In this episode, Rob Mazow and Kevin McCullough talk about attorney referrals to Mazow McCullough. They discuss which serious injury and wrongful death cases are a strong fit, how referring lawyers stay involved, and how the firm works to protect client relationships through communication, trust, and results.
John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher, and I’m here today with Rob Mazow and Kevin McCullough of the Law Office of Mazow McCullough. Today we’re talking about referrals to the law office. Welcome, Rob and Kevin.
Rob Mazow: Thank you, John.
Kevin McCullough: Thanks, John.
Serious Injury and Wrongful Death Case Referrals
John: So Kevin, what types of cases are the best fit for Mazow McCullough in terms of getting referrals and why?
Kevin: Yeah, so at Mazow McCullough, we are a firm that specializes in representing those who have suffered serious injuries or people who have lost a family member or a loved one due to someone else’s fault or negligence. That’s the area that we specialize in. We’ve been doing this together for over 25 years now, and those tend to be the best types of cases for other lawyers to refer into the office.
Why Lawyers Refer Personal Injury Cases
John: And what usually prompts another attorney to refer a case to you instead of just handling it themselves?
Rob: Well, like Kevin said, we’ve been doing this for 25 years, which is quite shocking that it’s been that long. And throughout that time period, we’ve worked very hard to cultivate relationships with other attorneys. We speak at certain events. We write articles. We try to be thought leaders.
We try to meet lawyers at their offices to meet them and their clients to let the clients know that this lawyer’s not just handing off a client to us, so we can develop a relationship early on with the client and their referring attorney. And we’ve tried to build a reputation that lawyers can trust us, trust us to do a good job, trust us to provide them with updates, provide them with resolution, a fee at the end of the case if one is generated. And we work very hard to keep that relationship going and keep that relationship strong.
What Referring Attorneys Expect After a Referral
John: What are some of the things that attorneys tend to care about most once they send a case your way?
Kevin: That can vary, John. It really depends upon the attorney, the type of law that they handle, whether or not they do handle personal injury matters and if they want to have an interest in working on some level with the office as the case goes forward. And then we have attorneys that practice in other areas of law, say criminal defense or real estate matters. And they tend to just want to refer the case over for us to handle from start to finish.
And they feel comfortable doing that based upon the trust level that we’ve worked and established with those attorneys that are referring the cases. So we see a mix of lawyers wanting to be on the initial call with clients when we do the assessment and viability, and if it’s a case we’re going to take on. There are lawyers that when I’m in litigation with cases and clients, they may want to join a Zoom call or a conference call that we have with clients to give them an update or deposition preparation.
And as I mentioned, there are some lawyers that just want no involvement other than to know that the clients are in good hands and that we’re going to take good care of them. So we’re willing to work with all different types of lawyers. And there’s a confidence level that we have.
There’s no worry or concern about another lawyer sort of looking under the hood at what we do here. We’ve perfected a system from intake where we do that initial fact gathering to see if it’s a case that we want here at the office. We have systems in place once the case is signed up to make sure that we gather all the required documents and investigation materials, putting insurance companies on notice. So whatever the referring lawyer wants and prefers from us, we’re willing to provide that access and give them those updates as the cases go forward.
Rob: I think at the end of the day, the referring lawyer wants to know, a) that their client is in good hands, and b), that they’re not going to get a call from their client saying, “What did you send me to those guys for?” We want that client to let the referring attorney know that these guys — Kevin, myself, our office — know what we’re doing. We support their client and we’ll do as good a job as anybody, and better in most cases. So that’s what I think a referring attorney wants. They want to know that they can have confidence in us and that we’ll produce a good result for them and their clients because it makes them look better.
Referral Communication and Case Updates
John: Right. So for those attorneys that want to be kind of kept informed throughout the process of the case, how does that communication typically work?
Rob: So initially, like I said, first, Kevin or I or one of our attorneys can go to the referring attorney’s office and meet with the attorney, meet with the client so that the client feels that there’s no separation between the handoff. Our intake coordinator, once she does an intake, we’ll send the referring attorney a letter saying, “We’ve signed this person up. You’re listed as the referring attorney. Please let us know if you have any questions, etc.”
And there’s a piece of paper that’s sent to that lawyer. So there’s a contract that says that lawyer knows we’re not going away. We’re going to be here. We’re going to take this case to the finish line. We give periodic updates to the referring attorney, letting them know what’s going on. Some attorneys, as Kevin said, want to have more involvement. Some attorneys will come to the depositions with us. It’s their right. They can still be attorney of counsel and they can see that we’re handling the case appropriately.
And then at the end of the case, the referring attorney hears from us and says, “Here’s what we set up the case for. Here’s the successful result we had. Thank you so much. We appreciate your referrals.” And that generally leads to future calls from the referring attorney.
Handling Referred Cases From Intake to Resolution
John: What do you think truly differentiates Mazow McCullough when it comes to handling referred cases from start to finish?
Kevin: I think what separates us from competitors and other personal injury law firms is the commitment to the client. We are a law firm, we’re attorneys, and oftentimes when we meet with clients, there’s sort of this expectation that things will be different and they’re not sure how to ask questions, how frequently they should connect with us.
And we immediately let the clients feel at ease with the fact that we’re here to service you. We’re here to help you through this very difficult situation that you’re dealing with. And oftentimes that immediately makes the clients feel comfortable knowing that there’s no such thing as a silly or stupid question. When you’re injured and you’re hospitalized and you’re missing time from work, these are stressful times. And to the extent that we can answer questions immediately for the clients, to the extent that we can share updates on the cases and we can share information as the cases move forward and that things unfold, I do think that that is what truly separates us from other lawyers.
But there’s so many other things that we do that also differentiate us other than that client satisfaction that we’re trying to achieve. And that’s doing this for as long as we have. The expertise that we have in this field, the system that we have set up, the training that we had as lawyers before we started this firm, those are all things that, together, make us different than other personal injury law firms.
And they allow us to sort of know what’s ahead and to anticipate what’s ahead. And that’s not true with every case, but when you do it as long as we have with the experience level that we have, we don’t leave any stone unturned when we’re moving forward with cases. And those are things that we hear from other lawyers, that “I wouldn’t have thought of that. That was a great job and a great recovery. And I’m so glad that I referred these clients to you because I don’t think that type of service or that type of outcome would’ve happened at a different firm.” So that’s what separates us from other firms, John.
What Attorneys Should Know Before Referring a Case
John: Are there any questions that you typically get from referring attorneys that you’d like them to know upfront?
Rob: Yeah, we usually will hear, “what’s the process here? What’s going to happen once we hand you the client and the client agrees to sign up with us?” We let them know, obviously, it depends on the kind of case, but if it’s a case that’s going to be in litigation, which usually is… those are the kinds of cases that we’re getting.
We explain the process. If it’s a lawyer that doesn’t do any litigation, let’s say that they’re a real estate lawyer and they just don’t know the process, we will explain to them, just like we’re talking to the client, that this is a long process, here’s what’s involved, here’s the team members that the client will be dealing with. We tell them about the continual client updates that we provide, the access that we give to the clients and the referring attorney. So it’s about making them feel comfortable.
If it’s a new relationship that we are developing with the referring attorney, we want to let them know that they’re in good hands, like I said, that they’re in safe hands, that they’re in experienced hands, and everything should work out great.
Referral Success Stories and Client Trust
John: Are there any recent referrals or examples that stand out to you? And maybe could you talk through those and explain why that relationship worked well?
Kevin: Yeah. So I’m laughing, John, because literally last week I had a call with a current client. So there is an attorney who practices personal injury work out of southern New Hampshire, and he has been a referring attorney to the firm for literally almost the time that we started the business, almost 25 years. And we receive referrals from this lawyer maybe four to six times a year. So an ongoing relationship with this attorney.
Recently, last summer, his sister was severely injured at an airport in Maine, run over by a car while trying to get out of her vehicle and grabbing luggage and suitcases. So this is a long-standing relationship with very positive outcomes over the years. And this lawyer referred his sister to the firm, and she has no idea who I am or who the firm is. And he was speaking highly of me and of the firm.
And we had the initial call and it lasted very long because she had a lot of questions. She wanted to make sure that although this was her brother literally referring her to the firm, she wanted to feel that comfort level. And this particular lawyer made a point to stay on the communications last fall. And recently when we scheduled an update on treatment and how the injuries were healing, how the fractures were healing, I noticed that she scheduled a Zoom call with just me. And the referring lawyer, her brother, was not on the Zoom call.
So when I was talking with the client last week, she said she didn’t want her brother on the call. She didn’t need him on the calls anymore. And I immediately sent him a text after the call ended and he got a big kick out of that because he had no idea that we had scheduled the call, that there was a call. And he immediately called me on the telephone and wanted to say how comfortable he felt when he was referring his sister and how funny it is now, to the fact that she now has that comfort level, knowing that she doesn’t need her brother on the call anymore.
And it’s that type of stuff that the lawyers that we work with can share that with clients frequently, but it takes the client going through that experience to get to the point where, whether it’s their brother or their uncle or a friend that made the referral, they know they’re in good hands and they’re ready, willing, and able to communicate with us and work together to move forward with the case. So that is something that, again, literally just happened last week and it made me laugh when you were asking that question. It’s a perfect example of what we do here.
Long-Term Referral Relationships
John: Rob, anything to add to that, or any final thoughts?
Rob: I think Kevin nailed it. It’s the ongoing relationship that we’ve been able to develop with lawyers. And sometimes we don’t hear from them for several years and then they’re still thinking about us when a client of theirs has an issue that they think will be right for our office. So it’s nice. It’s rewarding. It’s comforting to know that we’ve done a good job for referring attorneys and that they continue to reach out to us.
John: All right, well, that’s really great information. Rob and Kevin, thanks again for speaking with me today.
Rob: Thanks, John.
Kevin: Thank you, John.
John: And for more information, you can visit the website at helpinginjured.com or call 978-744-8000.
