About
About David
David Brauns
I started Brauns Law in February of 2008 after spending years working for several large insurance defense firms. Insurance defense firms are law firms hired by insurance companies to defend their Insureds (i.e. the people they insure like nursing homes, nurses, doctors, etc.). I was an attorney at one of the largest medical malpractice defense firms in Atlanta where I worked in their nursing home defense group and their birth trauma group. I learned how defense firms with unlimited money and resources defend cases where millions of dollars are at stake. While it may be cliche, I was there just to learn my enemy, knowing my conscience would not allow me to defend people who hurt others for a whole career.
Here are some more insights into who I am and my vision…
What is your opinion regarding clients educating themselves on legal issues?
I am a firm believer in teaching and informing my client about all aspects of their case. One look at all the information on this website will confirm this devotion. An involved, knowledgeable client only makes for a better case and a better attorney-client relationship. My clients will only talk to me, not paralegals or secretaries.
Are you willing to coach clients who want to represent themselves?
I certainly respect a potential client’s wishes to represent themselves. In small personal injury cases such as car accidents most people can handle it themselves. But nursing home cases are different. There is absolutely no way you can handle it yourself. There are always defenses to be made and they all revolve around medical causation, something only experts can counter.
Why did you decide to be a lawyer?
I originally went to law school to become a trial lawyer. I was attracted to the strategy and adversarial nature of our legal system. I devoted my law school experience to learning everything I could about trying cases. After working for insurance companies, my reasons for wanting to be a trial lawyer changed dramatically. The 70-hour work weeks of defending individuals and companies who hurt other people left me broken-hearted and devoid of justice. I simply could not look at my career as only a job in which I had to argue and advocate for the side paying me. It had to be about more. Now I am able to have a professional career that gives me purpose. I leave the office each day knowing I am helping my clients find justice against companies and insurance companies who only care about money, not right or wrong.
What work experience and education helps you be a better lawyer?
Many lawyers go straight from college to law school and then learn from other lawyers who have taken the same route, thereby repeating some of the mistakes of their predecessors. Before becoming an attorney, I worked in several Fortune 500 companies and start-up software companies. This instilled a whole set of organizational and communication skills I think some lawyers lack by the very nature of their career paths. Task management is critically important to being a great trial attorney, but is hardly discussed. Flawlessly executing litigation sends a strong message that you are prepared and will always result in increasing the value of your case. At some level part of being an attorney is about customer service and that requires organization and communication skills.
Why did you decide on your primary area of practice?
I do what I do because I like helping people. It is not about the money. If I help people and do good work, the money will follow. Also, I have a strong sense of justice and have made it my mission to hold nursing homes and insurance companies accountable. I started my career as an insurance defense attorney – defending those sued in personal injury lawsuits. I told myself I would do it for four to five years and then flip sides to help the injured. I didn’t make it that long.
One night I was watching a documentary with my wife about the meat packing industry. There was a scene in the movie where a worker was cleaning out a huge, two-story meat grinder using a hose. The surface was wet and he slipped and fell off the machine. The movie cut to the hospital where the man’s wife was in the ER waiting room and in tears. All she wanted to know was whether her husband would be okay. Two people in suits walked over to her. One introduces herself as the Risk Manager of the company where the lady’s husband was hurt while the other gentleman was a lawyer. They started the conversation apologizing. Then the attorney said that while they are sorry for his accident, they know the woman’s husband had a back injury in the past so they were not going to pay him for the unsafe work environment. My wife gasped. I turned to her and said “I am that guy. That is what the insurance companies make me do.” I knew from that point on what my true calling was.
What do you like best about your career?
The answer is that I simply enjoy helping people and holding insurance companies accountable for their actions. Most corporations and corporate owned nursing homes do not have a conscience. They are driven by putting profits before people. In today’s times it seems corporations have all the power and control in our society. Trial lawyers exist to hold them accountable and make sure they are brought to justice. Say what you want about lawyers and “tort reform” but lawsuits have changed behavior, whether it is Ford making better cars, making swimming pools safer, getting harmful pharmaceutical drugs off the shelves, or getting nursing homes to staff their facilities correctly to name a few.
What are your strengths and style?
I am highly organized and an effective communicator. I am driven by the belief I cannot lose if I am prepared. Lack of preparation is a lack of self-respect and reveals an attorney who does not care for his/her client. It is inevitable in the practice of law that you will be confronted with people who are smarter than you. Preparation is the key to prevailing.
Personal Interests:
I enjoy spending time outside with my wife and daughter. I am an avid non-fiction reader and enjoy learning a little about a lot of things. I also enjoy going to the gym, gardening, and mountain biking.
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