NewHavenBIZ

36 n e w h a v e n B I Z | J a n u a r y 2 0 2 0 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m LAW the evil insurance giant in front of credulous jurors. Sometimes they do, but rarely. About 95 percent of lawsuits termi- nate in a pre-trial settlement. is means that just one in 20 personal injury cases is resolved in a court of law by a judge or jury. PI lawyers spend far more time screaming on the phone or sending demanding emails to insurance companies than they do arguing before a jury. e most obvious reason: "Going to trial is expensive," says Keith Trantolo, including hiring expert witnesses such as physicians. "We don't believe in trying a case in any way but large" potential verdicts, he says. Trantolo, 43, is managing partner of the firm started by his grandfather in 1938 and built by his father, Vincent Trantolo, now (mostly) retired. Today Trantolo & Trantolo has 14 attorneys working out of offices in Bridgeport, Hart- ford, Torrington and New Haven. Growing up Trantolo got to watch his father "represent someone who really needed help in a David vs. Goliath situation, with Goliath being the insurance company. I really admired that." e most important skill for a lawyer is "how to talk to people and understand people and, most of all, listen to people," Trantolo says. Especially people who have been gravely injured due to the negligence or indifference of an individual or organization. But he acknowledges that mem- bers of his profession must forever confront "age-old stereotypes. I would rather nobody get injured," says Trantolo. "I look at personal in- jury like a doctor, in the sense that nobody wants to go to the doctor — unless they have to. And nobody wants to go to an attorney who handles personal injury — until they have to." Trantolo & Trantolo (the firm) were early embracers of consumer advertising in the 1980s — and weathered "a massive backlash" from peers who viewed advertising as sleazy, even desperate. Today the firm spends well in excess of $1 million annually on consumer ad- vertising. e "branding" message, Keith Trantolo explains, is "Let our family help your family." Representing victims of injury or accident is likewise a family affair for Ronald LoRicco, who joined the New Haven law firm built by his father, Richard, right out of law school in 1990. e senior LoRicco passed away last April, but the firm he built is today anchored by two of his sons. e firm handles criminal defense and workers comp cases, but 75 percent of the firm's work is in personal injury. "I think the perception that is put out by the insurance industry is that there are these ambulance-chasing lawyers out there looking to make a quick buck, rather than lawyers who are looking to help people be com- pensated for injuries that they suffer due to negligence," says LoRicco. "ere are big pockets of money in the insurance industry that [dismiss] the profession, because we make them do what's just and right. at's the driving force for the bad rep personal-injury lawyers get." So the practitioners have to tell their own story, and paid adver- tising is the most efficient and controlled way to cra and com- municate marketing messages. "In the old days the lawyering business was predicated on relationships and reputation," LoRicco says. Today, it's a different game. "Nowadays it's social media and search engine [optimization]" to reach the most eyeballs and gen- erate the most inquiries. A certain percentage of those turn into clients — and, if the attorneys play their cards right, those clients turn into settlements, and sometimes even winning verdicts. T he personal injury profession has always been middle-aged white men," says Brooke Goff, who at 33 is neither mid- dle-aged nor a man. (She is white, though.) "en I came on the scene, and now the mid- dle-aged white men don't know what to do with me." Brooke Goff is not exactly de- mure. But demure doesn't get you very far — especially in a profession that requires you to spend most of your daytime hours arguing and threatening. Surprisingly, given her advertising's emphasis on her youth and gender, Goff 's client base is not predominantly female. "I probably represent 70 percent men," she says, of a caseload that includes workers compensation cases, motor-vehicle accidents, slip-and-falls and the like. Goff set her sights on a legal career as a little girl when she con- fused the words "lawyer" and "liar." Aer college, when she began taking law courses at Quinnipiac, Goff worked as a paralegal, where "I saw how much settlements are made and deals put together just by handshakes and [personal] relationships [between plaintiff 's lawyers and defense attorneys]. at's the good-old-boys club. But it shouldn't be that way; it should be by performance." Aer she got her JD she told her sole-practitioner employer she wanted to be his partner. He said no, so she started her own firm three years ago. In the early days she drove an Uber at night just to pay her staff. Today Goff has five lawyers (including herself ), a vibrant social-media presence, a weekly radio spot, outdoor adver- tising — and a growing caseload. "ey can compete with one another by overspending" on ad- vertising. "With me, I'm a woman — and they really don't know how to compete with me. So it's kind of rocked the world of personal injury in Connecticut. "If you're good at what you do, it doesn't matter if you're a woman or a man. e way I negotiate my set- tlements, the way I try my cases, the way jurors see me, is no different from any of those guys," she says "You have to walk the walk." Jonathan Perkins is one of Con- necticut's most visible PI practi- tioners. From his office in Wood- bridge, he says he spends between $1 million and $2 million annually on advertising, the bulk of it on his firm's ubiquitous billboards. Dog bite? Slip and fall? at's old hat. How about vaping/e-cigarette acci- dents? Now that's looking forward. Perkins' kick-out-the-jambs marketing strategy has paid divi- dends. In three decades out of NYU law school Perkins has a statewide footprint (offices in New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury and New London) and eight law- yers on staff. A year ago the firm added the growing practice area of employment discrimination. "Personal injury lawyers do tend to get a bum rap," says Perkins, who seconds LoRicco in attributing part of that bad rap to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies with which they do battle. "Most good lawyers are striving to look out for the best interests of our clients," Perkins says. "We oen have clients who cannot fend for themselves and we work really hard — with no upfront pay and sometimes for years on end — to try to make their lives better." "We are like Robin Hood." n LoRicco: From reputation and relationships to social media and SEO. Continued from Page 35 Perkins has invested heavily to build his brand. But it's all for the good — 'We are like Robin Hood,' he says.

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