It often happens that one’s first job out of college is not the forever job — or even the forever career. That proved to be the case for Paul Pfeifer of the Pfeifer Law Firm in Little Rock.
“I worked in a business role after college, and I did that for a couple of years,” Pfeifer said. “Then I decided that the law was more of what I was interested in, what I was hoping to do — help people.”
After making the decision to attend law school, he was initially interested in international law, but he clerked for a law firm that did personal injury and employment discrimination law.
“I just realized that was my calling — sounds kind of cheesy, but it’s true,” he said.
He attended Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland but came back to Little Rock after graduation.
He described his work as “basically helping people that have been injured through no fault of their own.”
“That somebody or their insurance carrier caused the injury or was negligent, whether that’s a trip-and-fall in a business, auto accident, a truck accident, a dog bite. It runs the gamut,” Pfeifer said. “I also do nursing home abuse cases, as well, to hold the nursing homes accountable when they abuse and neglect patients.”
Most of the larger cases he has worked on dealt with truck accidents and helping catastrophically injured people. He has represented people who were injured while working, including those who make a living working on or along a river.
Injury for people working jobs in river transportation is covered by the Jones Act, which has a requirement that items shipped between U.S. ports be moved by ships built, owned and operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
“It’s a little different than straight workers’ compensation,” Pfeifer said. “I’m currently working on one [case] in Helena where a barge company ran into the dock where my client was working and injured him.”
A more typical case for Pfeifer was that of a family traveling through Arkansas when they experienced an incident and a dispute arose with their insurance company about coverage.
“We had to take it to the Arkansas Supreme Court,” Pfeifer said. “When you represent people who have been charged in a criminal case, you hear about that on the news. Most personal injury cases are less interesting to the public.”
Pfeifer has found that most people want to be involved in their case, want to know what is happening and seek to make a contribution in trying to get to the end result.
“I think it’s important for clients to be knowledgeable about what’s going on rather than speak over their heads,” Pfeifer said. “Some of my clients, maybe most of them, want to be involved and want to know what they need to do in being able to make good decisions. It’s kind of like when you go to the doctor and they say, ‘Here’s your problem. Take two aspirin.’ Well, you don’t really know why you’re taking the aspirin. What is it supposed to accomplish? I think it’s important to be an informed client, just like an informed patient.”
Pfeifer Law Firm has no advertising budget, so there is no pitch for Pfeifer’s work during local TV station’s news breaks. He lives by word of mouth. The same is true for Pfeifer when he looks for support on a case.
“I’ve worked with lawyers in various places, and they either can help me, or they can get me to somebody who can,” he said.
On the business side, Pfeifer’s philosophy is pretty basic: If you take care of the clients, they will take care of you.
“Your clients should be your focus, and you should always do well for your clients and by your clients,” Pfeifer said. “They’re the ones you’re here to help, and ultimately, if you’re trying to grow your business in Arkansas, doing a good job for clients is the way that you grow your business.”
Taking a case to the state Supreme Court, representing people who are injured through no fault of their own, and taking on employment, workers’ compensation and, maybe the most difficult, elder abuse cases, it is not pleasant stuff, but when the goal is to represent people who have been wronged, it takes the effort beyond just working in a job. Pfeifer’s clients depend on him, and every day, he knows it.
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