Meet John Howe: Balancing Law and Personal Triumphs in Palm Beach County

 In our latest episode of Local Living, we sit down with John Howe, a renowned personal injury attorney and former president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. John opens up about his journey from his roots as a Florida native to his impressive academic pursuits, blending an MBA with his law degree. He offers a deep dive into his early career, from his formative clerkship to his role as a public defender, revealing how these experiences shaped his dedication to personal injury law. John also debunks some common myths about personal injury attorneys, highlighting the profound, often unexpected impact they have on their clients' lives.

Join us to hear John's inspiring story and gain  insights into the rewarding nature of his work and life.

www.johnhowelaw.com
561-296-7772

Local Living is a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. Are You A Local Business, Resident, Leader or Non-Profit? If so, we would love to have you on the podcast!
Go to www.locallivingpodcast.com for all of the info.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Welcome, welcome everyone to Local Living. We are a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. I'm David Conway, your host, and with us today we have John Howe. John has been practicing law here in South Florida for over 25 years. John is a former president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. John, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 2: 0:37

Thank you, David. I'm glad to be here on your show today.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Thanks for having me. You bet it's great to have you. I was looking forward to our conversation. John, I know you're very well respected. I have the utmost respect for your profession, but I want to start off by addressing the elephant in the room for me Now you are a personal injury attorney. Is that correct? That is correct. Defend yourself, john, please, for our listeners. You know I.

Speaker 2: 1:17

I love these conversations, david. You know I've been doing this for 25 years and, as you can imagine, I've heard. You know I've been doing this for 25 years and, as you can imagine, I've heard, you know, every imaginable lawyer joke that there is out there. And you know and the funny thing is about it is every everyone who approaches me with a lawyer joke. You know, number one, they believe that I've never heard it before. And and number two, they expect, you know, like some kind of reaction.

Speaker 2: 1:57

And you know, I am, as you know, I'm very proud of my profession. You know, our profession is the foundation of our country, it's the foundation of our society and the law affects every aspect of our lives. And you know, for those who trivialize it, I like to give them a card and say give me a call when you need a lawyer. And I've gotten those calls over the years and I've been happy to help as the need arises. We help people at very low times in their lives, like when they're not just injured but, you know, they're suffering trauma, they're confused, they're overwhelmed, and and that's that's where we do our best work. And you know, in the personal injury arena, unlike several other areas, such as you know, I guess wills and estate planning and business formation the need for a personal injury lawyer is not something that's planned. It's something that's thrust upon the person in that situation and it's very important that they get good legal advice to help them through what is going to be a difficult time that will probably affect the rest of their life.

Speaker 1: 3:43

That will probably affect the rest of their life. Now I want to hear all about your business and, as I mentioned, I have nothing but the utmost respect for what you do. But can you tell us a little bit more about you?

Speaker 2: 4:02

Where are you from originally? I am a true Florida native, a true native of Palm Beach County, Florida. I was born in West Palm Beach. This is something I like to rib a lot of people about, because you ask, well, where are you from? And they say, well, I'm from Florida. And I like to ask, well, where were you born? And then you get, oh, I was born in New Jersey. But I moved here when I was five and I said, no, you're not a true native of Florida, but I am a true native of Florida. Barely my family moved here before I was born from the beautiful country of Jamaica. So I was the only person in my family who was actually born here in the States and with the exception of college and graduate school and law school in New Orleans and in Gainesville at the University of Florida go Gators, I've lived here in Palm Beach County my entire life. I've lived here in.

Speaker 1: 5:04

Palm Beach County my entire life, so I'm guessing you were a good student.

Speaker 2: 5:12

Do you remember the moment when you decided to become a lawyer? Well, you know, my background is in business. I studied finance in undergrad and before I went to law school I actually started in the MBA program. I went to law school, I actually started in the MBA program, which I then joined law school and did both degrees at the same time. And, you know, at that time I thought I might become a lawyer, but I still had a mindset towards maybe working in, you know, like a corporate legal environment, which I realize now I would have been absolutely miserable.

Speaker 2: 5:52

And it wasn't until I was in law school and I did a clerkship at a. It was actually at a large personal injury firm here in Palm Beach County that I actually got to observe on a day-to-day basis what practicing law and litigating was about and the ways, the very interesting ways that you get to help people on a daily basis in different ways. No, two days are the same. None of my work days are the same, and that's what I enjoy Everything from meeting with people, with clients, and interacting with other attorneys on the opposing side, going to court, interacting with juries, you know, members of the public. Those are all very, you know, uplifting and fulfilling experiences.

Speaker 1: 6:52

So let me back up for one second here. I hear that the first year of law school for many is the toughest, and I also I think I just heard you say you were working towards your master's and, at the same time, going to law school. Yes, okay, so we've got an underachiever, obviously. And did you, did you work for after you finished law school? Did you work for another firm for a period of time before you branched out and opened your own practice?

Speaker 2: 7:26

Well, when I first got out of law school, I passed the bar exam and I sat for an interview with the then elected public defender for Palm Beach County and he asked me you know for Palm Beach County? And he asked me you know, so, what are you doing right now? And I said nothing, you know. I just passed the bar. And he said, okay, well, you work here now. And that afternoon I was in court handling criminal defense matters and that's what I did for the first two years of my career. I tried a lot of cases during that two-year period of time, really cut my teeth. And then I went into private practice with a firm actually in Boca Raton, a small firm we were about four attorneys at the time and that's where I built my practice, largely around personal injury, criminal defense and civil litigation.

Speaker 1: 8:33

So I know that your industry is surrounded by misconceptions, myths. Can you expose some of those for us, John?

Speaker 2: 8:49

myths. Can you expose some of those for us, john? Well, you know there's a misconception that you know lawyers, you know you've heard the term, you know bottom feeders and you know with the implication that we will take on any case no matter how frivolous it is. Or you've heard the term ambulance chasers and again implying that lawyers are presenting frivolous claims and so on. And the fact of the matter is we spend quite an amount of time on the front end of cases screening the merits of those claims, because the bottom line is meritless cases are bad for business, for everyone, and we do not believe in investing our time, resources, personal injury cases, the attorneys and the firm fronts the costs for those cases. So when we put those costs in, it's because we truly believe in the merits of that case.

Speaker 1: 10:08

So you, though, are a former president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association. I know you're extremely well respected in the area. Would you venture to say that you could possibly have a more stringent screening process than a few other lawyers out there?

Speaker 2: 10:29

Yes, you know, I can tell you that Even when I was president of the Palm Beach County Bar, there were probably around 7,500 to 8,000 attorneys in Palm Beach County alone. I can't tell you how many of those are actual litigators and how many of those are personal injury attorneys, but I imagine there are quite a few. And I know I've mentioned in conversation at least on the front end of a case, we as professionals are kind of at the mercy of what we're told by the person who walks through the door, but it's incumbent upon us to screen and investigate. A good lawyer is going to be a good investigator and is going to hire a good investigator to find out the truth or as much as can be found on the front end of a case. And not every individual lawyer is going to invest that time on the front end and they might end up taking on cases that are weak in the merit department or lacking in merit altogether, and they do that at their own peril, you know, because there's nothing like getting into a case to find out that you know what you were told on the front end isn't true.

Speaker 2: 12:18

You know what you were told on the front end isn't true and you end up losing, you know, those time, resources and monetary resources that you put into that claim. So it's sometimes that can be chalked up to a lack of experience by the lawyer. You know it's no different than if you go to a doctor on the front end. You know the the medical advice and treatment that you get is going to be based in in large part on what the patient tells the doctor and you know the doctor might do some testing and later find out. You know what's really going on. But the professions are similar in that regard. You know that we're looking out to provide the best professional service that we can, provide the best professional service that we can, but until we investigate and screen those cases, we might not know what we have Now.

Speaker 1: 13:32

is there some sort of formal or informal process in which possibly the Bar Association may encourage new lawyers to have a stringent screening process in cases such as these? Yes, yes Are there guidelines or how does that work?

Speaker 2: 13:47

Well, you know, the bar requires lawyers to take continuing legal education coursework and we have reporting periods every three years, and it's a substantial amount of training that we're required to undergo. But there's nothing better than having a good mentor, and so both the Florida Bar and local voluntary bar associations, like the Palm Beach Bar, offer mentoring programs. And really and this is for educational purposes to the listeners from a personal injury screening standpoint, there are three factors that we're going to utilize on the front end of every case, and if any one of the three factors is weak or non-existent, a good lawyer is going to reject that case and turn down that claim. And the three factors are liability, meaning that you have a party or an entity that's at fault for causing the accident or incident. Number two is coverage or incident. Number two is coverage.

Speaker 2: 15:21

You know and we're talking, if it's a car accident, insurance coverage that's going to be in place. If that isn't present, then there's a large risk that you're never going to recover, because going after, say, an individual who has no assets, that's a non-starter. And then the last factor is damages, meaning that the prospective client has suffered a permanent injury. We're not in the business of bringing claims on behalf of persons who are not injured, or if it's a superficial injury. That's not what we do. So those are the three factors and that's how we evaluate the viability of a legal claim the viability of a legal claim.

Speaker 1: 16:28

So, John, I know that you're extremely dedicated to your profession, but how about you personally? When you're not working, when you're not living in the law, what do you like to do for fun? I think I see half of a basketball jersey hanging in the background. Is that an O'Neill jersey, or what do we? Got working back there.

Speaker 2: 16:46

No, I'm actually in our home office, an hour meeting of mine and my wife's home office, my wife, jamie, who is just a dynamic individual. That is actually her college basketball jersey and you haven't met Jamie, but Jamie is all of five, two and a half and she played Division One basketball at Loyola University of Maryland and that is one of her jerseys hanging up in the background behind me, of her jerseys hanging up in the background behind me. Now, if you look just in front of that jersey, you'll see a bass guitar sitting there and I do, and that is that is my playground there and we both, we both like to have jam sessions and off to my, off to my right you can't see it is a drum set and this is our makeshift music studio in here and we have quite a time. You can't see the mic stand off to the other side, or actually you can see the mic stand right in front of the guitar. So we have a great time, you know, rocking out to the wee hours. We have a four time, you know, rocking out to the wee hours.

Speaker 2: 18:01

We have a 40-year-old His name is LJ, which stands for Little John, and he's quite a character and he loves music too. He's a little young right now, but who knows what he's going to play or do with himself as well? So we have a fun household, fun family. Outside of that, I have a private pilot's license. I love aviation, and our little guy he, seems to love airplanes too. So we'll see if he decides to fly high which, by the way, that would have been my second choice of career, would be an airline pilot if I had not gone into law. So we'll see where he ends up.

Speaker 1: 18:51

Well, I think wearing that jersey would have been my first choice for a career, but I got cut from my high school basketball team so I refocused on the guitar. Music is more my lane too, so you know things are rolling for you now. You have a beautiful life. Obviously it came through when you were expressing that just a moment ago. I'm sure you had a couple challenges, though at some point Was there something or a period of your life that you came through that you draw upon now?

Speaker 2: 19:31

Yeah, absolutely. You know I mentioned earlier that my family, right before I was born, emigrated to the United States from Jamaica and you know my father, years before that, had first come to the United States as a migrant farm worker manually cutting sugar cane. So you know, I was the first in my family to go to professional school and graduate. So you can, there were times when financial resources were not abundant at all and I remember going through grad school to begin with and there was a time when, you know, financial aid and student loan aid were being delayed and it really created a very, very steep hurdle to get over. And I remember that experience with particularity because even to this day, it still stands out as a point that I make to other young people who might, you know, come from modest means. You know to say you have to be tenacious, you have to hang in there.

Speaker 2: 21:08

And I did and I got. That's what I did and I got through that situation. That's what I did and I got through that situation and I learned that you have to be an advocate for yourself at times and because, even in what I do today, that that experience has allowed me to be a better advocate for others who are going through a rough time or who are up against hurdles. And so every time someone asks that question, I go back in time to that experience of, you know, transitioning from undergraduate to grad school and having to deal with the coursework from school while you know being up against these, you know financial challenges, and I got through by going to the appropriate person and the director of the MBA program at that time, who also, you know, advocated for me, and so you know, we all get to where we are. You know successes that we achieve we don't do it on our own, and that was the lesson that I learned from that and that's the lesson I pass along to young people who ask me that very question today.

Speaker 1: 22:45

That's good stuff, john, really, really, really good stuff. I tell you, talking to you almost wants to. I feel motivated like I almost wish I could get injured or something so I could hire you Now? You do personal injury, but I'm guessing that's not all you do. You do personal injury, but I'm guessing that's not all you do.

Speaker 2: 23:15

It's not Over the course of time and beginning with that initial experience of going into private practice, I already knew criminal law, as you heard from my initial experience with the public defender. But the three areas of law that I built my practice around are personal injury, criminal defense and general civil and business litigation, and those are the three areas that I take on representation in. But for anyone listening out there I always say you know, if you have any kind of legal question or legal issue, feel free to reach out. I'm approachable, I'll always answer questions and if it's not something that I do or an area that I practice, I'd be more than happy to refer you to the appropriate legal expert.

Speaker 1: 24:27

And what is the best way to reach out, John? How can our listeners reach you?

Speaker 2: 24:32

You can always reach our office at 561-296-7772. You can also visit us on the web at johnhowlawcom it's spelled just like my name johnhowlawcom and you can also find us on social media as well Facebook, instagram, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 1: 25:00

John, it's been a great experience having you on the podcast today. I really appreciate you joining us.

Speaker 2: 25:05

Thanks for having me. I've enjoyed our conversation.

Speaker 1: 25:09

My pleasure. Once again, I'm David Conway, your host for Local Living. Thanks for joining us today and we look forward to having you back, Thank you.