A Rookie Lawyer Was Offered $0. He Went to Trial and Won $2 Million.
He hated real estate law and was ready to quit before a referral case made him fall in love with plaintiff work.
Original Jurisdiction · The Maestro Of Mass Torts: Christopher SeegerHis client squeezed his arm at the counsel table. Each day of the trial, Christopher Seeger, then a young lawyer on his own, and his client walked into the courtroom arm in arm.
Seeger had never handled a personal injury case before. Another lawyer had referred it to him about a year after he started his own practice, asking if he did that kind of work. Seeger said he did not have much experience, but he would love to try one.
It was an unlikely place for him to land. Seeger, now the founding partner of the plaintiffs firm Seeger Weiss, had grown up around construction and assumed for some reason that he would become a real estate lawyer. His first job out of law school was handling real estate work at Sherman and Sterling, a large corporate law firm in New York. He hated it with a passion.
After about two and a half years, he left to join a small business firm started by the man who had recruited him, got his first taste of litigation there, and then went out on his own. He spent his days doing wills, real estate closings, and whatever else came in. Seeger said he "was thinking of leaving the law" altogether.
That first injury case changed him because it felt like what he thought a lawyer was supposed to do. The defense lawyers could see he had no experience, so they offered him $0 to settle. Seeger took the case to trial instead and won a $2 million verdict.
He remembers the feeling of fighting for one person, and of insisting years later on being the one to hand clients their settlement checks just to share that good feeling. He still exchanges holiday cards with some of those early clients, though his firm has grown too large for him to reach every client the way he once did. The woman from that first trial trusted a rookie, he said, perhaps because he projected confidence, and perhaps because most injured people do not really know the difference between firms. He still wonders about it himself. Maybe, he said, he will call her and ask why she trusted him 30 years ago.
Questions people ask
Why would the other side offer $0 instead of some small amount?
A zero offer is a bet that the other lawyer will give up or lose. If the defense thinks a lawyer has no trial experience and no money to fund a trial, it can offer nothing and expect him to drop the case or accept almost nothing later. Going to trial calls that bluff, but it is risky and expensive for a solo lawyer.
What does a personal injury lawyer actually do?
A personal injury lawyer represents people hurt in accidents, by dangerous products, or by medical mistakes. The lawyer investigates what happened, hires experts, negotiates with insurers and corporate defendants, and takes the case to trial if there is no fair settlement. Most are paid a share of what the client recovers, so they earn nothing if they lose.
What is Sherman and Sterling?
Sherman and Sterling, now called A&O Shearman after a 2024 merger, is a large corporate law firm headquartered in New York. Its lawyers typically represent companies and banks in deals and complex disputes. Starting there is a prestigious and high paying first job, which makes it striking that Seeger left after about two years.