Toronto personal injury lawyer Albert Conforzi: When I first started practicing as a lawyer in Toronto, my early years were spent as a defence lawyer acting for insurance companies. During those years, I learned how to analyze insurance policies and apply that analysis to particular situations as they arose. In addition, I spent some time acting on behalf of victims. They would come to me through professional contacts in my life, as well as through word-of-mouth from friends and relatives.
I think that when any lawyer starts out, they come to the practice of law with altruistic motives. That is, they genuinely want to help their clients. While my years as a defence lawyer were intellectually fulfilling, they did nothing to fulfil this desire to help individuals.
When I finally made the decision to devote my practice exclusively to victims, I felt a sense of relief come over me. I knew I was now doing what I was meant to do.
When I finally made the decision to devote my practice exclusively to victims, I felt a sense of relief come over me. I knew I was now doing what I was meant to do. Still, I’m thankful for the time I spent as a defence lawyer. That experience taught me how the case should be presented in a way that an insurance company would be very concerned about.
A successful case is built from the ground up, brick by brick. I have continued to use a relatively simple formula. My strategy involves using the accident benefits side of a file to build the case against the at-fault driver. While many lawyers will let clinics and therapists run the accident benefits side of the file, my team and I take an aggressive interest in how therapies are being utilized.
My team and I make sure that clinicians are adequately documenting the limitations that my clients continue to have. This results in a file where the functional impact of the accident is easily demonstrated. Accordingly, expert support for the tort threshold of permanent and serious impairments can be persuasively articulated by those experts.
While many things have changed since I first started practicing as a lawyer in Toronto – fax machines, e-mail, social media, the Internet, yes, even computers – one thing has stayed the same: it is a privilege to help my clients recover from their injuries. I am proud to say that I am a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer.
Albert Conforzi is a personal injury lawyer with Pace Law Firm in Toronto. He has been representing accident victims for over three decades.