Take a look at our June newsletter!
For The Ambitious Advocate BRIEF RECESS
JUNE 2024
FROM THE LAW OFFICES OF J. PRICE MCNAMARA
The Best Way to Get Google Reviews for Your Law Firm
What is the best way to generate Google reviews?
Please call me any time you think we can be of help to you or anyone you know. I’ll ALWAYS be happy to help. NEVER hesitate to call.
1. Ask. Ask everyone you know, including your former and current clients and any vendor who has you as a customer. Medical experts, court reporters, economists, vocational rehabilitation experts, the list is endless when you do the work we do. They don’t need to be clients to say you’re a nice person, extremely professional, generous with your time, truly care about people, etc.
Client reviews are extremely important to us. Your review helps to let others know that we take great care of our clients.
If you could take just one minute to leave us a review, it would be much, much appreciated!
All you need to do is:
What about other attorneys, old law school classmates, friends, and relatives? Again, not clients, but they can say something like the above.
1.
Click the following link: McNamara Law Review Or scan this QR code:
Do you ever notarize documents or give tidbits of advice as a favor to friends, family, neighbors, or prospective clients whose case you don’t take for whatever reason? After providing a positive experience like that, ask if they will leave a Google review. 2. Make it easy. After asking, don’t make them figure out how to get to your Google Business Profile and leave a review. Create and send them a link that brings them straight to the screen to leave a review, and send them the link via text or email. The link we send says “McNamara Law Review.” And in the message sharing the link, tell them exactly what to do. Again, make it easy! We have different link-sharing messages for this depending on who we’re sending it to. I just got a review from a very appreciative caller who had a small problem we don’t handle, but I gave them five minutes of advice over the phone. Felt good helping her out, and her nice review was a bonus. Our forwarding review message for these types of review prospects says this:
2. Click the “Share details ...” box that pops up and let us know how you felt about your experience! Did we help you with a long- term disability insurance, life insurance or accidental death insurance claim? Were we
honest, friendly, professional and responsive? If you want to mention anyone on our team by first name who was especially helpful, even better!
Wishing you all the best, and respectfully, Law Offices of J. Price McNamara
3. Get your team involved. The final bolded sentence sentence from our forwarding message ( “If you want to mention anyone on our team by first name who was especially helpful, even better!” ) brings me to this point. Members of your team give great impressions of empathy and professionalism to everyone who interacts with them in their work (hopefully).
Hi Kim,
They can ask, or you can ask, that a review prospect leave a review mentioning them by first name “because it really helps them.” We find
This is to humbly thank you for trusting my firm to help you, and I hope we’ve lived up to your expectations. It was an honor to be of service to you!
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(225) 201-8311 1
You Decide: Was Lincoln Financial Just Ignorant? Or Were They Trying to ‘Pull a Fast One’? The Story of Jim’s Battle Again
Was Lincoln Financial just ignorant or trying to “pull a fast one” when it denied our New York client’s accidental death and dismemberment insurance benefits based on a drug intoxication exclusion, before being reversed on appeal when confronted with well-known science? Our client, Christine, lost her son Nicholas in a tragic motorcycle accident when the bike inexplicably left the highway and struck an embankment. He had an ERISA-governed accidental death and dismemberment policy underwritten by Lincoln Financial naming Christine as beneficiary. A Lincoln policy’s intoxication exclusion required that “driving while intoxicated” would be a “contributing cause” of the accident. Lincoln denied the claim arguing that the toxicology report had THC levels in his blood indicating marijuana intoxication. Lincoln’s Twist Review of the claim file showed that Lincoln based its denial on its in-house reviewing nurse’s statement that “Anything above 5 ng/mL is considered impaired. The level of 48 ng/mL indicates that Nicholas was impaired/ driving while intoxicated at the time of the accident.” The Truth Exposed The Decedent’s 48 ng/mL femoral blood level, which Lincoln’s reviewing nurse latched on to, was of Decedent’s non-psychoactive metabolite Delta-9 Carboxy THC level. But a Delta-9 Carboxy THC level can only
indicate past usage at some unknown point in time, days or even weeks prior to the blood testing. It cannot be used to show impairment.
Decedent’s blood level of the psychoactive component, 11-Hyroxy Delta-9 THC, was only 2.2 ng/mL. This level cannot support a finding of impairment. It supports the opposite. We had a toxicologist review the records. He agreed that Lincoln’s reviewing nurse’s opinion represented the erroneous idea that the non- psychoactive metabolite carboxy THC level of 48 ng/mL demonstrates impairment because it is above 5 ng/mL. Lincoln’s nurse’s statement that “Anything above 5ng/mL is considered impaired” is true only as to the psychoactive component, hydroxy THC. The level of carboxy THC metabolite exceeding 5 ng/mL is meaningless in the impairment analysis. Thus, the conclusion that “Nicholas was impaired/ driving while intoxicated at the time of the accident” was based on a misunderstanding of the science. And in fact, Decedent’s level of hydroxy THC below 5 ng/mL indicated non-impairment. Our expert said that the above is so widely accepted and easily researched that he seriously wonders whether Lincoln was merely ignorant, or really knew this and tried to “pull a fast one.”
If an insurance company is going to deny benefits, it should at least hire someone with knowledge in the science forming the basis of the denial.
A couple of good articles on this are:
use but does not correlate with impairment at the time of testing. This metabolite persists in the blood and urine long after the psychoactive effects of THC have subsided. Therefore, while THC-COOH levels can show previous cannabis exposure, they do not provide a reliable measure of impairment or recent use. This distinction is crucial in the context of drug testing for drivers, as the presence of THC-COOH alone does not necessarily indicate that a driver was impaired at the time of a motor vehicle collision. The study emphasizes the need for toxicology testing to focus on THC levels rather than its metabolites when assessing impairment, as THC is the compound associated with the psychoactive effects that can impair driving ability. The findings underscore the complexity of determining cannabis impairment and the limitations of current drug testing methods in accurately reflecting recent use and impairment.”
From the National Library of Medicine: “Establishing Legal Limits for driving under the influence of marijuana” (attached): “In addition, blood screening can also detect metabolites of THC [e.g., carboxy- THC (THC-COOH)] (NORML [2014b]). However, detection of THC- COOH only (no THC) does not indicate impairment (NORML [2014b]; Sewell et al. [2009]).” From Society for the Study of Addiction: “Cannabis use as a risk factor for causing motor vehicle crashes: a prospective study”: “Levels of 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH), the main non-psychoactive metabolite of THC, cannot be used to determine impairment. THC-COOH is indicative of past cannabis
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Revived and Revitalized nst Unjust Benefit Termination
Does your office turn away calls about “long-term disability insurance” claim denials because you don’t handle administrative appeals or “ERISA litigation” in federal court? We want to hear from you! We happily share fees on referred ERISA long-term disability, life insurance, and accidental death insurance denial cases. Send us an email at BriefRecess@jpricemcnamara.com or call (225) 201-8311 to start the referral process! WE VALUE YOUR REFERRALS!
The Wondrous Properties of Hot Water We are aware that water drinkers consume fewer calories than nonwater drinkers, and the link between consuming sweetened beverages and obesity attests to this. Beverage brands may boast the supposedly remarkable attributes of their energy drink and mineral water brands, but none can beat the benefits of water — and there’s research to prove it.
Water is necessary to keep our bodies functioning, and drinking enough is essential to live healthily and reach our full fitness potential. However, a new development shows that it is possible to unlock even more of water’s potential — by drinking it hot!
ERISA is all we do!
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that this ups our chances of getting the review. Even if they might not leave one for you, they may feel compelled to help the team member who was so nice and helpful. An attorney friend from New York has a number of creative reward policies in his office for Google reviews. Team members can pick the rewards of their choice. Under one policy, Lisa generated more than 50 Google reviews and earned 5 paid days off. Not bad. Through the efforts of only two members over a period of only six weeks, his firm’s Google reviews increased from 621 to 715. That is amazing! What can you do to gamify the process of Google reviews? Rally your team and make sure they know that a Google review should be requested with every positive interaction that they have with a client or vendor. Make sure they know that you have specific goals for Google reviews and they will be rewarded for their efforts.
Enhanced Weight Loss While many know that drinking enough can make you feel full, it may actually do much
more, depending on the temperature of the water and when you drink it. Research shows that drinking water can increase your metabolic rate and daily energy expenditure, which helps you burn calories and lose weight. If you want to lose weight, try drinking some hot water before your meal. Studies also show that drinking hot water 30–40 minutes before you eat can increase your metabolism by 40%, compared to just 30% from drinking room- temperature water! Additionally, researchers recommend drinking 2 liters of water, heated to at least 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, to kickstart your energy expenditure throughout the day. Cleanse Your System One of the first side effects of drinking hot water is increased body temperature, which can lead to sweating and natural detoxification. Additionally, drinking hot water aids in preventing constipation, bloating, and hemorrhoids and helps break down food faster than cold water. If you want to lose weight or partake in some natural detoxification, it may be time to incorporate some hot water into your diet. It may be a hot take, but science suggests that ditching soft drinks for some heated H 2 O will benefit your health!
Getting creative to get reviews in today’s marketplace is definitely worth the effort.
(225) 201-8311 3
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
ERISA INSURANCE J. PRICE MCNAMARA Claim Attorney
10455 Jefferson Hwy. Suite 130 Baton Rouge, LA 70809 (225) 201-8311 WinMyBenefits.com
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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Tips to Get More Google Reviews
Past THC Usage Does Not Indicate Impairment
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Hot Water Is Phenomenal for Your Health?
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How a Pet Husky Prevented Disaster
On Dec. 15, 2023, pet owner Chanell Bell of Philadelphia was taken aback when she noticed that Kobe, her 4-year-old miniature Alaskan husky, had dug a hole in her home’s front yard. This was a stark departure from Kobe’s usual behavior, which Bell initially dismissed as boredom and promptly refilled the hole. However, when Kobe began to dig again in the same spot, Chanell realized something was amiss. Hero Husky Saves the Neighborhood
“We’ve been here at our home for a while now, and he never digs holes,” Bell told USA Today. “So, I knew something was up.”
She investigated further, reviewing footage from the family home’s security camera overlooking Kobe’s newfound digspot. Then, she witnessed Kobe sniff the air around the area before digging the hole in the same spot again. Thinking something Kobe smelled must have alarmed him, Bell phoned Philadelphia Gas Works, which sent a crew out to investigate. The engineers discovered that the gas lines beneath the Bell household were old, dilapidated, and beginning to leak. After fixing the issue, the company told Bell that if Kobe had not discovered the leak, the line would have posed significant health and safety concerns for the whole neighborhood.
“They told me something as simple as a light switch turning on could’ve caused an explosion,” Bell told USA Today.
After Bell shared Kobe’s story on social media, it caught the attention of PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who awarded the young husky the Heroic Dog Award. Inspired by Kobe’s efforts, Bell wrote a children’s book dedicated to him called “The Dog That Saved the Block Before Christmas.”
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