Like my son's favorite super hero, Terrell Owens once said, "I don't think they realize how talented I really am. . . I just want to make sure they give me a chance to live up to my full potential around here."

Humor aside, have you considered whether you are capitalizing on all that The Key Firm has to offer your Company? As we turn the corner on the new year, I'd like to briefly share with you several examples of ways we added value to our client's businesses in 2007. As I do, I'd like for you to consider ways that you can utilize our resources and talents beyond what you may be currently doing. You might be surprised:

Non-employment dispute resolution.

So as not to confuse the issue: we are a labor & employment firm, and we always will be. But because of our history of client-first, solution-oriented dispute resolution, many long-term clients turn to us as a resource in non-employment litigation. Key Firm attorney Michael Melder, with his extensive litigation background, has been instrumental in many of these matters. Here are some examples of our assistance in non-employment matters this year:

A national government contractor got into a dispute with its enterprise software provider in the middle of a half-million dollar software development, installation and maintenance project. The implementation fell several months behind schedule and the software was not delivering the expected results and the client desired to cancel the project. The software vendor steadfastly refused and insisted on project completion and full payment. In the hands of a typical litigation firm, this dispute would likely have taken several years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for an uncertain result, at best. As it was, however, in less than a month (and around $3,000 in fees), The Key Firm convinced the vendor to cancel the project and refund 100% of the $95,000 already paid.

Another client who provides a self-funded health insurance plan to its employees got into a potential six-figure bad faith insurance dispute with a plan beneficiary who had suffered a catastrophic injury. Key Firm attorney Michael Melder, worked with the TPA, the stop-loss carrier, the beneficiary and the employer to work out a win-win solution (at almost no cost to the employer) that led to the beneficiary rejecting his own litigious attorney's advice.

In addition, we successfully managed and resolved multiple local minor commercial litigation matters for a leading national home improvement retailer in 2007. In one of those cases, a disgruntled customer attempted to extort $50,000 in damages in a bogus DTPA claim. The Key Firm took the offensive and sued the customer first. As a result of our efforts, not only did the customer drop his claims, but he ended up paying damages to our client. Again, the matter was disposed of in a couple of months for less than $5,000 in legal fees and costs.

Although we are not looking to expand beyond our specialty, we are happy to apply our solution-oriented approach to a wide range of disputes. If nothing else, we can assist you in finding suitable counsel for your particular needs.

Retainer-based fees.

We have seen a number of clients switch from hourly billing to flat-fee retainer billing. Although retainer billing is not for everyone, for the right clients it can be a fantastic solution. Here are some of the advantages: (1) our fees are flat and included in your annual budget, (2) your managers are not afraid to call for advice in those situations where the need for advice is not clear, (3) you get annual policy manual review and training and unlimited legal advice, and (4) superior risk management-we have found that our retainer clients who fully utilize the program are substantially less likely to be sued. Our retainer fees range from $800 to $2,000 per month, with most clients paying around $1,200 per month. Click here to listen to some of our retainer clients talk about their experience.

Firefighting

Our attorneys spend several hours a day on the telephone with clients, working though HR headaches as they occur. As a result, we've put out thousands of fires before they became critical.

I have found that our clients fall into one of two camps: (1) those who routinely call at the first hint of trouble and (2) those who never call until they've been sued. If you are in the latter camp (and we both know who you are) I thank you in advance for your generous, taxable contributions to the Key Children's Scholarship Fund. But I still must ask: why take a chance with self-help when our immense firefighting experience can be yours for the cost of a 15-minute telephone call? Better still, why not subscribe to our flat-fee retainer program and have a firefighter at your disposal 24-hours a day, 7 days a week?

Training

Training is not only essential to avoiding costly supervisor mistakes, evidence of training can be used as an affirmative defense to certain discrimination lawsuits. Click here to see some of the topics in our training repertoire.

Policy Manual Development & Review

Employment law is a dynamic arena. Your policy manual should be equally dynamic. We recommend your policy manual be reviewed at least every 2-3 years. For those of you who have not sent me your policy manual in more than 5 years, its time for you to blow the dust off and send it to me (if you can find it, that is).

Non-Compete Agreements

Now that the Texas Supreme Court has finally brought some measure of clarity to the enforceability of non-competes, it may be time to evaluate your non-compete agreement or, if you don't use one, time to consider whether you should. Non-competes are very much enforceable, but only if done correctly. I estimate that 90% or more of the non-competes that I review are not compliant with current law. If protecting your business from former employee theft of customers is important to you, it is imperative that you have your current policies and agreement reviewed.