Our commitment to innovative ideas, traditional values of honesty and fair dealing, and zealous representation are the cornerstones of our quality assurance. To understand the focus of our approach requires some knowledge of our firm's heritage.

Lee Carter, 1903-1994

Our founder, the late Lee Carter, was a traveler, writer, and legendary trial attorney. Lee was a true renaissance man, and probably would have described himself as a world philosopher. He instilled ideas of creativity and outstanding trial advocacy in his partners, Bernard C. Brinker and John G. Doyen, each of whom became brilliant trial attorneys in their own right. They, in turn, have passed the tradition to the next generation of our firm's partners. Many of our clients acknowledge that when there is a complex, difficult case, we are the preferred firm over other panel counsel.

We ensure quality assurance through a number of methods. First, a partner is responsible for each file and is involved in all significant aspects of the case that cannot properly be delegated to an associate, paralegal, or secretary. This means that when a client calls with a question, or needs an update, they get an answer, not an "I need to check with someone else about this." Second, each attorney's confidential or coverage opinion is subjected to our internal peer review process. As a general practice, two or more partners have input or are involved in final case analysis. (The time of the extra partners is not charged to our clients except in very complex cases.)

Third, we have attorney exchange meetings in which particular files are reviewed and discussed. The open conversation ensures correct case handling and that "tunnel vision" has not occurred. (Absent extraordinary circumstances, there is no charge to our clients for the attorney exchange meetings.) Fourth, our computer documents when the last activity has occurred on a file. Each partner receives a monthly printout of the partner's cases with the date of last activity.

In our view, however, quality assurance cannot be separated from how we foster our staff. Our firm is known for its collegiality which encourages the free exchange of ideas and total commitment to the aggressive representation of our clients. Our firm is an accredited CLE sponsor. We have in-house seminars during which we discuss updates in the law or have more in-depth discussions of certain topics which affect our clients. Recent in-house CLE's have included an update on use of the Internet for legal research and for reviewing court files and minutes, and an overview of the prior year's most significant case law.

As outlined in Section II above, we place reliance in technology, not for technology's sake, but as a tool in assisting us to represent our clients. The technology which we utilize also assists in maintaining quality assurance.

Although we regard ourselves primarily as attorneys involved in litigation, we are also educators. Some firms provide a once a year "one size fits all" seminar for their clients. We prefer to have smaller in-house seminars that focus upon the particular needs of a client and/or during which topics suggested by our client are discussed. Our partners are also frequently asked to give seminars and presentations on legal issues throughout Missouri by clients, bar associations, other legal organizations, and private educational firms such as National Business Institute, and Lorman Education Services. Seminars recently presented by our partners have included Bad Faith (Missouri Bar); Insurance Coverage Issues (bad faith, conflicts, etc.) (NBI); Insurance Bad Faith in Missouri (Lorman); Products Liability Issues for Practicing Nurses (St. Louis Nurses Association); Nursing Home Malpractice (NBI); Confidentiality of Medical Records (Lorman); Unusual Fact Patterns and Awards in Workers' Compensation Cases (Workers' Compensation Association Claims Adjusters Association); Insurance Coverage for Employment Related Claims (Missouri Bar); and Insurance Coverage for Environmental Claims (Missouri Bar).