Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog

Guess what? Your Central and Syracuse New York Accident lawyer/blogger has a life (I mean, outside of law). So for today’s blog, I am giving my readers a peek at my life.

I love children, all children really, but especially my own. Here’s a picture of me volunteering with Boys & Girls Club kids in Geneva — taking them all for a swim (I do this Friday’s after work from November through May).

Now below is a picture of me with my own kids. These kids (Sebastian, 15, and Nico, almost 13) are the best kids on the planet (am I biased?), and not only that, they are stellar students. They became top-notch readers when they found the Harry Potter series years ago. So we are big-time indebted to Harry and his pals.

It’s nice to be appreciated. And sometimes clients who appreciate my work write online “reviews” of me. I was flattered and honored to read the following review of my work from a client whose case I recently tried. Here is her review of my work from the attorney rating and review website “AVVO“:

Mike Bersani recently represented me in a personal injury lawsuit, which resulted in a settlement on the fourth day of the trial. In meeting with Mike several times before the trial, I sensed he was a competent, kind, intelligent person. On the first day, jury selection, it was obvious what a remarkable individual he is. Not only is he intelligent but he is also one of the most respectful and kind attorneys I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I am in the law enforcement profession and routinely work with attorneys. Mike is in a class by himself. He regarded the court attendants, jurors, witnesses, for both sides, and other attorneys with the utmost kindness and respect. He demonstrated integrity and class in the courtroom. I was extremely impressed by his knowledge of my accident. He knew my case as well as I did. On the fourth day of the trial, a settlement was reached. There were two Defendants in this case, and Mike was able to reach settlements with both parties. One of the Defendants offered a settlement on the first day of the trial, but Mike’s awesome presentation of the case resulted in their offer increasing, daily. By the fourth day, both parties were eager to settle for an amount that was considered fair. I am proud to tell others about this amazing attorney and would highly recommend him.

All of us at Michaels Bersani Kalabanka aim to keep every single client completely satisfied with our services. We appreciate the kind words and devotion of our former clients, and we look forward to satisfying our future clients.

In the Watertown New York personal injury jury trial I wrapped up this week, I used some technology that I feel really made a difference. It is called “Exhibit View“, and is a kind of trial presentation software. You load this program onto your laptop, and then connect your laptop to a projector. You then can project exhibits, for example photos and medical records, onto a screen for the jury to see.

The neat thing is that all the jury sees on the big screen is the exhibit itself, not all the paraphernalia you are using to enlarge, mark and move the exhibits. For example, when you want to highlight a portion of the text in the exhibit, or circle it in red ink, the jury sees the highlighting or red circling magically appear on the screen. They don’t see you “grab” the highlighter icon or red “pen” and move them over the text. Only you can see the “tools” you are using on your laptop screen.

Here’s an example of how I used it: After the defense attorney had cross-examined my plaintiff regarding a “history” of the accident taken by one of her doctors that was inconsistent with her testimony about how the accident happened, I did a re-direct of her in which I blew up on the screen, one at time, about five entries from other medical records where the “history” accurately reflected my client’s account. I was able to highlight, before the jury’s eyes, the key entries giving the accurate accounting of the accident. My client testified that each of the entries I was highlighting accurately reflected how the accident happened. So now it became visibly clear that the one “rogue” account of the accident, which defense counsel had made so much of, was due to the doctor’s error rather than my client changing her story.

I just emerged from a week-long personal injury trial in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. The defendants who injured my client had offered us only about 1/5 of what we felt the value of the case was, so we took it to trial.

Every day, as our proof went in, defendants’ offer increased, as we held firm to our number. Yesterday, the second-to-last day of trial, they finally offered us what we had told them the case was worth all along. Case settled.

I would like to think that this result had something to do with my courtroom skills, but the truth is it had more to do with an appealing client and appalling defendants. She is an honest, hardworking single mom who struggled to overcome an injury that was not her fault. They shot themselves in the foot by refusing to accept responsibility for clear negligence on their part.

Ten years ago today I flew into NYC to attend a meeting of the Amicus Committee of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (NYSTLA). The Amicus Committee, of which I was, and still am, a member, submits amicus curiae (“friends of the court”) briefs in important cases on appeal in New York State where the rights of injured people are likely to be greatly affected. I am proud to have been selected to be a member of the Amicus Committee, and to submit briefs to fight for the rights of New York personal injury victims.

But I never made it to that meeting 10 years ago. On the shuttle bus from JFK airport to the midtown tunnel, the guy sitting to my left cried out, “did you see that”?! We all looked. We saw fire and smoke spewing out of a gaping hole in one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The man informed us that a plane had just run into the tower. Someone commented, “what an idiot – how could that pilot have failed to see the towers on such a clear day”!

When we emerged from the midtown tunnel and got off the bus in Manhattan, everywhere people were talking about a second plane having struck the second tower. We were under attack. All of us headed to the nearest bar with a TV, and the rest, of course, is history.

Boring. That’s what reading medical records is. I’ve been reading and re-reading 15 years of medical records for a client whose case I am trying in a few weeks. Cup of coffee? Yes, Thanks. Yes, boring. Dry. Dull. It’s a sure fire insomnia cure. So why do I do it?

Necessary. This is one job that can’t be delegated to a paralegal or associate. If you are a New York personal injury lawyer, and you are going to try your client’s injury case, you have to know, almost by memory, the medical records. And that means you have to read and re-read them. No shortcuts.

Your paralegal might give you a nice summary, or might highlight important entries. But if you are trying the case, you simply have to read them. Absorb them. Know them. Imbedded in these records is the story of your client’s injury, which you must bring to life before the jury’s eyes.