Although I ultimately decided not to pursue a career in journalism, now that I reflect back on my time at college, I find some interesting parallels to what I do now. My initial emphasis in Telecommunication was on news and reporting.  I remember I would have to call potential sources, interview them, and piece together a news story. Today, I call those interviews depositions, those sources witnesses, and the story the report back to the carrier to justify my attendance at the deposition and to give the adjuster insight into the significance of what transpired.  In a lot of ways a good journalist has to have a lot of the same qualities that are required of a good trial lawyer. A good journalist doesn't just take answers at face value. He has to push and prod and dance around canned and evasive answers to unveil the interviewee's true positions, biases, and possible hidden agendas.  In the law, we call that cross examination. I remember sometimes when trying to speak with sources, it was difficult just convincing people to take a moment or two out of their day to speak with me. I was almost met with the same reverence reserved for the beloved telemarketing industry.  It is funny because I now find myself speaking with witnesses only to be met with uncooperativeness most of the time and sometimes downright hostility. The words Rule to Show Cause come to mind.

Well, I went through my four years at UF in the blink of an eye and it was time to make another decision; although, as time passed by, it became clearer and clearer to me that the right decision for me was to become a lawyer, but not just any type of lawyer - a trial lawyer. So given that I became a Gator the year after they won their first football championship, I figured I would extend my tenure in Gainesville to see if I could experience one of those championships while going to school there. Unfortunately, Urban Meyer didn't make his way to Gainesville until a couple of years after I graduated law school, but the games were still fun and how could you possibly beat $6.00 per game for student tickets?

When I was in law school, I recall clerking for a local (South Florida) insurance defense firm. I remember at least a couple of the senior attorneys at the firm advising me to start my career with the State Attorney's Office. I was warned that the carriers are reluctant to allow young lawyers to try cases these days and that the best way to get the trial experience was to become a prosecutor or an assistant public defender. I took that advice to heart because I wanted to pursue a career in trial work. So when the time came to start submitting my resume, I made sure to send it to several different State Attorney and Public Defender Offices across the state.  Orlando came knocking first, so off I went to start my legal career in the land of Disney working as a prosecutor.

I spent my first six years there and got my trial experience before coming full circle back to civil.  Looking back at my time in Orlando, I cannot be grateful enough that my path led me there.  Not only did working as a prosecutor lay the foundation for what I do now; had it not been for my move to Orlando, the two single most important events in my life would not have happened.  I would not have met my wife, Melanie, and our daughter, Lyla, would not have been born.  Sometimes things just happen for a reason.  Not to mention, the stories are unbelievable and unforgettable. 

You cannot make up some of the stuff that you see in some of those police reports.  I remember one case in which a woman brought stalking charges against another woman.  As the case progressed, I learned that the "victim" was pursuing the charges at the behest of her boyfriend, who had babies with both women, and the boyfriend was trying to get the "victim" to pursue false allegations as leverage to get the other woman to drop an Aggravated Battery on Pregnant Person charge against him.  Plus, for the "victim," what better than to get the rival woman out of the picture.  Or, there was the person going around the courthouse making legal arguments on behalf of various "clients" and holding himself out as an attorney even though he was not licensed to practice law.  It was gratifying when he got arrested for arguing a Motion to Suppress in front of the wrong judge who caught onto his routine and ultimately when the fraudster got convicted. 

I would not trade my experiences as a prosecutor for anything, but I am glad I left when I did.  It was time for me to make the jump to civil.  Melanie and I wanted to start a family and working in the public sector, while rewarding, was not the best financially for raising a family.  So I made the transition and that is when I began my career as an insurance defense attorney.  In many ways, I see parallels between the two.  Often plaintiffs exaggerate their claims and sometimes outright lie.  Sometimes putting the dagger in those plaintiffs' cases is like trying to convict criminals.  Almost like being a prosecutor all over again, a "civil prosecutor."  In retrospect, I am happy that I made the switch to insurance defense work not only for financial reasons, but also because I enjoy the work.  Plus, moving back to South Florida, which is where I was born, has its fringe benefits.  I got to see the Miami Heat in the LeBron years, the Dolphins seem to be showing signs of life again for the first time in eons, the beach is around the corner, and The Keys are a stone's throw away.  Life is good.