A FORMER CLIENT JOINS THE BLF TEAM WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, RENA!
Rena Piper called our office for the first time in 2017. She was angry, scared, and looking for help. Her 1-year-old son, Ryen,
passion of mine. I wanted to know, ‘Why is this allowed? Where are our laws lacking? Why is this a situation that could happen?’” Rena is a former military police officer, and the idea of getting justice for Ryen lit a fire in her heart. During mediation with our team, Rena’s husband, Ben, leaned over to her and said, “I could never do this job!” She told him, “I could, I could do this!”
“It doesn’t feel like work,” Rena says, referring to her new job as a paralegal. “It feels like I’m progressing toward my goal of becoming a lawyer.” Rena’s transformation from scared parent to child advocate has been incredible to watch. She knows exactly how to help our clients because she once walked in their shoes. At the same time, she’s taking night classes and parenting her three kids: 6-year-old Ryen, 9-year-old Annlee, and 18-year-old Aiden. “Thankfully, I have a husband who is on board and really helps make it all possible. I couldn’t do it without him being fully supportive of this endeavor of mine,” she says. Rena is a huge asset to our team and our clients. We’re happy to help her follow her dream!
had just been neglected at daycare. The people who were supposed to protect him left him alone outside in near-freezing temperatures.
Rena couldn’t believe it — especially because
that wasn’t the end of the story. After we took her case, the facts we uncovered continued to surprise her. “I was just shocked at all of the things daycares can get away with and the things they attempt to sweep under the rug,” Rena
Soon, the dream became a reality. Two years after that mediation, Rena was sitting in night classes at the University of North Texas at Dallas College of Law,
studying to become a lawyer. Three years after that, she left her job as the Director of University Events at the University of Texas at Dallas and joined our team at BLF.
remembers. “What happened to Ryen and then working with BLF really started this
MEET DANNY: A LEGAL ADVOCATE FOR THE DEAF COMMUNITY Do You Need Help With a Deaf Client’s Case?
Here at BLF, we try to advocate for people left out of the legal conversation. That’s why we represent kids, folks with serious brain and spinal cord injuries, and families who have had a loved one killed due to the negligence of others. A few years ago, we started helping another underresourced group: Deaf people injured in accidents. That work wouldn’t have been possible without Danny Radford. Danny is a personal injury lawyer based in Utah with an incredible story. When he was 18, he was called to serve a church mission in New York. His specific assignment involved teaching the deaf community — so he had to learn sign language! “There were probably only 12 missions with sign language missionaries,” he says. “We were a small program. At my training center, there were only nine of us, whereas a Spanish program might have hundreds.”
Danny must have been called to that group for a reason because on his mission he discovered a passion for working with the deaf community. When he got home, he took a job at a deaf service office, then worked as an interpreter and college sign language teacher. He was doing as much as he could to help deaf people — but he
deaf clients in Utah and connect injured deaf people all over the country with legal representation. Danny will only recommend clients to law firms he has personally trained to handle deaf cases — and BLF is one of them. Thanks to Danny’s training, we know how to find a great interpreter and take extra steps to ensure our deaf clients can work with police, receive proper medical care, and can communicate with their insurance companies. “The whole process [after a car crash] is just a giant breeding ground to take advantage of deaf people, so I am trying to correct that with Deaf Injury Law,” Danny says.
wanted to do more. “I decided to go to law school with the goal of helping the deaf community in a higher capacity,” he says. Boy, did he follow through! Danny opened Deaf
If you’re an attorney with a deaf client or know someone in the deaf community who needs
Injury Law specifically to help
representation, Danny is a great resource. You can reach him at Danny@DeafInjuryLaw.com.
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