{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F5a0cd875-b2a9-489a-aaa1-473d8cb7832c","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"87 \u2013 John Fisher \u2013 A Profound Impact","description":"In this episode of the Trial Lawyer Nation podcast, Michael sits down with accomplished author and New York trial attorney, John Fisher. He and Michael discuss everything from developing real core values and living by them to techniques and practices to better connect with jurors.\nMichael and John begin the episode by delving into John\u2019s past and how we became the man he is today. After graduating from law school and facing the inevitable question of \u201cwhat now?\u201d John was approached by a 30-year-old man who told his story of being \u201chorribly brain-damaged in a bus wreck;\u201d an apparently problematic case that lawyers wouldn\u2019t go near. Thus began John\u2019s interest in personal injury law.\nThis case would go on to trial, settle for an admittedly \u201cnot good amount\u201d after a week of trial, but would serve an even grander purpose of selling John on pursuing this path.\n\u201cThis is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, which was not personal injury law; it was serving the most severely disabled people and having a profound impact in their lives.\u201d \u2013 John Fisher\nAfter discussing another of John\u2019s previous cases, his criteria for accepting cases, and why he loves having a small caseload (28 active files at the time of recording), Michael asks John how he\u2019s able to sustain his business model with only big damage cases. John responds by saying that they don\u2019t just turn away small or moderate cases, they just don\u2019t handle them; opting instead to refer them out to other attorneys and split the fees. John prefers it this way so that the smaller cases don\u2019t take away from the catastrophic injury cases, which require much more time and attention. That being said, there are some exceptions to this rule.\nJohn goes on to explain that, keeping in line with the mission and core values of his firm, he does accept smaller cases on occasion simply because \u201cit\u2019s the right thing to do.\u201d He believes that practicing law goes beyond compensation for injuries (calling that a \u201csmall part of what we do\u201d) and is about improving the quality of care for others in the future.\n\u201cI got money for people, but is that what the practice of law is really about?\u201d \u2013 John Fisher\nFollowing Michael and John\u2019s agreement that it\u2019s much more powerful to affect changes than to focus solely on the money, Michael follows up on the core values of John\u2019s firm and asks him to elaborate on them. John outlines his firms core values as follows:\n\n* We only represent the injuries of people who\u2019ve been catastrophically injured\n* We\u2019re brutally honest with our clients\n* We do not accept cases that have questionable merit\n* We will NEVER agree to a confidential settlement\n\nAfter sharing his own firm\u2019s core values, Michael admires John\u2019s concrete goals in regards to the dates he sets to have a certain number of referral attorneys. When asked where he got the idea for that, John eagerly reorients his camera to show the large gong situated in his office. After explaining the ritual of ringing the gong when his firm attains a new referral attorney, he begins to talk about the \u201cepiphany\u201d he had as a young lawyer.\n\u201cMy clients [are] not injury victims. My clients are attorneys who can send us a steady stream of cases.\u201d \u2013 John Fisher\nMichael then redirects the conversation back to John\u2019s core values, explaining that they fascinate him and asking how John came up with them. \u201cThere\u2019s a critical difference between aspirational values, meaning what we think we should be doing, and real values which is what are you currently doing.\u201d John explains this premise further by talking about the aspirational values his firm adopted (such as \u201cwe treat our clients like family\u201d) and how those were changed completely with his new philosophy.\nAfter further elaborating on his core values and the importance of your team embodying your firm\u2019s values, John goes on to explain the importance of mastering the business of law;...","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/80de4db6-da18-41b8-9643-156c5d06db25/tln-logo-itunes-1400.jpg"}