As Nuclear Verdicts® continue to increase in frequency and severity across the country (including in jurisdictions not traditionally viewed as plaintiff-friendly), the insurance defense industry is due for some introspection. Are we the problem? Are plaintiffs’ lawyers simply… better?

They are, on the whole, more creative (at least in trial). They are more collaborative, too. They act fearlessly and try cases with boldness. They engage with their clients and with jurors as real, layered, authentic humans do. They embrace emotion. They leverage their strengths and exploit our weaknesses. But, how did they get that way? Were they truly just born better?

Angela Duckworth, the MacArther “genius” grant winner, psychologist, research, and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance would likely shake her head to that question. She wrote in her book, “…most dazzling human achievements are, in fact, the aggregate of countless individual elements, each of which is, in a sense, ordinary.”[1] The best lawyers, athletes, musicians, leaders, artists, and people I have ever seen have one thing in common: grit.

They show up, day in and day out, doing the hard, ordinary work so that they can deliver on the dazzling.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers did not suddenly wake up one day and just start using the tactics at the heart of Reptile. No, the authors of the book that truly did enunciate a plaintiff’s revolution studied the psychology, tried things, failed, and tried again – for years. They did not (and do not) play small. They play big, and they workshop, and they keep working at it until they win. And then, they go back for more.

Are we doing the same thing on the defense side?

Or, are we doing the same old thing on the defense side? Are we trying cases the way we did twenty years ago? Are we fighting liability at all costs? Are we refusing to accept any responsibility? Are we letting plaintiffs’ lawyers own the narrative around money by stubbornly refusing to give a number? Are we hanging our hat on niche legal arguments and experts instead of showing up empathetically? Are we still failing to look an injured plaintiff in the eye and tell them we are sorry? Are we hoarding our learned experiences, letting ego dictate our next moves? Are we trying new things? Are we truly doing the hard, ordinary things? Or instead, are we playing it safe, playing small, and letting the plaintiffs’ bar run away with the game?

Plaintiffs’ lawyers were not born better; they worked hard to get better. And how lucky for their clients, to have advocates who show up big and bold and work hard at their craft! But, do our clients not deserve advocates who will tell their human story with empathy, too? Do they not deserve passion, and skill, and collaboration? Of course they do. American business owners deserve excellence. They deserve bold brilliance. They deserve grit.

The only question is: do we dare for greatness?

If so, let us do the work. And then, let us dazzle.

[1] ANGELA DUCKWORTH, GRIT: THE POWER OF PASSION AND PERSEVERANCE (2016).