Gary Green

My wife, Patricia, and I are happily married and have four children and four grands between us.

In my spare time I tend  a pecan grove and a vineyard. I do a little bird hunting and a little trout fishing. I walk for exercise and lately spend time developing the Woodglen Park subdivision which is down the street from our home in Little Rock.  I have published Grand-Pére Bear,   An American Bear in Paris, and A Day with Grand-Pére partly for the grandchildren, partly as love stories, and partly to profess that every trial lawyer should be able to tell a story.  In 2020 I penned Buen Camino, some of my musings as I walked El Camino Francés, The French Way of the Way of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  In 2021, I published A People’s Practice, a how-to book for lawyers and a memoir of sorts.  (If you’re a lawyer and would like to receive a complimentary copy, send an e-mail request to gary.green@gGreen.com .  Also, I recently redrafted my last will and testament in such a way that, in a wrongful death case, the will itself might be introduced as evidence at a wrongful death trial to prove how I valued my life.  I also used the will as a vehicle to “sell my practice” and to request the attorney whom I would nominate to handle my wrongful death case.  I’m happy to send those portions of my will to anyone who requests).

A typical day for me begins at sun up and winds down with dinner at 7:00 p.m. I enjoy work and would work too much but for Patricia’s insistence from day one that I be at the dinner table by 7:00. That is a tradition which she instilled in me and our children – one that I very much appreciate and to which I attribute much of our success as a couple and a family.

Recently I was asked why I became and whether I still enjoy being a lawyer. Intent to avoid platitudes, I explained that the first part was easy: I was lucky to have family, friends and teachers who encouraged and guided me. Why do I continue to practice law? Because it’s what I do best. In my mind being a lawyer is no different and no more important than being a brick layer or carpenter or mechanic. I go to them when I need their help and hope they will call on me when they need mine.

What are a few things I have learned in almost fifty years of practicing law? I was lucky early on to learn that if I earnestly try to help my clients, others will help me do that; that if I take care of my clients, they will take care of me. I know that clients who call on me have been knocked down and need help to get back. Sometimes it is as easy as helping a little old lady cross the street, and sometimes it calls for all out war. I enjoy both. I have learned from mentor John Ward that to be successful one needs, most of the time, to be the first one to arrive at and the last one to leave the workplace. From mentor Miles Hale I learned that a people’s practice is an honorable calling. From mentor Gary Eubanks  I learned that if you’re going to advertise, you’d better be good at what you do. I was taught by my parents and grandparents to follow the golden rule, and then by my law school professors and judges not to mention it!

Having placed this information at the end of my personal biography, I’ve “hidden” it where not everyone will find it. Please don’t continue unless you genuinely are considering retaining my law firm.

First know that my wheelhouse includes primarily personal injury cases that involve significant physical injury, professional negligence cases usually involving medical or legal malpractice, product liability cases involving unreasonably dangerous products, and various mass tort cases such as rideshare assaults by a driver against a passenger.

I’m like any other businessperson. If you contact me about a matter in my wheelhouse I probably can help you. Even if I have a lot of similar cases, I can always take on one more, fitting it into the algorithm and systems developed for that case type. For all cases we use tried and true triage systems such as fifo and statute of limitations deadlines to address when a case is reviewed. Other systems such as staging into various phases of the representation are then used to manage the case toward resolution.

All inquiries get a response, timed depending on where the matter falls on the algorithm. For now, those responses are personal from me, sometimes sending standard form stuff that’s applicable for the moment, sometimes addressing a unique issue. Eventually, more of our work will be affected and augmented by ai, but I always will be involved in developing the algorithms and in actually pulling the trigger on a task. The way I look at ai —  it’s great for better understanding almost everything, but that pulling the trigger on action should be decided by me independently of ai.

The first test is whether the inquiry involves a matter in our wheelhouse. If so, an employment contract goes out to the potential client.  Our professional rules and regulations require a written contract if we’re going to represent you.  This is to protect us from each other, to make us put in writing the scope, limitations, expectations, fees, liens, parties, reliance and any other information that defines our duties to each other.

For some, this contract with an attorney might be the first introduction to the adversarial process that is built into the law. The adversarial process posits that the truth can best be gleaned by assertive representation on both sides including rigorous cross examination in the pursuit of a verdict.  This process can be shortened by settlement, but not until after a discovery process which utilizes the adversarial process.

So, the contract you sign with me will be a legally binding document.  I’ve tried to address in it everything that could possibly happen, so there’s lots of boilerplate.  I’ve tried to put the most important stuff on the first page or in all caps; for example, we state that there’s no fee if we don’t recover money for you in all caps.  We state in the contract and on our website that it is the policy of the law firm not to charge a fee higher than the client’s net recovery after paying all expenses, including medical expenses.

So, the first algorithm is whether the matter involves something in our wheelhouse, the next question is whether the contract has been signed and returned. Then it’s time to start the process of an investigation.

All case types require an investigation. I’ll use a medical malpractice case to illustrate. First, I need to see the records. Send me what you have, but realize we’ll be compiling every single piece of paper or electronic record that affects your case before sending a summary to the expert witness required by the medical malpractice act to enable the expert to be able to opine whether the medical defendant’s conduct fell below the acceptable standard of care.

Assuming an opinion of merit, the next consideration is whether to try to negotiate pre-suit, something we do on virtually every case type except medical malpractice.  It’s been our experience in medical malpractice cases that it’s better to get all the records early on and then file suit.  (It’s interesting to compare records produced later in discovery to check for any additions or alterations since the date of the set we got early on). That’s because most medical malpractice cases don’t settle, at least not until close to the courthouse steps. They don’t settle because most plaintiff malpractice cases fail; and when a plaintiff does get a verdict, the defense usually file an appeal. Case expenses for medical malpractice cases run extremely high because experts are required; local experts won’t testify against local doctors, requiring us to find an out of state expert who charges hundreds by the hour, portal to portal, for every hour away from the expert’s office.

For a car wreck case, for example, we don’t file suit right away but rather attempt to negotiate with the adjuster first. Unlike a medical malpractice case that has built in incentives not to settle (such as consent clauses in many of the insurance contracts that the doctors carry which give the doctor the right to object to a settlement even if the insurance company deems the case should be settled), a car wreck case has built-in incentives to settle, such as insurance commission rules requiring the insurance companies to reserve their losses upon notice of a claim. The way an insurance company sees the world, any claim that it settles for less than the reserved amount is a profit.

Realize that words matter. You won’t see us using the word, “accident” , a word that connotes no fault, in our practice. From day one through trial, you were in a wreck, a crash, perhaps an incident, but never was it an accident.

Once a case is filed we shepherd you through every step.

This is perhaps a good place to discuss communications.  First, please be proactive and contact us to let us know when you have been released from treatment— that’s a trigger date for us, because we don’t want to waste money getting records now that we’ll have to reorder later.

Also, please let us know immediately as contact information changes.  Legal matters are designed to go slowly and then all at once.  We don’t want to lose you during the slow phase.  It’s probably a good idea to check in with us once a year if you have not heard from us during the last year.

Otherwise, our systems are set up to notify you of substantive changes in your case status.  Disciplinary rules require that we reasonably communicate with you and that we notify you immediately upon receipt of money for your benefit.  I’m not going to get in trouble with any disciplinary office over reasonably communicating with a client, but, knowing my modus operandi, I ask that communications be in writing as much as possible.  I will eventually return a phone call, but the system favors email, text, and USPS over phone calls.  There are multiple reasons for this request; but the main one is that I have found that if someone cannot put in writing what they want me to do, I probably cannot help them. The writing doesn’t have to be fancy. “I was hurt in a car wreck caused by a DWI driver” will get you a rather quick response.  “I need you to call me — just want to see how things are going”, maybe not so quick.

Now I want you to know some things about me personally.

I have been doing this since 1979.  I intend to continue practicing law as long as I am in good health.

I am happily married and have a loving family. I work with an exceptional staff. I practice law because I love to practice law.

Family comes first, but because I have the support of my family, I am able to devote much of my time to working on your behalf.  During the course of the representation there will be times when my interests are subordinated to yours.  I will tell you the truth that you might not want to hear.

My m.o. is to under promise and over deliver.

My goal is to try cases that need to be tried and settle cases that need to be settled, all with the client’s previous consent.

I have gone to verdict in personal injury, product liability, medical malpractice, and legal malpractice case types.  Any time I handle a mass tort such as a rideshare assault, I review it first for possibly pursuing as a stand alone case, and only recommend including it in a class action or multi district litigation if the outcome there probably would be more beneficial to the client.

This has been a lot of one-sided information from me. If you want to send me some information, start here:

Education:
Texarkana, Arkansas
University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law; graduated 1978
Hendrix College – Conway, Arkansas; graduated 1975

Practice Areas

• Personal Injury
• Medical Negligence/Medical Malpractice
• Nursing Home Negligence
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Truck Wrecks
• Product Liability
• Wrongful Death
• Fire (cause & origin)