Jessica M. Dean

Background & Motivation

I am one of eight kids. My mom stayed home to raise us. My dad built planes for McDonnell-Douglas, working over 80 hours a week. My grandfather served in the Army during WWII on both fronts. He was quiet. My grandmother was the local door-to-door Avon lady. She was not quiet. I was raised Southern Baptist and went to church three times every week. I spent most of my time in church or playing outside with my brothers and sisters and a few neighborhood kids in our St. Louis neighborhood. My dad worked long hours at McDonnell-Douglas and, although I did not appreciate it until I was much older, he instilled in me his work ethic and drive. My mom and grandparents taught me the difference between right and wrong and always provided unquestioned love and support.

At 16, I started my first job as an IHOP waitress. I was terrible but energetic. When I wasn’t in class or working, I spent my time competing on the swim and debate teams. My debate coach introduced me to a world where a college education was expected and forced me to apply for scholarships. I was accepted and went to school at Boston University. There was an IHOP on campus, so I continued waitressing. Boston was eye-opening – I met people from all over the country and world.

Law school was hard, but I loved the way I was trained to think and evaluate problems. I also got to meet interesting people. Amin Omar was one of them. Amin is one of the people who helped me survive my first year in law school. The next year we were mock trial partners; we trained with amazing lawyers and worked together in a trial setting. We knew before we finished law school that we wanted to start a firm; about a decade later, we finally made it happen.

I moved to Dallas to start my legal career. Early on, most of my time was spent taking depositions (recorded interviews) of our clients. Most of my work involved representing people who were hurt in nursing homes or hospitals or helping people who were not paid for work they had done. The people I represented had never needed a lawyer in the past and were dealing with a really difficult time in their lives. I tearfully celebrated with the family after the first case I won. I took the first case I lost very hard. But more than anything, I felt lucky to have a job where I worked with “normal” people, got to use my brain and voice, and where the work left me with friends, and sometimes even family, for life.

After three years, I decided to look for a new job. Trey Branham interviewed me for that job. I knew the firm he was at represented people who had cancer from working around asbestos, but I didn’t have any appreciation for how terrible the disease was or how many people had died from asbestos. When Trey hired me, he gave me a bunch of books and articles to read showing that company after company knew for decades that asbestos could cause disease but kept using it anyway. The more I read, the more I knew I wanted to be involved in these cases.

One of every three people who die from an occupational disease in the United States died because they were exposed to asbestos. Mesothelioma is cancer in the lining of the lung. It is not caused by smoking. It has nothing to do with how well you take care of yourself. It is caused by exposure to asbestos. Companies knew this but hid this information for many years from the people whose jobs required them to use asbestos products. Mesothelioma cannot be cured. A family can fight it with chemo, radiation, or invasive surgeries, but the best-case scenario is slowing it down for a few years.

When I got my first case, I was motivated. My client, Charles, was 62 when he was told he had mesothelioma. He made signs for a living. He retired when he found out he had mesothelioma but still made signs for his church when he could. He was exposed to asbestos from gaskets and packing in the equipment he repaired for a naval shipyard when he was a young man. He had no idea the work he was doing was dangerous.

My job was to figure out what the companies knew about asbestos and what decisions they made when they found out about the diseases caused by asbestos. This type of investigation takes months, if not years. You have courtroom fights where companies object to giving you their documents. When you get the documents, you are often buried in paperwork. It is hard, tedious, and expensive work. While all of this was going on, Charles lost weight, battled chemo, started two trial drugs, and started to live his life under the constant influence of pain medication. We were lucky to finish his case before he died, but barely.

Charles’ motivation for pursuing his case was his wife – even in sickness, he was determined to take care of her. Others are motivated for different reasons. They did things right – worked hard, followed the laws, paid their taxes – and they are angry that they have a cancer that could have been prevented. Some people want to make sure that companies that choose to ignore basic safety rules in this country are held accountable. Some people want to use the money to donate to research. I get to represent and learn from all of these people.

One of the lawyers I worked with the most from the beginning of my career is Lisa Shirley who is the head of the firm’s motion and appellate practice. In many cases, she and I fought together to help a family against a team of lawyers for the companies. Her understanding of the law, ability to get to the heart of a conflict and her soft but powerful presence has strengthened me in the hardest trials and has led to powerful results against companies that worked hard to hide their actions.

Since I have teamed up with Trey, Lisa and Amin, I feel more empowered to fight these fights. People have all sorts of thoughts about lawyers, just as I did before I was ever around them. My hope and prayer is to be the kind of lawyer who always seeks justice, helps people when they need it the most, and looks for chances to make our community better.

I have seen companies that inspire me; they understand their mistakes, apologize for them, and do what they can to right their wrong. I have seen companies that refuse to acknowledge fault and commit a second wrong in how they treat the family that they poisoned. I have seen companies that want to do right but are hostage to their insurance company which fights everything because every month it can hold on to the funds and invest them means more money for the insurance company. Most companies are in the middle; we find a way to resolve the dispute and the family gets some peace. But some – usually led by insurance companies – repeatedly create delay, ignore accountability and view life and suffering only as a cost of business. This mentality is dangerous. If these companies are not held accountable, they are empowered and emboldened to make choices that result in harm.

I want to live in a community where the law is used in limited circumstances and as a last resort. I want to use our justice system to enforce rules that are broken, important rules that are in place to protect people from serious harm. While I have taken a path different from that of my parents and grandparents, I want to honor what they taught me in the work I do.

Education

Admissions

Honors & Professional Affiliations

Publications, Presentations, & Reported Decisions

Jessica M. Dean

Giving Back

Free Case Review