Top Lawyers: Christopher Montes de Oca On The 5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law

An Interview with Eric L. Pines

Empathy is crucial. If you can’t feel your client’s emotions, then you can’t tell their story. Strategy is something that you should develop early on. You must plan and always be thinking about contingent plans.

The legal field is known to be extremely competitive. Lawyers are often smart, ambitious, and highly educated. That being said, what does it take to stand out and become a “Top Lawyer” in your specific field of law? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law”, we are talking to top lawyers who share what it takes to excel and stand out in your industry.

As a part of this interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Christopher Montes de Oca, founding partner of the Law Offices of Christopher Montes de Oca.

Chris loves being a personal injury lawyer and working to help improve peoples’ lives. He had one of the top 100 jury verdicts in the entire U.S. for the year 2017, the largest failure to inform jury verdict in California in2018 and a top 100 jury verdict in California in 2021. He is also the proud recipient of the prestigious Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles Rising Star Trial Attorney Award. You can learn more about Chris at www.LA.legal.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. What is the “backstory” that brought you to this particular career path in Law? Did you want to be an attorney “when you grew up”?

I wanted to be many things growing up, like a scientist who could find cures for diseases or a detective like Sherlock Holmes. I really wanted to help people. As Pablo Picasso said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” I feel very fortunate that I get to help people as a trial lawyer. I also think there is a bit of science and detective work involved in each case I do.

Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

I represent people who suffered an injury or lost a loved one due to the negligent, careless or unlawful acts of others. Unfortunately, my clients have suffered catastrophic injuries for which the insurance companies do not want to fairly compensate them and litigation usually takes years, often ending with a jury trial.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I think being personable, working hard and patience are important character traits for trial lawyers. Everyone has these traits; some people just need to work on them a little more. As John Quincy Adams said, “Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” Being patient has allowed many of my clients to obtain much better results at trial. I think patience has taught me that it is about the war not the individual battles.

Do you think you have had luck in your success? Can you explain what you mean?

Absolutely! I will always be grateful for the time and place in which I live, and the gift of life itself. I was born in, in my humble opinion, the best state in the best country in the world during a very exciting time in which anything is possible. Most importantly, I am so lucky to have had great parents who pushed education and supported my pursuits. The best luck was marrying my wife who has been so supportive and wonderful. I have been blessed with two amazing kids. I work with my best friend from law school. I have awesome clients. I feel like I won the lottery.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

I think that your education influences how you see things. Moreover, your professors’ demands and expectations will set a bar for your legal mindset and work ethic moving forward. Going to a top-tier law school may certainly open doors quickly for you when you’re fresh out of law school, but I don’t ultimately believe a school’s ranking has any bearing on being a successful trial attorney. In fact, the most successful trial attorneys I have met did not go to top-tier schools. There’s no substitution for talent, passion and hard work. I was proud to earn my J.D. from Western State College of Law. I met wonderful classmates who became friends. In fact, Artin Yadegarian my classmate became my best friend, and we get to work on cases together. I think many classmates formed deep connections that make WSU a special school. Same goes for professors, I had great professors whom I formed bonds with that helped me outside of class.

Based on the lessons you have learned from your experience, if you could go back in time and speak to your twenty-year-old self, what would you say? Would you do anything differently?

I would tell myself not to focus on the extra few pounds I was carrying around because each time I look back at a picture of myself I can appreciate how great (and young!) I looked. All kidding aside, I would tell myself to take more risks and not be afraid to have a jury decide the outcome for my client. Most people want to do the right thing.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

I love helping others and I know that my clients have turned to me when they need the most help. I feel so good knowing that I can make a real difference in their lives. I love going home to my family and sharing with them the good work that was done to help other families.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Currently, we represent some immigrants that were taken advantage of and abused at the mercy of coyotes. Unfortunately, a dozen were killed and another dozen were critically injured by a negligent speeding commercial truck driver. People should not be discriminated against or valued less because they are immigrants. All people are equal and should be valued. Since the insurance company doesn’t believe these immigrants have value, we will have to try the case in front of a jury. We are looking forward to what the jury tells the insurance company.

Where do you go from here? Where do you aim to be in the next chapter of your career?

I’m very excited for the next chapter of my career. I have gained so much knowledge and confidence through the past fifteen years, I look forward to learning even more as I continue. I hope to share my experiences and mentor more young lawyers so that they can make that much more of a difference in our community.

Without sharing anything confidential, can you please share your most successful “war story”? Can you share the funniest?

I think one of my most successful war stories was not the dollar amount obtained, but rather the fact that we changed a significant procedure for the County of Los Angeles Coroner as to how they are required to communicate with the deceased’s family. This lawsuit had an impact on the 10,000,000 residents of the County of Los Angeles.

As for the funniest, I really try and get to know my clients and their families well. In one case, I found myself eating duck feet salad. Let’s just say even though I was sick I still can’t help but laugh before I go to a new client’s house, and I am surprised with the meal.

Ok, fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing some advice for aspiring lawyers. Do you work remotely? Onsite? Or Hybrid? What do you think will be the future of how law offices operate? What do you prefer? Can you please explain what you mean?

I work onsite at my office. I have always made that choice because it helps me to set firm boundaries with work and my home life. This works well for me, but I think remote and hybrid options are an exciting alternatives in many cases and I’m sure we’ll continue to see many law offices employing them into the future.

How has the legal world changed since COVID? How do you think it might change in the near future? Can you explain what you mean?

The legal world, as with the world at large, has definitely become more flexible with its online practices such as electronic signatures, remote depositions, remote mediations and remote court appearances. These are all positive things. However, I think some lawyers have become more difficult and colder because they can hide behind electronic communication. It is a lot harder to say no to someone in person.

Based on your experience, how can attorneys effectively leverage social media to build their practice?

To be honest I don’t have a lot of experience with social media. I know many attorneys who have utilized the platform successfully, each using very different tactics. I think the most important thing is to be genuine, honest and try to use it as another way to serve the community. I just recently started using social media with my law firm a few months ago, so come follow me @goodlifelawayer as I begin this journey.

Excellent. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Become A Top Lawyer In Your Specific Field of Law?” Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Love what you do. It doesn’t matter what it is, but if you love it, you will be great at it. And loving what you do makes it easier to dedicate your time to it, which leads me to my next point:
2. Go above and beyond what is required. Effort is so important. You don’t have to be the best when you begin a new case, but you do have to put in the most effort in order to be successful. Great things don’t come easy.
3. Reading is so important. Each case will present new medical facts and circumstances with which you should familiarize yourself. The more knowledge you gain on each, the better results you obtain.
4. Being positive is a lifestyle. It isn’t always easy in our adversarial profession, which is why it’s of the utmost importance. We can control our thoughts and actions towards challenging and frustrating issues (and people). Being positive helps you figure out solutions to problems more quickly and peacefully.
5. Empathy is crucial. If you can’t feel your client’s emotions, then you can’t tell their story. Strategy is something that you should develop early on. You must plan and always be thinking about contingent plans.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

I would love to have lunch with anyone who reads my interview. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to grab lunch, but no duck feet. They can visit my website www.LA.legal to reach me directly or connect with me on Facebook or LinkedIn.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.