In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda discusses ways to maximize the value of your cases.

Discussed in this Episode:

• Put enough resources on the case
• Photo evidence
• Images from the medical records
• Master the medical terminology
• Slow down the timeline
• You have to tell the client’s story

Put Enough Resources on the Case

How do you tell the story if you don’t put the work in? Prioritizing time to understand nuances in the case can pay big dividends rather than rushing through things.

Photo Evidence

We humans are visual creatures, and because of that, a good photo can make a world of difference than just testimony or medical records.

Images from the Medical Records

When you get medical records, you also get MRI, CAT scans, etc. As we said above, photo evidence is crucial when swaying a jury’s opinion on the accident.

Master the Medical Terminology

The defense will often try to downplay a diagnosis by labeling it something it isn’t. If you don’t have the knowledge to understand what that means, you might get blindsided and receive a smaller outcome.

Slow Down the Timeline

To explain the suffering that your client faced or is still facing, it can be essential to get down to the minutia. If the accident ended in death, explain the pain and suffering that the person would have felt during their last moments. For those with life-altering injuries, break down what their day-to-day looks like and give them.

You Have to Tell the Client’s Story

Make it as personal as possible. Who is affected by the loss of this person? What is the quality of life for those who miss or rely on their loved ones? Painting an accurate picture of what life looks like now will further humanize the situation and give the jury more to latch on to.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com

512-246-2224

In this episode of The Effective Lawyer, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda is joined by Associate Attorney Max Massey as they discuss Max’s unique journey from TV reporter to attorney.

Discussed in this Episode:

How being on television can help you in the courtroom
Max’s transition into law
Finding your motivation
How to excel as a reporter and lawyer
Advantages of being a professional before becoming a lawyer

How Being on Television Can Help You in the Courtroom

Max talks about the importance of being good at public speaking and how being a TV reporter helped him gain confidence. As a reporter, you often speak with people who are having some of the worst days of their lives. These experiences can help you understand how to talk with people empathetically and give you tools to explain their stories before ever entering a courtroom.

Sink or Swim

When starting out in any career with a public speaking element, sometimes it’s better to be put out there before you are 100% ready than to wait until the perfect moment and allow your nerves to get the better of you. Max and Jack both recount stories of times when they were thrown into situations and had to sink or swim.

Max’s Transition into Law

As Max’s television reporter career progressed, he often found himself wondering why they didn’t have someone on the team with a law degree. They would often have to find guest experts to weigh in on issues and Max thought that it would be easier if someone on the staff could be that expert. Eventually, he was faced with the choice between climbing the ladder to become an anchor or commit to law school.

Finding Your Motivation

Balancing school and a job can be overwhelming, so how did Max do it? Make a pre-itemized list, create a contract with yourself, and hold yourself accountable. Max excelled in school and was a standout on the negotiations team.

How to Excel as a Reporter and Lawyer: Simplicity

Max lays out how he simplifies the message he’s trying to convey. You may only have 60-90 seconds on the news to explain the story, so challenging yourself to simplify the story as much as possible while still getting the point across is an excellent practice.

Advantages of Being a Professional Before Becoming a Lawyer

Having a foundation of work professionalism is so important for the transition into law. It’s one thing to understand law, but the soft skills that are gained by being in a professional environment are invaluable.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com
512-246-2224

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda goes over his 7 keys to a strong wrongful death case.

Discussed in this Episode:

• Identify who is an eligible client
• Conflict of interest
• Discuss settlement amount
• Identify sources of recovery
• Look at subrogation
• Release language
• Plan ahead

Identify Who is an Eligible Client

It’s really important to know who can and cannot be considered eligible to bring a case. These are almost always direct family members outside of siblings. This can differ from state to state, so always check this before moving forward.

Conflict of Interest

Establishing who you should represent and how to divide the funds is a crucial step in avoiding many of the headaches that come with these kinds of issues. You can often use common sense to figure out the best path forward, I.E., not representing both a stepmother and an adult child who doesn’t get along.

Discuss Settlement Amount

Before you get too far along in the process, it’s important to have the dollar amount set. Once there’s real money on the table, it can be much more difficult to have these conversations.

Identify Sources of Recovery

Don’t trust the insurance company, business, or anyone involved with the defense regarding insurance policies. Oftentimes, you’ll need to pry to get them to reveal sources of recovery that they wouldn’t have done on their own.

Look at Subrogation

Representing the client incorrectly (like how “Paul” represented the estate instead of an individual person) can completely change how and where the money is distributed. Look at the downstream effects and try to imagine what the outcome could be.

Release Language

Make sure to tie everything up in regards to who can make a claim to the money on the off chance that an unknown parent, child, or family member who was previously undisclosed makes themselves known.

Plan Ahead

It might sound obvious, but doing your due diligence before you begin your case will make all of the difference in the outcome. Utilize any and all information you have access to, including other lawyers.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com

512-246-2224

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda is joined by Lead Trial Lawyer Drew Bell. They discuss common errors from both sides of the courtroom and the lessons they’ve learned.

Discussed in this Episode:

Avoid overreach
Pellet issues
Advocacy mistakes
Telling the story
Asking for money
Attacking witnesses
Discover battles

Avoid Overreach

Drew talks about the concept of “playing it vanilla” when you’re a plaintiff lawyer and how that differs from being a defender. As a defender, you’re often tasked with finding ways to elicit emotional responses from the jury in a way that masks or avoids the reason for the case. The defender may look for something the plaintiff lawyer presents and may attempt to spin it.

Pellet Issues

As a defender it could be in your best interest to allow the plaintiff lawyer to make mistakes. Allowing the plaintiff to submit evidence that won’t help their case or even hurts their case gives you more opportunity to poke holes. Bringing in a pellet council can be a great way to ensure that problems don’t slip through the cracks.

Advocacy Mistakes

“Jury selection is Opposite Day” for defendants. Instead of trying to find jurors who will be favorable to your case, you’ll instead want to weed out those who will judge your case most harshly. Some preconditioning can be fine, but it’s much more important to get rid of the jurors who are going to kill your case.

Telling the Story

One of the biggest mistakes plaintiff lawyers can make is spending too much time on the story. While it’s important to present enough evidence in your case, you have to make sure that you aren’t getting lost in the narrative and cause the jury to check out. Jack suggests watching true crime documentaries and watch how they concisely tell the story.

Asking for Money

If you are able to, you should test your number with an audience. A big mistake can be asking for more than what the jury thinks the case is worth. It’s also worth noting that revealing the number too early or too late can cause the defense to attack that number or shock the jury by the number. Getting an expert witness who doesn’t have any direct connection to damages awarded can be effective as well.

Attacking the Witnesses

Don’t be a jerk when it comes to attacking witnesses. Just because something was “bad” doesn’t mean that it will win over the jury. Jack provides an example of a defense attorney who attacked the plaintiff’s mother and how badly it backfired.

Discovery Battles

Drew talks about the balance between having a “scorched earth” amount of evidence vs. running your trial too efficiently and the issues that can result from each side.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com
512-246-2224

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder, Jack Zinda talks about PTSD and how identifying it can affect personal injury claims.

Discussed in this Episode:

• What does a PTSD case look like?
• How to identify a PTSD case?
• Challenges in PTSD cases
• Mental anguish cases from state to state
• How does this increase the value of the case?

What Does a PTSD Case Look Like?

PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental condition that is usually caused by an intense and negative event. This can be something as small as getting stuck in an elevator or as big as watching someone die. This disorder often presents itself as a stress and anxiety feedback loop that appears when the person is placed in a similar situation as the one that caused the PTSD. There are even instances where the expression of PTSD symptoms can be worse than the original incident itself.

How to Identify a PTSD Case?

Start talking with family members or friends and see if they’ve noticed a change in the client. Look through their medical records and see if they’ve been seeing a therapist that specializes in traumatic events and get their opinion on what the ramifications of it are.

Challenges in PTSD Cases

Don’t assume that everyone who has been through something traumatic has PTSD. Trying to push a narrative that isn’t there can only do harm in getting your client the verdict they need. You also need to take a lot of time with the client. If you don’t really know them, it’s going to be a lot harder to make a credible claim. Remember to be empathetic and search for the answers if you feel like something is below the surface. Like a person whose most recent traumatic event is triggered from something that happened to them as a child.

Mental Anguish from State to State

Mental health cases can be subjective based on your state and their own laws. Do remember that when you’re opening a person’s mental health records, that information can be used against your client. So it’s important to get a holistic view of their mental health before claiming PTSD. Write down your element of harm and compare it with others from your state if you’re unsure what would be admissible.

Increasing the Value of the Case

“Why is this a big deal?”. In order for the jury to really understand the magnitude of the damages, you need to be able to tell your client’s story, you need to be able to tell them why it’s a big deal. If someone no longer feels safe to drive and you’re able to relate that story to the jury in a way that garners empathy, that can add to the dollar amount of a case’s worth.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com

512-246-2224

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder, Jack Zinda talks about measuring your law firm and determining what matters.

Discussed in this Episode:

• What is a Scoreboard?
• Why does it matter?
• What are the best practices?
• Mistakes law firms make

What is a Scoreboard?

A scoreboard is simply a collection of data that provides a rounded view of the law firm and how it’s functioning as a whole, shared with a large group of people. This can include fees collected, demands sent, and other things. It can create what Jack calls “fame and shame”. It celebrates those who are doing well and it makes it known who is struggling or slacking.

Why Does it Matter?

Jack recounts a story of early in his career when the firm he was at was failing to get fees. He took a large amount of data and found out that certain lawyers were more productive than others and looked at where those certain attorneys were succeeding. By creating a data set for him to look at he was able to meet with the attorneys who were struggling, found their weaknesses and was able to coach them up to a higher standard, thus bringing the success of the entire firm up. That only lasted for a few months though and after a while Jack realized that performance would always improve when given the information, but then slump again. The solution? Keep that data available and in the open at all times.

What are the Best Practices?

Don’t just use data for data’s sake. Find out what data actually matters and motivates your team. Once you have the relevant data, use a side-by-side graph to show what their expectations are to give them a visual example of what they need to improve on. Then delegate to managers or assistants to continually pull data as new information comes in. Some people may find it disconcerting to find out that they are low on the scoreboard, so having steps in place to make sure that they get the resources they need to succeed is important.

Mistakes Law Firms Make

You don’t need to purchase expensive or fancy software. Programs can give you too many options and KPIs that can make things overwhelming and unnecessary. Things should be simple and clean. Don’t assume that people can decipher what the numbers mean. Color coding performance is much easier for a group to understand than getting them up to speed on why and how the numbers are what they are. Remember to announce this ahead of time so people don’t think that they’re in trouble.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com

512-246-2224

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda gives his tips and key insights on ski injury cases.

Discussed in this Episode:

• Ski resort incidents and immunity
• Personal Injury claims
• Establishing liability
• Who pays out?

Ski Resort Incidents and Immunity

The first type of ski injury case is one where the resort itself is liable. This could include negligible employees or mechanical errors like with a ski lift. These types of cases can be very difficult to get to court. Because of the nature of the activity and how important ski resorts can be to local tourism, they are more protected than your average business or corporation.

Personal Injury Claims

Another type of ski injury case is one where another skier injures your client while on the slopes. These injuries can be very serious and even result in death. This could include intoxication, not paying attention to signage, or just goofing off. Oftentimes, the ski resorts will be very helpful when you let them know that you’re not pursuing them for liability.

Establishing Liability

You must be able to prove liability without the client’s testimony, and there are a few ways to do this. Eyewitness testimony including skiers who may have GoPro footage can be very helpful. The ski resort may also be helpful when you let them know that you’re not pursuing them for liability and may grant you access to their camera footage.

Who Pays Out?

A general liability clause in their homeowner's insurance is often where you need to look when attempting to find a source of recovery. Unless they are a very high wage earner, it can be almost impossible to recover enough to satisfy the client’s medical and/or lifestyle adjustment needs.

You can reach Jack at:

jz@zindalaw.com

512-246-2224

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder, Jack Zinda answers questions from the listeners about how AI is being used to transform the way we operate our practice.

Discussed in this Episode:

• How have you seen AI impact the industry so far?
• Can AI change the way firms interact with clients?
• Can AI help in settlement negotiations?
• The pitfalls of AI

How Have You Seen AI Impact the Industry so far?

Jack talks about how AI technology is not quite at the place to disrupt the industry, but that it’s on its way in the coming months and years. He then talks about how AI can be helpful for work that paralegals are doing, taking deposition notes, helping with scheduling and other routine tasks.

Can AI Change the Way Firms Interact with Clients?

Jack warns about the use of AI for online interactions as it can feel impersonal and make the client lose trust before the person-to-person connection can begin. Where it can be helpful is case summaries, email updates and medical follow-ups.

Can AI Help in Settlement Negotiations?

One thing AI is great for is data mining. Being able to cull data from the internet to find out what a similar case is paying out, would be a very effective tool and potentially save 10s if not 100s of hours gathering that data manually. Using it for focus groups to predict what an outcome could be is another way that AI could play an important role in whether or not you take a case.

The Pitfalls of AI

When using a new tool it’s important to look at the legal ramifications as well. Are confidentiality agreements violated by using these tools? Is it possible that there are ethical concerns as well? Make sure you spend plenty of time researching before you go ahead and use your clients as guinea pigs.

You can reach Jack at:

jack@zindalaw.com

512-246-2224