We pride ourselves on helping everyday people who have been through some of the most catastrophic events you can imagine. Granted, sometimes we handle cases for people who’ve just been in small car accidents, but more often than not, people come to us at their darkest times of their lives—when they have lost children, when they have lost spouses, when they have lost parts of their body, when they have been permanently damaged because of the carelessness of others. These cases come to us in all shapes and sizes, and our job is to try to get to know these people as individuals, not just clients or files or fees, and help them get to a better place despite the awful things they are facing.

We’re not doing our job as trial lawyers if we aren’t improving their lives in some aspect. We can’t make the bad thing go away, we can’t undo time, but we can do our best to put them in a decent place given what’s happened to them. No case is too complicated for us. We’ve handled cases for people who were abused in religious boarding schools, we’ve handled cases for family members of kids who have died because of careless acts by foster care placement companies. We’ve handled cases for people who were injured by defective products, for people who were hurt or killed because of careless healthcare practices. The list goes on and on—dangerous products, people who are improperly trained as security guards who abuse their authority. There’s really no way to pigeonhole the kinds of cases we handle, but there isn’t any challenge that we’re afraid of. We have the unlimited ability to prosecute and fund our cases. We are experienced trial lawyers who know how to fight in a courtroom, and we use that knowledge to try to maximize the value of our client claims.

Well, I mean, I think it’s the experiences that we have. Both JJ or Jarrett and I started out as public defenders many, many years ago, and back then, we tried a lot of cases. I actually can remember one month where I tried three cases in one month, which—that’s three jury trials, which is a lot. Jarrett came a few years after me. I then went on to join an insurance defense firm, worked there for about three or four years, and thought, you know what, it’s not my thing. So, I met an old buddy of mine from law school who had just come out of the public interest sector as well, representing legal aid. We just hung up our shingle, and the whole focus was on representing working men and women, like my mom and dad, you know, and his as well.

Anyway, we practiced law for years. Dave retired in 2014. I kept at it because I kind of enjoy it, and me and Jarrett kind of reconnected when we were teaching trial advocacy at the law school. I mean, we’ve tried quite a few lawsuits, so we taught at the law school for I think two years—the trial section to law students. My old partner retired, and I thought, you know what, that’s kind of when Jarrett and I reconnected. He has the same focus as I do, which is representing the little guy. We’ve done it all our careers, and it’s just a good fit. It’s just a good fit.