How long have you lived in the Boston area? What are your favorite Boston-isms? Any favorite local spots?

I’ve lived in the Boston area my entire life. Although I’ve visited other cities, Boston is still my favorite.

My favorite Boston-isms are:

• They’re called frappes, not milkshakes;
• It’s soda, not pop;
• For lunch, we order subs, not heroes;
• We’re heading to Fenway Pahk, not Fenway Park;
• When I see you, I’ll say, “What’s up?” instead of “hi” or “hello”

My favorite local spots are Port 305, Quincy, MA; Capital Grill, Boston, MA; Tresca, Boston, MA; The Elephant & Castle, Boston, MA.

You have handled one of the toughest crane collapse cases. What advice would you offer in similar cases to keep damages down?

That was an all or nothing case for my clients, the crane operator and his employer. If the jury found even 1% liability by my crane operator, it would’ve been all on them because of some indemnification clauses. The jury returned a verdict for my clients but found a co-defendant liable to the tune of $95 million. It was never about keeping the damages down—all the defendants knew this was going to be a very big verdict. The target defendant did not employ the Tyson & Mendes methods, and they got hit for an absolute monster of a verdict. If that defendant had done so, especially with respect to both plaintiff-decedents’ lifestyles, they might have been able to obtain a more reasonable verdict.

What drew you to Tyson & Mendes?

I was recruited to join Tyson & Mendes right after I had accepted another position with a well-known defense firm in Boston. I realized it was not a good fit, and my interest in Tyson & Mendes grew, so I reconnected with my contact to see if this was the place for me. I really wanted my next move to be my last so I scrutinized my interviewers and their philosophy on the practice of law probably more than they scrutinized me. I was intrigued with the Tyson & Mendes methods and felt that it fell in line with the way I wanted to practice law.

You are a skilled and experienced trial lawyer. What is your favorite aspect or part of trial, and why?

My favorite aspect of a trial is the cross-examination of a plaintiff’s experts. To me, that’s the most challenging aspect of a trial. To effectively cross-examine the witness, I invest significant time understanding the expert’s areas of expertise. I must be able to converse in these fields with them as well as they can. This can be any number of fields: medicine, tower cranes (how they are assembled, work, max loads, etc.), engineering principles, whatever. Two of my proudest moments in court came from expert cross-examination. Once, after expert testimony in a in a med-mal case, a plaintiff’s expert OB/GYN asked me what medical school I went to! In the tower crane case, an expert metallurgist told me that in his opinion I had a Master’s degree-level knowledge of the microscopic analysis of the welding used to manufacture the roundtable on the tower crane. When you win the case and receive those types of compliments, that’s the prize for all the hard work!

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