Lawyers Giving Back Archive

Bradshaw & Bryant: Stopping DUI One Taxi Ride at a Time

October 25th, 2010. By BrendaC

This new column at LawyersandSettlements.com looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we talk with Mike Bryant of Bradshaw & Bryant…

Attorney Mike Bryant on Giving Back: “It’s Just the Right Thing to Do.”

Attorneys often see, close up and personal, the tragedy that results from drunk driving. Five years ago, a Minnesota firm decided it would pick up the tab for people who needed a ride home from a bar during the first two weeks of the New Year. “Yes, it is expensive,” says Mike Bryant, an engaging, warm kind of guy and a partner in the four-lawyer personal injury firm of Bradshaw & Bryant.

“We pay for a couple of hundred rides during that period, but I like the idea of doing it,” says Bryant. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

The public has become increasing unsympathetic to people who drink and drive, and with good reason. “It creates a mess,” says Bryant, speaking about drunk drivers. “And it also affects their families, maybe their ability to earn a living, and if they are involved in an accident where people are injured or killed, it’s a disaster.” 

The firm has handled many cases involving alcohol and catastrophic injury. “We have seen the effects that criminal charges have on people charged with driving under the influence (DUI), and we have also seen people who have been injured as a result of accidents involving alcohol,” says Bryant. “It is horrible all around.”

“I’ve had people phone me up and thank me, and taxi drivers like it too. They say they get better tips,” adds Bryant.

For the first year, Bryant’s firm paid for New Year’s Eve plus the next two weeks of cab rides, but the cab company said most people take care not to drink and drive on that particular night of the year because they know the police are watching.

“The problem is after New Year’s Eve,” says Bryant. “There are a lot of office parties, people having “get- togethers,” and that’s when they make mistakes. So we now pay for the two weeks after New Year’s Eve.”

Bryant says the free taxi rides at New Year’s have been a local tradition in the community. “There was another company that did it, but they stopped. We decided to jump in. We do it in conjunction with the radio station and the cab company, but we foot the bill,” says Bryant.

Interestingly, Bryant says the statistics show that Thanksgiving is actually when police find the most drunk drivers on the road. The firm is thinking about adding a few extra days during that time of year. 

Mike Bryant is a partner with Bradshaw & Bryant. He is a graduate of the William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota. He has been named by his peers as one of Minnesota’s top 40 personal injury lawyers four times in five years.

Tags: Bradshaw & Bryant, Drunk Driving, DUI, Mike Bryant, Minnesota, Taxi
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Attorney Kip Scott: Ground Zero, Katrina Volunteer Ready to Help Again

August 3rd, 2010. By janem

Attorney Kip Scott has plenty of experience helping others—outside of his legal practice.

Scott first got into volunteerism during law school in his late 20s (his first career was in engineering). ” I had the opportunity to volunteer as a summer camp counselor for kids who were living in group homes,” says Scott, who  helped with whatever activities they wanted to do, from swimming to bow and arrow(!) . ” I found it much more rewarding than a lot of stuff I did at work,” he adds. Scott volunteered at the camps for four summers and then 9/11 happened.

Again through his church, Scott volunteered with the relief effort. “I had one week’s notice to pack, take a few classes in disaster training and get to New York [from California], a city I had never been to,” says Scott. “We stayed a few blocks north of ground zero and worked 10-14 hour shifts. I drove a little cart around that carried supplies—food, water, firewood (to keep everyone warm at night)—for the police, fire department and the Port Authority. Most of the officers I spoke to just wanted someone to talk to about California, to keep their minds off what had just happened. Of course many people were emotionally numb; I owed them a great deal of respect.

“Basically Ground Zero was an open grave. We didn’t take any pictures; we wanted to honor the dead. It was really tough for everyone and every night after our shift we came back to the hotel and were debriefed about what we saw, what happened and what took place. The disaster training classes taught us what not to say and not to give advice; just be there for support.

“Most of us who worked at Ground Zero were so busy we didn’t have time to think about what we saw or smelled. There was a food tent and two supply tents set up and everything was being worked on including the subway. Often the gas lines would give way and everyone would have to evacuate; everywhere smelled like an electrical fire—it was surreal.

“The other part of my job was working at the medical examiner’s office—where the bodies were processed. When a body or partial body was found, they would bag the remains, put a bar code on the bag, put the bag on a gurney with a flag on it, salute, put it in the ambulance and drive the ambulance midtown to the NY Medical Examiner’s office.  Again,  I was there to make sure all the tents had supplies. I was there a few times when the bags were opened. The doctors would cut a piece of muscle or fingernail and bone marrow to get DNA samples. The triage room smelled like dirty ammonia, which made the doctor’s voices hoarse because the ammonia had eroded their esophagus.

“Our shift was over after two weeks and another group came in but I felt bad for leaving so many people still working there.. I would have stayed for as long as necessary.”

Then came Hurricane Katrina. Just as he did after 9/11, Scott dropped everything on short notice and traveled to Mississippi to help those in need. “I first arrived in Gulfport, where the eye of the hurricane hit,” says Scott.

“We helped flood survivors (they were not called victims) because their insurance wouldn’t help them. We would take all their furniture, appliances, clothes, everything, onto the curb of the street in the front of their house, in separate piles. Then we brought out all the drywall to expose the rafters so the wooden beams would dry—mold was a big issue.  It was physically intense and the conditions were bad: it was about 100° with heavy humidity. Lots of windows wouldn’t open because the wood was swollen and inside the houses  it was even hotter. I worked there for about two weeks until Hurricane Rita came and we had to leave.

“Even though for just a brief time, I’m glad I was able to help some people. And I wouldn’t hesitate to help in this capacity again—God forbid it won’t happen again. “

Back in California, Kip Scott helps personal injury victims at the Personal Injury Law Center in Orange County.

Tags: Ground Zero, Katrina, Kip Scott, Lawyers Giving Back, Volunteer
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Katie Morales’ DisceRNment: Making the Legal Industry Proud

July 23rd, 2010. By Kristine B

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series we hope to present to celebrate and commend the behind-the-scenes volunteer work (including pro-bono cases), donated funds and/or time, and the overall commitment those in the legal industry generously give—most often quietly, without fanfare or cameras rolling—to those in need. We thank Katie Morales for all that she and her team at DisceRNment do, and for taking the time to speak with us.

Sometimes, when you focus on lawsuits and drug side effects, it can be easy to forget how much good there is in the world. Katie Morales, who we profiled previously in a Pleading Ignorance blog post, is one of the people doing a lot of good. So much good, that we had to talk about her. 

Katie is a legal nurse consultant and runs a company called DisceRNment (online at discernment.biz). Both privately and through her company, Katie works to make the world a better place. 

“Just this weekend, we adopted a mile as part of ‘Keep Cobb Beautiful,” Katie says. “You adopt the mile and are responsible for cleaning it. We participate in Service Juris, an event in Atlanta where attorneys help an inner city area; we helped to convert an abandoned area into a green space.” 

Katie, her husband and DiseRNment are involved in donating water, sponsoring a swim team and sponsoring six children through World Vision.

“We sponsor older boys because we’ve been told it’s hard to get people to sponsor older Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: DisceRNment, Katie Morales, Volunteer
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