Monday Mentors with Texas Plaintiff’s Lawyer Andrew Tuegel

Andrew Tuegel, a plaintiff's attorney and partner with Simpson, Simpson, & Tuegel in Bridgeport (TX), joins us on today's show. Andrew talks about knowing your jurisdiction, becoming indispensable, being honest in an interview, and Ted Lasso.

His firm/practice

• Located in Wise County (NW of Fort Worth); Decatur is the county seat and their office is in Bridgeport
• Small firm that focuses on plaintiff personal injury / wrongful death / mass tort practice. Most of the work is contingent fee; the rest is local business.
• Majority of client base is in Wise County and the western part of the metroplex. Mass tort clients are nationwide.
• Likes that he has tried cases all over the country, since even with the local clients, the case itself may get filed in other jurisdictions.
• If you are filing in jurisdictions are aren't familiar with, know the substantive law that applies
  • Two jurisdictions in U.S. that still have a 1% comparative fault/contributory negligence bar to recovery (Virginia and North Carolina), so that might determine whether or not to take a case of where to file, etc.
  • Understand how the contingency fees can be structured (Texas has no cap other than not unconscionable; pretty wide latitude, but others have specific limitations on contingence fees)...this is a factor in how to evaluate/value the case.
• Plaintiff lawyers are nervous every time the legislature meets
  • Big push for HB 19 (tort reform in trucking wreck context) that became effective 9/1.
  • Texas Supreme Court case recently allowed people pursing uninsured motorist claims can also get attorney fees.
• COVID update (as of 8/19)
  • He has a case set for the end of September
  • He was recently in a hearing where mid-way through the judge had to end the hearing early because some type of exposure had occurred in the courthouse.
  • Nothing moves cases like firm trial dates.
  • Criminal trials take precedence and will bump the civil cases

Advice to lawyers in practice

• Make yourself indispensable; find something that you can contribute to the team and that you are the best at. Become a necessary part of the team (shoutout to Baylor Law's Practice Court)
  • When he was with Harrison Steakley, Matt Morrison was the partner on a bunch of opioid overdose cases that needed a lot of expert/technical witnesses and related depositions, etc. He was good at briefing on these expert issues and making sure they could keep their expert and get rid of the other side's expert.
  • This led to him becoming part of the trial team for one of the cases in Utah, and then in Maine, and then in North Carolina. And while he briefed like crazy, he also got to take some of the witnesses at trial.
  • If you do well with a little thing, you will get more opportunities with larger things. The inverse is true: if you don't do the little things well, you won't get the larger opportunities.
• Become the expert on novel or local rules/laws; this is a place for young lawyers to become the most knowledgeable about an area within their firm.
• Steve Harrison, legendary Waco trial lawyer and a gentleman-rancher, said that in every law firm, you need some combination of chicken getters and chicken pluckers. And lawyers need to figure out where they are in the getter/plucker scale. Getter = bringing in clients/cases/business; Pluckers = bill hours/push cases/do the work. Some people are a combination of both. But you need to contribute to a firm in one or both of these ways in order to be valuable to them.
• Re: business development from the plaintiff's side:
  • the more serious a case, the more relational the business development is going to be, either with the potential client or referral source (another attorney, friend of the client, etc.)
  • the less serious a case, the more a Google search or a response to an ad can work
  • Some of the best PI lawyers get their referrals from other lawyers
    • A lot of the advertising PI lawyers will actually wind up referring the case to the best trial lawyer in that area rather than trying it themselves

Advice to lawyers on the lateral market

• Be honest about what your experience is
  • it's okay if you haven't done something or only done it a few times; the interviewer just needs to know what you can do on day one
• Be willing to learn and work
• On the plaintiff's side, understand it is a results-oriented business (not an hours billed business)
  • Must be willing to do what it takes to win (within the bounds of ethical)

Ted Lasso Commentary

• He is a big soccer fan (Liverpool) and was immediately interested once he first became aware of it
• Original Ted Lasso commercials for the premiere league coming to NBC from 2013!!
• Come for the humor; stay for the heart!
• Addresses tough subjects without being preachy, but we're going to talk about it.
  • Can use some of this to talk with people in your own life about these subjects

Rapid Fire Questions

1. Name one trait/characteristic you most want to see in an associate: Willingness
2. What habit has been key to your success: Get up early
3. Favorite app/productivity tool: Twitter
4. What would be listed first on the interest line of your resume: Pilot
5. Favorite legal movie: Legally Blonde / podcast

Thanks again to Andrew Tuegel for joining us on today's show!