Two CAALA speakers, a wedding and an anniversary

Close friends Gary Dordick and Chris Dolan had a busier than usual weekend at this year's CAALA (Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles) event in Las Vegas.

Yesterday, Dolan and his wife of 20 years, Julie, celebrated their wedding anniversary. This afternoon, they, along with Dordick, boarded a plane to Napa, California, to attend Dordick's daughter's wedding, scheduled for later this evening.

Such is the life of busy trial lawyers: Earlier this morning, Dordick discussed how to prepare opening statements, while Dolan addressed litigation against app-based transportation and delivery drivers.

This isn't the first time the two friends have juggled personal lives with professional commitments. Five years ago, during Dolan's 15th wedding anniversary, they were, unsurprisingly, attending CAALA when Dordick discovered that Dolan hadn't yet bought an anniversary gift for Julie, who was also with them that year. Dordick took action, leading Julie into the nearby Cartier jewelry store.

"That was an expensive weekend," Dolan recalled with a laugh, gesturing to the bracelet on Julie's arm that she still proudly wears.

"I tell young trial lawyers before they get married what I told Julie, which was 'You need to come to trial to see what it is that I do,'" Dolan said. "And she was between jobs because of the whole dot-com fiasco, and she sat through four trials."

"And a mediation, arbitration and deposition," Julie added. "It was fascinating and it allowed me to see how hard he works on these presentations."

The two agreed to work together while raising their two kids--a 14-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter--without ever holding any resentment over the occasional shortened vacation or anniversaries spent on the road.

"They are my everything," Dolan said about his family, but conceded that he once had to cut his time during a family vacation short to prepare for a trial.

"We were talking last night as we reflected on where we were 20 years ago and where we are now, and we feel very blessed," Dolan said, adding that when he loses a case it feels like getting punched in the face, and it's his wife who hugs and reassures him that he gave the case his all.

"It makes a huge difference," Dolan said.

Julie was quick to mention that even this weekend, Dolan nearly pulled an all-nighter, spending eight hours working on his 16-minute speech until 6 a.m., taking a brief nap, and then heading out for his 10:30 a.m. presentation.

"The people who come to CAALA are coming to learn, and there were maybe 500 people here (in the breakout session) and if 100 of them get a better result for their client because of something they learned here today, to me that is what is important," Dolan said.

Equally important, he added, is his friendship with Dordick.

"He is my best friend, I am his daughter's pseudo-uncle, and he has taught me a lot about being a father," Dolan said.

Christopher B. Dolan is founder and chief legal counsel at Dolan Law Firm PC, and Gary A. Dordick is founder of Dordick Law Corporation.