Before becoming a catastrophic injury attorney, Clarke Speaks spent time working on the other side of personal injury cases as part of an insurance defense team. What started as a valuable law school opportunity quickly became a defining experience that shaped the course of his career and his philosophy about representing injured individuals.
In this episode of The Verdict, Clarke shares what he learned while working for a law firm hired by insurance companies to defend injury claims. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of personal injury law and the vital role of advocacy in achieving justice for the injured.
Here’s what we discuss in this episode:
🏢 The Other Side – Clarke’s experience working insurance defense
⚖️ Claim Reduction Tactics – How insurers challenge injury cases
💡 Career Turning Point – The moment everything changed
🧠 Insurance Strategy – Understanding how claims are evaluated
🤝 Helping Clients Today – Using insider knowledge to better represent victims
Featured Keyword & Other Tags
Insurance company, insurance, injury attorney, legal process, claims, settlements
Client Links
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Transcript (Click To Read)
Clark: I’m Clark Speaks, the catastrophic injury lawyer. Welcome to the verdict, Mr.
Carson Grace Toomer: Speaks. We all know that, you know, earlier in your career you worked as a part of an injury defense team. Can you tell me about your time and your experience doing that?
Clark: Sure, yeah. So when I was in, um, law school, you know, I wanted to try cases, right? And so, uh, I was, ah, my first summer I worked um, for a judge that was good and fun and I learned a lot. He was a great guy. Mentor for me. My second summer, um, I wanted to get some working at a trial firm, a firm that did a lot of trials, right? And so I had heard about a firm and the guy that ran the firm was supposed uh, to be a phenomenal trial lawyer. And he was a phenomenal trial lawyer, uh, an absolutely phenomenal trial lawyer. And the other lawyers that worked there were good trial lawyers too, Very good trial lawyers. So I worked there that summer and I didn’t really understand really at that point. Well, I guess I understood one person represents the individual and the other person represents the insurance company. It’s hard for me to remember exactly what I knew and what I didn’t know. But anyway, I walked into this job and I was representing. It turns out I was representing, um, insurance companies. This was an insurance defense firm. So when somebody’s injured in an accident and then they have, uh, a claim and then they file a lawsuit through their personal injury attorney, or I guess by themselves, the insurance company then will assign it to a law firm. So I worked for a law firm that represented insurance companies under those circumstances. And that’s what we did. So I would get a complaint and I would have to draft an answer. I would get discovery and I would have to. Or I’d have to create discovery and write it, drafted and send it to the plaintiff’s lawyer, uh, to the injured person’s lawyer. So my purpose then was to represent the interests of the insurance company and try to reduce, minimize or eliminate the value of the claim. To be able to show, hey, it wasn’t our client’s fault, or um, if it was our client’s fault, it was your fault too. Or if it wasn’t your fault, then you weren’t hurt, or if you were hurt, that you weren’t hurt that bad, or if you were hurt that bad, that you were already hurt. And this was something that pre existed that kind of thing. So anything you can think of to try to reduce or eliminate the value of these claims. It was probably the first day when I realized what’s going on here. Is that I’m working for this giant insurance company, uh, nameless, faceless entity, to try to reduce how much we pay individual people who were hurt as a result of something that our insured did or didn’t do. And I’m like, oh, this is, this is not. Now for that summer. Like, I. I’ve got an apartment rent, I’ve got, you know, a car payment. I’ve got a dog I gotta take care of. And I’m like, I’m trapped, right? I can’t go get another job. I have to have a job. I have to have a legal job if I want to work when I get out of school. So I’m like, I’ve gotta do this. But I hated it. I hated it. I liked the people. The people were cool and they’re friends of mine to some extent to this day. Um, some of them are. And m. And I recognize them as being good and talented and, and, and decent people. But, you know, like, during that summer, there was a lady who was hurt in an accident, and she was. And I read the stuff and it seemed like she was legitimately hurt. And then we had a mediation and they brought like a bag full of cash to the mediation. And I remember thinking, uh, that doesn’t. That’s not, you know, the way that. And then they were celebrating the idea that they, uh, were able to do a good job for their client, the insurance company, by not paying this person very much money. And I just, I was not, you know, they were like high fiving each other. And I’m just sitting there going, I gotta get out of here. Like, I gotta get out of here immediately. And so at the end of that summer, you know, um, you know, some of the people that were interned plan to work there going forward. And, you know, and that was not my m. Uh, objective. I was. It was such a valuable learning experience because I was able to determine this is not what I want to do this. I do not want to do this. Um, there’s a time and place for it and there’s. Our society needs that. Otherwise, you know, know, you know, insurance companies would have to pay a million dollars in every claim. So there needs to be somebody on the other side pushing back. I admit that. But it’s not me. It’s not. That’s not who. That’s not what, you know, when that’s not who I’m made to be, that’s not who God made me to be. I prefer to work for the individual who has been injured. And with that comes responsibility. I have to represent people who are legitimately injured and who have, in the. In the honest pursuit of their, uh, real damages. But what it did do that was valuable was it gave me tremendous insight into what the insurance company is trying to do, what their perspective are, what their techniques are, what their tactics are, what their process is, um, in terms of reducing or eliminating the value of these claims. And so I think about that and draw on those experiences daily. You know, um, and I still have those relationships, so I can call back those people and say, hey, listen, let me ask you this. Uh, this is what’s going on in this case. Uh, what’s your thought? What do you think is coming? What do you think the other, uh, perspective is on all this? And so. And I do that on a regular basis, but it’s, uh. But that experience was so good for those two reasons. It showed me what I don’t want to do, and it also showed me exactly what they do under these circumstances to reduce and evaluate and eliminate the value of these claims. And that helps me more effectively represent my client because I know what their next move is going to be. Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow us to stay up to date with our weekly episodes. We’ll see you next time.
