Keeping the Volume Down: Why We’ll Never Be a Big Firm

In 2003, my partners and I had come to a fork in the road. We were ready to strike out on our own and start a law firm, but before we opened our doors, we had to decide what kind of firm we would be – what we as a firm would stand for.

We could have chosen to work with an insurance defense firm. It was the safer decision for sure, but each of us would have had to take on dozens of cases at a time. We would have needed a contingent of paralegals to help us with the large workload and we would have had to take whatever cases were handed to us.

When you call a large, heavily advertised plaintiff’s firm, you’ll usually reach a call center, not a lawyer. At a high volume firm, associates are responsible for anywhere from 100 to 150 cases at a time. To keep up with the excessive workload, each associate has a team of paralegals. The burden of research and client communication is foisted onto paralegals. With such a large caseload, it’s impossible for an attorney to devote himself to any case for a significant amount of time.

My partners and I enjoy our work as trial lawyers. All three of us have spent our entire careers working on catastrophic injury and death cases. We’re passionate about what we do and the clients and families we serve.

With the confidence of youth and our convictions, we decided to open Cash, Krugler and Fredericks as a firm that would dedicate itself to a small number of the most serious cases.

Ten years on, our philosophy hasn’t changed. We’re still a relatively small firm and we don’t take nearly as many cases as our counterparts. We are not, and will never be, a “volume” firm. At any given time, my partners and I are working on only five to ten cases. We won’t overextend ourselves – our goal is to provide personalized service and get the result each case deserves, not pump up statistics by taking hundreds of cases at a time.

Our associates take only 15 to 20 cases at a time. Like my partners and me, they believe that each client deserves professional, personal service. Larger, more intensive cases are assigned to two partners and an associate.

Regardless of the size of the case, our firm commits manpower and significant resources to each case. As soon as we take your case, we start the process of gathering evidence and supporting documents, interviewing witnesses, and filing cases before evidence is destroyed or lost. Every case we take is a “front burner” case.

Our intention is to know each case well and take full ownership of them. When we head to trial, we know each case like the back of our hand. We won’t be outworked. By keeping our caseload selective and small, we’re able to give our cases our undivided attention, constantly researching and working until our clients are awarded fair compensation.

In hindsight, our decision to run Cash, Krugler and Fredericks as a small, selective firm was a risky one. Today, we’re glad we took the risk. We’re proud of our work and our firm. I can speak confidently for my fellow partners and myself when I say we wouldn’t change a thing.

— Andy Cash