Every so often I will get a letter from another personal injury attorney letting me know that one of my clients is firing me and hiring him or her to represent them. Whenever this happens, a few things always run through my mind. First, why didn’t the new attorney call me first before stealing away my client? Second, wouldn’t the new attorney want to know about the case before he or she steals it from another attorney? And lastly, karma is a %*tch!! I never like it when this situation described above happens to me and thus I make it a practice to never do it to anyone else. Usually, if someone who is represented by another attorney is calling me to take over his or her case, there is something wrong with the case. If there is not anything wrong with the case, then usually the potential new client is a difficult client. I will listen to what the potential client has to say, and then immediately call his current attorney to find out what exactly the situation is. If it is a case where the client is just impatient or unwilling to accept a settlement offer that I feel is fair, I will tell the potential client that his attorney is doing a good job for him and that more likely than not I will not be able to do anything more for the person. There are rare situations where other attorneys are not doing their job: such as not returning phone calls, or simply not handling a case properly. In these instances, I will take over the handling of a case, but never before calling the current attorney and letting him know what is going on with his client. There is an old saying that I was taught at a very young age, and that is, “do on to others as you would want others to do to you”. As an attorney in a field where there are hundreds maybe even thousands of people doing exactly the same work that I do, I never want to get a new client by stepping on the toes of another competent attorney. It is important to show respect to my fellow personal injury attorneys and usually people appreciate this and are more likely to refer me business in the future.