Episode 53 - Choosing the Right Lawyer

John Romano: That’s what I want in a lawyer. Somebody who’s genuine in doing that. And it makes all the difference in the world when you pick up that phone to talk to a lawyer who is on the other end of that. I want it to be somebody who’s going to be devoted to my family, my case, to me, and to what happened.

David Craig – Host: I’m attorney David Craig, managing partner and one of the founders of the law firm of Craig, Kelley & Faultless. I’ve represented people who have been seriously injured or who have had a family member killed in a semi or other big truck wreck for over 30 years. Following the wreck, their lives are chaos. Often, they don’t even know enough about the process to ask the right questions. It is my goal to empower you by providing you with the information you need to protect yourself and your family. In each and every episode, I will interview top experts and professionals that are involved in truck wreck cases. This is After the Crash.

Welcome to another episode of After the Crash, the podcast. Today we’re excited to have John Romano as our guest. John is one of the best trial lawyers in the country. He has tried every type of case you can imagine. Criminal, product liability, medical malpractice, trucking cases, civil cases, personal injury cases — you name it, John has done it. John is an extraordinarily giving lawyer. He teaches, he chairs conferences all over the country. He speaks all over the country. He’s written. And so I’m extraordinarily excited to have John as our guest today. Welcome, John.

John Romano: Oh, I’m so excited to be here, David. This is going to be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been looking forward to our chat for a good while now, so I’m energized and ready to go. Ready to talk.

David Craig – Host: Well, John was inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame in 2016. I’ve worked with John. I’ve seen John speak all over the country, and I think — you folks that are listening for the first time — this podcast is designed for ordinary folks who’ve had the misfortune of being involved in a serious wreck or serious accident. I think you’re going to learn a lot today about trial lawyers, about trials, and I’m extraordinarily excited to have John. And I think one thing I’ll mention when we’re talking about trial lawyers is the thing that impresses me the most about John is John is a great human being. And I think sometimes that gets lost. I think sometimes people want to ask me, well, what does it take to be a great trial lawyer? Do you have to be this mean pit bull? Do you have to be this or that? And, you know what? John is a perfect example of one of the most successful trial lawyers in this country who happens to also be one of the best human beings that I’ve ever met as a trial attorney. So John, thank you so much for everything you do for all of us lawyers, as well as your clients.

John Romano: Oh, thank you, David. I don’t know. I’ve often thought when it comes to trial lawyering, what to tell people to be searching for. It’s somewhat like when you want a doctor or you want somebody to help you with a house or whatever it is you need. I want a lawyer who loves being a lawyer. I want a lawyer who is going to be looking out for my interest as the client. Not his or her interest as a lawyer or their law firm or whatever. And you know that because of the work you do in your firm, but the lawyer that is devoted to the client and the lawyer that’s devoted to making sure things are done right for the right reason. That’s what I want in a lawyer. Somebody who’s genuine in doing that. And it makes all the difference in the world when you pick up that phone to talk to a lawyer who is on the other end of that. I want it to be somebody who’s going to be devoted to my family, my case, to me, and to what happened. And that, to me, is what we all have to try to do or be as lawyers.

David Craig – Host: I know, and I think people out there that are listening, I just wrote a book, and it is now getting published, that it’s never been easier to pick the wrong attorney because there is so much information out there, and average, everyday people have no idea how to pick a good lawyer. If somebody calls you and asks you or asks me, how do I pick a good business lawyer, a lawyer who can … You and I can figure out who it is. But if you’re just somebody who doesn’t deal with lawyers day in and day out, you have no idea how to pick a lawyer. And just like everything else, there’s certain types of law I should do and there’s certain types of law that I shouldn’t do. You do not want me to prepare your corporation. You don’t want me to do a will or estate or draft your will for you. My law degree gives me the right to do that, but I haven’t done that in 20, 30 years. And so I think that people need to realize that what you said is extraordinarily important. When you’re picking a lawyer and you want to call them, you want to make sure that you have the right lawyer.

John Romano: Well, it is such a key. Just as an example, in your firm, you focus a lot on trucking cases. You try trucking cases, you take depositions on trucking cases, you handle that. So, if I am a client, and I am hurt because an 18-wheeler had a driver that did something wrong and that’s what hurt me and my family, I want a great trucking lawyer, and I don’t care about another lawyer, how good he or she might be at writing wills or forming a corporation or being nice and polite to me at the last church function, I need a trucking lawyer. And that is so key.

And David, you mentioned earlier about the fact that I’ve done all kinds of cases. I started out early doing tons of cases in the criminal justice field. And the one thing I learned there is this whole thing about making sure you have the right lawyer, that is so important. And you take a criminal case, you need a lawyer who either believes in you or believes in your case in a big way, or a combination of that.

And if they don’t believe in either, dump them and get another lawyer. I think that is so very, very important. And this whole idea of if somebody calls up to get a lawyer and the lawyer says, “Look, I just do this for a living. You’re just another case,” you don’t want that lawyer. You want somebody who is putting his or her life into what they’re doing. That is so important. And I don’t care what kind of a case that is. It could be a rear-end collision case where someone has a neck or a back injury. It could be an explosion where someone is burned. It could be a big rig trucking case. Very, very important.

David Craig – Host: And I agree wholeheartedly with you, and I think one of the things that’s important that I believe is that you’ve picked somebody who can try a case. Because the insurance companies and defense lawyers know who actually tries cases and who doesn’t try cases. And you’re board certified in trial advocacy. So you are a trial lawyer. You’re board certified, you’ve gone through the extra process to be board certified. So that’s a screening mechanism for you everyday, average folks that are looking and saying, “Okay. How do I find a trial lawyer?” Well, everybody says they’re a trial lawyer. A lot of personal injury lawyers say they’re trial lawyers, but some folks that I know have never walked into a courtroom and never tried a case.

John Romano: Oh, yeah. And David, the beauty of the board certification programs in America, when you look and find a lawyer who is board certified, you know at a minimum, that lawyer has handled and taken to verdict in front of juries, a certain number of those types of cases. So, if someone is board certified in medical malpractice, that means that lawyer has handled, litigated, and tried a specific number of medical malpractice cases. If you’re board certified in trucking, same thing. You have handled, litigated and tried these things. And if I am a person who, for whatever reason, gets hurt or a family member is killed, I want to go seek out a board-certified lawyer because I know that person has been in the courtroom, which means that lawyer has taken the case from start to finish. You got a lot of lawyers who are not finishers. They take it. They want to play ball in the first and the second, third quarter, but when you get to the fourth quarter in the two-minute drill, they bail. You don’t want that for a lawyer. You need a lawyer who’ll take it to verdict.

David Craig – Host: I respect the fact that I think the board certification is a great tool. It’s approved by the ABA, and it’s a great tool. Scott Faultless, my partner and I, are both board certified in truck accident law. You’re board certified in trial advocacy. And I think that’s extraordinarily important when people are looking. It’s a good starting point. It’s a good place to look and say, okay, you can’t buy your way into that. That’s not something you can just pay $100 or $1,000 be. You have to be screened, and you have to have the credentials. You have to take the case from the beginning to the end. You have to have judges, you have to have the other lawyers that you’ve been up against. All these people are interviewed, and you have to, and then with many of the board certifications, you have to pass a test, as well, and part of it is ethics. So, I really believe that the board certification is a great screening mechanism for people to start off the process of looking for a trial lawyer.

John Romano: Yeah. It’s really key. When people are looking for a lawyer, I tell them, as you try to seek out the qualities of the lawyer, don’t just pick up the phone and call a number. Do some research first. And if you know people who are lawyers or you know people who know lawyers, talk to them because somehow, in some way, they can help get you to the right lawyer.

But when you have an important case — and every case, to you, when it happens, it’s the case of a lifetime — don’t put that in the hands of the wrong person.

For example, if you were going to have very, very important surgery, and you talk to a doctor in a big fancy hospital and clinic, and they said, “This is the greatest doctor in the world, but he has not done this kind of surgery for the last 10 years,” you would say, “Stop. I don’t want that. I want somebody who’s been doing it recently and winning and knowing what to do and how to deal with the current system and judges…” and all of that is so very important.

David Craig – Host: And that’s a perfect example because there are attorneys who have gotten really big verdicts, but they were a long, long time ago, and they haven’t been in a trial room or a courtroom in 15, 20 years. And they keep talking about that big verdict they got 20 years ago. But if you’re somebody looking for an attorney, getting a big verdict is huge. But at the same time, like you said, you want somebody who’s continuing to practice. Who’s not afraid to go back in. And sometimes I’ve met lawyers who were better lawyers than me, but they were afraid to go into the courtroom because they were afraid to hurt their reputation. And so even you have some good experienced lawyers who quit trying cases and rest on their laurels, and that’s not who you want if you’ve got a major, major case.

John Romano: Yeah. It’s just key. And what you’re really trying to do is say, “I’m going to take my case, meaning to put my life into the hands of a given lawyer. What do I want in that lawyer?” Well, you’re going to know in the beginning because, if you call that lawyer and you learn, well, “We’ll get back to you in a week or two,” right away, you don’t want that lawyer. And don’t get me wrong, the lawyer you’re calling might be in a jury trial and maybe that lawyer cannot call you back. But people in that law office can call you and take care of you until the lawyer finishes that trial. But you can find out in the beginning if you’re going to have a lawyer who is responsive to you or not. And I know, David, for example, you and your firm, what we do in our firm, we take calls day and night. If a client needs to call me at 10:00 at night, that’s fine. We’re going to talk at 10:00 at night. You can’t do this and have hours. A trial lawyer doing what we do is, in many ways, similar to an on-call trauma physician, a trauma surgeon; you have to be there all the time. And that’s what you need. Somebody who is a 24/7, 365 lawyer. That’s what we do.

David Craig – Host: That is a perfect example. My wife and I had my grandson. We were having ice cream on the weekend. It was a weekend Saturday night, and I got a call, and someone had been in a tragic semi wreck over in Illinois. And it was a catastrophic wreck, and they called, and they wanted to talk to somebody that night. And my wife, she gets the after-hour calls. My wife is very involved in what I do, and she tells my grandson that Grandpa’s got to go outside and talk to this client. And so I went out and I talked to them. They finished their ice cream, they came out, and then my wife drove back. So we were about 30 miles away from home, which she drove back. And on the whole way, I talked to that client and talked to him. Because they were scared, they were nervous. They didn’t know what to do. But a good trial lawyer, a good lawyer who you pick should make themselves available to take those phone calls to talk you through because these are horrible, horrible situations you’re in. And if your lawyer’s not willing to take the time to talk to you, then maybe you’ve got the wrong lawyer, or maybe you should pick somebody else.

John Romano: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’ve said this for a long time. I think that when clients are looking for a lawyer, part of it is, you as the lawyer need to be thinking like a plumber. And people often say, “Oh, for goodness’s sake, Johnny, what are you talking about?” What I mean by that is this, if on a Friday night at 10, if Mrs. Jones calls to a plumber and says, “The toilet on the second floor is leaking bad and we don’t know what to do,” and the plumbing service has somebody answer the phone and they say, “We’ll have somebody there Monday morning,” that’s not a plumber you can hire. You need a plumber out there tonight. And it’s the same thing with a lawyer. Great lawyers are responsive, great lawyers communicate with clients, great lawyers reach out and comfort clients. And that’s what people, I would hope, would want to be looking for in a lawyer. Attorneys who are going to be getting into the nitty-gritty of the case with the client and spending real, quality time with them.

David Craig – Host: How important do you think it is, if someone’s narrowing it down, and they’ve looked and said, “Okay. Here’s some board-certified attorneys. These lawyers seem to have experience, knowledge of a particular area.” How important do you think it is to pick up the phone and actually interview the lawyers, to actually talk to them before you make that decision?

John Romano: That can be very helpful. Especially … I’ll give you an example where you have a catastrophic injury. Like someone who has become a quadriplegic due to a trucking wreck, or perhaps a family member who may have been killed. In that instance, it may well be wise for someone in the family to narrow it down to perhaps three or four lawyers and to go and meet with them and interview them and ask them the tough questions. One question might be, “Well, I see you’re the one who’s meeting with us, but are you the one who’s going to handle my case or are you going to shove it off to some younger lawyer who has none of the experience you had?” And you’ve got to find out things like that.

I would want to know such things as, “What is your experience in recent months and years in handling these kinds of cases?” I would want to know about case results. I want to know a lot about that lawyer’s work ethic. And this is more difficult to find out, but I would want to find out, somehow, through some source, what is that lawyer really all about as a person, as a human being? Because if it’s a lawyer who has temper tantrums all the time and is one of these lawyers where if you ask, “Well, why are you recommending that?” I don’t want a lawyer who gets angry and yells, and yet I hear stories of this all the time, where the lawyers are upset because somebody’s asking them why or questioning them. We want our clients to ask us why. We want them to question us. Nothing wrong with that at all.

David Craig – Host: And I think if you have a lawyer, if you’re interviewing somebody and a lawyer is not willing to answer tough questions, or treats you like you’re dumb for asking questions, then again, switch. Just find somebody else. We’re here to help you. We’re here to service you, and we should not be afraid to answer any questions you have.

John Romano: Yeah. That is so important. I suppose it’s like… I’ve often felt that great leaders — true, great leaders —surround themselves with people who will challenge the leader. And I don’t mean disobey the leader, I’m not saying that. But where they ask tough questions and they say to that leader, “Would it not be better to do this? Perhaps this is wise…”

I would want, as a leader, to have people like that around me. I want to see who is it that is on my lawyer’s team and how does that lawyer respond to the paralegals and other lawyers in the firm who are challenging that lawyer to do better, to handle a case in a particular way where the lawyer may not have been thinking. I want that. That’s going to do nothing but help me and help my case.

David Craig – Host: So how important do you think it is for a trial lawyer that’s handling a catastrophic case to be a positive person, to have a positive outlook? Do you think that matters at all?

John Romano: The answer is yes. And I would say you just asked the right question of the right person at the right time because I am often accused of being Pollyanna. And there is no question. When I meet people, I go on the assumption they’re good. When I see a project, I go on the assumption it is good. I believe in the goodness of people and things and all that we do, and somebody’s got to prove to me that that individual should not be trusted before I won’t trust them. I don’t look at it the other way.

Having a positive outlook and thinking in a positive way supplies a majestic energy to me when I’m handling a case. That does not mean that I don’t face reality. I understand the reality of problems, of hurdles, of obstacles. But looking at it in a positive way and saying, “I don’t care how hard it is to climb that mountain, we are going to run up there and touch the peak. I believe every second of that journey, that’s exactly what we are going to do.”

And when we are in trial, I want everybody on my team to have a mindset of this: We are invincible in the moment of this case. And not in an arrogant way, but in a way where we feel like we have all of the great vibes with us as we’re moving forward to do a great job for that client. And that is how I feel. And I don’t mind telling you, throughout my life, I have been criticized often for being too positive, too optimistic, and I smile, and I say, “I take that criticism as a compliment because the mere fact that you’re criticizing me means I have not been positive enough.” So, that’s the way I look at it.

David Craig – Host: And I agree wholeheartedly. I think that there are tough hurdles. And some of the cases you and I both work on are extraordinarily difficult cases, and you have to have a positive outlook to try to figure out, how do I win this case? How do you do this? I see lawyers sometimes who do not have positive outlooks, and all they see are the problems. And I agree with you. You have to be objective. You have to see the problems. But if all you see are the problems, if all you see are the reasons where you’re going to lose, then you probably will lose. It probably will become a self-fulfilling prophecy or, more likely, you’ll settle for a number that is not fair. And so, I love the fact that you, I think to be a successful trial lawyer, you need to have that positive attitude that, “Hey, I can win this case, and now I just got to figure out how.”

John Romano: Oh, yeah. When I was a kid, I was in fourth grade, and I had a wonderful nun, Sister Comecule was her name. And she would give us this little pep talk about every four or five weeks where she would talk about the wonders in each one of us. And she would say, “Janie, today I see the wonder of ____ in you,” and she would talk about something wonderful.

And I thought, how magnificent, a teacher just uplifting us as little kids all the time. And she would get angry. She was strict. She would have her moments when she would get upset. But the way she approached it was, all I see is positivity in this room. And that is the way she taught. And her philosophy was, I can teach almost anything to any child, so long as I put everything into it. You can’t, though, just flip a book to a nine-year-old and say, “Go learn multiplication.” No. Well, actually nowadays, I laugh that they’re teaching three-year-olds multiplication. But back then we had it in fourth grade. So to me, that’s so important. And a jury feels that. And the judge feels that. They feel the energy coming from the lawyer, and they feel the passion — or a lack of passion. So, to me, the attitude of the lawyer and everybody on that lawyer’s team is essential and vital.

David Craig – Host: And I think, especially when you think about how long these cases can take. So if you’re at a catastrophic wreck or a catastrophic injury and you’re going to look for a lawyer, you may be in this process for several years. And so having somebody, having a lawyer with the right attitude, a team with the right attitude, somebody who you’re comfortable spending time with is extraordinarily important because these people are going to be in your house. You’re going to be in their offices. You need to be comfortable with the lawyer you pick.

John Romano: And I’ve always loved the team approach, also. So it’s not just the lawyer on the case, but it’s the other people that the lawyer brings into the case. So, it may be just you and I or your firm and my firm are working on a case or project. Now, what’s great about it is that team effort. The way everybody comes together trying to help everybody else. And it’s such a wonderful, uplifting experience, and all that is doing is helping the client. So if I’m a client, that’s what I want. I want people who are thinking every day, “How are we going to be victorious?” While, at the same time, keeping a view on how to negate whatever it is the opponent may try to do to hurt our case. That’s important. And you got to know about the problems in the case and how to overcome those problems.

David Craig – Host: So, let’s talk a little bit about the trial process, the litigation process. Most folks have never been in a lawsuit. Most folks have never had to go through anything like that. Suddenly, they’re in a catastrophic accident, and now they’re forced to hire a lawyer to help them get through this process. So, when someone calls the Romano Law Firm, how does that process start? What kind of timeframe, what kind of planning goes in? I know you guys plan and prepare more so or better than anybody I’ve ever met. Talk a little bit about how important that is.

John Romano: Well, just as an example, I got a call this morning from a wonderful couple, and the husband — it’s a medical malpractice case — and the husband feels as though he was neglected while in a hospital because, while in that hospital setting, they didn’t move him. He’s elderly. They let him lay in the same position for weeks, and he developed what are called decubitus ulcers, or bedsores.

And they are just beside themselves as to how this could have happened. So, the first thing that I wanted to do was learn a little bit about them. And that’s important to find out, “Where are you all from? When were you married? How long you been together? Do you have [children]?” All of those things and learn about them. And then we go into a discussion of the case. And then I will shift from there and talk about what is to come in the next few hours, days, weeks, and months as we move forward in the handling of their case. And to me, that’s very, very important.

And I tell them, relax, you don’t need to take notes. They had called me and it was a phone call. Because I’m going to send you a letter and detail out everything. And that’s one thing, David, that I do think is really important is I want clients to be seeking a lawyer who will talk to them and explain things. But not be afraid to then go back and put it in writing and say, “All right. I told you when we met, here’s what we’re going to do. I just want to lay it out in a letter so that you can have time to think it through and to see what we’re doing.” And every firm will do that in a little bit different way, but I like to follow it up with a more detailed letter. The client needs to be comforted. That’s what a great lawyer does. A great lawyer brings comfort to a family, peace of mind, and that helps so much. So those are just a few of the things.

David Craig – Host: I think that’s important because you and I both realize that when people come to us, their minds are on a million things. They may only hear parts of what we tell them. They may only remember parts of what we tell them. And so putting that in writing and then continuing to communicate with clients is so important.

John Romano: I just mentioned that word “comfort.” It was interesting because I was giving a speech at a seminar a few months ago, and a young woman raised her hand, a young lawyer in the crowd. She said, “What do you look upon as the most important thing you do as a trial lawyer?” And I said, “I comfort clients. I bring comfort to my clients.”

Part of what we do is ease their stress, take their anxiety level down a notch by saying, “You don’t need to worry about those things. My law firm will take care of those. All I want you to do is get better physically. Do what your doctor tells you to do. Let us worry about the case.” And so that comforting is what I want in a lawyer. So, if I’m a client or a family and I’m seeking a lawyer, you want a lawyer who is capable of bringing you comfort.

That does not mean the lawyer disguises the problems in the case. The lawyer explains those to you. But hopefully, [they] will explain to you, “Okay, this is a problem, here’s how we’ll deal with it. This is another problem, here’s how we’ll deal with it.” And those things are very, very important.

David Craig – Host: Yeah. Well, I think that sometimes clients are afraid to ask us questions. They’re somewhat intimidated, and they sit and stew and worry about things that, if they just asked, we might be able to put their minds at ease. I think if you have a law firm that’s not willing to take the time to talk to you, then maybe you’ve got the wrong team that’s there.

John Romano: You think about this, most of us, we are very frustrated if we go to a doctor’s office or to a clinic and we sit in some room with 50 people and we’re supposed to have an appointment at 9:00 and they don’t get us in until 11. And then if we see the doctor, we see the doctor for 30 seconds because they’ve got to see everybody. That’s not acceptable. And it’s especially not acceptable when it comes to your attorney.

Your lawyer has to be there to talk to you. The lawyer, by the way, has to become comfortable in knowing that he or she as the lawyer has a grasp of what has happened to you. There is a saying: your greatest co-counsel is your client. I want a client to be my co-counsel. To assist me in helping win a solid settlement or win a victory in the courtroom. I have found, by involving the client, in certain ways, it does make all the difference in the world. So, we need to listen to our client and make sure we have a deep understanding of what happened, how it happened, and why it happened, all of that.

David Craig – Host: I read a great quote the other day that said, “Treat your clients the way they want to be treated.” We often hear it say, treat clients the way you want to be treated. Well, the client may want to be treated differently.

John Romano: Yes. Oh no, I like that.

David Craig – Host: Listening to our clients, talking to them, asking them how they want to be treated. To me, it’s something that I came back to my team and said, “Hey, look, I love this quote. Treat people the way they want to be treated.”

John Romano: It is just key. A lot of lawyers get away from that. And by the way, it’s lawyers of all ages. It could be young lawyers or it could be seasoned veterans. And maybe it’s complacency or maybe it’s time pressures.

It can’t happen. We still have to be able to sit down, eye to eye, and communicate with one another. And when you’re seeking out a lawyer, you need a lawyer who will do that. I know of certain firms around our community and our state, you don’t ever see a lawyer. It’s zero. You don’t. There are some law firms where clients and lawyers don’t ever come together. That’s unthinkable in the way we do things. It’s unthinkable.

David Craig – Host: People ask me all the time, why are you … You and I both probably don’t have to practice law anymore, so why do we? And I think for both of us, it’s that passion. It’s making a difference in people’s lives. And when you have that passion, it’s easy to get up in the morning. It’s easy to stay late at night. It’s easy to come in on the weekends. It’s easy to take that phone call at the ice cream parlor and go out and talk to somebody for an hour because you are here to make a difference in people’s lives. And unfortunately, not every lawyer looks at it that way.

John Romano: Yeah. I know you’ve heard me talk about this before, but I will never retire. I’ve been practicing now for 50 years. I hope I’m only halfway through my career. But I love being a lawyer. I just love practicing law. I love the interaction with judges and juries and co-counsel and our staff and everybody who’s involved in it. And it doesn’t mean that there are not times when it is like a pressure cooker, but a good lawyer gets into this because of knowing part of the challenge is you’re going to be in a pressure cooker. And it’s not for the faint of heart, what we do, but that’s part of what makes it so enjoyable and challenging.

David Craig – Host: I think oftentimes, “What makes a great trial lawyer?” Nowadays, there are so many seminars, there’s so many trial schools. When you and I started, there weren’t those things. I used to read books. I used to read Racehorse Haynes, Mollivine, Melvin Belli, Corboy. You name it. I would read everything I could get my [hands on]. Clarence Darrow. I would read everything I could get my hands on. Thurgood Marshall.

John Romano: Oh yeah.

David Craig – Host: Everything I could get my hands on, I would read, and then I would study and learn. And, after a while, I couldn’t remember what were my ideas and what were somebody else’s ideas. It’s just that something would happen at trial and a thought would pop in your head from reading all that. And I feel sad because today when I talked to my young attorneys, they don’t even know who some of those people are. That part’s sad.

John Romano: I’ll tell you, another trait of really terrific lawyers is they not only keep learning, they are eager and hungry to learn. They can’t wait to get new ideas. I know this just recently, you and I and your partner Scott, and Todd, we were at a trucking program together, and it was learning one thing after another. One speaker who would get up and teach us something where I’d go, “I never even thought of that before.” And I just think it’s an exciting thing to be 50 years into the practice of law and you’re still learning not only new things, but advances and concepts that you never heard of. And you say, how is that possible? It’s possible because there are so many great, creative, innovative people out there always thinking of better ways to do things. And to me, that’s part of what makes it so much fun and so enjoyable.

David Craig – Host: I think one of the great things about the plaintiff’s side, our side, representing victims and injured people, is that we share a lot. I don’t see that on the defense side nearly as much, or they’re sharing nearly as much or have as many opportunities as we do on our side.

John Romano: The way I look at it has been this. With plaintiff lawyers, not all, but almost all clients we represent, we are likely to only represent them one time. They come to us due to an injury or death or some other tragedy that may have occurred. As a result of that, the lawyers who represent people who are injured or the families of those who are killed need to team up with one another and share. And instead of plaintiff lawyers looking at another plaintiff lawyer as a competitor, we look at one another as allies.

Whereas the lawyers representing the insurance company, who are great people and they’re great lawyers, but because they represent these (usually) enormous companies, the mindset is “everybody’s a competitor.” And for the most part, they don’t share in the way we share on the plaintiff side. Some are good about it, I’m aware of them, but for the most part, it’s not something that is done on the defense side.

David Craig – Host: That’s true. So, I know that when you have a case that is a sizeable case, and it’s a complicated case, it’s going to take people a while to get better. At least in our firm, we look at filing suit relatively quickly because it’s going to take time for that case to work its way through the process. I have a lady who had to have an amputation, and she’s had severe fractures, and she’s getting a lot of treatment, a lot of therapy. So rather than wait a year or two, up close to the statute of limitations, we file that case, and we start planning, “Okay, how are we going to handle this case? What do we need to do? What are the issues? What research needs to be done?” We look at a lot of that on the front end, and I think you do the same thing.

John Romano: We do. I suppose the first time I was really introduced to that was as a kid playing football when we got our first playbook. Oh, well, I was in sixth grade, and it was a big deal. I think it was like four pages and there were cartoon drawings, and the coach said, “You study these and learn these. These are the only plays we’re going to run.” And it was a couple of plays to the right, a couple of the left, and let’s see what happens.

To me, in everything you do, when it’s important, when it needs to be done well, you’ve got to be organized. You’ve got to be focused. As a part of that, you need — whatever you want to call it — a playbook. And, David, that’s basically what you’re talking about is, as you go into a case, there’s a playbook.

And as we know from working together on cases, the playbook evolves, and sometimes it takes a big turn this way or a big turn that way, or it goes way up or way down. But it’s maneuvered around because things are happening during a case. But the important thing is everybody together with assignments, everybody knowing here are the next steps. And I’m a big believer, and I will tell this to any potential client who may be out there looking for a lawyer, find a lawyer who uses checklists. Because lawyers who use checklists or the equivalent of checklists are lawyers who are not going to miss anything, and they’re organized, and they’re paying attention to detail. Very, very important. So yeah. I’m a big believer in doing it that way and making sure that there’s a plant.

David Craig – Host: There’s a great book out there that I read talking about hospitals and doctors using checklists and how that made a major change in the number of malpractice claims, just by simply using a checklist. You have people, they knew the stuff, but the checklist made all the difference in the world. And I agree with you.

John Romano: Sure. Sure. Just the other night, there was a very important game on television. Well, I guess important to some of us. And it was amazing to me how, during that game, one team had three penalties for having too many players on the field. That all has to do with organization and planning. Now, not so much a clipboard checklist because once a game is moving, you’ve got to know it. It’s got to be in your head. But because of someone’s failure to pay attention to detail, three big penalties, and it (arguably) is what cost that team the game. So checklists and making sure everything is planned out is vital.

David Craig – Host: How important do you think it was for you … You were a football player and then you were a Marine. Both of those, I would think, are highly disciplined, highly organized, highly planned. How important of a role do you think those two things had in you being the great trial lawyer that you are today?

John Romano: Oh, they were vital because… If I look at what I am doing today and the way that I like to handle cases and represent clients, I can honestly tell you it’s the evolution that I think started with what I learned from my mom and dad. The lessons that they taught me about. “No, no, no, no. You get your room together. You do your homework, no television until…”

All those little things. “You do your chores. Until you do your chores, you can’t do this.” And then from grade school to high school, it changes. The Marine Corps is very well organized and magnificently disciplined in a good way. In fact, I’ve often told people the greatest generals that I met when I was on active duty were the most kind, warm people you could ever meet. And a lot of people, they don’t think of Marines as being like that.

People say, “Well, what goes into being a great dad?” I say, “A great dad has a lot of mothering in him.” So, as we evolve and get to where we’re at now as trial lawyers, it’s the process from Mom and Dad. And then, as I meet my wife Nancy, and we grow further together, she becomes a significant, not just influence in my life, not just a mentor in my life, but an emotional energizer. And then as your kids grow, they become, in a way, very unique mentors in your life, as are many of your friends and other people that you grow into it.

So, all of those things are so important in how you develop over the years. And then whatever it is you are at a given stage in life, it’s a process of all those things that happened before. I hear people say, “You can’t live in the past.” I do agree with that. But the past is made up of all the experiences that make you what you are today. So, you are always connected to the past, and it’s important.

David Craig – Host: Yeah. Well, I think it shapes us, obviously. So although I never was in the military, I was raised by a Marine, my dad was a Marine, and I was taught that I needed to do my chores, I needed to work, I needed to put forth the effort and not make excuses, which I think were extraordinarily important to shaping me. And I appreciate that. He wasn’t a drill sergeant. Some days he was. But other days he showed that he had my back no matter what.
And I think that is an important quality that I try to emulate is that, hey, look, I may be tough on my kids, but I have their backs and I’m proud of [them]. I have two that are attorneys in my firm and one who’s a professional videographer. And I think that nothing makes you happier than seeing your kids succeed.

John Romano: Oh, yeah. No. It’s true. Look, in life, when you have children, you’re always thinking, “What is it that we’ve done?” Or maybe that we didn’t do, that we would’ve done differently when raising our kids. But the biggest conclusion that I’ve come to is, as they reach middle age, are they happy? Are they doing things that are productive in life and living life the way they would like to be living it within reason? And if so, then things have worked out and you have done well. It’s wonderful. And there’s nothing more fun than a Thanksgiving dinner or a ski trip or something like that when you’re with your family and everybody’s got a nice smile on their face. Doesn’t mean there haven’t been tough times for every one of them, but those are the kind of things that are so important.

David Craig – Host: Well, I look at my kids and I feel blessed that they’re good people. And I think I have my wife, Dana, to thank for that.

John Romano: Oh, yeah, yeah.

David Craig – Host: Dana, my wife, did a great job because I got three good kids.

John Romano: I know. I kid around. I tell people, yes, Nancy raised our kids, and I was there to basically do what she would tell me to do.

David Craig – Host: I know the feeling. So with respect to … I know that with trials and the trial process, obviously we’ve talked about how to pick a lawyer and we want a good lawyer, we want somebody who cares, who’s there for us, and the whole team that has knowledge, experience, the resources to go forward. But I think in that process of getting that game plan checklist, one of the other things that you and I both see eye to eye on is the use of trial consultants early on and using experts early on. Because I think one of the best traits in a good trial lawyer is somebody who doesn’t think they know everything. Because when you start thinking you know everything … And I think everybody goes through that. There was a time when I didn’t lose any trials. I’m like, “Boy, I must be pretty good.” And then I went and lost the trial and I realized, whoops. I think it’s dangerous when you think you know everything. And you and I both rely heavily on other people and experts.

John Romano: It’s true. I’m a big believer in trial consultants. A lot of people think of them as — because of movies and televisions — as juror psychologists. But those of us who do this, we call them trial consultants. I’m a big believer in having a trial consultant on board, I like it when they have a science background as a social scientist because they now bring a totally different approach to the table in terms of how we’re going to handle the case. And it’s essential that you have other people on your team who question what you do, who give you ideas, who say, “Try this.”

And sometimes I will think something absolutely has to be done in the courtroom, and the trial consultant will say more politely than this, “That’s a dumb thing, John. Don’t do that.” And I simply say, “Why?” It’s explained to me, and I go, “All right. I hadn’t thought of it that way. We’re going to disregard this or we’re going to do this instead.”

And that becomes very, very important. I am a huge believer in trial consultants. We like doing mock trials or focus group studies in our cases, and it’s turned out to just be wonderful.

David Craig – Host: Well, John, I appreciate you taking the time. Are there any parting thoughts that you want to share with the folks that are listening today?

John Romano: Well, I would say, most importantly, if you are out there and something happens where there’s an accident or an explosion or someone falls. It could be a slip and fall, a trip and fall, an automobile collision, whatever it may be, don’t rush to just get any lawyer because that case with you and your family may be the only legal case you will ever have, and it is an important event in your lives.

When you take on that case and you get a lawyer, you want to put it into the hands of a lawyer who is going to give you every effort possible to do the best thing, to get the greatest outcome for your family. And sometimes when people rush, they get somebody’s brother-in-law. Or get this person who is somebody’s uncle who’s a [lawyer]. Don’t approach it that way. Get the best lawyer you can get for your case, and you’ll be a lot happier and things will work out better for your family.

David Craig – Host: Well, John, if people want to reach out to you, I know you’re headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, but you practice all over the country. How do people get a hold of you?

John Romano: Well, pretty much call me on my cell phone. I keep it on and with me all the time. 561-346-5090.

David Craig – Host: John is like me. He’ll take your call. I think that’s extraordinarily important, and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk.

John Romano: Oh, this has been great. This has been great. I really have enjoyed being with you, and I’m always having fun when we’re together.

David Craig – Host: Well, thanks John. This is David Craig, and you’ve been listening to After the Crash. If you’d more information about me or my law firm, please go to our website. Or if you’d like to talk to me, you can call 1-800-ASK-DAVID. If you would like a guide on what to do after a truck wreck then pick up my book, Semitruck Wreck: A Guide for Victims and Their Families, which is available on Amazon, or you can download it for free on our website.