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By Mia Watkins | For the Birmingham Times
Attorney Gerald Clark Brooks Jr. views himself as a public servant.
“I think many in the public view the legal profession as this grand thing,” he said. “We’re servants. We are there to serve our clients in their time of need. It’s not about me, the attorney; it’s not about how great I am. It’s not about my great experience or what results I get. It’s about being there for my client in their time of need.”
Brooks founded Serious Injury Law Firm, which specializes in personal injury law, with Chuck James II in 2013. Their goal was to enrich their communities while also giving up-and-coming minority attorneys a training ground where they can show up as their full selves and do their best work.
“There are not a lot of firms that look like us,” he said. “We wanted to establish a practice that was Black-owned, that was capable of providing the highest quality of legal services to our clients and that was a part of the community that we serve.”
The firm has offices in Birmingham, Montgomery and two locations in Georgia.
A Mother’s Intuition
But Brooks didn’t always see the legal profession as his first career choice. He started his undergraduate studies at the University of Alabama in engineering. He said his mother knew better.
“Growing up, my mom used to tell me all the time, ‘You need to be a lawyer,’” he recalled. “I was always the devil’s advocate. I would always argue the other side of anything, and it’s amazing how mom knows.”
His upbringing in Livingston, Alabama, in the poorest region in the state, inspired him to work harder for his clients.
“I think seeing what people went through firsthand, you can’t help but want to fight for those people who are not taken seriously, who are not believed when they show up to the emergency department, who don’t necessarily have the education to know when they’re being done wrong. It has made me a more zealous advocate.”
The death of his father in a car accident when Brooks was in middle school also gave him a deep understanding of loss.
“I’ve always had a desire to help others,” he said. “I was active in civic organizations like 4-H. I won’t say that losing my dad made me want to be a lawyer, but what I can say is that loss has made me a much better lawyer. It has made me much more empathetic than I might be otherwise to what families go through when a loved one is lost.”
He decided to attend law school his junior year after talking to a few of his Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. brothers who attended. He said he hasn’t looked back since, graduating with his law degree in 2002.
Learning the Other Side
Brooks started his law career on the other side of the aisle, working for a Birmingham insurance defense firm. He quickly realized that it wasn’t his calling and that he wanted to advocate for people instead. However, he said he learned how to approach cases as insurance companies would.
“It provided invaluable experience as it relates to being able to systematically evaluate a case for merit, strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “It provided me with insight into how likely the attorneys that I oppose now are thinking and what their strategy is. I think some of the best claims attorneys are those who practice on both sides of the bar.”
The Client Decides
He said he takes his direction from his clients. Over his career, Brooks has focused on wrongful death, medical malpractice, defective product and severe injury cases. He’s won multiple seven-figure settlements for clients.
“My job is to give them my advice, then do what they tell me to do,” he said. “The decision rests with the client as it relates to whether or not I advise them if this is a case we ought to try, or this is a case that they should look at settling. Each case is different. It depends on facts and on the client’s willingness to go through the ordeal of a trial. Trials can be very emotional. They can be traumatic in and of themselves, having to relive the worst moments of someone’s life.”
His experience and desire to help were evident this year in a memorable medical malpractice case involving a Black man in his 30s who received inadequate care from DCH Hospital. The man presented with sharp chest pains and couldn’t feel his legs. According to the suit, the patient was tested for drugs despite showing classic symptoms of aortic dissection. He wasn’t allowed pain medication and died.
“A moment that I’ll never forget is taking a deposition of one of the emergency room nurses, and I asked about any conversations that she had with the patient,” Brooks said. “After being in the emergency room for several hours, a doctor finally listened to him and did the necessary testing. He was understandably upset; he was saying, ‘They act like they don’t believe me.’ Based on that delay, he ended up having his legs and hips amputated and ultimately died a horrific death. It was preventable had the medical providers simply listened to him.”
Initially, the man’s mother didn’t want to have to relive her son’s death.
“She did not want to go through a trial,” Brooks said. “I told her I thought this was a story that needs to be told. She decided that she was going try it and did want to try it because she promised her son that she would fight for him.”
Several other defendants in the case settled out of court, but the hospital went to trial, where the jury issued a $15 million verdict for the man’s family.
Sowing Seeds for Future Generations
Brooks said cases like that one help tell his clients’ stories and keep companies from hiding behind confidential settlements, an opportunity that he is grateful for.
“I’ve been blessed,” he said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to practice law, a profession that I think is noble, and being able to sow seeds in the next generation.”
The firm’s commitment to that includes giving away scholarships and hosting essay contests for students.
He recalled emceeing the Mr. and Miss Tuskegee University pageant a couple of years ago and being approached by a scholarship recipient after the event.
“A young lady came up to me and said, ‘I don’t know if you remember me, but I was one of the people who received a scholarship from you. I just want to thank you. It made a really big difference,’” he remembered. “I can’t tell you how much that made my day.”
Learn more about Serious Injury Law Firm at seriouslawyers.com.
