Craig Murphy’s “Closing Argument”

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One of the things that’s very important to me and sort of practical is my firm’s motto is “Winning is no accident.” Winning is the result of being willing and the unending fight on behalf of the underdog. Because the people that are injured through no fault of their own typically are just normal working class people. And they’re up against these insurance companies and corporations and hotels and casinos that are the largest, richest, most profitable companies in the world. And their goal is to either pay nothing or as little as possible. They don’t want to pay what’s fair. Their job for their adjusters is to keep as much money as possible. If they can get away with paying nothing, they’re going to pay nothing. If they can get away with paying pennies on the dollar, they’re going to pay pennies on the dollar. And they’re going to grind people to a nub. They’re going to try and steamroll them. And they need an advocate.

 

They need someone to stand up for them. Because if they don’t, those companies have absolutely no hesitation to pull the rug out from under them and give them nothing. And a lot of times what their tactic is, is to deny the claim and then delay it, put it into litigation and defend it and stretch it out until those people get so desperate that they have to take the pennies on the dollar. They don’t have somebody fighting for them. They are going to get steamrolled every time. And so when I say winning is no accident, it is the result of really, the dedication to the cause.

 

You got to believe in your client. You got to know that their lives are important. What has happened to them is important. They need to know someone’s got their back and that someone really cares. The other thing that is really important, you have to have somebody that’s willing to get into the fight and do what’s necessary to get the evidence, hold the defendant’s feet to the fire, to make them produce the videotapes that they don’t want to produce, produce their policies and procedures that they violated that they don’t want to voluntarily give to you. You have to just be willing to grind it out. You have to do the day in, day out, hard work – the stuff you don’t see on TV – to build the case. And every day you got to do something. You put one brick in the foundation at a time. And if you don’t know how to do it or you’re unwilling to do it, you’re going to have that weak foundation. But if you build a strong foundation, you’re going to be able to do it. And it’s through skill and experience and just that determination to do what is necessary.

 

We know that our cases are very important to our clients and we want to make a difference in their lives. It is something that again, you just have to be willing to go out there knowing that what happens makes a huge difference in your client’s life and that winning cases, winning is not an accident.