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Peter H. Klee is the biggest rainmaker at Luce Forward in San Diego, bringing in between $10 - $15 million each year, and his insurance litigation practice continues to grow at a rate of 10 percent per year.  What sets him apart as a 2008 Rainmaker of the Year, in the category of partners who are litigators, is his unbeatable record:  no client represented in court by Peter has ever been found liable for breach of insurance contract, bad faith or any other tort.

“Your work product is your best source of referrals,” Klee said.  “Most of my referrals come from people in the insurance industry referring other people in the industry.  And they refer other people to us.”

His formidable record includes:

• He and his group have handled more than 1,500 cases over the last 20 years. They treat every single case as a life or death cause that cannot be lost under any circumstances.

• Peter Klee is a winner of the Originate! 2008 Rainmaker of the Year Awards, judged by the Legal Sales & Service Organization (LSSO). To find out about all 5 winners, see the latest issue online at Originate! - the business development newsletter.

  Klee has obtained defense verdicts in more than 500 cases in, including more than 50 cases in the last year alone.
• He has eliminated 80% of lawsuits filed against his largest client, a major property and casualty insurance company that had been sued in the past nearly 200 times per year.  “We took an insurance company that had been sued repeatedly in southern California.  But now, no one has successfully sued them for 20 years, nobody’s ever gotten a dime.  The plaintiff’s bar made a decision that it just wasn’t worth it,” he said.
• One-third of his current clients have been the results of client referrals.
• He has expanded each client account he has worked on significantly from the original scope of work. His client list includes most of the major insurance carriers, including the Allstate Insurance, State Farm, St. Paul-Travelers Ins. Co., and the Automobile Club of Southern California.  His reputation for no losses is especially attractive to large insurance providers.

Building a winning team

“I tell the associates if they come with me, they’ll be in trial within one to two years and they’ll be running their own cases,” he said.  When he hires an associate he encourages them to develop business on their own, but he provides them with all the work they’ll need. “I don’t want the person who is in the legal profession because they can make a lot of money; I want somebody who is passionate about what they do."

See the rest the story for free in the Originate! newsletter at http://www.pbdi.org/Originate/