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It would be fair to characterize Slade H.McLaughlin and Paul A. Lauricella as averse

to delegating. This is why it’s not uncommonto see one or both attorneys poring throughmedical records or case files when most peo-ple on the East Coast have been asleep for hours.

Such commitment has reaped tremendousdividends, however, in the form of million- andmultimillion-dollar verdicts for clients whohave been injured in catastrophic and often ir-reparable ways—a woman who suffered blind-ness due to medical negligence during a routine

knee operation, for example, or a man who losthis legs in a bulldozer accident and had to call911 himself because his co-workers left thescene—and in some cases even been killed.

“In one case—Fledderman v. Glunk—we rep-resented an 18-year-old Penn State student whowas having liposuction performed by a doctor,”recalls McLaughlin, who earned his Juris Doctorfrom Villanova University School of Law. “We con-tended that the doctor hit a blood vessel in the pa-tient’s neck, and instead of calling 911, becausehe was concerned about an ambulance pulling

Never Say

The attorneys at Philadelphiafirm McLaughlin & Lauricella

fight tooth and nail—in thecourtroom and elsewhere—

to gain justice for injuredand violated clients

by BILL DONAHUEPhotography by William Thomas Cain

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Settle76|PHILADELPHIA LIFE

AUGUST 2012

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up in front of his office, he kept her there for hours.By the time someone did call 911, only becauseof the insistence of the patient’s mother, it wastoo late, and the patient later died in the hospitalfrom complications of a fat embolism. We wona $20.5 million verdict, including $15 million inpunitive damages, which is the highest punitivedamage verdict in a medical malpractice case everawarded in Pennsylvania.”

McLaughlin and Lauricella, partners in thePhiladelphia-based firm, McLaughlin & Lauricel-la P.C., have successfully represented plaintiffs insome of the biggest, most high-profile cases inPennsylvania and New Jersey, including those in-volving sexual-abuse victims of Jerry Sandusky,former Philadelphia Daily News columnist BillConlin, and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.McLaughlin and Lauricella owe their success onbehalf of their clients, at least in part, to the lateJim Beasley Sr., a legendary trial attorney under

whom they bothtrained for more thana decade.

“Jim Beasley Sr.was an icon, and Icredit him with a lot ofthe successes I have

achieved,” saysMcLaughlin, aboard-certified

trial attorney. “Fromthe time a case comesinto the office, youwork it up like it’s go-ing to trial. If you doeverything you needto do, and spend the

money for the best experts, which can be verycostly, that approach can be the difference be-tween a verdict of $200,000 and one of $2 million.

“I was a defense lawyer for the first 10 yearsof my career,” he continues, “and when you’reon that side of the fence, you get to know whothe real plaintiff lawyers are—the ones who knowhow to handle a case and how to prepare it cor-rectly for trial. Many lawyers fear the courtroom,but that’s where the pedal hits the metal. Only oneside walks out victorious after a jury verdict. Manylawyers don’t want to expose themselves to thatkind of litmus test in court, so they settle for what’soffered. Paul and I take a very different ap-proach to our cases.”

McLaughlin & Lauricella’s commitment tofighting for clients’ rights in the courtroom has ledthe firm to trademark the phrase, “Never settlefor a lawyer who only knows how to settle.”

“There are lawyers who try cases and thosewho settle cases; the lawyers who settle cases of-ten talk about their ‘results’ but not their verdicts,”says Lauricella. “The only way to get the maxi-

mum result is to be prepared to make the max-imum effort on behalf of the client in the court-room. A lawyer who thinks he will settle a caseand not prepare it for trial is doing a grave disserv-ice to the client. Our approach, in a way, is sim-ilar to hoping for the best but always preparingfor the worst.”

Cases are often won and lost in the pretrialstages, according to McLaughlin. Realizing this,he and Lauricella use their complementaryskills to work in tandem on depositions, duringwhich both attorneys employ all available tech-nology—Internet-enabled computers, printers,scanners, etc.—to fact check statements madeby opposing witnesses, often debunking theirclaims.

“We’ve tried hundreds of cases, so we knowwhat to look for and we know what’s important,”says McLaughlin. “We’re fungible in that we’reboth good lawyers, and clients really get their mon-ey’s worth. We try cases together, too, where Paulwill do the opening and I’ll do the closing.”

The team approach is one of the mostunique aspects of the firm, according to Lauricel-la, who, like McLaughlin, earned his Juris Doctorfrom Villanova University School of Law.

“Firms may have a single attorney workingon a file or single attorney with junior associates,whereas Slade and I work together as two sen-ior attorneys working side by side,” he says. “Sladeand I have skills and talents that complement eachother nicely; he’s a very hands-on, nuts-and-boltsfellow who is well versed in law and able to han-dle multiple aspects of a case at once, while I tendto dig deeply into the details and minutiae of thevarious records and evidence. As a result, clientsend up getting the best of two different worlds.

“Most lawyers 30 years out of legal school arenot going through medical records, but by doingso I’ll see things that other lawyers miss, like al-tered medical records, which are a great find in

a malpractice case,” he continues. “For one casethat we were preparing to try earlier this year, Iremember reading medical records at 2 in themorning. There’s no substitute for reading yourfiles and doing the legwork. That kind of attentionto detail is often the difference between settlinga case and getting a verdict that the client trulydeserves.”

Although both partners commit tremen-dous amounts of time and energy to theirclients’ cases, they also stay extremely busy in oth-er parts of their lives.

“I’m up at 4:45 a.m. every morning, and I’mhere every Saturday and Sunday, but I don’t missany of my kids’ athletic matches or parent-teacher conferences, and I talk to my wife fiveor six times a day on the phone,” says McLaugh-lin, a member of the Mensa Society who has alsoclimbed to base camp at Mount Everest and par-ticipated in the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona,Spain. “It’s a big responsibility. In some caseswe’ve represented families of brain-injuredchildren where mistakes were made in theirmedical treatment, and now those babies needcare for perhaps 60 or 70 years. Those familiesare depending on us, and we get great satisfac-tion in achieving stellar results for clients in thosesituations.”

“We’re not just lawyers,” adds Lauricella,whose interests beyond the courtroom includerock ‘n’ roll (his favorites are the Pixies and Ra-mones), distance running, and writing comedysketches for Michael Smerconish’s radio pro-gram. “I’ve known Slade for 30-plus years, andwe’re good friends. I don’t know if you wouldcharacterize it as a great accomplishment, butwe try to be emotive, thinking human beingswho truly connect with our clients. I’ve also gota child with special needs so I’m cognizant ofthe impact that having a disabled child can haveon a family.

“The temptation is to take things personallywhen you’re involved in a case,” he continues.“If you’re working on a case that involves a cat-astrophically injured young girl, where her life isdevastated, you can’t help but get emotionally con-nected. But as an attorney you need to channelthat emotion into appropriate efforts on behalfof the client. The most rewarding part of my joboccurs when I get a change-of-address card froma client [after a verdict]. When that happens, it’sa tangible indication that we have done some-thing significant for them.”

McLaughlin & Lauricella P.C.One Commerce Square2005 Market Street, Suite 2300, Philadelphia, PA 19103-7042Phone: 215-568-1510 / Web: www.ml-law.net

v Slade McLaughlin(right) and Paul

Lauricella, partners inthe McLaughlin &Lauricella law firm,are committed to

fighting for clients’rights in the

courtroom. With anearned reputation forrelentlessly preparing

cases for trial as away to obtain the

maximum result forclients, the firm has

trademarkedthe phrase, “Neversettle for a lawyer

who only knowshow to settle.”

McLaughlin & Lauricella’scommitment to fighting for clients’rights in the courtroom has led the

firm to trademark the phrase,“Never settle for a lawyer who only

knows how to settle.”

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PHILADELPHIA LIFE|77AUGUST 2012

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