00:04
the most
00:05
rewarding aspect of our elder abuse
00:07
practice
00:08
is really the people we represent
00:12
often these people due to age
00:15
infirmity and or dementia
00:19
cognitive impairment they’re unable to
00:22
stand up and speak for themselves
00:24
they’re very vulnerable and they were
00:26
taken advantage of
00:28
and we are able to come in represent
00:31
them
00:31
and be their voice and assert their
00:33
rights for them
00:35
so it’s really a great opportunity to to
00:38
represent the the good guy
00:40
so to speak and conversely it’s
00:42
rewarding because
00:43
often the people we are going against
00:46
the defendants in our case are really
00:47
just not
00:48
good people not uncommon i think
00:51
particularly in the financial elder
00:52
abuse
00:53
arena when we’re talking about family
00:55
members who take advantage of an
00:57
elderly or infirm parent
01:00
these people are in some cases
01:03
sociopaths they have the same
01:05
characteristics of a sociopath
01:07
and they’ve betrayed the trust of
01:10
their parents and these are people who
01:12
betrayed the trust of their own brothers
01:14
and sisters
01:15
they’ve manipulated the parents to cheat
01:17
their own brothers and sisters
01:19
and so to me it’s very rewarding to hold
01:22
those people
01:23
accountable and bring them to justice
01:30
i think what it takes to be successful
01:32
in the courtroom is a number of things i
01:34
mean first and foremost
01:35
preparation you have to know the facts
01:38
of your case
01:39
inside and out and you need to know the
01:42
applicable
01:42
law inside out court a lot of things
01:46
change
01:47
you can’t predict how it’s going to go
01:49
on any given day
01:50
so that makes it also important you have
01:52
to be resilient
01:54
you may get knocked down a couple times
01:55
but you’ve got to keep getting up
01:57
because persistence is the name of the
01:59
game in litigation throughout the case
02:01
and once it gets to trial it’s not
02:03
always going to go your way
02:04
but you have to anticipate that in
02:08
advance the better you know the case
02:10
the better you know your own client the
02:12
better you understand the witnesses the
02:14
better you can be able to roll with the
02:15
punches
02:16
and then finally i think empathy i think
02:20
it’s really important
02:21
to have empathy because at the end of
02:24
the day
02:25
as an attorney we will have the most
02:26
success if we
02:28
understand our client’s story and can
02:31
tell the story as if it was the client
02:33
himself or herself
02:35
who was telling that story and you can’t
02:37
do that
02:38
without empathy and without spending
02:40
time with your client to really
02:42
understand your story and i think those
02:46
are the most
02:47
important things to have success in the
02:49
courtroom