HOUSTON – Houston trial lawyer John H. Kim, founder of The Kim Law Firm, is featured in a recent national news story about the best ways to work with clients who can pose challenges for lawyers and law firms.
The story quotes several prominent lawyers about how they have navigated client relationship issues over the years. The Law360 story (subscription only) was published May 29.
“I have great clients. But it’s true that every once in a while, the wrong case may walk in the door,” says Mr. Kim.
In the article, Mr. Kim describes an encounter early in his career with a potential business client that not only grossly overestimated the value of its case, but appeared to be willing to do anything to make its claims viable. Although he was enticed by the energy sector client’s assertion that it had suffered $130 million in lost profits, Mr. Kim uncovered a different story with some deeper digging.
“I had a candid meeting with the company one day where I said, ‘Guys let’s get real,” Mr. Kim told the reporter. “What I discovered was that they really had about a $30,000 damages model.”
About a week after the meeting, his client sent him a set of amended documents that had miraculously materialized in support of the company’s lost profits claim. Suspecting the records were bogus, Mr. Kim withdrew from the case.
“I spent a lot of time and money on that case and learned that you’ve simply got to do a lot of due diligence,” Mr. Kim told Law360 readers.
A veteran of numerous courtroom trials, Mr. Kim is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and served as past president of the group’s Houston chapter. He has earned selection to the Texas Super Lawyers list every year since the list was first published in 2003.
The Kim Law Firm has recovered more than a half billion dollars for clients through aggressive litigation and also has successfully defended clients against takings of at least a half billion dollars. The firm represents entrepreneurs, business start-ups, mid-sized companies, and established national and international corporations in everything from contract and complex business disputes to insider trading allegations, trade secrets and other intellectual property disputes.