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Thought Leadership in Personal Injury

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When wage loss doesn’t seem to add up

Past and future wage loss. What was and would have been versus what is and will be. Significant wage loss can drive case value. In a best-case scenario, your seriously injured client is a high-wage earner with indisputable wage loss. But how often is wage loss more nuanced? When wage loss is not crystal clear, it’s time to scrutinize the details.

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I feel your pain: the Gerry Spence method taken over the top

On Thursday, May 3, I met with Ms. B___ and her daughter. Ms. B___’s arm, specifically her radius, was shattered when she took a bad fall. Surgery, a plate, ten screws. I took notes as she told me how she could not work at the hospital for now and how difficult it was to care of herself. On Friday, May 4, I had a court appearance in Redwood City.

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The Stoic

The lawyers sat there, stunned. The doctor sat across from them, giving the couple time to absorb the information. Their three-year-old daughter’s cough and fever? Not pneumonia. Cancer. A tumor. A big one, crushing the little girl’s right lung. Rare – a few hundred reported cases. And tough odds. Chemo, a surgery, more chemo. A year-long process and the hope that it doesn’t recur… because recurrence with the particular cancer does not end well.

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13.7 Hardheaded

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Challenges and techniques for brain injury cases with unhelmeted cyclists The lawyer, reviewing the case facts, considered the issues. The cyclist, an urban commuter, had been taking her regular three-mile route to work, primarily using protected bike lanes. An adult with a job that required a professional appearance, she did not feel it necessary to ruin the work she put...
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15.9 Show me the money

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Evaluating, pursuing, and mediating personal contribution cases The lawyer thought about the case. Two cyclists struck from behind at 45 miles per hour by a driver with dementia. On a clear day, with a straight road, the meandering driver drifted across the fog line, plowing through the riders. The driver told the investigating officer that the riders spontaneously fell, and...
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21.8 Do great things

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We contribute to our historic legal fabric by doing our best in all things The lawyer thought about the place an individual plays, one small mote in this great timeless universe. Document review can do this to a person. How can one’s actions, seemingly small and potentially meaningless in the vastness, have any effect? Whether document review, a privilege log,...
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8.4 Federated states

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Avoiding traps: central differences between federal and California state courts The lawyer evaluated the fact pattern, considering venue potential. This case was likely headed to federal court, with complete diversity of citizenship. While a local defendant could be added to defeat diversity, the question remained: was the case better served in federal or state court? Grandeur Most knuckle-dragging personal injury...
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14.3 Argue your position

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Preparing for and delivering motion practice oral argument The lawyer arrived early in the law and motion department. The tentative for defendant’s summary judgment motion? “Parties to appear.” Not a lot to go on. Stacked on the dais’s edge were actual books. Squinting, the lawyer made out numbers on the California Appellate Reports spines. One applied to the lawyer’s case,...
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1.9 Allied powers

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The mediator, an older male retired judge, spoke directly to the lawyer, ignoring the lawyer’s boss. The mediator did this despite the fact lawyer’s boss was without question the power in the room. While a long time ago, it still should not have happened. It was so off base it took the lawyer some time to recognize the behavior for what it was. The mediator, ignoring the lawyer’s boss, talked past her because the mediator saw her as insignificant. She was a woman, after all.

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1.1.18 As the dust settles

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The lawyer listened. The situation had gone off the wire. Not fatal. Also not good. How had it happened? Ultimately the lawyer owned it. And within leader ownership, it was important to determine what led to the issue. Process failure, delegation failure, communication failure? All of these? None? Time to dig in, grab those involved, and conduct an After-Action Review.

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17.18 Exhibiting behavior

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The lawyer looked at the butcher block, counting up the incidents the lawyer and the witness had discussed. “I’m sorry – that’s, let’s see – one, two, three, four, five collisions involving your truck driver in the 18 months before he runs over a pedestrian in a crosswalk?” The jury glowered at the witness. The butcher block exhibit was having its effect.

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