My name is Dan Kinlan. I’m an attorney at Martin, Harding & Mazzotti. So I was born in Albany. I ended up going to Guilderland High School after our parents moved us out there. Eventually made my way down to Poughkeepsie to go to Marist College and I was there for four years for the normal degree. I didn’t intend to go to law school, but I did find myself there. And I went to Albany Law. So I’ve really been kind of in this area the whole time.Well, we always want to maintain that we can help clients that do come to us because of their cases. Being in the community is also important because of our footprint in the area. And I know I’ve been to too many bike helmet giveaways, but also I’ve done some things in the past where we’ve gone to elementary schools and just read books to kids. Because I think that if we can put ourselves out there as, you know, a warmer, friendly face people can come to us, you know, even if they don’t have personal injury questions. They might come to us and say, “Hey, you know, I’m looking to sell my house, do you know any attorney that might help me there?” So even if we’re just a lifeline to the community for other options or other issues or problems that come up, I think that’s important.I think one of the surprises that people might hear especially coming from a personal injury attorney is that, at least from my perspective, the number one thing for my clients is I want them to get relief. You know, certainly getting some award or settlement down the line is the goal. But if they can’t get relief from their doctors or they can’t have some kind of medical improvement, those matter to us. Because if that’s not going to happen, then we need to find a better way to make sure that the community can find doctors or some kind of relief.You know, personal injury attorneys aren’t all about the dollars at the end of the day, it’s the clients and it’s the community. You know, we’ve stressed family quite a bit. And again, it sounds corny, but I do really do believe that that is the truth.I think the ability to balance really caring about the clients but also making sure that we spend enough time is having a passion for it. You know, really believing in the cases and also the people because if you don’t, then one of those two things is going to drop off. I think having a passion for this type of work can really help excel not only the cases, but help find clients a good recovery by the end of it.
