20 minute read
RISING STAR OF THE MONTH
Eric Dubin and Annee Della Donna hold a press conference on behalf of the parents of Christopher Eisinger. Eisinger’s parents say that Anaheim police officers held a knee to their son’s neck and back for up to five minutes while he couldn’t breathe. He died in the hospital eight days later.
Living on a Two-Way Street
Each attorney’s commitment to the law is matched by their commitment to their community and their families— finding a comfortable balance between the two worlds.
Della Donna and her husband of 26 years, Eric, have two daughters, Eliana (25) and Shira (22) and a son Aaron (23). Much of her time out of the office involves work through the Innocence Rights of Orange County, a pro bono law clinic at UCI Law School she founded seven years ago. She is active in the Laguna Pantry, Laguna Playhouse, Hoag Hospital Foundation, Laguna Friends in Need, the Assistance League. As if preparing for a career in the up and down world of law wasn’t enough, she also used to fly aerobatic planes
Dubin and his wife, Dalia, have a daughter Alexa (19) and a son, Jakob (16). He has written several books, one with Larry King. He hosted a legal radio show in LA on FM 97.1, Legally Speaking with Eric Dubin. His book, The Star Chamber, has been cited world-wide on high-profile trials. He is a legal expert for ABC News and has received prestigious front-page profiles in both the OC Register and LA Times. He has volunteered legal services at the Mesereau Free Legal Clinic for many years. Dubin was invited to be a guest speaker on winning high-profile trials for the William P. Gray American Inn of Court, where he has been a member ever since.
Dubin and Della Donna have been joining forces for specific cases for four years, a combination of skills and talents they see continuing. “We come together as separate law firms on a single case. There is incredible strength in doing it that way. We really do double-team the opposition.” n
Contact
Annee Della Donna Law Offices of Annee Della Donna 301 Forest Avenue
Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (949) 376-5730 delladonnalaw.com innocencerightsoforangecounty.com killthekillzone.com
Eric Dubin Dubin Law Firm 19200 Von Karman Avenue, Sixth Floor Irvine, CA 92612 (949) 477-8040 dubinlaw.com
Jan M. Eckermann MD, FAANS Diplomate, American Board of Neurological Surgery Brain and Spine Surgeon
Jan M. Eckermann, MD, FAANS is a boardcertified neurosurgeon with over 10 years of experience in managing complex neurosurgical patients.
We partner with personal injury attorneys to better serve your clients.
Conditions Treated:
Back pain Back injuries Back spasm Neck pain Shooting pain in the arm (cervical radiculopathy) Shooting pain in the legs (lumbar radiculopathy) Sciatica Herniated discs Pinched nerves Chronic pain syndrome Failed back and failed fusion syndrome Traumatic brain injury Concussions Carpal tunnel syndrome Lumbar fusions Spinal stenosis
Dr. Eckermann has two locations:
Newport Beach Office
1617 Westcliff Drive, Suite 203 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Phone: 949-514-7456 Fax: 949-209-4687
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2323 16th Street, Suite 407 Bakersfield, CA 93301 Phone: 661-479-7240 Fax: 661-843-7882
RYAN W. COOPER
Young Attorney Rises to the Occasion Through Positivity, Reliability, and a Competitive Spirit
by Dan Baldwin
How does an attorney with just two years of experience enter the “Rising Star” category? For Ryan W. Cooper, Associate Attorney at Fielding Law, APC, obtaining more than $12 million for his clients is a good start, a success record he attributes to three factors: positivity, reliability, and a competitive spirit.
Cooper learned the incredible power of positivity from his father, Bill Cooper, who won a very tough battle against throat cancer. “During that time when my dad was in and out of treatments and obviously very sick, he was incredibly positive. He was positive about his treatment and positive with others. Many other people with his exact same illness might go through the exact same treatment, but not beat the cancer like my dad did. The positivity was the X-factor. Now, I try to find the good in everything, even when my back is against the wall. I preach the same thing to my clients as well: after an accident, they must stay positive, stay resilient, and always keep moving forward.”
In terms of reliability, Cooper says he was given a tremendous amount of responsibility early on at his previous firm where he personally handled more than 600 cases in his first two years of practice. “I was the sole point of contact between our clients and the defense lawyers and the insurance companies and they relied on me to get the job done, to conduct myself in a responsible manner, to keep our clients happy, and to maximize case results,” he says.
His competitive spirit was inborn and brought out in life through his commitment to and love of sports. “You know that the defense lawyers are competitive and they want to do the best job they possibly can. I am the guy squared off directly against them. Every point of my life has had some form of competition involved and I channel that drive into my work,” he says.
Cooper’s commitment to positivity, reliability, and his competitive spirit were showcased in June when he resolved a case for the full available insurance policy limits of $1.1 million despite his client being placed at fault in the police report and by defense insurance. His client, a member of the Elks Lodge, was helping another member drive a truck out of a very narrow garage during a Lodge event. In doing so, Cooper’s client found himself pinned between the truck and the garage wall, and consequently suffered major injuries. The police officer concluded that Cooper’s client caused the accident because he put himself in harm’s way, and the defense lawyers agreed with the officer. Cooper quickly obtained multiple witness statements and spoke with other Lodge members to overturn the liability decision and obtain the maximum available insurance compensation for his client. Other firms had passed on this case because they did not believe they could overcome the liability hurdle. Not only did Cooper overcome that challenge, but he made a policy limit demand which was met and properly accepted, and the case was resolved within five months of the accident.
His areas of responsibility at Fielding Law primarily include automobile accidents, wrongful deaths, slips, trips and falls, pedestrian accidents, bicyclist accidents, dog bites, trucking accidents, and motorcycle accidents.
FEATURED FEATURED
RISING STAR OF THE MONTH 2020 2020
A Talent for Championship Performance
Cooper has always had a knack for cultivating championshipquality teams. When he was twelve-years-old, his Pop Warner football team won a national championship. During his senior year in high school, Cooper led his baseball team, the Esperanza Aztecs, to the Division 1 CIF Championship game. In college, he played Division 1 baseball for the UC Irvine Anteaters and competed in the College World Series. Now, in joining Fielding Law, Cooper has no doubt that he has once again joined a “championship-caliber” team.
Cooper was attracted to Fielding Law by the people and the vision of the firm. Clark H. Fielding quickly became a mentor to the young attorney. “He taught me the laws, the practical application, how to navigate client issues and strategize to maximize case value. Clark also taught me how to conduct myself with peers and clients. I totally trust Clark. There is still a lot I can learn from him and his team. This is a group who I am eager to work with day-in and day-out. They are all experienced and passionate advocates who will sharpen me every day,” he says.
The vision Cooper mentions is a reference to the way the people in the firm view themselves and their focus on the future. “Here I have the opportunity and expectation to fully invest my time, energy, and attention into each case. My approach will be much more personal. I look forward to meeting more clients in person, hearing their stories, and building relationships with the clients,” he says.
Cooper seemed destined to be an attorney. He was encouraged at an early age by his parents to consider a career in the law. “I was well-spoken and well-written at a young age, and they nudged me in the direction of the legal field,” he says.
His uncle, who is also his godfather, is a very well-respected trial lawyer at a civil litigation firm in Orange County. When Cooper was younger, he loved listening to his uncle tell stories about his cases and trials. While he didn’t understand the law or how a trial works at the time, he loved the sportslike characteristics of a civil case: “an attorney needs a good strategy, to play smart, work hard, fight through adversity, and out-play your opponent,” he says. “I could relate to the formula because I played sports my entire life, and the formula for victory isn’t much different. My uncle was also extremely passionate about his work. He is a warrior in the courtroom. Very few people talk about their job with the same level of excitement and passion that he did, and still does to this day. I like to think he passed on some of that to me.”
Cooper attended Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law, graduating Magna Cum Laude in the top five percent of his class. He served as the Managing Editor of the Law Review; competed in multiple mock trial competitions; was a finalist in the annual 1L oral advocacy competition; and was selected as the student speaker for his law school graduation ceremony.
While in college and law school, he worked at a civil defense firm doing insurance defense. “I was exposed early to personal injury cases and I liked everything that went into them. I liked the crossover between the medical and legal worlds. But, what it really comes down to is that I like representing a person rather than a corporation. It just clicks for me. It clicks with my personality. I know exactly who I am representing, what happened to them, and what they need from me. It’s very clear cut without any politics or games. My only goal is to make my client whole again,” he says.
Cooper taking the field for the UC Irvine Anteaters during his senior season (May 2015)
Cooper delivering his speech at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law Commencement Ceremony (May 2018)
Attorney Clark H. Fielding, Attorney Ryan W. Cooper, and the Fielding Law Team
© Christopher TODD Studios
Cooper’s UC Irvine head coach preached a mantra of “Be Quick, but Don’t Hurry,” a guideline he still follows. “When people need help, they want it right away. They don’t want to wait for help, and they don’t want to prolong their suffering or frustrations any longer than necessary,” he says. “I take quick and aggressive action for my clients when warranted. I strike fast and stay on offense. But I never work to such a speed that would sacrifice the quality of my work. Quickness does not sacrifice quality if done right.”
Clients agree. One wrote, “RYAN COOPER IS THE BEST! He was able to recover so much more money than we thought and helped us recover our losses. We had our car totaled and now are able to get a new one for our family. He was so kind and so fast to respond anytime we had a question. He was understanding and bent over backwards for us to help us out every way he could!”
A True “People Person”
Cooper says, “I have always been a true ‘People Person’ with the ability to connect with very diverse groups of people.” The most important person is clearly his wife, Jayme. They were married in November 2019. “Jayme is my best friend and my rock. She has helped me get through some tough times and lends limitless support and encouragement to me. We believe in each other and help each other grow personally, religiously, and professionally.” The couple lives in Rancho Santa Margarita and plan to be residents of Orange County their entire lives. Cooper is also strengthened by amazing parents and a wonderful sister.
He is an “obsessed” golfer, which he says was the natural next step after changing career goals from baseball to the law. “I could go on and on about the similarities between the game of golf and a legal case. Perhaps the biggest similarity is that, whether it’s a round of golf or a personal injury case, you are guaranteed to face some unexpected challenges that you must overcome,” he says.
He hones his competitive spirit by participating in one to two triathlons a year. He is a history buff with an interest in U.S. presidents and is currently reading a biography of his favorite, Abraham Lincoln.
Cooper is licensed in the State Bar of California and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. His awards and associations include: Top 40 Under 40—American Academy of Attorneys (Personal Injury, 2020); Avvo Clients’ Choice Award (2019–2020); Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (Member); Orange County Bar Association (Member); Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (Member); California Young Lawyers Association (Member).
For Cooper, the awards and successes are, at the core, due to his commitment to representing people—the individual human beings whose lives have been damaged. He says, “Being an attorney has always felt completely natural to me. It just feels right. It feels more like a calling than a job.” n
Contact Ryan W. Cooper Fielding Law, APC The Boardwalk 18575 Jamboree Road, Suite 600 Irvine, CA 92612 (949) 288-5484 www.fieldinglawfirm.com ryan@fieldinglawfirm.com
SPECIALIZING IN BET-THE-COMPANY CASES OVER 65 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE REFERRALS/SUBSTITUTIONS ACCEPTED AT ALL STAGES OF LITIGATION, INCLUDING TRIAL
Complete defense jury verdict in real estate dispute and more than $400,000 collected for attorneys’ fees and costs in Batter v. McElhinney, et al. (2019)(Jason Kirby). $2.1 million jury verdict for firm client in Doe v. San Diego Unified School District, et al. (2018)(Jason Kirby & Michael Kirby). $1.1 million arbitration award for firm clients on cross-complaint after zeroing plaintiff on $6 million damage claim in Step Strategy Advisors v. Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, Inc., et al. (2018)(Jason Kirby lead counsel).
Michael Kirby received the 2019 Best Lawyers in America® distinction for (1) Bet-the-Company Litigation, (2) Commercial Litigation, (3) Litigation – Real Estate, and (4) Litigation – Securities.
Lawyers, How to Write Content People Want to Consume
by Nancy Myrland
Lawyers, you write every day, but when it comes to writing content that people actually can and want to consume, writing for others can sometimes stop you in your tracks because you aren’t sure what to say and how to say it.
Let’s Talk About Best Practices
One of the first things you should keep in mind is the most obvious: You are writing for other people.
When it comes to creating content for others, it is important to remember that consumers of that content aren’t necessarily as knowledgeable in your practice area as you are because they didn’t spend all of the years studying and using the same language as you now use every day as a normal part of your lexicon.
They might use different words to describe what you do, what the issues are, and what they need to be concerned about.
What Language Do They Use?
Knowing that you are not writing for you, and that you aren’t even necessarily writing for other lawyers, you should back up and ask yourself:
• What are the terms that people understand?
• What language do the majority of the people, your clients, potential clients, and referral sources who don’t always understand what it is you’re talking about, use when they discuss their challenges?
• What kind of terminology do media sources use?
What search terms might they use when looking for an expert to contribute to content they are creating?
Create Keywords
When I conduct LinkedIn training, one of the very first things I talk about with a lawyer is the identification of keywords and key phrases that speak to all the audiences mentioned above.
These are keywords that you are known for, or that you want to be known for, as well as terms that are important to your target audiences. What are the basic terms that they use when they talk about this matter?
Those will serve you in every way. They serve the lawyers I train on LinkedIn throughout their entire LinkedIn profile, as well as in every piece of content they create.
They will also help you so that when you’re trying to figure out what to blog about, what to write a LinkedIn article about, what updates to write, share, or react to on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or Facebook, what to record in your next podcast episode, and even what to use when you create video, whether that be recorded or live.
Make the Complex Simple
Always remember that you know your practice area 50 times, even 100 times better than anybody else does so, when creating content, you have to do what I often say is one of my primary responsibilities and goals, and that is to make the complex simple.
I think that is one of your jobs, too. You need to make the complex simple for others who are consuming you, your knowledge, and your content.
Ask Your Readers
If you don’t know those keywords, then just ask, or read comments that your target audiences are using when they write or when they post on social media. You can also call them and ask them. You can email them and ask them. People want to be helpful. They want to be brought into your fold.
If that is uncomfortable, we can work on those in The Lawyers Marketing Academy VIP. They are not difficult to identify, but they sometimes need dedicated time and a bit of guidance. Either way, know that they are an extremely important foundational step in the creation of content that others want to consume.
Give a Spoiler Alert
Always remember that it is important to keep it simple. Tell people up front what it is you’re going to talk about.
It is almost like giving a spoiler alert. Tell them in the first paragraph what you are going to discuss, then spend the middle of your piece of content making the case and backing up that first point.
Make It Easy on the Eyes
Another best practice when you are writing is to give readers a lot of white space.
Our eyes are not trained to read an entire clump of copy on a page, whether that is your LinkedIn profile or whether it is a blog post, whatever that might be. If we go to a page and we see a lot of content that is just jammed together, and this can even be in a simple social media post, our eyes do not gravitate toward that content. We give up on it because it is hard to look at. So, my recommendation is to break that up into much smaller paragraphs.
Some people break up every sentence into a paragraph. Be careful about that because, in a blog post, there are some sentences that, for effect, should stand alone in a paragraph, but probably not always because it can start to look a little gimmicky if you do that on every paragraph or every sentence.
Skimmers appreciate this structure because it is much easier to skim a page and read your content when their eyes see white space in between paragraphs, so make sure you do that.
Take Time to Summarize
I want you to end your blog post or your content by summarizing what you talked about. Again, consider using bullet points when you do that because, again, for those who skim, bullet points are very easy to view.
Let’s say somebody goes to your blog post and reads your first paragraph. Using the structure, I discussed above, they will discover what you are going to talk about. Then, maybe their eyes drift down to bullet points that summarize your blog post. That’s great. Then you’ve at least given skimmers a snapshot of what you’ve talked about in the rest of your blog post or article.
Sometimes that leads people back into your blog post or your article, and they will read more. If not, you’ve lost nothing because you gave your skimmers what they came for, haven’t you?
So, let’s make it very easy for them.
Give Them Your Details
At the very end, one of the last things I want you to do is to put a photo and a mini bio about you with a link back to your bio or your website. It is important to tell people about you because people who don’t know you are going to land on your content.
If you don’t tell them who you are, some people will never know because they might have just seen this link to your blog post or article out in the wild somewhere. Help them out by letting them know who you are. It is not bragging. They have chosen to consume your content.
I always say that, if people have chosen to consume your content, let’s tell them what you do, who you are, who you help, and a little bit more about you, and then give them a link or some contact information.
To Summarize
Those are the basics about how you should consider writing content that is easy to consume.
• Create keywords
• Make the complex simple
• Ask your readers
• Give a spoiler alert
• Make your article or blog post easy on the eyes
• Take time to summarize (hint, hint…just like I’m doing right here)
• Give them your details Do me a favor and let me know when you write something. Also, let me know if this makes the writing process a little bit easier to understand. n
Nancy Myrland is a Marketing, Business Development, Content, Social and Digital Media Speaker, Trainer and Advisor to lawyers, legal marketers and law firms, specializing in helping you grow your firm and your practice through the understanding, creation, and integration of marketing and strategic plans with content, social and digital media. Learn more at www.myrlandmarketing.com.
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Practi ce Areas: • Auto Accidents/Car Crashes • Brain Injuries • Constructi on Injuries • Dog Bites • Medical Malpracti ce • Premises Liability/Slip and Fall • Product Liability/Dangerous Products • Sexual Assault and/or Harassment • Spinal Injuries • Toxic Tort Injuries • Whistleblower/Qui Tam • Wrongful Death
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