Robert C. Slim | Dallas Accident & Injury Lawyer

• State Bar of Texas ()
  1994-Present

• Member Baylor Law Review, Baylor University School of Law, .
  1992-1994

I represented a woman who slipped and fell on a patch of ice in a parking lot as she arrived at her job. It was a very cold morning: about 27 degrees. The light was breaking, but the sun was not quite up yet. When she stepped out of her car, she slipped and violently fell onto the concrete parking lot. The presence of ice was very odd since there had been no snow or precipitation the night before. The accident caused a very serious injury and nerve damage to my client's left arm requiring surgery to repair.

She believed the ice formed from the sprinkler system drainage, but we had no physical evidence or witnesses that could say that the sprinklers had operated before the accident. The property owner and managers testified that the sprinkler system had been turned off three months before the incident and were not turned on again until another month after the fall. They even got the landscaper to back their story. Likewise, the defendants took the position that the ice must have come from some other unknown source for which they were not responsible.

In a last ditch effort to keep the case alive, I set up a video camera and waited until the sprinklers came on. It turns out that the drainage pattern of the sprinkler system matched the pattern of the ice patch in my client's pictures taken at the accident scene. I also called the city water department to investigate the water consumption for the property. I felt this was a hopeless effort since this was a very large business building that probably uses a very high volume of water all year round. However, when I spoke to the representative, she informed me that, on large commercial properties like this one, the water used for the sprinkler system runs off separate meters than the water used for personal consumption. Therefore, if the sprinklers were turned off, then there would be no readings on those meters for the months that they were supposedly turned off. When I got the meter records, however, I discovered that the meters for the sprinkler system did show readings for the months that they were supposedly off. Likewise, I now had solid evidence that directly contradicted the property owner/manager's assertion that the sprinklers were off. When we went to mediation, I presented this evidence along with the video, and ended up settling the case much to my client's surprise.

First and foremost: Personal attention. When someone decides to hire a lawyer, they are entering into a partnership which usually includes a matter of great importance. The client needs to know that their case will get specialized attention and not just be assigned a case number and put through a settlement mill. It always surprises me that people will put more time and effort into buying a pair of shoes than they will in hiring the right lawyer. They hire these lawyers who advertise on television thinking they must be good since they are on television. These lawyers are not on television because of the quality of their legal work. They are on television because they spend millions of dollars on advertising. They do this so that they can make money through the volume of cases they sign up. I am willing to bet that nearly all of clients who hire these television law firms never even talk to the lawyers in those commercials. Rather, they communicate with a case worker who is trained to give boiler-plate answers to client questions and then run the case through a structured claims system. And if the case doesn't settle, it will most likely be dropped.

My philosophy is simple: Take a small number of cases and keep an open line of communication with the client. The end results are far more satisfying for the client and equally rewarding for the attorney.

The most rewarding aspect of my job also happens to be the most stressful. It is my responsibility to do what the client cannot do for themselves. When someone is a victim of a wrongful death or serious personal injury, they now have to undertake one of the biggest fights of their lives at a time when they are at their weakest. It is truly a ""David & Goliath"" situation.

My job is to develop my client's case under heavy opposition. Win, lose or draw, I have to be able to look my client in the eye and tell them that I did absolutely everything I could and that no stone was left unturned. But in the end, it's my client's genuine gratitude that makes everything worth the effort. That is something you do not get when representing corporate clients.