Florence Murray

Sponsored by RebuttalPR

We would love to hear what initially inspired you to specialize in plaintiff’s law and how that motivation has evolved over the years.

I got started in this work because my Dad and several other members of my family are lawyers, who I now work with at our firm. We grew up with all these stories around the dinner table about my Dad’s clients and cases. Whenever we were at family gatherings, you couldn’t avoid these topics. That was really inspirational because it was clear they valued it so much.

At this point in my career, I am most passionate about helping brain injury survivors. That’s what I find a lot of challenge in and a lot of ability in, so I like to be able to really get deep into asking family members and survivors about symptoms and connecting the symptomatology to the initial insult. Being able to get them to the right providers to try and see if we can help get some recovery along the way is what I find that to be the most important part of the work that I do, even more so than getting the cases to trial or settling them. It’s the recovery, and I love working on that.

Have you always practiced law at your family’s firm?

I was a prosecutor first and then I worked for the state of Ohio for economic development while the Democrats were in office. Then when they changed the guard, I decided it was time to join up with the family.

It was tricky. I think at first I was very reluctant to join the family firm because the stress of working with family and being back up in our small town of Sandusky was all overwhelming to me. I had lived in big cities in Ohio and on the East Coast before that, so coming back here was a bit daunting.

That being said, there’s a lot to be said for how the firm sort of has these unwritten rules and how everybody gets along. One thing we have is healthy competition, but we also work together on cases. I have an MBA and my masters and education, so I helped reshape how our attorneys work together so that we’re really working together and rooting for each other as much as competing against each other.

That made it much nicer for me, because then I got to learn how everybody’s approaches were, what their styles were, what their preferences were, but also what worked for me and what didn’t work by working with different family members. I learned where I had symbiosis, and where I wasn’t going to work with them because we had too much that we butted heads on, or that we didn’t have enough in common. It was a really good process for sort of whittling down who I really partnered well with.

Additionally, that process helped me learn why people do things the way they do and what their preferences are so that I can understand different styles of case management. For example, somebody who churns through cases quickly in order to get their clients resources as quickly as possible. It’s a different way of doing your work, and I learned that some clients really wanted that. They wanted the quick money and to be done with it. Other clients, like the type of cases I take, needed a lot more time to work through what their injuries were and to figure out what was going to be most helpful to them. So that was very helpful working with family because they’re very honest, sometimes to a flaw, but also very helpful. They’re not competing on a pure partner level.

Can you share a case that had a significant impact on you professionally or personally, and what lessons you took away from that experience?

My very first trial I’d been intimidated by the other side, and so I hadn’t realized some of the tools that I could have and should have used. I learned from that experience that it’s not a helpful process to go through the self-critiquing of what you could have done or should have done. But it is helpful to be able to say, “Okay, next time, this is the way I’m going to take it.” Because in that case, I lost my first trial and I felt very badly for the client. But the client didn’t feel badly, because he had his day in court, which was what he really wanted. So, instead of internalizing my own feelings about the trial, I had to appreciate and look outward to see what my client felt about what happened.

The other case was one where we went to trial and at the very end of the trial, the judge issued a mistrial. Once that happens, it’s done. The jury’s dismissed, and you have to do it all over again. So, I finagled my way into how to get a different judge in order to not have that happen again. I really learned how to use the system to my advantage and for my client’s advantage so that they could get a fair day in court.

How do you approach building and maintaining trust with your clients, especially in emotionally charged cases?

I am a firm believer in going to where the clients are. So, sometimes that’s in a hospital, sometimes it’s a nursing home. I learned that when I was a teacher, it was very helpful to go into the home of the children to understand where they were coming from, and so that the parents became more of a partner to you. That carries over very nicely to law because if there’s a partnership that develops early on and you can see where they’re coming from, you have a whole different perspective on what their challenges are, what their burdens are, and what opportunities there are to develop in the case.

I only do brain injury cases and sometimes I walk into a client’s home and learn so many things about what they’re doing to accommodate their injuries and their disabilities. You can’t get those details from having a conversation with them because they’re so used to it that they don’t think of it. Being in their environment and being respectful of where they come from builds a kind of trust that you can’t earn otherwise. I listen to my clients, and I try to understand where they’re coming from before I even start on the process.

What are some of the most significant challenges you faced as a female attorney in this field, and what strategies have you employed to overcome them?

Male lawyers always jump to a nickname and call me “Flo.” In the beginning, I let it go because I didn’t know how to deal with it. Now, I just call it out right when it happens and say “My name’s Florence, that’s all I go by.” You wouldn’t call a stranger you just met by a nickname when you didn’t know them, so it’s all part of a mind game.

Another thing that I have run into is always trying to be nicer than the defense bar may be to us. And there are times for that, but there are many times where you have to sort of let that go, and as women, that’s harder. It’s harder not to always want to be sweet. And also not end up in the complete opposite where everybody wants to call you something negative. But there is ground for both at appropriate times, and learning when those are is the trickiest part I think of being a female in this profession.

Are there any mentors or role models who’ve been pivotal in your career, and how have they influenced your professional path?

I think my sister, Margaret, has been a great role model for me. She got into law straight out of college, whereas I went through a couple degrees to get here, so I had a few professions before I joined law. At first that was very tricky, because I felt like I was constantly being talked down to as a “baby” lawyer. But she has been through and done so much. She was the first female in our firm, and she paved the way for others. I’m sure you’ve heard this from other women, she’d show up at a deposition and be confused for the court reporter. She just wouldn’t run into other women who were on her side of the equation, or doing trials, or taking the depositions themselves. So, watching her go through all of that, and appreciating the path that she plowed to make it easier for women to be partners in the firm, I greatly appreciate.

Balancing work with personal life can be challenging in a demanding field like this. How do you manage that balance, and what advice would you give to others in your position?

You have to steal the time for yourself and not feel guilty about it. It is probably the hardest thing as working women, especially if you’re a mother. It’s one of those things that we’re taught to feel sort of guilty about. But you have to take it, and you have to figure out what you need so that you do that.

Do things like going for walks during the middle of the day or whatever it is you do for physical activity, and do it in the woods, where we know it rejuvenates and re-energizes the brain. Get the massage, take the long baths. Do the things that give you energy and bring you joy.

What advice would you give to women attorneys who are just starting out in this area of the law?

Be true to yourself. If something is uncomfortable, figure out why it’s not comfortable. Is it not comfortable because you don’t have experience? In which case, just reach out to other women for support, or suggestions, or ways to help you the first time you deal with something, or the first few times, or until you feel comfortable. But if it’s something where you feel like you’re truly uncomfortable because it’s not you, whether it’s being aggressive in a deposition and that goes so far against your nature that it makes your skin crawl, or whether it’s taking cases to trial, and you’d rather be second chair or be the brief writer, be honest and be true and find what brings you happiness in the work, because you’re doing it for the long haul.

Find the things that bring you joy, and for the things that you have to do that don’t, find somebody to partner with. For example, I don’t like to write. I make sure that I have good associate staff who do like to write. Because I’m not going to take on doing something that is so truly nail-pulling for me that I’m never going to find joy in it. There are ways to find the things that you love to do, and find people within your ranks, or bring people in who fill the gaps of the things that you dread doing, assign those things out. It’ll make your work so much more joyful.

Why are organizations like the Society of Women Trial Lawyers important to you, and how have they impacted your work?

Having women to support, to hear from, to support you, to get inspiration from, makes it all so much more fun. I was doing just trucking law for a while and the trucking groups are so male-driven. I decided I didn’t want to be swimming upstream. I appreciate the women who are still doing that and will be able to make a change in how that industry views female attorneys. That’s how I ended up doing brain injuries, because I could find support and do something where I was around more female attorneys.

At events like the Society’s, it’s not competitive and it’s so nice to be in a room full of women who are not trying to figure out how to get a case from you, or take a case away from you, or convince you why you should be doing something with them and not on your own. The Society of Women Trial Lawyers is very supportive. It’s hard to find that, and I so appreciate what I feel when I’m in the room.

On that same note, if you are asked ever to speak at events, or if you see there’s an opportunity for speakers, raise your hand. Because that’s how I get all my cases. They all come from people who’ve heard me speak or seen me share information on listservs. The power of our ability to educate others and to be willing to step in front of the room and be that voice is marketing in its freest form. It’s the most genuine form of marketing you can do, because if you’re getting it from other lawyers.

Looking back on your career, what accomplishments are you most proud of, and what future goals are you working towards?

I am now on the board for the Brain Injury Association of America, and I’ve finally realized the combination of everything that I’ve been doing to get to that point.

As for what I’m doing next, I am working right now on a brain injury board certification nationwide certification program with the National Board of Trial Advocates. I worked with BIAA to come up with education for it, so I’m taking all of my resources and all of my tools and I’m putting them together to come up with a program that will allow women and men to be board certified as brain injury lawyers.