NEW HAMPSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF JUSTICE
There’s a national organization called the American Association of Justice, and here we have the New Hampshire Association of Justice as our state branch. This organization allocates trial lawyers with information and support, enabling them to better represent clients. Every few years, the association will take a case that they deem best to help in this process, turn it into a learning experience, and allow other lawyers, including law students, to take a crack at the case. Recently, the organization chose one of our cases at Nixon, Vogelman, Barry, Slawsky and Simoneau to be a part of this great experience. The case chosen was won by our own Kirk Simoneau not too long ago. The case they picked
was one previously featured in our newsletter — The $400K Broken Leg. In this case, a woman broke her leg after her heel was caught between two pieces of slate and she fell. Kirk was able to get a verdict for $400,000 — a commendable feat since the original offer was only $2,500. The class held about 45 people who tried to work through Kirk’s case and get a better or equal amount than he had. The students taking part went through the whole system, from selecting the jury to opening statements and throughout the rest of the trial. Kirk sat through these classes and watched how each person approached the case. He critiqued, provided advice, and let them in on how he handled the case on his own. “It’s just a lot of fun,” Kirk says. “Everyone has their
own way of handling these things. It’s interesting to see who does what.”
Katherine McDonough, one of the new lawyers here at our firm, attended the class with Kirk’s case. He watched her work through it and was impressed with her abilities. “Out of all the students I watched so far,” Kirk comments, “she’s done the best job. Her jury selection was relaxed and casual — just inviting the jury to talk, which is an important thing to do.” The New Hampshire Association of Justice is a great organization. We’re proud that they chose one of our cases to teach other trial lawyers about overcoming obstacles.
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