Behind every case is an attorney whose judgment and experience shape the outcome. In this video, Keith E. Galliher, Jr., founder and principal attorney of The Galliher Law Firm in Las Vegas, shares the guidance he gives every new client and reflects on the path that led him to personal injury law.
Galliher explains why honesty with your lawyer and your insurer matters, and why posting about an injury case on social media can hand the defense exactly what it’s looking for. He then traces a varied career — from work outside the law to trying cases as a deputy public defender and building his own firm — that has centered, for more than 40 years, on representing injured people against insurance companies. It is the work he finds most satisfying, and the foundation of how The Galliher Law Firm serves its clients today.
Transcript
Well, when my clients come in and we sit down and chat and find out about them, the first thing I tell clients is: always be truthful in your answers to the questions that we ask. Be truthful in everything you do with our firm and with the insurance carrier. Don’t exaggerate, don’t embellish, don’t make things worse than they are.
Also, of course, in this day and age, I tell them: do not post information about your case on social media. One of the common things that happens today with young people is that they seem to want to tell everybody else about their lives. So they get involved in a personal injury case and they want to talk about it, so they go on social media and start talking about their personal injury case. What they don’t realize is that the insurance carriers and defense attorneys are well aware of that, and they acquire that information off of their social media posts, because most of it’s public information. So what happens is, when you file a lawsuit and you’re claiming certain damages on behalf of your client, one of the first things you get from the defense in discovery is 20, 30, 40 pages of Facebook postings or Instagram postings by your client that discuss the case. Bad mistake — shouldn’t do it. You have to let them know, so we also send them a letter saying, “Whatever you do, don’t post on social media.” I tell them: don’t post on social media. The insurance carriers want this information, and nothing good comes from it.
I’ve done a lot in my life. Before I became a lawyer, I was a director of public relations at a downtown Las Vegas casino, and I was a maître d’ at a restaurant in Caesars Palace before I ever went to law school. After law school, of course, I worked with a large civil firm — the largest firm in the state. I was a deputy public defender, where I tried criminal cases throughout the system. I formed a practice, I built a law firm, I severed my relationship with the law firm, I went solo, I’ve had associates — I’ve done virtually every kind of work in the law from the beginning. But I began focusing on personal injury over 40 years ago, and I decided this was what I needed to do. This is what fulfilled me as an
attorney. Representing injured persons against insurance companies is what I find most satisfying, and of course that’s what I’ve done for almost all of my career.
