What is the number one most important factor in being a great trial lawyer? Great trial lawyers care about their clients and fight for what is right. They believe in their cause, and because they believe in their cause they have the energy and drive to work tirelessly as an advocate for their client. There is no substitute for hard work, but hard work comes easy when you are fighting for something you believe.
I strongly believe people who are injured due to somebody else’s carelessness deserve fair compensation. They deserve to be made whole, and being made whole means more than just paying for their medical bills and other economic losses. They should also be compensated for their pain, suffering, inconvenience, and lost capacity for the enjoyment of life.
Life comes down to a series of moments. Some moments are joyful, others are painful. At the end of our lives, if we look back and remember more joyful moments than painful moments, we will probably say we had a good life. If somebody comes along and through their carelessness takes away some of those joyful moments and replaces them with painful moments, that person has taken away something of value, something we will never get back. Pain makes life harder. Everything is less enjoyable when we are in pain. Life is less enjoyable when we can’t do activities we would normally do because of pain.
Unfortunately, a lawsuit cannot make an injury go away. Real justice would result in the plaintiff being healed and returning to the plaintiff all of the time he or she spent suffering due to somebody else’s carelessness. More than that, it would require giving the plaintiff enough joyful moments to counterbalance the painful moments caused by another’s carelessness. The joyful moments would be equally joyful as the painful moments were painful. Since we can’t make the plaintiff’s injury go away, we as a society have chosen to make up for a plaintiff’s losses by measuring the value of those losses in terms of money damages. Although many juries have difficulty assessing the value of somebody’s pain and suffering, the law requires the jury to do so in many cases, because that’s the best way we know to make a plaintiff whole to the fullest extent possible, given the fact that we can’t make the injury go away. While pain makes life more difficult and less enjoyable, money makes life easier and more enjoyable. While pain can limit a person’s abilities, money can increase a person’s freedom in other ways. When a plaintiff suffers at the hands of another’s carelessness, the scales of justice have been knocked off balance. An award of money damages can help balance the scales.
Great trial lawyers know they are fighting for their clients’ lives. In civil cases, we are fighting for the portion of our clients’ lives that has been damaged due to another’s carelessness. It’s a huge responsibility, but one that we at Fasig & Brooks feel privileged to accept for hundreds of deserving clients every year.
