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President’s Message: Using the Value and Virtue of Our Profession to Inspire the Next Generation of Defense Litigators
For those of you who were able to attend our annual conference in the Wisconsin Dells in August, I discussed during my remarks as incoming president a challenge many of us are facing: The recruitment and retention of our next generation of insurance defense trial attorneys. It seems recruitment has become more difficult, but retention even more so. The makeup of our workforce is changing, and it is becoming necessary to reassess and, in some cases, to pivot. Handling recruitment and retention “the same way it was when we were coming up” is short-sighted. We are not unique. No generation or industry has thrived and grown by simply “doing things the way things have always been done.”
When I came out of law school, the job market was difficult. If you were one of the many applicants chosen and hired by a firm, you did not care that your salary was a small fraction of what your billable requirements would bring in. You got into the office before your boss, left the office after your boss, “paid your dues,” and you were promised it would (and often it did) pay off some day. Today’s law school graduate, in general, wants an immediate seat at the table, immediate financial rewards, and work life balance. In a world where we keep the lights on by the almighty billable hour, this presents a challenge.
In my opinion and experience, a very important key to finding our next generation of defense litigators is to identify new lawyers who want to be in the courtroom, who want to advocate, and who will find this work rewarding. The best way to attract them is to truly be and believe all of these things ourselves. Sometimes I lose sight of that when getting bogged down in the details. But when I mentor a younger attorney, it re-lights my fire.
As a member of the State Bar Litigation Section Board of Directors, I recently attended an event at Marquette Law School during which the State Bar set up a table for all of its practice sections and had one or two practitioners present to answer questions and to provide a glimpse into a career in that field. Law students could go table-to-table to learn what it is like to be in litigation, family law, immigration, public interest, etc., and to ask questions about necessary coursework and experience, pros and cons, work life balance, etc. When I arrived at the event, I was already a bit weary. I was tired from the drive and a long day at the office. But talking to these young students about my life and career as a civil defense litigator absolutely energized me. There were a few law students who were just making the rounds because they felt they had to, but when I locked eyes with the handful of law students who were clearly meant to be an engaging courtroom advocate, it was magical. They fed off my energy and I fed off theirs. It reminded me how much I love the bread and butter of what I do – from client education and counsel, to strategy, to discovery, and to, of course (but not often enough, unfortunately), a jury trial.
Lawyers who primarily practice in insurance defense just do not get enough love. Television and radio ads relentlessly pander for sympathy to injured persons, attempt to program viewers that all injured persons should recover “big dollars,” and shamelessly demean and attack insurance companies. Nobody is spending ad dollars talking about the fear our clients experience when served with a lawsuit. Nobody is spending ad dollars to educate the public that not all people who are sued for personal injuries are actually liable (and that not all claims of injury are valid). Nobody is spending ad dollars extolling the virtuous practice of defending people and businesses in what are often defensible claims. It is up to those of us who do this work to remind ourselves why we do it and how valuable a service we provide.
I tried a slip-and-fall case before a Brown County jury in May. My client was a corporate client, but a small local business owner. During the trial, the plaintiff attorney’s tactic was to aggressively argue that employees were not trained to take care of the safety of the store’s patrons, that the store did not take the time to create pages and pages of written procedures to ensure nobody would ever encounter ice in Wisconsin in January, and that the company and its employees were casual and careless. Surely, the store cared more about profits than safety. This, of course, was not true and the jury fortunately saw through it, rendering a defense verdict.
The night before my closing argument, my client gave me a handwritten letter defending herself and her company in a way her trial testimony did not permit. She was so personally hurt and offended by the plaintiff’s trial tactics. I knew those tactics were nothing more than “the playbook” to try to maximize recovery but I had forgotten to consider what it might feel like in her chair. She took the case to heart and took her business and societal obligations seriously, including the safety of her patrons and employees. She needed to put in writing for me, and probably for herself, an attestation of “our character, morals and dedication to our clients and our craft.” She reiterated how sad and upset they were that this woman fell and sustained a serious injury. Their salesperson checked in on her, all the employees signed a get-well card, and all of them truly felt badly for her. She told me in her letter that “the attack on (her company’s) morals, character and dedication to our client” was personal and hurtful. Yet she finished her letter to me (not for plaintiff and not for show, but because it is who she truly is as a person and they are as a business) reiterating how sorry she and her employees were that this woman sustained such a significant injury and that the plaintiff would continue to be in their thoughts and prayers. Clients and cases like this one are the reason I bristle at the incessant onslaught of commercials which I view as an unwarranted attack on what we do and those we represent. The client has graciously agreed to present with me and share her experiences at WDC’s Winter Conference (“View from the Other Chair: A Lawsuit from the Insured’s Perspective”).
Our clients deserve every bit of respect, support, and top-notch representation as any plaintiff. It can be easy to forget that in a world where plaintiffs’ flashy verdicts are touted in advertisements and through social media.
I have always found tremendous value in helping defendants - even those whose negligence actually caused somebody else’s injury. They deserve respectful, caring, and competent representation to get them through the process. It is easy to get bogged down in our personal and professional lives and to think of our work in terms of monthly billing requirements so we can make a living and take care of ourselves and our families. We will always be at a disadvantage against a well-funded plaintiff public relations machine. Yet I implore our members to never forget that what we do is important, and our clients deserve our best. I encourage everybody to take a moment to remember why we do what we do and to use that passion to lead by example and to invigorate our next generation of trial lawyers: ours is also a just and respectable cause.
Author Biography:
Heather Nelson is President and Shareholder of Everson, Whitney, Everson & Brehm, S.C., in Green Bay. She currently serves as WDC President, having served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee as well. Heather is an experienced trial attorney, having successfully tried cases before juries in state and federal courts throughout Wisconsin and Illinois. She obtained her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago and launched her legal career in the Chicago area. Heather became licensed to practice law in Wisconsin in 2000, defending cases in both Illinois and Wisconsin. Joining The Everson Law Firm in 2016 brought Heather back home to her Green Bay roots. Her practice areas include motor vehicle accident, premises liability, wrongful death, and insurance coverage. Heather has been active in presenting CLE topics at WDC conferences, for the State Bar of Wisconsin, and at the North Central Region Trial Academy.
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