First let me welcome you to my profile page. As a lawyer who has been practicing personal injury since 1981 I’ve seen and heard people, mostly politicians and pundits talking about what I do and they haven’t got a clue about the subject of personal injury. It’s easy to take a cheap shot at someone who doesn’t exist, but when you sit across a desk from a real person who has been injured you have to realize life isn’t as simple as the politicians and pundits would like you to think. Take our own President of the Bar Association, he recently wrote in our state bar association magazine making fun of those people who after being seriously injured exercise their right to sue someone in Court. I’m going to take the high road and assume no one in the bar association leadership thought much about what was being written and how it might be misunderstood to mean that even the bar association thinks people with a personal injury don’t have a right to take their grievances to the civil justice system. And that is what the InjuryBoard is about – it’s about you and your right to seek redress for civil problems you encounter in day to day life. It’s about your rights, our rights and about changing the prevailing attitudes.

So who am I?  I grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island mostly, and then moved to Iowa to finish undergraduate work at the University of Iowa, as a psychology department major. From there I attended Drake University Law School and then headed north to Waterloo where for five years I learned how to practice law. Law school teaches you how to think like a lawyer but how to practice takes good mentoring. Thanks to Jim and Tom I did receive good mentoring. After five years it was on to central Iowa, West Des Moines, where I set up a practice focusing solely on the injured clients and their unique problems. If it’s taught me anything it is that all my clients are special people, unique in their lives and in their personal injury situations. No two client cases are alike. You are all different and each requires special attention.

Growing up we weren’t real poor but then again we didn’t have much to spare. My father, bless his soul, died when I was 13. He smoked, developed lung cancer and passed away at age thirty-six, leaving my mother to raise the five of us. Mom was and still is at 80 a hard worker. She has at least two jobs and in her sewing box you won’t find a single excuse. She raised us in a no-nonsense way and that’s really the way I practice law. I see nothing to be gained by telling you what you want to hear as opposed to telling you advice that you need to hear. You need to know how to protect yourself. This column, blawg or blog, delivers the same no-nonsense advice and political commentary. Mom never shied away from hard work and I won’t shy away from the difficult issues of the day. I’m not here to be popular, and could care less about winning an award. I don’t believe in awards. I focus on personal and professional achievements. I do hate to lose though.

I’m soon to be married to Barbara and between us we have six children.  Barbara and I met and dated while attending Bristol High School. I graduated in 1972 and she in 1973.

I’m not a normal Midwesterner or New Englander. My idea of a vacation is not like anyone else’s. I’ve vacationed at the Shively Dryhead Ranch in Montana and Wyoming learning to ride the range. I’ve ran marathons along with raced in triathlons; have climbed mountains; taken flying lessons along with other more common pursuits, like snow skiing, fishing, boating, dance lessons, etc. I’ve been to Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal, Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa; to the Swiss and French Alps as well. Life is about what passion you have for it and how you live your life while you’re here. There are no guarantees in life only opportunities.

And I take those opportunities to live life to the fullest. In life we are all just one accident away from falling through the safety net and that requires us to view personal injury laws with a broader view then is being presented. When my father died bills became real to me even at age 13. Whether or not we would have food on the table to feed all five hungry kids became a real concern for my mother. We didn’t have much but we were surviving in a much more accepting social and political culture. Today meanness and fear have taken the place of an open mind and a kind heart. The politics of fear has taken the place of gathering the courage and team spirit that led us to Apollo 11’s “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Today fear is the common denominator that drives all campaigns and advertising that is designed to gather votes from voters or dollars from consumers. Most American’s are too busy to think about what message our children are hearing. It’s my intention with this blawg to add my two-cents in setting the record straight. Allowing someone to be awarded compensation for a personal injury caused by someone else’s negligence is by no means a participation trophy.

The workers who built this country and who made it great are my relatives and my clients. They are my mother, father, uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sister, neighbors, friends, clients and coworkers. They are men and women of the construction trades that will labor the oar day and night to allow us a better life. The idea of hard work to earn a wage hasn’t changed, but what has changed is society’s perception about what those jobs mean to America and in the end how we treat the immigrant workers. I like the immigrant workers because our ancestors were immigrant workers. They couldn’t speak English either and maybe they were treated with less kindliness than many, but they were not rounded up and arrested for just wanting to be here to do hard labor.

And so along these lines of thinking this blawg will express opinions, report on facts where injuries are showing up and anticipated. I will take sides where it appears to me injury can be avoided (mandatory motorcycle helmets laws) just because of my experience with things like brain damage to my clients. Remember I’m not inclined to tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to hear and think about. If you have questions write to me through my law firm or the law firm blawg, named The Verdict ©. (www.Lombardilaw.com )  If you just wish to express your point of view, then add a comment. As long as your comments aren’t just personal attacks or in poor taste, they will be posted along with all others. I do have this thing about using your legal name. It takes no guts to create a screen name and hide behind it. The Wall Street Journal Law Blawg is famous for that crap. Not here, we have higher standards than they do. If you just hate what I’m saying and attack me, I’ll delete the comment. This is about promoting discussion, not about venting with personal attacks.

At this point in life I’m a 53 year old mountain climber who just happens to practice law and has a burning desire to understand how things work. I can be a grouch and at times short with people, but it’s mostly because there are so many injured people asking for advice or to help solve a problem. I would love to help with your problem but with limited time it may not be practical. If you have a serious problem then call me or write to me through my web site because the InjuryBoard site isn’t secure in the sense that I’m not giving you legal advice that will be kept confidential. Remember here I may be a lawyer but I may not be your lawyer. So anything sensitive needs to go through the www.lombardilaw.com website. Fair enough?

Not to digress but what was Damon thinking crossing over to the dark side? There are more important things in life then the almighty dollar. Did he have to become a bum? It’s a shame we now refer to him no longer as Johnny Damon but as Johnny Demon.

Okay that is what this is about and who I am so time to get writing, see you on line.

An avid mountaineer having climbed in the Swiss and French Alps, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, to Mt. Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas of Nepal and Mt. Elbrus in Russia. 

• Iowa, 1981
• Florida, 1986
• U.S. Federal Court, 1981

All Iowa State Courts.

All Iowa Federal Courts.

Licensed in the State of Florida.