Page 6 - First Coast Vol 3 No 6

LITIGATOR SPOTLIGHT
FRAZ AHM ‘Simply Listen’
AALM: What drew you into litiga- tion?
Ahmed: I became involved in the mock trial program in my second year of law school and knew at that time I wanted to be a trial attorney. Judge John Guy was my rst mock trial coach, which probably has some- thing to do with my passion of al- ways wanting to be in the courtroom. In my rst mock trial competition, which took place in 2005, I played the role of an assistant state attorney and I remember the fact pattern to this day. e rst line of my opening state- ment, “I’m going to make you pay for getting me into this mess.”
AALM: What drew you to your cur- rent rm? How would you describe the culture there? How would you de- scribe your role within the rm?
Ahmed: It is such a privilege to work at a rm with the reputation, level of professionalism, and integrity as Coker Law. What really drew me to the rm are the people. We have 16 attorneys, but we are one unit. We all help each other. It is a rm that has the resources and the power to try any case we believe should to be tried. Another important factor was when I spoke with Howard about joining the rm, he told me about his vision for the future. He didn’t talk about the history of the rm; he focused on the future and continuing to build the preeminent personal injury trial rm in the state.
AALM: Of the cases you’ve worked on, what has stood out most in your mind?
Ahmed: A recent traumatic brain injury trial posed some challenges due to the nature of the brain injury and the negative radiographic nd- ings we had to overcome. Our client su ered what is referred to as a per- manent “mild” traumatic brain injury. It is really a misnomer because the term “mild” does not correlate to the degree of impact the brain injury can have on a person’s daily life. A “mild” traumatic brain injury can have sig- ni cant consequences on a person’s life. In that case, our client only fol- lowed up with the neurologist a hand- ful of times, and the reading radiolo- gist did not observe evidence of trau- matic brain injury on the MRI. How- ever, MRIs are not sensitive enough to detect the thousands of brain cells that are killed, sometimes referred to as cell suicide, when someone su ers a traumatic brain injury. Although the science has come a long way in the past decade regarding the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury, there is still
a lot of research and development that needs to be done in diagnosing brain injuries from a radiographic stand- point. Fortunately, we were able to overcome the obstacles and obtain a multimillion-dollar verdict on behalf of our client.
AALM: What has being in court- room taught you most about being a good litigator?
Ahmed: Listen. Listen to the judge. Listen to the jury. Listen to the wit- ness. Listen to the opposing attorneys. We need to stop focusing so much on what our next question or next point is going to be and simply listen. So of- ten we are focused on what we want to say that we miss great opportunities when a witness or opposing attorney says something that can change the dynamic of the case if it is properly developed.
AALM: Did you have a change in career paths? What led to that change? Ahmed: I started my career at a large, statewide insurance defense rm, which had a Jacksonville o ce and worked there for close to seven years. It did provide the rst stepping stones to get me to where I am today. It helped me learn the medicine. It helped me get into a courtroom. It helped me understand how the insur- ance industry handles and evaluates claims. I knew I wanted to be an ad- vocate for victims, but I also knew I had to gain more experience before switching sides. My last trial with the insurance defense rm was against my former law partner. When the jury went out to deliberate, he asked to speak with me. I thought he wanted to discuss settlement, instead he asked if I wanted to work with him. at’s when I knew it was time to make the
change.
ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · FIRST COAST · VOL. 3 NO. 6 6
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