant verdict of $10 million in an insurance bad faith case in Belmont County, Ohio. Since that time, I have had individuals from other states who have read about that case contact me to ask me to represent them in insurance cases in other states. Again, in that scenario, we work in tandem with an attorney from another state at no additional cost to the client. Of course, we are selective in determining which cases justify us spending our time in a distant location. However, if a case rises to the level that is justifiable to us, then we are willing and happy to do so.
A third type of situation where we are often times asked to represent someone in a distant location is when a current or former client, employee, family member or friend has a friend or relative in a distant location who needs help and they recommend us to that friend or relative. We are always very appreciative when someone recommends us to one of their friends or loved ones. We certainly accept it as a very high form of compliment that they would suggest that someone they know place their trust in us.
No matter how we may come to be involved in handling a case in a state outside of our office locations, we almost always enjoy it and come away pleased that we accepted the representation and that we were able to help someone obtain justice. Often times, the experiences that we have in these other jurisdictions are very memorable and we develop friendships that last a lifetime with people we never would have known. Being able to handle these cases is another reason that I am proud of the attorneys at our firm and the work that we do.
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