I’ve been doing this for a while, so I don’t feel great pressure with the start of each trial. For me, a trial is kind of like a war without bullets. I’m always prepared for it. I don’t get too worked up about it.
We always will dialogue with the other side. But they have to know: If they are not willing to take a settlement, they’d better be prepared for an all-out war.
Nowadays many people don’t recognize the importance of the trial lawyer’s role. It’s an awesome responsibility. Your skill -- or your lack of skill -- has an immediate, real impact on the outcome. And that has a real impact on people’s lives.
The numbers have gotten a little crazy. Appellate divisions are now sustaining upwards of $10 million and $12 million awards. Many hospitals can withstand a $2 million or $3 million judgment, but they can never plan on ten times that. And some physicians – good people – get destroyed. Everything he’s worked for, from a financial standpoint, can be gone.
I think there’s been a loss of rationality in jury verdicts in the last five years, particularly in infant-injury cases. Neonatologists will tell you the single greatest cause of brain damage in newborns is “unknown.†Yet there is a reflexive desire to punish the entire medical profession.
I’ve had some very tough cases – in the Bronx, for instance, where the plaintiff can get a lot of sympathy from a jury. The outcome of that very same case could well be different in Westchester County, which jurors themselves know what it’s like to be vulnerable to suit, and understand the hidden costs of out-of-control litigation.
Yet I still love it. An old colleague of mine once said, “The more difficult the case, the better the lawyer has to be for the client.†That’s the challenge I live for.
I built my practice believing in certain things – the importance of family and the absolute, total commitment to integrity. Nothing more or less than that. And that’s good enough for me.
Our cases are true battles. You may be bloodied by the fight. But, if you are fortunate, you remain unbowed.
