Stepping into the light at the end of the tunnel

We sat with Anthony and his mother, across the table from investment advisers. Gone were the mediator, the opposing attorney, and the bevy of medical experts. These were the first days of the rest of Anthony's life, the days after the life-altering resolution of his case. The advisers explained the strategy for the long-term growth of his newfound wealth but underlined that he was the one ultimately in control of all investment decisions. He now had the resources to live a comfortable, fruitful life, following a horrifying tragedy. But would he?

People often ask how we handle the sadness of our cases. Our clients, as a rule, come to us because they have just experienced the worst event in their life. A catastrophic injury. The loss of a loved one.

Yes, the work can be emotionally draining, on top of the intellectual challenge of litigation itself. But the trajectory of our clients' lives is what makes the work special. We meet them at a low point, but the journey we take with them is inevitably upward. That means our experience with our clients is one of improving circumstances, making life better, and getting the compensation necessary to protect them going forward.

But if the goal is really righting our client's trajectory in life, winning in the lawsuit is only half the battle. We need to transform the recovery in a lawsuit into the basis of a sound financial future.

Relationship building during litigation

Making a financial recovery in a lawsuit work for our client long after the case is over requires considerable groundwork. A recent propane explosion case is a good example at our firm. Our client, we'll call him Anthony here, suffered catastrophic burn injuries when the house he lived in exploded on his 21st birthday in late 2020. Heavily contested litigation followed, lasting multiple years. That litigation presented many opportunities to not only build our case but as importantly build our relationship with Anthony.

Each one of those opportunities was important for the case itself but also was a brick in the foundation of a relationship of trust that would last beyond the litigation. Examples included the hours spent persuading a skeptical Anthony that a COVID vaccination was crucial to his case, given the state of his immune system after his extensive burn injuries. There were the days spent preparing him for deposition, where we probed every possible weakness in Anthony's memory, showing him the traps that could be laid for him--all the while increasing his trust in us. Each client-centric crucial juncture in a case is more than just a hurdle the case itself needs to cross, it's also a chance for long-term relationship building.

Strong financial planning

Successful preparation of a complicated, catastrophic injury case for trial requires all the usual suspects--years of effort, relentless battles in litigation over everything from document discovery to dispositive motions, and hiring and preparing experts.

Success after the litigation has many similarities. The new experts needed are investment advisers, estate planning attorneys, and real estate agents. Those reading this article no doubt have experience selecting these very experts, and no doubt have the benefit of getting referrals from friends and colleagues. It's as simple as walking down the hall or sending a text to get that referral. But our clients often are not in that same financial circumstance before their incident. They don't have exposure to how one picks between investment advisors or knows if a trust and estates attorney has a solid reputation in the community.

Post-litigation, this is one of the best things we can offer our client--the connections that we ourselves benefit from in our personal and professional lives. Referrals to trusted professionals who we know will do right by our clients.

Spend the time

Depending on the client, the referral alone may not be enough. How does a person who has never managed the specialists that go along with wealth even interview them, let alone supervise them over time? This is what took us to visit Anthony and his mother and introduce him to our trusted advisers, even though Anthony lived two time zones away.

In our meetings, we were able to use our own experiences to bridge gaps in understanding between Anthony and his new team of experts. Though one meeting is not enough to substantively learn the ins and outs of sound investment strategy, it is enough to model the type of communication needed--showing how not to be afraid to ask questions and make sure we understand the goals the experts are trying to bring about.

Given the depth of the relationships we build, it is hard when the part of the journey we can help with comes to an end. All we can do is set our client up for success as best we can. When we left Anthony and his mom after our last meeting, we left with hope. There is never a guarantee about our clients' futures, but as we left Anthony to sail his ship into the next chapter of his life, he was sailing in the right direction--with a new team of trusted advisers to help him along the way.