It was William Shakespeare and Henry VII that said, “The first thing we do is let’s kill all the lawyers.” I actually have that quote. My dad gave it to me when I was like 12 years old because I was always slaying dragons. So when Shakespeare talks about killing all the lawyers, he’s talking about anarchy, the fall of civilization. Lawyers are the last vestige of what keeps our society going. We uphold the laws, we pass the laws, we create new laws, we give a voice to those that don’t have voices. We give protection to people from defective products. We make products safer. We make our roadways safer. We hold people accountable for what they manufacture and what they deliver to us. We make sure our food is safe. So to bring down civilization to cause anarchy, you get rid of us. And I know most of you don’t like lawyers.
I know everybody out there thinks, oh, you’re a plaintiff’s lawyer. The fact is you have the rights you have today because we give you that voice and we protect citizens. That’s our job. The police protect the citizens. Lawyers protect citizens by making sure our laws are enforced and making sure our laws are complied with. I fought to go to law school. My parents initially didn’t want to send me because I was supposed to just be raised to get married, but I figured what better way to give back than to give those people that don’t have a voice a voice. It’s kind of like my calling. When I talk to a lot of trial lawyers, I say, “What is it about being a trial lawyer as opposed to any other types of law?” There’s so many specialties out there, but a trial lawyer, I can get in that arena and I can look people in the eye, whether it’s a company or a single defendant or someone, and I can say, “What you did is wrong and you need to fix it.”
And a lot of times in my settlements I’ll do that. If on an asphalt kettle the temperature gauge isn’t in the right place, causing asphalt to spew out and burn someone, I’ll make sure that as part of that settlement, that temperature gauge location is changed, so it’s now safer. So we talk about cases, but it’s also about causes. And through our cases, we can make change. Through our cases, we can represent a really good cause. Through our cases, we can prevent anarchy. Just like Shakespeare said, “If you want anarchy to reign, get rid of lawyers, get rid of us, because we stand for something. We hold people accountable. We make people take responsibility for something that they don’t necessarily want to take responsibility for.” So I think in society we’re pretty important. I think we get a bad rap, and I think we make the world a safer place, and I’m proud of that.
