Marc Luber: Hey everyone – welcome to JD CareersOutThere – where we get you career
advice from fellow lawyers and non-practicing lawyers – to help you achieve success and
happiness in your career.
In law school, you learn how to think, read and write like a lawyer.
We’re here to help you enjoy your career – and a big part of that is finding a path
that excites you – so we’re gonna look at one of those paths today.
I’m Marc Luber – and today we’re exploring careers in Personal Injury Law.
We’re talking to one of my best friends – since law school - Adam Riback of The
Levin Riback Law Group in Chicago.
Adam’s not only a Personal Injury attorney - he also teaches advanced trial practice
at Northwestern University’s Law School and he coaches their National Mock Trial Team,
which he led to being the 2011 National Champions!
I asked Adam to give us an overview of the Personal Injury practice area and he covered
everything from what’s it’s like to be a PI litigator to why it’s such a rewarding
career path to who makes the right fit for this path and how to break in.
Take a look:
Tell us in a nutshell what you do as a personal injury lawyer.
Adam Riback: As a personal injury lawyer, I represent people that have sustained significant
injuries as a result of some other person’s negligence or a corporation’s negligence.
.I take the case to court – often times it will go to a jury trial, get them a verdict,
and basically get justifiable compensation for them.
Luber: OK.
What’s a type of an injury that we’re talking about that these people would have?
Adam Riback: Well it could be anything from medical malpractice to an injury that a worker
sustains on a construction site.
It could be something as simple as an automobile collision or a slip and fall at a grocery
store or at some other facility.
Luber: OK now, I know you love what you do so tell us what reasons you would give other
people if you were advising them on if they should follow in your footsteps.
Adam Riback: Well if you’re considering law school at all, and you’re considering
trial work, there’s really only a few areas into the courtroom.
There’s commercial litigation which is not something for everyone: it’s drier than
what I do.
There’s obviously criminal work, which you either may or may not like, depending on your
view of the system.
But the nice thing about civil litigation or personal injury litigation is that it allows
you to represent individuals – most likely that haven’t killed anybody – and basically
do right by them.
Make sure that they’re fairly compensated for an injury that’s the result of somebody
else’s negligence.
And it’s extremely rewarding because a lot of times these people come to you and their
life has been turned upside down because of an injury: they no longer have a job, they
no longer have money coming in, they have children, they have family to support.
And you become somebody who can help them restart their life or, depending on how bad
their injury is, actually take care of them for the rest of their life.
Luber: So there’s a huge human element to what you do.
Adam Riback: Enormous.
You know, the interaction with clients is very rewarding.
I still get cards and phone calls from clients I represented a decade ago letting me know
how their kids are, or if there was a death and I represented the children, I’ll get
a call from one of the kids saying, “I just graduated college.”
Well a lot of times, that child would not have gone to college had I not gone to trial
and obtained a jury verdict that allowed his surviving parent to pay for college.
Luber: Right.
That has to be really, really rewarding.
Tell us this – what type of person would be a good fit for this path?
Adam Riback: Well if you want to do this work, you have to be outgoing.
Because first of all, you’ve gotta be somewhat entrepreneurial.
You’ve gotta be willing to get out there, market yourself, market your abilities, and
in addition to that, you’re gonna end up on trial.
And if you’re not comfortable speaking to people, and particularly a group of 12 people,
and conveying a story and doing it in a strong and effective manner, you’re just not gonna
be good for the job.
The nice thing about personal injury work is if you’re hungry, you’re entrepreneurial,
you’re smart, you don’t necessarily have to be a Harvard graduate or a Yale graduate
to succeed in it.
In fact, most of the people in –I’m from Chicago – in the Chicago area, who have
been the most successful attorneys in this particular field, went to city law schools
and not the Harvards and the Yales of the world.
Luber: So a lot of our viewers, then, have a shot at following in your footsteps!
Adam Riback: Yes.
Absolutely.
The door to this type of career is far more open than the door to a corporate career in
law where you have to go to Harvard or Yale or a school like that and hope that you get
a job with one of these blue book (meant white shoe) firms that has a huge reputation.
It gives somebody an opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t be there – because let’s face
it: Marc, neither you or I were headed down that path!
Luber: Ha!
That’s right!
And possibly a lot of our audience isn’t either, so they will probably want to know
more – just like I want to know more about what you’re doing.
So if you guys wanna know more about practicing Personal Injury law, and you think you fit
what Adam’s been talking about, then come check out the full interview at JDCareersOutThere.com.
Adam gives a really thorough description of the practice area, explains more about why
he thinks it’s such a rewarding career path, why he thinks it’s one of the best ways
to get real courtroom experience and shares great tips on how to be aggressive in breaking
in to the job you want.
You can take a shortcut to the site by going to JDCOT.com.
If you’re already at the site, you can scroll down to the full version – be sure to become
a member so you can watch the full interview and get access to lots more exclusive content
filled with great advice.
Thanks again for watching everyone – I’m Marc Luber and look forward to seeing you
again soon.
Take care.