Trial lawyer Tom Scolaro of Scolaro Law P.C. shares why the motto “Hustle & Heart, Set Us Apart” isn’t marketing fluff for his firm, it’s operating instructions.

Scolaro grew up in a blue-collar upstate New York town, the son of an immigrant truck driver who admired lawyers and pushed his kids to aim higher. Law school originally meant a prosecutor’s path (think Jack McCoy on “Law & Order”), until life swerved: his older brother was catastrophically injured by a drunk driver while Tom was a 1L. Navigating hospitals, fear, and a maze of legal decisions with the help of a civil lawyer changed his trajectory. The lesson stuck — people need an advocate who picks up the phone, answers questions, and stands in the gap.

Scolaro’s practice philosophy is blunt and human: be the boxer in your client’s corner, not the tuxedo in the hallway. He tells prospective clients to interview multiple firms and ask, word for word, “Ask your lawyer, ‘What is your why? Why do you do this?’” If the answer is canned, keep looking. The work is too hard — and the stakes too high — to fake purpose.

The episode’s centerpiece is the retelling of a harrowing house-fire case in Cudjoe Key, Florida. Initial officials blamed an 18-year-old survivor, calling it a “marijuana fire” from a balcony ember. Scolaro refused that narrative. He moved fast with fire, electrical, and metallurgical experts, stripped outlets, and mapped fire dynamics to relocate the origin inside — near a defective electrical receptacle that arced, ignited blackout curtains and a sofa, and filled the home with toxic smoke.

Policy change threads through Scolaro’s work, too. He recounts a fatal carbon-monoxide poisoning at a Key West hotel that helped spur code requirements for CO detectors in new hotel construction — and, years later, a similar cross-border case with thorny choice-of-law issues that he pushed through to accountability. The pattern is clear: meticulous investigation, relentless pressure on corporate defendants, and a refusal to let clients walk alone.

In his “Closing Argument,” Scolaro explains why he stayed in this arena: to champion people through life-rocking harm, to get accountability and justice, and to help clients recover personally — not just financially.

Key Takeaways

• Purpose drives performance — clients should ask every lawyer to articulate a real “why.”
• Winning isn’t only monetary; clearing a client’s name and preventing despair are “human verdicts” that matter.
• Litigation can inspire safety reforms (e.g., carbon-monoxide detector requirements) that protect future guests.
• Authentic accessibility — sharing a cell number, taking late-night calls — builds trust when lives are upended.

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In this episode of “Celebrating Justice,” trial lawyer Daniel Schneiderman traces that arc from early Toastmasters triumphs and DA’s training to a deliberately client-first personal injury practice.

Daniel’s candid about what actually fuels his fire: living the case alongside clients, from hospital to courthouse steps, and doing high-quality work at a deliberately capped caseload so he can be present at every turn. “Small, hungry, and we know what we’re doing,” he says — not as a slogan, but as operating philosophy.

Schneiderman’s origin story is textured. The grandson of a NASA engineer who worked around the Mariner missions, he grew up seeing precision and curiosity modeled in the most practical ways — darkroom photography, notebooks dense with rocket-science math, even early GPS tinkering before the internet era. A different path was possible, even tempting, but the courtroom called. He loved English and writing, loved to present, loved the emotional resonance of a story well told. And there was a formative moment at home: after a freak blender accident injured his mother’s hand, he calmly took charge, asked “Whose fault was this?” and began to see how law touches real life.

In Southern California’s crowded PI market, he’s resisted the volume game. Instead of chasing leads with ads, he invests in reputation — relationships, thoughtful LinkedIn presence, and trust that compounds into referrals. That human-centered posture crystallized during a catastrophic-injury trial he worked with mentor Roger Dreyer.

Key Takeaways

• Client-first PI work scales on trust, not volume — cap caseloads to stay present and deliver quality.
• Mentorship in the heat of trial teaches the hardest lesson: separate lawyer ego from client decisions.
• Strong personal branding (done thoughtfully) compounds into organic referrals and immediate trust.
• Contingency work invites a gambler’s mindset; disciplined risk framing keeps the client in control.
• Today’s tools and mentors lower the barrier to launching or reinventing a legal practice.
• Total commitment — time, resources, and energy — is the hallmark of a true trial lawyer.

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In this episode of “Celebrating Justice,” trial lawyer Jeremy Citron, founder and partner at The Hurt Boss, traces an unconventional path to the courtroom — from dreaming of becoming a Major League Baseball umpire to finding his calling in personal injury law. The journey starts with a nudge from his father to take the LSAT “as a fallback,” turns into early academic momentum in law school, and then shifts through big-law training at Holland & Knight. A pivotal fellowship at Atlanta Legal Aid reframes everything. Perspective changes when you work with people who have nothing, he says — and the courtroom quickly becomes home.

Citron’s early trial reps at Legal Aid deepened through criminal defense work and even a stint as a part-time municipal prosecutor. The accumulation mattered: quick thinking, comfort on his feet, a taste for real trials. What ultimately sets him apart, he explains, isn’t perfection — it’s presence. “Nobody is expecting perfection in a trial. They’re just looking for a human presentation — someone who can get the client’s perspective across and engage the jury.” The goal, always: be the most authentic version of himself on his feet.

For his "Closing Argument," Citron closes with a clear charge to the plaintiff bar: embrace the role and the responsibility. “Trial lawyers help people who will never be able to speak for themselves because the system isn’t designed for them to do so.”

Key Takeaways

• Authenticity persuades: juries seek a human presentation, not perfection.
• Early trial responsibility — especially at legal aid — accelerates courtroom growth.
• Career detours (big law, prosecution, defense) can compound into a trial-ready toolkit.
• Truth-finding is its own remedy — clients often want accountability as much as compensation.
• Passion plus preparation fuels endurance in long, complex litigation.

The Trial Lawyer's Journal is Presented by CloudLex and Lexvia.ai.

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