Episode #10: Mike Papantonio in The Heart of Law

Written By Caryl Veloso

How, indeed, do we “turn our back from the bull?” Interestingly enough, world-renowned Mike Papantonio 一 also known as America’s Lawyer 一 tells us how. In this deep-dive, Mirena and Mike (aka Pap) shoot the breeze on the many nuances of lawyering and life. Kudos to our sophic anchor for tracking down one of the most influential and versatile attorneys in our country. 

With her gift of gab, Mirena introduces us to the award-winning torts attorney, multi-media talk-show host, National Trial Lawyers co-owner, Mass Torts Made Perfect conference founder/co-owner, NW Florida waterways advocate (with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., no less!), athlete, musician, pilot, fiction author extraordinaire all rolled in one … What can’t Pap do? Interestingly enough, the diversity and excellence of his endeavors attest to the anthem he lives by: “maintaining the quality of life in anything you’re doing.”  When he challenges young associates in his firm to participate in their book club (expecting them to read Orwell’s 1984, Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, Lescroart’s The Fall, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men) so they can broaden their worldview and learn how to genuinely interact with a jury, it seems he has invaluable insight on the human psyche. It looks like he has unlocked the mystery to a well-balanced, well-lived life.  Even at the apex of his career, he profoundly says with conviction, “You can’t live singularly as a lawyer. That can’t be your only identity.” And live, he does. 

Pap shares how he first encountered the love-of-his-life while “dropping a wing,”  barely 50 yards from crashing into The Bonanza as he was flying his plane. Beyond saving him from a near miss and after 37 years of marriage with the “fine-looking blonde at the end of the bar,” he quips about an old Chinese proverb, “You got to take care of anybody who saves you … ” The lighthearted conversation continues as Pap brightens when he talks about his daughter, Sarah, who blazes her own trail in trial law … In shows like these, we enjoy the rarity of when we can catch a glimpse of someone who can confidently look ahead 一 secure in his “ability and foresight” 一 one who disarmingly refuses to grasp life too tightly, too insecurely, too fearfully. He has fame that envelops him, a career that supports him, contemporaries who respect him, friends who enjoy him, a family who loves him. And then we elegantly discover the bullfighter’s secret to how we can completely “turn our back from the bull.”

EPISODE SURVEY
[00:02:50] Adapting to the pandemic
[00:16:06] Flying on a plane and meeting the love of his life
[00:20:05] The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. 
[00:22:02] Mass Tort Made Perfect conference
[00:28:38] The effects of third-party capital 
[00:37:13] Improving mass torts for clients

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

  • “You either shut down under adversity, or you create and you expand under adversity.”

  • “You have to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results. You have to take extraordinary chances.”

  • “It's really easy …  to get into the same mode where all you're thinking about is what you’re told to think …  [your] daddy did it this way, [your] neighbor does it this way and, therefore, this is the only way [you] can do it--It's really dangerous.

  • “ Just take a minute; take a breath and look up a little bit higher … to something that is not the norm and try it .. Not only will it change the financial aspect of their practice, but it will also change their excitement in their quality of life.

  • “As a lawyer, [once] you start doing something the same way and … look like everybody else, there's nothing … rewarding about that.”

  • “In order to maintain a quality of life in anything you’re doing, you have to have all these moving parts … maybe it’s music, maybe it’s art, maybe … you’re a writer … whatever it is …  that has to be brought into your life ... you can’t live singularly as a lawyer. That can’t be your only identity.”

  • “I have a saying … called ‘Turning Your Back on the Bull’ …  have enough confidence in who you are and in your ability, and in your foresight, and [in] your vision, [but] if you don't have confidence in there, you will never turn your back on the bull. A great bullfighter does that.”

  • “See, that's part of itーof who you are or [who you are] not, and you can't really put on a show. You can't lie to a jury … They'll see through it if it's not genuine.

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Caryl Veloso
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Episode #11: Ilya Lerma in The Heart of Law
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Episode #9: Keith Givens in The Heart of Law