Show Notes:

2:07 – Have no fear. “Success starts with a vision. I had some shrinks look at some questionnaires that we sent out to a bunch of lawyers, and they came back with findings that the biggest problem that lawyers have is a fear of rejection. It’s the fear of failure. It’s a mystery to me why we have people who are such Type A personalities who choose to put themselves in a Type B world and do everything the way everybody else does it. I don’t have an answer for it, but I can tell you that’s the problem.”

15:12 – Avoid becoming comfortable. “Being too comfortable draws you into becoming average. What happens when you become too comfortable? The biggest problem lawyers have with burnout — the reason they end up with drug problems and alcohol problems and five marriages and kids that they can’t control — is that their life isn’t all that balanced. The reason it’s not balanced is because they’re doing the same thing the same way every single day. And people end up just becoming so average. They become so focused that they have burnout.”

26:59 – Stand your ground. “If you can walk into a room and have a thousand people disagreeing with you, thinking that what you’re saying is ridiculous, and still feel good…then you’re on the right side. You’ve got to have a real commitment to what you’re doing. I often remind myself how much this matters. I have to do that every day.”

31:41 – Never stop fighting for what’s right. “You should always feel like you’re not doing enough. Here’s the way I look at some of these projects: I’ll do something like get a product off the market or clean up an ecosystem, but in the back of my mind I know it’s just going to happen again. There’s always going to be another sociopath or psychopath dressed up in a suit, with an MBA from Yale who just plays by different rules. I can’t change that, but I can change the end result. And I hope I can train some of these younger lawyers to carry that mindset on.”

EPISODE RESOURCES & REFERENCES
Mass Torts Made Perfect (MTMP)
In Search of Atticus Finch by Mike Papantonio
Alexander Shunnarah
National Trial Lawyer (NTL)
3M Military Earplugs Lawsuit
PFAS lawsuit
Mark O’Mara
MTMP Face to Face
Valsartin
Paraquat
Factor VIII
Hemophilia
Robert Bilott
Ron Motley
Resurrecting Aesop by Mike Papantonio
Mark Lanier
Inhuman Trafficking by Mike Papantonio
Yaz Lawsuits
Law and Addiction by Mike Papantonio
Morris Dees