S2 Ep 8. From Prosecution to Defense: Author Neama Rahmani's Legal Journey

00:00 - David McClam (Host)
What makes a great legal mind? Maybe it's someone that's graduated UCLA at the age of 19 and Harvard Law School at the age of 22, making them one of the youngest graduates in the 200 year history of the law school. Or maybe becoming a federal prosecutor who helped capture and successfully prosecute a fugitive murderer and drug kingpin who terrorized Southern California. Or maybe it's someone who lays down their whole career to practice law Defending those who are less fortunate. If you ever wanted to hear a great legal opinion on some of the biggest cases that has taken place in recent history, this is the one for you. Join me as I talk with one of the greatest legal minds of our generation, attorney and author Nima Romany, on this episode of true crime, authors and extraordinary people. 

01:11 - Jaquie (Other)
Welcome to true crime authors and Extraordinary people. The podcast where we bring two passions together. The show that gives new meaning to the old adage Truth is stranger than fiction. And reminding you that there is an extraordinary person in all of us. Here is your host, david McClam. 

01:32 - David McClam (Host)
What's going on everybody, welcome to the episode of true crime. Authors and extraordinary people. Of course, I'm your man, david McClam. Hey, if you guys haven't already miss you, follow us on all of our social medias. One link to a link tree we get you every link you need to have pertaining to the show. All right? So if you've been following the calendars, you know what time it is. 

01:55
It is, once again, time to talk to another author. Once again, I have a guest, though that fits both, the far as I'm concerned, my author and my extraordinary people segment, so we'll let you decide. Let me tell you who my guest is. Here's a former federal prosecutor who helped captains successfully prosecute a fugitive murderer and drug kingpin who had terrorized Southern California and was featured on America's most wanted. He is also the co-founder and president of West Coast trial lawyers, a renowned Los Angeles personal injury law firm with a team of 21 attorneys who have taken on some of the world's largest Corporations, including Walmart, fred X, jp Morgan, and he's won $1.5 billion plus in settlements for their clients. 

02:41
Here's a regular legal commentator on ABC news, fox News, cnn, msnbc, court TV and several other leading TV networks, where he educates the public about criminal trials and legal injustices in our society. He has 20 plus years of experience in the legal industry and he graduated from UCLA at the age of 19, in Harvard Law School at the age of 22, making him one of the youngest graduates in the 200 year history of the law school. He is the author of Harvard, to hashtag my journey from big law to business owner, the co-host of the podcast LA legal and one of the most successful and nationally recognized attorneys. Please welcome Neema Romany. Neema, welcome to the show man, david. 

03:29 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Thank you for having me man, super excited to be here. Congratulations on your one year anniversary, by the way. 

03:34 - David McClam (Host)
Thank you, man, glad you could be here with before it. This is gonna be exciting, so let's get into it. Man, you're multi-faceted. You're gonna talk about some time cases with you, but we can also talk about you do now, which I feel is very important With having people get out of those lawsuits or winning those lawsuits of personal injury, the first thing that comes to mind being that I have someone with your brain in your mind. It just came through. What is your thoughts on the January 6 situation? Right now, proud boys leader Riki bar on Riki Tario, they just sitting in the 22 years in prison For his part. In that, a lot of people felt like this would not happen from the legal mind. What's your thoughts? 

04:16 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
on. That was a former prosecutor. I got a tip my hat to the Department of Justice and not the easiest prosecution right when you're prosecuting folks for conspiracy, people that weren't actually Physically in the Capitol and obviously, look, you were talking about some of the most politically charged Prosecutions in US history but they're important. These are people that try to subvert our democracy, attack our Capitol building, so I think it's a righteous case. I think government was asking for 33 years sentencing. That pushed back a little because of illness, but this is a pretty big win for the DOJ, so I think it's a right result. I think it's a just result and I'm proud of my former colleagues there. 

04:56 - David McClam (Host)
No matter what side you sit on. Do you feel that at some point, if we haven't already, that we have to hold President Trump responsible for what happened that day? 

05:06 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I think so and I think no one is above the law. I don't care for Donald Trump, I don't care if you're Joe Biden, mike Pence, hunter Biden, hillary Clinton. You're talking to a former prosecutor. You break the law. You got to go down. So you know we're talking about. 

05:23
You know Trump's actions, you know we can kind of take them one step at a time. But you know, obviously having the least important case is the Stormy Daniels case out there in New York. We'll kind of set that aside. But I think the classified documents case is important. I distinguish that case from you know Pence and Joe Biden mishandling classified documents because National Archives asked for the return of the documents for more than one year. They told former president Trump hey, if you don't return them, we're gonna make a referral to the DOJ because archives can't enforce the law. Trump Ignores the archives. 

05:58
Doj issues a grand jury subpoena. Trump allegedly moves the documents with his co-conspirators. That's where all the obstruction of trust justice Charges come and look. Obviously you know the mishandling of classified documents is important. But this is also one of those cases where really the cover-up is worse than the crime. You can't be ignoring subpoenas and then you know obviously then the DOJ has to take the unprecedented act of having the FBI raid Mar-a-Lago. There's a search warrant there and If you look at all the substantive counts in the case, there really documents that were cease-pursuant to the search warrant. There weren't any documents that were returned voluntarily. 

06:37
So I think it's a righteous case, one that should have been brought and, frankly, one that could have easily been avoided had Trump simply returned the documents, you know. Turning toward the election fraud cases, obviously a little bit more difficult to prove, but also very important really, the foundation of our democracy is Peaceful transition of power, and I'm not saying Trump couldn't have litigated, couldn't have audited, couldn't have demanded a recount, but really the fake elector scheme Calling the Georgia Secretary of State, telling him to find the both, this is going too far. So I think the prosecution is just. The prosecution is correct. Again, a lot of folks on the right aren't going to like me saying that They'll say well, what about Joe, what about Hunter? And what? I'll tell them? Look, if they've broken the law, they too should be prosecuted. 

07:30 - David McClam (Host)
You know, on this show I get ran down too, because if you listen to any of my episodes, I say it like it is. You know I was a Trump fan in the beginning a lot of things he stood for, but you know he wants to run again and I don't feel like that just as an American, because what happened? We can trust him back in that office and, yes, being that I'm on the Democratic side, I don't overlook either what's going on with the current administration. We have to look at that. Politics has become so out there these last several years, but I just feel like a lot of life was lost in that January 6th that could have been saved, like you, and I hope that we can move on from that society and heal from it down the line. 

08:05 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I agree. Look, and people said, well, what about Hunter Biden? And you know I'll say like it, I've got Hunter Biden got an extraordinarily good deal. Now, I don't know if it's because of his lawyer, I don't know if it's because of his dad, I don't know frankly, if it's. He cooperated and pled early, but you don't see diversion really ever in federal court. Really rare Misdemeanor dispositions are also pretty uncommon no time misdemeanor deals. So look, I'm going to say Hunter Biden got a great deal. Maybe Trump is being treated differently, but again, a lot of it is because of how he handled. You know inquiries by the archives and the DOJ and that type of thing. Look, you can litigate, you can use our justice system. You can't spread lies and misinformation. It has real consequences and you know, I do believe that January 6th was a result of Trump's action. 

08:56 - David McClam (Host)
So let's talk about a couple of cases that I know you know very well as well. One I'm going to give you the opportunity to eat me up because I kind of had a change of heart and I know that you talked about on your podcast about Casey Anthony. You know that they released that where the truth lies. Now, if you're losing my episode on that, I tell you that I was with the rest of America at one point. I couldn't stand there. I thought that she was all of this and that. But then when I watched where the truth lies, I thought I kind of saw a different side of Casey. There was things that I felt like I did not see in her trial. Her body language was different, certainly most of what she had when she talked about certain things about her father. Am I reading this wrong? Do we still feel that she's guilty from a legal mind? Did she pull one over on us? What's her take on that? 

09:39 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Well, it's hard for me as a trial lawyer, as a former prosecutor, you're sort of trained and taught not to question our jury system but you know we're not there. I might cover these cases for court TV and law and crime, but that's actually in the courtroom. You're watching the case every single day. It's something that lawyers are saying listen, you trust our jury system. It's not perfect but it's the best system there is out there. But I got to tell you, if you ask people about the two cases in this country that were really wrong with the side, there may be three. I think they'll kind of go down Casey Anthony one, oj Simpson two and the officers that beat Rodney King will probably be three. Right, although those officers were two of the four were subsequently convicted in a federal case. But I think that'll sort of go down. 

10:25
As you know, the cases that people now obviously now some people have been calibrated. You know it might be four, but really a Casey Anthony is just the case that people still think and it's just because of her actions, not inside the courtroom, really outside the courtroom. You know people will say is this consistent with someone who has a missing child? I mean, I don't care how you feel about your kid, you know, are you going to be out partying? Are you going to not report it? And it's just a case where I got to tell you, david, the vast majority of Americans, the vast majority of lawyers, even you know, say it, think that the jury got it wrong there, and in fact there have been some jurors that have come out and I said that they regret their decision in that case. 

11:07 - David McClam (Host)
Well, it was just I mean I don't know if it was the way it was staged or the way they were, you know writing it up because you know they made sure you understood that she did not have control over the questions that was asked, but she was doing things that to be I didn't. I mean, this is a big act. Like she admitted she lied and then she was carrying photos, you know, of Kaylee around in the whole nine Now that she can't be convicted ever for it again because of Double Jeopardy. What's your thought? Do you think she's just come out and just tell us what she knows? You feel like that there's more that she does know she's not saying. 

11:39 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I don't know, I don't think you know you're right about Double Jeopardy. She can't be, you know, convicted again. I mean, she did get hit with those four misdemeanors, I believe, but even that, you know, went up on appeal. I mean, look, she's a free woman but she's still so disliked I can't imagine her doing an OJ tell all book like if I did it, if I killed my kid, you know, make all this money off it because she still has to live the rest of her life. I mean, she's a young woman and the last thing she wants is more media attention. You know, writing a book or doing a documentary about it, that's not a good idea because, look, I mean, if she says something, even though the Jeopardy is attached to the murder case. 

12:21
But there might be some way. And you kind of start with Bob Durst. Right, you know where he went. He said something stupid and the prosecutors found a way to really open a cold case that otherwise had been closed for quite some time. I'm not saying that case, anthony has killed multiple people like Bob Durst. But I think the conventional wisdom and the advice is you should just keep your mouth shut, take the win and move on. 

12:44 - David McClam (Host)
I agree because you know, like you just said, they're finally coming back and get you. Look at OJ right, yeah, exactly. He was trapped and now he went to jail for something totally different. If they want to get you, they can all come get you, so be quiet. 

12:59 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Exactly. Take the win right off in the sunset there. 

13:03 - David McClam (Host)
So let's talk a little bit about the most so both the most biggest celebrity case ever. You've talked about it Johnny Depp, amber Heard. I'm a huge Depp fan. I called B us on this when she went to sue him. In my opinion, I thought Johnny Depp was the very best witness I've ever seen. He was cool, he was calm, he didn't lie. I mean, he admitted to things that he did. What do you think about the Depp heard case? Where did Amber heard go wrong? 

13:31 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I gotta tell you I agree with you. I didn't always agree and well, let me tell you what I think. Johnny Depp was one of the best witnesses I've ever seen on the witness stand. He was likable, he was credible, he was vulnerable. He talked about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his parents. I mean compare and contrast that to Amber heard, who really was caught in one. What I was his Unnecessary lie after another. Right. Contrasted to Depp. Right, depp's there, he's admitting all sorts of drug use. Right, and Amber heard gets on the stand and she says she's only used drug once. You know, on the plane, when Depp give her a pill, where you look at me, look at her wedding schedule, you know it was clear there there was a time that they blocked off to do drugs, right. And then you know the TMZ. It was clear that other she leaked it or one of someone working on her Be have leaked it to TMZ. But she's there denying it the whole, pledging the money To charity but not paying it. Like you got to get up there, you got to own those bad facts and if you caught in a line, jurors aren't gonna like you. 

14:30
But I'm gonna confess that I did not think Depp was gonna win before the trial started and this is why I was one of the folks I'm the first to say when I was wrong. He lost so badly. In Europe the defamation laws are much more favorable to plaintiffs, much easier to win. I said these defamation lawyers they file in Europe. He lost. They lost bad, you know, and the judge there obviously not a jury, but a judge found that it was substantially true that Depp abuse heard Multiple times. 

15:02
Obviously I wasn't covering that trial wasn't televised like the one here in the US, but based on that judges ruling, I thought, wow, he's gonna come here. And Much more difficult, right? Because I mean for folks that don't know, in Europe the burden is on the defendant to prove that the statements are true. Here in the United States the burdens on the plaintiff, the person suing, to prove the statements are untrue. So different burden. 

15:29
And not only that here in the US, because Johnny Depp is a public figure, he's got to prove actual malice. That means that heard, knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. So much higher legal standard here. Now I think one of the things that Depp did was getting a good jurisdiction. He could file an LA very liberal when it comes to first amendment issues in New York, he was there in Virginia, which is a little bit more of a mixed bag, but I think outstanding lawyering and really just great testimony by Johnny Depp and his witnesses, you know, and a lot of strategic legal mistakes by Amber heard in her team as well. 

16:07 - David McClam (Host)
Well, I'm with you. I thought Johnny Depp had no chance of winning in the States after you know he lost overseas. I kind of feel, like Amber heard, kind of felt that same thing, so that's why she wanted to go full throttle with it. And you know, like you said, there's a lot of shortcomings on his part. But I felt from the things I was seeing that the abuse that he was going through at her hands Was far worse at many times than what he was doing. You know he's admitted drug use before, even now and before, even then, and then alcohol. Now the question is Do you feel that he'll get his career, now that this is over, back on track? I don't know. He's back signing with Disney again. Do we think his future is going to be bright now? 

16:45 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Oh, I think so. I mean Johnny Depp. It's one of the greatest comeback stories in Hollywood history. There's someone who's canceled and was dropped by every one of his sponsors, except Dior, I believe. Right now he's the most wanted man in Hollywood, I mean he's. He's a hero a lot of folks you know. Look at Amber Heard a lot of men, frankly, as the face of me too. That's gone too far and false allegations. And again, johnny Depp is an A-list celebrity. That's vindicated himself. So I'm sure everyone wants a look at Disney's calling. Then they certainly see no issues with Johnny Depp. 

17:20 - David McClam (Host)
Well, the one thing is the Alportinger fans. I have personally told my wife and my kids I'm like if Johnny Depp starting powers of the Caribbean, I'm not gonna watch it. I had read what they wanted to do. But you just can't change a show that Johnny Depp's made. That's Johnny Depp show. He's one of the greatest actors our generations, and to switch him out and put somebody else in there Just doesn't look right. Sweeney Todd and also the same thing. Right, you just can't these things up. So, yeah, I hope the best for him. Now that you know this is this is over with. I do feel that Amber purges herself quite a bit. There's a lot of things she was doing in court, as you know, that she probably shouldn't have done, and I think that did aid to her losing the case. 

18:02 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Yeah, I think so. I think she she came out as a liar and again, it's a few of those things that I talked about, just just unnecessary lies, in my opinion. I think if she owned, you know, look like, for instance, on the donating the money to charity, she said, listen, I was planning to donate it, but then I got sued by my ex-husband and I'm not rich like him. I have to pay these lawyers. Now, let's just be honest, right, you know they cost money. Or, look, you know I was getting a divorce. I live in LA. Well, I have a good relation with TMZ, but I know they got people at the courthouse, right, sometimes I file something. They're gonna know. 

18:36
So I wanted To get some good press and I wanted folks to feel sorry for me, so I tipped them off. Look, that's what publicists do all the time in LA. How else does something from your camp, your phone right, get to TMZ, unless TMZ is hacking into your phone or someone else? Did you send it? Or someone that has access to your phone sent it? Just own it. And I think. I think these are some mistakes that you know she meant obviously, look, we know that her legal team also, you know, made some bad mistakes they opened the door to Kate Moss and the stair incident. Then she comes and denies it, says how much she loves Johnny Depp and so lots of mistakes were made in the case, some self-inflicted wounds and who knows if the result would have been different. But I think the reason she lost so badly is because of you know our testimony and some of the strategic decisions her lawyers made. 

19:30 - David McClam (Host)
Now, speaking of mistakes, the last one I have to ask you about, before we get into what you're doing currently, is Darrell Brooks and, as we know, this man decided to represent himself. Did not go well. He got six consecutive life sentences plus an additional 700 years for the Walk the Shot Christmas Parade attack that he did. I've always laughed because I'm like, when you get life sentences, we're not gonna live six lifetimes. When you throw 700 additional years, I'm like, bring them back and make them serve more as a prosecutor. How bad did this acue or did it acue at all to see that this guy is gonna represent himself with no lawyer, who doesn't know anything he's doing? 

20:11 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Yeah, it was painful. That's the case I covered live on TV. And here's someone that obviously has no legal training and it was one outburst after another in the courtroom. I mean the judge had to remove him several times and punish him. I mean, obviously the guy has some serious mental health issues. I mean you gotta be to do something like this. But it was one of the most painful trials I've ever covered because there's no question he was gonna be convicted. 

20:41
He really had no legal defense. He didn't say that he suffered a seizure or that he didn't intend to do it. He basically was trying to say look, it wasn't me. Like how close were you? I mean, if you look at the cross-examination, there's all these. I mean there's tons of victims, there's tons of witnesses. The prosecution would basically stop putting people on because it would have been overkill. And he was basically trying to convince these jurors that it wasn't him driving the car, which was a terrible argument. Plus, he's arguing with the judge, raising all sorts of ridiculous legal arguments and objections in his filings with the court. So he's actually a pretty smart guy but really sort of emotionally was unhinged and it was just a bad combination and it was a tough trial to basically cover and to watch. 

21:26 - David McClam (Host)
Do you feel that the sentence that he received was justified for what he did, or was it overkill? 

21:33 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Whenever you kill multiple people and you intend to injure more, it's going to be a life sentence. It's rare that you're going to have multiple murders and get anything less. Reality is that every judge in this country is either elected or appointed by someone who is so. Same thing with prosecutors. And I'm not saying politics doesn't matter, it really shouldn't matter. But when you have a high profile case like this and you have multiple people dead really multiple innocent people right, there's no legal justification. This wasn't like a self-defense type case or a drug deal gone bad. It's people on a Christmas parade. It was really a foregone conclusion that once you was convicted you was going to get life. 

22:17 - David McClam (Host)
Now I can tell just by looking at you. Hopefully the audience can see how passionate you are about the law being a prosecutor. So how do we move from being a prosecutor? Now we're into full-time personal injury law. What made you make that switch? 

22:33 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I love being a prosecutor Greatest job in the world. And I'm going to be honest with you, if I didn't have a wife and kids, I'd probably still be a prosecutor. My wife, she's a lawyer, she's an attorney for foster kids. So what happened was we were both working for the government. When she's working for a nonprofit, a quasi government type agency, she's representing foster kids. I'm representing the people doing these prosecutions and we have two kids back to back and we're living in LA and we were broke and we sat down one day around the dinner table and we had our kids in our small condo and she said one of us needs to get a real job and that one of us was me. 

23:14
So I almost went back to the big firm I was at old Melvynie and Myers. He said come back and see if you can generate some business, see how you do, maybe make a partner or something like that effect. And then my current partner now his name's Alan. He actually hired me at a law school a long time ago, back in 2001. He left and he started his own firm and he was doing a plaintiff's work. And I said Nima, come join me, start a new firm and let's do PI, let's do employment, let's do civil rights. And he said PI, I want the Harvard Law. I'm a former product. 

23:45
Why would I do PI? I don't think I got in some billboard or bus bench. And he's like no, you're going to like it more than defense work. You hate it defending corporations. This is like being a prosecutor, but actually getting paid. I'm like what do you mean? He's like you're representing the little guy. You're on offense, not defense. You're pursuing righteous cases and that's a lot better than defending criminals or corporations, than people with the ability to pay. So it kind of sold me on this as the next best thing to being a prosecutor. I'm glad he did. It's been about 10 years and sure to put in the bad guys in jail. I like making a pay, so it's the next best thing. 

24:21 - David McClam (Host)
Can you tell us a story? I mean your book, harvard to Hashtag my Journey from Big Law to Business Owner is full of them. It's a very passionate written book. I've interviewed another person like yourself who was really into making sure the little guy won, and we're going to talk a little bit more about how you do that, because your heart truly is in it and you are really not in it for the money, but you really want to help people. What's one of your most memorable cases that you can think of right now of some of the big corporations that you sued, where your client won? 

24:56 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I really like cases where it's kind of a civil and criminal component. There's a really sad case that we handled. It was an adult, but it was a dependent adult. His name's Timothy Cortinas. He was a man in his 50s but severe special needs, was nonverbal and he lived in a group home and Easter Seals was responsible for taking him to and from his home, to his medical appointments and that type of thing. 

25:25
Well, one August day his driver picks him up, takes him to where he needs to go. Instead of bringing him home, the driver goes to his own house, leaves Timothy in the car. This didn't come out at trial, really, but the reason he took him home is the driver started texting a prostitute and forgot about Timothy in the car. Well, after several hours Timothy suffers the most horrific death where temperature the car goes up, he's unable to even open his own seat belt and he dies. So we sued Easter Seals, we sued the group home, we worked with the DA's office to get him prosecuted, to get justice, but at the end of it getting a pretty significant sum of money, getting a felony conviction and time for the perpetrator. So that was a pretty righteous case and I could tell you I would not have been on the other side of it. 

26:20 - David McClam (Host)
Wow, now you sued some big people Walmart, fedex, JP Morgan $1.5 billion plus in county. When you go into these big cases, when you have these big corporations, that has loaded pockets, what's your first Measure of attack? How do you know you're gonna be able to bring them down? 

26:40 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Look, a lot of folks don't like going to trial. I can tell you that whether it's uber, whether it's Walmart, you know they're gonna litigate the case and then they might push the case to trial. But usually they're gonna try and get it dismissed on summary judgment, maybe get into arbitration. But trial lawyers like me, former prosecutors we love juries. Defendants Usually do not, because they know how jurors feel about Big corporations. You know big businesses and what they do to people. 

27:11
So you know I take every case and you know, for every call that comes in we usually sound about 5%, maybe 10%, on a really sort of month where we're taking a lot. Well, we'll sign up a small percentage of folks as clients because that either not the type of case we handle or we don't think it's a righteous, meritorious case. But I got to. If we sign a case at our firm, we sign it with the intention of pushing it all the way. Now it's only a small percentage of cases go to trial, but that's always in the back of my mind. I tell my friends listen, we sign up. You got to be ready to go the distance. 

27:43 - David McClam (Host)
And and that's usually my first thought when I'm litigating against a big company- Do you feel these big companies are dumb when they don't just double-mattake responsibility For what happened, like years ago? There is the McDonald's case where the woman spilled the hot coffee herself. All her family wanted was 10,000 at that point to pay for the medical expenses. It would be for surgery. Didn't want that. Went to trial. Do you see a lot of that? Or nowadays, are they just going to sell it out for the smaller number? 

28:11 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Yeah, sometimes I see what these big corporations do, or even insurance companies They'll do, you know, I'll blanket denial or blanket sort of low ball offer. You know, from their perspective that's a good business decision, right. Because maybe the vast majority of folks they either walk away, right, they don't want to deal with the litigation. But we lawyers love it, I love being in court. But I can't tell you that all my clients do, sitting through a deposition, haven't, you know, their medical history become an issue, psychological history, having to sit with me at trial? But the corporations do a business analysis and they say, well, hey, if you know 90% of people will Take nothing or take a small amount, why don't we, you know, have this practice across the board? So, you know, once in a while they got to be hit with a big verdict To put them on notice and really it's really kind of a question of risk. 

29:04
And that's how insurance companies analyze these cases, right. For them it's not like, well, you know what's the right thing to do for them. It's well, what's the right business decision, right, they're in the business of paying out as little money as possible. That's their job, whereas ours is to do right by our client. So I think that's why they do what they do. I mean, I've been on the other side. I don't think it's the right thing, but that's why I encourage people look at something bad's happened. Don't try to handle it on your own. Call a lawyer. Does that be me? You should call any lawyer. Get some advice, because going at it on your own is the worst decision that you can make. 

29:42 - David McClam (Host)
Okay, whatever that does someone need to actually win a personal injury lawsuit. 

29:48 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Yeah, so we're analyzing personal injury case. It could be any case. It could be wrongful death, could be you know fender bender dog, why doesn't matter. We're on. The same kind of principles apply. We look at liability, damages and coverage, right, the ability to pay. So liabilities, who's at fault? 

30:04
California is an at fault system, right? So, um, you know, if You're seriously injured, but there's, it's your own fault, guess what You're not gonna be able to collect. Now, there are certainly no fault systems like workers comp is one of them. Right, you're injured at work, doesn't really matter whose fault it is. Some states are no fault, but California, we gotta prove who's that fault. So it could be, you know, a slip and fall, it can be. You know, car accident, it can be an employment case, right, if I can't prove Person was sexually harassed or discriminated against. And we don't win. So we always analyze liability and fault in every case. 

30:41
And actually your damages. You know what are your injuries. Obviously, with the death or serious injury, it's one thing. But now we've seen cases where you know multiple rollover and the person walks away without a scratch. I'll call me and I'll tell them that's great, you know, you're okay, you're not injured, you don't have a personal injury case but, more importantly, you're in good health, obviously have cases where you know it's not a huge impact but you know it's an old lady and she breaks her hip. 

31:06
Well, guess what? That's going to be a different kind of case. So we always gotta look at the damages and what the injuries are and, of course, the ability to pay. You know, unfortunately a lot of claims are dischargeable and bankruptcy not all, but not each. I advise my clients, like you know, we're going to sue this personally. It really terrible is happen, but they only had X amount of insurance and all many assets, Plenty of file chapter 7, you know, and we'll file, and that person will sometimes go into bankruptcy, but the ability to pay matters. So those are the things that we analyze and the setting is there a personal injury case or not, or any type of civil case? Now the reason I say that you're not. 

31:44 - David McClam (Host)
Really after that money. But you really care is because your law firm does something that a lot of them say they do, what you really do. So you have no upfront costs at all to your clients. You shelter or shoulder all of that and you take money once you win. What made you decide to go that route? 

32:02 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Yeah, because when I worked for the big firm, I saw just the rich and powerful that could afford those new fees. Some of the clients were paying millions of dollars in legal fees. So what we do is we tell our clients is only take your case, if I'm in it with you, we're going to take a percentage, we're going to advance all your costs, we're going to have skin in the game and if we don't, it's because I don't think that you can win your case or I can win your case. Look, go get a second and third opinion. But if I accept your case at my firm or in it with you the whole way, we want to make our system of justice accessible to everyone, not just the rich and powerful, because that's a big problem in our country. 

32:44
Look, I mean, I I see on the criminal side all the time. Look, I know a lot of public defenders. They're absolutely amazing lawyers. But a case still that a public defender has, you know they might have a hundred clients, they might have more, whereas someone who is in private practice they're going to have a smaller number of clients and they're going to be able to devote more time to that case At our firm. On the civil side, I don't care how much money you have. No one pays us hourly. Everyone Works on the same contingency. We're in it with you because, again, we don't want Our system of justice to be denied To anyone simply because they don't have money. So, besides that, why should someone? 

33:21 - David McClam (Host)
choose West Coast trial lawyers Over any of the law firms that they go to. There's a lot of good lawyers out there, but I'll tell folks Some ways that really set us apart. 

33:32 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
You know and I like to say, the experience, the education and the results. You know there's not a lot of folks that have the experience that I do, and we'll work with prosecutors. We will do everything we can to get justice for them. If that's a civil settlement, if that's trial or if that's prosecution, no one understands that better than someone who's a former prosecutor. That's an experience that I've been doing this for more than 20 years. I'm a regular legal analyst. People call me all day, every day, asking for my opinion on all sorts of cases around the country. 

34:02
There's a lot of people that do a lot of marketing and advertising and I respect for them. They're great business minds, they're doing TV, radio, billboard commercials, but they might not have even been inside a courtroom ever, or certainly, you know, in years, whereas I'm in it all day, every day, talking about these cases. I love the law, I live it, and then our results speak for themselves. We've won our clients a lot of money. I've put more than a thousand people in prison, been doing this for decades. So, like I said, I think we're uniquely situated in this space. But look, there's a lot of good lawyers out there. I don't like to say I'm better, I just say do your due diligence, do some research. Don't call someone merely because they're just doing a great job at advertising, probably not even going to handle in your case. Do you feel that being a former prosecutor helps you now in your current? 

34:51 - David McClam (Host)
role and, if so, how? Oh, absolutely, because I truly understand our criminal justice system. 

34:58 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I understand risk. I understand how to use the media. We have a lot of high profile cases right now. We sued celebrities and because I do so much TV, I know how to advocate on behalf of our clients. Sometimes it's better to not be in the public eye, sometimes it's better to bring a lot of attention on the case, and you're talking about a lawyer who understands the media, understands our criminal justice system, not just the plaintiff's world, which is unique in terms of folks in our space. Now, in your book, you don't pull any punches. 

35:31 - David McClam (Host)
You talk about where you feel the pressure. You talk about where you feel the system is short. You talk about politics. You talk about how judges want to be reelected, and that can affect cases. Being that you are still practicing, why did you decide to write that book now? 

35:47 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
So I decided to write that book because actually during the pandemic I was being interviewed by Nancy Grace. I think it was about George Floyd. Derek Chauvin and George Floyd are the Cal Rittenhouse. It was during a commercial and she said you know what, nima? You've done a lot of interesting things. You've worked for the biggest firms in the country. You've worked for the Department of Justice. You were a drug and human trafficking prosecutor. You've handled public corruption cases for the city of LA. Now you've had your own firm doing plaintiffs work. You've done it all. You should write a book. And you know what I said to myself. I'm like I will write a book. I'm gonna give Nancy Grace credit for that one. It was her idea, so I just took it and ran with it. 

36:31 - David McClam (Host)
The one thing I do want to put out to the audience, though, is that you take no money from this book 100% of the proceeds that you donate to the Children's Law Center for foster care kids. Can you tell us a little bit about that and why you decided to do that? 

36:46 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
You know foster care and my wife's line of work, representing these kids. It's really sad, you know. Folks don't know that. You know more than 50% of kids that grow up in foster care, within a few years of turning 18, they either end up in prison, homeless or dead. They don't really have a chance. It's really sad. So you know children's law center. What they do is they represent these kids. These are kids that are taken away from their parents. They don't have a legal guardian, they're in foster care, they're in between homes, they're living with relatives. And you know I think you know we talked about the Timothy Cortina's case, someone who was special needs. But I think children and special needs, you know these are the most vulnerable members of our society and they're entitled to protection. You know I don't write a book to make money. Money will always come. I wanted to educate folks and I really wanted to make law understandable and accessible to everyone. So thanks everyone for supporting me. Every dollar from the book on the proceeds goes to children's law center. 

37:46 - David McClam (Host)
It is definitely a fabulous book. Everybody needs to go out and pick a copy of it up, man. I've been my wife and I was reading it and she was had tears to joy and just the way that you write it it's so the simple person like me who's not a lawyer can understand it. I've read many books that lawyers have written and it has all those legal needs. I'm like I don't understand anything. But you made it very easy. I think one of the last case I want to ask you about that you are part of is the Uber lift situation. Yeah, my wife works part-time for DoorDash and so I was filling her in on how that case would have civil friends work for Uber that quit. Do you think that ever these people that is doing DoorDash and Uber and Lyft is going to be looked at equally as employees, or is this just going to be a fight that's going to have to be fought for years to come? 

38:37 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
No, I'm hopeful, but it's challenging. So of course I want to say thank you. We really try to make a law understandable and accessible. We're probably on the bigger firms on TikTok and on Instagram and we'll do short videos and reels just to educate folks on anything that's coming up. So, for instance, we might do something like hey, there's your boss, can your boss make you work during a hurricane? Something of that effect. Uber is coming up in the legal world Doesn't necessarily have to be personal injury or employment or civil rights, but something where we can educate folks. We'll do 20, 30 second videos. 

39:14
Now to answer the Uber question for folks that haven't been following it, there is a big difference between being an employee and being an independent contractor. You have a lot of protection as an employee. You're subject to workers' compensation laws if you're injured on the job. You get meal breaks, you get rest breaks, you get overtime, you get mileage If you drive your car for work. So in California it first started. There was a big California Supreme Court case the Dynamics case that basically said gig economy workers, they're employees, they're not independent contractors. And then the California State Assembly codified this in what's called AB5, assembly Bill 5, saying listen, you're working for a gig economy, you're an employee, you're entitled to protection, you're not just an independent contractor. 

40:04
Of course, uber, which started as Uber cab or changed the name to Uber technology basically like we're a technology company, we're not an employer, we're just connecting the driver with the passenger. 

40:16
So we're making billions of dollars, but we have no control over any of this. And what they did was, several years ago, they put this proposition on the ballot, which at the time was the most expensive proposition in California Street, proposition 22. And they basically unwound that California Supreme Court case and that Assembly Bill and they convinced folks that if this doesn't pass, uber is going to leave the state and all these scare tactics. And they spent so much money on this proposition and it was successful. So, unfortunately, they basically deregulated themselves. So imagine if the fast food industry McDonald's we talked about comes and puts a law on the books that says you know what? Our employees? They're not subject to sexual harassment laws and they shouldn't get over time. You know, they're all just independent. I don't think it was right, I don't think it was fair, but it just really shows the power of these huge corporations and what they can do. 

41:13 - David McClam (Host)
Well, I hope that does pass, man, because you know in your book you're saying how they were saying well, you know they're just sitting there waiting in their car for 45 minutes and they're not delivering anything. But to me that's working. I mean, you can't get. When I watch my wife's dash app, if she comes home she gets no fares. If she sits in certain spots of the city, that's where all the fares come in. So to me that is working. Because you're burning up your gas, you're waiting. It's the same if I do at my current job. I have to wait to get into a store. Doesn't mean I don't get paid for that. So we win that battle on the line. 

41:46 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
I agree, we're still litigating it. Hopefully we win, but you know so far, unfortunately, because of you know this proposition. It's been bad for the gig economy workers. The saddest thing is how Uber Lyft DoorDash they convinced their own workers how this was better for them to be independent. 

42:07 - David McClam (Host)
The last thing I want to ask you is near and dear to my heart one of the biggest reasons, besides my religion, that I'm against the death penalty you and I being minorities, being you being Iranian, me being African American wrongful convictions, and I know, as you know, 21,000 plus years is lost in prison for 21 or for 24 plus persons who later were filed 2400, I'm sorry, a plus person later found exonerated. A lot of that goes to, you know, brown and black people. How do we start putting into these wrongful convictions? 

42:42 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
It's such a hard question, right? Because, like as a prosecutor, the worst thing that I thought I could do is put an innocent person in jail, right? And it was a famous judge in England it's called Justice Black Zone and he said that it's better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent person. Ever so far, and that's sort of how I handle myself. If I had any doubt, I'm going to pass on that case. There's plenty of people to go after. 

43:06
You know, unfortunately prosecutors are people. I hope they do the right thing, and they don't always do. We know that law enforcement sometimes doesn't do the right thing. When we have a history in this country where police officers have been prosecuted, that's changed recently. Fortunately, we're seeing them being held accountable in a way that we haven't my entire life. 

43:26
I don't know what the answer is. Obviously there are prejudices and biases in our justice system. I dealt with it myself as an Iranian. If you read my book, I dealt with racism at the Department of Justice. You know I was born in the United States. You know at all these credentials Harvard Law, bigfirm I still dealt with it, you know. So if I can deal with it, I can't imagine being a criminal defendant and having an answer to a judge and jury that might feel the same way. So I wish I had the answer for you. 

43:57
I don't know what it is. I do know that I think it's getting better, but it's certainly not anywhere near where it needs to be, and I'm hoping that people are involved in our system, whether it's judges, juries, you know, defense attorneys and especially prosecutors. Man, I just didn't pour upon them to do the right thing Hold everyone accountable. We started with the show saying it doesn't matter whether you're Donald Trump, everyone should be held to the same standard. Doesn't matter how rich, how powerful, your race, your sex. Let's just have a colorblind system of justice. I hope we can get there. We're nowhere near there yet, I don't think, but I really do hope we get closer to it during my lifetime. 

44:33 - David McClam (Host)
In closing, is there anything that you would like to say to the listeners, or some of your fans might be listening out there today? 

44:40 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
What I like to tell folks is make sure you understand the law. I mean, it's so incredibly important, for instance, how you deal with law enforcement. Every lawyer will tell you you have a right to remain silent, exercise your rights, know your rights and unfortunately, I think in this country a lot of people do not. So, whether it's social media, whether it's the news, try to get at least a limited understanding of the law. If you don't call a lawyer, to not try to handle these types of things on your own, it's no different from me saying go get a checkup with a doctor, go get go to the dentist. You have any legal questions? Call a lawyer. Don't try to handle these things on your own, because that's where people get into a world of legal hurt. 

45:28 - David McClam (Host)
Well, neema, first of all I want to say to you, man, thank you for caring about the little people. There's a lot of lawyers that doesn't even have the degrees and the education that you do not even have as good as you. That's all about the money, and we need people like you out there to help the little people who can't afford those hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars. I thank you for that man, because I don't know, maybe one day I may be in that situation. I'm certainly not rich and if that happens, I'll be sure to look you up. So thank you for looking out for the little man, for looking out for these children. Yes, foster care is horrendous. I personally feel, as far as DCFS goes, that LA County has the worst DCFS system there is. I've covered a couple of cases that way. So, thank you, and I'm glad you came on the show today and anytime that you want to come back, please let me know and you're welcome anytime. 

46:19 - Neama Rahmani (Host)
Thank you so much for having me so proud of what you've accomplished and excited to be back again in the future. Thank you, man, I appreciate it. 

46:27 - David McClam (Host)
All right guys, that was the incredible Nima Romany. You can find his book Harvard to hashtag my journey from big law to business owner at Amazon and anywhere you can buy books. Remember, 100% of the proceeds from the sell of his book is donated to the Children's Law Center of California to support children in foster care. Nima believes that it is the most vulnerable members of our society and I have to tell you that he is right to make sure we're supporting him. Anything else you want to find about Nima you can find on my website, truecrowminauthorscom, also on his website. That will be linked in the show notes of this episode. All right guys, thank you for tuning in. It has been an incredible year so far, a great start to season two. I thank you for choosing me. I hope you're being good to yourself and each other and always remember, always stay humble and active. Kindness can make someone's day. A little love and compassion can go a long way, and remember that there is an extraordinary person in all of us. I'll catch you guys on the next one. 

47:44 - Jaquie (Other)
Don't forget to rate, comment and subscribe. Join us on social media. One link to the link tree has it all. Feel free to drop us a line at truecrimeandauthors at gmailcom. Cover art and logo designed by Arslet Sound, mixing and editing by David McClam. Intro script by Sophie Wilde and David McClam. Theme music, legendary by New Alchemist. Introduction and ending credits by Jackie Voice. See you next time on True Crime. Authors and Extraordinary People.