Dan Miner (00:06):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Leverage Report. I’m Dan Miner. Joined today by John Gomez of Gomez Trial Attorneys, who is here to discuss the Shades of Mass legal conference coming up September 19th through 21st. Thanks for being here today, John. Yeah,
John Gomez (00:21):
Thank you for having me.
Dan Miner (00:22):
Well, thank you. I would love to start with just an overview of your firm. Could you maybe talk a little bit about the law firm, some of the things you specialize in and what you do?
John Gomez (00:31):
Yeah, sure. Thank you for that. So we’re primarily located in San Diego, California. We do cases really all over the country, but certainly all over California with I would say an emphasis on personal injury cases. We also do employment cases. We do mass tort cases, some civil rights stuff, and some class actions. And I think one thing that makes us a little different is for Latino-led, Latino founded try to provide very high level of legal services in native language and native culture to Latino clients.
Dan Miner (01:05):
Just dive into one other section with you, John, which is some of the service lines that you support. Now, I was looking at your website, it looks like your brand imagery, traditional personal injury. You’ve done some criminal work, but could you just talk a little bit about that breadth because you have great roster of attorneys and think it’s pretty impressive what you’ve been able to build.
John Gomez (01:25):
Yeah, thanks for saying that. And so I think really the commonality, the way we built it is as trial lawyers and so I’ve personally probably tried 15 grand injury cases. My people here are set up to try cases. We have a full mock courtroom, we have all the resources, so whether it’s case like that, we’re getting very much more into employment law, sexual harassment, sexual assault, we’ll try those cases as well. I’ve tried two class action cases to mass toward bow weather cases. Very unusual to try cases, civil rights cases. So the breadth is really the derive from our ability to try cases and to have really high levels of litigation.
Dan Miner (02:08):
Very, very cool. What do you think are the biggest issues that your Latino clients face when they’re seeking counsel?
John Gomez (02:15):
I think hesitation and fear of the process and generalized, that’s not going to be for all of them, but for the more recent arrivals or perhaps clients that have crazy related issues, they’re going to be a little hesitant, a little anxious about being involved in the process. And then after that, I think it’s just communication. I think there’s a lot of lawyers out there. They’ll get one Spanish speaking paralegal that’s, we try to go beyond that.
Dan Miner (02:44):
Very cool. A lot going on in the industry. Your firm is trying to solve several of these challenges or issues. Maybe talk a little bit about some of the pain points that you see in today’s industry landscape.
John Gomez (02:54):
I think there’s obviously a number of them. Getting cases is always hard because there’s a bunch of competition and so how you best get cases I think is, I dunno if it’s a pain point, but it’s certainly something that’s very important, the influx of outside capital and especially other markets other than California present. I think in the future, some issues to deal with in an advantageous way or at least have that on your radar. Obviously the development of artificial intelligence and the best use of that, and then remote staffing, and so all that combines the ultimate pain point is trying to do good by your clients and try to make a living. And I guess the challenges just change over time
Dan Miner (03:40):
Makes a lot of sense. We hear the same pain points, it’s how do I introduce new technologies? How do I get more efficient? Many law firms will say that they’re case rich but cash poor, so they’re seeking solutions to work up their cases and then of course, constantly trying to find new cases, especially with capital that’s coming into the space. Want to shift gears just a little bit to the shades of Mass conference. Can you talk a little bit about that event, why it’s so important to you?
John Gomez (04:05):
Yeah, sure. So that’s coming up as I think we talked about next month in Houston this year. And really the intent of that group is to increase the presence of minority lawyers and leadership positions in coordinated proceedings, MDLs big cases. It’s important to me because there remains a tremendous underrepresentation both in the legal industry generally and certainly at the highest levels of these positions.
Dan Miner (04:34):
How have events like that helped change the way you think about your practice, how you network with other professionals in the space to ultimately evolve their own practices?
John Gomez (04:45):
I think it’s a different set of colleagues that share something perhaps from birth, but certainly over the course of a lifetime, like that world in particular, the mass court world has always been based on relationships, these little side meetings or these little coalitions. I think for a long time certain groups were excluded, maybe not intentionally, but just certainly by, we tend to hang out with people that are like us. This movement is intended to correct out, give us our own groups or colleagues or coalitions. I think the judiciary is very receptive to that. They’ve done a lot of things based on gender over the last few years. I think now they’re going to be doing more things based upon this meeting.
Dan Miner (05:31):
Great lineup of speakers at this event, what can attendees expect? Some great topics. Maybe talk a little bit about some of the topics and what attendees can expect from some of these speakers.
John Gomez (05:41):
Yeah, I think the conferences uniquely inspiring. There’s a lot of, I don’t know, keynote or larger presentations based upon social justice lawsuits and agendas and initiatives. And so last year in Miami, we were all really inspired by otherwise. I think the real value of the conferences, like I said, relationships and mentoring, and I think a lot of it is really intended to open the doors to these more complex litigations and say, look, you could do this. We can do this together. And so I would say for me, and I think probably for others, the most important thing is just building relationships and spending relationships.
Dan Miner (06:24):
If you were talking to a first time attendee, talking about building those relationships, what advice do you have for them for this conference? What are the things that they should be looking to do with this event?
John Gomez (06:34):
I would just encourage them to just walk up to their heroes, the people who just spoke, introduce themselves, try to make those relationships and then make sure they follow up after the conference with those people as well. It’s really primarily an opportunity to, like I said, make relationships or strengthen relationships. So girls, sit in your room, don’t get drunk and sleep in and not meet anybody. Get out there and hustle. Sure.
Dan Miner (07:02):
Looking ahead, what do you see as the long-term goals of Shades of Mass? How do you envision the event growing over time? I think this is year three if I’m not mistaken. How do you envision it
John Gomez (07:11):
Grown over time? Personally, I’d like to see a lot more West coast presence, like in California today, probably 65% of our kids in public school are Latinos and that kind of dynamic preponderance across the Southwest, and so I would like to see more of that presence at the conference, more West coast presence and then forming those alliances and being really powerful as
Dan Miner (07:36):
A whole crazy stat there that you just said 65% of the student population is Latino. That is a crazy,
John Gomez (07:43):
Yeah. Public schools
Dan Miner (07:47):
Just reinforces your theme, which is how do we connect with those who are the largest population in the public school world and unfortunately are likely the largest population to face injury or face a potential challenge down the road. Anything that you’d like to share on shades of mass on what’s coming the rest of the year? Final thoughts to leave with?
John Gomez (08:08):
Yeah, I will throw on a plug for my own podcast. It’s called Law-tino, and basically we discuss the intersection of law in the Latino community. I’m going to be doing some recording out on Shades of Mass because people like Crump, people like food, have done a tremendous job of melding race, culture, and law. I’m trying to be a small part of that movement here, and so check out the Latino. Otherwise, I think I’m going to try to, we did something here called Shades of Success earlier this year, kind of like a smaller, more local event, really intended to create those relationships here. I
Dan Miner (08:54):
Law-tino sounds fantastic, and I will encourage our listeners to listen to your podcast as well. Sounds like a great podcast. On the personal front, I do Spanish Friday in my house where we speak Spanish only. It’s something that a friend of mine encouraged and it embodies a lot of what you just said, which is bringing outside perspectives and sharing those outside perspectives, and so we’ve embraced that in my house. I think that’s what really resonates me with me with shade. The mass is you’re trying to bring groups together to showcase a different perspective, to connect with the population that you truly serving. Well, John, I appreciate you taking the time with me today. September 19th through 21st Shades of Mass in Houston, Texas. Check out John’s podcast Law-tino. I’m looking forward to checking out myself. Awesome. Yeah,
John Gomez (09:41):
I hope a whole bunch of lawyers listen to this and come join us in Houston, especially if you live in Texas. No excuse.
Dan Miner (09:50):
Agreed. Thanks so much, John.
John Gomez (09:51):
Thanks sir.
