When it comes to a law practice, the stereotypical vision that pops into most people's minds – often ushered in via movies and television shows – is that they are the very embodiment of soulless, ambulance-chasing corporate greed, but the reality is that many people enter the legal field not for their own benefit, but to actually help others.
One such organization is the family-run, Mineola-based law firm of Finz & Finz, PC, which is celebrating its 40th year of successfully working a myriad of personal injury cases for their many clients, forming legitimate, life-long bonds with them in the process.
Third-generation attorney at Finz & Finz, Brandon Finz, notes that the firm was founded in 1984 by his grandfather, Leonard L. Finz, and his father, Stuart L. Finz.
“My grandfather was a former New York State Supreme Court justice who left the bench to pursue private practice. After several years of high-takes trials at a prominent firm, he started up what is now known as Finz & Finz, along with my dad,” he said. “And since then, the firm has been solely focused on one thing, and that's helping people who have suffered an injury through little or no fault of their own, such as by a motor vehicle accident, medical malpractice, defective product, workplace injury, unsafe premises, fire accidents, and other similar situations.”
Finz & Finz also handles a lot of trucking and motorcycle accident litigation, Brandon said, focusing mainly on significant and catastrophic injury cases.
“Many families on Long Island have come to us over the years in their most desperate time of need… when they've lost a loved one in an accident or due to medical malpractice, and we try to help those families back on their feet by pursuing financial compensation on their behalf. This can help pay for funeral and medical expenses, the income lost as a result of their loved one’s passing, and other items,” he said. “But we take it a step further. This is a family firm, founded by my father and grandfather, and my mom and sister are accomplished attorneys here as well. So, as a family firm, we try to look at every client who comes in the door as part of our extended family, and we really try to bring them in and put ourselves in their shoes. In doing so, we’re often able to form close, everlasting bonds. And that's really been fundamental to a lot of our success because the bonds we develop with our clients shows up in the tenacity of our litigation strategy.”
Brandon said that he felt a calling to follow in the legal footsteps of his parents early on; every night at dinner, his mother and father would discuss the various cases they were handling throughout the day, and he soon found himself enthralled with the good work that they were doing.
“My parents were always very passionate about their work, and that kind of bled into my life growing up. Seeing my parents make differences in people's lives, I thought that was really meaningful,” he said. “When I graduated law school, I went to a big law firm in Manhattan and was representing private equity firms, hedge funds, and banks, and I didn't find that same kind of passion because I felt like I wasn’t making a real impact. And seeing my dad and my mom and my grandfather make a real difference, it was important to me to make that transition, so I joined the firm.”
“There are a lot of different kinds of lawyers out there, but very few are actually needed and relied upon as desperately as we are by our clients,” Brandon added. “It really is very fulfilling when we settle a case or obtain a jury verdict in a client's favor, and when we do that for our clients, we often maintain that relationship for the rest of our lives. To this day, we have former clients who send us text messages and emails and letters and cards every holiday, thanking us for what we've done for them.”
Over the years, Brandon said that he's dealt with many cases that have left a lasting impression upon him; one such case involved a young couple with a child on the way that was permanently scarred by tragedy when the husband – who was a deliveryman for a construction supply company – was killed while making a delivery to a construction site in Brooklyn. It turns out that the construction company he was delivering to had inadequate safety procedures when it came to accepting deliveries, and that – combined with a public street that was not as wide as it should have been – resulted in the expectant father's unnecessary death as he was fatally struck by a tractor trailer truck upon exiting his vehicle.
The family, torn asunder, turned to Finz & Finz for assistance, and after years of exhaustive litigation – all while battling against an inadequate and improper police investigation that initially pinned the fault of the accident upon their late client – the case was ultimately resolved in the family's favor for a very substantial dollar amount after the construction company, the trucking company, and the city were all found at fault. Thus, the family’s financial future was secured, giving them some final degree of closure.
“Nothing will ever bring back the loss of a husband or a father, but at least he can look down and know that his family no longer has to worry about putting food on the table, that his child has a bond set up for college, and that their financial future is secure,” Brandon said. “Things like that, those are the kind of cases that leave a mark. It's why we do what we do each and every day, and I take a great deal of pride in that.”
Over the years, the hard work and diligence of Finz & Finz has resulted in the recovery of over a billion dollars on behalf of their clients. And this is despite the fact that the firm often takes on cases that many other laws firm wouldn't touch, whether they are simply deemed lost causes or because the amount of effort and hours that it would take to adequately work them would encroach upon their profits.
But Brandon notes that every case Finz & Finz takes on is a team effort, and because nearly every attorney at the firm works every case together, they are able to put maximum effort into every client and conduct and prepare the thorough, detail-oriented investigation and litigation strategy that is needed to get their clients the compensation they deserve.
At the end of the day, Brandon said that – after briefly participating in the mundane corporate world upon graduating from law school – pivoting to join his family's firm has proven to be a life-altering experience, giving him a sense of pride and satisfaction in knowing that he is doing something positive by helping people during some of the darkest times of their lives.
“At the end of the case, just to be able to embrace and hug and cry with a client or a family, and to feel that emotion and know that you're doing the right thing, it’s tremendous,” he said. “We help our clients financially, emotionally, and spiritually, but we’re also helping the community. At the end of the day, we're elevating the standard of care, because after a case resolves, we often see safer policies and procedures put into place to prevent similar situations from happening in the future. And there is no more rewarding feeling than that.”
To find out more about the law firm of Finz & Finz, please call 855-TOP-FIRM or visit their website at https://finzfirm.com.