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Jon Krupnick prefers to hire new associates and train them, rather than bring in experienced litigators: "It's my firm belief that if you grow up as a family, you tend to stay together."

"There are egos, but they don't have any infighting," says Michael Robinson, a Fort Lauderdale solo practitioner who left the firm in 1990. "Working there was pretty intense and very demanding, but there was a lot of camaraderie. We'd go out and play basketball, football and golf together. They are just normal folk who developed into very fine trial lawyers."


Formula for success

While the result of the Benlate® cases captured headlines, Krupnick Campbell has a long history of multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in its representation of personal injury, medical malpractice and products liability plaintiffs clients. Firm revenues for the past several years averaged $10 million to $12 million. Even without Benlate®, 1994 would have been a banner year for the firm with revenues of $13 million.

Without that financial strength, the firm never could have afforded to take the Benlate® cases. And it's an important reason other firms refer cases to Krupnick Campbell: the firm can finance litigation costs and so can't be pressured into accepting low settlement offers.

"We are not going to settle for less than full value," Campbell says. "We have the means to proceed and do the best for our clients."

Another factor in the firm's success, Krupnick says, is his practice of hiring new associates and training them, rather than bringing in experienced litigators. There is one exception. In 1989, Krupnick hired highly regarded Kelly Hancock, chief of the Broward State Attorney's Office's homicide division.

"Kelly is the only established lawyer we ever hired," Krupnick says. "When you take green, raw young talent and evolve together, there isn't stress like you have when you bring in three or more established lawyers together. It's my firm belief that if you grow up as a family you tend to stay together."

The result is a firm that is highly respected by competitors and opposing counsel. A case in point is DuPont attorney Frank Shepherd.

"The Benlate® cases are probably a pretty  good example for the need for tort reform," he grouses. But he begrudgingly adds about Krupnick Campell: "They represent their clients pretty ably."

Founding Partner

The driving force behind the 20-year -old firm is founder Krupnick, a tenacious litigator who has achieved more than 120 verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million each.

In 1983, Krupnick received the largest personal injury verdict in Florida when a jury ordered Ford Motor Co. and motorist Ruth Aaron to pay $16.5 million after a car crash left his client a quadriplegic.

Krupnick's strengths lie in painstaking preparation for trial and an ability to communicate clearly and convincingly to a jury, according to current and former firm members and lawyers who have watched him at work.

He typically brings a full-size model of a car or whatever he contends is responsible for his client's injury into the courtroom so that jurors can see it and understand what was defective. Once, when the courtroom was too small to accommodate an inflated hot air balloon, jurors were escorted to a  field at Broward Community College to see it. And he keeps miniature versions of the models for his office as mementos of his cases.

"I've consulted with a lot of other law firms and seen other people in action, and they just don't compare to Jon Krupnick," says Virgil Rizzo, who was of counsel at Krupnick Campbell for eight years before he retired. "He makes it crystal clear for the jury. He always had a model made of the case. It's like a little toy, but he was dead serious with it. You just got caught up in it and get excited also."