Empathy and Expertise: Helping Clients Through Personal Injury Cases With Robert Ahearn
Robert Ahearn is the Owner and President of the Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn, P.C., operating in Massachusetts. With over 34 years under his belt, Robert specializes in personal injury law, tackling cases involving vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and consumer fraud. A man of compassion and intellect, Robert believes in helping people through challenging times, offering expertise honed by decades of navigating the litigious terrain against formidable insurance companies. 
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [1:13] The pivotal life moments that sparked Robert Ahearn’s decision to pursue law
- [5:46] Why Robert chose to specialize in personal injury
- [7:09] Robert’s motivation behind establishing his own firm
- [8:09] The power of experience in shaping client representation for personal injury cases
- [11:57] Why Robert diversified his legal practice to include collection services
- [16:22] Ways to keep current with developments in the legal industry
- [18:52] What role does technology play in the practice of law?
- [23:47] Robert’s advice to newly minted lawyers starting their career in personal injury law
In this episode…
Imagine being thrust into a legal battle after an accident, unsure of your next steps and overwhelmed by the process. How do you navigate this unfamiliar terrain to ensure justice is served and your needs are met?
According to Robert Ahearn, a seasoned personal injury lawyer with over 34 years of experience, the first step is to consult an attorney immediately. He highlights the importance of understanding the insurance company’s strategies from the outset. Robert also points out that many people are unaware of crucial deadlines and requirements, which can severely impact their claims. By securing expert legal advice, clients can avoid common pitfalls that might otherwise jeopardize their claims.
In this episode of 15 Minutes, host Chad Franzen sits down with Robert Ahearn, Owner and President of the Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn, P.C., to discuss the intricacies of personal injury cases. They talk about Robert’s unique journey into law, his advice for those considering filing a personal injury claim, and the role of technology in modern legal practices.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Chad Franzen on LinkedIn
- Gladiator Law Marketing
- Robert Ahearn on LinkedIn
- Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn, P.C.
- Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn, P.C. contact no.: 617-773-8890
Special Mentions:
Quotable Moments:
- “I don’t want to be poor for the rest of my life, so that’s basically why I did it.”
- “Being a lawyer is really about having good common sense and being able to analyze any situation.”
- “I didn’t go to law school to make the insurance company more money.”
- “It’s crazy not to call a lawyer.”
- “The buildings in Boston, tall buildings, aren’t named after the lawyers. They’re named after insurance companies for a reason.”
Action Steps:
- Seek legal advice immediately following an accident: An experienced attorney should guide you through the process so you don’t inadvertently affect your claim.
- Engage in active networking: Build relationships within and outside your profession to create referral sources.
- Stay informed on insurance industry changes: Keep up-to-date with legal updates that could affect the outcomes of personal injury claims.
- Embrace technology judiciously in your legal practice: While tech offers benefits, always consider the human cost, such as the dangers of texting while driving.
- Pursue diversification in your legal service offerings: Look for complementary niches within the practice, such as collections, which can expand your business reach.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Gladiator Law Marketing, where we deliver tailor-made services to help you accomplish your objectives and maximize your growth potential.
To have a successful marketing campaign and make sure you’re getting the best ROI, your firm needs to have a better website and better content. At Gladiator Law Marketing, we use artificial intelligence, machine learning, and decades of experience to outperform the competition.
To learn more, go to gladiatorlawmarketing.com or schedule a free marketing consultation. You can also send an email to ad**@gl*******************.com .
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:01
You’re listening to 15 Minutes where we feature community leaders sharing what the rest of us should know but likely don’t.
Chad Franzen 0:12
Hi. Chad Franzen, here one of the hosts of Share Your Voice, where we talk with top notch law firms and lawyers about what it takes to grow a successful law practice. This episode is brought to you by Gladiator Law Marketing, delivering tailor made services to help you accomplish your objectives and maximize your growth potential to have a successful marketing campaign and make sure you’re getting the best ROI your firm needs to have a better website and better content. Gladiator Law Marketing uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and decades of experience to outperform the competition to learn more, go to gladiatorlawmarketing.com, where you can schedule a free marketing consultation. Robert Ahearn is the owner and president of the Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn, P.C., a Massachusetts based personal injury family owned law firm. He has been practicing personal injury law for over 34 years and has handled cases involving motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death and consumer fraud. His daughter, Ashley Ahearn Glynn joined his practice in 2022 Hey, Bob, it’s great to have you today. How are you?
Robert Ahearn 1:13
Hey, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
Chad Franzen 1:18
Hey, when and how did you know you wanted to become an attorney?
Robert Ahearn 1:23
Good question. So the town I grew up in, in Milton, Massachusetts, was very affluent. My family wasn’t affluent. So I have friends who, you know, went on the family vacations and had, you know, nice clothes and did a lot of stuff, and we didn’t. So what does your dad do for a living? You know, I’d say six times out of 10 he’s a lawyer. Like, okay, well, I’m gonna be a lawyer because I don’t want to be poor the rest of my life. So that’s basically why I did it. Plus, secondly, you know, I do enjoy helping people a lot. And I knew I was pretty intelligent, you know. As you know, you get into school, and you get ranked, and you put into certain levels of school, and I was always in the top level, so I knew I was pretty smart. I should probably be able to handle it, you know. So it was probably way back when, when I was a kid.
Chad Franzen 2:16
How did you kind of get into the legal industry then?
Robert Ahearn 2:21
Well, I’d say one of the craziest stories you’re probably ever going to hear. So I, when I got to college, I just had fun. I didn’t really study, and so I I figured I better get my act together. It was too late my group, my GPA wasn’t very good when I graduated, but I took the LSAT and I got almost a perfect score. So I said, Okay, maybe I can get into law school now. So I applied at every single law school I could think of, probably about 15 to 18 law schools. Got rejected from every single one of them, and then I got a postcard of the mail out of the blue from a school out in California called California Western School of Law, and they the school is set up to take in people like me, who they think are pretty bright, should be able to handle the work. If they commit themselves, they take a chance on you. You know what I mean? Because they tell you, from day one, we’re going to flunk out a third of you. Everything’s bank based on a curve, all the grades. So it’s very, very competitive. It’s very, very scary when you’re out there, you know. But if you, you know, apply yourself and do your research and do your study, and you can, you can get by out there. So I did research on the school, Fully Accredited Law School, San Diego. I’d never been west of New York City, so I’m like, Okay, I’ll give it a Shug. I’ve never got any other options, basically. So went out to San Diego, and I think I came in fourth out of my class, had like 300 people, so I think it was in the right track at that point. Yeah, absolutely.
Chad Franzen 3:59
Wow. That’s amazing. What do you what do you attribute to your success on the LSAT?
Robert Ahearn 4:07
I’ve always been very, very good common sense wise. And I think a lot of the questions, and I told my daughter this the same thing, being a lawyer is really about having good common sense and being able to analyze any situation using your common sense and what you’ve learned in your training. So I think the LSAT is a lot of common sense questions. You know what? I mean? They don’t ask you, what are the elements of an assault battery on the LSAT? It’s all more or less common sense questions, can you put a and b equals c together and get the right answer? So I’ve always been pretty good at that.
Chad Franzen 4:51
What kind of attracted you, or how did you get into then, personal injury, personal injury law.
Robert Ahearn 4:59
So. So after my first year law school in California, I transferred to Suffolk University in Boston because I knew I wanted to I’m from here. I knew I wanted to practice here. So I got a clerkship at a insurance company defending personal injury claims. Pretty interesting job. They also took in some plaintiff stuff too. So we got to see both sides of how the system worked and how you can potentially make a lot of money in personal injury if you hustle and do a good job and you know. And on the flip side, I saw how they defended claims and made people look like victims who shouldn’t be made to feel that way. I didn’t like that at all. So that’s that’s kind of how I got into personal injury,
Chad Franzen 5:46
yeah, how did you so I think you have experience as a defense counsel for the insurance industry. How did that shape your approach to personal injury cases?
Robert Ahearn 5:54
So I didn’t like how they treated people. And you know, your job was to diminish the value of the claim. So you’d, back then you have the internet like now there’s a lawyer’s dream for the Internet defense lawyer’s dream. You can go and, you know, get a lot on a on a person online. But back then you had to use other different software and different things that were available. Look up their medical background. You know, see how many claims they’ve put in. You know, how they frequent flyer putting in claims? And, you know, are they suing disney world one day and, you know, American Airlines the next day and things like that. I just didn’t like how they treated people. You know, you take their deposition, you’re asking me about prior injuries and all, all with the goal to diminish the value of the claim. I didn’t like that. I didn’t go to law school to make the insurance company more money. I didn’t so I switched sides. I It’s like Robin Hood. I went to the good side. My job is to get the money, give it to the people that deserve it. I went plenty to the day I died.
Chad Franzen 6:56
Very nice, very nice. So you opened the Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn in 1999. What kind of motivated your transition for working for a law firm to opening up your own practice?
Robert Ahearn 7:09
Yeah, so I was a as a partner in a firm, and I brought in most of the business, or a lot of the business. I brought in all the personal injury business, and I wasn’t getting 100% of what I was bringing in. I mean, I made a decent salary, okay, it was a partner, but I just saw the potential of what I was bringing in to be much greater than what I was making. So I think I had, at the time, three children, which was kind of nuts, and I said, You know what, I’m going to try, I’m going to try, I’m going to give it a shot, go out on my own. So I just, I think I saw the light, how much you can potentially make if you hustle, if you do a good job, and if you get word the word out there, you can make it.
Chad Franzen 7:56
You have handled 1000s of personal injury cases. How has that experience shaped the way you represent clients now? Or have you just done it the same way all the time and it works?
Robert Ahearn 8:09
No, no. Every case is different. I mean, when someone gets in an accident, it’s an, I don’t know if you’ve ever been in an accident, I have, yeah, but not with an attorney, yeah, but most people have, and it’s a, you know, it’s a horrific experience. Your whole life is turned upside down, and you’re in pain sometimes, if you get hurt, so between work and your family and dealing with medical issues and bills, and then all of a sudden, all the forms and the telephone calls start coming from the insurance company. It’s just nuts when you’re in accident. So I really enjoy helping people through that whole process and but every case is different, because, you know, I’ve handled death cases and I’ve handled, you know, Whiplash cases. So there’s some cases with the person needs to get money as soon as possible, and as others that say, You know what, I’ll go all the way to Supreme Court. I don’t care. Just get me the most money you can. You know what I mean. So every case is different based on the situation, whether it’s their injuries or their social situation, but I treat every single one differently, and I think that’s been a successful formula for me.
Chad Franzen 9:17
Yeah, sure. Is there? You know, out of those 1000s, is there one that you look back on and think like, that was a particularly memorable case?
Robert Ahearn 9:27
Yeah, I’ve had a bunch. I mean, I tried a medical malpractice case for two weeks from a police officer who had a heart attack was in the hospital, and he got to the hospital, and as they’re transporting him in the elevator, they didn’t put a defibrillator on, and he died in the elevator. So that was a two week trial against two or three doctors, and we came close. The court officer said, you were this close, Bob, you know, but we got it to the jury. Did it by myself, and I’d say the number of lawyers who actually tried a medical malpractice case is probably one to 2% they fight them tooth and nail, and you gotta know what you’re doing. You gotta have good experts. And they’re tough cases. I’ll refer those cases out now that I’m on my own, because they’re very expensive to pursue so and I’ve the other case, it really there’s still two more that kind of bothered me. I had a guy in a motorcycle accident years ago, PT deliver. Guy cut him off and crushed him into a fence, and I went to visit him in the hospital. He called me and, you know, signed him up, and then, like, three hours later, he called me back, and they had amputated his leg so and there was no insurance, really, and that kind of bothered me. The last one was, and this was when I was doing defense work. I helped defend a case of a truck driver who was driving down the street, and a girl was at a bus stop, and she looked right, saw the bus coming, and jumped out in front of a truck, and I killed but I had to defend the truck driver. It wasn’t his fault, but just the pictures and deal with the family. And that was just horrific. And that was one of the last cases I handled, as you know, on the defense side, I just couldn’t deal with that kind of stuff. It was, it was horrific, but it was the right it was the right approach, because the truck driver wasn’t at fault.
Chad Franzen 11:29
How did you kind of keep yourself from, you know, getting sucked into, maybe the emotions that might come with that?
Robert Ahearn 11:35
Yeah, that one was higher, because I think I had young kids the time too, so and the and that was, I’m gonna say it was 32 years ago, and I can still see the girls backpack.
Chad Franzen 11:49
Wow. So yeah, what prompted you to divert, diversify your practice into assisting businesses and individuals with collections needs?
Robert Ahearn 11:57
So that started out as I was trying to get a niche into chiropractors and physical therapists. So I said, they must have some collection issues. So instead of just calling them up and saying, Hey, my personal injury lawyer, if you know you have referrals, let me know any patients, I said, Do you have any collection needs? Oh, my god, yeah. We, you know, we wrote all, okay, I can help you with that. So I get to know the owners and the physical therapists, and you do a good job, and say, by the way, I do mostly personal injury. So that’s how I got into the collections. And then I swear to God, there’s a huge party. Except my name started getting passed around, and all of a sudden, I had dozens and dozens of businesses in the South Shore call me, you know, and I like to think I do a good job. I can be mean, Bob, or I can be nice, Bob. I asked my clients, you want you want to maintain a relationship with this person? Or do you want me to, you know, take the food out of their mouth and get you paid, which I can do with, you know, letters. I have different letters I can use, and different things. I’ve taken people’s cars while they’re at work. I’ve garnished bank accounts. And there’s all kinds of things you can do, but it depends how far they want to take it.
Chad Franzen 13:11
Speaking of kind of, kind of who you should be, how do you kind of balance representing clients, you know, getting developing kind of a personal relationship with them, while at the same time, you know, maintaining a high level of professionalism.
Robert Ahearn 13:26
Um, well, that I try to do the best job I can for everybody, because my business is word of mouth, and I’ve been on my own for since 1999 so what is that long time? 25 years? Yeah, yeah. So it’s all word of mouth. I don’t have, you know, I’m not like these huge firms and mass advertising, and you know who they are, on TV and billboards, everything else. It’s all word of mouth. And it’s like, you know, a movie, if you hear someone say a bad review about a movie, you probably won’t go to it. But so it’s like a lawyer too, you know, if you get a good reviews, you know, you’re going to get referrals. It’s all word of mouth. And I want to, I want to have a word of mouth referral, as opposed to, you know, someone who just calls up because they saw a billboard or something, you know. I mean, I want a qualified referral. So if someone is calling me, they’ve already been sold. This guy does a good job. Call him, you know, he’ll take care of you. So I try to be obviously professional about it. My the one thing I’ve always strived to do is give straightforward, frank advice. If I tell if your case is not good, I will tell you you don’t have a very good case, there’s different ways to resolve cases. So I’ll be professional and say, I think we should go to a jury. I think we should arbitrate this. We definitely should mediate this. Do you know what I mean? So, yeah, but every, like I said before, every case is different, so you have to be able to maintain your your wits about you, your professionalism. Would be able to give them good, good advice.
Chad Franzen 14:57
So speaking of, you know, giving kind of advice. What advice would you offer to someone who’s considering showing a claim for personal injury?
Robert Ahearn 15:07
I would say, after you’ve reported your claim, the first call you should make is to an attorney, a personal injury lawyer. You really should because, having been on both sides from day one, the insurance company has now started their investigation on you. Okay? And if you put something on social media that you shouldn’t, that you didn’t know, they were gonna look you know what I mean? Or there’s certain deadlines you didn’t know you should have filed this application or this affidavit on time, and they use it against you. So the best advice is call a lawyer right away. It’s like analogy I give is, if you had a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, would you just walk in with sports memorabilia and say, Hey, how much we give me for this? No, you do some research, and you probably have someone you know, give you an expert opinion. Well, go get an expert opinion. Talk to a lawyer. It’s free. We don’t charge you right from the beginning. We just take a contingent fee at the very end. So the whole time we represent you, you’re not paying us a penny. We’re not billing you by the hour. So it’s crazy not to call a lawyer. And as a matter of fact, the insurance companies will tell you, Oh, you don’t need a lawyer. We’ll take care of you. That should be the biggest red flag you’ve ever seen.
Chad Franzen 16:16
So you should never, you should never assume that, oh, well, I have insurance. I’m fine.
Robert Ahearn 16:22
You should, you know, look beyond that. Yeah, what’s the business of insurance? It’s not to pay all money. It’s to make money. Their job is to keep as much money in house as possible. People don’t realize that. And the buildings in Boston, tall buildings, aren’t named after the lawyers. They’re named after insurance companies for a reason. They have all the money.
Chad Franzen 16:44
How do you, how do you kind of stay current with developments over the years in, you know, personal, personal injury law and legal practice?
Robert Ahearn 16:52
Well, I mean, like Lawyers Weekly and just word of mouth, talking to the lawyers. And in my business, is only a certain number of things that can change. It’s mostly dealing with the insurance policy, like a case will come along and find a little niche in the policy that that they didn’t think about the standard the people who make the standard auto insurance policy. So all of a sudden, the next edition comes out, and they address that. So now they don’t cover that whatever, whatever it is. So we get bulletins all the time on stuff like that. So with regard to, you know, how much a case is worth, I can, I can do that by sleep at this point, but this case is all the time in noise, weekly, that kind of, you know, confirm what I believe anyway, but there’s not much to keep up with, except for the insurance issues that come up every once in a while.
Chad Franzen 17:50
What prompted your involvement with the Make a Wish Foundation and also the establishment of Memorial Fund?
Robert Ahearn 17:58
Yeah. So my brother passed away of lung cancer. He was 33 years old. Before he died, I asked him, you know, what do you want to do? Do you want me to set up a fun at Dana Farber or something like that? He goes, No, do some for kids. So we did the Make a Wish Foundation, and did a golf tournament every year. I think we did it for 11 years down at Pembroke Country Club, and we sold out every year. We had a waiting list every year. And I think we donated, I know it was north of $100,000 I think was about $118,000 we donated over the years. And it was just a lot of fun, lot of work. And I said, once we got to $100,000 I can’t do it so many much, it’s way too much work. You know, my family obviously was very helpful in getting involved with that, but it was just a lot of work putting that together every year.
Chad Franzen 18:52
What role do you believe technology plays in the practice of law, particularly in the field of personal injury? And does do changes in technology have any effect on you?
Robert Ahearn 19:03
Well, the biggest thing is, good and bad is texting, texting and driving. Texting is the number one stupidest thing anyone can do while they’re driving. I’ve had to sit I’ve actually been asked to speak to schools about this, but I’ve had to sit with parents whose child was killed, one was pregnant, and tell them, I can’t do anything because your child was texting and driving. Your child crossed the WR lines and hit that truck head on. And I’ve had to do it a few times, and it’s horrifying, but texting and driving is the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and they can disable these phones. I mean, yeah, it’s great for personal injury, but you know what? I’d rather not get cases that way. But you’ve, you’ve been driving down the street, and you see the people in front of you, but they veer off, and also they get back in their lane, or you might have even seen an accident, because. Someone who’s texting drive. It’s unbelievable how bad it is. I can’t tell you the epidemic of it. It’s it’s really, really bad. So that has been good and bad. I mean, I get cases out of it. I’m not going to complain. But, and I wrote a blog article one time, and it was, please text and drive. It’s good for business. Got a lot of attention. But the first line was, obviously, I’m kidding, please do not text and drive. It’s awful. So that was one part. Second part is, you can see behind me all these books. I don’t know, the last time one of these books, it’s all it’s all online, everything’s computerized. You know, I still have to, I still love going to the books and just a feeling flipping through pages. And I trust that still, I’m old school like that. I’d say the first 15 years of practicing law, I was in the law library a lot, a real lot. I didn’t have a computer. When I was in law school, I told, I tell my daughter that we had a type A business on rice paper with a typewriter, and then, you know, do the backspace and white out all that stuff was horrendous. Even the bar exam now is all electronic. You take it on a computer. We had to hand write out 10 essay questions. Your hand is like deformed after that. And we had to do the first save all multiple choice with the pencil and on the bubble, the number two pencil and everything else. Now it’s all online. Click, click, click.
Chad Franzen 21:26
Just a couple more questions for you. Is, is the is what attracted you to becoming an attorney still, what is most satisfying about it today, after, you know, 25 years in your own practice?
Robert Ahearn 21:39
Yeah. I mean, I’ve done okay. So, monetarily fine, financially fine, but I think what’s the best part of this job is when I get, like, a card or note or phone calls that, you know, thank you so much. You cannot believe how you’ve helped us. And you know, in every time I send a checkout, a settlement check to a client. We say, you know, thanks for retaining us. Please keep us in mind, our business is dependent on referrals. So, yeah, that’s a that’s That’s it.
Chad Franzen 22:14
I’m guessing getting a client more money from the heart than they would have gotten otherwise, from the Heartless insurance company is always satisfying as well.
Robert Ahearn 22:23
Yeah. I mean, I’ve had people come to me and they say they try to do it themselves, which is completely insane. Like I said, the Babe Ruth analogy is a good one for me. You would never do that so they don’t know how much your case is worth, because and you can’t go online and look it up how much my case is worth, if I have a whiplash injury with $4,000 medical bills and $3,000 in lost wages, then ChatGPT probably can’t even do that because there’s too many factors in it. Insurance companies think they have their formula, but I’ve dispelled that formula a million times, okay, because every case is different, so you have to have a lawyer walk you through the whole process. They know what case is worth. I know what your case is going to be worth at the end, and if they’re not in that ballpark, I will give you the right advice. That’s really the bottom line.
Chad Franzen 23:13
One more question for you, but first, tell me how people can find out more about the Law Offices of Robert D. Ahearn?
Robert Ahearn 23:20
Yeah. So we’ve got two offices, one in Quincy, Massachusetts, another one in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Main number is 617-773-8890, or you can check out. We have a great rep. Website has a lot of information if you’re in an accident. We have actually a brochure you can download what to do if you’ve been involved in a car accident, and that’s attorneyahearn.com so ahearn.com, so that’s where you’ll find me.
Chad Franzen 23:47
Okay, great. Hey, I know you’re you’ve hired your daughter in the last few years. What advice would you give, either either to her or to any attorney? Maybe just fresh out of law school, starting their career in personal injury law. They only that they wouldn’t have learned in law school, but they could just learn from somebody, from doing it for 25 years or more?
Robert Ahearn 24:09
I would say that she’s in a great spot. First of all, she’s under my wing, so she’s gonna learn a lot of things that you’d never be able to learn in school, but I’d say the biggest thing, and she’s starting to do it now, is network, get out there and network, join different networking groups. I started a networking group in Marshfield about 1214, years ago. Been great. We get 5050, people in their professions. I was in a BNI group. I don’t you’ve heard of BNI before, business, network International. I was in that group for 16 years, but get out and network. Join the bowling league, you know, volunteer for stuff, go to your chambers of commerce, get your your name out there, pass as many cards out there as you can, because word of there’s nothing like word of mouth referrals. There’s nothing better than that. Okay, very nice. And these days, I’ll tell you one more thing. These days, who does what I did? No one goes, no one graduates from law school and just puts up a shingle. It’s too hard. There’s too many lawyers. So you got to have your own niche. You got to have your own lane, and then you really got to work that lane by networking, getting out there, doing a good job, get repeat customers and but it takes a while. It’s hard to do so, but so she’s in a really good spot. I’m going to teach her everything I know.
Chad Franzen 25:28
Yeah, great. That’s awesome. Hey, thank you for all your time and all your thoughts, insights and advice and your stories. Really appreciate it.
Robert Ahearn 25:37
Yeah, my pleasure. Chad, appreciate it.
Chad Franzen 25:39
All right. Thank you, Bob. So long everybody.
Outro 25:43
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