Free Sample Pleadings Online

At his Illinois Trial Practice blog, Evan Schaeffer links to the Miller and Zois Attorney Help Center.  The Help Center makes available, online, sample pleadings, motions and discovery materials for personal injury cases in Maryland, though many might potentially serve as a model for other states as well (though don’t forget to check applicable state laws and local court rules to make sure).  I’d actually come across this site several weeks ago and used one of the pleadings as a loose model, so I can attest first-hand to the utility of the site.

What’s in it for the firm, you might wonder, to “give away the milk for
free,” so to speak.  First of all, the attorneys who make use of this
site are more likely to be newer attorneys (after all, why else would
they need to find a sample to begin with?).  And newer attorneys will
probably attract clients with smaller or more difficult cases that
probably do not interest Miller & Zois anyway.  Second, newer
attorneys (or non-PI attorneys) do manage to reel in a client with a
large PI matter and can’t handle the case, they’ll be far more likely
to refer the case to Miller & Zois because they’ll have an
opportunity to review some of its work.

When I started my firm back in 1993, lawyers were obsessed with not giving away anything for free.  They’d write articles that consisted only of teasers or headlines, without any real substantive information.  Blogging and the Internet has changed those attitudes by showing that lawyers who make real information available as a public service will get real benefits back many times over.

12 Comments

  1. f/k/a . . . . on January 6, 2006 at 6:13 pm

    Miller

    You know we hate to be spoil sports.



  2. f/k/a . . . . on January 6, 2006 at 6:13 pm

    Miller

    You know we hate to be spoil sports.



  3. Amy Long on January 7, 2006 at 10:15 am

    This website looks good. Anyone know of any others with DC or Virginia forms? I am already familiar with findlaw.com.
    Thanks.



  4. Amy Long on January 7, 2006 at 10:15 am

    This website looks good. Anyone know of any others with DC or Virginia forms? I am already familiar with findlaw.com.
    Thanks.



  5. MSN tests new blog, search fea on February 7, 2006 at 12:19 am

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  6. MSN tests new blog, search features on February 7, 2006 at 12:19 am

    MSN Search’s WebLog

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  7. MSN tests new blog, search fea on February 23, 2006 at 2:46 am

    MSN Search’s WebLog

    MSN tests new blog, search features | The service will let users find blogs and
    syndicate content using the RSS format, as well as search blogs for specific …



  8. MSN tests new blog, search features on February 23, 2006 at 2:46 am

    MSN Search’s WebLog

    MSN tests new blog, search features | The service will let users find blogs and
    syndicate content using the RSS format, as well as search blogs for specific …



  9. Denyse Walls on December 11, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    I am looking for a sample complaint for damages against a tavern for damages caused by a drunk customer



  10. Denyse Walls on December 11, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    I am looking for a sample complaint for damages against a tavern for damages caused by a drunk customer



  11. Tgm559 on September 10, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    You shouldn't have served your “drunk customer” too much to drink to become drunk which goes to shared liability.



  12. Abking09 on October 15, 2010 at 4:13 pm

    It is the barmaids responsibility to “cut off” a customer when they are too intoxicated, if you were the last to serve alcohol to the customer and they leave and get in an accident, you are responsible for shared liability!! I learned this not from experience in this situation but as a barmaid. Good Luck and remember, it is better to cut them off and make them mad than to wind up in jail for serving them too much!!



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