Top New York personal injury lawyer, Justin Blitz, sits down with David Schnurman, host of "Lawyers Who Learn" Podcast, for an in-depth interview about their careers in law and Justins personal life path in-between.
This podcast episode features an interview with Justin Blitz, a personal injury attorney. Blitz discusses his career path, which initially seemed unplanned. He initially pursued a career in the music industry but ultimately joined his father's law firm. Despite initial resistance from his uncle, Blitz quickly found success in trial work, securing a large verdict in his first case. However, this success was met with unexpected challenges, including an altercation with a colleague and the discovery of financial misconduct within the firm. Blitz navigated these obstacles, ultimately achieving justice for his father and his family. The conversation also explores the challenges and rewards of a career in trial law, emphasizing the importance of thorough preparation, strong communication skills, and a genuine connection with clients.
The interview concludes with reflections on the importance of work-life balance and the evolving nature of legal practice in the digital age. Blitz emphasizes the importance of mentorship, continuous learning, and adapting to the changing needs of clients and jurors.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to Lawyers Who Learn, where we explore how attorneys' engagement in lifelong learning fuels their growth. Join us to uncover these journeys and gain insights for your legal career.
Host David Schnurman: Justin, welcome to Lawyers Who Learn. I'm really excited for our conversation today. Thank you for taking time.
Justin Blitz: Thank you for having me, Dave. I'm excited to be here.
Host David Schnurman: So we have a lot in common in life. And I was thinking about that before we spoke today. And we've taken like similar yet different paths. And so I thought, and what I think about you, I think of you as an entrepreneur, but I think of you as like the old school, attorney who both of our fathers were. So both of our fathers were very well known personal injury attorneys in New York City. And both of them wanted both me and you to work at their firms and be part of that. I chose to take a different route, and I'm here at Lawline, and I've shared that story. But you took that more traditional route of getting into personal injury. And part of Lawyers Who Learn is understanding the decisions you've made in your life and how you've learned and changed throughout your career. And I see you as somebody who is an entrepreneur. and is an entrepreneur, not just in law, but in other areas of your life. So we're going to figure out every episode is a theme. I think by the end of this conversation, we're going to see where the theme goes. But I want to just start off like you you have taken from and just even looking at your background and all that reminds me of my dad's office. You walked in every every spot was filled with some sort of honor. So tell me what about your your decision making in getting into personal injury. Were you like me and you weren't sure you want to do it or you knew right away? And then we'll get into how you've learned from there.
Justin Blitz: You know, well, first of all, thanks for having me again. And I'm excited to be here. it's, it is true, we have taken these, you know, parallel paths, and we have our fathers, and then you sort of went that way. And I went this way, just in terms of like a more traditional personal injury world. But, you know, it's interesting, when I was in law school, I was actually, I was convinced that I was going to not do personal injury work. I was working for a record label and I was in their legal division and I was like, I want to do, I want to be in the music business. I was throwing parties where I would have rock bands come down and play and I was working with bands and then Well, yeah. And, you know, so I worked, I had the pleasure of working for Chris Blackwell, who started Island Records. And I had spent three years there. And I was about to take the bar exam. And I was like, Okay, what am I going to do now? And It actually dawned on me that the music business for attorneys is not the most exciting thing in the world. At the end of the day, it's contracts with Big names on it, you know, so I was working for Bob Marley doing his publishing and we had Chris had founded you too and so it was really contractual work and it came to me that my skills. were not that. It really wasn't as exciting. I decided, okay, I don't think I want to do the music business. Honestly, I didn't have too many options. I wasn't being recruited by white shoe law firms. It was, I remember I took the bar exam and I took a trip with my wife down Route 1. We rented a convertible, well, my now wife. And I remember stopping along the way somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles. And my dad was like, why don't you come join the firm? And firstly, his partners were like, that's a terrible idea. Don't do that. And I was like, I don't have a lot of options here. So yeah, let me give it a shot. And so my dad had partners, one of his partners was my uncle. And I remember the first day I walked into the law firm, You know, this was probably back in 2003. My uncle said to me, he said, do yourself a favor and walk two blocks south to Wall Street. And one of these fancy finance guys that you grew up with, go be their intern because you're going to make more money and work less. And my father was like, that's a terrible idea. Don't do that. And I literally was like, OK, what should I do here? And I was like, let me stick it out. They graciously gave me this tiny little closet like room in the back. And I was there for three months and. One of the attorneys came into my office and brought me two boxes and he said, you're going to be trying this case in about a month. And I was like, I don't know the first thing about trying cases. What are you talking about? And he's like, yes, good luck. Nobody else wants to try the case. You're the lowest guy on the totem pole. Have a blast. And I'll never and you never forget your first case. Right. So that's just I remember it was Judge Frieden. It was Judge Sally Manzanet, who is now in the appellate division in the first department. And the case, I remember the case vividly. It involved a It involved a grocery bagger. And every time he would come home to his building on Elder Avenue in the Bronx, the locks were broken in the front door, right? And people would come in and they would beat him and take his money. And on this particular case, they beat him with a baseball bat. And he suffered a hematoma. And I remember the name of the landlord very, very well. And I got a $3.9 million verdict on that very first trial.
Host David Schnurman: Wow.
Justin Blitz: Now, there's a caveat to it. Well, they appealed it because I said some things that I didn't know I was not allowed to say. And I went over the line. And I remember saying I had a whole cross-examination about this landlord who lived in this fancy house up in White Plains and how he would never bring his son down to Elder Avenue. And he knew about these locks being broken. And he didn't care because these people were below him sort of thing. And I remember going to the appellate division and listening to the argument. And I remember thinking to myself, oh yeah, we're not winning this. The verdict was overturned. The case ended up settling for a lot less, but I caught the bug. And I really discovered that I wanted to try cases and I had no idea. And that's how it took off.
Host David Schnurman: Your uncle, even though you crossed the line when you first got that verdict, The whole firm must have just been like, who is this guy?
Justin Blitz: I remember calling. These were the days of payphones. And I remember calling from the courthouse. And my father was in the conference room with all of his partners having an attorney meeting. And I always pictured what my dad did when I said, he put me on speaker, he said, how did it go? And I said, 3.9 million for us. And I remember the sound like it was yesterday. And the sound was like my dad hitting the table and he goes, Hot damn. And that a boy. And I remember the noise. And I always pictured what his head was. And I also pictured what his partners must have been thinking. Like, oh, it looks like we got a keeper here. And that was my foray into this world of personal injury and trial work.
Host David Schnurman: And, you know, it's… I gotta tell you, sorry for interrupting, but I got so emotional during that story. What a story. What an origin story. and description. And what so many people who are in law school go through, they, for whatever reason, whether pushed or inspired, they go to law school. And by the second year, they're sort of at a loss of where to go. And there's a loss of opportunities of where to go. And of course, not everybody has an opportunity of a father who's in a law firm. But even that, you weren't sure you wanted to do. And then when you got there, being told by your uncle to essentially hit the road, Yeah. Unbelievable. And so.
Justin Blitz: Yeah. And, you know, thank you. And the really it really when, you know, you look back after now, I'm 22 years into this and my father's not with us. And, you know, I I I think about that moment all the time. And that started out with to this day, when I get a verdict, even though he's been not with us for now over seven years, my first immediate reaction is always to pick up the phone and call him. And I did for years and years and years till he passed. But the story actually, it actually gets even, so there were younger associates there, one in particular junior partner, really didn't like me. Sure. And, you know, thought that he had worked his way up in here, I was the son of the guy whose name was on the door coming in. And I took that verdict in the end of September of that year. And then in December, They had a big Christmas party. They used to have this big Christmas party at this fancy steakhouse down in Wall Street. And one of the junior partners punched me in the face. And the entire judiciary of the state of New York was there. And I remember being outside, walking to my now wife, but at the time girlfriend's house, And I was in tears. And I was like, I don't think I can do this here. This guy just punched me for no reason. I'm so embarrassed. I embarrassed my father. And I was like, I don't know if this is going to work out. And I went back, and my wife and girlfriend was like, That's ridiculous. And she talked me off the ledge and got me to put my pants on that Monday morning and go back into that office and literally fight my way through. And then, you know, you fast forward, um, five years later. And I had a feeling that this gentleman who had punched me in the face, I had a feeling my father started not being well. And we had to start thinking about him doing something else. His mind was escaping him and he was beginning the, he was starting to show the beginning symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. And I had a feeling that this guy was taking money. And I had a very strong inclination and I went to the accountant's office, and I spent about six months going through all the numbers. It turned out I was right. It turned out that I then left the firm. I took my dad with me, and I sued that guy. We went through an entire arbitration. the firm after 34 years, it closed up its doors nine months after I left. And I won that arbitration. And I won that arbitration, and I obtained a judgment. And this attorney who had taken this money, he pled poverty. And it's like, I can't pay the judgment. But he took My father had started the two largest and oldest cases against the city of New York for landfills. There was a Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. There was a Pelham Bay landfill up in the Bronx. And he represented a whole bunch of young people who lived around the landfill and had gotten cancer. OK. And. The partner who had taken the money took those cases. And I waited and I waited. And. Three years ago. So now you fast forward over, I waited over a decade, almost a decade and a half, right? And I was walking to work and my wife calls me and she says, you know, I just heard on New York One that the city of New York resolved the landfill case for $34 million. And I said, I got to call you back. And I'd been sitting on this judgment for a decade and a half. My father had passed away by then and sure enough, he had settled the case and I came calling and it was about a year ago now after very intense negotiations with his attorney that I got paid on the judgment. Wow. I took that money and I shared it with my siblings. My uncle had passed away by then and he has a number of kids. And I took that money and I split it with not just my siblings and my uncle's siblings, children, but their kids and my father's grandkids. So everybody who was a heir to my dad got a little something. And it was like closure of the whole experience. And sorry, I digress. But oh, yeah, it's, it's kind of an unbelievable story when you think about it. And
Host David Schnurman: I'm in shock, right? First of all, I'm glad to hear that there's no statute of limitations on a judgment like that.
Justin Blitz: Nope, no statute. And yeah, this is how it all happened. And that judgment stayed in my desk for a couple of years after my dad had passed. And it was very hard, frankly, Dave, to get closure on the whole thing until that concluded.
Host David Schnurman: Just a year ago, you were talking about it concluded.
Justin Blitz: We've just finished it up a year ago. It's like one of those things where, you know, it's like I just had a gut feeling this guy was not doing them right. And I was right about it. And I and, you know, for me to back then, this is over a decade ago for me to go through an entire arbitration. I mean, it was very intense. It was very expensive. It was very, very antagonistic. And, you know, And I just stuck with it and stuck with it and stuck with it. But I don't regret a moment of the time that I spent at my father's firm. Not a moment. And then when I did end up starting my own firm, and my dad came over with us. And I then, when I started my own firm, I didn't have many files and I just wanted to try cases. I just wanted to get experience. I spent five years trying cases for a guy who had a lot of cases in Queens. all I did was just take verdict after verdict after verdict, must have taken over a hundred verdicts. This was the time when if anyone's practicing and listening, there was a judge named Marty Redholtz who's no longer on the bench, but he was a guy who was, he would have me, I would be taking a verdict on the third floor and I'd be picking a jury on the first floor and I'd have a witness to cross-examine in the middle of a trial on the fourth floor, literally three trials at one time, this guy was just like, sending me out, sending me out, sending me out. And my father went to every single one of those case trials. And he would sit back, and he would sit with the client. And I think back now, those, those times were so precious. And I'm so fortunate that I got that, like added time with him.
Host David Schnurman: Yeah.
Justin Blitz: You know, and he really, you know, he wasn't what he was, you know, before he had gotten ill, but occasionally he would just come up with this like, little brilliant thing where, you know, I would finish a witness and I'd be like, Dad, what's up? What's going on? And he'd be like, you know, ask him this, ask him this. And I would ask him that. And like, sure enough, I was like, God, you know.
Host David Schnurman: Well, I can tell you this. Obviously at that time, you know how proud your father was of you, of seeing you do what you did, seeing you have the strength to build your own practice. And I know, your father, you know, wherever he is and whatever that is, how proud he is of you for what you did, how you held on to that and how you did that and how you how you shared it. And, you know, I know obviously how much he meant to you and how close you guys were. And so I really thank you for sharing that on this podcast, because I think I don't know. there's something valuable in that, in what you did there and how you did it. And I'm sure you're, if I'm feeling the emotion, you have to be feeling the emotion just sharing it.
Justin Blitz: Yeah, well, thank you for saying that. And I do cherish those times, but for, my father was, he was of the old school generation. And I always said, actually, because my uncle was an excellent attorney as well, and they were so different, the two of them. And my father would just spend hours and hours and hours and hours preparing for trial. And if you went on his desk, there were papers everywhere and he would write everything down with his lefty crappy handwriting. And my uncle had the cleanest desk. and my uncle didn't write anything down really. My uncle would not spend all weekend and all night. I always said if you took an attorney and put the best qualities of each of them and put them together, It would be like the perfect lawyer. You know what I mean? But it wasn't just my father and my uncle. They had other partners that were absolutely brilliant. And I consider myself extremely highly trained. And I can tell the difference. immediately between guys, my colleagues, who did not have the benefit of being highly trained. And it has made such a difference to me. And I see it literally almost every day. And it's like the best advice I can give someone who wants to start out in this world, this personal injury world, is to just find a guy who knows what they're talking about and cares and carry his bags and listen.
Host David Schnurman: Her bags, too.
Justin Blitz: Her bags, absolutely. Some of the best attorneys I've had see the women, you know.
Host David Schnurman: I think that's a really good transition to the second part that I want to dive into. And that's why I don't like to have a script because you don't know where you're going to end up. But I think that's a really good transition because so just what I didn't say in the beginning, we know each other because we went to college together. So that was action. And at some point, you know, and I my first episode of Lawyers Who Learn, if you haven't had a chance to watch it, I interview my, and this is for you and anyone who's listening, I interview my dad about the origin story of Lawline. And difference, some similarities, but much different. But at some point when I was building up Lawline in the early days, we got reconnected. And we were connected, but somehow, I don't even truly remember how that happened. But at one point, I asked, do you want to teach a course? Or you reached out to me about teaching a course. And that was early on. And I think over the years, I don't know, more than half a dozen courses, somewhere between half a dozen and maybe a dozen courses you've taught with us. I don't know.
Justin Blitz: Oh, I think it was more. I think it was close to like 30 courses. I loved doing it. And I always emulated you because you really were an entrepreneur and you were able to take this personal injury world that both of our fathers came from, and then sort of approach it from this way, and this way, and you, you know, that's fantastic. I mean, it really is.
Host David Schnurman: I'll just, I'll just share just for the 32nd origin story, just in case that nobody wants to watch the first one or doesn't have time. What was really interesting about Lawline, and I'll share it with you, is so in 1999, my dad, so my dad always lectured for the bar associations, and I'm sure your dad did too, and I know you do as well. And when Sealy became mandatory in New York was 1999 or so, And he had this idea to take it online. And we were the first provider to get approved for CLE. And we actually worked with accrediting bodies to come up with the rules to do that. But unfortunately, two years later, the dot-com market crashed. This is still during the dial-up space. And so it never really got to where it wanted to. And so by 2006, while my mom and my dad's partner at the time wanted him to shut it down, he just kept up a sight on there. And it wasn't doing a lot. It was doing $1,000 a month. But the fact that I was doing anything with no marketing, with no promotion, was just interesting to me. And when I was in law school, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. And I'd started a public access TV show at 2007. And I was interviewing entrepreneurs. One of the first ones I interviewed was Simon Sinek, actually, when he was just starting out about how to start a business. And I just had this idea. I was like, what if I stopped interviewing entrepreneurs and I started interviewing lawyers? And I turned those into CLE courses. And so my third year of law school, I set up my schedule. So I was only going to school two days a week. Three days a week, I hired a high school intern and took $5,000 to rebuild the site. And I caught up a deal with my dad and his partner and my mom that I would essentially take the name LawLime, say we've been around since 1999 because this way we had the accreditation, and build up the company from there.
Justin Blitz: Oh, and where did you build it? I mean, I can't tell you. to this day, colleagues still come up to me and say, you know, Lawline is, it's the premier CLE place to go. And I mean, I just remember when I was doing the lectures, I would come to your beautiful office and you had this real operation that was just so impressive to me. And I got calls when I was doing lectures for you, Dave, I mean, it was almost weekly. I was getting calls from attorneys like, hey, just want to bounce something off you. Hey, I listened to your lecture. And I think that hasn't changed, which is incredibly impressive.
Host David Schnurman: One of the things I'm thinking, thank you so much. And it's obviously where I was getting at, and I'll go back to the theme of like, you're an amazing mentor and you have the teach, the ability to teach. And one of the things I've been thinking about is because of rules and regulations, we just came up with sort of a process. Certain states, every two years, you've got to take a course down and Some states are a little bit more lenient, but some courses that are evergreen law, I want to, even if we can't put it up for Sealy credit, like yours, for example, I just think people are missing out on this amazing content that we have, that we chucked down because of regulation. But there's a thought, these archive costs courses that are evergreen law, maybe just putting them back up there, just even forget the Sele credit just for the value of what's there, because now all of our courses have full transcripts, they have full materials, they're all searchable through AI. And I was curious in your thoughts on that.
Justin Blitz: I think it would be a wonderful idea. I spent a lot of time preparing for those lectures. And it's almost like, and I'm not just saying this because I'm tooting my own horn, but like, so I would try, I would do a lecture for you how to try your first case. Okay. And honestly, if I was trying my first case, I would watch that lecture. And there's just, and it's not just me, there's so many guys that- Here's an idea.
Host David Schnurman: Yeah. Let's just, by the way, my team hates that I'm doing these podcasts now because every time I have a, somebody on, I come up with an idea I want to implement. But so here's the thought. What if we took a couple of those that you did? And before it started, before it starts, we do a one minute or two minute video of you saying, guys, I filmed this five years ago. Nothing is different. This is exactly what you need to know. And here's what the main points of this is. Enjoy this program. If you're doing your first case, just these three parts, make sure you listen to these three parts in the course. Enjoy. Because I think that would help. Because one of the other things is people are like, well, this was filmed five years ago. It can't be good anymore. But if you give a little bit of an update in the beginning, maybe you say, Because I think that's what a lot of programs do. They just do the same program every year because they have to, and they just update three things.
Justin Blitz: It's almost like there's some topics that I recall. I remember I would do a lecture on how to do an effective cross-examination. That doesn't change. How to ask a question properly hasn't changed from my father's days. Now, I do think we live in a different world. Um, and I think that, you know, it's like how I try cases now has changed. We jurors these days, because frankly, I believe because of social media, instant gratification there where, you know, it's like you're flipping and you want to, it's that instant, you know, so I've had to readjust. And I've had to adjust, you know, gone are the days where you keep a doctor on the stand talking about medicine for two days straight.
Host David Schnurman: Such a great point. Oh my God. I was an intern for Judge Shulman. I don't know if you ever heard of Judge Shulman. And there was a case about asbestos on subway trains and subway cars. And so I was sitting in listening to the whole thing. it was three days of testimony about the intricacies of these subway cars and how they're made up and where asbestos comes from. And I'm thinking, I'm like, you're talking to a jury of 12 people who are not experts in this, like this is way too much information. And that was 15 years ago.
Justin Blitz: It's so true. And one thing that I think is even more true today than back then is jurors. don't particularly care about the details. You know, it's like when I'm reviewing for trial with a client and he's like, oh, I don't remember if I saw that doctor in March or in June of 2020, 2021. And I'm like, they don't care. They don't care. They want to know, are you being honest with them?
Host David Schnurman: It's interesting. Yeah, because. Also, in this polarized time, And to your point with social media, facts don't matter as much anymore. I don't wonder if you're seeing that.
Justin Blitz: I think that one thing has remained constant, and I don't think that it will change. To me, it doesn't matter what county you are in, what state you're in, frankly. I think the number one thing that doesn't change, including in these polarized times, is you have to be brutally honest. And jurors will always respect that honesty. And that honesty, it's two parts. And it's just like in life. And it's just like in relationships. And it's just like what I tell my kids. Be honest with people and establish a connection, a human connection. And those two things are so key. And if you do that, if you really establish that connection, and if a juror thinks that you are being brutally honest, and that's an important two words, and that could also only be done by the third factor, which is what you do preparing for trial. is you have to have the ability to learn to truly listen. Listening to someone and that doesn't mean like listening, really listening. I'm with you. Not waiting for the person to finish their answer because you have 20 more questions. In fact, I tell young lawyers all the time, I'm like, forget your follow-up questions. Ask your follow-up questions based on what they are telling you.
Host David Schnurman: By the way, let's just be clear. This is a skill in life. And I think it's why I love not having a script for a podcast. Obviously you I know, but if I don't know somebody I'll have a basic thing, but I'd rather just have a conversation.
Justin Blitz: Of course.
Host David Schnurman: Because interviews are not natural.
Justin Blitz: You know what you're talking about right now, by the way? You're not just talking about a podcast, you're talking about a really good direct examination, a trial. I do that all the time. And then I have my clients come up to me and they say, I didn't get the script. We haven't gone over. And I'm like, we've spent eight days together. I already know about your life. I've been listening. And that's our direct exam. You know what I mean?
Host David Schnurman: Let me if I just yeah trying to kiss I want to respect your time as well is just on that one point and then we'll sort of unfortunately wrap up in a minute or two, but is. One of the things that I remember from my dad, and I know we've talked about this, is the amount of energy and time that you need to do to fully prepare for trial. And I remember when I was a kid, I would be sitting on one side, I would be acting out the deposition with him, and I'd be reading through that. And for when he had a trial, I wouldn't see him for days on end, like 12 hours a day, just reading everything. And it got to a point where around 15 years ago or so or something like that, he decided to move, continue doing other stuff. And he sort of left. He stopped doing trials and started actually referring a lot of cases. How do you like Is that is it still take as much energy from you as it did 20 years ago? And do you see a burnout component happening at some point or not even burnout? OK, when I'm 50, when I'm whatever time frame, I don't want to do as many cases.
Justin Blitz: A thousand percent. I think it's one of the hardest things to do in the world. I think that to be good at this trying cases, you have to give it all of your energy, and you have to be extremely passionate, and you have to truly learn your client's story in order to tell their story most effectively. And that takes a lot of time. And there does come to a point where father time, because we can't be father time, it becomes so mentally and physically exhausting. And it really does. And it's just because you don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't see your family. You are totally 100% inundated in this trial. And there's no doubt about it. And I talk about it with my son all the time, who's 13 years old, and he's such an intelligent young guy. And I tell him, I'm like, I mean, look, I'm, you know, I'm 47 years old, I've been trying cases now for over two decades, back to from that original one, the story I told you about. And, you know, I, I frankly, I don't see myself trying cases. After another 10 years, there's no way I just I couldn't do it. And you have to be at the top of your game. And you have to be able to think on your feet. I'm fortunate I've had this great training. I've gone to Jerry Spence, he has a ranch out in Wyoming, and I'm a graduate of the Trial Lawyers College. and we learned how to incorporate psychoanalytical processes. And I watch all the, I love all the greats, you know, from Kenan and Ball and the reptile theory and Rick Friedman. I've gone to his seminars and I'm sitting on my desk right now is the Mo Levine on advocacy book and Louie Nizer, like, and, you know, It's a constant process of learning. It's a constant process of studying the greats and then incorporating all of that into the particular case It really is. It's the greatest high and it's the lowest low. And those highs and lows can change literally in a day. You can have an amazing morning and you're like, I'm winning this case, I'm winning this case. And then you have a terrible afternoon and you know, it's taxing.
Host David Schnurman: Totally. And I saw with my dad and obviously, yeah, all the skill sets you need from communication to research to organization to structure to sales to negotiation with the other side.
Justin Blitz: You know, and I'll say this though, David, just to end, you know, my dad was the same way. And I used to remember not seeing him for, you know, times and just endless, you know, hours where weekends. So I have a 13 year old and I have a eight year old. And I made a conscious decision probably around COVID where I decided that my window with my children is small. My son, a couple of years, he's gone to college, out to start his life. My daughter, when she's my son's age, I already see it. He's, no dad, I wanna hang out with my friends, I wanna do this. I made a conscious decision to spend as much time with them as possible. because I realized that when you are at your deathbed, nobody says, I wish I worked harder or I wish I tried more cases. Now, I love what I do and I'm so fortunate that this is my passion and that I'm good at it and I'm trained at it. But it's been a big adjustment for me to really carve out that time for my family because I didn't want to repeat what I saw my father doing. And if that means that I try less cases now per year, I still try cases, and I want them to see there's a time where I have to work, and this is what I'm good, and this is what I do. But maybe I don't take maybe as many cases as I did before, because I have a very firm understanding, I think, of what's truly important. And getting that balance down was really hard for me. I mean, I can imagine it's hard for you. It's hard for guys. anyone who succeeds at whatever they do. But I think it's important to be said because, especially if there's any young attorneys watching this, you're going to start a family, you're going to get married. The first 10 years of my career, I say my son's first seven years of his life, I didn't get home from 9 PM. I missed a lot. You know, so it's like why I don't say no to my son when he says, Dad, can we go to a net game or, you know, my daughter wants to go wherever it's like. And that doesn't mean that you still can't be great at what you do, but finding that balance is key.
Host David Schnurman: Oh, totally. And I would agree. And I tried to do that as much as possible. I still can't compete, obviously, with my amazing wife. Right. Me neither. But I did come home from a trip and my kids did come down and they were asking me a lot of questions about the trip. And for me, the fact that they were even asking questions and were like sitting with me when I was eating, I was like, OK, that's a that's a good win.
Justin Blitz: You know, I told my son that I was doing this. Last night, we went for some ice cream in the rain. And said, a buddy's old friend from college, he's got this great program, I'll be on his podcast. And he I said, he said, What are you talking about? And I said, I'm not sure. But Dave had mentioned to me, maybe we'll get into a little bit about your dad. And, you know, I said, so maybe I'll talk about that. And then he said to me last night when we were walking into the lobby, he goes, you know, you talk about your dad and you talk about the differences. I want to watch that. And I was like that to me, it's like, oh, you know, what's your son's name? Julian Julian.
Host David Schnurman: Julian, I was originally going to close. You took my closing, Julian. I was originally going to close that this is a podcast that I would recommend you share with your family and your kids because I'm your friend and I'm proud of you. And I can imagine how your son would feel after watching this. So, Julian, your dad loves what he does and it's clear. And I think that's I grew up seeing both my parents love what they do. And I knew that had to be ingrained in my life. And I'm sure you will as well. What's your other child's name again? Rosie. Rosie. If you want to watch this at some point. I'm sure you will you will get this from your parents as well.
Justin Blitz: So well, you know, can I just so from my perspective, I just want to say to you, David, you've always been a supporter of mine. And I really, really appreciate that. And I thank you for that. And I know that you recently suffered a loss. And my My heart goes out to you. It really does. And I can only tell you that I know for sure that she was incredibly proud of everything that you have accomplished.
Host David Schnurman: And you're talking about my mom who passed away in May. And I think probably that's heightened my emotion to everything that you're saying right now.
Justin Blitz: Losing a loved one like that, I think it really does put things in perspective in a lot of respects. Maybe if me and you did this podcast 10 years ago, it wouldn't have gone this route.
Host David Schnurman: hundred thousand percent, you know, dad, you know, he's doing he's he's keeping busy. And I'm going to I was actually going to send this to everybody to send this to my dad because I think he would enjoy watching this. But, yeah, busy. He's he's always had an optimistic, positive mindset. And there's nothing to put that to the challenge. Are you full of it or is that what you're trying to do? And obviously, he's like we all are struggling, but he's still he's still leading by example. I'm actually going to see him next week. And he's leading by example. And that's the best that we can do. And that's that's what you're doing. And I hope whoever is watching this gets a full sense that if you're a new attorney, you've got a full arc of what it's like. over, I don't know, what is it, 20 years? 22 years. Yeah, we're getting up there. Scary, right? But you know what? This is, our best times are ahead of us. I'll end on this because it was a conversation I've had a couple of times recently, and it's very normal. And I don't mean to start a new conversation, but it's very normal at this stage in our life. to be concerned if we've already peaked if we've read if the if our best days are behind us. And and it's the traditional midlife crisis. And and I think And I think in some ways, some things you're not going to be able to recreate but I, I truly believe like I think about you and I think about me and anybody listening to this was in their mid 40s, our best days are truly ahead of us. And I think one of the things that we can do one of the things that might change like. For me, as an example, maybe I still will hold on to it. It was I want to impact the people I want to inspire and empower. And I think if you hold on to that too tight, you might think your best days are behind you if you never hit that. that area where only 0.1% of people end up hitting, or whatever that number is. But it's how we define sort of what the next 20 years look like. But we've gained a lot of gray hairs and experience, at least I've got gray hairs. I'm looking forward to working with you and collaborating over the next five years, and then we can go past there. But I think we're gonna do some great things together, so.
Justin Blitz: I'm with you, and I appreciate you saying that, and thanks for having me on this. This has been great.
Host David Schnurman: And thanks for anybody who's gotten this far. And we will continue, hopefully, start to archive that idea.
Justin Blitz: And here, just a last self-promotion. We not only have good hats, but you know. You know what you're doing. We know what we're doing, yeah.
Host David Schnurman: For sure, for sure. Thanks, Dave.
Justin Blitz: All right, thank you.
"Justin Blitz Featured on the "Lawyers Who Learn" Podcast"
This post was co-written and transcribed by Evan Combs at USATILITY
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