Mark O’Halloran: I think the difference that our firm brings is that we combine the best of both worlds. We’re a boutique firm, so we have the small-firm personality, very client-focused. And yet at the same time, we have the large-firm resources to go toe-to-toe with big insurance companies and take a case as far as it needs to go.

Nicholas Lepore: When looking to hire a personal injury lawyer, there’s really two things people should look for. Number one would be how the lawyer is paid. Typically, that’s on a contingency fee of 33 percent, meaning a third of the recovery; and is only paid after the case is completed. The other part to look for and something that’s very important to us here at Gosanko & O’Halloran is the control of the case. Who gets to make the decision of when a case settles or doesn’t settle? Here at our firm, we do have in our fee agreement a clause stating that the client has ultimate control over whether or not the case settles, and they have final approval on that.

Mark O’Halloran: We pride ourself on being very client-focused, which means that you’re always going to have access to your attorney at our firm. I know that some larger firms will hand off clients to paralegals to manage a case. One of the things that we wanted to do with our firm was make sure that we were able to provide a high level of personal contact between the clients and the attorneys at this firm. While we do work with our paralegals on each case, all of our clients are able to access the attorneys at any point in the case.

Nicholas Lepore: We work in small teams, with one paralegal with one attorney. And each attorney and each paralegal team works on a case from the day it walks in the door until the day it’s completed, either through a judgment in a trial or a settlement. And that helps make sure that if a client contacts our office and has any questions about their case that there’s always somebody there ready, willing, and able to answer any questions they may have and update them on the status of the case.