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025 What to Expect if Your Personal Injury Case Goes to Trial

025 What to Expect if Your Personal Injury Case Goes to Trial

Lawyers in the House with Montlick

Attorneys in Podcast: Catherine Powell, Esq.| Patrick Matarrese, Esq.

TV, movies, and even the true crime genre have given us a glimpse into what a trial looks like, but how close are those representations to reality?

While the majority of personal injury cases settle before going to trial, a good personal injury attorney will always be prepared for the possibility of going to court.

Montlick trial attorneys Cate Powell and Patrick Matarrese break down, step-by-step, what the trial process looks like, from discovery to closing arguments.

What is “discovery” and what does it mean for you?
How long does a trial usually take?
What is it like to be in a deposition?
Are courtrooms really as intimidating as the ones on Law and Order?

Answers to this and more on this episode of Lawyers in the House with Montlick.

Listen to the Podcast

The purpose of this show is to provide general information about the law. Our guests will not provide any individualized legal advice. If you have a personal situation and need legal advice, contact us for your free legal consultation with a Montlick attorney.

Topics Discussed on the Podcast

Read the Episode Transcript

00:04	ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Wish you had a lawyer in the family? Now you do. Here’s your host, Veronica Waters. VERONICA: Oh, yay. Oh, yay. Lawyers in the House with Montlick is now in session and presiding over the fine proceedings today, your host, the Honorable Veronica Waters, here with two fabulous Montlick Injury Attorneys talking about something that a lot of us probably think we already know a little bit about.
00:38	VERONICA: Philadelphia. A Civil Action. The Verdict. Erin Brockovich. Law and Order. Matlock. Perry Mason. The Lincoln Lawyer. Legally Blonde. Boston Legal. Suits. A Few Good Men. My Cousin Vinny.
00:58	VERONICA: If any of those is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the phrase going to court or going to trial, this episode is for you, my friends, because today we are peeling back the layers and peeking behind the curtain of what it’s really like to go to trial on a personal injury case. And to do that, we’ve got a pair of very seasoned litigators right here in the house.
01:27	VERONICA: So, without further ado, let us introduce you to them. The first one is Cate Powell, who has been with Montlick now for several months after graduating with her JD from Georgia State University in 2015. Before that, she got a master’s from Georgia Tech, and with honors, I might add. Am I right or am I right? CATE: Thank you so much. VERONICA: So, Cate, you’ve been an attorney since 2015. CATE: Yes.
01:57	VERONICA: What’s it like? How’s it feel? Let me just say, not to steal your thunder, but you shared with me that you knew in your very first year that you were doing the right thing. CATE: Yes, I did. So, I have been helping clients, and I have been litigating cases since I got out of law school and working for my dad and his firm. And that was an amazing experience. And I had known the attorneys at Montlick and knew that this was such an amazing firm and wanted to go to a bigger firm. So, I got in, and I’m so excited to be with Montlick.
02:27	VERONICA: So, they kind of lured you away a little bit? Okay. Now, you’ve mentioned that you’ve worked with your dad for a long time? So, he’s taught you a lot, I’m sure. CATE: Yes. He is an amazing person, Doug Powell, an amazing attorney. And two of the most important things he’s taught me are: number one, relationship building is the most important thing in law and in career and in life. So, he has built relationships over 30 years with attorneys around Atlanta, the Montlick attorneys, defense attorneys, adjusters, judges even.
03:01	CATE: So, he just has a really good reputation, and I was able to kind of ride on that reputation and make one of my own, as well. And his priority beyond that is his relationship with his clients and how long that lasts and how much we go through together with our clients. And then the second thing he taught me was work-life balance. So, he is truly a Renaissance man. He went to cooking school, got his cooking degree trained as a Sommelier. He’s a photographer.
03:30	CATE: So, he taught me that I can also have work life balance. And I will give a shout out here to all the working moms out there because I have three young children and I’m making it work. Also loving my career as an attorney. VERONICA: I love knowing so much about you. And a little-known fact: Cate has a lot of extra layers to her, too, because she also is out there in the community helping new moms get into the life of being a new mom and handle all of the challenges. And that’s become sort of a go-to community here in Atlanta.
04:01	VERONICA: Maybe you can follow her on Twitter or IG and she can tell you more about that. First, though, we’re going to get to know our second new Montlick injury attorney in the House. I say new because… I really don’t mean… not new to the firm, Patrick, but new to Lawyers in the House. His name is Patrick Matarrese and Pat has been a lawyer since 1991. This guy has more than three decades of experience and he started with Montlick in 1997.
04:31	PATRICK: That’s correct. And I had about six years’ worth of litigation experience with another firm before I joined Montlick and Associates. And it was an amazing transition just to be in a position to help people to the extent that I could with my particular background. I don’t have the same background as Cate. I was one of 15 grandchildren that was the first to graduate from college. VERONICA: Wow.
04:59	PATRICK: And from there kind of made my mark in the world. And so, it’s a little bit of a different background. I like to think I bring a lot of world experience to the table, and I’ve also sat on the other side of the table at one point in time, so I’m able to identify with our clients to the extent of what they anticipate they want from their lawyers. VERONICA: Let’s dig into that a little bit because I know, Patrick, that you are known as this champion for the underdog.
05:31	PATRICK: Yeah, I like to phrase it that I grew up five-foot-six and a six-foot world, and so I’ve always been a champion at the underdog, starting with myself first. So, I’ve always had that sense to want to help and help those who are most in need. When I went to law school, I went with the idea that I was going to go into constitutional law.
05:53	PATRICK: I can say my first-year torts professor who had graduated, I believe, from Cornell University- he’s the one that had the biggest influence on me as to how I could fit my personality with my law degree in terms of how to help people. So, I just gravitated naturally based on my personal experience as well as my desire to help people.
06:18	PATRICK: The thing about law is that there’s no high school course to teach somebody who’s been traumatized or the victim of somebody else’s wrongdoing. There’s no college course to teach somebody what to do under those circumstances. So as lawyers, and especially with Montlick & Associates, we take all of that into account whenever anybody picks up the phone and calls us. And it’s helped me be able to communicate my expertise, my practical experience, and the legal expertise that our clients need. VERONICA: All in one package, on the job experience.
06:54	VERONICA: You can’t learn it in high school. Annd I said it once, I’ll say it again. Everything I’ve learned about Patrick and Cate is that they are really seasoned trial lawyers. And so, this is the perfect show to have them share their expertise. So, Pat and Cate, thank you so much for being in the house with us today. CATE: Thank you. PATRICK: Thank you. Happy to be here. VERONICA: Let’s talk going to trial. Some of those movies and the TV shows that I mentioned really don’t necessarily deal with civil cases, which is what we’re talking about, a personal injury case.
07:27	VERONICA: It’s not a criminal case. Like somebody gets arrested for something, even though sometimes a personal injury case can have an intersection with a criminal act, but not always. But The Verdict was a medical malpractice case in that movie. And I’m sure that this is kind of something like what you all talk about. So, let’s just start maybe from the beginning. And how do we even… How does the case even end up going toward litigation to begin with? PATRICK: Well, I guess I’ll start with that.
07:57	PATRICK: Okay. With each case that we take in our initial approach in terms of deciphering the facts and determining what’s going on, is with the idea that the case is going to be tried to a jury. So, in terms of the information we’re obtaining, our initial investigations, and all of the work that goes into the case, it’s with the idea that the case is going to be tried to a jury. VERONICA: Why is that? Because it just makes the prep more thorough or something?
08:26	PATRICK: It makes the prep thorough, and it gives us the ability to settle that case a lot easier than if we were not to think that that case is going to a jury trial. And the prep that goes into that, by the time you’re finished, if you’ve done all of your work, 90% or better of our cases are going to settle without the need of having to file a lawsuit. When we get to a point where we recommend to our clients that a lawsuit needs to be filed, there’s something within that case that either we missed, or the other side missed.
08:59	PATRICK: So, at that point, we make the recommendation to give us permission to file suit on their behalf. VERONICA: Okay, so what are some of the things that lead you into that? CATE: Well, and I would also say that was such a good point that Pat made about so many of these cases do settle before going to court, before the lawsuit is filed. VERONICA: Really small percentage that actually makes it to the courtroom? CATE: It’s a small percentage that makes it into lawsuit and then an even smaller percentage that goes to trial. VERONICA: Okay.
09:27	CATE: And so, I would say some of the biggest reasons why we would file the lawsuit would be the statute of limitations, which I will say is different in every state. And I will say that there are even exceptions within Georgia. So, I won’t even say the time limit here because I don’t want to get anyone off. But there is a statute of limitations that you have to file the lawsuit. Otherwise your claims are totally dropped, and you don’t have a right to make a claim. You don’t have a right to file the lawsuit after that statute.
09:56	CATE: And then another reason why we file suit is if the insurance company, we feel, is not giving a fair offer for compensation on the case. And again, as Patrick said, that could be a lot because they want to gather more information from the insurance company side. So, they want to go through litigation, have depositions, gather evidence before they will give a higher offer to settle the case.
10:22	VERONICA: I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt you, but it’s my understanding, just from stuff I’ve learned on the show before, is that the insurance company is not necessarily going to be forthcoming about offering the biggest dollar amount at the start anyway. Why does that make a difference here? CATE: That’s right. And I tell a lot of my clients that the first offer you receive- do not take it personally because usually it’s a very low offer. So, the insurance companies, they’re big companies.
10:52	CATE: They’re dealing with numbers, crunching numbers every day. They’re dealing with spreadsheets and analyzing cases. They are not the person that was injured. They don’t know in detail and in a personal way how this incident impacted that individual. So, they’ll do a very low offer, usually at the outset. And then as we gather evidence, as the case goes on, that offer gets bigger and bigger in settlement negotiations. VERONICA: I see. How long does all this take? On Law and Order…
11:23	VERONICA: It’s like a week to get the bad guys in the court, and it’s a criminal. And then the trial is over in like 30 minutes. How long does it take? PATRICK: Typically, the way that I explain it is that the time that it’s going to take to settle a case, if it’s going to settle, is going to run parallel with our client’s treatment. Before we want to put a case for an insurance company, we want to know first what the full extent of the injury is. Then we want to know what the full extent of the recovery is.
11:52	PATRICK: Then we’re in a position to take all of the other work that we’ve done ahead of time in anticipation of bringing that case to trial along with the full extent of injury and recovery so we can present a package to the insurance company package. VERONICA: Okay. So, it’s like… and you can sort of extrapolate and calculate what expenses will be like from what’s already been incurred. Right. Okay. Now, let’s say that we’re at an impasse. There’s one more step that is available before you take it to court and start duking it out.
12:22	VERONICA: We’re going to get into that next on Lawyers in the House. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 08:00 a.m. Every Sunday if you want to listen live on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: We are back on Lawyers in the House with Montlick.
12:47	VERONICA: I’m your host, Veronica Waters, here with Patrick Matarrese and Cate Powell, two attorneys from Montlick who are seasoned trial attorneys used to getting in there and duking it out with the other side for their clients. Now, we have already learned here that most cases don’t go to trial. Most cases don’t get a lawsuit, quote, unquote, filed. And then of those, a very small fraction actually go to trial. But if you filed a suit and you’ve gotten this discovery process underway where each side discovers the other’s evidence, then what happens if it’s not going to trial?
13:21	VERONICA: What’s that all about? CATE: Right. So I would say and that is a common misconception that I think we can talk about just for a second, which is that a lot of my clients think, okay, well, if the lawsuit is filed, I’m going to be standing in front of a judge in the next couple of days because they’ve watched the shows. And I always say to them, no, this is a longer process, and we will likely settle the case before trial. If we need to go to trial, we are prepared for that.
13:48	CATE: But as you were saying, the lawsuit is filed, the defendant answers, and then there’s a six-month period called discovery where evidence is gathered, depositions are done. And most judges across the state of Georgia actually require mediation to happen before trial to try to see if the case can get settled. VERONICA: So, settlement is still just both sides agree on an amount and call it done? Yes. Okay.
14:15	CATE: And then mediation is going to a mediator’s office and having an independent person- a mediator, not a judge- help facilitate the settlement negotiations while the defense attorney, the adjuster, our client… We are there, everyone’s there, and everyone’s focused on trying to get the case resolved that day. VERONICA: Are you guys sitting across from each other, like, staring in each other’s eyes across the table, like, whispering like that?
14:43	CATE: We do have an opening session where I will give an opening statement as though it’s an opening statement in trial. And then the defense attorney will usually say something, and they’ll usually say, I’m sorry this happened. The actual at-fault driver or the at-fault party is not at the mediation. And then we separate into different rooms. VERONICA: Okay, so the mediator is going back and forth between two different rooms? CATE: Yes. VERONICA: All right. So, you’re a mediator, right. Yourself? CATE: Yes. VERONICA: Okay, so what are you doing? Tell me in just a few seconds.
15:12	VERONICA: What are you doing when you’re going back and forth? What’s the goal here? CATE: You are trying to get both sides on the same page. And mediation is all about compromise. So, we have to remind our clients (and the mediator reminds the insurance company), you’re going to walk away not feeling like you won because you had to give something up, but that you settled the case and that we can close out the case and everybody can move on with their lives. VERONICA: Who chooses the mediator? CATE: It depends. But I usually like to choose a mediator myself.
15:43	VERONICA: Okay. I want to know, like, some list or do we draw names from a hat? Anyway, okay, so maybe mediation didn’t work. That means it’s time to seat the jury. What a real personal injury trial looks like. Straight ahead on Lawyers in the House. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Join us 08:00 a.m every Sunday on 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: We are back with Lawyers in the House with Montlick.
16:13	VERONICA: I am Veronica Waters, hosting two amazing attorneys, Cate Powell and Patrick Matarrese here from Montlick. And we’re talking about taking a case to trial. What happens when you’ve been hurt? You’ve got a personal injury case, and something seems like it’s never going to settle. You need a lawyer on your side, right? These guys are going to tell us exactly what happens when you get there. So, what does a personal injury trial look like? You know what?
16:39	VERONICA: Before we get into that, don’t let me go another second without reminding you to check us out on social. We’re @MontlickLaw on every platform, and you can catch every single episode. Current, former, previous, future, whatever at lawyersinthehouse.com. And remember that you can always send us a question, 24/7. The address: [email protected]. So, hit us up and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform.
17:10	VERONICA: Now back to it. Patrick. Cate, what does a trial actually look like? Is it like what I’m looking at on TV? PATRICK: For the most part, no. VERONICA: Dream devastated. PATRICK: The trial process itself, generally speaking, and it depends on the complexity of the case… but the average case, if it’s just an injury case where there’s not a lot of liability issues, there’s not a lot of witnesses to bring in… generally, you’ll take anywhere from two and a half to three days to try.
17:46	VERONICA: They’re very short. PATRICK: Generally. The more catastrophic the case, the more involved liability issues are in play, the longer it goes. There are cases that take three weeks in a personal injury setting, and it depends on the extent of the injury, the complexity of the variables that come into play. Your medical malpractice, your products liability cases, your catastrophic injury cases are typically going to take a lot longer than two or three days.
18:17	PATRICK: But for the average auto wreck, if there is such a thing, where you have soft tissue injuries, a sprained neck, a sprained back, that type of thing. If you can’t get that case resolved and it does go to trial, then you’re looking at a two- to three-day trial. And that’s enough time to put your client on the witness stand, put the at-fault party on the witness stand, bring in your witnesses, and bring in a medical specialist to testify and corroborate the extent of the injury. VERONICA: Are we just throwing my medical records up there for the jury to see?
18:47	PATRICK: Well, that’s interesting, because Georgia has changed a little bit. We’re now allowed to do that. VERONICA: You are, in Georgia? PATRICK: Yes. VERONICA: But we didn’t used to be? PATRICK: No. VERONICA: Oh. Okay. PATRICK: In Georgia, now you can present certified copies of the medical records and introduce them. And that’s for cases where the actual value of the case is not going to support the cost to bring a doctor in and depose him and pay him. Typically, you’re looking at spending $3,000 or $4,000 to take a doctor away from his practice, sit down and do a videotape deposition.
19:18	VERONICA: And the deposition is when both sides get to ask this doctor -whoever the expert is- questions. But you have to pay them for their time, because that means if they’re in the room with you, then they’re not in the OR, basically? PATRICK: Correct. VERONICA: All right, I’m sorry. Were you going to say something? PATRICK: I was just going to say some cases won’t support that cost. So, then you bring in the certified copies of the records as an alternative. VERONICA: Got it. See, this is why we need an expert to make the call.
19:49	VERONICA: Can we open up the floor and just get you to talk about some of the cases that stuck with you? PATRICK: One case that I brought to trial was basically because the insurance company and I did not ever see eye to eye as to what the value of the case was. We made a policy limits demand for their policy limits.
20:16	PATRICK: The most they would ever offer is a few thousand dollars over the value of the case. And this involved a ten-year-old child who was a front seat passenger in a near head on collision. When the airbag exploded, it caused abrasion and burn wounds to her face. It covered almost half of her face. As a parent having two children, I could empathize with the parents as to what they were going through. And on this particular day, she and her twin sister were supposed to be celebrating their birthday.
20:46	PATRICK: So, timing was really bad. For a ten-year-old child to suffer that kind of trauma, wake up the next morning, look in the mirror, and see somebody that she didn’t recognize, it was a horrible event. It turns out she recovered really, really well. When we did try the case, she was 14 years old. VERONICA: Wow. Four years. PATRICK: And you couldn’t tell that her face was ever burned, or she had suffered any injury. And the insurance company thought that would work for them.
21:12	PATRICK: And it was a case that I remember succinctly, because the Friday before the case was tried, that following Monday, the attorney called me up. He said, Patrick, do you have any offer whatsoever below the policy limits? And I’m going, are you kidding me? We’re here for two years battling this out, and that’s the question you have for me? I wanted to hang up on them, but I didn’t. I said no. Then I hung up on them. VERONICA: I love that. And I think it’s a great question, because I would wonder too… because as you said, these things can take a long time before they ever get to trial.
21:44	VERONICA: If I’m not still limping or hurting or physically marred on my face, is the jury going to hold that against me somehow or think I’m malingering, making it all up or whatever? But it’s good to know that that doesn’t… and you had a good resolution, and that… What’d the jury come back with? PATRICK: We did. The insurance company ended up paying two times the amount of their policy limits on that case. VERONICA: Kudos. Kudos. Patrick, fighting for the underdog. Cate, what about you? Tell me one that you… CATE: And I will say… I had my mediation stories, but I’m bringing to mind one really big trial.
22:16	CATE: And I wanted to talk about it too, because it took six years. So, it was a wrongful death. And you were asking about… sometimes it is the more catastrophic the situation then it does call for having to gather more evidence and move it towards trial. So, it was a case against Motel Six. And it was a premises liability case, which was against the company and was for keeping unsafe… their hotel.
22:45	CATE: Negligent security was what it was all about. And this young man was shot at the Motel Six. And so, it took years to get witnesses, get depositions, build the case, get doctor depositions. And then the trial took more like closer to a week.
23:10	CATE: And again, a lot of the trial stories are similar, where the defense attorney, a couple of days before trial, threw out a number. And for all of us, it was multiple firms working on it. We had put so much work into it. It was like that’s almost like, hurtful that we’ve put so much into this. We’re going to trial. The family is going to be at the trial, going to be testifying.
23:39	CATE: And so, the case ended up winning the trial. So, it was a good result, but it was a long, hard process. VERONICA: It’s amazing too, that it would come to that. And it makes me wonder is like, is this a game of chicken that they’re playing? PATRICK: I look at it this way. The insurance companies have an obligation to their insurance. So do we as attorneys, when representing cases, we need to be fair to our clients.
24:10	PATRICK: We also need to be fair to the at-fault party. Most defendants are not doing this intentionally. There are plenty of them out there who do. And we have punitive damages for those cases. But in most instances, we want to present the case where the jury has this feeling that we’re being both fair to our client as well as fair to the other side. So, there are insurance companies in cases where, yes, they can wear the head of the Darth Vader, but for the most part, they’re just trying to meet their fiduciary duties to their insurance.
24:42	VERONICA: Luke, I am your insurance carrier. I don’t know. CATE: A lot of the litigation process, the pretrial process, is the attorneys assessing how is a jury going to view this case? VERONICA: How will a jury see it? CATE: How will a jury see it? And the tough thing is you never know what a jury is going to do until the verdict comes back. VERONICA: Does it have to be unanimous? Like, I cover a lot of criminal cases. It has to be twelve-nothing. CATE: Yes. So, you’ll have people that don’t agree.
25:11	CATE: You’ll have some people on the jury that think this person should be awarded four times the medical bills, and other people that think, no, we’ll just give them the amount of the medical bills so then they have to work that out. And then it’s a big compromise among the jurors. So, we’re constantly assessing risks on our side for our case and telling our client, okay, here’s the risk. We’re in this county in Georgia, and we’ve seen jury verdicts that aren’t very high in this county. Do we want to take this case to trial?
25:42	CATE: And the insurance companies and adjusters are assessing those same risks. So that’s why you said it’s kind of like a game of chicken. That’s the thing about trial, and that’s why it’s so big and stressful and nerve racking, is that you don’t know what’s going to happen until the end. VERONICA: Is it like that in every state you mentioned? Like working, doing cases in other states? Does it always have to be a unanimous verdict? PATRICK: I’m not prepared to answer that question because that’s a great question.
26:13	VERONICA: Correct me if I’m wrong, because like I said, I’m always doing criminal cases, but I thought that there were some instances somewhere where it was just like a preponderance of the evidence, and you get a majority of the jurors or something like that. You know what? Maybe that’s too inside baseball or whatever, but… CATE: Preponderance of the evidence is what the jurors will base their decision on. VERONICA: Okay. CATE: And there’s different equations for that. So, I also don’t want to make a blanket statement to say that in every case, it’s preponderance of the evidence…
26:42	VERONICA: Basically, that means… CATE: …but the judge will give a jury charge. VERONICA: …we’re leaning more this way than the other. That’s what that means, basically, right? Is that an easy way…? PATRICK: I describe it like, if you had the scales of justice out, if you place a feather on one side, that’s the preponderance. VERONICA: Got it. Okay. Just a little bit of tip. You talked about the jury, though, getting these cases. Is it like they’re less likely to maybe find for me because of something that happened in their own life or something?
27:10	PATRICK: I’ll let you start. CATE: When you start, you’re able to interview the jurors and you’re able to strike some jurors, and the other side is able to strike, which means that you excuse some jurors. You ask them a list of questions. So, it’s like, has a traumatic car accident, for example, happened to you? So, you’re wanting to get a sense of your kind of juror profile, but you still don’t have complete control.
27:38	CATE: Again, I always tell my clients, too, it’s a lot like you’re taking a risk and kind of like gambling. You’re like, I’m going to work my hardest, and I have had a high success rate. But you never know what the jury is going to do until they come back with the verdict. VERONICA: And to your point earlier, sometimes it doesn’t even get there. Even though Patrick made a point, you’re prepping for that point, but you can also have a nice settlement right before trial in mediation. PATRICK: Absolutely.
28:07	VERONICA: Okay. All right. So, the favorite part of any trial for Patrick Matarrese is the closing argument. So that means he’s going to be first up just around the block when we come to the Montlick closing argument. I’m Veronica Waters with Pat Matarrese and Cate Powell. Stay with us. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. If you want to listen to our radio show live, you can hear it every Sunday, 08:00 A.m.
28:38	On 95.5 WSB. VERONICA: All right, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have arrived at the Montlick closing argument here on Lawyers in the House. I’m Veronica Waters here with attorneys Patrick Matarrese and Cate Powell. For the Montlick closing argument, the floor is yours. CATE: So, I would say if you’re out there and you need an attorney and you choose an attorney at Montlick, we are prepared to take the case for you from start to finish.
29:11	CATE: We know every single thing to do with whatever comes up. We can handle it. And I would compare it to taking a car on a journey. So, let us take the wheel and let us drive it for you so you can sit back and live your life, and we will take care of everything and give you updates and let you make the decisions. But we are in the background doing everything you need to do. So, it’s not about you having to stand up in court. It’s about you having a lawyer on your side that’s doing all of that for you to lead, to guide, and to get the best results for you no matter what the circumstances.
29:45	PATRICK: My closing argument, I’m going to refer back to a statement I made earlier. That what you do under these circumstances when you’re confronted with an accident or what have you, and you’re injured, and you don’t know what to do. They don’t teach courses in high school. They don’t teach courses in college. If you call Montlick and Associates, two things are going to occur. One, you’re going to speak with an attorney.
30:11	PATRICK: You’re going to speak with an attorney that has the knowledge, practical experience and legal experience to answer whatever questions you have. With regard to that process, it’s free. When you call Montlick and Associates, it’s free. You’re going to get a free consultation. And for that free consultation, you’re going to get our wealth of practical experience, legal advice, and knowledge. And to me, that’s the biggest no brainer in the world. VERONICA: Patrick, you shared with me that you like to have sort of a 6th sense when it comes to these trials.
30:45	VERONICA: It’s got to help you out somehow when it comes to those final moments in there. PATRICK: Yeah. The reason I like closing arguments the most is that during the trial, I look at it as I have a canvas and I use the facts as my paint colors and what I see. My goal is to paint the best picture that I possibly can for the jury. Closing argument, I get to transform what I’ve shown the jury in terms of the human suffering into a basis for the jury to make the decision to provide the social justice to my clients.
31:18	PATRICK: To me, that’s the most rewarding part of the trial. VERONICA: Two Picassos of the legal field right here, Patrick Matarrese and Cate Powell. Thank you so much for being with us in the house on Lawyers in the House. Montlick, take the wheel. You’ve got the resources, you’ve got the expertise, you’ve got Montlick on your side. Thanks so much for being here with us on Lawyers in the House. I’m Veronica Waters. See you next time. You’re listening to our podcast, Lawyers in the House with Montlick. Catch us live every Sunday.
31:46	08:00 A.m on 95.5 WSB.

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