Episode 47 with Mitchel Ashley

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Welcome to Victim To Victory. The personal injury playbook. Today, we’re joined by a special guest, Mitchell Ashley, founder of the Ashley law firm with a career dedicated to justice and personal commitment to his clients, Mitchell has not only achieved numerous multi-million dollar verdicts, but has also been an unwavering advocate for those who need it most. Welcome to the show, Mitchell.

Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. I’m glad to be here.

Oh, it’s a pleasure to have you so, Mitchell, you’ve made a big impact in personal injury law. What sparked your interest in helping people through such tough times?

It’s actually kind of funny that you asked, I had no intention of going into this field of practice. In law school, I was loving commodities and securities law, but as you know, when you’re a law student, you’re second year, you get a job, and you’re called a summer associate. I got a job with a personal injury firm, and at the time, they had just taken in this big case, big for them. It involved 13 people who lived around the Pelham Bay Landfill, and 11 of the children had leukemia and two had Hodgkin’s disease.

Now, because the firm was a smaller firm, and they just take it. In this case, I was the one assigned to really start doing the investigation, do the nitty-gritty. I was going to repositories of information that were in the Bronx, because this was kind of a new thing. At the time, the movie Erin Brockovich hadn’t come out, the book of Civil Action hadn’t come out.

This was new, and I met all the clients. I was involved intimately with the research and getting started with the science, the experts, and I just fell in love with it and the case was against the city of New York, because they had allowed — these were New York City has what are supposed to be called municipal landfills, and every borough but Manhattan.

They are supposed to take theme waste. And they filled the land as landfill indicates. I don’t know how well you know the geography of New York City, but everything between West Street and the Hudson River is landfill. That’s how they built all the financial centers, all on landfill. And, you know, so it’s a useful thing to have, but what they allowed was, they lacked oversight, they allowed toxic waste to be dumped in this Pelham Bay Landfill.

And we were able to prove, and you know, it’s still — I believe the only case of its kind where we prove that through inhalation, our clients were exposed in New York City. Again, if you are from the city, and know this, if you’re not, you may not New York City, all drinking water comes from upstate New York.

There is no local wells, there’s nothing. Everything comes from reservoirs upstate. So, unlike Erin Brockovich or Civil Action, which were contaminated water was the exposure, our people were breathing it in. There was some claim that it seeped into vegetables that were grown in local gardens through groundwater, but the bulk of the claim was inhalation. And, you know, being involved from the very beginning of that case, to me, it was what law was about.

We were we were really David versus Goliath, the city of New York, with our 12 people from the neighborhood doing something that had never been done in New York City before, and it hadn’t been done in the country. It really fascinated me, and I thought it was just the thing to do. And, you know, at the time, I was not only quite a bit thinner, but quite a bit more brunette, and I was really into it.

And how many years did that litigation take?

Twenty-two.

Right, It’s an incredible amount of time and dedication involved in a case of that magnitude.

Well, you know, in a case like that, and I ended up having two landfill cases when I — as a summer associate on the, you know, the process as you know, I’m sure, and after you work there for the summer. They have to offer you a job, and they like my work, so they did offer me a job, and I became an associate of that firm, and stayed with that firm all the way until I opened my own office in 2009 but while I was there, we took in another landfill case that was even bigger on Staten Island around the Fresh Kills Landfill. That case also took 25 years. They’re just enormous cases with some complex issues of law.

You know, in New York we have the Supreme Court’s our lowest court, the middle level is the Appellate Division, and then we have the Court of Appeals, the highest court. The Bronx case went to the Appellate Division twice, and to the Court of Appeals once, which is why, part of the reason why it took so long, before we — and we were about to go to trial, when the case ultimately resolved.

Well, people probably don’t realize that they’re not from the tri-state area, Mitchell, is how much landfill we have? For example, everybody knows about the Meadowlands and Giants stadium metal landfill. Most of Staten Island is actually landfill, and it’s pretty incredible how much landfill is in here, because the Meadowlands was actually a swamp and which they filled in, which is which is just incredible. But you’ve done a great job with those two landfill cases, and you also come from a long line of lawyers. So how has your family’s legacy influenced your career and passion for justice?

Well, it’s funny. You know, my grandfather was actually a lawyer for the city of New York, Corporation Counsel. My dad — I have a dad, a sister, a brother in law, and uncle, all lawyers, cousin lawyers. So, it’s interesting, because none of them went into what I do. My father was a matrimonial lawyer, and I don’t know, you know, in the hierarchy of law, the only people who look more down upon than personal injury practice are matrimonial lawyers.

I can’t say why. I think we do good work, but I think they do good work too, but it’s the reality of the situation and so, you know, I just grew up around lawyers and hearing about the good they do. You know, my grandfather, unfortunately, he died as a young man, so I was very young hearing what he did. But my dad, you know — my parents were happily married for 65 years, until my dad passed.

And so, I used to say, you know, how do you handle this? You know, matrimonial law, it’s so really acrimonious. And he said, at the end of the day, you are taking one unhappy couple and making two happy people. They weren’t meant to be together. They realized it, and you have to help them get to that path. So, I grew up around law, my family table for holidays, my parents side of the family were lawyers, and my uncle’s side of the family all became doctors.

We used to talk about, especially when I do medical malpractice as well. So that that became part of the conversation.

All right. Well, good doctors don’t normally get sued for medical malpractice. It’s about 90% of the cases are against the same 10% of the doctors in medical malpractice, which is very, very sad for that industry. But you were talking earlier about how your 12 people, went up against the city of New York, but in personal injury, we are always on the side of the underdog, because we’re going against a multi-billion dollar insurance company with every case with unlimited assets and lobbying power to try to stack the deck against us. How do you deal with that?

You know what? You put your head down and you go forward, and you just have to keep going forward. I had a case — my last trial, which ended in a settlement two weeks ago during the trial, was a case that a judge in Westchester County dismissed the case years ago, and we thought the dismissal was wrong. It was an interesting case.

Mailman is walking to deliver the mail. He steps on a manhole cover. The cover tilts over, and his leg goes down into the hall, and he injures himself, and the argument was, well, the manhole had been there forever, there never been any other accidents. We hired an engineer and proved that the ring, which is what the manhole sits in, was an eighth-of-an-inch too big. So if the manhole shifted at all, it could tilt and it’s an odd circumstance.

The original judge dismissed the case. We had to appeal that. It took two years to get published — on New York Town in New York — the appellate departments, Westchester County is the second department, which you know is — do you practice at all in New York, or just New Jersey?

I’m Exclusively in New Jersey, but we do have lawyers at the firm who practice in New York.

Well, they know the Second Appellate department in New York is the busiest appellate division in the country, so it took two years to get a decision. They reversed the trial job. They gave us back the case. The defendant, which was a town still didn’t want to offer any money, so we were forced to try the case.

We try the case, we get a unanimous verdict in our favor, and to try the case, I had a model built of a manhole cover, and we showed the jury exactly how this could happen. After that verdict, we were supposed to go right into damages. But you know, kind of life gets in the way sometimes. one of my treating doctors during my liability trial had to go into the hospital for bypass surgery, so he was not available.

So, we actually had to delay the damages trial, and we were almost done with damages trial when they finally relented and offered my client reasonable amount to resolve the case. So you just have to keep pushing forward.

You do. We had a case very similar to that, where our case was dismissed by a judge. It was overturned, and we went to mediation and went from zero money for the client because they found no liability, but it was overturned because it was a little premature. The judge made a mistake, and of course, they don’t like to — they’re given an opportunity with a motion for reconsideration to fix their own mistakes, but they don’t like to do that, so they have to get overturned, right? And then, you know, it ended up selling for $2.6 million.

So, we went for nothing for this poor guy who was severely injured, obviously, to a $2.6 million settlement. So, judges aren’t always right, so some of us are willing to go that extra yard and file appears appeals, such as yourself, Mitchell and firms like us. So, it’s great to hear that you’re working hard, because this is an incredibly difficult profession to be in as a personal injury lawyer. So, what do you do to support your clients through these hard situations, other than file appeals and fight like that?

It’s interesting, personal injury, it’s difficult. Well, it’s stressful. First of all, just how we get paid — it’s the worst business model known to man that we work purely on contingency for years and years and years. But then people come to us as personal injury lawyers in often it’s the worst time of their life. They have been devastatingly hurt. They cannot work. In some cases, they’re never going to be able to go back to work. They have family to support. It’s tough.

So you are not just representing them in the courts, but you have to — you almost have to be a therapist. You have to be a social worker. You know, you have to help them navigate the system so that they can live while your case is pending and you have to be there to be honest. At least for my practice, I’m a solo practitioner. A lot of the times it’s just a matter of staying on the phone. Stay on the phone, talk to them.

I met with a client today who is struggling, and I was in court in Nassau County, and we agreed at a place to meet, and we sat for an hour-and-a-half, and to be honest, at least an hour and 10 minutes was not spent on her case. It was spent on everything else, but it’s what goes into this practice. And one thing I love about this practice, unlike friends, and I’m sure you have plenty of friends who do corporate work and guys who call themselves litigators who have never seen a courtroom, you know, we’ve seen it, but one thing I love is we are a one-on-one practice.

I represent a person, maybe a few people, but people I’m not representing some company against another company. You know, I’m hopefully helping them, and we only get paid if, if we’re successful. As you can see, I’ve gotten used to eating so, you know, I am more successful than not. That’s where the stress is also, because you’re representing these people, and it’s can be devastating for them.

My biggest verdict to date occurred in Richmond County, and it was for one of these circumstances, I had a man who was a walking, talking, working human being. He was obese, no arguments, obese, over 300 pounds, but walking, talking, took himself to the hospital. From that hospitalization, he ended up in and out of hospitals and rehab places for over a year because of the bed sores he received while in the hospital.

They ultimately he developed a condition called osteomyelitis, which is an infection of the bone. It dislocated his hip, so this walking, talking man who was obese, no arguments. Walked into the hospital. Never really walked again. Was bound to a wheelchair, and we tried that case for a month in Richmond County. We ultimately received a verdict of $5.9 million for him. But of course, they didn’t want to pay that.

And so, you know, you still had to talk to the client, and you have to get them through the appeals process. Another year on a motion to set aside a verdict. I’m sure you’re familiar with that. And then another two years at the appellate board again, second department, you know? And finally, when the verdict was fully upheld at all levels. Finally, before they tried to go to the court of appeals, we were able to resolve the case for substantially more, because you do earn interest, and they recognized that they owed interest, oddly enough, you know, nearly $6 million the interest kind of accumulates quickly.

The good thing about that interest in New Jersey is that your fee does not include the interest in New Jersey, so that all goes to the client, which is one of the nice things for the clients, at least in this jurisdiction.

Yes, that’s not true in New York. I mean, your fee comes out of the total.

Which is a little bit better for the attorneys, but not as good for the client.

You know, I really don’t practice in Jersey at all. I did get admitted there as a young lawyer, but you had the time, you had an office requirement, and so, I just, you know, voluntarily let my license lapse because of that. But in New York, we have sliding scale retainers for medical malpractice, so the clients do quite well.

Which is good. Can you take us through the steps of a personal injury case? So, what are the first things you do? Somebody comes into your office? What happens next?

You know, for the most part, almost every case starts the same. It’s a phone call, an e-mail, something. I’m sure in your practice, probably the same for every 10 calls you get, one or two are people you’re going to have into the office, if they can come. If they can’t, very often, I’ve gone to hospitals. I’ve gone to people’s homes, whatever it takes to meet with them.

You have to meet with them, depending on the accident or the incident, whatever you want to call it, investigation may need to occur immediately. If you’re fortunate and the client calls you early on, then that investigation is critical. And nowadays, when you have accidents on the streets, half the stores or half the people have ring cameras, but you can’t get that data if you don’t get there quickly.

So, if someone calls that, it’s fairly a short amount of time between when the incident happened and when they call me. My investigative team gets out there, either I have investigators who go or sometimes I’ve gone myself to take pictures of what happened, where it happens, gather evidence, see what you can do about witnesses.

Again, it all depends on point in time the person is calling you. we all want to be called immediately, but let’s face it, that’s not what always happens.

Mitch just to interject here, just for the people listening, how important it is to contact a lawyer immediately, because there’s something we do to stop them from wasting the evidence. It’s a spoliation where we have to send out paperwork that tells the defendants or the people with evidence not to delete it, remove it, throw it out.

But we had a case one time with a gentleman on a motorcycle, a 19-year-old kid, rear-ended another vehicle, and unfortunately hit the corner of the vehicle, his helmet popped off and he struck the pavement and died.

Now, the police officer put the motorcyclist at-fault, our client, because he rear ended another vehicle. But because we were retained by the parents, immediately, we got all the ring camera, we had the video which showed this 80-year-old man cut across three lanes of traffic and just stopped right in front of our client.

So, we brought in an accident reconstructionist to show that he never had time to avoid this accident, and then millions of dollars later, the parents are compensated for the loss of their child, who was only 19 at the time, but if they would have come to us 90 days later, that evidence would have probably been gone.

So, it’s very important for people that are involved in a personal injury case to seek out competent counsel immediately. So I digress and give it back to you, Mitch.

I know you’re 100% right. I mean, it can be crucial. I have a case now, similar to what you just described. A woman gets injured at an amusement park, and the case worthy throws of it, and luckily, they called me the next day, and I immediately fired off a letter to the amusement park. I said, you have a video preserved, if you don’t, there’s going to be, you know, repercussions.

Well, we start the lawsuit, and I fire off to the lawyer. I want the video. It took more than a year before they turned it over, but they, in fact, had it, and it shows plain as day what happened. And turned that over to my expert, and have, you know, what’s wrong with this particular ride? We’re getting it, now we’re going to be doing the plaintiff’s deposition. We have the path, and hopefully we’ll — it’ll ultimately lead to compensation, but without that video, it would have been a much more difficult case.

Correct, and you know I mentioned this reminds me of one of our attorneys at the firm. If you watch too many of those videos, you’ll never go on another amusement ride. I have an attorney at the firm who will not get on an elevator because he’s represented so many individuals injured in elevator accidents that he will never get on an elevator. It doesn’t matter if he was climbing up 40 stories, he will take the half hour to walk up to 40 stories. He just will not get on an elevator because he’s seen so many horror stories.

Now, I’m not trying to dissuade anybody listening from getting on an elevator. I ride them all the time, but this particular individual will never get on an elevator. It almost reminds me of the movie Rain Man, where he refused to get on any plane except for what was it? Quantas, they never had an accident. So, yes, it’s very interesting.

Yes, it is. Look, if you do what we do, we have likely seen, I mean, every possible thing that can go wrong in even what should have been routine medical procedures. So, every time you or a family member who’s going for something, you have all the worst thoughts in your head as to what can occur, and that’s — it’s one of the hazards of what we do. And I don’t know about you, but often I’m doing things around the house and I’m thinking, what would the deposition testimony sound like?

Because when I’m standing on that chair to unscrew a life of like, how am I going to explain this at the deposition? Because this is not the ‘A’ answer but life is life you have to live. I’m afraid.

Yes it’s true. Well, with regard to that, and you’ve told us about a couple landfill cases, medical malpractice cases. Is there any other case in particular that really stuck with you and reminds you of why you do what you do?

I have to say there’s a bunch of them. I am fortunate in that. I really have represented a bunch of different people across all different types of things. You know, oddly enough, I have a client that got an injury from a nail salon, and it caused a problem with her hands.

So of course, the insurance company didn’t think anything of it. You know, they didn’t just think was that big an injury. But she makes money showing her hands, and we were showed her returns, her tax returns, that proved that she lost a lot of money because of this problem.

And so, something like that stands out, because you always say to all the clients, every case is different. And you know, personally, we don’t have a chart that an injury to your right hand is worth ‘X’, an injury to your left hand is worth ‘Y’, we don’t.

This person who injured her hands, that injury, to me, it probably wouldn’t be worth $100 bucks, and it just wouldn’t be but to her, it was worth 1000’s of dollars because, you know, it affected her career.

It’s like, the example, of course, is, you hurt your hand, and it was your non dominant hand and I don’t know what you did, but you didn’t really use it very often. As opposed to your client’s a concert pianist. I can think of auto accidents where getting the recovery was crucial to the family, and so that stands out.

I have to tell you, I think there’s a case I lost. I lost it at in the court system. I still, to this day, think it’s a bad decision, but it’s one that sticks with me. There’s a fire case against the housing authority. But you know that drives me to do what I do, as much as the victories.

Well, we’ve talked a little bit about what it’s like going up against the big, multi-billion-dollar insurance company. So, what are some of the biggest hurdles when you’re dealing with a very deep pocket as the insurance companies would have?

I think part of it is — some of the insurance, especially in the auto world, they go through these philosophies. When I was a young lawyer, Allstate had a program called Colossus. Colossus, that program said you never pay. Never pay. Every time you had an Allstate case, you kind of knew to get any sort of real value, you had to go to trial. It’s the way it was. And you just had to keep going to trial because you couldn’t accept what they were saying. I think that has changed over the years. Allstate’s no longer that way. They no longer follow that program.

I think a company now that is that way is State Farm. I have a case today, the case I was on today, the police accident report has their driver saying I stopped. I was distracted due to the death of my friend’s mother, and didn’t see the car I hit. That’s what it says.

My client has really significant traumatic brain injury. So I say to them, I’m sure you’re familiar with this, but you know there’s a limit on the insurance policy. But my client has UM SUM, for any of your listeners who don’t know that’s a part of your own auto insurance called Underinsured Motorist, or Supplemental Underinsured Motorists, where you can collect against your own policy.

Seasoned lawyers know that those things exist. So in this case, I have to get the full policy from the other vehicle. It’s State Farm. And even with that police report and the medical records that show my client’s injury, she’s never gone back to work, they say — Oh no, we don’t see it as that kind of case. So you know, what do you do? You can’t throw up your hands. You can’t take no money, so you just have to keep going forward.

So, we talked a little about, if somebody has an accident, what is the first thing they should do? They should retain a lawyer as soon as possible. Obviously, get medical treatment as soon as possible for their injuries. But what else should they do? Let’s say, at the scene of an accident, collision. What advice would you give?

Well, I think we are helped a great deal in that regard because of these. Yes, everybody has one, and they take as good a picture as my old cameras did. I tell all my clients and anybody who listens, you know, I have a program on Instagram called “Mondays with Mitchell”, and I tell them all, at a scene of an accident, you take every picture you can, take pictures of the location, pictures of your car, pictures of the other vehicle, pictures of their license plate, pictures, pictures, pictures. The more you can take, the better.

And I think this is a terrific tool that helps us all. If people just take them out and take pictures, if it’s a trip and fall, take a picture. The one thing I always tell clients about that is they will send you a picture and it shows a crack in a sidewalk. All it shows you is the sidewalk slab. But as a teachings thing, I say, make sure you get pictures of the surrounding area. Get the address on the abutting building, get pictures so that we can place exactly where that is on the sidewalk.

In New York, if it’s a city case, we have to provide what they call prior written notice. We have to serve what’s called the notice of claim. If it’s against a commercial property, you know, we get the benefit of what’s New York sideway law, 7-210, where the abutting landowner is responsible for the sidewalk but you need the address.

The cell phone is an absolutely fantastic aid for all of us. If the clients just think to get those pictures. And the good thing about it is you don’t have to save them forever. You give them to me. You can delete them off your phone if you want. We’re good.

All right. Now, what changes do you see coming in personal injury, and how are you preparing for the future? But one thing that I see happening is with the smart cars. I see that motor vehicle collisions, I think are going to be substantially reduced, probably within maybe a decade. What do you see and how are you preparing for that?

Well, a few things. I mean, I don’t know how old a man you are, how long you’ve been practicing, but I think it’s more than just a couple of years.

Yes, unfortunately or fortunately, yes, it’s been 36 years now.

So you know, we all have seen —

I’m sorry, 36, yes, 36 my goodness.

That’s great. We all have seen auto accidents change a lot. Cars, thankfully have gotten a lot safer. When you and I were children, all you had in a car, if at all, was a lap belt. But through lawyers, they developed the three point belt. Because of lawsuits, cars have developed airbags.

You know, all things because of the lawsuits, the reaction from the companies is to make those cars safer and we’ve seen it, and we have seen injuries reduced in many car accidents, thank God.

I mean, nobody wants to need us. Nobody, I mean, nobody comes to us to say hello. They come because they’ve been badly hurt. And I’m sure you feel like I do. If look, I’m blessed. I have business. I get business, but if I can save somebody through some advice on how to stay safer, much better for them.

So I think, even though autos have gotten safer, there are still accidents. And so, we still have auto accidents. The biggest change, I think, when we were young lawyers, attorney advertising had really just started, and the main sponsor of every Yellow Pages around this country were personal injury lawyers.

In New York City, the yellow pages had 100 pages of lawyers. So obviously, the Yellow pages have gone the way the Dodo, really. Everybody now, if you say, you know, I always ask in jury selection, have you heard the term Googling? Of course, everybody laughs. Everybody knows what it means. And let’s face it, that’s how many people are finding their lawyers these days.

And so, one thing that has changed, certainly, I never expected to be doing as much social media as I do now. I said I have an Instagram program on Mondays at six called “Mondays with Mitchell” tonight at six o’clock, my own podcast goes live. So we’re doing that. We’re doing a lot more e-mail, newsletters, and I think the big thing now is to not just go out there and say, I have this verdict, that verdict, the other verdict.

But I think the best way to get in touch with people and to resonate your message with them is to try and teach them something about not only the law, but maybe how to stay safer, or as this program is doing, what to do if you are in an accident.

When I was just getting into personal injury law. The man who helped me get that initial job as a summer associate was a seasoned personal injury lawyer. I laugh a little because in saying that he is — when he got me that job, he was younger than I am now, and I don’t think of myself as old, but, you know, but he said to me, he goes, look, take the job for the summer. Don’t go into personal injury law. It’s a dying field.

The legislating goes out of business where they’re going to get rid of lawsuits. Don’t go into do anything but, and I didn’t listen, because of the landfill case and because I really made a connection with the field. And so. I don’t think going anywhere. I do think seeing changes. I think the field of mass torts with pharmaceutical litigation is something I can’t even think say. I would have thought of it when I was a young lawyer.

So, I think that’s something that’s changed. I do think we are going to be very heavily involved in alternate dispute resolution. I think people are going to step away, if they can, from the court system because of the length of time it takes to get to a trial. I’m sure the Jersey Courts were as impacted as, well, maybe not as, but impacted by COVID and the shutdowns. So we have counties in the city of New York now, where from when you start the lawsuit to when you can tell them you’re ready for trial is now going to be between 18 months and two years. But once you tell them you’re ready to try the case by filing a document called the note of issue, it can be two and a half years till you get to try them.

And so I think the smart people on both sides of the aisle are saying — Hey, we can save money. We can make get people what they need to resolve their cases sooner. We can save on defense costs. We can do a lot of things by involving alternate dispute resolution, like mediations, arbitrations, those kind of things.

I think that’s something that is going to get more prominent in the coming years

We’ve touched upon this a little bit now, Mitchell, but when people are trying to find a good lawyer, you know, there’s a lot of lawyers out there doing incredible marketing, and they’ve never seen the inside of a courtroom, and they’re getting a tremendous amount of cases, and it’s unfortunate that sometimes the best marketers are getting the best cases, but they’re not the best lawyer, so they’re not maximizing the value of the case.

Now, there’s very good lawyers that do a lot of marketing, have a lot of billboards, but how does a person determine who the right lawyer is, what should they be looking for?

One thing I say all the time, if there are, I mean, I’m sure the same firms that advertise all over my TV are the ones that advertise all over your TV, and neither are lawyers originally from our neighborhoods, but they’re big firms, no doubt. But one thing I say all the time. I’m sure you say it too. If you call the phone number, can you get that lawyer on the phone? The answer is going to be no.

If you call the Ashley law firm and you ask for me, you get me, you get the same guy who’s going to take you from the beginning to try in the case. For me, if I’m an injured person, looking for a lawyer, I want the guy who I can call all the time. I want the guy who I can talk to all the time, as opposed to I get taken into a firm I love. There are some very, very good, bigger firms, very good. I mean, no arguments.

But I would prefer to have the guy who’s doing with me every step of the way, as opposed to the team of people who only handle your claim while it’s in no fault, the team of people who only handle your case up until the deposition, the young associate who gets assigned your case for the plaintiff’s deposition, the other associate who gets to sign the case for the defendant’s deposition. And then, you know, years down the — then there’s a whole another team that handles all the motion practice.

Me, if I’m hurt, and I hope not to need one, but if I am, I’d rather be with the guy who I can call all the time, who knows what’s going on every step of the way, because he’s the one doing it, and not that — look, I don’t mean to say there aren’t times when I have had to employ other lawyers to help me. I’m only one person, it happens, but I still know every step of the way what’s going on with all my cases.

I couldn’t agree more with you. At our firm, the same lawyer that you walk in the door with is a lawyer that’s going to try your case. But what I do tell people is you’re only as good as a lawyer walking into court with you. It’s not the name of the firm. It’s the man or woman representing you from that firm that is the most important.

Absolutely, and one thing I would stress to people who are getting involved in personal injury cases, you know, it’s not only that you can pick up the phone and speak to the guy who’s doing the advertising, but is that guy, the guy who can walk into court?

I mean, we all, I’m sure, you know, as well as I do, plenty of lawyers who get a lot of business and never leave their desk, never. I have been referred many cases for trial by guys who I thank God, I mean, I’m not begrudging it, but you know, they don’t try cases, and I do, and I think, ask your lawyer does he go to court? Does he step into court? Has he tried a case? Now, there are guys who tried many more cases than I do in a given year, you know, but I know how to do it, and I’ve been there many times that I’ve tried two verdicts. You know, cases pretty much in every county around here, so I think that’s an important criteria.

And I think also, I think before you hire someone, you should sit down with them. You know, one thing that drives me crazy is every big advertiser tells you, you know are, ‘No Fee Guarantee’.

Well, a personal injury law, that’s the law, it’s not an option. That’s how it is. So, we all have that. But I would tell anybody go in and talk to any lawyer you’re thinking of and see if you make the personal connection. I can count on one hand the number of people who’ve come to my office to meet me and have chosen not to use me.

As a matter of fact it’s better than that, I can tell you exactly how many people that it was true of, and it was three. Three this for over 25 years. It was three people who met me in my office and ultimately said they wanted to go another way, and two of them were because they didn’t particularly like what I had to tell them.

Because you were honest. Sometimes people don’t want to hear that.

Well, absolutely.

Mitch, we had a great opportunity to talk here. So, when somebody wants to hire you at the Ashley Law Firm, where should they go? How do they get in touch with you?

Well, I’d love them to call me. The number is 212 5131 300. I have operators who work 24/7, I’d rather not talk to you at 2:00 AM but my operators will speak to you, and if need be, they’ll put you through to me.

I sleep with my phone next to my head, much to my wife’s secret. So, I’m available. You can always go to my website, the Ashley law firm.com. I do have an Instagram show, it’s ‘The Ashley Law Firm’ Mondays at 6:00 PM “Mondays with Mitchell”. My own podcast is starting tonight on Spotify, called Law and Life In New York City. The first episode happens to be with the woman who’s my assistant in the office who also happens to be my wife.

So the Ashley Law Firm is an all-in business. We have all our eggs in this basket, and we do — we treat everyone. You know, people say you treat everybody like family. Well, it’s very easy for us, but those are really the best ways to get me and if you. Google my name, you get me so that’s the best way.

Thank you so much for your time, Mitchell, it’s been a pleasure having you on Victims To Victory.

Lawrence, thank you. This was really terrific. It was really a pleasure speaking with you. If you ever come in downtown Manhattan, look me up. We’ll be happy to get you out.

I’d love to. I do spend a lot of time in Manhattan, so I will have to look you up.

Any time.

Thank you so much.

My pleasure. Thanks.

Take care.

Bye.

Thank you for tuning in to Victim To Victory the personal injury playbook. We hope you found today’s discussion insightful and helpful as you navigate the complex legal system. If you or someone you know suffered from a personal injury, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 1-800-489-0004. Our team is here to help take you from victim to victory.

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