Check out our December newsletter!
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December 2025
A Milestone Built on Trust Thank You for Your Referrals!
If you’ve been reading these newsletters for a while, you know I usually use this space to tell stories about family, baseball, or the occasional life lesson I’ve learned along the way. But this month, I want to use it for something a little different, something both humbling and deeply meaningful to me. I want to thank you. Our firm has always been lucky that our former clients have liked us and referred cases to us. But as I was doing some year-end planning, I realized that, for the first time since I opened Schuelke Law, the majority of our new cases this year came from referrals by our own clients. That’s not something I take lightly. In fact, it’s one of the greatest compliments a lawyer can receive. When someone refers a friend, family member, or coworker to me, they do much more than just pass along my name. They’re saying, “I trust you. I believe you’ll take care of someone I care about.” And for that, I can’t thank you enough. Those referrals mean everything because they represent relationships. They mean that when you were going through a difficult situation, such as an accident, an injury, or a stressful process, you felt heard, respected, and helped enough to tell someone else, “Call Brooks!” That’s the highest measure of success I can imagine.
when past clients continue to be part of ours. It’s easy to talk about verdicts or settlements, but what matters most is knowing you felt cared for and confident enough to recommend us to someone else. I’ve always believed that the best kind of law practice is one built on trust and connection. This milestone is proof of that. It’s a reminder that what we do matters, not just in the courtroom but in the lives of the people we help and the communities we serve. So, to everyone who has referred someone to our firm this year (and in years past), thank you. Thank you for your confidence, kindness, and continued trust! We’ll keep doing everything we can to honor that trust, one client at a time. And while we never want you, your friends, or family members to be hurt in an accident, we hope you’ll keep giving those folks our name and giving us the opportunity to help them.
We have always built our work on people, not numbers. Every client who walks through our doors has their own story, and we’re honored
“It’s easy to talk about verdicts or settlements, but what matters most is knowing you felt cared for and confident enough to recommend us to someone else.”
And as we head into the end of the year, I hope you and your families have a safe and joyful holiday season.
- Brooks Schuelke
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DON’T SIGN THAT JOB OFFER BLINDLY Fine-Print Focus
In today’s competitive job market, landing new employment is the least of your worries.
Never disregard a seemingly minor typo as a slight variation in a job title (e.g., “managerr” or “supervisor” versus “manager”) could be enough to impact your anticipated compensation, workday obligations, and even your tax status. Even the most professional companies can make mistakes in drafting documentation, so never assume Human Resources has everything covered. Do the perks make sense as presented? In addition to confirming exactly what you’ll do and be paid, you must ensure any benefits outlined in the contract align with your expectations or with anything you may have been told during interview(s) and negotiation(s). Review all insurance benefits, paid vacations, PTO/sick leave structures, retirement plans, and bonuses detailed in the contract before signing, and immediately raise any questions or concerns with the appropriate parties. What is yours, and what is your employer’s? With remote work on the rise, your employer may be based in another state. Your employee contract should detail your remote status and any expectations for occasional “hybrid” work (e.g., working at the corporate office once a week) and work-related travel. Expense reimbursement is another factor to consider when reading your contract. Review any provisions regarding your responsibilities in using employer-supplied equipment (laptops, printers, scanners, etc.) required for your remote position. Sometimes, your work may entail creating intellectual property the employer owns. For example, if you make digital media for a company, you likely won’t be able to apply it to your personal use or bring it to a subsequent employer. The employee contract will likely include specific proprietary rights and intellectual property language. Before agreeing to an employer’s contract terms, you should address any verification needs. These questions are just the tip of the iceberg. No two employee contracts are exactly alike, so it’s essential to diligently review any documentation you receive, even if you need to bring in a legal professional for an extra pair of eyes.
Depending on your chosen industry, you may be required to review and sign an employment contract before starting a new position. Ideally, this document will clearly outline what your new employer offers you to work for them and the responsibilities they expect you to fulfill. While the concept is simple enough, a host of nuances and potential red flags in an employee contract may reveal that your new job is more (or less) than you expected. Considering that the average U.S. employee stays with a single employer for approximately four years before moving on, reviewing your employee contract carefully ensures the job of your dreams doesn’t devolve into a logistical, financial, or professional nightmare. Here are three key questions to consider before agreeing to the contract terms presented to you. Does the contract accurately describe your role? In many cases, an online job description is the employer’s wish list of duties that could fall under that role. Specific responsibilities related to a particular position may be refined during the interview and negotiation process, especially if the employer is in a transitional period of restructuring its workflow and employee roles. When reviewing your employee contract, confirm that your job title, duties, payment terms and methods, and length of service (if the position is temporary) are described accurately. “No two employee contracts are exactly alike, so it’s essential to diligently review any documentation you receive, even if you need to bring in a legal professional for an extra pair of eyes.”
Good luck with your job search, and happy reading!
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TAKE A BREAK
Syllables That Shape Society
The ‘Saxon Clincher’ Effect
The right selection of syllables can change the course of history.
As any English teacher or professional editor (or anyone who’s ever confused “they’re,” “there,” or “their”) will tell you, navigating modern English is often chaotic and confounding. In a 2020 blog, Ward Farnsworth of the University of Texas School of Law attempted to explain how it got this way. “English is a language built mostly out of two others. Much of it was created from the language of invaders who came to Britain around A.D. 450 from Anglia and Saxony (in what we’d now call northern Germany). About 600 years later, the French [Normans] invaded and brought their language with them, too, derived from Latin. The new French competed with Old English, and the eventual outcome was modern English, built out of both.” Farnsworth’s observation isn’t new. Various speeches by President Abraham Lincoln, largely considered one of the world’s greatest orators, made excellent use of this mix of languages by understanding that Anglo-Saxon words tend to be direct and words of French origin tend to be a bit more flowery. Lincoln applied these characteristics to create what some linguistic circles call a “Saxon clincher,” a straightforward conclusion to a more colorfully worded introduction. A Saxon clincher can be employed to gain attention with impactful opening words before driving the point home more simply. According to Farnsworth, Lincoln’s talent for perfecting this approach shines through in this passage from his “House Divided” speech in 1858: Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. Did you notice how the first half includes colorful words such as “opponents” and “extinction,” and the final 14 words are simple with one syllable each? That’s the Saxon clincher, and the pathway to a perfect speech, in a nutshell.
BAKED FETA, TOMATO, AND WHITE BEAN SKILLET
Ingredients
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes • 2 (15-oz) cans no-salt-added cannellini beans, rinsed • 4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped • 2 tsp Italian seasoning • 1/4 tsp salt • 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided • 6 oz feta cheese, packed in brine, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tbsp hot honey • Basil leaves, for garnish • 4 slices toasted whole-wheat country bread, optional, for serving
Directions 1. Preheat oven to 450 F. 2. In a large, oven-safe skillet, combine tomatoes, beans, garlic, Italian seasoning, and salt. 3. Drizzle with 5 tbsp of olive oil and stir gently. 4. Add feta pieces 2 inches apart in the mixture and drizzle with remaining olive oil. 5. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the tomatoes have burst. 6. Remove from oven and drizzle with hot honey. Garnish with basil leaves, and serve with toast if desired.
Inspired by EatingWell.com
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PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
1100 B Guadalupe Street Austin, Texas 78701 INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Referrals That Reflect Relationships
1
The Weight of Written Words
2
Baked Feta, Tomato, and White Bean Skillet
3
President Lincoln’s Unique Speech Style
Terror Turns to Trial
4
A ‘Leatherface’ Lawsuit Leaves a Mark SLIPS, SCREAMS, AND SETTLEMENTS
If you’re a horror film fan, you know how common it is for a would-be victim to trip and fall long enough to allow the killer chasing them to catch up and carry out some nasty deed. While this scene is a classic cliché of the genre, it would strike genuine terror in anyone’s heart if it played out in the real world, especially when you’re a 57-year-old woman with her grandchild in tow. In the late 1990s, Cleanthi Peters accompanied her 10-year-old granddaughter to a Hell’s High haunted house attraction at Universal Studios in Florida. As their walk-through was about to end, an actor portraying the menacing character Leatherface from the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” film franchise began chasing them while wielding a fake chainsaw. As the frightened pair began running away from the grotesque antagonist, they slipped on a wet spot on the floor, just like in the movies. Instead of breaking character to help them, the actor playing the pretend psychopath continued to menace the two by standing above them with his torturous tool still in his hands.
Claiming the incident left her and her granddaughter “extremely fearful and in mental distress and anguish,” Peters later sued Universal Studios for emotional distress and other injuries. After numerous trials, the suit was decided in Peters’ favor, resulting in a $15,000 judgment against Universal Studios for failure to keep its haunted house safe for occupants. While this case occurred in Florida, legal experts have opined that the verdict may have been the same in other states, since an unsafe wet floor wouldn’t be a reasonable expectation for anyone attending a haunted house attraction. While Hell’s High may have succeeded in frightening Peters and her granddaughter, the suit proves that horror-themed
entertainment can sometimes be too scary, especially for the defendant’s legal counsel, and Leatherface is best encountered from the comfort of a TV or movie theater screen.
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