The Mentor Company

You’ve already written the book.  We just put it together.

Introduction

If you are an attorney who has been in practice for some time, the odds are that you have written many pleadings, letters, memos, and other documents.  While most of these documents are probably case specific, much of what you write will contain generic information that is of interest to potential clients.

Criminal Defense Clients

Many criminal defendants are stuck in jail where they have plenty of time to worry about their cases, but lack the basic resources to assist in their defense.

We help criminal defense attorneys help these defendants by writing books explaining the criminal process and the criminal justice system.  Our primary publication is known as the Handbook, but the specific title changes by county, and only one version of the Handbook is distributed in each county.

Handbook

To prepare the Handbook, we get core content from the contributing attorneys in the form of pleadings filed in prior cases, personal practice pointers, and information about the attorneys’ practice.  We remove defendant personal information from the pleadings, add relevant definitions and legal authority, add additional content of interest to defendants, and format the content for publication.  The end product is a 6″ x 9″ softbound book of around 150 to 200 pages.

Sample pages from the Handbook may be found here:

Table of Contents
Definitions
Answers to Bail Questions
Help Your Attorney
Objections
Legal Authorities
Sample Letters

Frequently Asked Questions

May I see a copy of the book?

• Yes.  We show editions of the Handbook in person so that the target audience doesn’t see the book here first.  The book is written by the contributing attorneys, and we want to ensure that they receive as much credit as possible.

How much will this cost?

• Prices start as low as $5 per copy of the Handbook.  We are able to offer such low rates because we include seven criminal defense attorneys in each edition of the book.  100 copies of the Handbook are printed and distributed each month in any given county.

How is the book distributed?

• The contributing attorneys are expected to give one or more copies of the Handbook to each of their in-custody clients each time they see them in court or at the jail.

Are there other benefits?

• There are many added benefits, a few of which are that each edition of the Handbook is heavily marketed on the Internet and the marketing contains links back to the contributors’ web pages.  This increases web traffic for the contributors.  We also attempt to arrange for the contributors to give workshops at the local law library and other venues on topics such as expungements and Proposition 47.  These seminars usually received the full support of the local law library and the local public library system.

How do I find new clients by giving books to existing clients?

• Your client will share the Handbooks with other inmates and these inmates will share with even more inmates.  These inmates will see you as an authority and may retain or recommend you.  When a case is over, a client who is let out of jail will usually leave the Handbook at the jail where other inmates will continue to share it.  If the client goes to prison, he will generally either leave the book behind or will take it with him to prison where it will be seen by potential clients in need of writs or appeals.  Other contributors will also give copies of the Handbook to their clients, and these clients may be looking for other representation, especially if their existing attorney is court-appointed.

Do you write books besides the Handbook?

• We have several legal books currently on the market, some of which may already be on your bookshelf.  However, the Handbook is currently our only cooperatively written book.  We are working on templates for a handbook for family law litigants as well as a post-conviction relief book.  Contact us for information on either of these projects.

 

To get started or to get more information, send us a text message at (661)Justice (587-8423) or contact us by e-mail through our Contact page.