Get to Know Us: A Day in the Life of Drexler Law Firm

My alarm goes off every morning at around 5:30 am. It is not your typical alarm emanating soothing nature sounds or obnoxious repetitive beeps. It sounds more like ‘Mommma!, Daddda, get me outa here!!’. We walk into our two-and-a-half year old Mason’s room, and after a minute of failed negotiation to convince him to go back to sleep, my day has officially begun.

drexler-david-jonMost mornings start with a court appearance or business development events. We have an extremely busy litigation practice so many mornings myself, and/or my partner — and father — David Drexler, have court appearances which might include ex parte applications, law and motion hearings, case management conferences, final status conferences, trial readiness conferences and jury trials.

When we do not start our day in court, it is usually business development and promotion. We do a ton of networking and place a large emphasis on always expanding our professional network. We get referrals from these professionals, but it allows us to have resources in case our clients need referrals as well, or any type of assistance that we do not provide — such as accounting and tax and real estate needs, to divorce to criminal defense needs. Although we hope it is not the latter.

After the morning meeting, it is time to head to the office. 13808 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 is home base. I take the elevator to the second floor and am greeted first by Grace Rodriguez who we call the “heartbeat of the office.” She is responsible for bookkeeping, office management responsibilities and comic relief, among other things. Grace is an integral part of the team and has been for nearly 10 years. After chatting with Grace and being reminded of some important upcoming events later in the week — and getting made fun of for something (but in a loving way) — I walk away from her cubicle as the phone rings and she cheerfully says ‘Drexler Law Firm, how can I help you?’

I then confer with Ani Arakel, our pre-litigation mastermind. Ani is a 30-year veteran of the personal injury world having specialized in every type of complicated injury case. Ani is usually fighting hard for our clients by reducing medical liens, making sure we have all of the medical documentation we need and otherwise doing a phenomenal job as a case manager. Ani is fiercely loyal and cares deeply about each and every case in our office.

By then I have run into Marco Antonio Silvas, or Tony, who is the newest member of our team. His title is ‘Law Clerk’ but he is really our “Jack of All Trades.” Tony plans to attend law school in the near future and we hope to get him as much experience as possible before then. Tony does everything — and I mean everything — from new case intake, to filing, to assisting with discovery and mediation briefs, to organizing and summarizing voluminous medical records to client contact and changing flat tires. Tony’s experience in working at hospitals makes him a perfect addition to a team that deals with catastrophic injury cases.

Last, but DEFINITELY not least, is our brilliant and talented paralegal, Christopher Harris. Chris, a J.D. and Berkeley grad, is a workhorse, cranking out legal research and writing and law and motion day in and day out. Chris carries a heavy work load in this busy practice and makes sure that all of the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted. Chris works efficiently and with great quality and is always on the ball and working side by side with us to get drafts of documents through the editing process and out the door.

The Drexler Law Firm, in every sense of the word, is a TEAM. Each with our own strengths and weaknesses and each with our own perspective and opinion. In many ways we are a family. We all know every client and we all work on every case that moves its way through our office.

We are diverse; we cover many races, creeds, cultures and religions, and we speak many languages, including English, Spanish, Armenian, Farsi and Hebrew. I am lucky that we have this staff to wade our way through the inevitable battles that ensue throughout the course of litigation.

Once I have made the rounds and checked in with everyone, including my partner, I dig into emails and phone calls until lunch time… which is an EXTREMELY important part of the day. [I do not understand people who don’t eat lunch!?]

Many times lunch is another networking meeting. Again, expanding our network to include more trusted and talented professionals is always a priority.

I take many trips up and down the stairs above my office to David Drexler’s office for his sage advice steeped in over 40 years of trial experience and having over two hundred jury trials under his belt. I churn his perspective through my own experience to arrive decisively on plans of action and approaches to problems.

Although we’re not literally putting our life on the line, we feel like firemen ready to slide down that pole and take on the challenges of adverse attorneys, skeptical adjusters, no-nonsense judges and fact finding jurors to achieve the goal of justice in the form of fair compensation for our injured clients.

After lunch it’s back to work. There might be a deposition or a mediation or arbitration. Maybe there will be a meeting with a prospective client or a conference call with our IT providers or our marketing team.

The phones are ringing incessantly, and our office buzzes with discussion, strategy and brainstorming. When this all wraps up, I head back home to build forts and read stories and jump in the pool with Mason and prepare to do it all over again.

Every day is different and exciting at the Drexler Law Firm. This is a small snapshot.

Disclaimers:

The information in this blog post (“post”) is provided for general informational purposes only, and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction.  This blog is not intended to, and does not, create an attorney client relationship, an offer of employment or a guarantee of success for clients of The Drexler Law firm.  No information or representation contained in this post should be construed as an offer of employment, guarantee of success or the creation of an attorney client relationship with The Drexler Law firm, nor as legal advice from The Drexler Law Firm or the individual author.  No reader of this post should act, or refrain from acting, on the basis of any information included in, or accessible through, this post without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer in the corresponding jurisdiction.

There are time deadlines during which a case must be brought, according to your jurisdiction or state, and failing to abide by the jurisdictional statute of limitation rules can result in your case being time-barred.

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