Benefits of Umbra
Each founding member and managing director has 25 or more years of experience in the practice of law in the Southern California market. Our assignment attorneys have more than 15 years of legal experience. The managing directors personally intake, assign, review and approve all work product generated by UMBRA before it is forwarded to our client. If a managing director is performing the assignment, another managing director must review and approve that project. Therefore, at least, 40 years of law practice expertise has studied and ratified the work product before it is finalized. UMBRA is so confident that we guarantee your satisfaction with each assignment or your money back. (See link to: “Guaranteed Satisfaction”).
UMBRA investigates each and every attorney, including their background, experience, performance capability, employment history, training, education, work quality, personal trustworthiness, commitment to cause, dedication to providing service, ethical standards and reliability in meeting deadlines and exceed expectations.
In 53 years of the practice of law, UMBRA and its managing directors (and their clients) have never been sanctioned by the Court in any manner nor been the subject of any claim for malpractice
UMBRA provides the cell phone, text, and direct email address of each and every managing director for 24/7/365 access. UMBRA has invested in “State of the Art” technology in its IT department, internet and computer support services to insure expedited and professional service.
UMBRA has 53 years of experience in the practice of law in the Southern California market by the two founders and managing directors of UMBRA, including over 250 State, Federal, Bankruptcy, Labor Board, Administrative hearings, trials and/or Appeals, 1000 mediations and arbitrations, 10,000 cases handled, 5200 depositions, 1000 site inspections, and 3500 law & motion matters.
UMBRA Attorneys are admitted to All California State and Federal Courts, and the United States Supreme Court, as well as are Members of American Bar Association, Santa Clarita, San Fernando and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, Consumer Attorneys of California, and American Inns of Court.
UMBRA Attorneys have been published in California Appellate Cases, Law Review Journals, Bar Association Journals, Legal Industry Publication, and local/national newspapers and magazines, as well as appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, KTLA, and KCOP television.
With new advances in technologies, on-demand cyber capability, and outsourced attorney services, UMBRA guarantees all the resources and capabilities of a traditional associate without the negatives of office space, secretarial & support staff, business equipment, compensation, benefits, regulatory compliance, employment law concerns, and tax/insurance issues at rates below market for similarly experienced attorneys.
UMBRA has its own established law office facility and remote interface capability providing its attorney’s full access to all cases, codes, Judicial Counsel Forms, Thomson Reuters, Westlaw, Lexis, Rutter Group, Cal Access, broadband or T-1 Internet, Window PCs, HP Printers-Scanner-Copiers, Smartphones, Tablets, and office supplies at no charge to our client and associates.
The UMBRA Firm is able to offer this exceptional opportunity by seeking experienced attorneys that reside and work outside of the main business hub areas where the compensation expectations are significantly lower and/or contracting with attorneys working at traditional law firms looking to confidentially augment their income. Accessing this unique professional model of quality, experience and training, our clients receive outstanding legal expertise at a fraction of the downtown rates.
By paying for only the work needed and which is billed to their clients, UMBRA’s business model allows our client to extract additional billable hours from existing files, maximize their billable hours and increase profits by passing on the UMBRA hours at their higher billing rate.
Our clients improve their legal performance by enhancing their focus on the key strategies and decisions rather than day to day of billable hours. By increasing the power and prestige of your firm and your workforce, as well as offering the opportunity to expand your business by accepting cases or projects which can be handled with UMBRA’s expertise and availability, UMBRA frees its clients to better manage and market their law practice.
And finally, UMBRA does offer its client a “recommendation” or “thank you” bonus for any referral of another legal professional client to UMBRA. Specifically, UMBRA will pay 10% of all fees collected from the new attorney or law firm for the first year of services. This offer is not subject to nor governed by State Bar Rules governing fee splitting with non-attorneys or written notification in retainer agreement rules.
UMBRA will work with any party, engage in adversarial interaction with opposing counsel and/or appear in any court, subject to any client-assigned limitation, their specific directions, and in accordance to rules governing our status as special appearance and/or outsourced counsel. UMBRA shall maintain strict compliance with all Privacy law, Confidentiality rules, and State Bar Regulations.
UMBRA allows you to expand and contract your associate team at will to reflect your changing circumstances, including matching your aggressive opponent move for move. UMBRA performs only on an as needed contract basis without any long term agreements, promises, expectations or commitments.
UMBRA is the best insurance against malpractice. Rather than worry whether your files are being efficiently and effectively handled, maximize attention to this potentially overlooked and/or under worked pending matters by (1) utilizing feedback from another set of trained eyes and ears to review, analyze and offer input from a direct perspective; (2) consulting with another experienced lawyer to discuss ideas and obtain a fresh impressions; (3) attacking issues which have been lingering or might have been overlooked; (4) engage in proactive, and less reactive, management; (5) augment the strength of your firm and your workforce and (6) build your form files and data base from other senior and/or specialty outsourced attorneys.
UMBRA allows our clients to open more of their time for marketing and business development, while spending less time of routine legal tasks. By projecting a stronger and more powerful image in your work product and output capabilities, as well as enhancing the ability to accept more cases by adding experience and expertise in new and different areas, UMBRA client can expand their practices and client base.
Using state of the art technology, UMBRA operates at the speed of light in a completely paperless system. 24 hour a day, 7 days per week and 365 days per year, UMBRA is your “at will” outsource to highly experienced and/or specialty lawyer(s) by cell phone, email, and text.
Your summaries, reports, pleadings, discovery and correspondence are electronically prepared in the Word or WordPerfect format of your choice, digitally prepared and exchanged using your captions and forms, and finalized requiring only your approval before being served, and stored on your hard drive for any future re-purposing. UMBRA makes your firm bigger and more powerful without investing a dime into your infrastructure, management and/or human resources.
UMBRA prepares bi-weekly billing statements separated and distinguished by individual client matter and case. UMBRA billing statements are not blocked billed. UMBRA uses the same style and system employed by the billable hour based legal community for direct cut and paste capability. With UMBRA’s digital billing format, you can easily and electronically integrate UMBRA’s invoice directly into your billing program for case by case and client by client point and click operation.
Your time is the most valuable and finite asset in your practice. The old axiom “if you are not billing, you are not making money” no longer applies with UMBRA. You no longer need to bill time to make money. Let UMBRA do the heavy work at less than the associate rates of your competitors. You merely pass on the billable hours and collect 3 to 6 times the rate per hour. By limiting your time doing “associate” work by delegating, you can invest more time on partner issues or enjoying the fruit of your labor.
We perform detailed conflict checks to insure attorney client confidentiality. We will not accept any obligation that creates any potential conflict or inference of impropriety. We will not perform any service that does not conform to the highest standard of professional ethics.
UMBRA’s cyber-system, digital storage, computer, internet and other security are provided, at no charge, to meet or exceed Department of Defense Standards.
We shall not communicate with your client, the Trier of Fact and/or your opponent without your express consent, and then, only to the scope and limits of the authority granted and directives given.
UMBRA shall adhere to all State Bar Regulations requiring attorney client privileges, and guaranteed satisfaction with the privacy and confidentiality of our client’s matter.
Our lawyers are not seeking permanent or full time employment with our clients. We assign attorneys to a particular project based solely on the best qualified to perform expeditiously and exceptionally. We are not a “temp” or “placement” employment service. Our attorneys cannot accept part or full employment from a client without the permission from UMBRA.
By using UMBRA, you can: (1) reduce your stress knowing all appearance are covered, all matters are being handled, all deadlines are met, and all clients are satisfied; and (2) build a stronger/deeper workforce using experienced and dependable senior associates only when needed. With UMBRA, you can relax knowing you have the advantage of: (1) no additional overhead, expenses or payroll; (2) no hiring/firing or employment issues; (3) no interviewing; (4) no accounting, tax, insurance, and/or regulatory headaches; and (5) no long term contracts or commitments. Spending less time in office, enjoy more personal time and get relief from the mundane aspects of practice, all while generating more revenue on a greater return on investment.