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Law Have Mercy!
Law Have Mercy! isn’t just about the law anymore—it’s about life, business, health, and everything that sparks curiosity. Join Personal Injury Attorney Chaz Roberts as he dives into candid conversations that mix legal insights with lifestyle tips, entrepreneurial wisdom, and personal growth. From breaking down complex legal issues in simple terms to exploring the challenges and triumphs of health, business, and beyond, Chaz brings his unique perspective and passion to every episode.
Whether you're here to learn, laugh, or find inspiration, Law Have Mercy! has something for everyone. Just remember: the opinions of our guests are their own, and nothing on this podcast is legal advice or creates an attorney-client relationship—it’s all about entertainment, exploration, and empowerment. Let’s make it fun!
Law Have Mercy!
Building & Bridging Cultures: Attorney Kevin Hernandez talks Law, Life & the Land of Opportunity for Hispanics in America [SEASON 4 PREMIERE]
Law Have Mercy! If you thought we were turning soft after wrapping up last season of the podcast, Season 3, think again. In this Season 4 Premiere episode, we sit down with Hispanic-American attorney, Kevin Hernandez. Growing up a Mexican kid in the small town of Morgan City, Louisiana exposed Kevin to many of the common challenges that underserved communities, such as immigrants and minorities, experience in the USA. Today, Kevin is a seasoned personal injury lawyer at one of Acadiana's top personal injury firms, as well as a husband and father of three children whom he is raising just a short drive away from his own hometown. Some might say Kevin is living his American dream-- especially for a Mexican kid whose paternal family still lives primarily in Mexico-- but that doesn't mean Kevin has forgotten about the marginalized communities and their plight; in fact, quite the opposite is true.
In this heartfelt episode, guest attorney Kevin shares his excitement about a recent career leap and talks about how he is adjusting to the culture at his new firm. However, after some light reminiscing, it isn't long before we are diving in to tackle hot-button topics like the complex cultural and legal challenges faced by members of the Hispanic community in the USA, and particularly those around immigration and language barriers in South Louisiana. Kevin's personal anecdotes shed light on how cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings and legal issues, further highlighting the complexities of everyday life for these and other minority groups in the USA today. His examples and stories about legal and illegal immigrants in America are insightful and provide a nuanced view of the daily struggles and triumphs for those seeking a land of opportunity.
Our discussion also dives into the rewarding yet challenging nature of personal injury law and what drove Kevin to become a bilingual personal injury attorney. Kevin and I explore our shared passion for helping car wreck victims, address societal misconceptions about personal injury attorneys and emphasize the importance of comprehensive insurance and consulting an attorney. Finally, we discuss the significance of building trust and collaboration with clients, setting the stage for a promising future. Tune in for valuable insights and heartfelt discussions that offer a deep look into living as a minority, pursuing a career in the legal profession and the human stories behind it all.
You can watch most full episodes of Law Have Mercy on YouTube!
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If you are in need of legal guidance, visit our website: https://www.chazrobertslaw.com/
This show is co-produced by Carter Simoneaux of AcadianaCasts Network, Chaz H. Roberts of Chaz Roberts Law and Kayli Guidry Bonin of Beau The Agency, and Laith Alferahin.
I can't believe we are starting season four of Law have Mercy podcast. It's been a great run and we're just getting started in many ways, but on today's episode you're in for a real treat. I have a lawyer, a personal injury lawyer, kevin Hernandez. He's the father of three, a great personal injury lawyer and, most importantly no, not most importantly his kids are definitely most important. Second, most importantly, the newest member to our law firm, chaz Roberts Law. Welcome to the podcast, mr Kevin Hernandez. What's up, buddy? What's going on? Chaz? Thank you for having me today. Well, thank you for letting me pull you upstairs and do this. I'm sure you got plenty to do, but how do you enjoy being here, man?
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:You don't have to say that.
Speaker 2:Right, I don't, you're the boss, but I do love it. I come here and everyone's awesome, great personalities. Everyone's here for a good reason. Everybody wants to help the clients. Everyone's here for a good reason. Everybody wants to help the clients, everybody wants to do what's right, and so it makes it easy to come to work every day. I've been excited for the last three weeks to wake up and come to work, so I'm going to take it as a good thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you've re-energized me too, man. You have a lot of great experience that you've been able to obtain over the last 10 years and, um, I feel, sometimes I feel like I have all of this figured out and then I find out that you know there's some, some things that other people know and can add to my little uh, you know bag of tricks. So I appreciate that. And what's interesting is you and I have been friends pretty much since you started practicing law and we would have lunches occasionally and we'd always joke. I was like man, one day we get to work together and it finally came to fruition. So I'm super pumped about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, it's the first time I met you. I went home and told my wife. I said I met this lawyer. He's pretty cool, he's awesome, has a very similar personality. I was like, you know, that's something that I really appreciate when someone doesn't take everything so serious. You know that you just talk about being a lawyer and that you enjoy being a lawyer versus bow tie and suits and ties and I was trying to be serious and so I went home and told her I said that's someone that I could work with one day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it came to fruition finally, and I can tell you I wore way more suits back then. If you think I was, you know, not stiff and laid back, then you see me now. Right, we wear t-shirts, we wear polo shirts. You know we could strap on the suit when it's game day, but there's really no need in 2024 to be stiff and have that sort of appearance that you're somebody above the clients, right?
Speaker 2:No more Jose Banks suits right, no more Pantripe suits and red tops.
Speaker 1:I wore a. It's interesting I wore. I had a hearing two weeks ago. No, I'm sorry, this was at the mediation last week. I pulled out my suit. I had this beautiful suit and I looked and I was like you know, what would look good is a yellow tie. I went through my tie selection and I pulled out a Joseph A Bank tie. I guarantee you I paid that thing no more than $18 and that tie was at least 12 years old and it still looked great. It still looked awesome. So I can't knock Joseph A Bank. I missed Joseph A Bank in a pinch. You'd run over there and get you a new little three for $50 ties, right. And the men's warehouse suits that was my first suit. It was a men's warehouse suit, that charcoal black. I'm sure you went through that too.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I had one of those where you pick one or the other, right, you pick the size of your jacket or you pick the size of your pants, because the other one came in a standard size after that.
Speaker 1:So what are we tailoring? Is it cheaper to tailor the pants or the suit? You get the jacket to fit right. I think every lawyer uh has has gone through that. I still enjoy the memes you see on on instagram where they're like uh, if your lawyer looks like this, you're going to jail. Have you seen those? Yes, with the, with the big boxy pants and black square shoes, oh, absolutely my suit uh, my suit style has definitely been upgraded over the last 15 years. I'm sure yours has too.
Speaker 2:Oh, you know it's. We went from boxy suits to random blues and everything slim, cut skinny ties.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then now it's coming back like the wider lapels, the wider ties, like it's all full circle. It all comes back. So you grew up in Morgan City.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:The metropolis of Morgan City.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Coming from a dude from Sicilia, right.
Speaker 2:Known as the Tri-City area. Whenever you include Patterson, Burke and Morgan City, you put all three of those areas together and you have one city.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true. How was it growing up in Morgan City?
Speaker 2:Different than what it is now. I was fortunate enough to grow up in the 90s Right, and so I got to ride my bike with all the kids in the neighborhood. I lived in a neighborhood called Lakeside Anyone who's from Morgan City immediately can identify what Lakeside is and so all of us that lived in Lakeside we felt like we were a special group of kids. You know, we were the Lakeside clique and so growing up there everyone was safe, everyone knew each other. You could ride past three houses and say hello to each lady that was sitting on the porch drinking her tea, and so we rode our bikes from sunup to sundown. We got to ride our bikes across all of Morgan City, not just in that neighborhood as we got older. So it was fun, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you went to what high school?
Speaker 2:Morgan City High.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you're Hispanic, and so how was it being Hispanic in Morgan City in the 90s?
Speaker 2:It was different. Growing up we pretty much knew all the Hispanic families, and a majority of it was because my mom was in some way of not related to them. You know, my mom's great aunt owns a Tampico's restaurant down in that area, and so all of her cousins, you know they worked there, they lived there, and so there weren't many Hispanics, at least from what I can recall. And the ones that they were there, we knew them. And now you go, you drop to Morgan City now, and there's there's Hispanics um on every corner, and it's because of the shipyards, because of the oil field, you know. And so it's a little different now than from when I was growing up.
Speaker 1:We knew everybody and you've seen that trend pretty much throughout Louisiana, I mean certainly in Lafayette the Hispanic population has grown drastically right, probably since you moved here when you went to UL.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean your son plays soccer, my son plays soccer. You can go down into Youngsville Sports Complex and practice, use the ends around 530, 630 on most days, and as soon as we're walking out you can see all the younger Hispanic community showing up to play soccer. I mean by the dozens, and so I know just as many Hispanic people here that I do. Just you know just American people. I have a lot of friends that are from different parts of the world Argentina, el Salvador, venezuela. It's just a big Hispanic community.
Speaker 1:As that population has grown. What type of challenges do the Hispanic population face? What type of legal challenges do they face now?
Speaker 2:Well, the most obvious. Let's just start with the most obvious one, right Like the white elephant in the room, and that's immigration right, and with each presidency, immigration laws change. In the last debate they were arguing about the American-Mexican border and all that, and a lot of them face the challenges that most don't speak English and the ones that do don't speak it well, and so to get representation in your native language is not always the easiest thing. As I say, here today, I probably can only name one or two attorneys that I know that actually speak Spanish, because that's either their native language or because their family speaks Spanish, and so to get representation from somebody that doesn't speak your language is a challenge, right, it's a hurdle. Getting pulled over by an officer and not knowing how to speak to them and express yourself correctly is a challenge. So it's overall, you know, it's just a language barrier.
Speaker 1:That's it, and a cultural barrier to some extent, but mainly a language barrier.
Speaker 2:And the cultural barrier thing is that actually affects them a lot, not only just between their culture and the American culture, but also within the Hispanic community. There's multiple cultures, right. So people from El Salvador may have a different way of thinking than people from Mexico. People from Mexico may have a different way of thinking than people from Venezuela. And so you're taking individuals who are accustomed to certain things, and now you're sticking them in America and I say that, or accustomed to certain things, and now you're sticking them in America and I say that They've probably been here for a few years, but they're still not adapting completely to what they're seeing around them.
Speaker 1:The cultural norms of America, right, and that could be alcohol consumption, for example, drinking and driving, for example. It might be legal or not, as penalized in their native country. I'm just making that up. That'd be one that I would think of. What do you think would be a norm there that would probably be frowned upon here?
Speaker 2:Probably one of those. It's hard to identify one thing, but I'll tell you a small story. When I was a kid, we'd go back to Mexico every year. Once a year that was our family vacation, because all of my dad's family still resides in Mexico. He's actually the only one in his entire family that lives in the United States. So I remember from the age of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 years old up until high school. We'd go to Mexico every year and I remember being 8 years old, which is my son's age now, and being able to walk into a convenience store with my cousin and say, hey, I need a 12-pack, Because you had to recycle the bottles and give them the box with the empty bottles and they would hand it to me and I would say it's for my cousin, so-and-so, around the corner and they'd put it on the tab and so they would send me in as a joke like, hey, this is not America, you can go get the beer for us, yeah.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was a kid I grew up in the country right and I would go hunting with my grandfather. I remember my grandfather just drinking and driving, just you know we weren't going very far but it was accepted. I mean just literally drinking and driving, drinking a bottle of beer while he was driving, and he would say he called me Henley, say Henley, roll down the window and just toss the beer in the ditch. My grandfather's going to kill me if he hears this. But it's true, I mean, and that was, you know, 1992. And then now if you smell alcohol at a restaurant and you get stopped, the cops are looking to put you in jail.
Speaker 1:You know so much has changed with with with you know alcohol, drugs and look for the better. You know we don't want people drinking and driving or driving impaired. But so much has changed so I can. I can understand how culturally, you know, if it's accepted in your native land. I mean, you face some problems and those guys are hard workers too. A lot of the laborers that are here are hard workers. They work a hard day's work. They want to have, they want to cut loose a little bit at night and have some beers. Their families are gone. I'm just I'm assuming their families are back in Mexico or wherever their native land, and so they go out with the guys, have a couple of drinks and they find themselves in Judge Saloom's court six months later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and look, the laborers are the ones that are usually the ones that have their families back home. So when you see the ones that work in restaurants or they own their own little paint business and things of that sort, most of them have their family here. But the ones that are like welders and fitters and work in the shipyards, they come here for a temporary amount of time, whether it be six months or a year. They work because they're trying to provide for their families back home and all of them couldn't come here. So one of them came and so in the afternoons most of them live together On the way home. Stop and get a 32-ounce, let's take it to the house.
Speaker 1:Do legal individuals, who are legal, whether it's on a temporary work visa, american status, citizen status, whatever do they have an opinion on the migrant crisis? Quote, unquote at the border.
Speaker 2:I guess it depends where they're from. And so one of the things you're going to always hear and it may not be politically correct the way I say it, but Americans think it's Mexicans. Come across the border, here comes all the Mexicans, a lot of Mexicans, a lot of Mexicans. What they're not noticing is that it's people from all over the world that are coming through that border. It may be people from Guatemala, it may be people from Venezuela, it's not necessarily—.
Speaker 1:China.
Speaker 2:Yeah, other parts of the world, africa and, you know, the Middle East. It's not just Mexicans, but it's easy to identify anyone crossing that border as Mexican.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I watched a reel the other day and they were saying it's not Mexicans coming across the border. If you go to Mexico, you realize that they have good lives there. They eat fresh fruit, the food is delicious, they have beaches, depending on where you're located. They live good lives. Why would they want to come to America?
Speaker 2:And look, most of them can travel pretty freely. I have family members that they can travel pretty freely. They have passports, they are able to obtain travel visas and things pretty easily, so they don't have to try to sneak across the border. If they want to come across, they can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so we're in Lafayette here, but you were talking about sort of the access to a lawyer, sort of the access to a lawyer. So would you say that most people who need lawyers Hispanics who need lawyers they'll call a law firm and actually talk to staff who is fluent in Spanish, versus an actual lawyer?
Speaker 2:Yeah, very rarely will they get to speak to an attorney who is fluent in Spanish. Do they have attorneys that speak Spanish? Yes, they do. A majority of them are probably in New Orleans, but if we're talking about the Lafayette area, there's maybe only a handful of us that actually speak Spanish. So when you call in because you have a legal problem, you're going to speak to whether it's an intake specialist that speaks Spanish, receptions that speak Spanish or, if you're lucky, you may get a paralegal that speaks Spanish who can obtain the proper information that we need. But in no event will you have a direct communication between the client and the attorney, unless the attorney speaks Spanish.
Speaker 1:I'm only thinking about our deposition prep the other day six hours intense deposition prep with a client. Can you imagine having a staff member in there to try to translate versus you actually being able to speak Spanish in that moment? I mean that is apples to oranges, right.
Speaker 2:And it takes. I mean, I wouldn't say it's less effective, but imagine having to listen to someone say a question that you don't understand. Then have someone say the question, you finally understand it, you repeat the answer to them and then they repeat the answer in English, right? So you're basically playing like a ping pong, right? The ball is just going back and forth, the same questions three times, same answer three times, and it's just going back and forth, back and forth. And at what point does it lose the personal effect where you can? Just I'm looking right at you right now and just answering your question.
Speaker 1:Right, and things are lost in translation along the way too, and especially depending on where they're from.
Speaker 2:You know, my friends and I all joke with each other and say that their Spanish is, you know, worse than our Spanish, or you know that we have the better Spanish, and it's because we use different slang. The way we express ourselves is a little differently, and so the dialect is going to change. I've been in depositions before where the defendant driver is speaking in Spanish and the translator says something and I know that it's not translated correctly. It may be translated literally, but it's not what they were trying to say.
Speaker 1:Because there was just some nuances, some subtleties in the slang. I mean, look, think of Louisiana. You think people in South, you think people in Morgan city speak the same as people in Shreveport?
Speaker 2:Wait, do you think people in France actually speak off French?
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, I mean, it's completely different, completely different. Although I did go to St Lucia recently and they speak what's called Patois, which is like a Creole French. I understood it perfectly well. It was more like Cajun French than actual like Parisian French, and they thought I was the greatest guy in the world. They thought I was some kind of ambassador or politician there, politician there, but it's like, how does he know our secret native language? Because they that's just the things that they talk about as the way they speak to keep information away from the local, from the visitors or like from kids. They speak this patois. So that was kind of cool. But yeah, I hear what you're saying, man it there's so much nuance in language and regionality you really can't get a true translation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it works for what needs to be done, but it's not necessarily the exact thing that they said, and so that creates it creates a problem. Right, it creates a problem because, as attorneys, we're telling the story, whether it's a defense attorney telling the story of the defendant or the plaintiff. Telling the story of the plaintiff you know plaintiff's counsel telling the story of the injured person, the plaintiff. We're trying to tell their story. So if we can't understand exactly what they mean by what they say, it creates a problem.
Speaker 1:What interests you about personal injury law?
Speaker 2:Why have you, after 10 years, really honed in on personal injury law. I started off in private practice. I get out of law school and I was mentored by John Shea, real school old school attorney, a great guy. He did personal injury but when I first came out of law school he agreed to mentor me. So I can just do my private practice and I did a little bit of everything criminal law, family law and I actually represented cities like municipalities, like Church Point and things like that. They come to contract law and some of it was fun. Family law was draining. You know you get a client, you do well for them and until their child turns 18, sometimes those individuals see you as their attorney. Every time they don't communicate well with the other parent, every time they want child support increase or decrease, and so it just became draining.
Speaker 1:Yeah, certainly, all of a sudden, being a general manager at Tampico's doesn't sound so bad after all, after you do some family law, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I mean, I have children of my own, and so to see these individuals fighting over what they claim to be the best interest of the child which I can see it's not it just became draining. So I slowly started doing personal injury, and the more I did personal injury, the more I liked it, and what I liked about it is I'm helping this individual. I get to focus on this individual for this particular rack, and if you focus on the right thing, which is getting them better, right, making sure that they get the medical attention that they need, everything kind of starts to fall into place. And so I found that that was more rewarding than fighting for someone who got more or less custody than they wanted and knowing in the back of my mind that I was going to be in court six months from now if I was lucky, 18 months from now fighting the same issue with slightly different facts.
Speaker 1:And then personal injury. You can actually be. It's a high stakes because someone is injured, but you could be a guy who I wouldn't say savior, but you could be someone who makes a substantial impact in their lives for the better and they will remember that. It's more rewarding for the attorney.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing about personal injury like a core rack. These are people that are in horror situations through no fault of their own right. They didn't ask to be in a core rack. They didn't ask to have neck pain or back pain. They didn't want to have to struggle to get out of bed every morning, which is a little different than like family law or people who get into disputes over contracts. Like you know, a lot of times those people create those problems and then they come to us to help them resolve it. But when you're involved in a car wreck, you're a victim, right. You're driving through an intersection minding your business, and someone runs a red light and all of a sudden you can't spend time with your children, you have to miss work, and so you're helping someone who deserves it, and so you know that without your help, someone's going to take advantage of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I couldn't have said it better myself and even the criminal law to take it one step ahead, and I've had some great criminal law clients when I used to do that type of work there's still some bad decisions that were probably made. Even if they're innocent, they probably were making some bad decisions to be around certain people and so, versus the personal injury side, where it's truly, truly, truly a victim, an innocent victim that didn't ask to be in this situation, so it makes it just that much more rewarding to be able to help those people.
Speaker 2:You know, over the years I've had a common theme come up, and especially when the person who caused the wreck and the person who's the victim of the core wreck live geographically in the same area you know whether it be the same neighborhood, same city and I've had a lot of clients tell me I saw the guy that hit me drive down the street and nothing's changed in his life. They're just living their life, having a good old time. And here I am being scrutinized. I have to go to doctors every week. I'm in pain, I have to take pain medication and I don't like it. Now the doctor's telling me I need an injection, and I still see him riding, or she riding, up and down the street. Their car is just fine. My car was totaled and I still haven't gotten a rental, and so when you start seeing that, you start realizing that they are truly the victim.
Speaker 2:Right, there's nothing about a car wreck that's fun. Everything about it is an inconvenience. It's an inconvenience to the person that didn't cause it, because the insurance company is going to scrutinize their lives. The defense attorney is going to scrutinize their life. Why do you want a rental? You're not that hurt. Maybe it is your fault, and so when you help those individuals, it's more rewarding than helping someone that created the problem for themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and like I had in my recent case, like even my clients' attempts to try to live their life in a normal manner at least from looking at what she was trying to do to return to her normal life was used against her through surveillance, right. So somebody hired a private, the insurance company hired a private investigator to follow her around and anything she did that looked somewhat like a normal person would look, nevermind the fact that she went home and had to take medication and sleep with her feet elevated or ice and heat. The fact that she was just trying to live a normal life was used against her and scrutinized, never mind what the defendant did to put her in that situation, and that's really frustrating.
Speaker 2:Right, well, you're damned if you do. You're damned if you don't. Right, you go back to work. Well, you're not that hurt. You were able to go to work. Right, if you don't go to work, well, you're not mitigating your damages. Right, you're sitting at home because you want more money, you want a handout, you want a lottery ticket. Actually, I was in a jury trial one time and I heard a defense attorney use it and we're in a very conservative jurisdiction which a lot of attorneys probably try to use that a lottery ticket. But that was the first time that I saw an entire group, an entire jury box, nod their head. Yes, when he said it, when he said that she was trying to get her a lottery ticket. And I realized that overall, the general public feels that way, you know. And so there goes the damned if you do, damned if you don't. If you don't work, they think you're trying to get a lottery ticket and if you do work, they're saying well, you can't be that hurt.
Speaker 1:Do you think that as lawyers?
Speaker 2:we have contributed to that perception. I think so. I mean, it's like in any profession, right? So we have good attorneys and we have bad attorneys. We have good plaintiffs and we have bad plaintiffs. Good defendants, bad defendants, right. And I think we, as humans, once we've had one or two bad experiences, we like to say that every have been found to be lying, you know, to not be truthful, to exaggerate their injuries.
Speaker 1:So if you highlight that in the public, in the media, social media, whatever it may be, you're going to get folks who say everybody, every plaintiff's lying. Yeah, I think it's the commercials, I think it's the billboards. I think that that has jaded some people and I have met with several people over the years who had legit injuries, had a legit wreck, were a victim and still did not want to pursue their case because they didn't want to be part of the stigma that they were just trying to get a check.
Speaker 2:Well, it's everywhere, right? I mean, what do people call plaintiff's attorneys, right? Ambulance chasers?
Speaker 2:right that we ride around looking for court recs, just waiting for someone to get in a court rec so we can represent them and tell them hey look, if you say these things, we're going to get you a bunch of money, and so that's just kind of the perspective. You know, in that jury trial granted again, it was a very conservative jury I felt like we were trying to convince them that you know, I'm going to use criminal law as an analogy we were trying to convince them that they were innocent until proven guilty. Right, they're hurt until proven otherwise. You know that we're here because she didn't cause the incident. I felt like we had to prove she didn't cause the incident. We had to prove she was injured. We had to prove that defendants were responsible. They came in with the thought process she's lying until she proves otherwise.
Speaker 1:Which is not the proper burden of proof, correct?
Speaker 2:And so I felt like we came in there having to convince them that the defense didn't automatically win. I've had people, family members, I've had friends. They always say well, if you had a jury trial for a reason, and I'll go, what do you mean? And they're like well, the defense insurance company or the defendant didn't pay you, it's for a reason, it's probably because you have a bad case, it's probably because your clients, the out-of-fault person, or they're really not hurt or they're lying, you know they're a bad person.
Speaker 1:And so to think that, right, you know people that I grew up with to look at me and think that my clients automatically lying, because if they weren't lying we would have settled already, and you've known these people your entire life and they think that. So what do you think a stranger would?
Speaker 2:think, yeah, exactly, you know I've had to defend my profession several times, you know, to family members, to friends. You know they, oh, you know your clients really aren't hurt and it's. You know, I've had the privilege to be able to say a majority of my clients actually have been hurt. Have I had a, you know, a client that was questionable Maybe. But again, the doctors feel they're hurt. Everything they're telling is hurt, and so it's more or less.
Speaker 2:I'm almost listening to everyone saying well, they can't be, they can't be hurt. You know that's not right. And so then I have to do what we do as plaintiff's attorneys right, get the medical records, meet with the doctors, and so if we're moving forward with the cases, because we already understand they actually are hurt and this is a person, that they were a victim and now they're being scrutinized and so they're becoming more of a victim, now they're a victim of the system after doing this for 10 years, can you believe that there are people out there that have been hurt and don't think it's a good idea to hire a lawyer?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. I mean. And I say, can I believe it? Yes, do I think it's right? No, but there are a lot of people who say I'm not hiring an attorney, I'm not doing that, I'm not litigious, I don't sue individuals and you know, but six months, seven months down the road, they kind of look back and go well, I wish I would have did it. You know how many people I've had tell me I didn't hire a lawyer because I thought that I was going to get better, or I thought that that was just not the right thing to do. I don't want to sue somebody. Come back and tell me I wish I would have done something about it, because 18 months later I still have the shoulder pain. 18 months later I still have the neck pain and I know there's nothing I can do about it.
Speaker 1:And the problem is there's no paper trail that in seek treatment, at least a lawyer would would consult with them and say hey, you should probably get this checked out, because we know the process, we know what the insurance companies are looking for and we know what a jury or a judge would ultimately do. So we would certainly suggest that they get the proper treatment they need. And really the treatment is twofold. Number one is it makes them better, but number two is it creates a paper trail. We need documentation, aka evidence, to be able to present that to an insurance company or a judge or a jury.
Speaker 2:Right, because it's not what we know, it's what we can prove right. And so my advice to my family members, friends, you know people I run into. Sometimes I'm sitting in a bar and someone finds out I'm a lawyer, so they start asking questions. I always tell everyone whether you feel like you need an attorney for an incident or not, call someone. Everyone should know someone who is an attorney or knows someone who knows an attorney. And just because you call them and say, hey, look, I've been involved in an incident, can you give me some advice? Doesn't mean you have to hire that person. It doesn't mean you have to sue someone. It doesn't mean that you have to make this three-year long case. It just simply means that you're picking up the phone and getting a little bit of advice, even if it's just for 10 minutes. Hey, is there something I should look into or not?
Speaker 1:Yeah, how many, I mean since you've been here in a couple of weeks like, how many times have we talked to people for free, calling us, picking our brain? We? We call them the same day, give them some advice, and they're never going to hire us and we're never going to make any money on it. But that's the service that we provide.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean, since I've been here I've answered phone calls for people looking for divorce attorneys, single-vehicle collisions, where they were the ones who caused the wreck. They ran into a brick barrier or they ran into a tree, they ran off the side of the road. And you know, it's funny with those individuals because you can kind of start going down a checklist Well, it's your fault, so technically you can't make a claim against yourself. But tell me a little bit about the incident, tell me a little bit about your insurance, because a lot of them may have MedPay and so, although you technically can't make a claim for your pain and suffering, it's easy to tell them. Well, look, if you have some out-of-pocket expenses because your health insurance didn't cover something, contact your insurance, and if you have MedPay, they may cover it, and so you won't necessarily be in a hole. Yes, unfortunately you created the scenario, but you may not be in a hole, you may have some help.
Speaker 1:Shout out to MedPay. Everyone should have MedPay on their policy and you should have, of course, uninsured motorist coverage. But you should have collision and MedPay on your policy because things happen. When I was 16 years old, I put my first truck in a ditch. Speaking of living in the country, I hit some sugarcane mud on a rainy day and I just lost complete control, put the car in a ditch. We had no collision coverage, so the truck was probably only worth $3,000, $4,000, but it took me a while to get another vehicle because I got nothing back from that vehicle.
Speaker 1:So even if you have a, you know, a lot of people say well, that car's not worth a lot of money, I'm just going to have liability on it. If you have collision on your policy, the collision is you're only going to pay to the amount of the value of the car. So if your car is only worth $5,000, you're only going to pay a small premium for that collision. But if you put that car in a ditch or an uninsured driver hits you, at least you get a check that you can use as a down payment for something else versus nothing. Same with MedPay it's a regardless of who's at fault, you could use that money, pay your out-of-pocket deductible. If you don't have health insurance, it can help you, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2:Look, I think comprehensive and collision. You know the full coverage package. I think it's more important to have that on a vehicle that's already paid off, on a vehicle that isn't worth a lot. You know, if you can't afford to buy a brand new vehicle, what makes you think you're going to be able to afford to total a vehicle and get nothing out of it? Exactly, you know you should.
Speaker 1:You're more you should have the, the, the, the the worse off you are financially, the more insurance you should have.
Speaker 2:For a few dollars a month. You know, for $10, $15 a month or whatever you know. I guess it all depends on your driving record and you know your credit score and whatever else the insurance companies use to calculate your payment, where you live, where your vehicle is housed. But for a few dollars a month you get in a wreck. You total your vehicle that's worth $5,000 and you don't have that now. You don't have a down payment Now. You don't have that ability to go buy a new car and if you don't have a job that provides enough for you, you may not have a vehicle for a while. You're hitchhiking and look, I've had people who they make a living off of their vehicle. They do a delivery service, whether it be Uber or some kind of door dash, and they lose that vehicle. They're stuck. And now they're stuck. You can't earn a living and you don't have transportation.
Speaker 1:I'm going to call you out on one thing, though. You said full coverage. I hate that word. How many times have you asked somebody if they have uninsured motorist coverage? They say, yeah, yeah, I got full coverage.
Speaker 2:And you have to explain to them that's a whole different policy. And full coverage isn't what everyone thinks. There's different types of insurance, right? There's liability, there's collision, there's comprehensive, and then there's the uninsured motorist coverage and the med pay. And I always tell them, if you went into the insurance company and told them I want the cheapest policy possible, you don't have any of those at all. You have liability on it, right? All that means is, if you hit someone, they're going to cover you up to $15,000 because you probably have the minimum policy anyways. That's it.
Speaker 1:We've beat that drum. Full coverage does not mean uninsured motorist coverage. You need to go in and say I want uninsured. I listened to the podcast with Chaz and Kevin. I want uninsured motorist coverage now. But I see it. Look, I like your cap, by the way. You want me to autograph that thing later? Sure, it's going to be a collector's item one day.
Speaker 2:The best present I've gotten at Chaz Roberts' law in three weeks.
Speaker 1:Good, well, you didn't like the polo. Come on man, I thought you looked pretty slick in the polo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's a hat. At 38 years old, I'm slightly balding, so this is kind of my security blanket. I put on a hat and I feel special.
Speaker 1:And to know I can come to work wearing a hat even better you got a busy week this week in the law office and you get to wear a cap. That's got to be pretty high on the employee satisfaction list, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it cuts out 30 seconds of fixing my hair in the morning. Save me a little bit of time. So instead of getting here at 8.05, I got here at 8.03.
Speaker 1:What are some of the other things you have enjoyed about the change of scenery? Moving to our office, working with me, working with Bradley, working with the staff.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the biggest changes that I know, and it's probably because I was in it for so long. As you know, I was in a corporate setting, right, I worked for one of the big law firms before coming here, and so you learn a lot in working in big firms like that, and I was very fortunate enough to have some great trial attorneys as my mentors and overseeing me. But the downside to all of that is that in a corporate setting, everything's about data entry. Everything's about you know who's going to see a report. How can the big guys know that everyone's doing their job and it's a difficult task for them? The big guys know that everyone's doing their job and it's a difficult task for them, and so we spend a lot of time inputting data, accounting for everything we do kind of like a defense firm, but we're not billing for it.
Speaker 2:So if I do a deposition prep, I outline what I did, what I learned, and then I got to report it somewhere and it may just be me interning a note, but I got to put that.
Speaker 2:I met with the client, did deposition prep and this is what I learned. And then, when I'm done, if I do my job correctly, I go back and I put the highlights of the deposition itself. Like, this is a post-depot memo, and so if I calendar something, it's got to live in multiple fields and so you spend a lot of time doing day-to-day data entry, which is different than just being an attorney, right, most of us became an attorney because we want to help people. You know, to go downstairs and sit down for three hours and do deposition prep is awesome. I like doing it because I'm getting to learn the case, my client and all that. But when I don't have to report it, it's even better. Right, when I can walk into your office and know that the owner of the firm knows that I did my deposition prep because he walked by my office, it just it allows me to be an attorney. It allows me to do what I do, right, which is represent the client.
Speaker 1:And in our conversations it's more of a what about this, what about that? Not not have you done your job, but actually adding input that's valuable to the case, like we're talking about the. We're collaborating on the case, not did kevin do his, you know? Did he input the data correctly and the tps reports right?
Speaker 2:yeah, and, like I said, for firms that big, it's very important that the bosses be able to see that, overall, everyone's pretty uniformed and doing their job right. You know, I don't know how, even for yourself, how you oversee everyone and make sure that everyone's doing their job right. I think you said it best one day there's an unreasonable amount of trust. In other words, you have to trust that everyone's doing their job. And so to come here and just know that everyone's trusting that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing is awesome. You know, I worked in one of the satellite offices and since you worked there by myself, with my legal assistant for five years, it was upon me to work. You know, I always say you have to work when no one's looking. That's the important thing, yeah, and so coming here, it's just laid back. I'm being an attorney again. I'm reviewing a file because I'm trying to move the file, not because I have to input some data somewhere.
Speaker 1:And you said that you were kind of blown away, that everyone, that the machine kind of works and everyone knows everything about the file at all times.
Speaker 2:It's efficient and so you know. Kudos to Sasha right For her to be able to just regurgitate without even thinking the client, their treatment status, you know which doctor they're going to, the fact that you have a calendar and keep track of appointments, and I mean you are very in tune with your client and the treatment that they need and the treatment that they're getting, right, um, whether they're going to an orthopedic or to physical therapy, the fact that we're aware of everything that they're doing is great and what do you think about our clients?
Speaker 2:they're awesome, you know. So you know, I've had a privilege, I mean, I think, almost a dozen of them so far, a ton ton of clients, which is rare, right, yes.
Speaker 2:I've had the privilege of meeting more clients in three weeks than I do on a normal basis in a normal six-month span. Some clients I've never met, not because I didn't want to or because they didn't want to meet me, but they were just in a remote area. I've had clients in my mood that they don't want to travel, they don't want to leave, which makes it difficult because most of them don't have Internet. And I say that Most of them aren't tech savvy, right. So they may have Internet at their home, but they don't want to get on a laptop, you know. So it's a challenge to get discovery from them. It's a challenge to meet with them for discovery purposes and so, here, to just know that they come in and they sit in the office and most of them know you, most of them know us, you know drink coffee, happy to get a shirt.
Speaker 1:You know we we touch base, we know we have some commonality with all of them. Our clients are awesome. I get compliments all the time from medical providers, defense lawyers, even the judges, mediators. Like man, you got the best clients. How do you do it? I'm like man. I don't know, I'm just blessed. We got great people here.
Speaker 2:The few calls that I've taken so far, someone calling in because they've just been in a wreck, and I heard you ask one time like hey, man, how did you hear about us? So I asked him now because out of my own curiosity hey, how did you hear about Chaz? And it's always because a family member or a friend recommended you and said you were awesome, and so they are coming to us in the best manner possible right, a referral, and they're trusting.
Speaker 1:They're trusting before they even come in.
Speaker 2:And we can trust that it's a legit claim. They're really injured and they're really needing help. Right, because instead of just picking up the phone and Googling and dialing whichever number came up, they contacted a family member and said hey look, I've been in a car wreck. I know you used an attorney before. Who did you use? So right, they took the steps to make sure that they're going to get the proper representation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, our prior clients and all that. Somebody comes and they're like, oh, that sounds like a BS claim, I'm not sending them to Chaz. Like they pre-screen these individuals for us, you know, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, when they say, chaz, I'm not going to send you someone, that they're not good people, right, right, the way it's said, they're good people. I'm sending them to you because they're good people, I like them, they're my neighbor, they live down the street, my coworker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so it's been a blessing man. It makes our job so much easier. These are good folks. You want to run through a wall for them, and you mentioned speaking of running through a wall. You said something like after being with us for a few weeks, how you notice that we always try to do one more thing for the clients. What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, you got that from the last conversation we had. It's always you're trying to take one more step to better your representation for them. You know, and it may be something as one more review of their file, you know, make sure that they see the doctor one last time. You know it's a multitude of things, right, meeting with them one more time in person, making sure that they understand their treatment. I can't tell you how many clients I've had over the years. I've probably handled or at least opened and closed close to 800-900 files in seven years at the corporate firm that I was with.
Speaker 2:And um clients are going to get injections. You'd be amazed how much fear they have when it comes to getting an injection and and so whenever you're able to explain it to them you know you meaning, you know chas, and whenever you call the client and say, hey, look, you know I understand you're nervous about this injection and you explain it to them that's the little bit right. You made them fit, you humanize them, you made them feel it's okay to be afraid, it's okay to be nervous for your deposition. It's okay to be nervous because you're going to the doctor. You know, just be open. You know these are the things that you need to help you. And so those are the little things right, because we can all say, well, we told him to go to the doctor, or we told him, if you're hurt, go see a doctor.
Speaker 1:Our assistant set her up with a medical appointment. She didn't go to a medical appointment and now we're going to close the case because she didn't attend the medical appointment. Well, you never found out that that person was just scared or didn't have transportation, or their best friend passed away or something right? They never took the time to pick up on those little details. It wasn't that that person wasn't hurt.
Speaker 2:Right and look, most people, especially if they haven't had a chance to meet us, they're going to be a little shy. I guess we can say that. That way they're not going to call and say, hey, I'm not going to my MRI because I don't have transportation. They're just going to kind of say, well, if I don't go and no one calls me, it didn't happen. And so the fact that y'all reach out and y'all always are in communication with these clients, it's great. It's all about trust. That's it, the unreasonable amount of trust.
Speaker 1:I tell clients, I say look, this is a two-way street, I will do my part, you have to do your part. We have to be on the same team, we have to pull the rope together. I understand you're injured, I understand you're hurt, I understand you've got a lot going on in your life, but there are certain things that are going to be required of you, because you certainly hold me to a high standard and I hold myself to a high standard, but this is a collaborative thing. You have to participate in your case and I think having that conversation up front sets the tone, and that's why we've been able to obtain such great results.
Speaker 2:Well, you build that trust, especially if you're able to meet your clients at the beginning. You're able to let them know it's okay to be nervous, to be unsure as to what's going to happen, right, and it gives you an opportunity to explain to them. You kind of put the map in front of them, the roadmap, and say look, these are the things that are likely to happen in your case and, as you're going through them, we're going to talk about it. If you have questions, give me a call. You make them feel okay, you make them feel that this is a process, and I always tell everyone that I meet with at the first time. If you focus on the most important thing, which is getting better, everything else falls into place. I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that, Kevin. Where do you see you're a couple weeks in? We love having you. We're excited. Where do you see moving forward? What do you hope to achieve here?
Speaker 2:A lot. You know I'm hoping to be part of something that's already great and it's only going to be better. And so, coming here, I just see you Bradley, sasha, leigh, zach, everyone just working day in and day out to do what's right for our clients, and I can already see it's building. We laughed about this, right, how many phone calls we got last week. How many we got from Friday. Actually, I texted you about that. Good thing I was still at the office, right, right, because most people on a Friday afternoon they're out. You know they're having happy hour about 2, 33 o'clock in the afternoon, especially in Lafayette.
Speaker 2:You know who wants to work on a Friday, especially when the weather's pretty, and so I'm hoping that in five years we look back and say, wow, it was only three attorneys and now we're 15 attorneys.
Speaker 2:And you know it was a staff of five and now we're a staff of 25.
Speaker 2:And you know we had 100 clients and now we have 300 clients, right, 300 well-deserving clients who need our attention, who need our help, our attention, who need our help, and that one of the things that I really appreciate y'all for is you said it best it's the clients that we have right, you have this well-oiled machine because you've done such great work, that we have high quality clients. We have people that you want to go fight for. We have people that you want to sit down and have a cup of coffee and if you never talk about your case for an hour with them or two hours, you learn about them. You learn about their families, their children, their grandchildren, what they like to do for fun, and I find that your clients are those people that you want to sit down and have a cup of coffee with and you just want to get to learn who they, to learn who they are right, so that we can fight for them, and you want to run through a wall for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, now I want to run through a wall. Right now I got goosebumps, man. Kevin, thanks for being here, man, you're amazing and I'm enjoying working with you and I'm looking forward to our bright, bright future, thank you, thank you for having me All right bro.
Speaker 1:Hey, it would mean the world to me if you subscribe to the podcast and leave us a five-star review. It helps keep the show free and it helps us book better guests to provide more valuable content to you. None of the opinions expressed by my guests are that of my own, and nothing we talked about creates an attorney-client relationship or could be construed as legal advice. Hope you enjoy the show.
