[ SAFEGUARDING
THE PLAINTIFF’ S BAR ]
How the NLVA Is Raising the Bar for Legal Vendors
By Sara G. Stephens
“ If you’ re hiring a vendor who’ s not an attorney, you should be doing the same due diligence you would for someone physically in your office.”
— Cason Carter, president, NLVA
In mass tort litigation, legal vendors serve as essential extensions of a law firm’ s operations. But not all vendors are created equal. And in some cases, vendors who fail to understand or follow the ethical standards that govern attorneys can jeopardize not only individual cases, but also the credibility of the entire plaintiff’ s bar. That’ s exactly the problem the National Legal Vendors Association( NLVA) was founded to address.
“ The biggest challenge we’ re trying to solve is safeguarding the plaintiff’ s bar with qualified vendors,” said NLVA President Cason Carter.“ Whether vendors know it or not, they will get more business by being compliant, ethical vendors.”
According to Carter, too many vendors operating in the mass tort space fail to realize the legal and ethical implications of their work. When an attorney hires a vendor, that vendor is effectively acting on the attorney’ s behalf.“ They are acting on behalf of that bar card,” Carter explained.“ The rules around monitoring and oversight of a non-attorney say that when you hire someone who isn’ t an attorney, they are acting on your behalf. Mistakes vendors make can not only hurt that attorney but hurt our industry.”
The stakes are high. Carter warned that noncompliant vendor behavior can inadvertently fuel tort reform efforts, putting the broader mass tort landscape at risk.“ Are we going to be here without tort reform?” Carter asked.“ Vendors can have a big impact on that by acting compliantly and safeguarding the plaintiff’ s bar, not just to protect attorneys, but to protect their own future in the industry.”
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