CHOOSING A COLLECTION ATTORNEY
by Raymond Pater

One way to avoid bad debt is to have your attorney review your initial contract with your customers/clients. A properly drafted contract may help avoid later problems and reduce the costs of collection by including entireties language, venue provisions, and procedures for objecting to the alleged inaccuracy of invoices.

This office generally works only on an hourly basis so that you are more likely to turn over files before they are stale and while the chances of collection are still reasonably high. Otherwise you may be tempted to retain the file too long because you are attempting to avoid paying 30 -50% to an attorney or collection agency.

Once we have an ongoing relationship with a client we will develop a good feel for how the client wants its debtors treated. That helps us when speaking to debtors by attempting to resolve the case in a manner our client will be happy with. Except with specific authorization, we will not settle your case. Therefore, we will contact our client before accepting a settlement proposal or payment plan.

Because collections are a major part of our practice, we know collection law and will abide by deadlines. An attorney who does not give prompt attention to your collection accounts may do more harm than good by not aggressively pursuing collection while you have discontinued your collection efforts because you have turned the file over. Additionally, an attorney who is not familiar with the technicalities of the Federal and State laws pertaining to debt collection may expose you to civil liability.

Raymond J. Pater is an attorney with approximately 20 years of collection experience. Ray represents several attorneys in collecting their fees and collections are a large part of his practice. Contact us at 616-396-8890 for expert assistance with collections.