Chip Brooker Featured in Law360’s Plaintiffs Bar Perspective

For its annual Plaintiffs Bar Perspective series, Law360 sought some of the nation’s top trial lawyers for their insight into how they approach high-stakes plaintiff’s litigation. The legal publication highlights attorney Chip Brooker’s background and, in question and answer format, provides his perspective on being a plaintiffs’ attorney. Below are some of Chip’s answers. You can read the entire article here.

Q: What’s the most rewarding aspect of working as a plaintiffs attorney?

A: For me, the most rewarding part of this job is getting to know our clients and having the opportunity to champion their stories.

Inevitably, we are introduced to our clients in their most vulnerable moments. Some have sustained a catastrophic personal injury; others have tragically lost one of their most precious family members. Either way, our clients simply want someone to tell their story.

And, these are real, salt-of-the-earth people who genuinely need our help. We get to know their families as well as our own. We talk to friends, teachers, pastors, co-workers and doctors. We study ordinary people in detail, and we learn what made them extraordinary to those who loved them.

This practice is not about defending a brand, securing the bottom line, or minimizing risk. Our practice is about defending the fatherless and pleading the case of the widow. At my core, I am still the idealistic, first-year law student wanting to wear the white hat and do justice. And, I get to do just that. Every day.

Q: What skill do you feel is most important for achieving success as a plaintiffs attorney?

A: Fearlessness. When you work on a contingency fee, there is no safety net, so this practice is not for the faint of heart.
Ultimately, we are David; they are Goliath. Insurance companies and corporate defendants will always have more money, more resources, more lawyers and more experience with similar claims and cases. They will try to bully you and your clients. They will delay for the sake of delay alone. They will do all of this in hopes of scaring you and your client.

If you have done your part, then you should have no fear going the distance and asking 12 people to believe in your case and your clients the same way that you do.