The Henke Law Group
The Henke Law Group is an informal affiliation of lawyers practicng in most states of the United States. It was first conceived in the early through late 1990's when California attorney, Ray Henke, was a Governor of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association working closely with the officers and governors of state trial lawyers associations across the nation in sharing strategies for resisting insurance industry and medical industry efforts to acheive tort reform through sponsored legislation and initiatives. As the product of our working together in trial lawyer politics and coming to gain regard for the professionalism of others of our trial lawyer colleages nationwide, we would often refer cases to one another where we were contated by a potential client in another state, or where we considered that another lawyer had a "leg up" on certain litigation, as where he may have already conducted extensive discovery or had assembled a superior team of efforts, or in mass tort or class action litigation where the other lawyer was better situated to prosecute the litigation. Lawyers in particular states may have greater experience in certain practice areas, such as medical malpractice or pharmaceutical product liability or food poisoning litigation, as examples, and lawyers within a state may consider that it will best serve the client to refer him or her to an attorney more well qualified in the particular practice area. In this way we consider that we have adopted individual practices that are also consistent with the policies of the State Bars of many states which encourage the referral of litigation to those most approrpiately qualified to serve the client. We are not a partnership or association of attorneys; rather a loose affiliation of lawyers with regard for the qualities of professionalism we have come to admire in other lawyers within our states and other states. We are not a referral service, and we do not hold ourselves out as a attorney referral service. As such, we are not and do not represent ourselves on the pages of this web site as a state or county bar association approved referral service, nor do we consider our independent legal practices to be properly characterized by the term "lawyer referral service," notwithstanding that where we may consider that in individual cases that other attorneys may be more appropriately located or qualified in a particular subject matter and therefore, as cases may arise in other states, or involve subject matter outside our legal practice, preference or expertise we may deem it in the client's best interest to refer him or her to other more appropriately located or qualified legal counsel. Some cases may be filed in a number of jurisdictions, for example, the place where the cause of action arose, the place or places of the defendants incorporation or the states of the defendants principle place of business, so that additional options may be considered, in terms of the preferability of jurisdictions, including where the bulk of the discovery will be undertaken. or where class action litigation has been initiated, or where a lawyer may consider that the jury pool may be superior for the particular case. Sometimes we will share information, documentary evidence or other evidence which we have obtained in discovery or help identify and even prepare experts for other lawyers, however, we do not take responsibility for the prosecution of litigation nor do we undertake to supervise litigation unless we are joined as attorneys of record, pursuant to the client's consent, and with an attorrney-client retainer agreement, signed by the client and the particular attorney. Sometimes we may appear as trial counsel pro hac vice at the request of another lawyer in another state, but only with the client's consent, an attorney-client retainer agreement, signed by both the client and particular attorney, and only with the permission of the court. The Henke Law Office is an individual law firm headed by California trial attorney, Ray Henke, who will consider representing clients within our practice areas throughout the state of California, only pursuant to an attorney-client retainer aggreement signed by both the client and attorney.. We will also consider representing clients in some cases which fall within certain of our areas of practice, such as pharmaceutical product liability litigation and food poisoning outbreak litigation, in other states, including in class action litigation, when we are contacted by out of state attorneys seeking our association as trial attorneys, subject to the state laws and State Bar rules of the particular state, and where we are permitted by the state courts to appear as trial counsel pro hac vice. We have, in certain cases, served as counsel in class actions and and have successfully opposed class action, including federal class action certified in other states. However, we do not invite potential clients with individual cases or cases potentially falling within certified class actions to contact us, nor will we accept the responsibility as trial lawyers or to refer cases to other lawyers in states where to do so would be in violation of any state law or any state bar rules of professional conduct. We make an effort to remain current on the sometimes quickly evolving state laws and state bar rules pertaining to Internet advertising, and we provide specific disclaimers relative to the particular attorney advertising laws applicable in many states, set forth on the individual pages of this web site and on our Henke Legal Notices page, including the recommendation required according to the laws of many states, and certainly also the recommendation of the Henke Law Office, that decisions to chose to engage any particular attorney to represent a client should not be made upon the basis of attorney advertisements but on the basis of a comparison of the credentials of all the attorneys whom the particular client would consider to represent him or her. This is indeed our most important philosophy, and we strongly encourage potential clients to consider our individual credentials and the credentials of all other lawyers and law firms which would be available to represent the client, in arriving at the client's decision to contract for representation in his or her particular case.
Settlements and jury verdicts pertinent to the particular practice areas are described on the practice area pages. In compliance with the laws or state bar rules of some states, and consistent with our own philosphy and commitment to make plain that the result in any particular case will depend on the facts of the particular case, we include the following language below each cited jury verdict or settlement identified on the subject matter pages:
*The results obtained in the cases listed were dependent upon the facts of the cases, and the results will differ in other cases based on different facts
The Content of the Law Group Site Page Credentials Sections.
On the qualifications sections of the pages we describe the Law Group, and the manner in which it was first conceived, as it is descibed in the center column of this page. As the result of the practicalities of page/word limitation we do not describe the qualifications of all of the attorneys loosely affiliated in the Law Group. Rather, the qualifications of one lawyer are selected, most commonly those of Mr. Henke, mainly because he is the author of the pages of the web site, not because his qualifications are superior to those of others, and on other pages of the site the qualifications of other lawyers may be described, particularly in subject areas in which they may have disinguished themselves though their education, training and accomplishment in a particular subject matter, as on the food poisoning page.
On the individual pages we also attempt to remind the reader that he is encouraged to ask about the qualifications of any lawyer whom he would consider to represent him, that it is right to ask about the attorneys' qualifications, that every lawyer should welcome the opportunity to answer any qualification questions the potential client may have and then make his individual determinations in choosing a lawyer for his case based upon the comparison of lawyer qualifications. We are all very willing to discuss our qualifications and answer any questions the client may have with regard to our education, training and experience.
