Connecting the Dots...with a Good Guy (Trent Johnson)

In week 11 of "Connecting the Dots," Adam shares his early recording due to a weekend getaway to Newcastle, a first-time visit filled with anticipation. Before leaving, Adam catches up with Trent, a long-time acquaintance from the running community who specializes in personal injuries law. Dive into their conversation about the complexities of PI law, the importance of client relationships, and how Trent balances his demanding career with a commitment to fitness and family.

www.schultzlaw.com.au

Transcript

Adam: 0:00

Week 11. I made it to week 11 and it's been, I'm recording, well almost made it to week 11. I'm recording this video a little earlier because I'm away this weekend. I'm going to Newcastle, never been, just thought why not check it out so I'm going for a few nights. And so I asked a good guy, and this is all about a good guy, I asked a good guy if I could record him early this week. So that I could do all of this bit and then post it just as I hop on a plane on Friday I think I'll do it Friday So this guy I've known for, well, quite a few years actually and We've got to reconnect through the running community over the last few years And he's just one of those all around good guys that loves having a conversation with people, get to know people He's one of those guys you have a conversation with him and you see him weeks later or months later and you just Jump straight back into that conversation you were having and checks in on how you're going with there Got a lot of time for him. So I was really chuffed when he said yes So I could spend some time asking him more about what he does who he is And uh, so let's go meet a good guy

1:10

This is Trent, and while I know you as a fellow runner, we actually met a long time ago. I think you were working in Caboolture at one point, during the time I was Chamber of Commerce President and you were a lawyer then, you're a lawyer now, but you're not a normal everyday lawyer, are you? What field are you practicing? So I do all personal injuries work, so I've done that for pretty much my entire career now, so 20, 20 odd years. Yeah, wow. In the law, and I know what PI law is, but what's a good broad explanation of PI law? Jeez it most people probably don't understand it in layman's terms it's what it sounds like. So you do injuries work, but I'd say that's probably only 20 percent of what I do. Probably more there's a lot of counselling type work involved with it, a lot of client management, a lot of trying to assist people in other ways a lot of the people that I deal with struggling financially if we can assist them in any way, I need to try and find other ways to get them through to the end of their claim. So whether that's trying to get them on government benefits, whether they have a TPD claim available to them, whether they've got income protection or salary continuance type insurance, if they've got a workers comp matter, and if it's a combination of all those things, trying to arrange those so that they have this continuity of financial support until we can get them what they're, entitled to at the end of the day, which is the damages award. So yeah, in a nutshell. And what's usually happened that somebody rings you and says, I need your help? All sorts of weird and wonderful things. That's probably a bit like if you're a criminal lawyer, you would see and hear things that other people just have no idea that happens in society. We do everything from your standard sort of motor vehicle accidents and workplace injuries and things like that to serious and sexual assaults. We do civil claims for victims of that sort of stuff. Generally if you've been involved. Where someone has been injured and if it's the fault of someone else, that's the sort of stuff we do. I grew up in the era of watching television where ambulance chasers were referred to in your side of the industry. The industry's evolved a long way since then. Yeah, it has. I my family loves saying that, you're an ambulance chaser. I say look, I'm an ambulance catcher. But but in all seriousness it's not like that at all. We deal with a lot of trusted referrers. Particularly business people like yourself a lot of other lawyers, barristers, judges, that sort of stuff, refer work to us. It's like any industry. If you do good work and you're treating your clients well. And if you're not ripping them off and if you're a decent person, work will come to you. And the people that I refer work to, I think they have the same opinion of me as what I do of them. So if I can trust them and, for example, when I've, steered clients your way I know that you will look after them. I know that you won't overcharge them. And then that is a reflection on me. So if I'm referring to someone that Yeah, he's doing the wrong thing by my clients. That's a bad reflection on me and vice versa. If people are referring work to me I need to do the right thing by them. And you work for a fairly iconic, well known brand. Tell us about. Yeah so I'm a partner at Travis Schultz and Partners, Queensland based firm only started up in August 2018, a few years before I joined, but I'd actually worked for Travis and other partners about 20 years ago, back in 2002 to 2004. I did my articles, which is like your two year apprenticeship as a lawyer after you've done your degree. I did that at a different firm back then, which was called Schultz O'Brien Lawyers. Headed off, did other things for the better part of two decades, and I've come full circle back to working with Travis yeah. And you head up the Brisbane Outfit? Yep, so I'm the Brisbane Office Leader, so we've got a a growing office in Brisbane. We started that up in late 2021 yep, we're nearly three years down the track now it's a good office, really good people working there, doing good work, and we're about to open on the Gold Coast. That's no longer a secret because the signage has gone up so yeah it's exciting times. One of the things that has always struck me about you in the whole time I've known you is your phenomenal work ethic. You put in some phenomenal hours. Busy time or you're just, You enjoy the work, I'm guessing? Combination of both. We are very busy, we run high file loads, we've got high expectations, on the partners, on all of our professional support staff, everyone. they all step up to the plate and they're all, Doing the work as we expect and wouldn't be very fair and that's a big thing at our firm is fairness across all of the staff. Wouldn't be very fair if we're expecting them to, hold up their end of the bargain if the partners weren't doing likewise. What's the what's your favourite part of what you do? I think getting a good result for people you know, you can sit here and any lawyer will say my client is deserving and things like that, but, when you're dealing with people who are seriously injured getting them a life changing result. And seeing the effect that makes I still keep in contact with quite a lot of my former clients and in turn, they refer their family and friends to us, in the unfortunate event if they're injured or anything like that. So yeah it's really nice seeing people being able to I suppose turn their life around going from a really bad situation into, probably not a great situation, but a better situation. And I would imagine when an incident happens that requires your assistance the outcome matters because they only get one chance, right? Yep. Yeah, one bite of the cherry. That's a big thing with us, not to under settle claims. We deal with a lot of insurers and, I explain to my clients whenever we're going into a conference with an insurer or their legal representatives, just saying, look, there's people on the other side. They're just doing their job. If I was doing their job, I'd be doing exactly what they're doing. So as long as we prepare the clients for that, so they know what to expect and then generally, I'll provide them with my advice and just explain to them, look, you can follow that advice or not, but if you're not following that advice, if you're trying to, for example, undersettle your claim, I'll need you to sign something to say you're doing that against my advice. As well as your, what I've always noticed to be your phenomenal work ethic, you have a great fitness ethic too. For a guy that's busy, flat out, you get up early, you, I see you at 5am running. I know there was a period where you did CrossFit even earlier there for a while, so you take your fitness seriously. What drives that? I think not as not as seriously as some people, like yourself and others in the club, but just trying to maintain that balance. I find if I go for a period without having any sort of decent exercise, health and fitness regime, I can feel that I'm starting to get a bit jittery. I think it adversely affects my work. I know it adversely affects my family life. So it's, realistically there's three balls that you're always trying to juggle in the air. So one's your family, obviously that's most important to everyone and as it is to me. The other is your work and the other is your health and fitness. It's trying to maintain that balance, keep all the balls in the air at the one time. Yeah, not always easy, yeah. If you've got other commitments and early morning is the only time that you can exercise. What do you do? Do you sleep in or do you get yourself out of bed and go and exercise? Option B is always the better one there. What do you enjoy about running? I think a few things. You can run anywhere, pretty much any conditions you can go running in. We've had some pretty torrential rain and all that sort of stuff down here. Still get a big bunch of people out. In an hour you can do a great workout. If you don't have an hour, you can do 5Ks in a half hour ish. That's really it. Good sense of camaraderie I never enjoyed running back in the past when I thought I was, maintaining some sort of relative fitness when I used to just run on my own. I hated running. And it was only once I started with a club, the club we're both in that I realised it's actually more fun with other people. There's a lot of banter that goes on, just having that, that group of people to bounce off, draw on their energy that's what I enjoy. I've never hopped out of bed and gone for a run and felt bad afterwards. You always feel, and whether it's running or cycling, swimming, gym work, whatever, you will always feel better after you've got in, got the endorphins running, and, whether it's morning or afternoon or evening that you exercise, but it's just a good way to get your day going. And for me because of sort of family and life circumstances. That's early morning. And I find on those days when I do exercise in the morning, I'm more productive at work, I'm happier at work. I think it just gives you a better mindset. We did our first marathon together. Yes, we did. Yes. At Gold Coast a couple of years ago. Yep. What's next for you in running? I've been very slack since 2022. Last year I had a lot of FOMO and earlier this year seeing everyone else doing all these great events and setting PBs and all that sort of stuff. My next event is the Sunshine Coast Half Marathon. I just signed up for that about two weeks ago. Because I thought if I don't do it, I'm never going to do it. But the aim is, and I'm not sure whether it will be this year or again, next year, to get back to marathons. Yeah. You're a partner in a law firm now. What's next in your career? Um, well, I'm a partner that's where my commitment lies. So that's a long term commitment. I'm 48 at the moment. So realistically, I'm going to be in that role for probably the next 15 years. Got a very I think, stable, growing office in Brisbane there, so that's my main focus is to look after the staff in that office, make sure that they're happy good client base, make sure that our clients are well looked after, getting good results, which we are doing and then, maintain that trust with the other partners of the firm and allow them to do their things, running their respective offices. We have people in our firm that, make strategic decisions that that I have full confidence in what they're doing, so that's that's my, plan for the next 15 years. Yeah, awesome. Thank you very much for chatting to me today and I'm sure I'll see you on a run real soon. You will. You will. Thank you very much. Did Melbourne. And I remember, because Melbourne, at the very end of it, you hit the only hills in Melbourne, but it's at about the 40 kilometre mark, exactly when you do not want to see a hill. And I remember running into the MCG, and I looked up at the board, and I it was at, Must have been at like 3. 48 or something like that. And I just thought, I have not done an extra 7 weeks of training to not need my Sunshine Cast time. So I split it up. Yeah, sprinted as hard as I could the lap of the G and did a one minute PB on Sunshine Case, but PB's a PB. PB's a PB