From Insurance Lawyer to Attorney Fighting for the Injured

Twenty-five years ago our law firm’s founder, Shane Reed, was working as an insurance lawyer at a large insurance defense law firm, and he was hating it. He saw the many abuses committed by insurance companies. They used every legal snare and to crush otherwise valid injury claims. Injury victims were outgunned. Claims adjusters lulled them into a sense of trust then schemed against them the minute they hung up the phone. Shane learned many of these same insurance lawyer “skills.” But he loathed being a pawn for Big-Insurance against victims who were already hurting and vulnerable.

The day arrived that would be his tipping point. During a morning deposition Shane drove an elderly injury victim to tears while he destroyed the man’s injury claim. He overwhelmed the man’s attorney and gutted his case. His firm would say Shane did a “great job.”

But as he was driving back to the office, he couldn’t shake the memory of the man’s face. So he switched lanes and took the exit to go home instead. His wife and kids were surprised to see him so early.

He broke the news to his family that he wanted to quit his job. He told them, “I didn’t spend seven years in college and get us into thousands of dollars of debt to do terrible things like this to decent people.” His wife wasn’t surprised; she’d seen it coming for months.

Shane realized he was on the wrong side of justice. He needed to give his notice, which he did the next day.

Two weeks later he was cleaning out the desk in his corner office. He was leaving behind the guaranteed income, the firm’s box seats at baseball stadiums, and the prospect of a rich partnership.

Shane chose to switch over from insurance companies to helping only injury victims and their families.

But he took with him the ability to work against the insurance companies. He could use his knowledge of their inner-workings to arm his clients to go on the offense. In addition to seeing insurance abuses, he’d also seen their many weak points. When he opened up his own firm, he began using those weaknesses against the insurance companies, leveling the playing field, and helping accident victims fight back and win.